Smartphone tool helps users keep social distance

SAN FRANCISCO — Smartphone users have a new way to keep their distance  – a tool that lets them know when people are getting closer than pandemic guidelines recommend.

The Google-developed Sodar tool available this week taps into Android smartphone cameras to put users in the center of a white circle with a radius of about two meters, or 6.5 feet.


The perimeter, determined based on pandemic social distancing guidelines, is made using the same kind of augmented reality technology in smartphone games such as Pokemon Go.

Circles superimposed on surroundings move with users, keeping smartphones in the center. Users get a visual warning when they are within the potentially hazardous radius.




Sodar works through Google-made Chrome browsers on Android smartphones that support augmented reality, according to the California-based internet firm.

“This experiment uses (the application program interface) WebXR to visualize 2-meter social-distancing guidelines in your environment,” a message at the website said.


The tool came out of an “Experiments With Google” project on technology hacks to help people cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

PlayStation 4 update turns Android devices into controller, display

PlayStation 4 owners will be able to use Android devices as displays and controllers after Sony updates the console’s system software to version 7.00 later this week.

Those with handsets or tablets that run Android 5.0 or higher will be able to use an official Remote Play application to stream PlayStation 4 games to their mobile device.


Android 10 or higher is required to then connect a PlayStation DualShock 4 wireless controller to an Android device via Bluetooth.

The scheme had previously been limited to Android devices in the Sony Xperia range.

An iOS application was released in March 2019, and iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 is required for the DualShock 4 control pad feature.

PlayStation noted in a blog post that system software 7.00 would also allow users to increase the size of text and voice chat groups from 8 to 16. Meanwhile, Microsoft increased the size of Xbox Live parties from 8 to 12 in 2015, and then from 12 to 16 in 2016. RGA

source: technology.inquirer.net

Huawei debuts latest advanced chipset for smartphone

BERLIN  — Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled its latest advanced chipset Friday ahead of the upcoming launch of its latest flagship smartphone, even as uncertainty hangs over whether the device can use Google’s Android.

Huawei’s consumer business CEO, Richard Yu, showed off the Kirin 990 chipset at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin on Friday.

Optimized for new 5G networks and packing 10.3 billion transistors into its fingernail size, the Kirin 990 will be the brain powering the Mate 30 phone.

Huawei, the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker, plans a global launch for the phone in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 19.


But with the U.S.-China trade war raging, it’s unclear whether the device can use the Android operating system. Sanctions bar U.S. companies from selling technology to Huawei without government approval, though there are 90-day exemptions for a narrow list of products and services.

Yu revealed little about the Mate 30 as he showcased the company’s other products. He touted the new chip’s lower energy use and superfast 5G download speed.


“This is the latest semiconductor technology,” he said.

Huawei has developed its Kirin line of chips to power some of its phones and reduce reliance on U.S.-based Qualcomm Corp.’s Snapdragon and other foreign suppliers. It has also built its own operating system, Hongmeng, though executives have said they hope to be able to keep using Android.


The U.S. and China are locked in tech and economic rivalry, with Washington pressuring allies to ban Huawei, the world’s biggest supplier of telecom gear, from new 5G networks.

Beijing on Friday lambasted the U.S. opposition to Huawei after Vice President Mike Pence this week called on Iceland and other governments to find alternatives.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang accused American leaders of “abusing the concept of national security” to block Chinese commercial activity.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Google Duo eight-person group calling rolls out globally

After only being available in select regions for a few weeks, Google Duo’s group calling feature started rolling out Thursday, May 23, to all iOS and Android users across the globe.

After Microsoft rolled out support for 50-person Skype group calls in April 2019 and Apple’s Facetime gained group call support up to 32 members in October 2018, Google has finally entered the race, albeit only offering eight-person support, thanks to Duo’s new group calling feature that officially rolled out this week for both Android and iOS users.

This update was accompanied by two additional features, a new data saving mode and the ability to personalize video messages.

The former update allows users in designated regions like Indonesia, India and Brazil, where using data is spendy to limit data usage on mobile networks and wi-fi on Android.

Already on Android and coming soon to iOS, users can personalize video messages with text, emojis and drawings. Data saving mode will roll out in the upcoming months. HM/JB

source: technology.inquirer.net

Android system updates might soon be found right in the Play Store

An upcoming modification to the Android operating system could make the system software updates native to the Play Store, according to the site 9to5Google. This would make system updates as easy to manage as those of the applications installed on a smartphone or tablet.

