YouTube Music and Google Podcasts can now import your songs and podcasts from Google Play Music

The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music has been a long road. The big push to YouTube Music started almost exactly two years ago. In that time, Google has slowly added more features to bring it up to speed with Play Music, including local uploads. Starting today, Google is making it easier to fully transition to YouTube Music with some new transfer tools.

Google is releasing a transfer tool to bring your music library from Play Music to YouTube Music. It also has a tool for transferring your podcasts from Play Music to Google Podcasts. The transfer process includes all your uploads, purchases, added songs and albums, personal and subscribed playlists, likes and dislikes, curated stations, and taste preferences.

Google has made the transfer process pretty painless. You can either go to the transfer tool webpage or do it from the YouTube Music app. All you have to do is tap the transfer button to get started. For podcast listeners, there’s a separate transfer tool webpage to bring all your subscriptions and episode progress to Google Podcasts. Check out the video below to see a walkthrough of the process.

Users will still have access to both platforms for now. Google still isn’t giving an end date for Play Music support, but it does sound like it’s coming soon. When that decision is made, Google says it will provide “plenty of notice” for users to make the transition.

YouTube Music - Stream Songs & Music Videos (Free, Google Play) →

Google Podcasts: Discover free & trending podcasts (Free, Google Play) →

Google Play Music (Free, Google Play) →

Source: YouTube

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Google Chrome is getting a “Media Feeds” feature so websites can recommend videos to you

Browsers are used for a plethora of things, but a large chunk of Internet usage is media consumption. Google has slowly been adding features to Chrome to make the media streaming experience the best it can be for users. That’s why earlier this year Chrome got a new media control tool to control currently playing audio and video right from the toolbar. Now, Google is looking to further enhance media playback on Chrome with the introduction of a “Media Feeds” feature so websites can make video recommendations.

Google Chrome’s media control tool.

A commit has just been merged on the Chromium Gerrit that adds a feature flag titled “Enables Media Feeds.” The description of the flag reads “Enables the Media Feeds feature which allows us to fetch feeds of media ‘items from websites that support the feature.” So what exactly is this “Media Feed?”

Essentially, the Media Feed is a way for websites that provide video content to create a feed of recommended videos. Think about how streaming sites like Netflix and YouTube always have recommended videos for you to watch next. The Media Feed would be based on whatever the website wants it to be, and it will be displayed in the browser similar to the aforementioned media controls.

Google is providing an API for websites that will allow them to tie into this feature. If a website supports Media Feeds, it can tell the Chrome user it has a feed, recommend relevant content, recommend content to “continue watching,” and recommend content to “play next.” All three of those recommendations have a different use case. Relevant content can get the user started watching something, “continue watching” is for content that the user has already started to watch, and “play next” is for content to watch after a video has ended.

Media Feeds are currently limited to video content, so no music or podcasts. The flag can be enabled at chrome://flags#enable-media-feeds on all Chrome platforms except Android. The feature is currently in the latest Canary builds so it’ll take a while for it to make its way to the latest Stable releases. Even so, it won’t be super useful until websites support it, but this could be a handy media feature in the future.

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Here’s how you can measure blood pressure with your Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 right now

Samsung has yet to enable the long-anticipated ECG support on the Galaxy Watch Active 2, but the company did announce cuff-less blood pressure monitoring and tracking using the wearable a few weeks ago. There is a catch, though, as the whole functionality as well as the companion app (Samsung Health Monitor) has only been approved in South Korea so far. While Samsung is planning to reach the general availability stage within Q3 of this year, XDA Senior Member adfree and several other tinkerers have already found a way to sideload the blood pressure monitoring plugin on your Galaxy Watch Active 2 and install the companion app on your phone (even on non-Samsung models) by disabling the region locking mechanism.

DISCLAIMER: This particular feature on the Galaxy Watch Active 2 is likely not approved by your local authorities just yet. DO NOT try to use the watch as a replacement for approved medical equipment. Attempt at your own risk!

