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mardi 17 janvier 2017

Common Repairs For Your Galaxy S7

The headphone jack is a really cheap part to repair on the Galaxy S7. You can find one online for about $5 on ebay. This tutorial will show you the fairly simple steps to take to replace this part.

Removing the back plate on a smartphone is always a tricky step. If you happen to damage the back glass on your Galaxy S7, a replacement can be purchased for about $15 on ebay. Remember to check out all of the different colors that are available, just in case you want to switch things up a bit.



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lundi 16 janvier 2017

Google Introduces Image and Bandwidth Optimizations to its AMP Service

Over the course of 2016, followers of the mobile web space no doubt have noticed that Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project consistently grew and matured. With sites like The Verge, Gizmodo, The Daily Dot, and Wired fully adopting the service and reporting improved viewership statistics and advertising performance, it is highly likely that AMP will continue to experience growth and be broadly adopted throughout the mobile web market.

Of some significance to this potential for future growth is a feature that AMP recently released to developers called AMP Lite. As Huibao Lin and Eyal Peled of Google note, around 63% of the bytes loaded in an average webpage are from images. Thus, AMP Lite focuses mainly on image optimization; something it is largely able to accomplish through integration with AMP Cache. AMP Cache is a smart caching service that allows strategic prioritization of back-end material that is geographically closer to the user accessing AMP content, thus resulting in lower latency and faster loading times. It also gives AMP more access to the content that has loaded, which has allowed Google to introduce image optimization in AMP Lite.

The image optimization protocols that Lite utilizes rely on four main steps: removing data which is invisible or hard to notice to the viewer, converting images to formats that are more mobile-friendly, adding the srcset tool to make images adaptable to the resolution of devices viewing it, and finally lowering the quality of the images when data efficiency is needed most.

As illustrated above, there is a somewhat visible difference in quality between the optimized and unoptimized images. However, when considering that the file size of the optimized version is nearly 10 times smaller than the original file, it is a very small price to pay for vastly decreased bandwidth usage. Aside from image optimizations and AMP's smart caching, AMP Lite also integrates external font optimization which improves font loading time regardless of AMP Cache usage. Altogether, the developers of AMP found that these new additions have resulted in a 45% reduction of data usage for users browsing mobile sites.

Widespread adoption of AMP Lite will no doubt be a boon for mobile users with strict data and device constraints – particularly those in developing countries with mobile service infrastructure that is less than robust. Google is already beginning to roll out these improvements in Vietnam and Malaysia and will most likely expand into other countries soon after.

With Google clearly taking bandwidth-constrained user scenarios seriously, this space will likely see rapid improvements over the coming months and years. On the same day that these improvements to AMP were announced, Google Plus Project Manager John Nack announced that Google+ would integrate a new technology called RAISR (Rapid and Accurate Super-Resolution). Initially developed by three Google researchers, RAISR will bring intelligent, AI-based upscaling to all photos uploaded on Google Plus, resulting in a reported 75% decrease in bandwidth usage when accessing RAISR-optimized photos. Given that the image optimizations AMP Lite utilized resulted in a 40-50% bandwidth reduction, it is possible and maybe even likely that we will eventually see AMP Lite adopt a RAISR-influenced approach to image optimization in the future.

Whatever the future of AMP Lite is, the improvements it has already begun to provide consumers in Vietnam and Malaysia will hopefully make their digital lives a little easier and provide more usable experiences to anyone and everyone who has to deal with meager data plans and inconsistent wireless coverage.


Source: Google Developers Blog



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RAW Smartphone Photography: A Look at The Difference RAW Editing Makes (Ft. OnePlus 3T)

Oddly enough, my first transformative experiences with photography initially transpired through the lens of an HTC Incredible 2, sometime around late 2011. As a nascent technology addict and with the Incredible 2 as my first true smartphone, I was keen to explore the full breadth of its utility and capabilities.

