Sketchy leak gives us a possible look at Samsung’s next foldable phones

Samsung is expected to unveil successors to the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5G later this year. While the company hasn’t shared any official information about these devices so far, we’ve seen a couple of leaks and rumors about the upcoming phones. Sadly, none of these leaks have included images of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or the Galaxy Z Flip 3, so their design has remained a mystery. But that changes today, as a new leak gives us our first look at the next-gen foldables.

The leak in question doesn’t come from a reliable source, so you should take all the information mentioned below with a pinch of salt. That being said, here’s what the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 may look like:

Your first look at the Galaxy Z Flip3.

Black, White, Purple, and Green! pic.twitter.com/EWlEF2vQ93

— Alvin (@sondesix) May 2, 2021

As you can see in the attached tweets, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 features a two-tone design like the Google Pixel 2. The top half looks to have a glossy black finish with a dual-camera setup on the left edge, while the bottom half has a different color and an LED flash in the top left corner.

Galaxy Z Flip3

————————

It appears like most of you still do not believe the Z Fold Series leak is actually real.

Well, I don’t blame you. But just look at this GIF I took from the “original” video.

That looks way too real to be fake. pic.twitter.com/73RDnnLwWV

— Alvin (@sondesix) May 2, 2021

A short clip from what seems to be a promo video for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 shows that the black glossy part on the phone also houses a display, which is much larger than the one on the older model. The display shows incoming notifications and media playback buttons, which suggests that it will support touch inputs.

The Green and Purple Z Flip3 also look great! pic.twitter.com/pzLsxxNz04

— Alvin (@sondesix) May 2, 2021

Other images of the phone reveal that it will have flat edges, a USB Type-C port at the bottom, and a single bottom-firing speaker. A separate leak suggests that Samsung will offer the Galaxy Z Flip 3 in 8 colorways — Beige, Black, Dark Blue, Gray, Green, Light Pink, Light Violet, and White.

And also, meet the Galaxy Z Fold3.

Black, White (Silver), and Green! pic.twitter.com/pOTCpxz70s

— Alvin (@sondesix) May 2, 2021

Leaked images of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 suggest that it will be similar to its predecessor in terms of design. The images reveal that the phone will feature a triple camera setup on the back with a single LED flash, a USB Type C port at the bottom, and Samsung branding on the hinge.

Also…

Galaxy Z Fold3 with S Pen is confirmed! pic.twitter.com/v3ehrK81SP

— Alvin (@sondesix) May 2, 2021

A screenshot, allegedly taken from a promo video, also reveals that it will offer S Pen support. Additionally, one of the tweets mentions that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will feature an in-display camera.

Official design of the back camera of the SAMSUNG FOLD 3 #leak #video #zfold3 #official There is Under Display Camera. @TheGalox_ @UniverseIce @MaxWinebach pic.twitter.com/dttFshfegN

— Szczepan Karpiel-Bułecka (@BuKarpiel) May 2, 2021

Finally, another leak reveals that Samsung will offer the phone in four colorways — Beige, Black, Green, and Silver. The leak also adds that production for the two devices will kick off in July and, if that stands true, we expect Samsung to unveil the devices sometime in August or September.

As mentioned earlier, all the aforementioned leaks are from sketchy sources and we can’t comment on their credibility at the moment. Max Weinbach, who has a decent track record of sharing leaked information about upcoming Samsung devices, has also expressed his doubts about these new leaks. We’ll update this post as soon as we’re able to confirm the aunthenticity of these leaks.

The post Sketchy leak gives us a possible look at Samsung’s next foldable phones appeared first on xda-developers.

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Clubhouse is finally beta testing its long-awaited Android app

After gaining a significant user base on iOS, Clubhouse finally started work on its Android app earlier this year in January. At the time, the company secured a second round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, and it shared plans to use the funds to develop an Android app, scale its technology and infrastructure, and introduce a new Creator Grant Program. The company seems to be sticking to its plan so far, as it has now started testing the Clubhouse app for Android on the beta channel.

Clubhouse recently shared details about its latest release via a blog post, highlighting some of the changes introduced on the iOS app. The post also revealed that it had started rolling out a rough beta version of its Android app to a few testers, with plans to “welcome more Android users…over the coming weeks.” 

For the unaware, Clubhouse is currently only available on iOS. But an increasing number of Android users have shown interest in the app over the last few months. The app’s popularity has prompted several rival platforms, including Facebook, Telegram, Twitter, and Instagram, to develop their own Clubhouse alternatives. Therefore, it only makes sense for Clubhouse to release its Android app as soon as possible, or it may lose a significant chunk of its potential user base to Twitter’s Spaces or Telegram’s Voice Chat 2.0, which are already live for several users on Android.

