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vendredi 6 novembre 2020

Google Photos 5.18 confirms premium editing features for Google One members

Google has been working on adding premium editing features to Google Photos for the last couple of months. Back in March this year, we first spotted evidence of this feature in an APK teardown of Google Photos v4.45. At the time, we learned that the features would only be offered to Google One members. In the following update, we unearthed more strings, which suggested that the Photos app would “upsell” the new premium editing tools to users. However, the strings shed no light on the editing features. Now, we’ve finally managed to find some concrete evidence about the upcoming features in the latest Google Photos release.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Google Photos v5.18 recently started rolling out to users via the Play Store. On the surface, the update only includes bug fixes to “improve saving and storing of edited photos and videos on SD cards.” But a teardown of the APK has revealed strings that highlight new information about the premium editing features.

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_g1_callout_g1_member">As a Google One member, you get access to extra editing features</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_g1_callout_non_member">Get extra editing features with a Google One membership</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_upsell_banner">Unlock this feature and more with a Google One membership</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_upsell_title_with_storage">Unlock more editing features and {storage_amount} of storage with a Google One membership</string>

Firstly, the strings include new prompts that will alert the user of the premium editing features and urge them to get a Google One membership. These new prompts will read as follows: “As a Google One member, you get access to extra editing features,” “Get extra editing features with a Google One membership,” “Unlock this feature and more with a Google One membership,” and “Unlock more editing features and {storage amount} of storage with a Google One membership.” But while these new prompts explicitly mention the premium editing features, they reveal no information about exactly which features will be locked behind the Google One subscription.

Preprocessing suggestions

Next up, we found new strings that talk about preprocessing suggestions coming to Google Photos:

<string name="photos_photoeditor_preprocessing2_dogfood_suggestion_dynamic">Dynamic</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_preprocessing2_dogfood_suggestion_hdr">HDR</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_preprocessing2_dogfood_suggestion_vivid">Vivid</string>

These strings suggest that the photo editor in the app will offer three preprocessing suggestions — Dynamic, HDR, and Vivid. But at the moment, it’s unclear if these suggestions will be shown to the user.

Skypalette suggestion

And finally, the following strings suggest that Google Photos might soon get new filters to help users edit the sky:

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_afterglow">Afterglow</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_airy">Airy</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_ember">Ember</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_luminous">Luminous</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_radiant">Radiant</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_stormy">Stormy</string>

The Skypallete suggestions include six filters — Afterglow, Airy, Ember, Luminous, Radiant, and Stormy. These filters will, most likely, work like Sky replacement filters found in the MIUI Gallery app, allowing users to swap the sky in their images with the included presets.

As of now, we can’t confirm if the new Preprocessing and Skypallete suggestions will be locked behind the Google One subscription. But since they’ve been added alongside the new premium editing filter prompts, that may be the case.


Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

The post Google Photos 5.18 confirms premium editing features for Google One members appeared first on xda-developers.



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Google Photos 5.18 confirms premium editing features for Google One members

Google has been working on adding premium editing features to Google Photos for the last couple of months. Back in March this year, we first spotted evidence of this feature in an APK teardown of Google Photos v4.45. At the time, we learned that the features would only be offered to Google One members. In the following update, we unearthed more strings, which suggested that the Photos app would “upsell” the new premium editing tools to users. However, the strings shed no light on the editing features. Now, we’ve finally managed to find some concrete evidence about the upcoming features in the latest Google Photos release.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Google Photos v5.18 recently started rolling out to users via the Play Store. On the surface, the update only includes bug fixes to “improve saving and storing of edited photos and videos on SD cards.” But a teardown of the APK has revealed strings that highlight new information about the premium editing features.