I rapidly adopted the habit of riding around my neighborhood on a longboard, phone in hand, and would take dozens or sometimes hundreds of pictures a day throughout the final months of fall. The Incredible 2 had what was at the time an impressive 8MP rear camera with laser autofocus, and I found it more than capable of producing beautiful images in the right lighting conditions. It even had the ability to perform reasonably well in low light situations, assuming one had a very steady hand. Below are some shots from that trusty little device:

Jump forward five or so years, and smartphones are considerably different, arguably for the better. Indeed, they are still in essence rectangular slabs of glass, plastic, and metal. However, the internals have improved drastically and offer consumers far more capable devices for essentially the same price. My current daily, a OnePlus 3T, is a breath of fresh air even while coming from the fairly recent LG G4. Regarding the camera, it is at least on par with the G4, assuming one is shooting with RAW output. In my experience, the G4 and G3, for that matter, provided wonderful smartphone cameras with solid JPEG processing and one of the best manual modes for a phone at the time, especially with the G3. The 3T does have rather weak out-of-camera JPEG performance, but this weakness is easily overcome by shooting in RAW and making use of its equally-useful manual mode. In fact, as I will attempt to demonstrate, the 3T is able to compete admirably with my (admittedly aging) mirrorless Sony NEX-5 in a variety of conditions.  

In order to aid the comparison, I visited Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, WA, as well as the famous Mount Rainier National Park. Point Defiance happens to be one of the largest metropolitan parks in the United States, second only to Central Park in New York City. It's a gorgeous densely forested peninsula with views of the Puget Sound, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and several local islands located just offshore. In fact, the wet climate of the Pacific Northwest means that most of the forests of Washington State are rainforests, blanketed with emerald green mosses and hosting clear creeks and rivers courtesy of snowmelt and runoff from the Olympic Mountains. Beautiful scenery certainly doesn't guarantee better pictures, but it can only serve to improve the final product in most situations.  


Why RAW?

When choosing to shoot in a RAW format, the singular crucial benefit that one can hope to gain is having access to what is essentially a lossless, uncompressed copy of the data your camera gathers while taking each photo. While it is generally likely that the result directly out of camera will be less sharp and possibly flatter than a JPEG alternative, one avoids the side effects of the aggressive compression that have made the aforementioned file type a heavyweight in the realm of online photo standards. Assuming that one knows their way around a RAW-compatible photo editor like Adobe Lightroom, Apple's Aperture (R.I.P.), or Affinity Photo, switching to RAW format photography can offer a user the ability to extract far more detail largely in the form of extended dynamic range. This tends to mean that data in overblown shadows and highlights can be recovered, while at the same time allowing an editor to create imagery with more controlled and uniform levels of dynamic range. While attempting to edit lossy formats like JPEGs might result in extreme compression artifacts and excessive levels of noise, editing the same image taken in a RAW format can result in an end product that maintains high production value due to the added ability to account for imperfect camerawork, lighting conditions, and a combination of some amount of both.

Of course, the absolute best one can hope for is to nail the original shot in camera, thus requiring as little post-processing as possible. Even with RAW files, there will be no miracle recoveries of truly fumbled shots. If subtle modifications result in an image that you can be satisfied with, nothing more necessarily needs to be done. In the (likely) eventuality that lighting or the color profile is sometimes unpleasing even with many attempts at editing a photo, it is reasonable to begin considering filters, which can often excel at obscuring subpar shooting conditions or camerawork with things like exaggerated contrast and fade filters, as well as different color profiles. Aesthetically pleasing compositions need not always be tossed out due to other certain unavoidable flaws, thanks to filters and a more heavy-handed approach to editing. VSCOCam arguably offers the best present experience for anyone looking to add a filter, featuring a relatively subtle spread of options and an admirably fully featured editing suite with a multitude of basic options for mobile photographers. It even offers plugins for Adobe Lightroom if one so wishes to utilize its many filters outside of VSCO's mobile ecosystem. Furthermore, iOS users were recently given the ability to edit RAW files through the VSCOCam app itself, allowing those with the desire to do so a functional way to take advantage of iOS 10's RAW photography capabilities while still retaining the ability to quickly edit and upload a RAW file format without requiring access to a desktop-class photo editor. This feature will no doubt arrive on Android in the near future, so there has never been a more user-friendly and convenient time to make the transition to RAW.


RAW Results on the OnePlus 3T and Sony NEX-5

Due in part to Sony's use of a proprietary RAW format and OnePlus' decision to use Adobe's open source DNG format, the OnePlus demonstrates the flatness and subdued color of RAW shooting to a far greater extent. This can be perceived as both a blessing and a curse, as it leaves the user to the options of either attempting to massage the image into something recognizable from memory or choosing to take the clean slate approach and altering it in a way that is simply aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, as someone extremely adapted to the process of editing JPEGs and other lossy formats, there is something immensely satisfying about starting with a RAW image that is highly washed out (something that the DNG format generally suffers from). It allows you to reduce black levels, shadows, and overall brightness while not having to suffer the opposite fate of attempting to salvage an underexposed lossy format image, a process which will in many cases inevitably result in untenable levels of noise and compression artifacts. There also is something to be said for the experience of beginning with a photo that arguably looks hideous and transforming that same photo into something absolutely stunning. While the differences before and after editing Sony's ARW format are minor, DNGs offer a downright absurd contrast when comparing the end result to the out-of-camera image.

