Qualcomm, Samsung, and Huawei back the MPEG-5 EVC video codec for 4K and 8K UHD videos

The HEVC (High Efficiency Video Codec) has been around for quite a while and it offers reduced video file sizes and better quality than other codecs. In the world of smartphones, this becomes especially important. Qualcomm, Samsung, and Huawei are now backing MPEG-5 EVC, an alternative to HEVC.

MPEG-5 EVC will be used for 4K and 8K video as well as VR, AR, and HDR content. It’s supposedly able to offer the same quality as HEVC while having a 26% lower bitrate on average. What this means in the real world is you’ll use less bandwidth to stream something that offers MPEG-5 EVC and have smaller file sizes when recording videos.

One of the things that has held back HEVC from being more widely adopted is its licensing situation. The situation was so complex that it lead to only 12% of internet streaming services using HEVC, which ultimately blocks any of the benefits to consumers. The press release from Qualcomm, Samsung, and Huawei says they will offer “fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms for their respective essential patent claims covering this standard.”

A simplified licensing situation means we should see MPEG-5 EVC more widely adopted than HEVC. Google’s own royalty-free AV1 codec is another alternative out there and we’ve seen it utilized by the likes of YouTube, Netflix, Vimeo, and Facebook.

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Source: Qualcomm | Via: Android Authority

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Google Pixel 4a wallpapers have leaked and you can download them now

Google is preparing to launch its next mid-range Pixel smartphone in June. Before its launch, we’ve learned pretty much all there is to know about the device including the hardware specifications, features, pricing, camera quality, and performance. Now, most of the new wallpapers designed for the Google Pixel 4a have leaked online.

Google Pixel 4a Forums

Google designs new wallpapers for each new Pixel smartphone release, and this mid-year smartphone launch is no different in that regard. The wallpapers were extracted from a pre-release Google Pixel 4a obtained by Cuban YouTube channel TecnoLike Plus run by Julio Lusson. There are 16 still wallpapers in total, each coming in at 2340×1080 resolution. These wallpapers were clearly designed with the position and size of the Pixel 4a’s hole-punch cutout in mind; in fact, the hole-punch cutout should blend in quite well when these wallpapers are applied. The Pixel 4a is Google’s first smartphone with a hole-punch display cutout, so it’s no surprise to see that Google made these wallpapers to ease in new users who may not be used to this kind of display. The only wallpaper that wasn’t designed around the hole-punch cutout is the stock “4a” wallpaper that features a similar design to the stock Pixel 4 wallpaper.

Here’s a gallery showing off the new wallpapers. We resized and compressed these wallpapers when uploading them to WordPress, so we recommend you click the download link below for the full size, uncompressed images shared by Julio.

Julio uploaded the wallpapers to Mega, and you can download them from the following link:

Download the Google Pixel 4a Wallpapers

We don’t have any of the new live wallpapers from the Google Pixel 4a (if there even are any). If you’re interested in downloading the beautiful live wallpapers from the older Pixel 2, Pixel 3, or Pixel 4, though, then check out XDA Recognized Developer Pranav Pandey’s thread on our forums to download a ported version of the live wallpapers that works on most Android devices.

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AT&T rolls out the Android 10 update to the LG V40 ThinQ

The European variant of the LG V40 ThinQ is scheduled to receive its stable Android 10 update in Q3 2020, while the company is planning to deliver the same a bit early in their home country. Matter of fact, LG has already published the Android 10 kernel source code for this device, which clearly indicates that the development stage is over. Confirming the speculation, the AT&T variant of the LG V40 (LM-V405UA) has now picked up the Android 10 OTA.

LG V40 ThinQ XDA Forums

While AT&T itself has yet to officially list the new build on their device-specific update tracker, several users on our forums have confirmed that they’ve started receiving the update on their units. The software version of the Android 10 firmware is V405UA30b, which is a rather a steep jump from the last Android Pie-based build from AT&T, i.e. V405UA21a. The update should introduce all the new features that Google delivers with Android 10, like gesture navigation and smart replies, but the lack of a proper changelog has made it difficult to list these enhancements as well as the Android security patch level of the new build.

