Chrome is switching to 64-bit on Android 10

The first version of Android to support 64-bit architecture was Android 5.0 Lollipop, launched in 2014. That was a pretty big deal at the time, and nowadays, nearly all Android devices can run 64-bit apps. Speaking of which, starting with Google Chrome 85, the browser will get a 64-bit version for Android 10 devices.

Currently, despite many Android devices supporting the 64-bit architecture, there’s nothing forcing developers to support it. Google has been slow to require apps to have 64-bit support, though that changes on August 1st, 2021. Google is getting ahead of its own requirement and adding support in Chrome right now, though it’s limited to Android 10 devices.

If you visit chrome://version on the Stable (83) and Beta (84) builds of Chrome for Android, you’ll see they are listed as 32-bit applications. However, the Dev (85) and Canary (86) builds show 64-bit. According to Android Police, the 64-bit version is only appearing on Android 10 devices, which doesn’t actually account for many users at this time.

Android’s transition to 64-bit has been a long time coming. Support for 64-bit has been present for 6 years, and while Apple dropped support for 32-bit apps in iOS in 2017, Google has lagged behind. In 2017, Google started requiring apps that utilize native libraries must have a 64-bit alternative. As mentioned, it’s not actively punishing apps without 64-bit support until August 2021.

Chrome 85 is scheduled to go stable in August, giving them a year to fully roll it out to more Android versions before the 2021 deadline.

Chrome Dev (Free, Google Play) →

Chrome Canary (Unstable) (Free, Google Play) →

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Source: Android Police

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10 Incredible Deals on the Web This Fourth of July Weekend

As with every holiday weekend, there are some great deals around on tech this Fourth of July weekend. Here are some highlights from the XDA Developers Depot — now with an extra 15% off with code JULYFOURTH15 when you spend $50 or more.

Teracube Smartphone

Named on the Best of CES 2020 list, Teracube is a 6.2-inch phone that is designed to endure. It offers all-day battery life, 6GB RAM, 12MP+5MP cameras, and 128GB storage — plus a remarkable four-year warranty. Right now, Teracube is $100 off at just $249.

CleanTray UV Light Sterilization Case

This ingenious gadget uses UV light to kill germs on your phone and other small items. The process takes just five minutes, and it doesn’t involve any chemicals. It’s usually $79.99, but you can grab CleanTray now for $69.99.

Cell Phone UV Sanitizer

Another great sanitizing option is this specialized sanitizer. This one can kill 99.9% of germs in 15 minutes, and it’s completely portable thanks to a 5,000mAh rechargeable battery. Worth $49.99, the phone sanitizer is currently 12% off at $43.99.

JOT Battery Base for Google Home Mini

Rated at 4.5 stars on Amazon, the JOT battery base lets you unplug your Google Home Mini. You simply slide it onto the bottom of your smart speaker to get eight hours of portable battery life. It retails for $34.95, but it’s currently 51% off at $16.99.

LOFT Battery Base for Google Home 

If you have Google’s larger smart speaker, the LOFT Battery Base has you covered. This one actually replaces the shell of your Google Home with a stylish grill, while adding eight hours of playtime. Rated at 4.4 stars on Amazon, it’s now 65% off MSRP at $16.99.

WT2 Plus AI Real-Time Translator Earbuds

The WT2 Plus earbuds deliver real-time translations in 40 languages with 93% accuracy. These iF Design Award winners are also great for everyday listening, with good-quality Bluetooth audio and touch controls. Usually priced at $299.99, they are now just $199.99.

ChronoWatch Multi-Function Smart Watch

Whenever you work out, this stylish smartwatch tracks your steps, calories burned, mileage, and heart rate. In addition, it can monitor your blood pressure and blood oxygen levels, while the touch screen lets you handle messages and calls. Worth $199.99, ChronoWatch is now only $36.99 — that is 81% off MSRP.

TOKK™ Photo Cube: 64GB Data Backup

Connect the TOKK Photo Cube to your phone charger, and your photos and videos will be backed up automatically when you plug in. Compatible with both iOS and Android, it has 64GB of storage space for media. You can get it now for $89.99, saving 30% on the full price.

Litmor Wireless Rechargeable Camera: Bundle of 2

Offering live 1080p HD video with night vision technology, these Litmor cameras are great for keeping watch over your home. They recognize people and pets, support Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, and offer 1.5 months of battery life. Order now for $124.95 to get a pair of cameras, worth $178.

Fantom Drives G-Force 3 Pro 4TB 7200RPM External HDD

With a huge 4TB capacity and fast USB 3.0 transfers, this hard drive is perfect for storing a big collection of games or movies. Offering improved performance at 7200RPM, the G-Force 3 Pro drive comes with an aluminum casing. It’s usually $152.95, but you can get the drive now for $114.99.