Currently, Clubhouse hasn’t shared a release timeline for its Android app. But since it’s already available for some users on the beta channel, we expect a wider rollout in the coming weeks. You can learn more about the changes introduced in the iOS app by following this link.

Are you looking forward to Clubhouse’s Android app? Will you get on board as soon as it rolls out or are you planning on sticking with one of the Clubhouse alternatives mentioned above? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post Clubhouse is finally beta testing its long-awaited Android app appeared first on xda-developers.

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Clubhouse is finally beta testing its long-awaited Android app

After gaining a significant user base on iOS, Clubhouse finally started work on its Android app earlier this year in January. At the time, the company secured a second round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, and it shared plans to use the funds to develop an Android app, scale its technology and infrastructure, and introduce a new Creator Grant Program. The company seems to be sticking to its plan so far, as it has now started testing the Clubhouse app for Android on the beta channel.

Clubhouse recently shared details about its latest release via a blog post, highlighting some of the changes introduced on the iOS app. The post also revealed that it had started rolling out a rough beta version of its Android app to a few testers, with plans to “welcome more Android users…over the coming weeks.” 

For the unaware, Clubhouse is currently only available on iOS. But an increasing number of Android users have shown interest in the app over the last few months. The app’s popularity has prompted several rival platforms, including Facebook, Telegram, Twitter, and Instagram, to develop their own Clubhouse alternatives. Therefore, it only makes sense for Clubhouse to release its Android app as soon as possible, or it may lose a significant chunk of its potential user base to Twitter’s Spaces or Telegram’s Voice Chat 2.0, which are already live for several users on Android.

Currently, Clubhouse hasn’t shared a release timeline for its Android app. But since it’s already available for some users on the beta channel, we expect a wider rollout in the coming weeks. You can learn more about the changes introduced in the iOS app by following this link.

Are you looking forward to Clubhouse’s Android app? Will you get on board as soon as it rolls out or are you planning on sticking with one of the Clubhouse alternatives mentioned above? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post Clubhouse is finally beta testing its long-awaited Android app appeared first on xda-developers.

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How to customize Android’s built-in battery saver mode

Android has had a built-in Battery Saver mode for years now. If your phone is about to run out of battery, then you can activate it to keep the device running for a few extra hours. Battery Saver disables quite a few power-hungry features and tweaks a bunch of settings to extend the battery life. While it’s quite useful as is for most people, some people may want to tweak it so it doesn’t turn certain settings off or make it even more aggressive at saving battery. If that describes you, then here’s a tutorial on how to customize Android’s battery saver mode.

Before we begin, we need to explain what Battery Saver mode actually does. According to a Google support page, here’s what Battery Saver limits on a Pixel phone:

What Battery Saver limits

• Apps refresh their content, like email or news, only when you open the app.
• Location services stop when your screen is off.
• Apps don’t run in the background, unless you turn off battery optimization.
• Your phone doesn’t listen for “Ok Google” and can’t continue a conversation. Instead, each time, tap Google Assistant .
• Dark Theme turns on.
• Your notifications may be delayed.
• “Always show time and info” turns off.
• Pixel phones with Active Edge won’t respond to a squeeze.
• On Pixel 3, Pixel 4, and later Pixel phones, car crash detection turns off.
• On Pixel 4 phones, Motion Sense turns off.
• On Pixel 4 and later Pixel phones, smooth display turns off.
• Pixel phones with 5G fall back to 4G service.

(Exclusive to Google’s Pixel 3 and later is an even more powerful Extreme Battery Saver Mode, but seeing as this is a Pixel-exclusive feature, we won’t be talking about it any further.)

The list shown above is actually incomplete: Battery Saver mode on Android phones actually does more than what Google says on the support page. In fact, Battery Saver also disables things like app launch boost, vibrations, and animations, and it also limits the maximum brightness of the panel. Since Android’s battery saver mode is open source and can be controlled through the command-line interface for the Settings tables, it’s possible to tweak battery saver mode to make it more or less aggressive in what it disables.