9to5Google discovered that system updates could be made available via this method by digging into the source code of the next version (14.5.52) of the Play Store APK file. The idea is to make things easier for end users, since they are used to going into the Play Store to download new apps and update others, rather than poking around the system setting. Google has not confirmed this information.

The Play Store could also get an interface overhaul, including a more streamlined design and new fonts.

The current method requires users to go into “Settings,” then hit “System” and “System Update” to scan for and download Android’s latest system software updates. CE/NVG

source: technology.inquirer.net

New Android app tells you how long you spend on Facebook, Instagram

Google’s Digital Wellbeing, a feature on Pixel and Android One devices that can tell users how much time they spend on various apps, is coming to Android is the form of a new app called ActionDash.

In case you’re wondering just how much time you spend on your phone or perhaps just on particular applications, there’s now an app for that — and this one is for all Android users according to The Verge.

Essentially, ActionDash provides Android owners with the same information that Pixel and Android One owners have through the feature Digital Wellbeing.


Like the Google version, ActionDash offers a complete breakdown of a user’s daily phone activity right down to the minute. You can track your overall smartphone screen time or just the time spent on various applications like WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and the like.

According to The Verge, the applications are almost identical (apart from basic user interface), though the Android version doesn’t allow you to set usage limits; However, ActionDash’s developer Chris Lacy confirmed that he’s exploring ways to add that feature to the app.

ActionDash is currently available on the Google Play for free with an in-app purchase option to remove ads and get some extra minor features like dark mode. NVG

source: technology.inquirer.net

Google expands real-time translations to all ‘assistant-optimized headphones’

This past week Google updated the Pixel Buds Help page to quietly announce that real-time Google Translate is now available on all headphones that support Google Assistant.

Previously the capability of Google Translate to follow a live conversation and relay the translation directly to someone via headphones was only supported on Pixel Buds through Pixel phones. However on Friday, as spotted by DroidLife, Google updated the Pixel Buds support page to say, “Google Translate is available on all Assistant-optimized headphones and Android phones.”


This means that if you’re an owner of headphones that use Google Assistant, like the Bose QuietComfort 35 II or Sony 1000XM2 over-the-ear wireless headphones, you can utilize this feature.


With other companies developing headphones that support Translate, like the LG Tone SE neckbuds which arrived back in August, this was a natural step for Google to expand. Live translations are no longer Pixel or neckbud exclusive. AB

source: technology.inquirer.net

Twitter Lite now available in 45 countries

A year after its launch, Twitter Lite is now available for Android users in a total of 45 countries.

Twitter Lite was rolled out last year to provide a faster, data-friendly version of the app to those connected to slower 2G or 3G networks.

Twitter began testing the Lite app in the Philippines in September, and then expanded to 24 more countries by November. Now it’s broadening its availability to 21 more countries.

On Monday, Twitter announced that the app will be available in the Google Play Store for anyone in the following 45 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Twitter Lite is aimed at those faced with expensive data plans, slow mobile networks or little storage space on their device. Designed to launch 30 percent faster, the app also offers key features — timeline, tweets, direct messages, trends, profiles, media uploads, notifications — with quicker navigation.

While smartphone adoption grew to 3.8 billion connections by the end of 2016, a vast number of smartphone users still rely on 2G —40 percent of connections in 2017, according to the latest report from GSMA.

Along with the increased availability, Twitter Lite has also received Push Notifications, Night Mode, Bookmarks, Threaded Conversations and Data Saver. These additional tools allow users to manage what is automatically loaded, what can wait and what can’t — all of which will contribute to saving energy, data and bandwidth.

Find out more at www.lite.twitter.com. The app is available to download from the Google Play Store. JB

source: technology.inquirer.net

AI head: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to feature Bixby 2.0

Gray G. Lee, head of the AI Center under Samsung Research, said Thursday the upcoming flagship Galaxy Note 9 will adopt an upgraded artificial intelligence platform, Bixby 2.0.

To the question of the expected launch of Bixby 2.0, Lee told The Korea Herald that the upcoming flagship smartphone model in the second half of the year would feature the advanced Bixby platform, after a press conference to announce Samsung’s vision for AI.

According to his remarks, Bixby 2.0 will be upgraded with enhanced natural language processes, improved noise resistance capability and quicker response times.


Samsung is preparing to unveil the Galaxy Note 9 in August, which will be one of the attention-grabbing high-end smartphones to be launched in the second half of this year.

