Urban GPS tracking will get way more accurate on many Android phones next year

Sharing your general location with someone is easy. Unfortunately, thanks to location tracking errors, getting someone’s precise location isn’t always accurate, especially in dense urban areas. Google is aware of these limitations and today unveiled steps they’ve taken to improve urban GPS tracking on Android phones.

As part of the latest Pixel Feature Drop, Google is rolling out version 2 of its 3D mapping aided GPS corrections to the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G, which features accuracy in urban areas that “improves spectacularly” over what’s currently available.

The issue with locating someone in an urban area is due to the density of buildings. Google explains that GPS systems are based on line-of-sight operation from satellites. In cities, most signals reach devices through non-line-of-sight reflections, because direct signals are blocked by buildings. “The GPS chip assumes that the signal is line-of-sight and therefore introduces error when it calculates the excess path length that the signals traveled,” Google said.

“Picture of a pedestrian test, with Pixel 5 phone, walking along one side of the street, then the other. Yellow = Path followed, Red = without 3D mapping aided corrections, Blue = with 3D mapping aided corrections.” Caption and image credits: Google.

Google’s latest feature is aided by signals from the USA’s Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs). One of the biggest benefits of these improvements is ridesharing apps will no longer see inaccurate locations, like when a customer is mistakenly placed across the street.

“This wrong-side-of-the-street position error is caused by reflected GPS signals in cities, and we embarked on an ambitious project to help solve this great problem in GPS,” Google said. “Our solution uses 3D mapping aided corrections, and is only feasible to be done at scale by Google because it comprises 3D building models, raw GPS measurements, and machine learning.”

Google said with version 2 of 3D mapping aided corrections, wrong-side-of-street occurrences dropped by 75%. Other Android phones with version 1 of 3D mapping aided corrections reduced wrong-side-of-street errors by 50%. Google plans to bring version 2 to all devices running Android 8 or later in 2021. The new 3D mapping aided corrections module will arrive as an update to Google Play Services, which is available on all Android devices with Google Mobile Services. App developers can call the Fused Location Provider API (FLP) to get location information which will benefit from this improvement to location tracking.

As of now, the company’s 3D mapping aided corrections module features tiles of 3D building models for more than 3,850 cities across the globe, so there’s plenty of coverage. The feature supports pedestrian use-cases only, like when you’re walking, but will support other modes of travel, including driving, in the future.

To see what else was added in the latest Pixel Feature Drop, check out our coverage. You can also learn more about how Google is improving GPS accuracy by following the source link.

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Best Buy’s Apple Sales Event lets you save on iPhones, MacBooks, and more

When I first picked up a smartphone, I had a decision to make–Android or Apple? I eventually went with Android for a few different reasons, but one of the main ones was how cost-prohibitive Apple products were. This was back before more budget-friendly options like the iPhone 12 Mini were available and sales were common on smartphones. Speaking of, Best Buy’s Apple Sales Event is now live, allowing you to save on all sorts of Apple products. Maybe with these discounts, your decision on what ecosystem to go with will be less clear-cut than mine?

The Apple Sales Event is no slouch either–Best Buy has put practically Apple device on sale for the occasion. The new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, for example? If you activate today with AT&T and have a phone to trade-in, you can save up to $800! That’s an impressive deal on a newly released Apple phone.

You can also save a fair amount on MacBooks. The savings are up to $200 on the latest models, in fact, with an average savings of $150. If you buy a MacBook, you can also save $50 on AppleCare+, which offers extended technical support and hardware warranty coverage.

Or, if you’re looking to find a gift for the Apple person that has it all, you can never go wrong with an Apple Gift Card. For the Apple Sales Event, picking up a $50 Apple Gift Card gets you an additional $5 Best Buy gift card and four free months of both Apple Music and Apple News+. Not a bad deal at all!

The above is only a small amount of the deals on offer, too. There are also sales on AirPods, Apple Watches, and plenty of other items, so make sure to check the sales page to see if there’s something you want!

Apple Sales Event

If you're looking for Apple products, either for yourself or as a holiday gift, now is the time to save. Best Buy's Apple Sales Event has some of the best discounts we've seen on some of these products yet!