Regarding the physical cameras and sensors themselves, there are of course some innate differences that cannot be avoided. Due to the significantly larger sensor in the NEX-5, it also has larger individual pixels, allowing more light to be gathered. This generally results in far superior low-light performance by simply gathering more light, while also allowing for higher ISO usage with less of the resultant noise. The fixed aperture of the OnePlus 3T also prevents certain shots, and prevents the user from increasing the f-stop, which can offer a photographer the ability to keep more of an image in sharper focus.

In order to best compare the results of both cameras, I generally tried to keep the playing field even and avoided (when reasonable) using too much of my NEX-5's 18-55mm lens, given that the 3T has no analog zoom capabilities. I generally treated it as a prime lens, with a little variability allowed for. The end results were exactly what I would expect from a camera I have been shooting with for the better part of half a decade, with decent detail preservation and a reasonable f.3.5 aperture. With a 14.1-megapixel sensor in the APS form factor, it pairs quite evenly against the 3T's 16 megapixels. Regarding autofocus capabilities, the 3T admittedly jumps to the front with ease, as it utilizes phase detection autofocus which handily outclasses the NEX-5's circa-2010 contrast-detection alternative. As such, I nearly universally use the manual focus ring control located on the lens itself. I also shot in manual mode with each camera in order to keep the 3T around the same ISO (to more objectively compare noise levels) and to tame the rather jumpy autofocus when taking macro shots with the 3T.


Sony NEX-5

While my stock 18-55mm Sony lens is beginning to show its age in less than crisp bokeh and sharpness, the camera performed wonderfully. The ARW format also allowed me to better recover overexposed, noisy, and slightly out of focus images, all of which I am accustomed to as a consequence of having to use the small and somewhat dark LCD display as a viewfinder. The final photo with water trails is an example of something that the 3T simply is not capable of in daytime, as the bright ambient light required something like an f.32 aperture to prevent the image from being exposed. It is also considerably easier to set a small camera on a log to take long exposures when you forget your tripod at home! In general, the decent light conditions meant that noise was almost a complete non-issue for the NEX-5 on the two days I shot. One of the biggest boons for any camera with analog zoom abilities is the far more flexible framing options one has, something which I ended up using in my shots of the Puget Sound. Better framing in camera means that less cropping is necessary to find a nice composition, and of course prevents the editor from having to sacrifice too much resolution and detail in the pursuit of that composition.


OnePlus 3T

After only a brief experience of shooting in a RAW format on the OnePlus 3T, I am incredibly impressed with its performance and the sheer quality of the photos it is capable of producing. All inherent weaknesses aside, it is clear that the 3T is more than capable of competing with a dedicated mirrorless camera like the Sony NEX-5. Not only is it capable of competing, but there were more than a few instances where the 3T's portability, convenience, phase-detection autofocus, and large screen led me to actually prefer the photos it produced, as well as the experience of taking those photos. In 90% of the photos I shot, the 3T did admittedly have quite a bit more noise and of course was unable to pull off any daytime long exposures, but it consistently offered at least as much dynamic range as my NEX-5, and sometimes even more. The extreme desaturation and flatness of the DNG files the 3T produced was less than optimal, but that is partially only inconvenient because of my inexperience with editing RAW photography. With a little experience, it would undoubtedly be easy to consistently arrive at finished photos that offer more natural saturation and color profiles. If that had been my goal, I could have compared the end results and tweaked until that was the case, but my goal here was more to explore the differences and weaknesses of both the cameras and the different RAW formats.

Going forward, I will approach my OnePlus 3T with far more confidence than I would normally allow myself to have with a smartphone camera, and it will doubtlessly become a central facet of my future photography, rather than an ancillary, second-class tool as I have treated my smartphone cameras in the past. It goes without saying that this comparison between the 6-year-old NEX-5 and my cutting-edge 3T should not be extended beyond that concept, in the sense that a brand new compact camera would very likely trounce an equally new smartphone. I will of course happily explore exactly that question in the future, as my trusty NEX-5 is in severe need of an upgrade, and improvements in mobile photography will likely continue to be one of my personal favorite things to explore and experience.

