After the Motorola Moto Z3, no new Moto Z phones will launch this year

Lenovo and Motorola unveiled the new Verizon Moto Z3 and a 5G Moto Mod yesterday. Earlier this year, they released the Moto Z3 Play. Naturally, people are wondering when the next Moto Z will be announced. Many assumed the next model would be the Moto Z3 Force, but it looks like that won't be happening. At least not this year.

Hi. We will not be launching any more moto z's this year.

— Motorola US (@MotorolaUS) August 2, 2018

The official Motorola US Twitter account responded to an inquiry about the Moto Z3 Force. They responded with a very firm "We will not be launching any more Moto Zs this year." The Force model has typically been a slightly upgraded version of the regular Z model with a shatterproof display. With the Moto Z3 being so lackluster this year, an upgraded Force model would have been welcomed.

The Moto Z3 features the outdated Snapdragon 835 and a 1080p display. There's plenty of room for a high-end model with a newer Snapdragon 845 and high-resolution display. But, apparently, Lenovo isn't interested in releasing a top-of-the-line Moto phone in 2018. That doesn't exactly bode well for 2019 either. The future of Motorola has not been looking good for a while. This news doesn't make it seem any better.

The only Motorola devices on the horizon right now are the Motorola One Power and Motorola One, which are oddly named Android One devices. We should see those devices launch this year.

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WhatsApp tests picture-in-picture mode for YouTube and Instagram videos

Messaging apps is one of the most competitive spaces in the smartphone world. Your messaging platform of choice is home to a lot of your time and precious information. That's why we've seen so many messaging apps add a multitude of features. They'll do anything they can to keep you from leaving the app. WhatsApp is no stranger to this philosophy. It looks like they'll be adding Picture-in-Picture mode for YouTube and Instagram videos.

As we can see in the screenshots above, YouTube and Instagram videos can be played in floating windows above the conversation. The links have a new "Play" icon on top of the thumbnail. When you click the link, the video opens up in a floating window. It can be dragged around all over the screen. There is also an option to make it full screen or go to YouTube/Instagram. Check it out in action below.

Before you get too excited, this feature is not available yet. It has already been implemented in the iOS app, so it should be ready for Android soon. We don't know exactly when it will be available. This is a very handy feature for watching videos with your friends. You no longer have to leave the app or mess with split-screen apps.

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Source: WABetaInfo

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Confirmed: Epic Games won’t distribute Fortnite Mobile on Android via Google Play

The massively popular free-to-play battle royale game Fortnite is launching soon on Android. The game is confirmed to launch this summer, but a source told XDA-Developers the game will launch with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Initial reports peg the exclusivity deal between Epic Games and Samsung at 30 days, but a new report states the exclusivity could last as long as an extra 3 months. If the rumored exclusivity hasn't gotten people upset, our discovery that Epic would distribute Fortnite Mobile on Android outside of the Google Play Store has probably done the trick. Now, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has confirmed to The Verge that the mobile game will be distributed from their website and not Google Play.

According to the CEO, there are two reasons behind why the company is choosing not to use Google Play to distribute Fortnite Mobile on Android. First, Epic Games wants to maintain a direct relationship with their customers.

"Epic wants to have a direct relationship with our customers on all platforms where that's possible…The great thing about the Internet and the digital revolution is that this is possible, now that physical storefronts and middlemen distributors are no longer required." – Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, speaking to The Verge

The second reason is financial, as we previously speculated. Epic Games does not want to lose 30% of their Android revenue to Google, which is what'll happen if they choose to use Google Play as their distribution method. Any apps or games with in-app purchases consumed entirely within the service must use Google Play In-app Billing, which means Epic Games would have to cough up 30% of all IAP revenue to Google if they distributed Fortnite Mobile on Android via the Play Store.

"The 30 percent store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers' 70 percent must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games…There's a rationale for this on console where there's enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost, and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers…30 percent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service." – Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, speaking to The Verge

Distributing the app outside of the Play Store is a risky move due to the potential security concerns. Epic's CEO isn't concerned, however, as he states that gamers "have proven able to adopt safe software practices" and, as evidence, states that "gaming has thrived on the open PC platform through many sources." He's specifically referring to platforms like Steam, Battle.net, etc. Lastly, the CEO states that Android's permission system will help protect users by informing them of what an app will be allowed to do.