To improve its AI platform and technologies, Samsung plans to expand its workforce that specializes in AI to up to 1,000, continue creating AI centers in different parts of the world, and consider mergers and acquisitions of promising AI businesses, Lee said.

“Samsung’s AI vision has five directions: user centric, always learning, always there, always helpful and always safe,” Lee said.

Samsung plans to connect a total of 14 million units of its products with the Bixby platform this year, and aims to connect all by 2020.

source: technology.inquirer.net

How Google aims to simplify your life with AI

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Google put the spotlight on its artificial intelligence smarts at its annual developers conference Tuesday, announcing new consumer features aimed at simplifying your life.

Many of the updates have a practical bent, designed to ease tasks such as composing emails, making lists, navigating city streets and lessening the digital distractions that have increasingly addled people’s lives as a result of previous tech industry innovations.

One of the biggest crowd-pleasers for the thousands of software developers who gathered at the outdoor conference was an augmented reality feature on Google Maps that helps people get walking directions. Users will be able to follow arrows — or possibly a cartoon-like creature — that appear on a camera view showing the actual street in front of them.

Some new features for Android phones also aim to improve people’s digital well-being, including a new “shush” mode that automatically puts a phone in “do not disturb” mode if you flip it face down on a table. And a “wind down” mode will fade the screen to grey at a designated time to help you disconnect before bed.

The company’s digital concierge, known only as the Google Assistant, is getting new voices — including one based on that of musician John Legend — later this year. It will also encourage kids to be polite by thanking them when they say please, similar to a feature Amazon is bringing to its Alexa voice assistant.

The assistant may also soon be talking with ordinary people at businesses for tasks such as restaurant reservations, although the feature is still in development.

“Hi, I’m calling to book a hair appointment for a client,” said a realistic-sounding automated voice in a demo from the conference stage. The AI assistant deployed pauses and “ums” and “mmm-hmms” to sound more human in conversation with real people.

Google said it will roll out the technology, called Duplex, as an experiment in coming weeks. “We really want to work hard to get this right,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who kicked off the conference, known as Google I/O.

Other changes are more immediate. Gmail is getting an autocomplete feature that uses machine learning to offer suggestions for finishing half-completed sentences. For example, “I haven’t seen you” might be autocompleted to “I haven’t seen you in a while and I hope you’re doing well.” You can accept the completion by hitting the tab key.

The Google Photos app aims to get smarter about suggesting who you might want to share photos with. Whenever it recognizes a photo of one of your Google contacts, it can suggest sharing the photo with that person. It will also convert photos to PDFs and automatically add color to black-and-white photos or make part of a color photo black and white. The changes are coming in the next two months.

The search giant aims to make its assistant and other services so useful that people can’t live without them — or the search results that drive its advertising business. But it also wants to play up the social benefits of AI and how it’s being used to improve health care, preserve the environment and make scientific discoveries.

Pichai didn’t emphasize the privacy and data security concerns that have put companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google in the crosshairs of regulators. But he did say the company “can’t just be wide eyed about the innovations technology creates.”

“We know the path ahead needs to be navigated carefully and deliberately,” he said. “Our core mission is to make information more useful, accessible and beneficial to all of society.”

Google’s latest version of its Android phone software, for now known as Android P, will offer other smart features. It will teach the battery to adapt to how you use apps in order to conserve energy. Phones using Android P will also learn how to set your screen brightness by studying your manual adjustments, a change from automatic adjustments based on ambient light levels.

But not everyone will see the new Android features soon — if at all. Android P won’t be released until later this year, and even then, phone manufacturers and carriers frequently limit Android updates to their newest phones. Owners of Google’s own Pixel phones will get the updates most quickly.

Samsung is getting snubbed on some of these new features, at least for now. It has been challenging Google more frequently by launching that services duplicate what Google already offers on Android.

For instance, Samsung users won’t have access to an early “beta” version of Android P. Samsung’s camera app also won’t get a built-in Lens feature that lets Google offer information after taking a photo of a building or sign. Samsung has been developing its own similar feature called Bixby Vision.

It wasn’t immediately clear which company made the call to withhold the features announced Tuesday.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Instagram Stories can now upload multiple photos, videos

Tired of uploading photos and videos onto your Instagram Story one by one? This new update might benefit you.

Android users of the social media app can now share their “Stories” all at once, Instagram said on Tuesday.