Prices subject to change

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Realme C11, Redmi 9A, Redmi 9C, and Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite forums are open

A major part of the tech news is driven by good-looking, powerful, and resilient phones. But in reality, the entry-level smartphones meant to just accomplish basic tasks are what drive the sales for most smartphone brands. We recently saw the launch of three new entry-level smartphones from Xiaomi’s Redmi and Realme as well as a mid-range tablet from Samsung. We are now adding dedicated XDA forums for these devices to accelerate discussions and third-party development for these devices.

Realme C11

Realme C11 launched earlier this week with a large 6.5-inch display, 5,000mAh battery, the newly announced MediaTek Helio G35 chipset, and a Pixel 4-esque square camera bump. The device launched in Malaysia with a price of just about $100 for the 2GB+32GB configuration.

Realme C11 XDA Forums

Xiaomi Redmi 9A and 9C

On the same day as the Realme C11, Xiaomi also launched two new entry-level devices – the Redmi 9A and the Redmi 9C – in Malaysia. While the Redmi 9A uses a MediaTek Helio G25 chipset, the Redmi 9C is powered by a Helio G35. The Redmi 9A comes with a single 13MP camera on the back and 5MP camera on the front while the 9C comes with 13MP+2MP+2MP triple cameras along with a 5MP on the front. Both the phones come with 6.53″ HD+ displays and 5,000mAh batteries. Out of the two, only the Redmi 9C features a fingerprint scanner.

Xiaomi Redmi 9A XDA Forums || Xiaomi Redmi 9C XDA Forums

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite was unveiled back in April for the U.S. and launched in India last month. Unlike the flagship Galaxy Tab S6, the Tab S6 Lite is a mid-range tablet that is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 9611 silicon. It is designed for entertainment and equipped with a large 10.4″ display that is complemented by dual stereo speakers that are tuned by AKG. The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite also comes with an S Pen within the packaging to help you with annotations and sketching on the go.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite XDA Forums

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July 2020 Android security update rolling out for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10/Note 10+ and the Galaxy A70

Samsung is taking the security update game to a whole new level. Google has yet to publish the Android Security Bulletin (ASB) for the month of July, but the Korean OEM has already delivered the July 2020 security patches to a bunch of Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Now, the Galaxy Note 10 lineup and the Galaxy A70 are receiving the same treatment from Samsung across the globe.

Samsung is known for pushing out OTA updates in batches, thus you might have to wait a couple of days before the update notification pops up on your device. Power users, on the other hand, can opt for tools like Frija to download the appropriate updated firmware from Samsung’s repository for their device variant.

Galaxy Note 10

The update for the Galaxy Note 10 series is carrying the build number N97xFXXS5CTFA, and it is currently available in a number of European countries, such as Spain, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Note that only the Exynos 9825-powered global variant of the Galaxy Note 10 (model number SM-N970F) and the Note 10+ (model number SM-N975F) are receiving the new build at this moment.

Despite the generic changelog, the update silently bumps the version of the bootloader from v4 to v5. As a consequence, users can’t downgrade to an older firmware anymore after installing the new build.

Galaxy Note 10 XDA Forums ||  Galaxy Note 10+ XDA Forums

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Galaxy A70

Owners of the Galaxy A70 should also expect a similar update prompt on their phones, albeit the July 2020 security update is only rolling out in Australia at this moment. As reported by SamMobile, the SM-A705YN variant the Galaxy A70 is getting a new firmware with the build number A705YNDXU5BTF1. The OTA is rolling out to both the unlocked and Telstra models.

Galaxy A70 XDA Forums

Unlike the Galaxy Note 10, the update meant for the Galaxy A70 doesn’t increment the bootloader version. While you can carry out a downgrade operation due to this reason, we would still advise caution before doing so.

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member henklbr and jaylence for the screenshots!

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Xiaomi may be working on a Top Shot-like feature for its smartphones

Xiaomi’s MIUI user experience “skin” gives its phones a distinct experience despite having Android as its base. The company is currently in the process of rolling out MIUI 12 stable releases to its phone lineup, and it definitely has its user base excited as this marks a decent bump up in the MIUI experience. The Mi Camera app forms one of the highlight features of the MIUI experience, with notable features such as Magic Clone and fullscreen gesture support added in recent times. Xiaomi is working on many more features, and one of them is called AI Shutter that appears to mimic functionality similar to Top Shot.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Strings found within the MIUI Camera app from the recent MIUI 12 China Betas indicates that Xiaomi is working on its own implementation of Top Shot. Top Shot, as seen on Google Pixel devices, takes a burst of images rapidly, and then utilizes machine learning to point out the best shot in the series. This best shot will usually be instances where the subject is smiling, blinking, and/or looking at the camera. This takes away some of the pressure of timing a shot well and gives more confidence to the end-user to actually capture useful and useable images.