In my view, this is dangerously naive. Fortnite has attracted a huge audience of new gamers during its rapid rise to prominence. Many of these new games may not be familiar with the best practices to keep their devices safe from attack. As seen by the many new Android malware reports coming out each month which mostly target older devices or trick users who don't have a good understanding of Android's permission model, it would be easy for malware authors to target users whose devices don't yet support Fortnite Mobile on Android. After all, a limited number of devices will be supported at launch and given the potentially lengthy exclusivity period, there'll be a lot of people desperate to play the game as soon as it launches—only to be tricked into downloading a malicious APK.

Then there's the question of Chromebook users who can't easily sideload apps and users in China without access to the Google Play Store. For the latter issue, Epic Games' CEO states they are evaluating alternative distribution stores in China. Requiring users to sideload the app will be problematic for most Chrome OS users, however, as these users will need to enable Developer Mode before they can sideload the APK. We hope Epic Games addresses these issues promptly, but we're wary that the company's decision to distribute Fortnite Mobile outside of Google Play will result in the spread of a lot of malware masquerading as Fortnite.

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Fortnite Mobile on Android might be a Samsung Galaxy exclusive for 4 months

One of the most interesting developments to go along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 leaks and rumors is Fortnite. For the few people that don't know, Fortnite is a massively popular game right now. It's available on many platforms and Android is slated to be next in line. However, it's said to be exclusive to the Galaxy Note 9 and will not be available from the Play Store. The exclusive window was first said to be only 30 days, but a new report suggests a much longer period.

The initial story claimed the Galaxy Note 9 would be the exclusive home of Fortnite on Android for 30 days. That seemed like a pretty reasonable time frame. If a new report is true, that time frame could be much longer. Android Headlines claims Fortnite on Android will indeed be exclusive to the Galaxy Note 9 for 30 days. However, there will be a second period for Samsung Galaxy S phones in general that will last and extra 60-90 days. That means the game could be exclusive to Samsung phones for up to 4 months.

We don't know exactly which Samsung phones will be able to download the game. The report says "select models from the Galaxy S series." It's safe to assume the Galaxy S9, Galaxy Note 8, and Galaxy S8 will qualify. Previous reports have also claimed that Galaxy Note 9 users will get $100-150 worth of V-Bucks and the game will be compatible with Samsung DeX.

Fortnite is insanely popular right now, so Samsung is likely putting a lot of resources into this exclusive deal. It may seem crazy to those that don't play the game, but Fortnite is popular enough that this deal could actually sway people toward the Galaxy Note 9. Do you care about this exclusive deal at all? Do you play Fortnite?

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Source: Android Headlines

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Google partners with Unity to boost advertising in mobile games

A huge amount of Android games are written with the Unity engine. Unity themselves say that over 50% of all new Android games are written with their engine, a staggeringly high number. As a result, it's no surprise that Google may wish to foster a partnership with the company for mutual benefit. Companies that use Unity's game engine will now be able to integrate Google AdMobs into games themselves, something that was previously not easily done. The partnership has been in the works for years.

To be honest, this partnership was inevitable. There's an enormous potential for revenue on both sides of the coin. Making it part of Unity makes it easier than ever for users to pay for their games via advertisements. 9 billion minutes are spent daily on mobile games built with Unity, the potential for ad revenue is huge. It strengthens Unity's market position for developers while also extending Google's advertisement base. Advertisers will be able to serve ads via Universal App campaigns. It not only benefits both companies, but it benefits developers as well who can, in theory, make more money from these advertisements. Better integrated advertisements will also increase revenue for developers too.

"Google is committed to helping drive the mobile gaming ecosystem forward, and we've worked with Unity for several years on this advertising integration — a key example for how we enable advertisers to better reach consumers around the world," said Sissie Hsiao, VP of Mobile Advertising at Google. "We're especially excited about connecting advertisers with new gamers through user-first rewarded ad experiences, where rewards like new levels or extra power-ups complement the game experience."

So when will it be available? Game developers and Google AdMob customers will be able to use it starting now. Creations made with Unity have reached 3 billion unique devices and were installed over 24 billion times in the last year. It's no wonder that Google wants to tap into that market, and it benefits developers too.

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Source: Businesswire Via: AndroidPolice

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Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro starts getting Android 8.0 Oreo update in China

With the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro being released in 2016, many people were hoping the company hadn't forgotten about its Android Oreo update. We can safely say that Samsung is currently rolling out Android 8.0 to this particular model in China.

