Articles about Android

OnePlus keeps on going from strength to strength, and nowhere is this truer than in India. New analysis shows that the company is now bigger than Samsung in the region in the premium smartphone market.

The company is now the market leader in India -- quite an achievement considering OnePlus only started participating in there fours ago. The rise to first place was helped by the success of the OnePlus 6, but it's also helped by the fact that the company does not abandon its users when it comes to software updates. In seperate news, it has been revealed that both the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will be getting Android P -- skipping Android 8.1 Oreo completely.

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We may not yet know for certain what it's going to be called, but we now have a very good idea of what to expect from Android P -- or Android 9.0, if you prefer. After numerous developer previews, Google has now released the fourth and final beta ahead of the official launch later this summer.

This is very close to the final code that will be pushed to phones in the coming weeks and months, and Google says that "Beta 4 update includes a release candidate build with final system behaviors and the official Android P APIs (API level 28)". While it's aimed primarily at developers, there's nothing to stop anyone with a compatible handset (or emulator) downloading and installing the final beta of Android P.

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It's just days since the Europe hit Google with a record fine for what it described as "very serious illegal behavior" in an antitrust case about the company's abuse of Android to dominate the competition.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people have an opinion not only about the way Google has acted, but also of the European commission's ruling itself. Among those with an opinion to share is none other than Donald Trump who used the fine as a way to paint the US as a victim at the hands of Europe.

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The European Commission has fined Google a record €4.34 billion ($5 billion) in an antitrust case that saw the company accused of using Android as a "vehicle to cement its dominance as a search engine".

The Commission said that Google forced phone makers to pre-install its software on their handsets, taking advantage of Android's popularity, and breaching European antitrust rules. The EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager summed things up by saying Google has been "denying rivals a chance to innovate and compete on the merits".

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When you spend a few hundred dollars on a phone, you expect it to last you a while. But if you splashed out on an iPhone 6 there's a very high change that you've experienced some sort of problem with your handset.

A report shows that the iPhone 6 is by far Apple's least reliable handset, with a staggering 22 percent of them suffering failures. The iPhone 6S isn't far behind, and for Android users, Samsung handsets fare poorly too.

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For a little while now it has been thought that the P in Android P stood for Popsicle -- based largely on speculation and the fact Google shared some popsicle-related images on Instagram. But it seems that this is wrong.

A new leak -- this time courtesy of Huawei -- suggests that Google has gone with a nutty theme for the upcoming Android 9.0.

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Chrome's Incognito Mode is handy for those times you want to hide your browsing history from others on a shared system -- whether it's because you want to keep a birthday gift secret, or there are just sites you visit that you’d rather keep private.

Now the same feature is coming to YouTube. Having already undergone a period of testing, Incognito Mode is rolling out to Android users around the world, making it easy to hide evidence of the videos you have been watching, or the type of content you have been searching for.

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OnePlus is no stranger to launching multiple versions of its flagship-killing handset, and things are no different with the OnePlus 6. Joining the existing line-up soon is the OnePlus 6 Red -- and the price is pretty appealing.

While previous models of the OnePlus 6 have borne the tag "The speed you need", this one is also billed as being "The Red you need". Kitted out with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, and powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, speediness -- as well as redness -- should not be a concern.

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At Mobile World Congress Shanghai, OnePlus CEO and founder Pete Lau said that his company is determined to make a proper entry into the North American market and is working with US carriers to make it happen.

OnePlus has also said that it is looking to produce a 5G phone in 2019, and it will take advantage of its relationship with Qualcomm to make this happen. For current and future OnePlus owners, the company also made commitments about software and security updates.

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Samsung has typically unveiled new models in the Galaxy Note series towards the end of the third quarter, but this time around the South Korean maker is speeding things up.

The upcoming Galaxy Note 9 will make its public debut on August 9, during the second Unpacked event of 2018. We do not know yet when it will actually hit store shelves, but, knowing Samsung, interested buyers should be able to snag one shortly after that.

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DRM is something that's usually associated with streaming music and video, but there's no reason that it can't be put to other uses. Proving this, Google has started using a form of DRM to improve app security by verifying that APKs originate from the Play Store. It's a system that works much like signed drivers in Windows.

The aim is simple: to improve the security of Android users by ensuring that they are using genuine apps that have not been tampered with in any way. Google is not referring to the new system as DRM, saying instead that it is adding a "small amount of security metadata on top of APKs to verify that the APK was distributed by Google Play".

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Google has unveiled a new look for users' accounts, making information clearer, improving transparency and adding new options.

To make it easy to find information, Google has added a search function and there's also a cleaner look to aid navigation. Building on the previous update to Security Checkup, your Google account now also highlights settings you can change to improve your security.

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Researchers at RiskIQ have uncovered a scam app that seeks to steal information and launches advert clicking to make money for the scammers.

The app is advertised as a battery saver. The twist here is that though it will actually do what it says and cut battery use, it does a lot of nasty stuff too.

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An Amazon Prime membership is a great thing, especially if you take advantage of all of its offerings. The free 2-day shipping by itself makes it worthwhile for many, but the Prime Video streaming service puts it over the edge -- there are so many great movies and TV shows available, you could easily forgo Netflix to save money. Following Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods, the membership can even get you discounts on groceries -- only in some areas of the country for now, however. There are even more perks, so ultimately, Amazon Prime is worth the cost, even after the recent price increase.

One of my favorite membership benefits, however, is the Amazon Prime Exclusive Phone program. If you aren't familiar, this is where Prime members can get discounts on quality Android smartphones. There is a small trade-off for the savings -- some Amazon apps and widgets are pre-installed on the device, including Alexa. With that said, the use of the apps is optional, so it really shouldn't be a big deal. Quite frankly, I'm sure some hardcore Amazon users will find having the apps is a plus. Today, two new Motorola phones join the aforementioned program -- the high-end Moto Z3 Play and the affordable Moto G6 Play.

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Google has never really shown much interest in podcasts -- despite their age and popularity -- but today this changes. The company has launched a new Android app called simply Google Podcasts complete with ubiquitous AI for personalized suggestions.

Available in 47 languages, the app currently provides access to a collection of around two million podcasts, but this number is likely to grow very quickly. Google boasts of integration with Google Assistant and Google Home, the main benefit of which is being able to start a podcast on one device and continue on another.

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