Tag: Android

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Games News Tech

PUBG Mobile Is The Most Popular Game On Google Play Store

While Fortnite is not going to fall behind, as every year Google Play Store is publishing the list of its selection of the best Android applications, movies, TV series, and books, the users have chosen PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile) as the best game of 2018.

PUBG Mobile Is The Most Popular Game On Google Play Store

The list of best apps has been organized in seven categories, among which stands out the recently released “Fan Favorites,” in which users are the ones who vote for their most preferred option. In this new category, PUBG Mobile has managed to be the most favorite game by the users.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was the first Battle Royale game, but, soon after, Fortnite has become the most popular title of the genre. Since then, Bluehole and PUBG Corp have been trying to get their video game back into the spotlight. As Google Play Store named PUBG Mobile as the most popular title of 2018, the game developed by Tencent is finally beating the Epic Games’ title, Fortnite, at least on Android.

YouTube Is The Most Appreciated Application On Android Operating System

PUBG can be played on Xbox One, PC, Android and, PlayStation 4, more recently. Officially nothing is known, but there is information that points out to a PUBG release on PS4. A month ago, PSNProfiles, said that PUBG was already in the database of the Sony store, but for the moment, we got nothing from the Japanese company.

The award for best app of the year, according to Google Play Store, has been for Drops, an application that allows the learning of a total of 31 different languages. Other recognized apps have been Vimage, Slowly, Mimo, and Buzzfeed’s Tasty as the best app “for day to day.” As for the users’ favorite application, they voted for YouTube.

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Markets News Tech

Huawei To Develop Its Own OS For Smartphones

It has been rumored for a few months that Huawei is developing its own OS for smartphones. When asked about this, the firm’s officials denied the information. But it now seems that they no longer want to hide their project. The Chinese giant has finally admitted that he is working on a new OS to replace Android. Bruce Lee, Vice President of Huawei’s Mobile Products Division, announced this on his Weibo account. So there is no longer any room for doubt.

Huawei to develop a new OS for mobile devices to replace Android

Bruce Lee announced the development of a new OS made by Huawei. However, he did not mention anything about the reasons for this decision. Is the Chinese manufacturer in bad terms with Google? Apparently not, since the two are working together on the development of the latter’s new operating system.

Otherwise, just like Apple, Huawei might also want to have its own OS for mobile devices to add its personal touches more broadly than EMUI would allow. That is very likely, but there is no indication so far that the company wants to move in this direction.

Huawei might develop its own OS for smartphones to tackle the US sanctions

The explanation that remains plausible at this time is that Huawei wants to protect itself from the US sanctions. As you might recall, the United States has increased its attacks on the Chinese manufacturer in recent months.

On the basis of suspicions of espionage, the US, for example, incited its allies to remove Huawei from their 5G infrastructures. In the current geopolitical context, it is, therefore, not out of the question that the American government should prohibit commercial relations between US-based companies, such as Google, and the Chinese tech giant.

Thus, Huawei might anticipate stricter regulations from the US and develop its own OS for smartphones in case the worst happens, and they could not use Android anymore.

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Tech

Updating Apps While You’re Using Them Is The Next Goal for Android

Among the news coming from Samsung, Google also presented an upcoming feature in Android that would allow users to use applications as the system is updating apps. The presentation took place at Android Dev Summit as part of Android’s In-App Updates API, which is at this moment under testing by Google.

“You’ll have two options with this API; the first is a full-screen experience for critical updates when you expect the user to wait for the update to be applied immediately. The second option is a flexible update, which means the user can keep using the app while the update is downloaded. You can completely customize the update flow, so it feels like part of your app,” said Stephanie Cuthbertson, Android’s Director of Product Management.

According to The Verge, the new Android feature is a fail-safe against users who refuse to keep their apps updated as the process is requiring a few steps.

Updating Apps While You’re Using Them Is The Next Goal for Android

The In-App Updates API is currently in its testing phase at Google. When it comes out, this new Android feature will allow updating apps while you’re using them, easing up the Android apps update process.

Besides this upcoming function, at the before-mentioned Android Dev Summit, Google also presented its Foldables technology with which the company wants to support the forthcoming Samsung folding smartphone announced by Samsung Senior Vice President Justin Denison at the 2018 Samsung Developer Conference.

Even though Justin Denison did not disclose an exact release date for Samsung’s foldable smartphone, Galaxy F, Android and Google’s devs reported that the upcoming folding smartphone would hit the shelves in 2019. Also, the new Google’s Foldables technology is specially designed to support the forthcoming Galaxy F with a GUI and apps that would work with the device’s folding display.

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News Tech

Biometric Authentication: IOS or Android?

We all know that every smartphone update comes together with lots of features that are meant to improve your experience with the device – from functionality to aesthetics. We’re talking about the evolution of the authentication of the smartphone experience. At first, we had passcodes, then fingerprint codes, then facial recognition – the security certainly changed a lot, and it has defined the experience people had with the devices.

If we’re thinking about ten years ago, smartphones offered us access to calendar, contacts and the internet. If we’re thinking about today, there are more than 3 billion users that use their smartphone to put their most intimate information, like credit card numbers, location tracking and passwords. Smartphones are done to deal with every aspect of the everyday life, and the team behind them are constantly working on how to take care of your personal data, while they’re also working on keeping a positive user experience.

The difference between iOS and the Android devices stands in the biometric authentication – it’s a very important aspect. Biometric authentication really means the utilization of the biological characteristics in order to unlock the phone, authorize payments and verify all the things that would actually require a password.  Apple has Face ID and Android has in-screen fingerprint sensors, but the real question is how this affects the costumers.

Android

Android came with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 as his first flagship, and it had facial recognition – it basically scanned your iris. The Samsung of today comes with no less than four biometric authentications: iris scanning, facial recognition, intelligent scan and fingerprint scan.

iOS

Apple’s Face ID is, however, the most advanced app and the most representative aspect of this technology. It can be fooled by family members who have the same facial features, and hackers can get past it, as well. But it’s harder to do it than it is with Android.

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Tech

Google Forces Android Smartphone Manufacturers To Release Security Updates

Google has become severe about mobile manufacturers that use Android. In addition to charging them for including the Google Play Store, the company wants their handsets to be up to date with the latest security updates and the newest versions of Android. However, if the manufacturers don’t accept that, they will lose the advantages offered by Google.

Google launches security patches, monthly, to fix the security vulnerabilities in Android. The majority of smartphone manufacturers usually include these updates a few days after they roll out, but many are typically sending updates quarterly.

As for the system updates that Google launches annually, manufacturers are usually at least half a year late.

Smartphone manufacturers usually offer up to 2 years of support and then they stop releasing new updates with the latest security patches or new versions of Android. Google, however, is now going to force all manufacturers to launch at least four security updates a year within the first year after they launch a mobile model. In the second year, they also have to continue to send updates and patches.

Google Forces Android Smartphone Manufacturers To Release Security Updates For At Least 2 Years After Launch

These measures apply to any device launched from January 31st, 2018, that totals more than 100,000 customers. From July 31st, the action was already employed by 75% of manufacturers, and as of January 31st, 2019, it will be mandatory for all smartphone producers.

If a manufacturer does not meet the criteria set by Google, the giant Internet company could stop approving future devices from the respective manufacturer, which would prevent producers from launching smartphones with Google apps included.

The measures that Google has started to implement this year are already showing the first results. The majority of the more than 200 Android mobiles from 30 different manufacturers already have security updates launched. Additionally, Android One phones receive updates every month.

Google is also working on making Android more straightforward to update by smartphone manufacturers, as the update process has many steps to follow and is too slow.

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