Shop at Best Buy

This sale only lasts until Thursday and has limited stock available, so grab what you want before it sells out!

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December 2020 security fixes roll out for Pixel phones with latest Pixel Feature Drop

Another month is in the books, so it’s about time for the latest batch of Android security fixes. Google has published the Android Security Bulletin for the month of December and is also rolling out the update to the Pixel 5, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL, Pixel 3, and the Pixel 3 XL.

This month’s Android security fixes includes the usual bevy of fixes along with some specific fixes for Pixel devices. In fact, there’s something for every Pixel from the Pixel 3 all the way up to the Pixel 5. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, unfortunately, have not gotten any of the fixes as per the company’s original calendar commitment. Check out the chart below to see what fixes are in tow for your Pixel smartphone.

The latest security fixes for December 2020 come in a new Pixel feature drop, which includes new adaptive features, Google Photos suggestions, and what Google describes as “content-aware battery features.”

Pixel 3 Forums ||| Pixel 3 XL Forums

Pixel 3a Forums ||| Pixel 3a XL Forums

Pixel 4 Forums ||| Pixel 4 XL Forums

Pixel 4a Forums ||| Pixel 4a 5G Forums ||| Pixel 5 Forums

• Software versions:
  • Global:
    • Pixel 3 (XL): RQ1A.201205.003
    • Pixel 3a (XL): RQ1A.201205.003
    • Pixel 4 (XL): RQ1A.201205.008
    • Pixel 4a: RQ1A.201205.008
    • Pixel 4a (5G): RQ1A.201205.011
    • Pixel 5: RQ1A.201205.011
  • Verizon:
    • Pixel 3 (XL): [Update: Rolling out week of 12/14]
    • Pixel 4a (5G): [Update: Rolling out week of 12/14]
    • Pixel 5: [Update: Rolling out week of 12/14]
  • AT&T:
    • Pixel 4 (XL): RQ1A.201205.008.A1
    • Pixel 4a (5G): RQ1A.201205.010
    • Pixel 5: RQ1A.201205.010

The over-the-air files and factory images for the Pixel devices can be found at the links below. Find the Android security files for your device and click “Link” to start the download. To flash the update manually without losing all of your data, follow the steps outlined in this tutorial.

Download Factory Images ||| Download OTA Images

Android Security Bulletin ||| Pixel Update Bulletin ||| Pixel Functional Changes

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Pixel Feature Drop adds Adaptive Sound, new Google Photos suggestions, and more

The bad news is today is Monday. The good news is Google has announced a new Pixel feature drop, which brings some newer features to older Pixel phones and introduces what the company describes as a “few new surprises.”

Some of the more interesting new features adapt your Pixel device to you. One of them is called Adaptive Sound. Google says the feature can improve the sound quality of your phone speaker based on your surroundings.

“It uses the microphone to assess the acoustics near you, then adjusts the sound equalizer settings in certain apps,” Google said. “Bringing your Pixel form the bedroom to the bathroom while you’re getting ready in the morning? Your audio will sound great wherever you are.”

The Pixel feature drop also includes “content-aware battery features,” with improvements to Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Charge, the latter of which helps preserve battery health over time by dynamically controlling how quickly a Pixel device charges. Google has also introduced Adaptive Connectivity, which will automatically switch the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G from 5G to 4G based on the app you’re using. For things like browsing the web or sending a text, it’ll choose 4G. When you’re watching a movie or downloading large files, it’ll switch to 5G.

Pixel owners will also have more personalization options at their disposal thanks to the Pixel feature drop. You can choose new icons for your Home Screen, grid views, and app shapes. You can also choose custom wallpapers of famous artworks provided by cultural institutions from around the world on Google Arts & Culture. Google also said Pixel 3 and newer devices can customize their Home Screen with original new Mandalorian wallpapers.

The last update expands the Now Playing music recognition feature. In your Now Play history, you can select the songs you saved and export them to a playlist in YouTube Music.

Meanwhile, Google said it’s rolling out some Pixel 5 features to Pixel 3 and newer devices. One of the features is Hold for Me, which helps users save time when they’re put on hold by a business; the feature is available in the U.S. in English. Google is also rolling out Extreme Battery Saver, Duo screen sharing in group calls, and a more helpful editor in Google Photos, which includes new suggestions powered by machine learning.