Customize Android’s Battery Saver Mode

Method 1 – ADB Shell

1. Follow this guide to set up ADB on your PC or read this post to learn how to set up a local ADB shell.
2. Once you have ADB up and running, open a command prompt or terminal window and run the following command in shell:

   settings put global battery_saver_constants "advertise_is_enabled=BOOLEAN,datasaver_disabled=BOOLEAN,enable_night_mode=BOOLEAN,launch_boost_disabled=BOOLEAN,vibration_disabled=BOOLEAN,animation_disabled=BOOLEAN,soundtrigger_disabled=BOOLEAN,fullbackup_deferred=BOOLEAN,keyvaluebackup_deferred=BOOLEAN,firewall_disabled=BOOLEAN,gps_mode=INTEGER,adjust_brightness_disabled=BOOLEAN,adjust_brightness_factor=FLOAT,force_all_apps_standby=BOOLEAN,force_background_check=BOOLEAN,optional_sensors_disabled=BOOLEAN,aod_disabled=BOOLEAN,quick_doze_enabled=BOOLEAN"

   where BOOLEAN is either true or false, INTEGER is a whole number, and FLOAT is a decimal number.

3. If you want to know what the parameters under battery saver mode are currently set to, you can run the following ADB shell:

   dumpsys power | grep -A 128 "Battery saver policy"

   This will show you the current battery saver policy and all the parameter values. Alternatively, you can check the output of:

   settings get global battery_saver_constants

   …however, this won’t populate until after you’ve made changes to this Settings value at least once.

4. If you want to revert battery saver mode back to its default parameters, then you can run either:

   settings delete global battery_saver_constants

   or

   settings put global battery_saver_constants "advertise_is_enabled=true,datasaver_disabled=true,enable_night_mode=true,launch_boost_disabled=true,vibration_disabled=true,animation_disabled=false,soundtrigger_disabled=true,fullbackup_deferred=true,keyvaluebackup_deferred=true,firewall_disabled=true,gps_mode=2,adjust_brightness_disabled=true,adjust_brightness_factor=0.5,force_all_apps_standby=true,force_background_check=true,optional_sensors_disabled=true,aod_disabled=true,quick_doze_enabled=true"

Since we last covered how to tweak Android’s built-in battery saver mode through the command line, a developer has come up with an app that provides a GUI to change each of these parameters. If you don’t want to manually run shell commands and/or look through AOSP to find out exactly what each parameter does, then read on.

Method 2 – Buoy app

XDA Recognized Developer tytydraco, the developer of the LADB app we covered the other day, is back with another app called Buoy. It’s described as an “extension to the built in Android Battery Saver”, and what it does is exposes Android’s hidden parameters to customize the behavior of the battery saver mode. The app lets you toggle the following:

• Advertising to other apps that low power mode is enabled
• Android’s data saver for metered WiFi or mobile data connections
• The built-in dark mode
• Launch boost to accelerate app starts
• Vibration
• Showing window and activity animations
• Allowing apps to use the SoundTrigger HAL
• Deferring full device backups for later
• Deferring app setting backups for later
• Using the built-in web firewall to protect against possibly malicious sites
• Changing the location access mode restrictions for apps
• Reducing the max brightness of the panel
• Forcing all apps into standby mode
• Forcing all apps to not check data in the background
• Disabling unnecessary sensors
• Using the Always-On-Display
• Putting the device into deep sleep as soon as the screen turns off

It also lets you toggle “sticky” low power mode, a feature added in Android 9 Pie that lets battery saver mode automatically re-enable itself when the device is unplugged from power or rebooted.

In order to use Buoy, you’ll need an Android device running Android 8.0 Oreo or later, though the available parameters will differ depending on the Android version. Also, you’ll have to grant the app the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission or root access for it to change the value of Settings.Global.battery_saver_constants. Once again, I’ll refer you to our article on how to set up ADB or tytydraco’s LADB app so you can do that.

If you install the app and make any changes, be aware that the changes won’t automatically revert when you uninstall the app. You’ll have to either hit the “reset” button in Buoy or send one of the commands mentioned in step 4 from before in order to revert battery saver mode’s parameters back to default.

Buoy — Pimp Your Battery Saver ($0.99, Google Play) →

Buoy costs $0.99 on Google Play in the U.S., but it’s also open source so you can compile it yourself if you’re so inclined. Alternatively, you can just set the battery saver mode parameters manually as I previously mentioned. If you want to make things easier and support the developer, then you can buy the app from the Play Store. If you have any questions or feedback, check out the developer’s thread on the XDA forums linked below.

Buoy – XDA Forum Thread

The post How to customize Android’s built-in battery saver mode appeared first on xda-developers.

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How to customize Android’s built-in battery saver mode

Android has had a built-in Battery Saver mode for years now. If your phone is about to run out of battery, then you can activate it to keep the device running for a few extra hours. Battery Saver disables quite a few power-hungry features and tweaks a bunch of settings to extend the battery life. While it’s quite useful as is for most people, some people may want to tweak it so it doesn’t turn certain settings off or make it even more aggressive at saving battery. If that describes you, then here’s a tutorial on how to customize Android’s battery saver mode.

