The Android weekly share with you the Android-related events worthy of attention in the past week.
What’s the worthy of attention in the past week?
The new UWB API in Android 12 may be practically applied on Pixel 6, such as Nearby Share or a Tile tracker that supports UWB.
In addition, the Play Store’s new application introduction specifications, Pixel Buds A, and the new launcher for Android tablets are all worth paying attention to.
And there are interesting uses, such as controlling Android phones to take pictures through the switch handle.
Android 12 supports UWB
With the launch of AirTag, the application scenarios of UWB (Ultra Wideband) technology have become a hot topic again; but here is not the iPhone, but Android and the next generation of Pixel. Mishaal Rahman from XDA said via Twitter last week that they found from the code that Google is testing the new API for UWB technology added in Android 12, and the test device code is the one that appeared in the previous exposure and is equipped with Google’s self-developed SoC. Pixel 6.
In addition to Apple, which is quietly deploying UWB, OEM manufacturers including Xiaomi, Sony, and Samsung are also investing in the UWB technology industry chain to prepare for the actual application scenarios of their new products equipped with UWB: for example, Samsung is in the S20/S21 two-generation Galaxy flagship After equipped with the UWB chip, the Galaxy Tag+ tracker that also supports UWB technology was released: However, the Galaxy Tag+ can only be used with Galaxy phones.
Going back to the UWB technology itself, in addition to the possibility that Pixel 6 may be equipped with this technology, the UWB API added to Android 12 may eventually be added to Android 12 in a stand-alone manner similar to Apple’s “Find My” application. In addition to being directly used for trackers to prevent you from losing things, UWB can also play a role in the built-in file transfer function of the Android system, Nearby Share, and can also be used for mobile phones to unlock cars, or indoor navigation that requires more precise location tracking. In the communication scenario, Android natively adds support for this technology, which is undoubtedly a good thing for the development of related peripherals and mobile phone OEM manufacturers.
Another detail that cannot be ignored is that Google also has an Airtag competitor-Tile series trackers, but Tile has not released any tracker products that support UWB technology (of course, this is more or less similar to Android. Several devices support UWB). After Android 12 and Pixel 6 natively add support for this feature, I believe that Tile will also be very likely to release new trackers that support UWB technology on the same platform.
The application introduction guide of Play Store
It’s hard not to see those games with various Emoji and exclamation points in the titles in the Play Store, as if more people will be willing to click on the details to download the game after this is written.
Maybe the Play Store has finally realized that this problem greatly affects the user experience when choosing an app. Last week, the Play Store released a set of new guidelines for app introduction; including some design suggestions for app introduction and deprecated name design.
For example, the title of the application cannot exceed 30 characters, and reduce unnecessary capital letters as much as possible, or introductions such as “the top ** game”.
In addition, descriptions like “free” and “download now” that appear in the application name are also defined as application introductions that are not recommended in the new version of the guide. This series of new changes will be officially launched in the second half of 2021. Effective, but these measures are not mandatory, which means that those apps will not be removed from the Play Store immediately, but the introduction of such apps basically bid farewell to various editorial recommendations and search promotions in the Play Store.
Pixel Buds A
There has been a lot of evidence to confirm that Google is about to launch a Pixel Buds series of TWS headsets, but no one wants to know that Google actually sent out real machine renderings directly on Twitter last week.
Well, in fact, Google has done a lot of this kind of thing, but this time it is actually the official Android account that is introducing another new feature of the Android system-the Fast Pair function that allows users to quickly pair Bluetooth headsets. Pairing AirPods on iOS is similar.
This feature has actually been on the Android system for a while. It seems that this is just normal publicity, but the problem is that the paired device in the picture is a pure Pixel Buds that appears to be a Pixel Buds, but is not available in the original Pixel Buds. White color matching; and the Fast Pair pairing interface directly displays the name of “Pixel Buds A”.
Although Google deleted this tweet later, it was still saved by many people. This exposure also further increased the possibility that the new Pixel Buds A will be released at the I/O conference. The current problem is this A. What hardware will the series castrate: After all, the original Pixel Buds actually does not have active noise reduction, and there are not many proprietary software optimizations that Google is good at.
New launcher for Android tablets
It’s no secret that the Android tablet is completely surpassed by the iPad in applied ecology and performance. Even now, many OEMs, including Google, have completely abandoned the Android tablet business, but in the lower-priced consumer/entertainment market, Cheap Android tablets can actually find a place to stay: the new launch interface of “Entertainment Space” released by Google for Android tablets is part of this effort.
Unlike the previous Android tablet launcher which is similar to the desktop of a large Android phone, the new version looks very much like the UI interface of Google TV as a whole: there are movie recommendations at the top, and three interfaces for streaming media, games and books that separate different types of content, After logging in to YouTube, it will automatically recommend the content you like.
As a measure to extend the life of Android tablets and to re-position them, I personally think it’s not a bad thing. Besides, the positioning of cheap Android tablets is to read e-books/videos. This conclusion is actually not difficult to find by looking at the annual high sales of Amazon’s Kindle series of Android tablets.
In addition to the cheap Android tablets sold at Wal-Mart that will be the first to carry this interface, Google also announced that it will push this update for some Android tablets in the near future, and also promised to provide new products for the world including Lenovo, Sharp and other Android tablets within this year. And the new launch interface of the existing Android tablet push.
Joy-Con remote control Android phone to take photos
The camera remote is actually a very cheap mobile phone camera peripheral, but have you ever thought that the Joy-Con of the Switch can also be used as an Android camera remote?
Someone in Reddit tried it by hand, and the way to use it is very simple: put any Joy-Con into pairing mode, and then find the Joy-Con connection in the Bluetooth settings of the mobile phone to use it.
However, this function differs greatly depending on the mobile phone system or camera app: For example, according to the test of Android Central, in the default camera app of Samsung Galaxy series phones, the X and Y buttons of Joy-Con can zoom in/out the phone. Viewfinder screen, and OnePlus 9 Pro and the ported version of GCam can only call the home button of the phone, but on most Android phones, using the A button to control the shutter can be implemented normally.
Although using Joy-Con as a selfie remote is not a very convenient use, but if you want to take a group photo at a party, it’s okay to temporarily use Joy-Con as a remote control.
Clubhouse for Android
After the Clubhouse trend has passed for a long time, similar functions have been added to social tools such as Twitter and Telegram, and even Spotify has participated it, Clubhouse finally remembered that they still have to develop an App for the Android platform: Clubhouse updated in Notion last week The announcement announced that they will conduct a Beta test on the Android side.
However, the Beta test mentioned in the Clubhouse announcement is actually more like the alpha test phase in the conventional sense: Android version applications cannot be downloaded directly by Android users who want to participate in the test. Instead, the official Clubhouse team can only give some “friendly testers” released a version that is still very crude.
However, Clubhouse also stated that it will be tested for more users in the next few weeks, so if you still want to try Clubhouse on your Android device, you may continue to follow Clubhouse in Android Weekly in the next few weeks. dynamic.