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_g1_callout_g1_member">As a Google One member, you get access to extra editing features</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_g1_callout_non_member">Get extra editing features with a Google One membership</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_upsell_banner">Unlock this feature and more with a Google One membership</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_fragments_editor3_upsell_title_with_storage">Unlock more editing features and {storage_amount} of storage with a Google One membership</string>

Firstly, the strings include new prompts that will alert the user of the premium editing features and urge them to get a Google One membership. These new prompts will read as follows: “As a Google One member, you get access to extra editing features,” “Get extra editing features with a Google One membership,” “Unlock this feature and more with a Google One membership,” and “Unlock more editing features and {storage amount} of storage with a Google One membership.” But while these new prompts explicitly mention the premium editing features, they reveal no information about exactly which features will be locked behind the Google One subscription.

Preprocessing suggestions

Next up, we found new strings that talk about preprocessing suggestions coming to Google Photos:

<string name="photos_photoeditor_preprocessing2_dogfood_suggestion_dynamic">Dynamic</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_preprocessing2_dogfood_suggestion_hdr">HDR</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_preprocessing2_dogfood_suggestion_vivid">Vivid</string>

These strings suggest that the photo editor in the app will offer three preprocessing suggestions — Dynamic, HDR, and Vivid. But at the moment, it’s unclear if these suggestions will be shown to the user.

Skypalette suggestion

And finally, the following strings suggest that Google Photos might soon get new filters to help users edit the sky:

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_afterglow">Afterglow</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_airy">Airy</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_ember">Ember</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_luminous">Luminous</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_radiant">Radiant</string>

<string name="photos_photoeditor_skypalette_suggestion_stormy">Stormy</string>

The Skypallete suggestions include six filters — Afterglow, Airy, Ember, Luminous, Radiant, and Stormy. These filters will, most likely, work like Sky replacement filters found in the MIUI Gallery app, allowing users to swap the sky in their images with the included presets.

As of now, we can’t confirm if the new Preprocessing and Skypallete suggestions will be locked behind the Google One subscription. But since they’ve been added alongside the new premium editing filter prompts, that may be the case.


Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

The post Google Photos 5.18 confirms premium editing features for Google One members appeared first on xda-developers.



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jeudi 5 novembre 2020

WhatsApp Pay starts rolling out to more users in India

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has given WhatsApp the green light to expand its UPI-based payments service to more users in the country. WhatsApp Pay initially received regulatory approval to run a pilot program with up to 10 million users earlier in February this year. At the time, sources familiar with the matter had revealed that if WhatsApp was able to fulfill all compliance requirements, it would be given permission for a full rollout. It seems like WhatsApp has finally managed to meet all requirements, as the NPCI has now permitted the Facebook-owned messenger to go live on the UPI framework in a staged fashion.

In the first phase of rollout, WhatsApp Pay can expand its service to just 20 million of its 400 million users in India. In case you’re one of the lucky few who get access in the first phase, you’ll be able to set up a payment method on the messenger by tapping on the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and then selecting the new Payments option. After you verify your phone number and bank account, you should see the payment method listed on the payments page.

Screenshots showing WhatsApp UPI payments

Once your payment method is set up, you’ll be able to send and receive money via WhatsApp Pay by selecting the new Payment option in the attachments menu. Currently, WhatsApp Pay supports transactions with over 160 banks in the country. To facilitate the service, WhatsApp has partnered with five leading banks in the country — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, The State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank. The service is available in 10 regional language versions of WhatsApp, and it just requires users to have a valid debit card with a bank that supports UPI payments.

WhatsApp Pay poses a major threat to other UPI-based payments services in the country, like Google Pay and PayTM, due to its large user base. However, the NPCI has introduced a new regulation to ensure that WhatsApp cannot abuse its position in the Indian market to get an edge over the competition. As per a recent report from Bloomberg Quint on the matter, the new regulation will place a market share cap of 30% on the volume of UPI transactions starting from January 2021.

The 30% cap will be calculated based on the total volume of transactions processed in UPI during the preceding three months on a rolling basis. The market cap will go into effect starting next year, and any third-party app which exceeds the cap as of January 1, 2021, will have to meet it within two years in a phased manner. Sources familiar with the matter have revealed that Google Pay and Flipkart’s PhonePe currently control about 80% of the country’s UPI transactions market.

The post WhatsApp Pay starts rolling out to more users in India appeared first on xda-developers.