Users may now enjoy this when they click the new icon at the top right of the screen. From there, they can now select up to 10 photos and videos from their gallery. And when tapping the edit screen, users will be able to view the media lined up and customize with texts and GIFs.

The feature is now available for Android, and will soon roll out on iOS users in the following weeks.

Aside from this update on Stories, Instagram has also created the “Data Download” option where it lets users download their account information through a web browser.  /ra

source: technology.inquirer.net

Three alternatives to the iPhone X

The iPhone X launched on Friday for an eye-watering 1,159/1,329 euros (64 gigabytes/256 gigabytes). That means anyone who wants to spend less on a top-end smartphone with a big edge-to-edge display and the latest components has to go with an Android handset.

Samsung Galaxy S8

There are several Android phones that would be a good alternative to the iPhone X, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S8. Launched in the spring of 2017, it embodies the expertise of the South Korean phonemaker, a long-standing Apple rival. The Galaxy S8 has a curved 5.8-inch Infinity display (2960 x 1440 pixels) that covers most of its surface. It has a 12MP and an 8MP camera, 4 gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes of storage (which is expandable). It also includes an iris sensor and is supplied with AKG earphones. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is priced at 809 euros. It’s still a little expensive, but less than the S8+ (6.2-inch) at 909 euros and the Galaxy note 8 (6.3-inch), which is in excess of 1,000 euros.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro

The new Huawei flagship phone is the first to be driven by a Kirin 970 processor which has a number of AI-type features. In addition to its speed, this smartphone is a continuation of Huawei and Leica’s collaboration in the form of 20MP and 12MP sensors, each with a fast f/1.6 aperture. At the phone’s presentation, the company boasted about its locking system, a fingerprint sensor at the back of the device under the two Leica lenses, which is thought to be more practical and faster than Apple’s facial recognition system for the iPhone X. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro has a 6-inch 18:9 aspect ratio screen (2160 x 1080 pixels). It’s expected to be available in November at a price of 799 euros for the 128 gigabytes version.

OnePlus 5T

The OnePlus 5T, which has not yet been officially unveiled, is expected to be released in November. It will be a bigger and more powerful version of the OnePlus 5 that hit the market in June 2017. Leaks suggest the phone will have an edge-to-edge 6-inch AMOLED 18:9 aspect ratio display (2160 x 1080 pixels). It’s expected to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset with 8 gigabytes of RAM, and there could be 20MP sensors on the front and back of the device. Sold with 128 gigabytes of storage, it will be priced very competitively, as is the norm for this Chinese phonemaker.

There’s also Google’s Pixel 2 if you live in the United States, India or the United Kingdom. It’s said to optimize the capabilities of Android 8.0 Oreo, and the DxOMark website ranked it the number one mobile device camera. It’s priced from 649 dollars in the U.S. JB

source: technology.inquirer.net

Google tackles augmented reality, unveils new platform

Hot on the heels of Apple — which released its first-ever attempt at an augmented reality platform a few months ago at WWDC (“ARKit”) — fellow tech giant Google has now unleashed its own incarnation, for Android users.

The company, which boasts more than two billion active Android devices globally, on Tuesday unveiled a preview of its mobile-based AR platform “ARCore” for developers, which it hopes will bring “augmented reality capabilities to existing and future Android phones” around the world.

While Google has been developing the fundamental technologies that power mobile AR over the last three years with Tango, ARCore works without any additional hardware, which means it can scale across the Android ecosystem.

According to Google, ARCore will run on millions of devices, starting with the Pixel and Samsung’s S8, running 7.0 Nougat and above, with the company targeting 100 million devices at the end of the preview.

Find out more about ARCore through its site: https://developers.google.com/ar/. JB

source:  technology.inquirer.net

New dating app helps ‘geeks’ find true love

Socially inept persons, or more popularly referred to as today’s geeks and nerds, may have a hard time scoring dates even with the use of popular dating applications.


However, a new app is looking to end this misery once and for all by hooking up people with the same “unusual” interests like cosplaying, comic fandom and the works.

According to Mashable, new dating app Cuddli is launching on iOS in the following days after garnering positive reviews among Android users.

One of the app’s founders, Pinguino Kolb, explained that “geeks” need their own platform since not many dating app users understand comic culture and fandom.

Oftentimes, “nerds” who discuss such topics on mainstream apps like Tinder often get ridiculed, since most people “don’t understand the passion behind fandom or geekdom, and they can belittle it.”

