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mercredi 3 novembre 2021

Google Play wants you to vote for the best app and game of 2021

When Google launched its app store under the name Android Market back in 2008, it had only 13 apps. But fast forward to 2021, and Google’s flagship app store is home to over 2.7 million apps, as per the latest data from Statista. It can be hard to find quality apps with so many apps flooding the app store and new apps being continuously added. That’s why each year Google holds Google Play Best of Awards, helping users discover new apps, games, books and giving exposure to developers and publishers. Well, it’s almost time for this year’s Google Best Awards as Google has opened up user voting for the best app and game of 2021.

Starting today, Google Play users can vote for the best app and best game of 2021. Voting will be open till November 17, and Google will announce the winners on November 30. Besides the best app and the best game of 2021, Google will also announce Best of Play awards which will include best apps and games across multiple categories picked by the Google Play editorial team.

“Until November 17, Google Play users will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite apps and games of the year. Winners of the Users’ Choice awards and the Best of 2021 picks from the Google Play editorial team, will be announced November 30,” said a Google spokesperson in an email.

Here are the nominees for the Best App of 2021:

And here are the nominees for the Best Games of 2021:

To vote for your favorite app and game, head over to the Play Users’ Choice Awards 2021 page.

 

The post Google Play wants you to vote for the best app and game of 2021 appeared first on xda-developers.



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Google Play wants you to vote for the best app and game of 2021

When Google launched its app store under the name Android Market back in 2008, it had only 13 apps. But fast forward to 2021, and Google’s flagship app store is home to over 2.7 million apps, as per the latest data from Statista. It can be hard to find quality apps with so many apps flooding the app store and new apps being continuously added. That’s why each year Google holds Google Play Best of Awards, helping users discover new apps, games, books and giving exposure to developers and publishers. Well, it’s almost time for this year’s Google Best Awards as Google has opened up user voting for the best app and game of 2021.

Starting today, Google Play users can vote for the best app and best game of 2021. Voting will be open till November 17, and Google will announce the winners on November 30. Besides the best app and the best game of 2021, Google will also announce Best of Play awards which will include best apps and games across multiple categories picked by the Google Play editorial team.

“Until November 17, Google Play users will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite apps and games of the year. Winners of the Users’ Choice awards and the Best of 2021 picks from the Google Play editorial team, will be announced November 30,” said a Google spokesperson in an email.

Here are the nominees for the Best App of 2021:

And here are the nominees for the Best Games of 2021:

To vote for your favorite app and game, head over to the Play Users’ Choice Awards 2021 page.

 

The post Google Play wants you to vote for the best app and game of 2021 appeared first on xda-developers.



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Android 12 custom GSIs bring the latest Android OS to any Project Treble-supported device

Android 12 is here, albeit the stable version is available only on Google’s Pixel lineup — including the newly introduced Pixel 6 series — for now. A handful of OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus are also offering public beta builds of their customized skins based on the stable Android 12 codebase, but the list of eligible devices is quite small. Nonetheless, the aftermarket development community is helping us experience all the new features of Android 12 through custom ROMs across a growing list of devices. Besides, Google does offer its own set of Android 12 Generic System Image (GSI) packages on its website, so that developers can test their apps against the latest API level.

While you should be able to boot Google’s AOSP GSI onto any Project Treble-supported device, you’ll be missing out on many features that lend to a proper day-to-day experience. This is exactly where XDA Recognized Developer phhusson‘s custom GSI distribution comes in. These GSI packages come with a plethora of bug fixes and feature additions that aren’t available in the barebone Google-provided GSIs. The developer has now rebased his custom Project Treble GSI project (AKA “Phh-Treble”) on top of Android 12 and started publishing pre-release builds with new device-specific patches required for the latest Android version.

Download Phh-Treble v400.b (Based on AOSP 12.0)

If the vanilla AOSP experience is not enough for you, then you can also try out an unofficial build of the Pixel Experience GSI, courtesy of XDA Senior Member ponces. It comes with all the goodies that you’d usually find on a Google Pixel device, including the Pixel launcher, wallpapers, icons, fonts, and even the boot animation. Keep in mind that the GSI backbone is based on phhusson’s release, which means it does carry forward nearly the same set of bugs and glitches.