Before we begin, we need to explain what Battery Saver mode actually does. According to a Google support page, here’s what Battery Saver limits on a Pixel phone:

What Battery Saver limits

• Apps refresh their content, like email or news, only when you open the app.
• Location services stop when your screen is off.
• Apps don’t run in the background, unless you turn off battery optimization.
• Your phone doesn’t listen for “Ok Google” and can’t continue a conversation. Instead, each time, tap Google Assistant .
• Dark Theme turns on.
• Your notifications may be delayed.
• “Always show time and info” turns off.
• Pixel phones with Active Edge won’t respond to a squeeze.
• On Pixel 3, Pixel 4, and later Pixel phones, car crash detection turns off.
• On Pixel 4 phones, Motion Sense turns off.
• On Pixel 4 and later Pixel phones, smooth display turns off.
• Pixel phones with 5G fall back to 4G service.

(Exclusive to Google’s Pixel 3 and later is an even more powerful Extreme Battery Saver Mode, but seeing as this is a Pixel-exclusive feature, we won’t be talking about it any further.)

The list shown above is actually incomplete: Battery Saver mode on Android phones actually does more than what Google says on the support page. In fact, Battery Saver also disables things like app launch boost, vibrations, and animations, and it also limits the maximum brightness of the panel. Since Android’s battery saver mode is open source and can be controlled through the command-line interface for the Settings tables, it’s possible to tweak battery saver mode to make it more or less aggressive in what it disables.

Customize Android’s Battery Saver Mode

Method 1 – ADB Shell

1. Follow this guide to set up ADB on your PC or read this post to learn how to set up a local ADB shell.
2. Once you have ADB up and running, open a command prompt or terminal window and run the following command in shell:

   settings put global battery_saver_constants "advertise_is_enabled=BOOLEAN,datasaver_disabled=BOOLEAN,enable_night_mode=BOOLEAN,launch_boost_disabled=BOOLEAN,vibration_disabled=BOOLEAN,animation_disabled=BOOLEAN,soundtrigger_disabled=BOOLEAN,fullbackup_deferred=BOOLEAN,keyvaluebackup_deferred=BOOLEAN,firewall_disabled=BOOLEAN,gps_mode=INTEGER,adjust_brightness_disabled=BOOLEAN,adjust_brightness_factor=FLOAT,force_all_apps_standby=BOOLEAN,force_background_check=BOOLEAN,optional_sensors_disabled=BOOLEAN,aod_disabled=BOOLEAN,quick_doze_enabled=BOOLEAN"

   where BOOLEAN is either true or false, INTEGER is a whole number, and FLOAT is a decimal number.

3. If you want to know what the parameters under battery saver mode are currently set to, you can run the following ADB shell:

   dumpsys power | grep -A 128 "Battery saver policy"

   This will show you the current battery saver policy and all the parameter values. Alternatively, you can check the output of:

   settings get global battery_saver_constants

   …however, this won’t populate until after you’ve made changes to this Settings value at least once.

4. If you want to revert battery saver mode back to its default parameters, then you can run either:

   settings delete global battery_saver_constants

   or

   settings put global battery_saver_constants "advertise_is_enabled=true,datasaver_disabled=true,enable_night_mode=true,launch_boost_disabled=true,vibration_disabled=true,animation_disabled=false,soundtrigger_disabled=true,fullbackup_deferred=true,keyvaluebackup_deferred=true,firewall_disabled=true,gps_mode=2,adjust_brightness_disabled=true,adjust_brightness_factor=0.5,force_all_apps_standby=true,force_background_check=true,optional_sensors_disabled=true,aod_disabled=true,quick_doze_enabled=true"

Since we last covered how to tweak Android’s built-in battery saver mode through the command line, a developer has come up with an app that provides a GUI to change each of these parameters. If you don’t want to manually run shell commands and/or look through AOSP to find out exactly what each parameter does, then read on.

Method 2 – Buoy app

XDA Recognized Developer tytydraco, the developer of the LADB app we covered the other day, is back with another app called Buoy. It’s described as an “extension to the built in Android Battery Saver”, and what it does is exposes Android’s hidden parameters to customize the behavior of the battery saver mode. The app lets you toggle the following:

• Advertising to other apps that low power mode is enabled
• Android’s data saver for metered WiFi or mobile data connections
• The built-in dark mode
• Launch boost to accelerate app starts
• Vibration
• Showing window and activity animations
• Allowing apps to use the SoundTrigger HAL
• Deferring full device backups for later
• Deferring app setting backups for later
• Using the built-in web firewall to protect against possibly malicious sites
• Changing the location access mode restrictions for apps
• Reducing the max brightness of the panel
• Forcing all apps into standby mode
• Forcing all apps to not check data in the background
• Disabling unnecessary sensors
• Using the Always-On-Display
• Putting the device into deep sleep as soon as the screen turns off

It also lets you toggle “sticky” low power mode, a feature added in Android 9 Pie that lets battery saver mode automatically re-enable itself when the device is unplugged from power or rebooted.