Google has dropped new features for Pixel devices throughout the year, recently introducing Recorder and Docs integration with Assistant over the summer. These latest updates are rolling out to Pixel devices beginning today.

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Google Recorder 2.1 adds external and Bluetooth mic support

Google Recorder has become a sought out app for those with compatible handsets (primarily, but not limited to its own Pixel devices and a few select high-end models). With version 2.1 just released, users can, for the first time, use external microphones and Bluetooth headsets in their recordings, rather than just those built-in to the device.

The new setting for ‘microphone’ lets you toggle between Auto-Detect, which will switch to any connected external mic, be that USB or Bluetooth, or ‘Always use phone mic’ if you’d rather it ignore them. There are arguments for doing both – a headset, for example, would be a lot easier for recording on the move, but it may be that the microphone on the phone itself is better, in which case, you could potentially use the headphones to listen, but record to Google Recorder through the microphone.

As pointed out by Android Police, a bit of clever use of Google Assistant could mean that you could start a recording without ever picking up your phone. We say “could” because, in reality, you have to pick up and unlock your phone to start a recording anyway. Maybe something that could be looked at for version 1.3?

Sadly, the trailed Google Drive integration for Google Recorder hasn’t been added in this edition, so you’ll still be storing your recordings on-device for now. We’re not sure why Google has delayed it, as all the signs were that it was actually ready some time ago, but all indications are that this will roll out at some time in the future.

If your phone is officially supported, you’ll find Google Recorder in the Play Store. If not, you can try the APK Mirror here, though it’s one of those multi-package installations and so it can be a bit fiddly. Indeed, sometimes you’ll come across installation errors using this method and although there is a workaround, it involves deleting and reinstalling Google Play Services data that you’ll probably wish you had left alone.

Recorder (Free, Google Play) →

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OPPO Find X3 Pro leak reveals key details of OPPO’s 2021 flagship 5G phone

Right before COVID-19 basically brought the world to a halt, OPPO released its flagship Find X2 series. OPPO’s flagship Find X2 Pro packed very impressive hardware and a premium price, and its successor, the OPPO Find X3 Pro, will likewise continue that trend.

Thanks to famed leaker Evan Blass on his Voice page, we now have a basic idea about what to expect for OPPO’s upcoming Find X3 Pro. OPPO is expected to make significant enhancements to the display and camera on top of expected advancements in design, performance, battery, charging, and other aspects. With nearly 3 months to go until the phone launches, here’s what we know already about OPPO’s Find X3 Pro.

Design

Although Blass did not share any images of the device, he did reveal some details that give us an idea of what the Find X3 Pro will look like. According to him, the Find X3 Pro will have curved surfaces on the front and back, much like the Find X2 series. We don’t know if OPPO has dramatically increased the curvature of the device, but apparently, the whole phone weighs about 20g less and is 0.6mm thinner than the previous model.

Crucially, we don’t know exactly what the front or the rear of the OPPO Find X3 Pro will look like. We can expect the phone to have a nearly bezel-less curved OLED display, but we don’t know if the display has any notches or hole-punch cutouts. We doubt that OPPO has commercialized its under-display camera technology in this device since Blass did not mention it.

OPPO’s under-display camera phone prototype. This probably isn’t happening…yet.

One interesting tidbit about the camera design is the reference to lighting circling the lens of the macro camera. We’ll talk more about the cameras soon, but apparently, OPPO has equipped a circle of lights around the macro camera head ring in order to provide lighting for really close-up objects – kind of like a microscope, actually.

Blass didn’t say if the OPPO Find X3 Pro will be offered in the same vegan leather options that OPPO offered on the Find X2 Pro, but he did say that the Find X3 Pro will have a ceramic glaze-like or matte-frosted glass back.

Cameras

If the information that Blass has leaked is correct (and it usually is), then OPPO is both upgrading and downgrading the cameras in the Find X3 Pro compared to the Find X2 Pro. For starters, the OPPO Find X3 Pro will have a quad camera system comprised of a wide-angle camera, an ultra wide-angle camera, a telephoto camera, and a macro camera.

The OPPO Find X2 Pro’s triple camera setup.