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 runs Tizen OS, thus the sideloading process is a tad bit different from the Android world. Please follow the steps listed below with utmost care to activate the blood pressure measuring feature on your watch:

• Download the modded apps from this post.
• Enable debugging and “Developer Options” on the Galaxy Watch Active 2, then connect the watch with Wi-Fi. Your PC and the watch should be on the same network.
• Download and install the latest version of TizenStudio with IDE.
• Start TizenStudio and you will see a box with “No target” written. Click on the drop-down menu and choose “Launch Remote Device Manager”. Then click on “Scan” and you will find your watch. At this stage, you need to click on the toggle “Connect ON” and accept the connection on the watch.

• Once connected, you are ready to install the TPK file (e.g. the plugin package for the watch) using the Smart Development Bridge (SDB) binary. The sideloading command should be sdb install NAME_OF_THE_TPK.tpk.
  • If you get an SDB server and client mismatch you can ignore it so long as you see install_percent get to 100 the app will show on your watch.
• Install the APK on your phone. As soon as you launch the Blood Pressure app on your watch, it will now prompt you to continue from your phone. From there, they will automatically link and will work correctly.

You can visit the discussion thread for further info. Once again, we remind you not to substitute any approved medical equipment with the Galaxy Watch Active 2. Please exercise your own discretion in using this modification.

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Image source: r/GalaxyWatch (1, 2)

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[Update: Rolling Out] Spotify tests social listening to let you and your friends control music together

Update (5/12/20 @ 10:25 AM ET): Spotify is now rolling out Group Sessions for Premium subscribers.

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services on the planet right now. They continue to add features to the platform and apps. The Android app recently got a sleep timer and now it appears a new “Social Listening” feature is in the works.

Discovered by app scooper Jane Manchun Wong, Spotify is in the early stages of testing a Social Listening feature. Users can scan a code generated from the app or visit a special link to join a shared queue. People can then add their own songs and control the music from their own devices. The UI seems pretty well-developed already.

If this sounds familiar, it’s certainly not a new concept. There have been a few popular apps that have attempted similar things, but they all lacked the user base and huge library of music that Spotify can offer. Chances are your friends already have Spotify accounts, which makes this a feature people are likely to actually use.

Currently, Social Listening is in the early stages and it can only be used by Spotify employees. Wong was able to get the screenshots from code hidden in the Android app. There’s no guarantee that this feature ever makes it to the big stage, though we really hope it does.

Source: Twitter

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Update: Rolling Out

After first being spotted in testing nearly a year ago, Spotify is finally rolling out Group Sessions. The feature allows you and your friends to listen to music together and have access to a group queue. Everyone can add music, remove music, reorder the list, and control what’s playing.

To create a Group Session, tap the “device connect” button on the music player screen. There’s a new “Start a group session” section with your profile photo and a barcode. Friends can scan the code to join, or you can tap “Scan to join” someone else’s group. The music will play from the speakers of the original device, but it can also be casted to speakers.

This feature is currently only for Spotify Premium subscribers. Free users can still create shared playlists to get a similar experience, but Group Sessions are more for parties and people in the same space.

Source: Spotify

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Samsung Gear S3 and Gear Sport gain Bixby support and some Galaxy Watch Active 2 features

It’s always nice to start the day with a new update on your old gadget. That’s exactly what Samsung Gear S3 and Gear Sport users are waking up to today (myself included). The update finally replaces the ancient S Voice voice assistant with Bixby and adds a few features from the Galaxy Watch Active 2.

S Voice was Samsung’s original voice assistant, but it was quite different than Bixby. S Voice was more task-driven and less conversational. That being said, Bixby can do everything S Voice could do, so users aren’t losing out on any functionality. Bixby offers a much cleaner a feature-rich interface. You can enable the wake-up command and access Bixby by saying “Hi, Bixby” when the display is on.

