Our forum members have launched a petition to get Lenovo to include the Moto G 2015 in its official update list, owing to similarities in hardware with other devices in that list. Help spread the word!
Samsung has just announced mass production of their first wearable SoC that is built upon the company's 14nm FinFET process technology. The company has been expanding their 14nm technology since it was introduced back in 2015, and now they are bringing it to all sorts of wearables. This also marks the first in its class to offer full connectivity and LTE modem integration right into the chip.
The Exynos 7 Dual 7270 is made up of 2 ARM Cortex-A53 cores, which has been able to cut down on power usage by 20% when compared to its predecessor built on a 28nm process. The SoC also features an integrated Cat.4 LTE 2CA modem so the wearable doesn't have to be connected to your smartphone in order to use cellular service. On top of all that, the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 also includes the traditional Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM and GNSS features.
The chip also utilizes Samsung's SiP(system-in-package)-ePoP (embedded package-on-package) technology. This means the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 stacks the AP, DRAM, NAND flash memory and the power management IC so that it can reduce the height by 30% compared to its predecessors. This, along with the 14nm FinFet process technology makes it ideal for wearable technology like smartwatches.
Samsung has said the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 is currently in mass production and that a a reference platform that consists of the chip, NFC and various other sensors are available for OEMs who want to utilize the technology. This could end up being good competition to Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip, and it's something that the company needs since it just released a revised earnings guidance for the third quarter of 2016.
Samsung needs to do anything they can to make up the financial lose that will come from the current Galaxy Note 7 battery debacle.
Google has finally announced details of the Android 7.1 Developer Preview program and tells us that it will be available on supported Nexus devices later this month. Just like with the Android N Developer Preview, anyone with a supported device will be able to enroll via the Android Beta program. If you already have a device enrolled in the Android Beta program then you won't have to change anything.
Google tells us that the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and the Pixel C will be the first to try out the Android 7.1 Developer Preview. We aren't told if it will be done in phases like the Android N Developer Preview was, but they do say that additional details about the program will be revealed soon. Currently, Google has the final version of Android 7.1.x scheduled to hit the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel C, Nexus Player and supported Android One devices in "early December."
With Android 7.1, Google is introducing API level 25 and says the update delivers productivity, security, and performance improvements along with optimizations and bug fixes over the current 7.0 version. This update introduces the app shortcuts API, circular app icon resources, enhanced live wallpaper metadata, image keyboard support, and the storage manager intent. On the carrier side of things, 7.1 also includes new APIs for multi-endpoint calling and new telephony configuration options.
As with all developer previews that Google has done for Android, the whole idea is to get the update into the hands of developers so they prepare their apps for the update. Google says they've already been working with OEMs in hopes to get them pushing out an Android 7.1 OTA update as quickly as possible.
Source: Android Developers Blog
There has been a lot of background activity recently surrounding Android Pay's global rollout, and an additional sign of the work that Google is putting in to prepare for their Canadian launch has just surfaced in Android Pay version 1.7. Android Pay now contains the first stages of Interac support.
For those that aren't familiar with the Canadian banking environment, Interac is a non-profit joint venture between the major Canadian banks, which handles the standardization of interbank transactions in Canada, especially for Debit cards. There are over 59,000 ATMs, 83 banks, and 450,000 stores that use Interac in Canada, making it the de facto standard.
The popular Xposed module N-ify which adds Nougat features to older Android versions has been updated and now users of the 6.6.14.21.arm64 Google app can access Google Assistant even on Marshmallow.
Google's October 4th event was the launchpad of the Pixel duo — devices that are meant to showcase Android and all that Google has added to it. The world, including us here at the XDA Office, were excited to see what new comes out of the hardware that was practically leaked in and out.
What surprised us, was how the event was not phone-centric, or even hardware-centric really. All announcements ultimately revolved around software and the future of Google's services.
In hindsight, that makes sense. Google is a software company after all, a company that grew up in prominence by simply offering you meaningful information when you asked for it via Search. With how the Web and our ways of interaction with it are evolving, our consumption of information has become more personal and self-centric in nature. Google has realized the personal nature of this interaction, which is why Google Assistant, their virtual personal assistant, was the main highlight and focus of the entire event.
A personal assistant is not entirely a new concept for Google. Google's first publicly available foray into providing somewhat of a personal assistant was with Google Now, back in 2012 with the release of Android 4.1. Google Now basically improved upon Voice Search by adding a personal touch. Over the years, Google improved upon Now to make it better at predicting which information you need and when you need it. Then came Now on Tap, which gave it elements of contextuality as the app could now analyze the contents displayed on your screen to give you more accurate results based on your situation.