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via IFTTT

WhatsApp Pay starts rolling out to more users in India

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has given WhatsApp the green light to expand its UPI-based payments service to more users in the country. WhatsApp Pay initially received regulatory approval to run a pilot program with up to 10 million users earlier in February this year. At the time, sources familiar with the matter had revealed that if WhatsApp was able to fulfill all compliance requirements, it would be given permission for a full rollout. It seems like WhatsApp has finally managed to meet all requirements, as the NPCI has now permitted the Facebook-owned messenger to go live on the UPI framework in a staged fashion.

In the first phase of rollout, WhatsApp Pay can expand its service to just 20 million of its 400 million users in India. In case you’re one of the lucky few who get access in the first phase, you’ll be able to set up a payment method on the messenger by tapping on the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and then selecting the new Payments option. After you verify your phone number and bank account, you should see the payment method listed on the payments page.

Screenshots showing WhatsApp UPI payments

Once your payment method is set up, you’ll be able to send and receive money via WhatsApp Pay by selecting the new Payment option in the attachments menu. Currently, WhatsApp Pay supports transactions with over 160 banks in the country. To facilitate the service, WhatsApp has partnered with five leading banks in the country — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, The State Bank of India, and Jio Payments Bank. The service is available in 10 regional language versions of WhatsApp, and it just requires users to have a valid debit card with a bank that supports UPI payments.

WhatsApp Pay poses a major threat to other UPI-based payments services in the country, like Google Pay and PayTM, due to its large user base. However, the NPCI has introduced a new regulation to ensure that WhatsApp cannot abuse its position in the Indian market to get an edge over the competition. As per a recent report from Bloomberg Quint on the matter, the new regulation will place a market share cap of 30% on the volume of UPI transactions starting from January 2021.

The 30% cap will be calculated based on the total volume of transactions processed in UPI during the preceding three months on a rolling basis. The market cap will go into effect starting next year, and any third-party app which exceeds the cap as of January 1, 2021, will have to meet it within two years in a phased manner. Sources familiar with the matter have revealed that Google Pay and Flipkart’s PhonePe currently control about 80% of the country’s UPI transactions market.

The post WhatsApp Pay starts rolling out to more users in India appeared first on xda-developers.



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Samsung starts rolling out the One UI 2.5 update to the Galaxy M31

Just yesterday, Samsung began rolling out the One UI 2.5 update to the Galaxy M21. Today, the company is starting to roll out the same update to the Galaxy M31, introducing several improvements along with a security patch.

The Galaxy M31’s One UI 2.5 update has the firmware version M315FXXU2ATJ9 and comes in just shy of 1GB. The update is currently rolling out in India and brings Android security patches up to October 2020, along with new features for the Samsung keyboard and the Messages app.

Galaxy M31 update to One UI 2.5 release notes. (Via GizmoChina)

According to the release notes, the search function of the “Manage Input Languages” screen in the Keyboard Settings page has been newly updated to make it easy to find input languages that the user wishes to add or delete. Samsung also made the Split Keyboard available in landscape mode.

As for the Messages app, Samsung has added a feature that allows users to send SOS location-sharing messages every 30 minutes for 24 hours. Additionally, the update also includes improvements for the quality and stability of the camera app. The Galaxy M31 previously got features like Single Take, Night Hyperlapse, My Filters, and more in the One UI Core 2.1 update.

Samsung Galaxy M31 Forums

Ever since the Galaxy Note 20 series launched in August, the process of rolling out One UI 2.5 to older Galaxy devices has been a slow process, but it’s still nice to see the Galaxy M31 get the update. As is typically the case, the update is rolling out in a staged fashion, so if you don’t see it right away, have a little patience.

The post Samsung starts rolling out the One UI 2.5 update to the Galaxy M31 appeared first on xda-developers.



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Samsung starts rolling out the One UI 2.5 update to the Galaxy M31

Just yesterday, Samsung began rolling out the One UI 2.5 update to the Galaxy M21. Today, the company is starting to roll out the same update to the Galaxy M31, introducing several improvements along with a security patch.

