Posts by Mishaal Rahman- XDA Developers

Your next Android TV set-top box could double as a Google Assistant smart speaker

Mishaal Rahman April 27, 2021

From smart speakers to soundbars to routers, you'll find Google Assistant on loads of different devices these days. Similarly, you'll find Google's Android TV OS preinstalled on several types of devices, from projectors to set-top boxes to TVs. In the future, you may be able to pick up a set-top box that runs Android TV...

Android 12 DP3 Analysis: Here are all the hidden features!

Mishaal Rahman April 22, 2021

In less than a month, Google will take the wraps off of Android 12 at Google I/O, but before then, we've just been given the third Developer Preview to sift through. DP3 contains a handful of new APIs and noticeable user-facing changes, but it also, as usual, contains loads of hidden changes under-the-hood. We've been...

Android 12 DP3 Changelog: All the new features we’ve found!

Mishaal Rahman April 21, 2021

Google released the third Developer Preview for Android 12 earlier today. Officially, the release is once again aimed at developers, with new APIs for haptics, camera, and more. As usual, there are a couple of new user-facing features that we've found from a quick hands-on. If you're interested in finding out what new features are...

Google highlights how it kept the Play Store safe from misinformation in 2020

Mishaal Rahman April 21, 2021

While there are many valid complaints about how Google moderates the Play Store, there are also equally valid complaints about how Google doesn't go far enough. With how many apps have already been published on the app store and how many new apps continue to be published each year, it's no surprise to see Google...

Android 12 will automatically hibernate unused apps to free up space

Mishaal Rahman April 19, 2021

Although Google doesn't release the source code for new Android versions before the stable release for Pixel phones is ready, we seldom get a glimpse at some upcoming features through code changes submitted to the AOSP Gerrit. One of the features we've been expecting to land in the upcoming Android 12 release is app hibernation,...

Android 12 deprecates the RenderScript API for GPU compute tasks

Mishaal Rahman April 19, 2021

Google introduced the RenderScript API all the way back in Android 3.0 Honeycomb for applications that need to run high-performance workloads on the CPU or GPU without using NDK or GPU-specific APIs. With improvements to NDK tooling, GPU compute using OpenCL, the introduction of the Vulkan API, and the capability to share Bitmap hardware buffers...

Google’s Nearby Share will soon support group transfers: Here’s a first look

Mishaal Rahman April 17, 2021

Last month, we reported that Google is preparing to upgrade Nearby Share, Android's alternative to Apple's AirDrop file transferring service, with the ability to share files to multiple people at once. We also reported that Google is changing the feature's device visibility policy to allow you to share files with anyone nearby rather than only...

Android 12 may automatically translate apps to your native language

Mishaal Rahman April 16, 2021

With over 2.5 billion active users, Android is the most widely used operating system worldwide. While the OS itself has been localized to dozens of different languages, that's not the case for many third-party apps. Larger companies can localize their apps in-house or hire professional translation services, but these options aren't economically feasible for smaller...

Google may let users manage Android’s hidden Recycle Bin in Android 12

Mishaal Rahman April 16, 2021

Google I/O 2021 kicks off on May 18th next month, and at the event, we're expecting to see Google announce all the features coming to Android 12. Before the event starts, we've been collecting as much information as we can on the latest OS release from the two publicly available Developer Previews. The other day,...

Google will finally let file manager apps request “All Files Access” on Android 11 next month

Mishaal Rahman April 14, 2021

Google has started to send out emails to developers whose apps request broad access to device storage. The email tells developers that, starting May 5th, they must inform Google why their app requests broad storage access or they won't be allowed to publish updates that target Android 11. Prior to Android 11, apps could request broad...

Exclusive: Here’s a first look at some more upcoming features in Android 12

Mishaal Rahman April 13, 2021

It's been nearly 2 months since Google released the first Android 12 developer preview, and we're expecting the third developer preview to drop at any moment. Thanks to leaks, extensive hands-ons, and code digging, we've learned a lot about the upcoming version of Google's Android OS. Still, with each new release, we're learning more and more,...

The Huawei Mate X2 made me realize how much I was missing out on

Mishaal Rahman April 13, 2021

The future of the smartphone is foldable. It's not a matter of if, but when foldables are priced low enough to overtake traditional flagships in popularity. Ask any person who's used a foldable phone, and they'll tell you the same thing: They're the future. Until this week, though, if you asked me about foldables, I...