Google officially announces event on October 9, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL and more expected [Update: New teaser]

Update: Google has released first teaser for the Pixel 3 with just number '3'. You can sign up at store.google.com to get details on October 9. Earlier: After several rumors, Google has officially announced its hardware event on October 9th in New York City. The invite has the number '3' to indicate that the Pixel 3 series will be unveiled. The company is also expected to introduce other hardware products like last year, but the Pixel Watch is not expected as the company wants to "focus on improving Wear OS" while working together with other hardware manufacturers. According to recent rumors,  the Pixel 2 will have a no-notch 5.5-inch (2160 x 1080) 18:9 aspect ratio display, dual front speaker, glass + metal back, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, Snapdragon 845 SoC, 4GB RAM, 64GB / 128GB internal storage, Dual 8.1MP front cameras with f/1.8 and f/2.2 aperture, respectively, one for IR face unlock and a 2,915mAh battery. The Pixel 3 XL is said to pack a 6.2-inch (1440 x 2960) 19:9 aspect ratio display with a notch, while other specifications are expected to be similar the Pixel 3, but it will have a slightly bigger 3430mAh battery with support for wireless charging. Both the phones are said to come bundled with a USB ...

PUBG Mobile update brings new Sanhok map, new weapons and vehicles; surpasses 20 million daily active users in 6 months

Makers of PUBG Mobile are consistently rolling out monthly updates with new features since its launch in March. This month the app has again gained a fresh new update bringing the version to v0.80 with the new Sanhok map set in a dense jungle with varying landscapes.  The Sanhok map offers players a smaller map for more tense combat scenarios and gun battles. Tencent also announced that the game now has more than 20 million daily active users (not including Japan, Korea, and China). Furthermore, in Season 2, the previous 14-week period of games, more than 130 million players from more than 200 countries earned themselves 864,425,575 chicken dinners. Additionally, the latest update also brings new in-game and social features including new weapons and vehicles such as Flare Gun, QBZ, Muscle Car and Bulletproof UAZ. Improved recognition for cheating plug-ins and added report buttons to Spectator Mode, Basic Information, and Results screens. The Season page now shows all seasons player and relevant data, including titles, highest tier reached and improvements to the chat system, clan rankings, airdrop items, friends list and more.

Google, Samsung collaborate for RCS Messaging on Android

Samsung Electronics and Google have announced that they are working together to offer global Rich Communication Services (RCS) coverage and interoperability. This will enable features like the ability to chat over Wi-Fi, create rich group chats, see typing indicators and read receipts, and share high-resolution photos and videos across platforms. Both the companies will work together to ensure that their messaging clients, Android Messages and Samsung Messages, work seamlessly with each company’s RCS technology, including cloud and business messaging platforms. As part of the collaboration, Samsung will work to bring these RCS features to existing mobile phones* beginning with the Galaxy S8 and S8+. However, upcoming Samsung Galaxy smartphones will also natively support RCS messaging, starting with those on a set of carriers that have or will soon launch RCS. Developers and brands that create RCS Business Messaging experiences based on GSMA Universal Profile 2.0 using the Google or Samsung Messaging-as-a-Platform (MaaP) services will be able to reach both Android Messages and Samsung Messages users. Patrick Chomet, EVP, and Head of Product & Services Innovation Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics said: At Samsung, we adhere to a model of open collaboration to bring premium experiences to our customers across products. By furthering our robust partnership with Google, ...

Samsung Health 6.0 brings new U.I, updated health and fitness tools, social features and more

Samsung Electronics has introduced a new version of the Samsung Health app, Samsung Health1 6.0 which brings updated health and fitness tools, a new UI, and increased personalization. Samsung says that its Health platform has over 65 million monthly active users worldwide. The updated Samsung Health user experience brings more user-friendly visual design and new features. The home screen is now simplified, categorized and prioritized according to the user’s personal needs and habits so that users can quickly view and access preferred features. Thanks to the improved 'Together' tab, it now allows users to share photos and celebrate fitness milestones and achievements with friends all within the app. Users can also connect with Samsung’s community around the world to exchange texts and photos, compare achievements and encourage each other to do more with the monthly ‘Global Challenge’. The updated ‘Discover’ tab allows users to easily find health-related content – including articles, programs, and partner apps based on their interests and level of fitness. Samsung Health now supports a complete set of SDKs for app and web service integration. This move allows partners and developers to expand their service. The new enhanced Samsung Health interface on Samsung wearables and smartwatches features more at-a-glance information, a workout countdown, GPS and ...

YouTube Kids gets parents approved content, “Older” version experience for tweens

YouTube today is introducing two new features to its YouTube Kids app including the parents approved content where it brings the ability for parents to handpick every video and channel available to their child in the app. Furthermore, it is also launching a new experience geared toward 8-12-year-olds that includes additional new content, like popular music and gaming videos. Parents can pick this "Older" version when setting up a new profile or updating an existing profile if they think their kids are ready. However,  the "Younger" version will remain as the default content experience and will continue to have a wide selection of sing-alongs and age-appropriate learning videos. YouTube is rolling out the new older experience in the U.S. and plans to expand globally soon. As for the parents approved content, parents can enable this feature by opening the settings, go to the child’s profile and select approved content only. Parents can choose any video, channel or collection of channels they like by tapping the "+" button. Parents can also search for a specific creator or video. If parents choose to enable this mode, their kids will not be able to search for content on their own. This feature is available on Android and is coming to ...

