Sony Starts Rolling Out Android Nougat Update to Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Premium

After updating their Xperia X devices to Android 7.0 Nougat, Sony has now started rolling out the Nougat update for its Xperia Z5 series as well.

Several users of the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Premium are now reporting that they have received an official update notification. The OTA is 1288 MBs in size and is labeled with a build number of 32.3.A.0.372 with the December security patches on board.

As expected from prior Sony builds of Android Nougat, all of the usual Nougat related features such as the Multi-Window mode, improved Doze mode, Vulkan API support and more can be found in this update. Furthermore, Sony's own additions have made it in this update, including the revamped Xperia Home launcher with built-in Google Now support, a messaging update, and a self-timer button for the front-facing camera for a better selfie experience. As of now, the update is only rolling out for the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Premium, but it's expected that the Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z3+, and Xperia Z4 Tablet will receive the update in the near future.

If you're carrying either an Xperia Z5 or Xperia Z5 Premium, keep an eye out for the OTA update. As is always the case with staged software roll-outs, the update might take some time before it reaches your device.

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Source: Xperia Blog

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Google Enhances Searches for Spotty Data Connections

Making Google searches while on poor data connections can be a frustrating experience. Sometimes you really, really want to find an answer to some question or you are looking up, but because you're barely out of network range, your search never goes through.

Thankfully, Google is looking to alleviate some of those headaches. In an official blog post, they reveal that they are releasing an update to searching from on your Android device. When you enter a search term while you are offline or about to lose your connection, the results will be queued and returned to your device when you re-establish an Internet connection.

This is a neat feature enabling you to queue up a bunch of searches while offline. Google states that this feature could be useful for farmers or those traveling by car or train where the connection is spotty. Google stresses that this feature will not stress your battery life and that it will only use minimal amounts of data as the results are returned as "streamlined search results".

Furthermore, these "streamlined results" are designed to still contain all of the information you require. It appears that advertisements will still make it into your results, though that's to be expected given the nature of Google's business model. This feature should be available to those users running the latest version of the Google App.

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Source: Google

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Report: Samsung Completes Note 7 Investigation, Blames Faulty Batteries

The Galaxy Note 7 was one of the most anticipated smartphones when it was first launched, thanks to its symmetrical design and superior camera performance. But a few weeks after the device went on sale, reports started coming in about the device's explosive performance. This led Samsung to immediately recall and replace Note 7 devices with what they believed to safe batteries, but when the replacement devices started to catch fire it forced the South Korean electronics giant to completely halt sales of the device.

After the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, Samsung has been busy investigating the cause behind the explosions and overheating issues in its flagship device. Reuters reports that Samsung has now finished its investigations of the Note 7 and has reached a conclusion that faulty batteries were mainly responsible. Earlier a tear down by a manufacturing technology company called Instrumental showed that the Note 7's "aggressive design" was the reason for battery explosions and overheating, but Samsung's reports are indicating that this wasn't the case. According to a source who spoke to Reuters, Samsung didn't find any design or software-related issue which could cause the battery to explode. The source also noted that the company was able to replicate the battery fires during its internal investigation.

The source says Samsung will likely officially announce the investigation reports on January 23rd, which is the day before the company is slated to announce its fourth-quarter earnings. The source also adds that along with the investigation reports the company will also announce new safety measures they have been taking to ensure the safety of their future devices.

Finding the root cause of the Note 7's fire safety issue is crucial for Samsung as it prepares for its next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8. As the launch of the Galaxy S8 nears, Samsung would definitely like to leave behind the bitter memories of the Note 7 fiasco.

Source: Reuters

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Google and LG’s Watch Sport and Watch Style Launching with Android Wear 2.0 on Feb 9

Android Wear 2.0 is the next iteration of upgrades planned for connected smartwatches. While Developer Previews have been around for a while, the last one was rolled out in mid December as Developer Preview 4. So it's only expected that we start getting impatient for the final release once new information starts rolling in.

While it was widely known that the Android Wear 2.0 update will be rolling out in early 2017, we now have a specific date to set our eyes on. Notable leaker Evan 'evleaks' Blass has leaked the date on which we can expect Android Wear 2.0 to launch.

Mark your calendar: Android Wear 2.0 launches on February 9th.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 17, 2017

In his blog post on VentureBeat, Evan has also leaked the upcoming new Android Wear smartwatches. Meet the new Watch Sport and Watch Play:

Evan reports that Google has teamed up with LG in a 'Nexus-style' partnership to produce the first devices powered by Android Wear 2.0. The watches will be launched along with Android Wear 2.0 on February 9th, and will begin selling in the US from the next day. The watches will also be given prominent placement at LG's booth at MWC 2017.