If you’re not excited about Bixby (understandable), the more exciting additions are Watch Active 2 features. Apps running in the background,such as an activity tracker, are shown as an icon on the watch face. This allows you to quickly jump back into the app. Other updates include a vertical list view for the app drawer, new emoticons for more skin tones, sleep detection has been improved, the Always-on Display is easier to read, and customizing the Quick Toggles is easier as well.

The update for the Gear S3 series is firmware version R76*XXU2FTD4, while the Gear Sport update is firmware version R600XXU1DTD3. Users in the US and South Korea should have the update today and we expect it in more countries soon. Bixby may not be super exciting to everyone, but the other features are nice. We love to see Samsung continue to update old watches.

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Via: Reddit

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Enter the Huawei Global Themes Design Contest and Win Big (& See XDA’s Theme)

Installing a theme is a simple thing that anyone with a Huawei phone can do to customize the look. Actually making a theme is a little more difficult, but it’s not nearly as hard as you might think. Huawei’s Theme Tool software makes it super easy for anyone to create a custom theme for their EMUI smartphone or Huawei wearable.

After downloading the app from here, you can open it and create a new project. Give the project a name and then you’ll be asked to select a project type. This is where you can decide how in-depth you want to go. A “Large scope” project will theme everything from the lock screen to the system apps. A “Small scope” project mainly focuses on the lock screen and home screen. “Icon” and “Lock screen” projects are what you would expect.

The screenshot above depicts a “Large scope” EMUI 10 project. Along the left side of the screen are the different categories of customization. Each one includes several other sub-categories to further customize. In the example above, the Home screen is open and you have the option to customize the wallpaper, the Home screen settings, widgets and app labels, folders, and transitions.

In the middle of the screen, you can see where the customization really takes place. Some aspects can be customized by simply choosing a color, such as “Appbar background color” shown above. Others, like the “Background” option, requires an image to be used instead. Once you go through all of these areas, changing as many as you like, you can Export the theme as an .HWT file that can be installed on EMUI 10 devices. For creating themes for wearables and older EMUI versions, check out the tools here.

Here is an example of an XDA theme that took about 10 minutes to create.

As you can see, it’s very easy to create a custom theme on the fly. The theme above doesn’t use any custom images (other than the wallpapers). Just changing a few of the colors can drastically change the look of your phone. If you’d like to create a theme for your Huawei phone, the Themes Tool software makes it very easy to do. You can also check out other designers’ creations straight from the HUAWEI Themes app.

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Huawei is once again opening up a design contest with some impressive prizes. The Global Themes Design Contest allows participants to enter into four different design categories: Themes, Wallpapers, Watch Faces, and a special “Cities” category. The total prize pool is $300,000.

Designers are welcome to enter multiple categories and win multiple awards. The first prize for the Themes category is $16,000, second place will go to two winners with $8,000 each, and third place goes to three winners with $5,000 each. There are a number of other prizes up for grabs as well, which you can see in the graphic below.

The Huawei Global Themes Design Contest is launching on May 11th and will be accepting entries until July 1st. Judging will take place from July 1st to 20th. Winners will be selected and announced on July 22nd.

We thank Huawei for sponsoring XDA. Huawei had minimal involvement in the creation of or the content within this article. In particular, they were consulted for fact-checking. Any opinions expressed are those of the author. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including servers, developers, writers, and more. While you may see sponsored content alongside Portal content, all of it will be clearly labelled as such. The XDA Portal team will not compromise journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company. Our opinion cannot be bought. Sponsored content, advertising, and the XDA Depot are managed by our marketing director and not the editorial team.

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POCO F2 Pro with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 launches globally, starting at €499

The POCO brand had a very promising start in the form of the POCO F1. This device managed to awe value chasers by providing flagship-like performance at a small fraction of that price. Despite the popularity of the POCO F1, POCO went missing from the smartphone space for more than a year. But the brand is now back, with devices like the POCO X2 in India that builds on the same value formula as the POCO F1. But still, users have been clamoring for a direct successor to the F1, and POCO is finally launching the same in the form of the POCO F2 Pro.