A number of markets may not even know about the Galaxy C series at all because Samsung's marketing campaigns are targetted elsewhere. However, these phones have had big displays, upper mid-range hardware, and a premium build for the prices that Samsung sells them at. This particular device has a 6-inch Super AMOLED panel, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 653, and 6GB of RAM. It was sold for CNY 3,199 (~$475) at launch. It shipped with Android Marshmallow out of the box, was updated to Android Nougat in December of last year, and Samsung has just announced its Android Oreo update.

Not only does this update come with Android 8.0 Oreo, but it also comes with Android's July 2018 security patch level. Fans of Samsung's OEM ROM will be happy to hear that this update will put Samsung Experience 9.0 on the device and Samsung has some notes for those who are about to accept the update.

• Some apps, including Samsung Pay, Samsung Internet, Samsung Notes, and Email, should be updated individually before you can update your OS.
• The user settings for Easy mode may be removed on the new OS. You may need to set them again after the OS upgrade.
• The Weather widget version update causes the Weather widget to disappear when idle. Drag the Weather widget to keep it from going idle after you update your OS.
• The Baidu search widget is replaced by the Baidu app.
• Added the app icon for Samsung Connect.
• Your Lock screen theme may be removed after the new OS version. You may need to select the theme again after the upgrade.

Those of you in Hong Kong and India may begin receiving his update later this month.

Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro Changelog

Quick Panel
– Manage notifications for each app with notification categories (supported apps only).
– Icons will be shown at the bottom of the notification panel for notifications that aren't currently visible.

Home Screen
– Touch and hold an app to display shortcuts to common or recommended tasks within the app (supported apps only).
– Notification badges on app icons are linked with the notification panel. Clear a notification in one location, and it will also be cleared in the other location.

Samsung Keyboard
– The toolbar gives quick access to useful functions.
– The GIF keyboard lets you send GIFs.
– More high-contrast keyboards are available.

System Performance
– Background services are limited to improve performance and battery life.
– Currently running apps will always be shown in the notification panel.

Lock Screen and Always On Display
– New clock styles for the Lock screen and Always On Display.
– Adjust the transparency of notifications to get the look you want.

Samsung account
– Control your account settings and profile information for multiple apps.
– Tap your profile picture on the main Settings page to access your profile information and account settings.

Samsung Cloud
– View and manage photos stored in Samsung Cloud.
– Select specific items to delete or restore from your backups.
– See how big each backup is and how many items it contains.

Smart View
– Let your phone's screen go dark when mirroring to another screen.

Other improvements
– In Video, auto-repeat and 2x speed have been added.

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Source: Samsung

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BlackBerry Evolve and BlackBerry Evolve X launched in India with 4,000mAh batteries

Optiemus Infracom is the brand licensee of BlackBerry in India. The company makes BlackBerry-branded phones for India and neighboring markets. A week ago, the BlackBerry KEY2 was launched in India with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 system-on-chip and a hardware QWERTY keyboard for ₹42,990. Now, Optiemus Infracom has launched the BlackBerry Evolve and the BlackBerry Evolve X in India.

The BlackBerry Evolve is a "mid-range" phone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450, which is a budget system-on-chip. On the other hand, the BlackBerry Evolve X is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, which is a powerful upper mid-range SoC that powers phones such as the Xiaomi Mi A2, Nokia 7 Plus, Vivo X21, and others.

Let's take a look at the full specifications table of the BlackBerry Evolve and the BlackBerry Evolve X:

