Android news

22.07.2020
 After publishing the 
source code of its COVID-19 tracing app, Ireland's Health
Service has now additionally donated the code to the
Linux Foundation. To make it available to other
governments with as little modifications as possible, the
company behind the application, NearForm, has built a
white-label solution called "COVID Green."

The Irish app is among the most successful and is already used by more than 25% of the Irish population, much
like Germany's equally open-source Corona Warn App. Unlike England's failed attempt at a centralized tracing app,
it's based on Google's and Apple's privacy-minding Bluetooth tracking technology. A central server is only used to
distribute warning messages if you come in contact with somebody who has tested positively by matching
anonymized keys stored on your phone.
AT&T has first dibs on the phone with online sales
beginning today, July 22, followed by local retail stockings
starting August 7. The carrier hopes to fish for new
customers by taking half off its offer price of $599 if they
sign up for a 30-month installment plan.
 Whether pictures from food, from vacation or the newborn child
- almost every mobile phone user sends and receives daily
photos on WhatsApp. However, a change by Google now
causes the WhatsApp photos to no longer be saved
automatically. If you don't want to lose your pictures, you
WhatsApp should act quickly.

loses photo For example, if you regularly delete the files from your cell

feature: act phone because you think they are stored on Google Photos
anyway, you will be at risk of total photo loss in the future.

quickly - or the
pictures are A few steps are enough to reactivate the automatic photo
storage in WhatsApp and other messenger services. First, users
gone have to go to the settings of the Google Photos app. Then select
under "Backup & Sync" which media folders should be backed
up by which apps. So if you want to be on the safe side, you
should have all four folders backed up.
New EMOJIS for Whatsup and co.

Both Google and Apple released some emojis on World Emoji Day (July 17th) that
will be available soon. The Unicode consortium approved these emojis as part of
Emoji 13.0 earlier this year. With iOS 14, all users of an iPhone expect almost 120
new emojis. Apple now provides a foretaste and delivers the first twelve. Also
included are a ninja, a matryoshka and a beaver.

Google has announced 117 new and revised emojis. They come on Android
smartphones with Android 11 in autumn. Users will find new animal emojis such as
bison, beaver or polar bear as well as new pictures for objects and food such as a teapot
or bubble tea. In addition, Google revises some existing emojis and adapts the design to
the dark mode.
Google may require Android Go for all new low-memory phones
•A leaked document suggests Google will require all new Android phones with
2GB of RAM or less to use Android Go.
•This even applies to low-power devices launching with Android 10 after Q4 2020.
•Phones launching with 512MB of RAM will reportedly not be able to run Google
Mobile Services.

The team at XDA Developers says it has obtained a leaked copy of an Android 11 Go edition
device guide that tells manufacturers they’ll have to launch new phones as Android Go models if
they ship with 2GB of RAM or less. This also applies to Android 10 devices released in the fourth
quarter of 2020.
The guide effectively ends support for devices with 512MB of RAM by noting the hardware is
“not qualified” to load Google Mobile Services (GMS) on Android 11.

Go was initially built for devices with under 1GB of RAM, and hasn’t been required on phones under that threshold.
Google quietly expanded Go support to devices with 2GB of RAM in 2019.
There are strong incentives for Google to require Android Go. Its lower hardware requirements are designed to improve
the experience on entry-level phones with low memory, limited processing power and slow internet access. A
requirement to use Go could bolster performance on these entry devices and improve the overall experience, giving
buyers an incentive to choose Android handsets over basic cell phones.
The Pixel 4 XL’s glass back is peeling off for some
(Update: Google responds)

Update: July 21 2020 (2:25AM ET): Many of Pixel 4 XL users have reported

that the glass rear cover is peeling off over time, with one mooted cause being
battery swelling. Google has now got back to us regarding the matter, giving us
a link to their response on Reddit. And it looks like we can rule out the battery
being the problem.
“We’ve investigated the issue and concluded that this is not related to the Pixel
battery. If you’re experiencing back glass lift on your Pixel 4/4XL, we
recommend reaching out to 1:1 support to explore warranty options. We’re here
to help and want to make sure your Pixel 4/4XL is operating properly,” reads the
official response.

Product experts on Google’s support forum advise users to contact Pixel support,
but the company hasn’t acknowledged the issue officially.
Battery swelling could be a dangerous problem and potentially fire hazard.
THANK YOU!