In this week’s top stories: Google launches its first preview of Android 12, Samsung reportedly kills most background apps, Pixel phones ready to get face-based auto-turn, and more.
The biggest Google related news this week is that we all got our first taste of the next version of Android on Thursday, thanks to Android 12 Developer Preview 1. Our Abner Li has gathered all the features and customizations, big and small. for quick investigation.
One improvement that people are particularly interested in is that the “Display cutout” feature in developer options of Android 12 now has an option to hide the hole front camera found on the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5.
If you enable it, a black bar is applied to the status bar which works to partially hide the Pixel 4a, 4a 5G and 5 holes. The time, notifications and other system icons remain in place with the new darker background.
This week, the wall of shame is over “Do not kill my app!” has been updated and moves Samsung to the top of the list of offenders due to the changes they made with their Android 11 update. Any app that needs to continue collecting information in the background, such as a health app, can no longer run in the background by default.
This comes especially after Google said it would take measures to prevent exactly this kind of behavior from its Android partners. Clearly, Samsung did not receive the memo or completely ignored it.
Before the Android 12 Developer Preview, we learned that Pixel phones might get a new Auto-Rotate option that uses your camera to see in which direction your face is turning. Your phone determines how your head is turned in the direction of the phone and decides which way to turn.
It’s probably the technology behind this is a simplified version of the face recognition features of apps like Snapchat and Google Duo. For obvious privacy reasons, this camera-based check will take place entirely on your device and will not store or send your photo anywhere.
This week, our Damien Wilde did a thorough investigation into former OnePlus director Carl Pei’s new company Nothing, and found that the brand is the new owner of the troubled, recently dissolved Essential brand. This transaction appears to include at least Essential’s trademarks, if not the company’s various patents.
Nothing will reveal more information about the upcoming products via their official website in the next few days. Let’s hope it does not turn out to be … essentially nothing …
One can speculate that this is a play by Nothing to access Essential’s patent catalog, with numerous patents regarding ‘Voice setup instruction’ and ‘voice-enabled home setup. ‘With the main focus on the fact that nothing is on smart devices, and therefore a smart home technology, improved technologies can develop even faster as the brand grows rapidly.
In unfortunate Pixel news, it appears that Google’s phones are getting a bad reputation for camera errors, especially in older models like the Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 series. The ever-growing group of people with the issue report that the Google Camera app – as well as any other app that uses the camera – simply cannot display any image, which could indicate a hardware-related failure.
The reports on camera issues come mainly from rightly dissatisfied Pixel 2 owners, but as AP notes, there are increasing reports of those using the Pixel 3, 3a and even Pixel 4. Given the age of the Pixel 2, if it is indeed a hardware issue, then replacements are unlikely to be issued. This can be a problem with wear and tear, but it does not explain many of the problems users experience.
The rest of the week’s top stories follow:
Android 12 |
Programs and Updates |
Google |
Made by Google |
Samsung |
Portable |
Videos |
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