Assistant is a tad bit different from whatever Google has attempted so far. It does combine functionality seen in previous virtual assistants that the company has experimented with, but it employs a more conversational approach to it. We've seen, and even reviewed, such conversational and contextual personal assistants before. With Google's vast resources and data collection capabilities, an AI powered assistant really has potential to take off. But it also begs the question, what's the catch?
Here, we will try and list the things that we do know about Google Assistant, and the things that we don't, with a view to get a clearer picture if the Assistant ecosystem, that Google believes is the future, is worth investing into.
Google Assistant is currently coming in three formats or mediums:
While Google Home and the Pixel are specific hardware devices that you need to purchase, you can try out a version of Assistant right now with Google's rather underwhelming chat app, Allo. Assistant works slightly differently in each case, mainly differing on the input and output methods rather than its core functioning. Finally, you can actually get to try Assistant on any Android smartphone running Nougat with a simple build.prop tweak (either use an editor while rooted, use adb and mount /system with a custom recovery, or flash the ZIPs). Keep in mind that this currently offers extremely limited functionality.
With Google Home, you just talk to Assistant and instruct it to control the IoT elements in your house, do google searches for you and also control media playback on the various devices around your house. One of the goals here is to have the device act as a hub for home control and automation, and voice based commands and playback aid in hands-free control. The entire idea of Google Home is that it is always-on, therefore the way the user approaches it is different than what's found on a phone, or within a specific phone app. While the phone variant of Assistant will be able to control IoT elements, Google Home is arguably more centered around such functionality.
With the Pixel and Pixel XL devices, the goals do change around. The Assistant implementation over here is basically an overhauled Google Now on Tap, trying to compete with Siri and Cortana. You can control your phone as well as do all the normal Google Searches that you were used to. You also get the advantages of contextual information recognition from Now on Tap, as the information displayed on your screen acts as a starting point for your Search. Interestingly, Assistant on Pixel also seems limited to voice input. The main strength of Assistant looks to be multiple-input queries or orders, as the AI is able to interpret the context of the conversation to allow you to make more natural requests.
In Allo, Google Assistant interactions are primarily text based. Assistant here is limited to practically doing Google searches, as hardware control is beyond what is essentially a chatbot.
Google does mention that a unified Assistant experience is one of their aims for the future. But right now, Assistant does exist in three distinct forms, along with Google Now as well.
Here is a small preview of the commands with which you can use for Google Assistant on an Android device:
Google has not officially mentioned what happens to Google Now now that Assistant is the cherished product. Since Assistant does have an element of pseudo-exclusivity to it at the moment, Google Now continues to be functional but the situation could change. Google did remove the mentions of Google Now from the Google App just a while back. In the future, it is likely that Google will shift focus entirely to Assistant and AI, at which point Google Now (as a separate app) will be merged into Assistant in favor of a unified experience.
Since Assistant is conversational in its working, there is a limit on what it can understand and respond to. At the moment, Assistant is limited to English, while the Assistant functionality on Pixel devices does support German. More languages are coming soon, but Google has refrained from committing to a time frame.
There has been no commitment or announcement made on Google's part to support offline commanding of Assistant. Offline support is important if Assistant is to become the hub of your home activities, and it would be ridiculous if you can't have your front porch lights switched on just because your internet was flaky that night. That said, if your IoT devices are within the same WiFi network, internet connection might not be necessary.
As of now, Assistant inside Allo can receive (text) commands offline, but only responds when the device goes online. The unofficially Assistant on the OnePlus 3 can control basic phone hardware when offline. The extent of offline availability for Google Home remains unknown as of now.
Google Assistant, outside of the chatbot in Allo, will remain a Pixel-exclusive for the near future, sadly.
Assistant is not replacing Google Now in the Android 7.1 update, meaning that just a system update will not be enough to get Assistant on your phones (officially, at least) and it seems to be enabled server-side based on build.prop flags, as explained above. As Techcrunch notes from a Google spokesperson, Assistant is not going outside the announced hardware in the before the end of this year:
Our goal is to make the Google Assistant widely available to users, and we'll continue to launch new surfaces over the course of the next year.
Restricting Assistant to specific hardware does not make sense from our perspective. An AI based virtual helper can keep benefiting from more and more users using it (and feeding it data to improve itself). Google has not mentioned that there are any hardware restrictions associated with Assistant that other modern smartphones do not possess. Google officially closing down Assistant to Pixel only surely helps sales of the Pixel, but that exclusivity only remained an advantage until an unofficial method to enable the service was found (more on this below), so the benefits do look limited. Opening up Assistant to all Android phones at least helps Google get more users on board and committed to the service, along with tying them to the Google ecosystem.
Of course, this is XDA Developers. It did not take long for Google Assistant to land "unofficially" on other devices. Turns out, all you need are two simple build.prop edits to enable Google Assistant, as long as you are on Android 7.0+ Nougat and have the Google App installed. Just add/edit these in your build.prop, set permissions and you're good to go:
ro.product.model=Pixel XL ro.opa.eligible_device=true
Google Assistant was hiding in plain sight for this long. As more and more devices receive Nougat in some form, Assistant (as it is currently) will work on non-Google hardware.