POCO F2 Pro: Specifications

Specification	POCO F2 Pro
Dimensions and Weight	163.3 x 75.4 x 8.9 mm 218 g
Display	6.67″ FHD+ AMOLED 180Hz touch response rate Max brightness of 800 nits and peak brightness of 1200 nits HDR10+ support Notchless display with pop-up camera Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on front and back
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865: 1x Kryo 585 (ARM Cortex-A77-based) Prime core @ 2.84GHz 3x Kryo 585 (ARM Cortex-A77-based) Performance core @ 2.4GHz 4x Kryo 385 (ARM Cortex A55-based) Efficiency cores @ 1.8GHz Adreno 650
RAM and Storage	6GB LPDDR4X + 128GB UFS 3.0 8GB LPDDR5 + 256GB UFS 3.1
Battery & Charging	4,700 mAh battery 30W fast charging
Rear Camera	Photo: Primary: 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor, 1/1.7” sensor, 0.8μm pixels, EIS, OIS Secondary: 5MP, Macro Tertiary: 13MP, Wide-Angle Camera, 123° Quaternary: 2MP, depth sensor Video: 8K video recording (resolution of 7680 × 4320)
Front Camera	20MP
Other Features	3.5mm headphone jack Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 IP53 water and dust resistance 5G Multi-link Game Turbo 3.0 with voice changer Multi-function NFC IR Blaster
Android Version	MIUI 11 based on Android 10

If the POCO F2 Pro seems familiar to you, that is because it is. Much like how the POCO X2 was a rebrand of the Xiaomi Redmi K30 4G that was launched in China, the POCO F2 Pro is a rebrand of the Xiaomi Redmi K30 Pro that was also launched in China. A rebrand in this space is not a bad thing, because all that really changes is the name on the phone — the base hardware remains the same, which is a good thing because the Redmi K30 Pro has some very good specifications on paper. Xiaomi has also already released the kernel sources of the Redmi K30 Pro.

Powering the POCO F2 Pro is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC with 5G support. There’s LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage on most variants, though the base variant gets a slight downgrade on these technologies. You also get a decent-sized 4,700 mAh battery with support for up to 30W fast charging that can charge the battery completely in about an hour. As for the display, POCO has chosen to go for a popup camera instead of opting for a hole punch or a notch. The display supports HDR10+, and has a 180Hz touch response rate. Curiously, as with the Redmi K30 Pro, the POCO F2 Pro also skips out on the high refresh rate display trend, so we just get the ordinary 60Hz refresh rate on this display.

For the camera, the highlight of the device is 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor, with a large 1/1.7” sensor size, 0.8μm pixels pre-binning, and dual stabilization through EIS plus OIS, as well as HEIF image format support and 8K video recording support. There’s a 13MP wide-angle camera sensor too, as well as a 2MP depth sensor. The fourth sensor is a 5MP macro camera that supports 50mm macro photography. The front camera within the popup is a 20MP shooter capable of 120fps slow-motion.

Other notable features on the device include a larger vapor-chamber to aid in cooling and sustaining peak performance, improved vibration motor, Game Turbo 3.0 with night vision and voice changer, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, Goodix’s optical under-display fingerprint scanner, and Goodix’s smart audio amplifiers with high-power efficiency and idle noise reduction. The phone also has Widevine L1 certification out-of-the-box.

Pricing and Availability

The POCO F2 Pro will be available in four color variants: Neon Blue, Phantom Blue, Electric Purple, and Cyber Gray. The base variant starts at €499, while the top variant starts at €599. Keep in mind that the base variant gets LPDDR4X and UFS 3.0, while the top variant bumps these up to LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1.

You can purchase the POCO F2 Pro starting today from Gearbest and AliExpress. In the near future, you can also purchase it from several other partners, including Amazon and POCO.net.

It remains to be seen whether the device will be making its way to India. From the information available to us, Xiaomi will likely be launching the device under the Redmi branding and skipping out on the POCO branding for this phone in India.

What are your thoughts on the POCO F2 Pro? Let us know in the comments below!

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