Articles by Derrek Lee

Android devices will miss out on some of the new Apple Music features.

What you need to know

Apple Music is introducing new lossless music tiers for Hi-Fi audio.
Support for Dolby Atmos and spatial audio is also included in the upcoming update, exclusive to Apple devices.
The new features will arrive in June at no extra cost to Apple Music subscribers.

Following last week’s leak of Apple’s upcoming “Lossless” audio tier, the company has officially announced that Hi-Fi audio is coming to over 75 million Apple Music tracks next month. The new Lossless audio tier will be available to Apple Music subscribers at no additional cost, giving them access to up to 24-bit audio at 48kHz using Apple’s ALAC codec. There’s also a Hi-Resolution Lossless tier for playback at 192kHz, although it’ll require an external DAC. Subscribers will be able to change their Apple Music playback quality by navigating to Settings > Music > Audio Quality.

Additionally, Apple Music is getting Spatial Au…

Wear OS may not have been the success that Google hoped for, but that hasn’t stopped the company from trying. Last year, Google launched the H-MR2 update to help make the platform perform better and to improve battery life. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 was also launched to help take the platform to the next level. So far, the new chipset has been limited to the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, but it gives some hope that the platform is still kicking.

Recently, there has been a lot of speculation about where Wear OS can go this year. Google acquired Fitbit, which makes some of the best fitness trackers and the best fitness smartwatches, and leaves Google quite a few possibilities. There have also been rumors of an alleged Pixel Watch and a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 running Wear OS, both of which could help boost platform adoption.

Google is expected to talk about Wear OS at Google I/O 2021, so we may not have to wait long to learn more about the company’s plans. That said, we want to k…

iPhones will also get the new Apple Music audio features.

What you need to know

Apple Music is reportedly preparing to introduce “lossless” audio for the mobile app.
The feature is likely to coincide with the launch of a new pair of Apple Airpods expected to arrive next week.
The Android beta version of Apple Music suggests two versions of lossless audio will be released for the app.

Apple Music is preparing to launch new “lossless” audio tiers, according to an app teardown by 9to5Google. The feature was previously hinted at for the iOS version of the app, but the Android version will apparently receive this feature as well.

According to the Apple Music beta on Android, two tiers of lossless audio are launching on the app: “Lossless” at 24-bit/48 kHz and “High-Res Lossless” at 24-bit/192 kHz. Both will make use of Apple’s ALAC codec.

In its current form, Apple Music only features two options for audio playback; “high efficiency” for reduced data usage and “high quality” for be…

Instagram, finally.

What you need to know

Instagram is reportedly developing a new feature for its desktop experience.
Users may finally be able to create new posts from their desktops, although the feature it’s somewhat limited.
The feature is being built internally, so there’s no saying when it could release.

Instagram is reportedly trying to improve its desktop experience, which currently lets users view posts but not create them. According to one app developer, Instagram may soon allow users to post from the desktop web interface.

According to screenshots of the new feature, users will be able to drag and drop images form their computer, crop them, add filters, edit, and pretty much everything else you’d expect from the process on a mobile device, but now on a desktop. You can see the process below:

ℹ️ This feature is currently being tested only internally. Don’t expect to be able to use it anytime soon.But let’s hope it doesn’t take too long ??— Alessandro Pal…

Xperia 10 III colors will vary upon the region.

What you need to know

Sony has announced that the Xperia 10 III is available for preorder in Europe.
The device will be available in several different colors depending on the region.
The Xperia 10 III will retail for £400 in the UK and come with free headphones.

After launching the new Xperia lineup in April, Sony finally makes one of its latest devices available for preorder. The Xperia 10 III is the first of Sony’s new models to hit preorder, although it’s currently limited to Europe.

There are some notable improvements in this year’s Xperia 10 III over last year’s model, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 being the most significant of them. This brings 5G connectivity to Sony’s mid-range Xperia phone, which was absent on last year’s model.