The main camera consists of Sony’s unannounced 50MP IMX766 image sensor paired with a wide-angle lens. While Blass hasn’t shared many details on the new IMX766, it probably uses Sony’s 2×2 On-Chip Lens Solution which enables All Pixel Omni-directional PDAF for faster and more accurate autofocus in low-lighting conditions, which is a feature that Sony introduced in the IMX689 that debuted on the Find X2 Pro.

Unlike the Find X2 Pro which featured a different image sensor for the wide-angle camera, the OPPO Find X3 Pro will use the same 50MP Sony IMX766 image sensor with the ultra wide-angle lens, according to Evan Blass. This means that photos and videos taken by the wide-angle camera shouldn’t look inferior compared to the ones taken by the main camera, which is one of the complaints many had with the previous generation.

As for the tertiary camera, it sounds like it’ll be a downgrade from the periscopic telephoto camera that provided 5X optical zoom on the Find X2 Pro. Instead, the new OPPO Find X3 Pro will have a 13MP telephoto camera for 2X optical zoom much like the regular Find X2.

Rounding out the cameras is the macro camera. This consists of a 3MP image sensor that should hopefully perform much, much better than the terrible 2MP macro cameras seen in countless phones this year. Blass states this macro camera will provide for a remarkable 25X zoom. We have no idea if images at that magnification will actually be usable, but Blass thinks this feature will be a big part of the phone’s marketing, so we hope it’s good.

Although Blass did not share any details on the front-facing camera(s), we do know that there will be substantial changes to the camera software. OPPO previously confirmed that the Find X3 series will support end-to-end 10-bit color support from capture, storage, to display. OPPO calls this its Full-path Color Management System, and if you’re interested in the nitty-gritty details, I recommend reading Idrees’s extensive article on the subject.

Display

This year’s OPPO Find X2 Pro had one of the best smartphone displays on the market, according to XDA’s Dylan Raga, and on paper, the OPPO Find X3 Pro should be even better. The new Find X3 Pro, like the Find X2 Pro, will have a 6.7-inch OLED display with a similarly tall 20.1:9 aspect ratio at 3216×1440 resolution (525ppi).

Like on the Find X2 Pro, the Find X3 Pro’s display can refresh at up to 120Hz even at the native WQHD+ resolution. But unlike last year’s model which only supported two discrete 60/120Hz refresh rate modes, the new Find X3 Pro will support an “adaptive dynamic frame rate” between 10-120Hz, according to the Blass. The OPPO Find X3 Pro will be the second OLED phone in the world with this technology following the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It’s unclear if OPPO’s solution is a true variable refresh rate implementation or normal refresh rate switching, however. Regardless, the implementation of this adaptive dynamic frame rate should help reduce power consumption when the OPPO Find X3 Pro is idling or displaying content that doesn’t require a higher refresh rate mode.

As part of OPPO’s new Full-path Color Management System, the Find X3 Pro has a native 10-bit color depth display. This is important because it means the phone can properly display the 1.07 billion colors contained in an image captured by the phone’s camera. In contrast, many displays on the market that advertise 10-bit compatibility are actually 8-bit + FRC (Frame Rate Control) panels (as is the case on the Find X2 Pro), which may result in noticeable flickering when displaying darker tones. Not everyone perceives colors the same way, though, so OPPO plans to expand upon Android’s built-in color correction accessibility modes with “Color Correction Solution 2.0” to help users with insensitivity to certain colors personalize the display to suit their needs. OPPO already confirmed these details when they unveiled their Full-path Color Management System last month, so if you’re interested in learning more, I recommend reading our previous article on the matter.

Blass didn’t mention the O1 Ultra Vision Engine, OPPO’s umbrella term for all the Find X2’s display-related features, though it’s likely that most of the O1 Ultra Vision Engine features will be returning on the Find X3 Pro. The current set of O1 Ultra Vision Engine features includes SDR-to-HDR video enhancement and Video Motion Enhancement to boost the frame rate of videos to 60 or 120fps using MEMC. Given that OPPO signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with display processing firm Pixelworks to enable these technologies on the Find X2 Pro, it would be strange for these features to be dropped after a single generation. On the Find X2 Pro, OPPO embedded Pixelworks’ Iris 5 display processor, so the company may use the same or newer processor on the Find X3 Pro.