It is worth mentioning that the LM-V405UA model of the LG V40 ThinQ is being used by both Verizon and Sprint, thus cross-flashing the aforementioned Android 10 firmware on those carrier variants is theoretically possible. The T-Mobile variant, despite being entirely different (LM-V405TAB), should also receive the taste of Android 10 pretty soon, as LG has uploaded the corresponding kernel source code on their repository.

In case you are not satisfied with LG’s custom skin, LG UX 9.0, and want to give vanilla Android 10 a try, you can flash unofficial builds of Lineage OS 17.0 or Paranoid Android Quartz on your LG V40 ThinQ. Don’t worry about the restriction on bootloader unlocking, as most of the US carrier variants of this phone (except the T-Mobile one) can be unlocked with the help of a leaked engineering bootloader.

Thanks to Reddit user u/gunnermcgavin for the screenshot!

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[Update: Official] Slack is testing a cleaner UI with swipe gesture navigation in the latest Android beta

Update (5/14/20 @ 9:25 AM ET): The Slack redesign with swipe gesture navigation is officially rolling out.

More people than ever are working from home these days and many businesses rely on Slack for communication. With tons of useful integrations with other services, and apps on nearly every platform, it’s a great choice. One of those platforms is Android and the Slack app recently received a pretty big UI update.

The latest update for the Slack beta app introduces a new bottom bar for navigation. The bar has four tabs: Home, DMs, Mentions, and You. The Home tab is where you see the list of channels, direct message conversations, and the compose button for new messages. DMs and Mentions is exactly what you would expect, and the You tab is where you can set your status and adjust preferences.

Along with the new UI is a brand new way to navigate with gestures. When you’re on any of the four tabs listed above, you can swipe from the right to go to your last active channel/message. Swiping from the left while in a channel/DM will go back to the last tab you were on. Swiping from the right on the tab pages will open a sidebar that shows your other workspaces and shortcuts to a channel browser, inviting members, and preferences. These gestures don’t need to be performed from the edge of the screen.

The gestures feel a little wonky at first, but it seems like this will be a nice update. Any UI that minimizes the interference of Android’s built-in Back gesture is a good thing. Nothing is more annoying than trying to slide open the hamburger menu and accidentally going Back. You can try this new UI in Slack version 20.05.10.0. Opt-in to the beta track in the Play Store if you haven’t already.

Via: 9to5Google

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Update: Official

After showing up in the beta last week, Slack’s new UI with gesture navigation is now official for Android and iOS. The biggest change is, of course, the gestures and bottom tab bar, which we explained in the original post above. There’s more to the update, though.

The profile page, or the “You” tab, is much more useful now. Setting your status and snoozing your notifications is easy to access. The You tab basically puts all of the previous functionality in an interface that makes sense.

Slack has also brought the new “Compose” button from the desktop to the mobile apps. This makes it easy to start a new conversation or add to an existing one without having to find it first. Apps that work with Slack can be easily accessed now through the lightning bolt icon in the text entry box.

The update is rolling out right now in the Google Play Store. It may take a while to show up in the app, though.

Slack (Free, Google Play) →

Source: Slack

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NVIDIA GeForce Now adds another 18 new games to its cloud gaming library

NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW game-streaming service enjoys its share in the now-crowded game streaming market on the fact that it was one of the first to appear for end consumers. The service started beta testing for Android last year and opened up for everyone in February. NVIDIA had pledged to announce new games for GeForce NOW every week, and over the past weeks, it has kept to that promise on multiple occasions. Last week, NVIDIA added 19 games to its cloud gaming library, and today, NVIDIA is announcing 18 new games that will now be available on GeForce NOW.

GeForce NOW  incorporates technology that utilizes AI and RTX GPUs to enable “the next generation of performance and visuals”. It’s NVIDIA’s improved deep learning neural network that “boosts frame rates while generating beautiful, sharp images for games”. Since the base technology is game streaming, games begin playing instantly when you fire them up. They also include an experience that has been optimized for cloud gaming and includes Game Ready Driver performance improvements, managed directly by NVIDIA.

Here is the complete list of new games that have been added to GeForce NOW this week:

• ATOM RPG Trudograd
• Super Mega Baseball 3
• Aven Colony
• Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
• Bomber Crew
• Children of Morta
• Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
• Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
• Europa Universalis III Complete
• Goat Simulator
• The King of Fighters XIV
• Kingdom: New Lands
• Men of War: Assault Squad
• Party Hard
• Risen 2: Dark Waters
• Surgeon Simulator
• The Wild Eight

Of these, ATOM RPG Trudograd was released on May 11 on Steam for PC, while Super Mega Baseball 3 was released on May 13 on Steam for PC. As such, they are fresh entries to the roster, so cloud gamers are not behind conventional gamers.