<string name="pref_camera_ai_shutter_description">Select best moment automatically when pressing the shutter button</string>
<string name="pref_camera_ai_shutter_title">AI shutter</string>

Xiaomi’s implementation is tentatively called “AI Shutter,” and it is aiming to do the same thing. The phone will automatically choose a good photo from a series of photos when you press and hold the shutter button. The grammar within the strings is improper as they were translated from Chinese, but the general idea behind the function appears to be the same as Top Shot. The feature will likely be implemented as an option, so if you wish to retain full control over what you shoot, you should still be able to do so.

Features like Sky Replacement in MIUI Gallery have been well received by the community, so we are curious to see how well Xiaomi implements AI Shutter. If done well, it can lower the bar for clicking well-timed photos and make it much more accessible to the average consumer. The feature is not yet live within MIUI 12 betas, but we will keep an eye out for when it does make an appearance.

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Thanks to @Deiki on Telegram for the tip!

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Google is taking questions from developers for a Reddit AMA on Android 11

Google released the first Android 11 Developer Preview back in February this year. This is earlier than the usual release schedule for developer previews and this foresightedness was meant to ensure that developers get ample time to adapt new platform behaviors and APIs for their apps. Despite this, the release of the Android 11 beta was delayed by a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which also forced Google to push the following beta releases by a month each. As per the updated schedule, the second Android 11 beta is expected to drop as soon as next week and the Android development team will be hosting an AMA (ask me anything) session soon after that on Reddit to address queries from developers.

Read all Android 11 news coverage by XDA here

The Android Engineering team posted on the Android Developers subreddit announcing they will hold an AMA on July 9th. The session will take place on the same Reddit thread used for the announcement between 12:00 PM PST / 3:00 PM EST and 1:20 PM PST / 4:20 PM EST on July 9th. The AMA will address questions about Android 11 Compatibility and be used to discuss some new tools. To clarify, the AMA is specifically for technical questions from developers and not the end-users. You don’t have to wait until the stipulated time and you can go ahead and post your questions on the Reddit thread ahead of the session so they are addressed by the team.

The AMA session is part of Android’s #11WeeksOfAndroid initiative to have clearer communications with developers. Google has opted for this approach most likely since this year’s Google I/O developer conference was canceled completely.

Notably, a blog post back in May by Flame Group – a company that consults OEMs and ODMs to help them receive GMS certifications for devices – had revealed that the Android 11 beta 2 will release on July 6th as the “Final Release Candidate” build.

Meanwhile, the Android Engineering team will also hold two more AMAs before the final stable release of Android 11 in Q3. One of them will be held between July 27th and 31st whereas another will be held between August 24th and 28th, which is when the “Platform stability” release (beta 3) is expected to be available.

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Source: Reddit

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Redmi K30 Ultra is an upcoming phone from Xiaomi with a Mediatek SoC and popup camera

Xiaomi’s Redmi K-series has cemented the company’s position in the mid-range to flagship-range across different regions. And the Chinese OEM has really leaned into the branding this year, with multiple devices launched with different spec combinations at different price points. The run started off with the Redmi K30 4G and Redmi K30 5G, followed by the Redmi K30 Pro, a Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition, and the Redmi K30i 5G. There’s even a transparent variant of the Redmi K30 Pro, but to be fair, that device is a one-off prototype that is not for sale. Some of these devices have even been rebranded into POCO devices for markets outside of China. Xiaomi is looking to expand the K30 branding even further, as we have now spotted evidence of the existence of the Redmi K30 Ultra.

XDA Member kacskrz, who is our frequent and trusted Xiaomi tipster, spotted a mention of the “Redmi K30 Ultra” within a recent MIUI 12 build. The branding appeared alongside the device codename “cezanne”. Further, another code snippet within MIUI 12 suggests that cezanne will come with a quad rear camera setup, wherein the primary camera will be a 64MP camera (though we do not have information on the exact sensor). There’s also evidence that cezanne will come with a pop-up camera setup for the front. Perhaps the most interesting bit in this equation will be the fact that cezanne will be powered by a MediaTek SoC.

None of the Redmi K-series devices that have launched in China so far come with a MediaTek processor, though other Xiaomi smartphone lineups like the Redmi 10X series have adopted newer SoCs from MediaTek’s Dimensity series. We do not know whether the Redmi K30 Ultra aka cezanne will come with a Dimensity SoC, but there is a high likelihood of it adopting a good SoC to support its decently equipped camera setup.

Unverified information: Independently, rumors on Weibo, originating mainly from leaker Digital Chat Station, suggest that Xiaomi is working on a device with the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 (MT6889). This device will come with a 144Hz LCD display, alongside a 64MP Sony IMX686 primary camera and a pop-up selfie camera. It will also support 33W fast charging for its 4500 mAh battery. The device is expected to be launched in China this month. Many other reports attribute these specifications to a Redmi K40 series smartphone. But we could not independently verify or corroborate any of this information, so there is no evidence to suggest that this leaked device is indeed cezanne aka the Redmi K30 Ultra. For all we know about Xiaomi, these could be two different products with some other differences between themselves.

We hope to hear more about the Redmi K30 Ultra in the coming days.

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Feature image: Redmi K30 Pro

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