The Xperia 10 III also brings a 4,500mAh battery, representing a massive increase over last year’s 3,600mAh capacity. Charging speed has also been increased to 30W, storage capacity has doubl…

Android 12 could bring some colorful themes to Google Assistant.

What you need to know

A user managed to get a couple of new Google Assistant features working on his device.
One feature seems to be related to Android 12’s rumored theming system.
The user also managed to get the “My Actions” shortcuts working.

Since the first Android 12 developer preview was released for phones like the Google Pixel 5, a form of system-wide theming has been spotted as a colorful new way to customize your smartphone UI. One user may have just uncovered how deep the themes will go, showing how Google Assistant will appear with different colored backgrounds.

In the screenshots (via XDA-Developers), the Google Assistant background appears in blue and different shades of green with a few accent colors. While it’s likely that the background colors are related to Android 12’s “monet” theming system, the user apparently enabled them on a Sony Xperia phone running Android 11.

At the moment, it’s uncle…

Roku hopes its Quibi content will find success with a new name and platform.

What you need to know

Roku Originals will debut on the streaming platform on May 20.
Content will initially consist of former Quibi shows, but Roku announced that more would come later this year.
Roku is also launching promotions on select streaming devices.

True to its word, Roku is providing more details about the new Roku Originals that it announced last month. The content, which kicks off with the help of rebranded Quibi shows, will be available on May 20 with a lineup of 30 “original” programs.

Roku states that it will bring more content later this year, but for now, viewers will be able to watch shows starring big names like Kevin Hart in “Die Hart” and Chrissy Teigen in “Chrissy’s Court.”

Sweta Patel, the Vice President of Engagement Growth Marketing at Roku highlighted how the new originals will provide “a free, advertising-supported model, while delivering an array of incredible, quality ente…

Google Messages will take after iMessage on tablets.

What you need to know

Google Messages may be preparing a new tablet experience.
The updated UI will keep a list of conversations on one side and the current message thread on another side.
Google Messages will also bring new cross-device messaging capabilities.

Google has been hard at work making Google Messages as useful as possible as a messaging app. The latest update hints at upcoming features that will arrive for the application, mostly aimed at tablets.

XDA-Developers dove into the latest version of Google Messages and discovered a string that will enable a split-screen view. This will keep the list of message threads on the left side of the display while displaying the current message on the right side. This should help make it easier to navigate the app when using any of the best Android tablets, letting users easily jump between threads. It’s not unlike how iMessage functions on Apple tablets like the iPad Pro (2020)…

What you need to know

Alleged renders of the Google Pixel 6 have emerged for the first time.
The images show a drastically different design language for the device.
The Pixel 6 is rumored to launch later this year towards the fall.

After rumors swirled for some time about Google’s next flagship Pixel, leaker Jon Prosser revealed images of Google Pixel 6, giving us our first look at what the device will look like. The images (below) show a very different Pixel than what we’ve seen from the last few models, thanks to a fairly drastic change in design.

On the display side, Google has moved the selfie camera to the middle of the display, which matches previous rumors of the device. The Pixel 6 is also allegedly going to feature an in-display fingerprint sensor, moving away from the rear sensor.

The camera array has also been changed from the stove-like design found on its predecessors like the Google Pixel 5. It’s now a protruding horizontal array with two or three camera sensors, …

You can go back to uploading images to your Amazon Photos albums.

What you need to know

Amazon Photos is back online after a recent outage.
The outage lasted more than a day, preventing some users from uploading or viewing their photos.
Amazon Photos is a cloud storage app available at no extra cost to Prime subscribers.

After a prolonged outage, Amazon Photos appears to be back online. The cloud storage platform suffered an outage on May 11 that has been resolved as of this morning. That’s according to an email received by some users of Amazon Photos here at Android Central, as well as the Amazon Photos Twitter account:

The Amazon Photos service is fully back up. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. Please contact us if you are still seeing any issues.— Amazon Photos (@AmazonPhotos) May 13, 2021

The issue prevented many users of Amazon Photos from uploading images or even viewing their photos on the best Amazon Echo Show devices like the Amazon Echo Show 10 (…