Battery & Charging

According to Blass, the OPPO Find X3 Pro will have a total battery capacity of 4500mAh, split into two cells. The new phone won’t feature OPPO’s experimental 125W wired fast charging, but it will feature the company’s super-fast 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 charging (same as the previous generation). However, this time the phone will support wireless charging at up to 30W with the introduction of the company’s VOOC Air wireless flash charge technology. This is likely similar to the 30W wireless charging technology that OnePlus introduced in the OnePlus 8 Pro given OnePlus and OPPO share the same charging technologies. We wouldn’t be surprised if a future OnePlus flagship (perhaps the OnePlus 9 Pro?) supports both 65W wired and 30W wireless charging.

Performance & Connectivity

OPPO confirmed in a press release earlier this week that its upcoming Find X series flagship will be powered by Qualcomm’s new 5nm Snapdragon 888 chipset. The press release was rather vaguely worded so as to not confirm how many devices in the series there will be (3, according to Blass) while also avoiding saying whether or not all devices in the series will be powered by the new platform. Regardless, we can expect the new Find X3 Pro to feature the Snapdragon 888. We’ve extensively covered the specs and features of the new chipset in previous coverage, so I recommend you refer to this article if you’re interested in learning more.

The Snapdragon 888 features an integrated modem, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X60, for 5G connectivity. The global version of the OPPO Find X3 Pro will thus support sub-6GHz 5G networks, though it’s unclear if it will also support mmWave 5G since network deployments are sparse in OPPO’s target markets.

One interesting tidbit from today’s leak is related to NFC support on the OPPO Find X3 Pro. Apparently, the Find X3 Pro will have a dual-body NFC antenna design to allow users to make contactless payments without having to directly press a designated area on the back of phone against a reader. This will hopefully mean that you won’t have to fumble around with the phone in your hand to make a payment in Google Pay, which might be a problem for some users as the Find X3 Pro is expected to be very large.

Blass didn’t mention any RAM or storage details, but we can assume there will be ample RAM and storage (likely 12GB of LPDDR5 and at least 256GB of UFS 3.0 to match the previous generation).

Software

Unsurprisingly, Blass says the OPPO Find X3 Pro will run ColorOS 11 based on Android 11 out of the box. Given we’re months away from a potential release, OPPO will likely introduce additional ColorOS 11 features on the Find X3 series, but we don’t expect much to change from what they released back in September.

Conclusion

OPPO already told us to expect the new Find X series in Q1 of 2021, so we’ll have to wait a few months to find out if all these details are true.

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Apple Music rolls out for Google Assistant-enabled smart speakers and displays

The fire’s going, hot chocolate is made, and snow is falling outside. Now, the only thing you need is to play some relaxing holiday music. Speaking of which, Google announced on Monday that Apple Music is now available on Google Assistant-enabled smart speakers and displays.

If you own a Nest Audio, Nest Hub Max, Nest Mini, or any other smart speaker or display that supports Google Assistant, you can jam out to the sweet tunes found on Apple Music. Does it feel kind of sacrilegious to use Apple’s service through a speaker made by Google? Stranger things have happened.

To play Apple Music on a Google Assistant-enabled speaker or display, first link your account in the Google Home app. If you’re feeling really bold, you can even select Apple Music as your default music streaming service. Once you do that, you can tell Google tell “play Rap Life playlist” or whatever other playlist you have setup.

In fact, once you link your Apple Music account, it works like any other service with Google Assistant. You can play a specific song, artist, or playlist, and you can also play music based on a genre, mood, or activity. (Like working out, don’t get any ideas.) Google said you can also play your liked songs by saying, “Hey Google, play my songs,” or “Hey Google, play my library.”

If you own multiple smart speakers or display, you’ll be able to pipe Apple Music through all of them at once. Or you can use the multi-room control feature in the Google Home app to dynamically move your music from one device to the other.

Earlier this year, Apple Music added Chromecast support, so users will have no shortage of ways to beam their liked songs to other devices. Apple Music support on Google Assistant-enabled speakers and displays is rolling out today in the U.S., UK, France, Germany and Japan.

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