We also spot Goat Simulator on the list, which is a fun game to kill some time mindlessly without any larger objectives.

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NVIDIA GeForce NOW (Free, Google Play) →

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YouTube adds a swipe down gesture to exit fullscreen videos

Over the last couple of months, Google has released a couple of design changes for the YouTube app on Android. These include a test to show channel previews in the comments section, a new Explore tab to help users find new videos, new filters in the subscription feed, a UI update to move the comments section below the video description. Now, according to a recent report from Android Police, YouTube has added a new gesture to help users quickly exit a fullscreen video.

Up until now, the YouTube app on Android required users to tap on a fullscreen video to surface the controls and then click the fullscreen toggle in the bottom right corner to exit the fullscreen view. While you could use Android 10’s back gesture to achieve the same result, the gesture is quite finicky and doesn’t always work. As you can see in the clip below, the new swipe gesture allows you to swipe down anywhere on the playback screen to instantly jump back to the video page.

The new gesture adds on to a similar fullscreen gesture that was released last year, which lets you start recommended videos right from the fullscreen view without exiting to the video page first. It’s also worth noting that YouTube recently optimized its website for large touchscreen devices, bringing new features like swipe controls to improve functionality. The new swipe down gesture is widely available across all Android devices and in case you don’t see it on your phone, we’d recommend updating the YouTube app by following the Play Store link below.

YouTube (Free, Google Play) →

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Via: Android Police

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Huawei Watch GT 2e announced with Sp02 monitoring, 1.39″ AMOLED display, 2 week battery life

Update 1 (14/05/2020 @ 08:45 AM ET): The Huawei Watch GT 2e has launched in India. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on March 27, 2020, is preserved below.

Following the launch of its latest flagship P40 series, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has now announced a new smartwatch — the Huawei Watch GT 2e. The new smartwatch closely follows the design of the Huawei Watch GT 2 from last year and features a circular dial with a concealed crown that gives it a more minimal, yet sporty look. The smartwatch features the same 1.39-inch AMOLED touch display with a 454x454p resolution, however, the bezels are relatively thicker which makes the GT 2e slightly larger overall.

Along with the changes to the main dial, the Huawei Watch GT 2e also features an integrated TPU wrist band which has perforations to improve breathability. The watch body is crafted with stainless steel and is rated at 5 ATM of water resistance. Much like the Huawei Watch GT 2, the Watch GT 2e is powered by Huawei’s in-house Kirin A1 chipset that claims to offer up to 2 weeks of battery life on a single charge.

In case you use GPS tracking for exercises however, the watch can last a total of 30 hours. Interestingly, you can also use the watch to listen to music over Bluetooth and it has 4GB of onboard storage that will allow you to store about 500 songs, but the feature will further limit the battery life to just 24 hours.

Geared towards sports enthusiasts, the Huawei Watch GT 2e can track over 100 different sports and exercises, including everything from skateboarding to rock climbing. On top of that, the watch also features a SpO2 sensor that will help you calculate your VO2Max. Thanks to this the watch is also capable of monitoring aerobic and anaerobic workouts. The Huawei Watch GT 2e will be available in four color variants, namely Graphite Black, Lava Red, Mint Green, and Icy White, at a price of €200 (~$220). Along with the new sports-centric smartwatch, the company also launched a new color variant for the Huawei Watch GT 2 42mm — Champagne Gold — which has been priced at €230 (~$254). As of now, Huawei has released no information about the availability of the new smartwatches.

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Update: Huawei Watch GT 2e launched in India for ₹11,990 (~$158/€147)

Huawei has launched the Huawei Watch GT 2e in India, at a price of ₹11,990 (~$158/€147) om Amazon.in and Flipkart. Curiously, the company’s press release only mentions that the watch will be available for pre-ordering from May 15 to May 28. Further, if you pre-order between May 15 and May 21, customers can get a free AM61 Bluetooth earphone worth ₹3,990 for free. We presume the watch will be available through open sale after May 28, 2020.

Pre-order Huawei Watch GT 2e on Amazon.in

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