Download unofficial Pixel Experience 12 GSI based on Android 12

At the time of writing this article, there is no A-only build available for download, so you do need a device with A/B partitioning to boot the aforementioned GSIs. Once phhusson’s custom AOSP GSI becomes more stable, he and other developers will start building more variants. Before you go ahead and flash any of the custom Android 12 GSIs on your device, be sure to take a backup of your data and then only go through our GSI installation guide.

The post Android 12 custom GSIs bring the latest Android OS to any Project Treble-supported device appeared first on xda-developers.



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Moto G100: Here’s everything you need to know about Motorola’s new phone

The Motorola Moto G100 is the company’s new top-of-the-line smartphone in the Moto G series. The phone was first unveiled in March this year for Europe and Latin America and has since made its way to the United States. The G100 is the first phone in the Moto G-series to get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800-series SoC. The phone also packs a number of other exciting features. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

Navigate this guide:

Motorola Moto G100: Specifications

Specifications Motorola Moto G100
Dimensions and Weight
  • 168.38 x 73.97 x 9.69mm
  • 215g
Display
  • 6.7-inch curved LCD
  • Full HD+ (2520 x 1080) resolution
  • 90Hz refresh rate
  • 21:9 aspect ratio
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3
  • HDR10
SoC
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
    • 1x Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) @ 3.2GHz
    • 3x Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) @ 2.42GHz
    • 4x Kryo 585 (Cortex-A55) @ 1.8GHz
  • Adreno 650 GPU
  • 7nm process
RAM and Storage
  • 8GB RAM
  • 128GB/ 256GB storage
  • MicroSD card support
Rear Camera
  • Primary: 64MP, primary, f/1.7, 0.7μm
  • Secondary: 16MP, ultra-wide-angle, 117° FoV, f/2.2, 1.0μm
  • Tertiary: 2MP macro, f/2.4, 1.75μm
  • ToF sensor
  • Video: Up to 6K@30
Front Camera
  • Primary: 16MP, f/2.2, 1.0μm, fixed-focus,
  • Secondary: 8MP, ultra-wide-angle, f/2.4, 2.0μm, 118° FoV
  • Video: Up to 1080@60
Battery
  • 5,000 mAh battery
  • Up to 20W wired charging (inside the box)
Connectivity
  • Bands (North America):
    • 2G Bands: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
    • 3G Bands: UMTS B1/2/4/5/8
    • 4G LTE Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/20/26/28/32/34/38/39/40/41/42/43/66
    • 5G Bands: n1/3/5/7/8/28/38/41/66/77/78
  • NFC
  • WiFi 802.11.b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
  • Bluetooth 6/ Bluetooth 5.1
  • USB Type-C (DisplayPort), USB 3.1
Other features
  • Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Software
  • Android 11 with My UX

Design and Display

Moto G100 front

Motorola has gone with a flat-screen with a slight curvature on the edges and dual hole-punch cutouts on the top left. The bezels are also minimal in the G100, and the phone features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with an anti-fingerprint coating for protection. On the back, there’s a reflective plastic panel that shows a variety of hues depending on the color option.

Talking about the colors, you get three choices — Iridescent Ocean, Iridescent Sky, and Slate Grey — but only the ‘Iridescent Ocean’ option is sold in the US.

On the display front, the G100 features a 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,520 pixels) LCD screen with HDR10, 90Hz refresh rate, and 21:9 aspect ratio.

Moto G100 in Iridescent Ocean Moto G100 in Iridescent Sky Moto G100 in Slate Grey

SoC, RAM, and Storage

The new Motorola phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC that’s an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 865. You’ll get one Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) core clocked at 3.2GHz, three Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) cores clocked at 2.42GHz, and four Kryo 585 (Cortex-A55) cores clocked at 1.8GHz. An Adreno 650 GPU is also present.

The Motorola Moto G100 also comes with 8GB of RAM, up to 256GB of onboard storage, and a microSD card slot. The phone supports up to 1TB cards. While the US only gets the 128GB model, the 256GB variant is sold in select Latin American markets.