Evan notes that the mockups from Android Police closely resemble the shipping products. The Watch Sport will be 14.2 mm thick and will sport a 1.38″ OLED display with 480 x 480 resolution. The Watch Sport is the flagship product, with 768MB RAM, 4GB internal storage and 430 mAh battery.

The smaller Watch Style will be 10.8mm thick and will sport a 1.2″ 360 x 360 OLED display. Evan specifically mentions swappable straps, although something like that should be a standard feature, so we will have to see what that means. There is 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 240 mAh battery on this device.

Both the watches will come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and the Sport will throw in 3G and LTE connectivity along with GPS and NFC as well. This will allow the watch to take advantage of Android Wear 2.0's Android Pay capability. There's a heart rate sensor on the Sport, too.

One more point of differentiation on the Sport and Style is the water and dust resistance certification. The Watch Sport will bear IP68 certification, while the Watch Play will have it limited to IP67.

On the other hand, both the watches will have iOS compatibility, will include Google Assistant integration and boast of handwriting recognition. There is also a digital crown button to facilitate UI navigation.

The Watch Sport will come in titanium and dark blue colors, while the Watch Style will come in titanium, silver and rose gold colors.

Pricing for the devices is not known yet. Assuming this is a 'Nexus style' partnership and not a 'Pixel style' partnership, we hope the watches are priced competitively and not at a hefty premium. We will have to wait until the launch announcement to know more.

What are your thoughts on the LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: VentureBeat Image Credit: Android Police

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Google Shares Details on How They Spot Malicious Apps in the Play Store

Google works very hard at keeping malicious applications out of the Play Store and off of your device. They aren't perfect at this and there are some instances when a malicious app slips through the cracks and is published in Google's application store. Thankfully, Google will remove them if an issue is brought to their attention, but they're still constantly scanning and checking applications and games that have already been published in the Play Store.

One of the methods Google uses to see if an application on your device is safe, is with their Verify Apps feature. This will scan an application you want to install from outside of the Play Store. This scan takes place before and after it's actually installed on your phone just to make sure it is safe to be on there. This verify function is baked into the Android OS and there are instances when a device is no longer using the feature at all (which in some cases can be security reasons).

Google flags these devices that are no longer using the verify feature and considers them to be Dead or Insecure (DOI). Now, if Google starts to detect that an application is being installed from the Play Store to a high number of DOI devices, then that raises a flag for them. This flags that as a DOI application, and Google uses this metric with many other security measures to see if it needs to be investigated. Google is even taking this a step further and finding out if an application is the cause of the phone becoming DOI.

For instance, if Google notices that a high number of devices are becoming DOI because they installed a certain application or game from the Play Store, then it makes sense that this would need to be looked into. Using these methods, Google has been able to uncover over 25,000 applications that had been infected by the Hummingbad, Ghost Push, and Gooligan malware.

Source: Android Developers Blog

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OnePlus: OxygenOS 4.0 Doesn’t Use a Debug Kernel

Some people have felt that OnePlus rushed out their official Nougat OTA update for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T just to meet the deadline they set for their customers. Recently, there was a vulnerability that was discovered which let you to change SELinux to permissive mode with a simple Fastboot command. Then someone found a kernel debug notice inside their kmsg log when they were trying to submit a bug report for the company's new OxygenOS 4.0.1 update.

This has led to even more speculation about whether or not OnePlus rushed out the update just to meet their deadline. We've been in contact with OnePlus about the SELinux issue, and they informed us that it would be fixed in their next OTA update. That was almost one week ago and in fact OnePlus did announce a 4.0.2 update for the OnePlus 3T yesterday. We haven't been able to confirm whether or not this vulnerability was patched just yet, since the 4.0.2 update could have already been finalized before they made that announcement.

Seeing this debug kernel notice isn't a reassuring thing to see in your logs as these can sometimes be susceptible to attacks. However, OnePlus has confirmed with Android Central that this message is just an error and that it isn't anything we should be worried about. The company has said the kernel used in OxygenOS is a "proper release kernel to match the consumer-ready software running on the phone." OnePlus says this message was triggered by Systrace tools and that OnePlus is not using a debug kernel in their official releases.

Just like with the SELinux issue, we're told by OnePlus that this will be resolved in a future OTA update. This debug kernel message will be removed from the code entirely so there isn't any additional confusion caused in the future.

Source: Android Central

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Google Maps Starts Showing Parking Availability

Android Police writes that "Google maps is showing parking information for some users". The extra feature seems to be part of a new Maps V9.44beta. The parking information shows up as small round "P" icon next to your destination, as shown in the images below.

You can expand the directions and get a more descriptive explanation of the parking situation. The icon appears to change to a red background when parking is not readily available at your destination. This parking icon shows up for public destinations including malls, airports, and popular attractions.

The new parking finder looks like a great feature to add to Google Maps, which has lately been adopting a lot of useful functionality.

What's your favorite Maps feature? Let us know below!

Android Police

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