The Draw of RAW Smartphone Photography

Given just how well my 3T performed, there are several conclusions that can be drawn on this subject. One of the most important things to consider is that in essence, I found that a modern $450 smartphone is entirely capable of performing at the same level as a dedicated mirrorless camera that cost upwards of $500 new at the time it was released, assuming that the user shoots in a RAW format on the smartphone. Given the inherent utility of a smartphone when compared to a dedicated camera, it almost goes without saying that someone interested in photography with around $500 to spend would be best off simply buying the OnePlus 3T. Not only would they be able to have one of the best smartphones available in their pocket, but also a camera capable of editing on the spot the pictures they take, while also having considerably better battery life than a dedicated camera. As an example, after shooting about 100 photos on each device over the course of an hour, my 3T ended up at around 80% and my NEX-5 around 50%. With the 3T's Dash Charging, I could replace that lost battery in about 5 minutes, whereas the NEX-5 requires an awkward wall-mounted charger that you place the battery in, and would take at least an hour to charge halfway.

I must reiterate that the 3T's ability to compete so effectively derives almost entirely from the fact that it is able to shoot in a RAW format. Smartphones have some of the most notoriously aggressive in-camera image processing in order to further compress the images they produce, while also featuring often heavy-handed noise reduction and sharpening that cannot be normally disabled. RAW photography essentially hands all of those decisions over to the user, giving them the ability to tailor the final product with a level of finesse in a such a forgiving manner that it is almost hard to believe the photos you are editing came out of a smartphone.

Of course, there are undoubtedly barriers to entry into the realm of RAW shooting, especially on a mobile device. For amateur photographers that mainly or entirely rely on their phones, it is even more difficult. Nevertheless, the hurdles are easily surpassable. The main problems for mobile users are ease of editing and storage. As RAW photos are essentially uncompressed copies of the data a camera receives, they inherently end up being at least several times larger than the JPEG files cameras would otherwise output. For the DNG format the 3T's RAW mode uses, each photo is essentially 30MB, meaning that a typical session of an hour or two can result in upwards of 2-3GB of photos being produced. Thankfully, the OnePlus 3T offers 64GB of storage at a minimum, with 128GB available for only $40 extra. However, for many of the other phones that offer RAW modes, 32GB is often a common denominator for the base levels. A microSD card would be optimal for anyone with a phone that has little internal storage but is still interested in trying out RAW photography. Most importantly, of course, is having the ability to edit RAW photos in the first place, as nearly all photos out of camera will look less than optimal and be in a format that cannot be shared in any of the usual locations. At the moment, iOS users have the best out of box experience available, as they are able to shoot in RAW and edit those photos in VSCOCam. Android will no doubt eventually have that feature trickle down, but at the moment lacks the ability to do so. In the case of Android users who need or want to edit on their phone, you will be best off subscribing to Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography service. For $10 a month, you will get access to both the mobile and desktop versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, which are both fully-fledged and highly capable editing suites. This is the option I have gone for, although I still prefer to edit my photography on my desktop PC. Nevertheless, the OnePlus 3T is still a very strong option for mobile editors, given its 6GB of RAM and optional sRGB color profile.

With the mobile version of Lightroom and its RAW mode enabled, I can in good conscience recommend the 3T for photography entirely in lieu of a dedicated camera, especially for those who may have been considering buying a camera or generally getting more involved in photography. Not only will you end up with something that is more useful and portable than a dedicated camera, but by shooting and editing RAW you will already be a step ahead of many fellow photographers. Even if the end result is something as simple as improved photos for use in social media, diving headfirst into photography is almost guaranteed to be highly rewarding and creatively satisfying.

Lastly, for those who lack experience or general understanding when it comes to editing photos or even the process of taking photos, keep an eye out at XDA for one or two future articles in which I will provide introductions to editing software like Adobe Lightroom and explore my personal workflow, as well as general tips and suggestions for taking and editing RAW photos!

Have you taken a smartphone picture you are proud of? Share the results in the comments below!

All photos taken by Eric Ralph, 2011-2017.



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NVIDIA SHIELD TV Upgraded to Android Nougat as New SHIELD TV (2017) Releases

NVIDIA has jumped ahead and updated their SHIELD TV from 3.3 to 5.0, running Android 7.0 Nougat. This upgrade brings with it several useful improvements, with the central changes coming in the form the NVIDIA Games application, which now supports the company's recently announced GeForce NOW game streaming subscription service.

