Latest news with #AndroidCanary
Android Authority
17 hours ago
- Android Authority
Android's hidden phone info menu is finally getting organized
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR Android Canary is showing a change to the hidden phone information menu. There's a new entry called 'Phone Information V2.' The new entry separates information that was on one page into four categories: Device Details, Data & Network, Satellite, and IMS. Did you know that Android has secret short codes you can use to gain quick access to certain features or information? You just have to enter one of the codes into the dialer to trigger an action or be taken to a hidden menu. In Android Canary, it looks like one of these hidden menus is getting a change. When you type in *#*#4636#*#* into the dialer, your phone will show you a hidden menu with options including Phone information, Usage statistics, and Wi-Fi information. Most people who know about this hidden menu tend to use it to force-lock their network to 3G, 4G, or 5G, so it doesn't switch automatically. Something we noticed in Android Canary is that this menu now has a fourth entry — Phone Information V2. Previously, all of the details in the Phone information option were presented on one page. This new option separates that information into four different tabs: Device Details, Data & Network, Satellite, and IMS. As expected, the tabs neatly bin all relevant information into the categories they belong in. The Satellite tab is particularly interesting as it is completely new. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
3 new Android 16 features to try thanks to Android Canary
Android 16 is here and there are already a bunch of fun new features to try out, but more are on the way. You can actually try some of them right now thanks to Android Canary, Google's brand new delivery mechanism for upcoming feature testing for Android. Per 9to5Google, the first Android Canary update is here, bringing with it a small handful of minor new features. They aren't big, game-changing additions, but they do sound nice. Here are three you should try. Before we get started, a brief word of warning: Installing unfinished Android builds on your personal device can be dangerous for reasons that I hope are obvious. Do it at your own risk. 1. Hide the AI button Easily the most appealing new feature in the latest Android Canary update to me, personally, is the ability to hide the AI button from the Pixel search bar that sits on your phone's home screen. Typically, the search bar just has two buttons: One for voice search and one for photo search. These days, there's a third button that activates AI mode, but a new toggle in the settings menu lets you turn that off entirely so you never accidentally press it. 2. Enhanced HDR It's not clear yet how profound an effect it has, but there's a new "Enhanced HDR Brightness" toggle in the settings menu that is supposed to improve image quality on anything that supports HDR. Specifically, as its name suggests, HDR content should be brighter after you turn this on. HDR is great when configured correctly, but it can sometimes produce dimmer images, so this is a good setting to have, assuming it works. 3. A new, separate parental controls menu This last one is less a new feature and more a reorganization of the settings menu, but there's now a dedicated "Parental Controls" menu where there wasn't before. Previously, parental controls were bundled into the "Digital Wellbeing" menu, which still exists, but is now separate from parental controls. Again, it doesn't seem like there are any new parental control options at the moment, but it's nice that this is now its own separate part of the settings menu.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Indian Express
Google introduces Android Canary for early developer testing
Google recently launched their Android Canary release channel to replace their traditional developer previews. Only those with Pixel smartphones and tablets are likely to get access to Google's upcoming features on Android smartphones. The company's Android Beta for Pixel programme has long allowed interested users to sign up and receive access to in-development builds of major new releases, like Android 16, months before they are released publicly. For those who like early previews, Google announced something even better – Android Canary. The initial Android Canary update offers a goes beyond tweaks to user interface, however, there are many yet to be known features which will be revealed much later. The Android Canary is intended for developers who wish to explore and test the earliest pre-released Android APIs and potential changes. In addition to Google's automated testing, builds from the Google Platform Android Canary channel will briefly be tested by internal users. While testing Android Canary, users can expect bugs and breaking changes or modifications that could disrupt the compatibility of the software. These bleeding edge builds may not be suitable for someone who uses this platform on their primary device, testing it on a spare Pixel device is recommended. The existing Beta channel will run simultaneously to the Android Canary to make sure that the apps are both compatible with and take advantage of upcoming platform features. When it comes to issues, they will now be directly addressed by the Canary channel, through over-the-air (OTA) updates, you can now obtain a continuous, rolling stream of the most recent platform builds on your compatible Pixel device to the Canary release channel. In the early stages of proposed behaviour changes and new features, developers can test them out and offer feedback. There are possibilities that these modifications will not always appear in a stable Android release. Through the Beta programme, users can still test a more polished set of features that might be released shortly. Canary builds can also be used with Computer Interface to see whether any of the in-development features cause unexpected problems with your app, which will maximise the time we have to address your concerns. Although the Developer Preview programme has been an essential component of Google's release cycle, there were inherent limitations in its structure. Developer Previews needed to be manually flashed to devices each time the cycle restarted because they were not connected to a release channel. Earlier, previews were only accessible in the early stages of the cycle since they were linked to the upcoming official Android release. The preview track would terminate once a platform version entered the Beta stage, leaving features that showed promise but were not yet prepared for Beta without an official avenue for feedback.