Outside of Allo, Google Assistant is tied in directly to the sale of hardware. So there does exist some sort of monetary incentive for Google to invest into Assistant. But as a company, Google also does undertake a lot of projects (and decisions) that do not have clear monetary paths (like Ara and how it was seemingly scrapped without a thought).
Google has not made public any plans to monetize Assistant yet. But they do have a few alternative routes that it can take on this end. Though whether Google actually does it or not, is a different question altogether.
The most obvious means of monetization would be through sponsored results for searches. But since these do not come up in Google Now which proactively displays information, it is unlikely to make its way onto Assistant which is more conversationally and contextually reactive (making it more difficult to make the result appear natural and not out-of-place).
Next method of monetization for Google could be to charge third party companies to integrate their services into the results for Google assistant. However, this method is also unlikely because Google itself has announced that they will launch the Actions on Google SDK for third party integration in December. This SDK will facilitate companies to build Action responses (Direct actions or conversation based actions) for Assistant-based interaction. Third party integration is crucial for Google to pitch Google Home as a worthy competitor against Amazon Alexa and hence, Google charging for the same is yet another unlikely scenario.
Google did not really touch on a lot of issues that surround Google Assistant and the aspects of privacy in its keynote event. Privacy is a crucial point for Assistant because of how the issue was handled out in Google Allo, where Google backpedaled on their earlier promise of storing messages only transiently and in an unidentifiable form and instead resorted to storing non-incognito messages indefinitely.
The support pages for Assistant do answer a few questions on the issue of privacy:
Google is vague and not-exhaustive about the information that Assistant can have access to. The information includes your name, your Google app version, your Google Account info and your Search history. However, the wording on the page does not imply that there is a limit to these areas only. You can also grant more information such as your device location and info on your device like Contacts, "Storage", and Screen Content for a more "personalized" experience.
Google promises that the information collected by Assistant is not sold to anyone. If you are interacting with a third party, Google "will let you know" so that you are in control of the information you share.
Conversation history will be used to improve the usefulness of Google assistant and there are no specific mentions of the period of storage for this conversation history. All interactions with Google Assistant are also treated as search results for Google and hence these conversations will also be used for personalization of ads.
Google Assistant activity can be deleted, thankfully. Google has put up support pages informing on how you can delete some or all of your Google Assistant interactions.
Specifically with relation to Assistant on Google Home, Google mentioned that processing of audio only takes place after the detection of the "OK Google" hotword. The audio snippet is otherwise only stored locally and discarded, though they did not mention on how long this information was stored locally. Google Home also has a mute button, but you might as well power down the device whose job revolves around audio interactions.
Google's plans with Google Assistant is certainly ambitious — they look forward to an AI-first future. Assistant is their first baby step towards this future. Even though Assistant might come across as limited in functionality to a lot of users, the scope of this service and the technology behind it make it a force to reckon with in the future.
Google does need to sort out a lot of issues with Assistant, right from making Assistant universally accessible officially, to improving language support, to addressing the various privacy concerns around it. And of course, they need to monetize the services in some manner in order to keep the project financially viable for the company in the long run, whilst still being supportive of the user and his experience. We certainly look forward to what Assistant becomes in the future.
What are your thoughts on Google Assistant? Do the issues with Assistant put you off, or do you think Google has nailed it for a first impression? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Starting today, the top court in the United States will start hearing arguments from both Apple and Samsung over design patent allegations. This case has been going on for years and has seen appeal after appeal to get us to where we are this week. Interestingly enough, this is the first design patent case that the U.S. Supreme Court has had to get involved in in over 120 years (which involved carpets and rugs).
Back in May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington agreed with the 2012 verdict, but overturned the liability of Samsung for the trademark infringement. So at the end of the day, it's all about how much Apple should be owed. Apple feels that Samsung should have to pay their total profits on an infringing "article of manufacture." Samsung says that since design patents aren't for the entire phone, they shouldn't have to pay for all of it.
Samsung uses an example of a cup holder for a car. If a company infringed on the design patent of a cup holder, that company shouldn't have to pay its entire profits on a car. Since it's just a component of the car, they feel the damages should be pared back. Court papers already show that Apple agrees the an article of manufacture might only be a component of the product. But Apple is arguing that in this case, they have evidence to prove it is the entire phone that is is sold by Samsung.
Design patents can be tricky and Apple has been lobbying fashion names like Calvin Klein and Alexander Wang to get behind them on this case. The ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court is said to be due before the end of June and it will be a major precedence for both parties and future design patent disputes for years to come.