Unlike previous platforms where users are required to create thorough profiles describing oneself, Cuddli offers interest icons on profiles to help identify what, specifically, makes the user “geek out.”

Like Tinder, the app also uses GPS and the “swiping” feature, but does not feature a pending list of matches. Instead, users must first respond to existing match requests before they can start matching again with new people.

Furthermore, those who hit it off with someone could also switch to “Couples Mode,” which somehow makes the virtual relationship official. This feature would still enable users to chat to other profiles, but it won’t let them match with anyone else anymore.

The Cuddli app is available for download on Google store and will soon be live on iOS.  Khristian Ibarrola /ra

source: technology.inquirer.net

Google Assistant soon to be assisting other Android phone owners

Initially an exclusive feature of Google’s Pixel phones, the Google Assistant will soon be available for download on other Android smartphones.

A Google blogpost indicated that the Assistant is set to be made available to a wider range of smartphones currently running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Starting this week, users in the United States—to be followed by those in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom—will be able to install the Google Assistant in their compatible phones.

The ‘assistant’ will also be coming to German-speaking users. Support for other languages will be rolled out next year.

Google Assistant is also expected to appear with some of the latest crop of smartphones fresh from the Mobile World Congress, happening now in Barcelona, Spain.

If you’ve been looking forward to having Google Assistant in your device, it’s about time to brush up on your “Ok Google” along with already drawing up a mental list of all the tasks you’d want Assistant to help you with. JB

source: technology.inquirer.net

Apple proved a phone can change the world in just 10 years

SAN FRANCISCO— Few people realized it at the time, but the world shifted fundamentally a decade ago when Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from Apple’s bag of technological tricks.

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” Jobs declared as he paced across a San Francisco stage.

It obviously wasn’t an empty boast. We all know now that Jobs’ “magical product” has reshaped culture, shaken up industries, put computers in billions of pockets and made it possible to do just about anything with a few taps on a screen. Besides its then 3.5-inch touch screen, the first iPhone featured a browser for on-the-go web surfing and built-in apps to check email and get directions.

GOING MOBILE
Apple has sold more than 1 billion iPhones since its debut, spawning millions of mobile applications and prodding other technology companies to make similar smartphones that have become like phantom limbs for many of us.

We use iPhones and their copycats to instantly share video and pictures with friends and family from almost anywhere. We use them to figure out where we are going. We use them to find the best deals while shopping in stores and to pay for stuff at the checkout stand. We use the phones to a hail ride, to tune instruments, to monitor our health and help find our next jobs.

Phones have gotten so smart that they even talk back to us via helpful digital concierges such as the iPhone’s Siri and the recently introduced Assistant on Google’s Pixel phone.

“IPhone is an essential part of our customers’ lives, and today more than ever it is redefining the way we communicate, entertain, work and live,” Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook, boasted in a retrospective that the Cupertino, California, company posted on its website.

ROADKILL IN ITS WAKE

The iPhone’s revolutionary touch screen doomed the BlackBerry, another once-popular internet-connected phone. Mobile phones and their tablet cousins triggered a downturn in personal computer sales that is still unfolding.

An estimated 219 million desktop and laptop computers shipped worldwide last year, down from 264 million in 2007, according to the research firm Gartner Inc. Meanwhile, nearly 1.9 billion mobile phones shipped last year, up from 1.15 billion in 2007.

All told, Gartner estimates about 5 billion mobile phones are currently in use around the world compared to 1.3 billion PCs.

The eroding popularity of PCs spurred shake-ups at powerful tech companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, none of which adapted nimbly to the mobile world unleashed by the iPhone.

Then-Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer scoffed at Apple’s glass-and-metal gadget, telling USA Today in April 2007 that “there’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”

Microsoft wound up squandering the $7.6 billion that it spent to buy phone maker Nokia in a futile attempt to catch up to the iPhone. Ballmer stepped down as CEO three years ago and was replaced by Satya Nadella, who introduced versions of Microsoft’s popular Office programs that worked on Apple’s iPad — a tablet based on the iPhone.

A HUGE HIT … AND THEN A STALL

The iPhone’s success helped make Jobs a revered figure for many, and one whose October 2011 death was mourned around the world.

The device has established Apple as the world’s most profitable company with earnings of $45.7 billion on sales of $216 billion during its latest fiscal year. (Prior to the iPhone’s release, Apple posted an annual profit of $2 billion on sales of $19.3 billion.) Its stock-market value is hovering around $635 billion, thanks to a split-adjusted stock price that’s risen by nearly a factor of 10 since the iPhone’s debut.