Huawei ARS-AL00 / ARS-TL00 with 7.12-inch FHD+ display, AI dual rear cameras, 5000mAh battery gets certified

A week after the announcement of  Honor 8X Max in China, a new Huawei smartphone with similar specifications has been certified by TENAA. This reveals a similar design and specifications, including a 7.12-inch Full HD+ display with narrow bezels and 90.5% screen-to-body ratio, 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, AI scene recognition, and a 2-megapixel secondary camera, 8-megapixel front camera, fingerprint sensor on the back, and a 5000mAh battery with support for fast charging. This could replace the Snapdragon 636 / 660 from the 8X Max with Kirin 710. This also has a version with a leather-like back as you can see in the image. Huawei ARS-AL00  / ARS-TL00 specifications 7.12-inch (2244×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18.7:9 2.5D curved glass display, 72% NTSC Color Gamut 1.95GHz Octa-Core processor 4GB RAM, 64GB / 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, 2MP secondary camera, f/2.4 aperture 8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 177.57×86.24×8.48mm; Weight: 210g Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz / 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS 5000mAh(typ) / 4900mAh (min) battery with fast charging The Huawei smartphone is expected to come in Black, White and ...

Facebook expands fact-checking to photos and videos in 17 countries

Facebook today has announced that it is expanding fact-checking for photos and videos to all its 27 partners in 17 countries around the world. The company says that this will help identify and take action against more types of misinformation, faster. Similar to the process involved for Articles, Facebook has built a machine learning model that uses various engagement signals, including feedback from people on Facebook to identify potentially false content. The company will send photos and videos to fact-checkers for their review who have expertise in evaluating photos and videos and are trained in visual verification techniques, such as reverse image searching and analyzing image metadata, like when and where the photo or video was taken. Fact-checkers can assess the truth or falsity of a photo or video by combining these skills and using other methods such as research from experts, academics or government agencies. As Facebook gets more ratings from these fact-checkers, it will get the chance to improve the accuracy of its machine learning model. It is also leveraging other technologies to better recognize false or misleading content. Facebook categorizes false photos and videos into three categories; Manipulated or Fabricated, Out of Context, and Text or Audio Claim. Source

Apple HomePod gets improved Siri integration, Spanish language support and more

Apple is adding new features to HomePod including the ability to search by lyrics, set multiple timers, make and receive phone calls and more. It is also bringing support for Spanish in the US, Spain, and Mexico, and expands support in Canada with Canadian French. The update also brings the popular Apple Watch feature; Find my iPhone, so users can ping any of their nearby devices to find them. With iOS 12, Apple introduced Siri Shortcuts where Siri learns user routines and suggests ‘shortcuts’ on iPhone and iPad. Now, these shortcuts are accessible on HomePod. The new Shortcuts app personalizes shortcuts for HomePod with a series of tasks. Additionally, it now lets you search by lyrics to play a particular song, artist or genre. It also brings support for multiple named timers. Users can conveniently use HomePod to make and receive phone calls. To make a call, simply ask Siri to call someone from Contacts or say the number to call. Incoming calls are automatically directed from iPhone to HomePod and users can answer the call by asking Siri to answer the phone. Source

Google to shut down Inbox by Gmail in March 2019

Google has officially announced that it is shutting down its Inbox by Gmail app at the end of March 2019. The app remained as a great platform for Google to experiment with new ideas like snoozing emails to later, AI-powered experiences like Smart Reply, Nudges and high-priority notifications and more. Four years after launching the app, Google has migrated most of its features to the flagship Gmail app. The newly revamped Gmail which was introduced earlier this year incorporates many of the same Inbox features. To focus solely on Gmail, the company decided to pull the plug for Inbox by Gmail. Google is allowing users to manually disable access to Inbox prior to the end of March 2019 from the Admin console. The company is encouraging users to use the new Gmail instead of Inbox. In a blog statement, Google said: Four years after launching Inbox in 2014, we've learned a lot about how to make email better—and we’ve taken popular Inbox experiences and added them into Gmail to help more than a billion people get more done with their emails every day. As we look to the future, we want to take a more focused approach that will help us bring the best email experience to everyone. ...

Samsung Galaxy event scheduled for October 11, smartphone with four rear cameras expected

Samsung just scheduled an event on October 11th to launch a new Galaxy device. The invite has 4X fun and the company says "Let the fun times begin" along with the date. As per recent rumors, the company is expected to introduce a new series of smartphone with four rear cameras for the first time. Let the fun times begin, this October 11, 2018. pic.twitter.com/8zzWYAgiWB — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) September 14, 2018 We had already seen several Samsung smartphones with dual front and rear cameras, and a recent rumor  said that the Galaxy A (2019) could feature triple rear cameras includin a 32MP sensor. Even the Galaxy S10 is rumored to feature triple rear cameras and dual front cameras. Samsung Camera Camera Camera Camera — Ice universe (@UniverseIce) September 2, 2018 all back — Ice universe (@UniverseIce) September 2, 2018 Samsung will offer live stream on samsung.com/galaxy. We should know more details about this Galaxy device in the coming weeks.