Allo Update Brings Sticker and Emoji Suggestions, Themes

• Google is spicing up conversations in Allo today through a new update. We’re talking about the perfect emoji or sticker, joining the Fantastic Beasts hype, and customizing your chats with themes.
• Now, in Allo, as you type out sentences or have conversations with someone, Google will recognize the content and suggest the “perfect” emoji or sticker.
• For example, you could see burger or pizza emoji or relevant silly stickers of food if you are talking about dinner.
• The suggestions, which show through a Smart Smiley button, change based on the words you type and the “sentiment of your message.”
• For themes, Google is giving you the option to add a background to your chats.
• That could mean anything from watermelon-esque styles to straight up black, to help with your eyes and battery.
• With Fantastic Beasts hitting theaters this week, Google is now pushing out their related sticker pack in Allo.
• The new update will begin rolling out today.

Google Play Store Link

Microsoft has officially joined the Linux Foundation

• Big news, Microsoft has announced that it is joining the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member.
• This comes as a surprise as former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had called Linux a ‘cancer’ 15 years ago.
• Things have changed. Microsoft has slowly started adopting open source, making it one of the top organisation with the most open source contributors on Github. Over the past few years, Microsoft has built Canonical’s Ubuntu distribution into Windows 10, brought SQL Server to Linux, made the core parts of its .NET platform open-sourced and partnered with Red Hat, SUSE and others. That says a lot.
• “This may come as a surprise to you, but they were not big fans,” Linux Foundation Executive Director, Jim Zemlin told TechCrunch.
• “There will be some skepticism, but that will be from a smaller group. There is an anti-establishment sentiment in open source.
• Whenever a major corporation goes open source, that’s what happens. But Microsoft has been walking this talk for a very long time now.”
• Microsoft recently announced that it will be bringing Visual Studio for Mac.
• Built on top of Xamarin Studio that the company acquired earlier this year, the company had said, “At its heart, Visual Studio for Mac is a macOS counterpart of the Windows version of Visual Studio.”
• The IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is designed to feel familiar to a macOS user, while still offering the cross-platform and cloud-based development capabilities of its Windows counterpart.
• Windows and Mac developers will be able to share and contribute to the same projects with the new software.

Smartphones officially getting the Pixel Launcher

• It seems that Google is getting a little generous with the Pixel Launcher – the launcher that came out with the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones.
• The company has apparently made the launcher available to a few more devices, and this time officially, because one can always sideload the APK file at the users own risk.
• Apparently, a number of devices running CyanogenMod 13 and CyanogenMod 14 software can access the app via the Play Store.
• Users have confirmed – and these are users running CM13 and CM14 on their devices – that they have been able to see, access, and download the Pixel Launcher from the Google Play Store.
• This would somehow show that devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop up to 6.0 Marshmallow are allowed to run the Pixel Launcher app.
• But there’s a snag.
• Once you try with other devices running vanilla Android 6.0 or better (that is, not running CyanogenMod software), the Pixel Launcher app is not available. It could be that Google is stopping Nexus-branded devices like the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X – both of which started with Android 6.0 out of the box – from having the Pixel Launcher.
• So as of time of writing, we can confirm that only users running CM13, CM14 devices can have official access to the Pixel Launcher app viathe Play Store.
• For everyone else, you can always download the APK installer via APKMirror and sideload at your own risk.

Source: SlashGear

Quick Charge 4.0 to support 28W

• Many manufacturers are still in a dilemma whether to invest in better batteries for their new and upcoming smartphones because the technology for batteries with bigger capacities while retaining small sizes is just not there yet.
• So the alternative seems to be to make the charging process faster.
• Qualcomm has been at the forefront of that segment with its proprietary Quick Charge standard.
• Latest info says that the new Quick Charge 4.0 – which could debut with the early 2017 flagships – could pump as much as 28W of power to your phone while charging.
• For comparison, Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 only went up to 18W. Parallel to that, Huawei’s Super Charge standard went up as high as 22.5W, and Oppo’s well-known VOOC standard went up to 20W.
• Technically, the standard could go up to as much as 100W but you would be hard pressed to find manufacturers willing to go that high, with pictures of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 firmly placed in their minds.
• Qualcomm’s QC 4.0 will is said to offer charging at either 5V (4.7A to 5.6A) or 9V (at 3A). Higher voltages (like 12V or 20V) would be an easy way to up the juice, but making a lithium ion battery accept charging at high voltage will produce a lot of heat – and heat, as you know, is bad.
• For that, QC 4.0 will have something called Intelligent Negotiation of Optimum Voltage (INOV), which will smartly deliver the best voltage for your battery.

SOURCE: Qualcomm

Open GApps app now available on Google Play Store

• Now all of us might familiar with GApps if you frequently use custom ROMs on your Android device.
• Custom ROMs these days usually give you a choice if you want to use Google’s bundled services, so most of them don’t come with Google apps embedded.
• If you choose to go with Google’s services, you can install GApps, of which the Open GApps variants and bundles are one of the most popular.
• Usually, when you want to download a variant of Open GApps, the user goes on to the official download site, selects the architecture of his device (ARM, ARM64, x86, x86_64), selects the Android version, and then picks an Open GApps bundle of his liking.
• After downloading, the user will need to flash the Zip file through the recovery.
• The new Open GApps app aims to simplify this process for users.