The new Games app replaces the SHIELD Hub and could potentially be a boon for those who are interested in playing modern titles but lack the console or gaming PC otherwise required. GeForce NOW will allow SHIELD TV users to stream games from the cloud with the performance of up to what'd you'd expect from a dedicated GTX 1080 setup.

Equally exciting for couch gamers are the improvements coming to GameStream, which allows a dedicated PC to stream games to the SHIELD. GameStream will now be capable of outputting 4K and HDR content and has also been optimized for smoother, lower latency streaming.

The 5.0 Upgrade also brings the expected Android Nougat optimizations and features. This includes a refreshed UI with a better Recent Apps page accessed by double-pressing the home button, a slicker settings menu, and support for picture-in-picture video playback thanks to Nougat's multi-window multitasking capabilities, and more! Other smaller improvements coming with the update include the ability to write to attached USB and SD storage and the ability to now use cast features with HBO GO. Support for Amazon Video in up to 4K HDR can now be taken advantage of, as well.

All of this comes right alongside the release of a new NVIDIA SHIELD TV, upgraded for 2017 with a smaller profile and a lighter chassis for the regular model. The internals are the same, though, so it won't be any faster nor any better at the key features. The remote control and gamepad are improved as well, but those are sold separately. You can buy the regular version (16GB) for $199 or the Pro version (500GB) for $299 (starting January 30).

Source: NVIDIA.



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LG Promises LG G6 Battery is Safe from Overheating

Consumer safety is a serious issue – and for very good reason. We lug around a mixture of chemical elements in our pockets everyday without a second thought to its flammability. That is because we assume that due diligence and strict testing procedures have been carried out to guarantee a high level of safety. But sometimes incidents can occur which shake up our trust in these products.

Samsung's experience with the Note 7, as unfortunate as it may be, did trigger a renewed focus on safety and testing procedures. There is no doubt that Samsung will be adopting stricter testing and accept lower error margins for the upcoming Galaxy S8, but this reaction is spreading across the rest of the mobile industry too.

LG has promised that it is doing its part to make sure the LG G6 does not suffer from unsafe defects. LG will be adopting new technology and will be conducting tougher tests to improve on the safety of the upcoming flagship that is set to be unveiled in Mobile World Congress in February 2017.

The LG G6's internal design will keep parts that tend to heat up as far apart as possible, avoiding situations where heat is concentrated in just one area. Furthermore, the device will also be incorporating heat pipes made of copper to conduct heat away from such areas.

LG is also conducting battery heat exposure tests to a temperature 15% higher than the temperature set by international standards of U.S. and Europe. The G6 is undergoing a new, more complex accelerated-life test as well. This will help analyze how the product and its components age when mishandled which is important to know in the context of smartphone batteries.

Overall, LG is trying its best to give assure potential customers that they have made safety their utmost priority. While you're at it, LG, can you also take a look at those bootloops?


Source: The Korea Herald



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Use Tasker to Notify when your Tethered Devices lose Internet Access

From the last article, you know that I spend quite a bit of my time on a train. It's an excellent time to write an article or two, provided I have access to the Internet to look up facts and ideas. Tethering can be tricky on the train, as reception-less areas are scattered across my route. I find it quite easy to tell that I'm about to go offline when I'm in a tunnel, but the situation is less apparent when the train cruises through the open meadows of North Yorkshire. Android's built-in tethering solution doesn't have any way to let you know that you are not going to be able to load that website for the next 5 minutes.

That's why, as a Tasker aficionado, I thought about how to solve my problem using the popular Android automation app. I've solved my problem by building a tethering 'no network' warning using Tasker. The aim of the project is to let you know when your phone no longer is in cellular network range. This will be done in 3 ways:

  • Using notification LED (best for when you tether for friends)
  • Using a smartphone icon (needs a smartwatch)
  • Using a Join push (best for personal devices -can be replaced with AutoRemote)

You can get more creative with notifications, however, I will use only discrete options as tethering is most likely to be used in public places. No one likes obnoxious notifications, right? Please bear in mind that the notifications will use an internet connection to show up on the connected device. You could use AutoRemote (via Bluetooth) to send out warnings when the network is not present. This will require the device in question to be paired via Bluetooth.

You will need:
Android version: 4.0+, Android 7.0 needed for the notification tile
Apps: Join
Plugins:  AutoWear (optional), AutoRemote (can replace Join), AutoNotification (optional)


Enable a tethering 'no network' warning with Tasker

Instead of checking if tethering is enabled, it's easier to replace a tile in the status bar with AutoNotification and set up a toggle behavior. If you are not on Android 7.0 you can use a shortcut or a widget instead.