Motorola Moto G100: Cameras

Moto G100 back

The company has included three cameras on the back of the G100, and two cameras on the front. The rear camera setup includes a 64MP main camera, 16MP wide-angle shooter, 2MP depth sensor, and a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor. For the selfies, there’s a 16MP main camera and an 8MP wide-angle shooter.

While the front shooters can only capture 1080p videos at 30 fps, the main rear camera can take up to 6K videos at 30fps.

Battery, Connectivity, and Fingerprint Sensor

You’ll get a 5,000mAh battery on the Moto G100 that supports 20W fast charging. A compatible 20W fast charger is also bundled with the phone.

Coming to the connectivity options, the phone supports 5G, but it’ll only work on T-Mobile in the US. Even on T-Mobile, only the sub-6GHz NSA bands are supported. Motorola is supposed to add AT&T 4G LTE compatibility in the coming days.

Additionally, the Moto G100 packs Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 6, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. The Type-C port also works as a DisplayPort, so you can connect the phone to an external monitor or TV, and get a desktop-like experience with Motorola’s ‘Ready For’ software.

Depending on the market, the phone comes with either a single SIM card slot or hybrid dual-SIM support. It also features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that is embedded in the power button.

OS and Software Updates

Moto G100 side

The Motorola Moto G100 phone runs on Android 11 out-of-the-box with the company’s My UX customizations. There’s no word on the software updates for the phone, but it’ll most likely receive at least one major Android update, and security updates for at least two years.

Apart from the My UX customizations, the G100 comes with ThinkShield for mobile that adds business-grade security and various enterprise-related features to the phone. The phone also supports Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 smart glasses.

Motorola Moto G100: Pricing and Availability

Motorola only offers one storage variant of the Moto G100 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage. It’s priced at $599.99 in the US, but for a limited period, the phone will be offered at a promotional price of $499.99. Apart from the US, as mentioned earlier, the phone is sold in select European and Latin American countries.

    Motorola Moto G100
    The Moto G100 is Motorola's first Moto G phone with flagship-level specs, and it's finally available in the US.

Here’s a look at the phone’s price in some of the other markets:

  • Europe: €499
  • UK: £449.99
  • Brazil: BRL 3,999
  • Argentina: ARD 94,999
  • Colombia: COP 2399900

This is everything we know about the Motorola Moto G100 right now. We’ll update this page as and when any new information pops up about the phone.

The post Moto G100: Here’s everything you need to know about Motorola’s new phone appeared first on xda-developers.



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Android 12 custom GSIs bring the latest Android OS to any Project Treble-supported device

Android 12 is here, albeit the stable version is available only on Google’s Pixel lineup — including the newly introduced Pixel 6 series — for now. A handful of OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus are also offering public beta builds of their customized skins based on the stable Android 12 codebase, but the list of eligible devices is quite small. Nonetheless, the aftermarket development community is helping us experience all the new features of Android 12 through custom ROMs across a growing list of devices. Besides, Google does offer its own set of Android 12 Generic System Image (GSI) packages on its website, so that developers can test their apps against the latest API level.

While you should be able to boot Google’s AOSP GSI onto any Project Treble-supported device, you’ll be missing out on many features that lend to a proper day-to-day experience. This is exactly where XDA Recognized Developer phhusson‘s custom GSI distribution comes in. These GSI packages come with a plethora of bug fixes and feature additions that aren’t available in the barebone Google-provided GSIs. The developer has now rebased his custom Project Treble GSI project (AKA “Phh-Treble”) on top of Android 12 and started publishing pre-release builds with new device-specific patches required for the latest Android version.

Download Phh-Treble v400.b (Based on AOSP 12.0)

If the vanilla AOSP experience is not enough for you, then you can also try out an unofficial build of the Pixel Experience GSI, courtesy of XDA Senior Member ponces. It comes with all the goodies that you’d usually find on a Google Pixel device, including the Pixel launcher, wallpapers, icons, fonts, and even the boot animation. Keep in mind that the GSI backbone is based on phhusson’s release, which means it does carry forward nearly the same set of bugs and glitches.