Android Authority
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Android Authority
Google is working to bring album art to Now Playing on your Pixel's lock screen (APK teardown)
Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Now Playing detects songs your phone hears in its vicinity and can identify them on your lock screen. Tapping on the detected song name currently takes you to your Now Playing history. Google is working on a new interface where that tap would instead display album art on the lock screen. Sometimes, when it rains, it pours. As we analyze Android app updates for evidence of in-development changes, it can really feel like it's dealer's (or should we say, developer's) choice, and it can be weeks or months before we find ourselves revisiting a specific feature. But this week we're retuning to one topic just a single day after we last checked in, as we look into what Google's working on for its Now Playing song-ID tool. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. Last time around, we had just installed the new Android Canary release and saw Google adding a Now Playing option for our screen-corner lock screen shortcuts. That sounds well and good, but we also really like the way Now Playing works automatically on our lock screens, just displaying the song it's hearing without any extra interaction needed on our part. Right now, Now Playing on the lock screen is basically all text, just showing you the song and artist it's detected. From there you're welcome to tap through to your Now Playing history, where you get a richer experience with album art and links to YouTube and YouTube Music. Looking into a recent Android System Intelligence update, however, we've been able to get an early preview of some new behavior from this feature. Instead of jumping right into your history upon tapping, Google is thinking about an interface where Now Playing would start with its familiar text display, but then tapping it would expand that to offer a bar with album art. We also get quick access to the favorite button over on the right, and can add or remove tracks from that list with a tap. And if you do need to access your full history, you can get there with a double tap. Frankly, we wish Google would think about removing that first step and make this new look the default for Now Playing on the lock screen, instead of needing us to tap for the art. But who knows? Right now this is still very much in active development, and we just might get an option like that by the time Google's ready to formally introduce it. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
4 days ago
- Android Authority
Google testing new 'Parental controls' setting in Android Canary
Paul Jones / Android Authority TL;DR Google has launched a new Android Canary release channel for developers to test experimental features. A new 'Parental controls' setting has appeared in Pixel devices running the Canary build. The setting may be linked to Android 16's upcoming 'Supervision' tools for managing screen time and web content for children. We've spotted a new 'Parental controls' setting in Pixel devices running Google's new Android Canary build. It appears under the Digital Wellbeing option within the Settings menu, and we think it could be linked to the 'Supervision' tools we previously spotted in the Android 16 Beta 4 release. Google's new Android Canary release channel gives developers early access to in-progress Android features. In this initial Canary build, the new 'Parental controls' setting hints at future updates to child safety tools on Android. Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority The description of the setting reads, 'digital ground rules & screen time limits.' However, tapping it currently doesn't open up anything in the Canary build. Like we said, the feature appears similar to a 'Supervision' page we previously found in Android 16 Beta 4. In the earlier beta, the 'Supervision' page included a toggle to enable device supervision and an option for web content filtering. Once supervision was turned on by entering a PIN for the supervised account, filters could block explicit sites on Chrome and explicit content in Google Search. These tools aim to hide inappropriate materials online, though they may not be able to block everything. The Android Canary channel is aimed at developers, and Google warns that these builds aren't suitable for daily users. The first release is available for several Pixel models, including the Pixel 9 series, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
