Articles by Derrek Lee

It was only here for a fleeting moment.

What you need to know

Twitter has announced that it is ending its Fleets experiment on August 3.
The company admits that it didn’t have as much usage as it would have hoped.
Twitter teases Fleets features coming to the tweet composer and

Twitter Fleets is dead. The company announced that it is ending its Fleets experiment in roughly two weeks’ time, on August 3.

Twitter’s head of product, Ilya Brown, said in a blog post that it saw Fleets as an engaging new way for users to participate in conversations, but the feature did not meet the company’s expectations.

…in the time since we introduced Fleets to everyone, we haven’t seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with Fleets like we hoped.

The feature rolled out globally on the best Android phones in November 2020 as an alternative to Snapchat, which popularized expiring photos and videos. Twitter Fleets were placed at the top of the timeline, and the …

Android 12 is close to platform stability.

What you need to know

Google releases the 3rd Android beta with a few notable features.
The update brings native scrolling screenshots and on-device search for app content.
Auto-rotate uses the camera to detect phone orientation more quickly.

Google has begun rolling out Android 12 Beta 3 as the upcoming update nears platform stability. While Beta 2 was all about introducing new privacy enhancements, Beta 3 focuses more on utility, bringing some highly requested features while improving on others.

Scrolling screenshots

The first major feature coming to the new beta is native scrolling screenshots. This is a feature long requested by many Android users on phones like the Google Pixel 5, while many of the best Android phones already have their own implementation.

When taking a screenshot, users will see a “Capture more” button to capture the full page, which can then be cropped to get just what you need.

Better, faster auto-rotate

…

Amazon’s next Echo Show might steal one of the Nest Hub’s best features.

What you need to know

Amazon has just gained permission to use Radar Sensors in future devices.
The company would be expected to use the sensors for touchless controls and sleep tracking.
Google recently launched the Nest Hub (2nd Gen) with Soli radar sensors for similar use.

According to a request filed with the FCC, Amazon might be prepping to follow Google’s footsteps with its Echo smart displays.

Bloomberg first spotted the request, which recently granted Amazon permission to utilize “Radar Sensors” in unnamed devices to enable touchless controls “by capturing motion in a three-dimensional space.” This would work similarly to how Google implemented its Soli technology in the Pixel 4 with Motion Sense.

The file also mentions that Amazon’s “Radar Sensors” would be used for sleep tracking and could “improve awareness and management of sleep hygiene, which in turn could produce significant health benefits…

Google is taking mobile gaming seriously with Android 12.

What you need to know

Google announced several updates for developers and gamers that aim to improve the mobile gaming experience on Android smartphones.
“Play As You Download” will be introduced in Android 12 as a way for gamers to jump into new games while they’re downloading.
The new Android Game Development kit will allow developers to better optimize their games for the player’s needs.

Google is introducing several new changes to the gaming experience on the best Android phones, which will allow mobile gamers to jump into new games faster and better optimize performance. These new changes will be available for devices running Android 12 when the update launches later this year.

The biggest addition to the Android gaming experience is “Play as You Download,” which will let players experience new games as they’re still downloading. The feature is similar to many PS5 games that offer the same quick play access, downloa…

There are a few confirmed Wear OS watches on the way.

Google and Samsung’s unified Wear OS platform is on the way, and so far, there’s not much hope that current smartwatches will receive the new update. That said, a few smartwatches in the pipeline could help boost the new platform, and that sounds pretty exciting. What’s more, we know the new Wear OS will let OEMs add their own flair to the UI to help provide a consistent experience across the best Android phones, so there’s a lot to look forward to with this new update, which we’ve only had a glimpse of so far.

There’s not much in the way of official news on the upcoming smartwatches running Wear OS 3.0, if that’s what it’s to be called, but we want to know what you’re looking forward to most.

Which Wear OS 3.0 smartwatch are you looking forward to?

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

Of the upcoming Wear OS watches, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 (if that’s what it’s to be named) has seen the most leaks. We have a good idea of what it mig…

It’s not a big update, but it’s a handy one for loyal Bixby users.