• The app will have a wizard which detects – either from past device installations or current usage – and recommends which architecture, Android version, and bundle is best for you.
• This works well with beginners while still giving power users options to choose from. So well done on these, Open GApps.
• There are some caveats – the developer is new to app development and the app currently has some interface bugs, especially in Nougat.
• This happens when you run the app in windowed (resized) mode or when you rotate the app to landscape orientation.
• So best to keep it in normal portrait mode right now. For more info on the app, check out the source link below. Check out the app now available via theGoogle Play Store.

Source: Open GApps

WhatsApp brings Two-Step verification

• The new two-step verification is optional but your WhatsApp account is probably the one you want to secure first.
• The company assures that once two-step verification enabled, any attempt to verify phone number on WhatsApp will require the six-digit passcode that is created by the user.
• Currently, the two-step verification feature is available only for beta users, we can expect it to be rolled out to all users in coming weeks.
• On Android, beta app users running version 2.16.341 or above will be able to enable the two-step verification. Windows 10 Mobile beta user, running version 2.16.280 of WhatsApp can enable the security feature.
• To set up two-step verification for WhatsApp, you need to take the following steps:

1. Open WhatsApp
2. Go to Settings
3. Go to Account
4. Look for Two-step verification
5. Tap on Enable
6. On the next screen, enter six-digit passcode.
7. Next, re-enter six-digit passcode.
8. Optionally, add your email address on the next screen.

• In the last step - optional, as mentioned - WhatsApp asks for an email address to link with your account.
• This email address will let WhatsApp to send a link via email to disable two-step verification in case user forgets the six-digit passcode.
• Remember that in case you user forget the six-digit passcode, WhatsApp won't permit re-verifying the account within seven days of last using WhatsApp.
• "After these seven days, your number will be permitted to re-verify on WhatsApp without your passcode, but you will lose all pending messages upon re-verifying - they will be deleted. If your number is re-verified on WhatsApp after 30 days of last using WhatsApp, and without your passcode, your account will be deleted and a new one will be created upon successfully re-verifying," the WhatsApp team.

Source: AndroidCommunity

Traffic Racer

Traffic Racer

Traffic Racer is a milestone in the genre of endless arcade racing. Drive your car through highway traffic, earn cash, upgrade your car and buy new ones. Try to be one of the fastest drivers in the global leaderboards. Endless racing is now redefined!

KEY FEATURES
- Stunning 3D graphics
- Smooth and realistic car handling
- 35+ different cars to choose from
- 5 detailed environments: suburb, desert, snowy, rainy and city night
- 5 game modes: Endless, Two-Way, Time Trial, Police Chase and Free Ride
- Rich types of NPC traffic including trucks, buses and SUVs.
- Basic customization through paint and wheels
- Online Leaderboards and Achievements

GAMEPLAY
- Tilt or Touch to steer
- Touch gas button to accelerate
- Touch brake button to slow down

TIPS
- The faster you drive the more scores you get
- When driving over 100 kmh, overtake cars closely to get bonus scores and cash
- Driving in opposite direction in two-way mode gives extra score and cash

Watch on YouTube

Download from Play Store

Block Jam!

Block Jam!

HOW TO PLAY
• Drag the given blocks and drop into the grid space.
• Remove the blocks by making a full line horizontally or vertically.
• Beware! The game will be ended when you don't have enough space to put a given block into the grid.
• Don't worry! No time limits! No color match!

FEATURES
• Easy to learn and play
• Two Themes: Black & White
• Weekly Tournament, Compare with friends
• Variety Mode - CLASSIC, PLUS, BOMB
• Support both phones and tablets.

Watch on YouTube

Download from PlayStore

General Mobile GM 5 (2GB | 16GB) Android One

General Mobile GM 5 (Android One) features:

• 5-inch HD (720*1280), 294 PPI, IPS LCD Display, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• 13 MP, f/2.2, Dual LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
• 5 MP selfie camera
• 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth V4.0, GPS
• Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor
• Dual SIM with Dual Standby & Single SIM (options)
• 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• Quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A53
• 2GB RAM | 16GB ROM
• Expandable memory upto 128 GB
• Android 7.0 out of box
• Removable Li-lon 2500 mAh battery
• Separate 3.5mm jack
• Price: INR 8499 (Indian pricing NOT AVAILABLE IN INDIA)

Buy Now : GENERALMOBILE

UMi Plus E (4GB | 64 GB)

UMi Plus E features:

• 5.5-inch Full HD (1920*1080) IPS LCD Display
• 13 MP, f/2.2, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
• 5 MP, f/2.0
• 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth V4.1, GPS
• Fingerprint Sensor, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor
• Single SIM 
• Mediatek Helio P20
• Octa-core 2.3GHz Cortex-A53
• Mali-T880 GPU
• 4GB RAM | 64GB ROM
• Android 6.0.1 out of box
• Non-removable Li-lon 4000 mAh battery
• Supports Quick Charging
• Separate 3.5mm jack
• Price: $199.99 (For first 999 devices), $269.99 (Regular pricing)

Buy Now : umidigi.com