If you have never enabled a tile with AutoNotification – you will see that this is a bit awkward. You will need to create a setup task which will convert a template tile into a tile of our choice. Place an empty tile, i.e. AutoNotification 02 onto the tiles area (click edit to edit the visible tiles).

Create a Tethering tile

Tethering tile

  Tile Setup          A1: AutoNotification Tiles [ Configuration:Tile: 2  Command: hotspottoggle  Label: Hotspot  Icon: android.resource://net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/hd_aaa_ext_signal  State: 1  Require Unlock: false  Hide Notifications: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ]           A2: Variable Set [ Name:%HotspotVariable To:0 Recurse Variables:Off Do Maths:Off Append:Off ]           A3: Variable Set [ Name:%HotspotDialog To:0 Recurse Variables:Off Do Maths:Off Append:Off ]  

You will only need to run this once to set up the tiles and variables. The tile will use a command hotspottoggle to change the state of tethering and will set it as inactive. It will also collapse the status bar once pressed. You can dress up the tile with a label of your choice and the icon.

Two more variables will be created and set to 0. %HotspotVariable will display the status of the tether (0 = no, 1 = yes) and %HotspotDialog will display a dialog asking us what device we want to notify (0 = do not show, 1 = show dialog).

Tethering toggle

Tethering toggle

  Hotspot Toggle           A1: Variable Add [ Name:%HotspotDialog Value:1 Wrap Around:2 ]           A2: AutoNotification Tiles [ Configuration:Tile: 2  Command: hotspottoggle  Label: Hotspot  Icon: android.resource://net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/hd_aaa_ext_signal  State: 999  Require Unlock: false  Hide Notifications: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ]           A3: WiFi Tether [ Set:Toggle ]           A4: Perform Task [ Name:Hotspot Dialog Priority:%priority Parameter 1 (%par1): Parameter 2 (%par2): Return Value Variable: Stop:Off ] If [ %HotspotDialog ~ 1 ]          A5: Wait [ MS:0 Seconds:5 Minutes:0 Hours:0 Days:0 ]           A6: Variable Add [ Name:%HotspotVariable Value:1 Wrap Around:2 ]           A7: Variable Clear [ Name:%HotspotDevice Pattern Matching:Off ] If [ %HotspotVariable ~ 0 ]  

I want to display a dialog only when tethering is enabled. The dialog will show some devices I own and will allow me to set the target for the notifications. In each case, I will set my tethering phone to blink the notification LED rapidly each time the reception is poor.

When the tile is pressed, it changes the status to active. %HotspotDialog changes to 1 and it triggers the HotspotDialog task. While we select our device, the Hotspot profiles are armed by setting the variable %HotspotVariable to 1. When I press on a tile again to end tethering, the HotspotDialog returns to 0 and no longer prompts the dialog to be displayed, and the %HotspotVariable is set to the neutral value 0.

A1,A6

The action Variable Add +1 will change the value of our starting variables from 0 to 1 and will wrap it around 2. This means these variables will always take values of 1 or 0. The action placement is relevant as well, as the %HotspotDialog will control when the dialog is displayed. We are running the same task to disable and enable the tethering, but we don't want the dialog to appear each time we toggle it.

A7

While we are at it, if the task is performed to disable the tether (%HotspotVariable = 0), we want to clear the variable that stores the name of the device which gets notified by the Hotspot Dialog task.

A5

The Wait action is added to prevent the information about poor range from being displayed straight away which may happen when the hotspot setting is toggled.

A3

Simply toggle the WiFi tether action. Nothing complicated about this step.

A4

A separate task is displayed to show the AutoTools Dialog and action for the choice I've made. This will run when our dialog controlling variable %HotspotDialog = 1.

A2

When the toggle is pressed, we want to make sure that the tile toggles the state active/inactive and retains the same command: hotspottoggle. Lastly, make sure it will collapse the status bar.