Download unofficial Pixel Experience 12 GSI based on Android 12

At the time of writing this article, there is no A-only build available for download, so you do need a device with A/B partitioning to boot the aforementioned GSIs. Once phhusson’s custom AOSP GSI becomes more stable, he and other developers will start building more variants. Before you go ahead and flash any of the custom Android 12 GSIs on your device, be sure to take a backup of your data and then only go through our GSI installation guide.

The post Android 12 custom GSIs bring the latest Android OS to any Project Treble-supported device appeared first on xda-developers.



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Facebook is shutting down its Face Recognition System

In a rather surprising move, Facebook (now Meta) has announced that it’s shutting down its Face Recognition system. The company says it will stop collecting facial recognition data and delete templates it has used to identify users over the years.

As part of the change, Facebook will no longer automatically recognize people’s faces in Memories, photos, or videos posted on Facebook (via TechCrunch). Facebook is also removing the option to turn on face recognition for suggested tagging in pictures and videos. The change will also affect the Automatic Alt Text feature, which uses face recognition data to provide image descriptions for people with disabilities. Following the change, the AAT feature will still be able to recognize the number of people in a photo but won’t identify individuals. Finally, Facebook says it will delete templates it uses to identify users for those who have opted into face recognition.

Facebook implemented face recognition back in 2010 to automatically provide tag suggestions for people in photos. The feature was automatically enabled for everyone, and it was only in 2017 that Facebook made it opt-in.

“In the coming weeks, we will shut down the Face Recognition system on Facebook as part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in our products. As part of this change, people who have opted in to our Face Recognition setting will no longer be automatically recognized in photos and videos, and we will delete the facial recognition template used to identify them,” said Jerome Pesenti, artificial intelligence VP, Meta.

Facebook says it reached this decision after “a lot of consideration.” The company still sees facial recognition technology as “a powerful tool” that can be quite useful for use cases like personal authentication.

The move comes as Facebook faces increased scrutiny and criticism from regulators and privacy advocates over how it handles user privacy and collects excessive sensitive user data.

The post Facebook is shutting down its Face Recognition System appeared first on xda-developers.



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Moto G100: Here’s everything you need to know about Motorola’s new phone

The Motorola Moto G100 is the company’s new top-of-the-line smartphone in the Moto G series. The phone was first unveiled in March this year for Europe and Latin America and has since made its way to the United States. The G100 is the first phone in the Moto G-series to get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800-series SoC. The phone also packs a number of other exciting features. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

Navigate this guide:

Motorola Moto G100: Specifications

Specifications Motorola Moto G100
Dimensions and Weight
  • 168.38 x 73.97 x 9.69mm
  • 215g
Display
  • 6.7-inch curved LCD
  • Full HD+ (2520 x 1080) resolution
  • 90Hz refresh rate
  • 21:9 aspect ratio
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3
  • HDR10
SoC
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
    • 1x Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) @ 3.2GHz
    • 3x Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) @ 2.42GHz
    • 4x Kryo 585 (Cortex-A55) @ 1.8GHz
  • Adreno 650 GPU
  • 7nm process
RAM and Storage
  • 8GB RAM
  • 128GB/ 256GB storage
  • MicroSD card support
Rear Camera
  • Primary: 64MP, primary, f/1.7, 0.7μm
  • Secondary: 16MP, ultra-wide-angle, 117° FoV, f/2.2, 1.0μm
  • Tertiary: 2MP macro, f/2.4, 1.75μm
  • ToF sensor
  • Video: Up to 6K@30
Front Camera
  • Primary: 16MP, f/2.2, 1.0μm, fixed-focus,
  • Secondary: 8MP, ultra-wide-angle, f/2.4, 2.0μm, 118° FoV
  • Video: Up to 1080@60
Battery
  • 5,000 mAh battery
  • Up to 20W wired charging (inside the box)
Connectivity
  • Bands (North America):
    • 2G Bands: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
    • 3G Bands: UMTS B1/2/4/5/8
    • 4G LTE Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/20/26/28/32/34/38/39/40/41/42/43/66
    • 5G Bands: n1/3/5/7/8/28/38/41/66/77/78
  • NFC
  • WiFi 802.11.b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
  • Bluetooth 6/ Bluetooth 5.1
  • USB Type-C (DisplayPort), USB 3.1
Other features
  • Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Software
  • Android 11 with My UX