The Galaxy M31’s One UI 2.5 update has the firmware version M315FXXU2ATJ9 and comes in just shy of 1GB. The update is currently rolling out in India and brings Android security patches up to October 2020, along with new features for the Samsung keyboard and the Messages app.

Galaxy M31 update to One UI 2.5 release notes. (Via GizmoChina)

According to the release notes, the search function of the “Manage Input Languages” screen in the Keyboard Settings page has been newly updated to make it easy to find input languages that the user wishes to add or delete. Samsung also made the Split Keyboard available in landscape mode.

As for the Messages app, Samsung has added a feature that allows users to send SOS location-sharing messages every 30 minutes for 24 hours. Additionally, the update also includes improvements for the quality and stability of the camera app. The Galaxy M31 previously got features like Single Take, Night Hyperlapse, My Filters, and more in the One UI Core 2.1 update.

Samsung Galaxy M31 Forums

Ever since the Galaxy Note 20 series launched in August, the process of rolling out One UI 2.5 to older Galaxy devices has been a slow process, but it’s still nice to see the Galaxy M31 get the update. As is typically the case, the update is rolling out in a staged fashion, so if you don’t see it right away, have a little patience.

The post Samsung starts rolling out the One UI 2.5 update to the Galaxy M31 appeared first on xda-developers.



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Save up to $700 on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or Note 20 as part of Best Buy’s Wish List sale

Best Buy isn’t stopping with the deals with their Wish List sale! The latest of their big November sales, these are Black Friday prices without the mad rush in late November, so you can pick them up and know full-well you got the best price. These are great prices too, not just piddly discounts. I mean, who wouldn’t want to save up to $700 on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, or the normal Note 20?

That’s right, you can save big on Samsung’s high-end flagship devices. We’ve seen some great Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Note 20 deals, but nothing like this! Depending on which carrier you go with, you’ll be able to save a ton of money with Best Buy.

For nationwide 5G, you’ll have to go with Verizon. By going with that carrier and activating today, you’ll save $300 flat, just like that! No trade-ins required at all.

    Galaxy Note 20 Series with Verizon
    Save the most by getting your Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra with Verizon! Save a flat $300 and get Nationwide 5G!

If you don’t like Verizon, you can get with AT&T instead. AT&T has the $700 discount, so if you’re looking for just one phone, this is the carrier to go with. You’ll get a flat $300 off, like Verizon. However, you can also earn an additional $400 off with a trade-in! If you have a modern phone to turn in, then this is by far the best Note 20 deal.

    Galaxy Note 20 Series with AT&T
    AT&T may not have quite as deep a discount as Verizon, but it's still up there! Save a flat $300 right off the bat, and then get up to $400 in trade-in value!

Sprint has a bit of a different deal going on. They also have the $300 flat savings, but if you’re grabbing a second phone, you can save up to $1,000 on it! That pretty much completely pays for the normal Note 20. If you need two phones, this is a deal you don’t want to pass up.

    Galaxy Note 20 Series with Sprint
    Prefer Sprint? They're the best to go for if you need two phones! You'll get $300 flat in savings, like the other carriers, but if you need a second Note 20 you can save up to $1,000 on it!

Finally, if you really just want an unlocked phone, you can save a total of $200 on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or Note 20 by activating today. It’s not as deep of a discount as the carrier phones, but you can actually get 24-month financing with it. Generally at Best Buy, unlocked phones need to be paid for all at once, so this makes it much easier for those that prefer payment plans.

    Galaxy Note 20 Series Unlocked
    If you want the freedom and flexibility of an unlocked phone, you can save $200 at Best Buy as a part of their early Wish List deals. You will save more with a carrier phone, but there are clear advantages to go unlocked, so it's ultimately up to how much an unlocked phone is worth it to you.

Best Buy will have deals all month, but the Wish List sale will only last until Sunday. Get your phone before it’s too late!

The post Save up to $700 on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or Note 20 as part of Best Buy’s Wish List sale appeared first on xda-developers.



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