Hotspot Dialog

Hotspot dialog

  Hotspot Dialog           A1: AutoTools Dialog [ Configuration:Dialog Type: List  Title: Enable poor network notification?  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png  List Type: 1  Texts: Tablet,Mobile,Computer,Watch,Laptop  Text Size: 20  Images: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_tablet-1.png,/storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_cellphone_android-1.png,/storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_desktop_mac-1.png,/storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_watch-1.png,/storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_laptop-1.png  Image Width: 50  Dim Background: true  Number Of Columns: 3  Top Margin: 16  Bottom Margin: 16  Bottom Buttons Top Margin: 16  Bottom Buttons Bottom Margin: 16  Close On Select: true  Separator: ,  Command Variable: atcommand  Cancelable: true  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ]           A2: Variable Set [ Name:%HotspotDevice To:%attext Recurse Variables:Off Do Maths:Off Append:Off ]   

The AutoTools dialog is used to display available devices. When the device is selected, dialog will close and set the value of the %HotspotDevice to the name of that device. This variable gets cleared each time the tethering is stopped.

Poor reception/No data

Poor reception/No data profiles

I have created 2 profiles which will check the signal strength and the Internet connection. Each one is controlled by the variable %HotspotVariable and is only active when tethering is enabled. Both profiles will trigger the same task when activated and deactivated. One contains the state context – signal strength –  and the other the mobile network. Ideally, the connection will be still present when the notification is issued. This is why I'm including the signal strength set to 1 in the profile condition.

Poor Signal

Poor signal

  Profile: Poor Reception (91)          State: Variable Value [ %HotspotVariable ~ 1 ]          State: Signal Strength [ From:0 To:1 ]  Enter: PoorSignal (89)                    A1: AutoNotification [ Configuration:Use HTML: false  Title: Poor reception  Icon: android.resource://net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/hl_device_access_network_cell  Status Bar Icon: device_access_network_cell  Status Bar Text Size: 16  Id: 55  Priority: -1  Persistent: true  Is Group Summary: false  LED Color: red  LED On: 300  LED Off: 30p  Skip Picture Cache: false  Update Notification: false  Only on Phone: true Timeout (Seconds):20 ]                     A2: Join Send Push [ Configuration:Device: Chrome@Laptop  Text: Poor range  Title: Poor reception  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Laptop ]                    A3: Join Send Push [ Configuration:Device: Chrome@Home  Text: Poor range  Title: warning  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png Timeout (Seconds):60 ]                     A4: Join Send Push [ Configuration:Device: Tablet  Text: Poor range  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Tablet ]          A5: AutoWear App [ Configuration:Execute Now: true  Trigger Event: true  Haptic Feedback: true  Name: App  AutoWear Elements: Show  AutoWear Element Id: poorrange  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Watch ]    Exit: Cancel (90)          A1: AutoNotification Cancel [ Configuration:Id: 55  Cancel All: false Timeout (Seconds):0 ]           A2: AutoWear App [ Configuration:Execute Now: true  Trigger Event: true  Haptic Feedback: true  Name: App  AutoWear Elements: Hide  AutoWear Element Id: poorrange  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Watch ]    Profile: No Data (92)          State: Variable Value [ %HotspotVariable ~ 1 ]          State: Mobile Network [ 2G:On 3G:Off 3G - HSPA:Off 4G:Off ]  Enter: PoorSignal (89)                    A1: AutoNotification [ Configuration:Use HTML: false  Title: Poor reception  Icon: android.resource://net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/hl_device_access_network_cell  Status Bar Icon: device_access_network_cell  Status Bar Text Size: 16  Id: 55  Priority: -1  Persistent: true  Is Group Summary: false  LED Color: red  LED On: 300  LED Off: 30p  Skip Picture Cache: false  Update Notification: false  Only on Phone: true Timeout (Seconds):20 ]                     A2: Join Send Push [ Configuration:Device: Chrome@Laptop  Text: Poor range  Title: Poor reception  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Laptop ]                    A3: Join Send Push [ Configuration:Device: Chrome@Home  Text: Poor range  Title: warning  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png Timeout (Seconds):60 ]                     A4: Join Send Push [ Configuration:Device: Tablet  Text: Poor range  Icon: /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/Material Icons/ic_wifi.png Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Tablet ]          A5: AutoWear App [ Configuration:Execute Now: true  Trigger Event: true  Haptic Feedback: true  Name: App  AutoWear Elements: Show  AutoWear Element Id: poorrange  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Watch ]    Exit: Cancel          A1: AutoNotification Cancel [ Configuration:Id: 55  Cancel All: false Timeout (Seconds):0 ]           A2: AutoWear App [ Configuration:Execute Now: true  Trigger Event: true  Haptic Feedback: true  Name: App  AutoWear Elements: Hide  AutoWear Element Id: poorrange  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Watch ]  

The AutoNotification notification is created on the phone, but only to make the LED blink. Choose the other values of the notification to your personal liking and set fast LED blink (mine is 300ms on/off) in your preferred color. The idea is to display discrete information rather than a fully invasive alert when the screen wake. The notification is saved as a permanent notification with ID 55.