In order to use Buoy, you’ll need an Android device running Android 8.0 Oreo or later, though the available parameters will differ depending on the Android version. Also, you’ll have to grant the app the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission or root access for it to change the value of Settings.Global.battery_saver_constants. Once again, I’ll refer you to our article on how to set up ADB or tytydraco’s LADB app so you can do that.

If you install the app and make any changes, be aware that the changes won’t automatically revert when you uninstall the app. You’ll have to either hit the “reset” button in Buoy or send one of the commands mentioned in step 4 from before in order to revert battery saver mode’s parameters back to default.

Buoy — Pimp Your Battery Saver ($0.99, Google Play) →

Buoy costs $0.99 on Google Play in the U.S., but it’s also open source so you can compile it yourself if you’re so inclined. Alternatively, you can just set the battery saver mode parameters manually as I previously mentioned. If you want to make things easier and support the developer, then you can buy the app from the Play Store. If you have any questions or feedback, check out the developer’s thread on the XDA forums linked below.

Buoy – XDA Forum Thread

The post How to customize Android’s built-in battery saver mode appeared first on xda-developers.

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How important is your smartphone’s warranty to you?

The Spanish government recently mandated that products will have to be sold in the country with three years of warranty. This ruling extends the duration of the warranty on most products — including electronics — from the existing period of two years. The regulation also applies to smartphones and should enforce a higher manufacturing quality, putting markets like the US at a disadvantage where you get only one year of warranty on most products. A longer warranty for your smartphone certainly has its advantages, but is that something you care about?

Spain’s new regulation also extends the choice between repair and replacement to the consumer should a product fail to match the quality endorsed by the company. Overall, this should compel companies to ensure better quality products so they continue to work as intended for a longer period.

Besides Spain, other regions also offer similar protections to consumers. Companies that sell in the European Union, for instance, are obligated to offer at least a two-year guarantee of compliance. Some countries have their own consumer protection laws that extend the EU’s two-year ruling. Sweden, for example, lets you claim a guarantee in three years of purchase whereas Iceland and Norway extend this to five years. In the UK, you can claim a warranty under the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) even up to six years after the purchase in most conditions.

A longer warranty might sometimes mean that manufacturers often recover these costs by pricing the product higher in these regions. But, a three-year or even a two-year warranty extends more assurance over the single year the users get in the US or other regions like India.  This also goes hand-in-hand with companies’ efforts to make their devices last longer via software updates.

How long is the standard warranty period in your region? Would you also prefer a longer warranty while buying a product? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How important is your smartphone’s warranty to you? appeared first on xda-developers.

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How important is your smartphone’s warranty to you?

The Spanish government recently mandated that products will have to be sold in the country with three years of warranty. This ruling extends the duration of the warranty on most products — including electronics — from the existing period of two years. The regulation also applies to smartphones and should enforce a higher manufacturing quality, putting markets like the US at a disadvantage where you get only one year of warranty on most products. A longer warranty for your smartphone certainly has its advantages, but is that something you care about?

Spain’s new regulation also extends the choice between repair and replacement to the consumer should a product fail to match the quality endorsed by the company. Overall, this should compel companies to ensure better quality products so they continue to work as intended for a longer period.

Besides Spain, other regions also offer similar protections to consumers. Companies that sell in the European Union, for instance, are obligated to offer at least a two-year guarantee of compliance. Some countries have their own consumer protection laws that extend the EU’s two-year ruling. Sweden, for example, lets you claim a guarantee in three years of purchase whereas Iceland and Norway extend this to five years. In the UK, you can claim a warranty under the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) even up to six years after the purchase in most conditions.

A longer warranty might sometimes mean that manufacturers often recover these costs by pricing the product higher in these regions. But, a three-year or even a two-year warranty extends more assurance over the single year the users get in the US or other regions like India.  This also goes hand-in-hand with companies’ efforts to make their devices last longer via software updates.

How long is the standard warranty period in your region? Would you also prefer a longer warranty while buying a product? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How important is your smartphone’s warranty to you? appeared first on xda-developers.

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