Lately, though, the iPhone appears to be losing some steam. People are keeping older models for longer before upgrading or switching over to competing phones that run on Google’s Android software.

Apple suffered its first-ever decline in iPhone sales in its last fiscal year, causing the company to miss its revenue projections and hitting Cook with a 15 percent pay cut .

Most smartphones now run on Android, partly because Google gives away the software. That has helped iPhone rivals woo price conscious consumers, especially outside the U.S., with phones that are much cheaper than the iPhone, whose latest models now cost more than $649 to $849.

In his statement, though, Cook promised the iPhone is “just getting started. The best is yet to come.”

source: technology.inquirer.net

Android Nougat update rolls out to Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

Android Nougat is finally making its way to Samsung smartphones starting with the current flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

The version number G935FXXU1DPLR, which also includes the January security patch, has been spotted in some S7 and S7 Edge devices, reports Tech Radar.

This initial wave of updates is likely to be a limited soak test, enabling devices that get the update later to have a different version number. However, with beta testing having been wrapped up in December, it also stands to reason that most users will be getting the Nougat update soon.


There is currently no specific data on what the features of the upgrade are but going by the beta tests, big changes are to be expected. This includes grouped notifications, being able to change the resolution, and a new interface design, to name a few. Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net

Messenger Lite app released for basic Android smartphones

Last Oct. 2, Facebook announced that a new version of its Messenger app would be released, targeted specifically for certain Android smartphones.

A “Lite” version of the Messenger app would be made available to users who only have access to basic Android smartphones. It would also benefit users that have slower than average internet access, as the app would have only the core features of Messenger. The slimmed down Messenger Lite would still allow the aforementioned users to send text, photos, links and stickers albeit faster than the standard app if run on a basic Android device.

Messenger Lite would only be under 10MB and have a reversed color scheme to the standard Messenger color similar to what Facebook did with the Lite version of its core Facebook app. Considering the size of Facebook Lite compared with the standard version, it can be expected that Messenger Lite will also enjoy a dramatically smaller footprint than its standard counterpart. After updates, the standard Facebook and Messenger apps tend to eat up a lot of storage space.

The app will first come to users living in Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Venezuela. More countries will be added to the list in the coming months.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net

Pokémon Go update released for Android and iOS

Just when people thought that the Pokémon Go hype has waned, Niantic releases a new update that may get some of the players that have grown bored with the mobile game to become active again.

The new 0.37.0 update includes the activation of the previously announced Buddy Pokémon system wherein trainers are able to assign one of their Pokémons as a “buddy.” By doing so, trainers can earn candy for their buddy Pokémon by walking a certain distance.

Other parts of the update include several fixes for known issues such as eggs hatching without displaying the animation. Smaller Pokémon are also made easier to select. Players may notice improved performance whenever their devices switch networks where the previous version would sometimes hang or stop updating.

Niantic is continuing its crackdown on bots and scrapers. Jail-broken and rooted devices will also no longer be supported by the game to help stem the number of game-hacking incidents.

Finally the update adds support for the Pokémon Go Plus accessory that will alert trainers to nearby Pokémon without the need to constantly watch their screens while walking.

The Pokémon Go craze has died down just as quickly as it had gained initial popularity. It is hard to predict whether or not the new update will be able to win back the players that had gone inactive. Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net

New Nokia phones set for release in 4th quarter

Nokia was a most popular brand in the local market when cellphones weren’t the pocketable computers that they are today. While it had slowly gone under the radar, thanks to the popularity of Android devices, the company is rumored to be planning the release of new devices in the latter part of this year.

According to a report from PCWorld, Nokia executive Mike Wang confirmed that three to four Nokia-branded devices powered by Android will be making its way into the market in the fourth quarter. The lineup is said to include both smartphones and tablets.

The Nokia devices will be handled by a relatively new company called HMD, which is composed of individuals that formerly worked in Microsoft, the old Nokia company, and many others who have come together in an effort to resurrect the brand.

Rumors have been circulating that a couple of the devices will have 5.2- and 5.5-inch Quad HD OLED displays, Snapdragon 820 SOC processors, 22.6-megapixel cameras, as well as water- and dust-resistance features.

If nostalgia is all that’s needed to introduce an old, once-iconic brand to a new audience, then HMD should make a killing come release date. But things are never so simple. They will have to come up with some noteworthy innovations for the market that’s saturated with options to be noticed.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net