Design and Display

Moto G100 front

Motorola has gone with a flat-screen with a slight curvature on the edges and dual hole-punch cutouts on the top left. The bezels are also minimal in the G100, and the phone features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with an anti-fingerprint coating for protection. On the back, there’s a reflective plastic panel that shows a variety of hues depending on the color option.

Talking about the colors, you get three choices — Iridescent Ocean, Iridescent Sky, and Slate Grey — but only the ‘Iridescent Ocean’ option is sold in the US.

On the display front, the G100 features a 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,520 pixels) LCD screen with HDR10, 90Hz refresh rate, and 21:9 aspect ratio.

Moto G100 in Iridescent Ocean Moto G100 in Iridescent Sky Moto G100 in Slate Grey

SoC, RAM, and Storage

The new Motorola phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC that’s an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 865. You’ll get one Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) core clocked at 3.2GHz, three Kryo 585 (Cortex-A77) cores clocked at 2.42GHz, and four Kryo 585 (Cortex-A55) cores clocked at 1.8GHz. An Adreno 650 GPU is also present.

The Motorola Moto G100 also comes with 8GB of RAM, up to 256GB of onboard storage, and a microSD card slot. The phone supports up to 1TB cards. While the US only gets the 128GB model, the 256GB variant is sold in select Latin American markets.

Motorola Moto G100: Cameras

Moto G100 back

The company has included three cameras on the back of the G100, and two cameras on the front. The rear camera setup includes a 64MP main camera, 16MP wide-angle shooter, 2MP depth sensor, and a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor. For the selfies, there’s a 16MP main camera and an 8MP wide-angle shooter.

While the front shooters can only capture 1080p videos at 30 fps, the main rear camera can take up to 6K videos at 30fps.

Battery, Connectivity, and Fingerprint Sensor

You’ll get a 5,000mAh battery on the Moto G100 that supports 20W fast charging. A compatible 20W fast charger is also bundled with the phone.

Coming to the connectivity options, the phone supports 5G, but it’ll only work on T-Mobile in the US. Even on T-Mobile, only the sub-6GHz NSA bands are supported. Motorola is supposed to add AT&T 4G LTE compatibility in the coming days.

Additionally, the Moto G100 packs Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 6, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. The Type-C port also works as a DisplayPort, so you can connect the phone to an external monitor or TV, and get a desktop-like experience with Motorola’s ‘Ready For’ software.

Depending on the market, the phone comes with either a single SIM card slot or hybrid dual-SIM support. It also features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that is embedded in the power button.

OS and Software Updates

Moto G100 side

The Motorola Moto G100 phone runs on Android 11 out-of-the-box with the company’s My UX customizations. There’s no word on the software updates for the phone, but it’ll most likely receive at least one major Android update, and security updates for at least two years.

Apart from the My UX customizations, the G100 comes with ThinkShield for mobile that adds business-grade security and various enterprise-related features to the phone. The phone also supports Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 smart glasses.

Motorola Moto G100: Pricing and Availability

Motorola only offers one storage variant of the Moto G100 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage. It’s priced at $599.99 in the US, but for a limited period, the phone will be offered at a promotional price of $499.99. Apart from the US, as mentioned earlier, the phone is sold in select European and Latin American countries.

    Motorola Moto G100
    The Moto G100 is Motorola's first Moto G phone with flagship-level specs, and it's finally available in the US.

Here’s a look at the phone’s price in some of the other markets:

  • Europe: €499
  • UK: £449.99
  • Brazil: BRL 3,999
  • Argentina: ARD 94,999
  • Colombia: COP 2399900

This is everything we know about the Motorola Moto G100 right now. We’ll update this page as and when any new information pops up about the phone.

The post Moto G100: Here’s everything you need to know about Motorola’s new phone appeared first on xda-developers.



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