What follows next is a Join push for each device you own. Select a Join push for each device, and use the IF condition to match the value of %HotspotDevice variable.

Configure the Join push action to send a notification of your choice. Since these notifications will be dismissed on the target device, no other actions are needed.

SmartWatch

Smartwatch profile

  Profile: Remove Watch Icon           Event: AutoWear Command [ Configuration:Command Filter: closepoorrange  Case Insensitive: false  Exact: true  Regex: false  Variable Array: false ]  Enter: Close WearIcon (55)          A1: AutoWear App [ Configuration:Execute Now: true  Trigger Event: true  Haptic Feedback: true  Name: App  AutoWear Elements: Hide  AutoWear Element Id: poorrange  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ]   

You will notice that I have changed the way the notification works for the smartwatch. None of the above will show up on my watch. The only thing I want to show on my watch is a small icon which can be dismissed on request.

Create an icon using AutoWear Manage Floating Icons *(you have to go to the AutoWear app) and test the size and placement on your watch. The icon will draw over any screen, so make sure it contain a command on tap to close it. I used closepoorrange and named the icon poorrange. The size of my icon is 30×30 pixels and it is placed 65% to the right and 20% from the top.

Once you are happy with the size and location – use the AutoWear App action to show the icon and the IF condition to link it to the %HotspotDevice variable.

Cancel

Cancel

  Cancel (90)          A1: AutoNotification Cancel [ Configuration:Id: 55  Cancel All: false Timeout (Seconds):0 ]           A2: AutoWear App [ Configuration:Execute Now: true  Trigger Event: true  Haptic Feedback: true  Name: App  AutoWear Elements: Hide  AutoWear Element Id: poorrange  Turn Screen On: true Timeout (Seconds):60 ] If [ %HotspotDevice ~ Watch ]  

To end the LED blink and remove the floating icon from the watch, I'm going to use a simple AutoNotification Cancel action with the ID of my notification (55) to perform the AutoWear App action which hides the floating icon.

The smartwatch has an additional profile that will remove the floating icon if the icon is pressed. To do this I use the AutoWear Command event 'closepoorrange' then I run a separate task that contains pretty much the same action as the Cancel task.


We hope you enjoy this little creation of ours, and let us know if you think we can make any enhancements! As always, you can download the project by clicking the link below.

Download the Tethering 'No Network' Warning Project File here!

In order to import the tethering 'no network' warnings with Tasker project file, download the above file and save it anywhere in your internal storage. Open up Tasker and check to make sure that "beginner mode" is disabled in the preferences menu. Then, long-press on the "home" icon in the bottom left hand corner and click on "import". Find the prj.xml file you saved earlier, and select it to import it. You will now see a new tab in the bottom row containing all of the profiles and tasks we referenced in this article.



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PSA: Double Tap to Fast-Forward Rolling Out to YouTube App on Android

Some of my biggest personal pet peeves with the official YouTube app is the inability to set the video playback speed (to plow through slowew instructional videos) and the inability to skip short sections of the video to avoid irrelevant information. Although you can use the seekbar to jump around, on longer videos showcasing something like game play, even small seekbar movements can jump through large sections of the video.

One remedy that people discovered a few months back involved enabling the "Switch Access" accessibility service. Once enabled, the YouTube app would display two additional buttons on both sides of the video that allow you to skip 10 seconds forwards/backwards.

However, for those of us who prefer not to enable needless Accessibility Services, we could not use these buttons. But it appears that a server side switch on the YouTube app (as found on version 11.49.55 for us) makes this happen.

As you can see in the video below, all you need to do is double tap to initiate fast forward/rewind for a 10 second skip.

This change is rolling out via a server side switch, so have some patience.We should note we have not found this feature enabled on later versions of YouTube, such as on version 12.01.54 of the YouTube app, so don't expect to upgrade your YouTube app to gain this functionality. Though it wouldn't hurt to be on the latest version anyways.

While a very small change, this will surely help a lot of content consumers navigate quicker through a video right to the juicy bits. It is also beneficial in case you missed out on some instruction and just need a short rewind. Here's hoping Google also implements speed controls on the mobile app.

Have you received this functionality? Let us know in the comments below!



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