What you need to know

Bixby is receiving an update with several improvements to the experience.
Queries will no longer take up the full display and last for only 15 seconds by default.
Users no longer have to train Bixby to recognize their voice when using the wake word.

Samsung users are being treated to a handy update to the Bixby virtual assistant that should make it quicker to get started and improve how the virtual assistant behaves.

Spotted by SamMobile, the new quality-of-life improvements change how voice queries are handled. Instead of filling up the entire screen, the result will only take up as much space as necessary in a new compact design. This is similar to how Google Assistant behaves when it shows results cards.

Additionally, results will only stay on screen for 15 seconds by default before disappearing.

Bixby users are also getting personalized recommendations from the conversations screen, w…

Fossil, Suunto, and Mobvoi owners are all seeing the new Play Store look.

What you need to know

Some Wear OS smartwatches are receiving an updated Play Store design.
The redesign resembles the upcoming unified platform built by Google and Samsung.
Fossil has already stated that its smartwatches won’t receive the upcoming update.

Owners of some of the best Wear OS watches are getting a nice surprise thanks to the latest update to the Play Store.

According to a couple of threads on Reddit, some smartwatch models are getting a redesigned Play Store. Various elements in the Play Store app are much more pronounced, with larger pill-shaped buttons that should make it easier to navigate. This new design is featured throughout the app, and some buttons even feature a gradient color scheme.

The new design strikes a close resemblance to the Google and Samsung’s Wear OS platform that the companies are co-developing. Google showed off a bit of the new unified platform at Google I…

TCL doesn’t try hard enough to make you want these phones.

When it comes to the best cheap Android phones, last year’s TCL 10L was actually a decent offering. It lacked 5G connectivity, but no “budget” phones had it then, at least not until Qualcomm released lower-end 5G chipsets like the Snapdragon 690 later in the year. With 2021 bringing us solid, budget-priced 5G phones like the OnePlus Nord N200 5G and T-Mobile REVVL V+ 5G, I expected that TCL’s latest budget offerings, the TCL 20S and TCL 20 SE, would come with a few nice upgrades (like 5G).

These phones recently made their debut in the U.S. at the end of June along with the higher-end TCL 20 Pro 5G, and while that phone managed to impress Nicholas Sutrich, these phones did very little to impress me. In fact, it almost seemed like TCL threw these devices into its 2021 lineup just to have something to offer. That said, it wasn’t all bad, and I enjoyed some things about these devices. Just not enough to recommend them.

TCL 2…

Turn your Google Pay balance into a virtual charge card.

What you need to know

Google Pay lets users turn their balance into a virtual card.
Users will be able to make contactless payments using their Google Pay balance.
The feature is currently available for Google Pay users in the U.S.

Google Pay is giving users another option to make contactless payments, thanks to its new virtual card.

The company has announced that users in the United States can now request a virtual Google Pay balance card that will enable them to make purchases at stores that accept contactless payments.

The new feature could help streamline the process of using funds in the app instead of having to go through the process of transferring them to a bank or charge card, which could take some time to appear.

Google says that the new virtual card is safe and secure “as the full card number is never shown” and allows users to bypass using their own personal credit or debit cards when making in-person or onl…

The Pixel 6 might get Android software updates until 2026, which is crazy.

What you need to know

The full spec sheet for the Pixel 6 series has allegedly been leaked.
Google will reportedly provide five years of Android software support for the Pixel 6 smartphones.
The Pixel 6 is expected to be announced later this year, possibly in October.

The Google Pixel 6 is expected to launch later this year and will reportedly come with some impressive specs and additional software support, according to the most recent rumor.

FrontPageTech leaker Jon Prosser has provided a rundown of what might be the specs for the upcoming smartphones. The Pixel 6 will feature a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, 50MP main sensor with a 12MP ultrawide camera, 128/256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, and a 4614mAh battery.

The “Pro” variant will get a display bump to 6.71-inches, although previous rumors have speculated that this will be a QHD+ resolution at 120Hz, while the smaller variant will have a FHD+ resolution a…