BlackBerry Evolve and BlackBerry Evolve X – Specifications at a glance

Specifications	BlackBerry Evolve	BlackBerry Evolve X
Software	Android 8.1 Oreo	Android 8.1 Oreo
SoC	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (8x 1.8GHz Arm Cortex-A53 cores); Adreno 506 GPU	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (4x 2.2GHz Arm Cortex-A73 + 4x 1.8GHz Arm Cortex-A53 cores); Adreno 512 GPU
RAM and storage	4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage; microSD card slot	6GB of RAM with 64GB of storage; microSD card slot
Battery	4,000mAh; Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, USB-C Power Delivery	4,000mAh; wireless charging; Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, USB-C Power Delivery
Display	5.99-inch Full HD+ (2160×1080) IPS LCD with 18:9 aspect ratio, 500 nits brightness	5.99-inch Full HD+ (2160×1080) IPS LCD with 18:9 aspect ratio, 500 nits brightness
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Ports	USB Type-C port (USB 2.0), dual nano SIM slots, 3.5mm headphone jack	USB Type-C port (USB 2.0), dual nano SIM slots, 3.5mm headphone jack
Bands	GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz HSPA: 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz FDD-LTE, TDD-LTE	GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz HSPA: 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz FDD-LTE, TDD-LTE
Rear camera	13MP RGB camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual-tone LED flash 13MP monochrome camera, f/2.0 aperture	12MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture 13MP telephoto camera with f/2.6 aperture, 1.0um pixels
Front-facing camera	16MP fixed focus sensor with f/2.0 aperture, 78-degree FoV, Tetra Pixel technology, real-time bokeh mode, and LED flash	16MP fixed focus sensor with f/2.0 aperture, 78-degree FoV, Tetra Pixel technology, real-time bokeh mode, and LED flash

The BlackBerry Evolve and the Evolve X have a series 7000 aluminium frame, and a textured plastic panel. The Evolve X supports wireless charging, and BlackBerry will sell its own wireless charging pad alongside the phone, but pricing details about the charging pad haven't been revealed yet.

Both phones have their fingerprint sensors placed on the back, and the sensors themselves are claimed to have an unlock time of 0.3 seconds. The phones are also the first BlackBerry-branded phones to have Face Unlock, which is said to unlock the phones in 0.4 seconds.

The differences between the BlackBerry Evolve and the BlackBerry Evolve X deal with the SoC and the rear cameras. The BlackBerry Evolve is powered by the Snapdragon 450, which is positioned as a low-end SoC. The same SoC powers phones such as the Xiaomi Redmi 5, which start at ₹7,999. In fact, more powerful phones such as the Realme 1 are also available starting for just ₹8,990. In terms of performance, the BlackBerry Evolve cannot compete against phones like the Xiaomi Mi A2, Nokia 7 Plus, and the Oppo F7.

The BlackBerry Evolve X, on the other hand, is powered by the significantly more capable Snapdragon 660 SoC. This SoC won't match the Snapdragon 835, but until the Snapdragon 710 arrives in more phones, it remains one of the best mid-range SoCs. The problem here is that the BlackBerry Evolve X competes with phones such as the OnePlus 6, the Asus ZenFone 5Z, the Honor 10, and the Huawei Nova 3 in terms of pricing. All of these phones have flagship SoCs such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 or the HiSilicon Kirin 970, which means that the Evolve X can't compete on the basis of performance.

In terms of cameras, the BlackBerry Evolve has a RGB + monochrome setup with dual 13MP rear cameras, while the BlackBerry Evolve X has a 12MP primary camera coupled with a 13MP telephoto camera with f/2.6 aperture.

Software

The BlackBerry Evolve and the Evolve X come with BlackBerry Power Centre—an app that uses deep learning to analyze users' usage and optimize battery settings. The app also lets users modify RAM allocation for each app and create custom battery profiles as well.

Both phones feature built-in Dolby audio. The BlackBerry Evolve X supports Dolby Atmos. DTEK is included on both phones, and the BlackBerry Hub brings together communication apps into a single app to help users navigate through their social media accounts.

In terms of security, the BlackBerry Password Keeper app helps secure users' passwords in a vault and is also said to help in creating new secure passwords.

Pricing and availability

The BlackBerry Evolve will be available for ₹24,990 ($364) in India for the single 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant, while the BlackBerry Evolve X will cost ₹34,990 ($510) for the single 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant. The Evolve will go on sale by the end of August, while the Evolve X will be available starting mid-September. Both phones will be made available initially via Amazon India, but they will also be sold subsequently via offline retailers. Launch offers include benefits "worth ₹3,950" for Jio users and no cost EMI.

The BlackBerry Evolve X faces heavy competition from the OnePlus 6 in particular, which is the dominant phone in its price segment. The Asus ZenFone 5Z, the Honor 10, and the Huawei Nova 3 are all capable competitors as well. The Evolve, on the other hand, is far too low-powered in our view to pose serious competition to phones such as the Nokia 7 Plus and the upcoming Xiaomi Mi A2.

Let us know your opinions about the BlackBerry Evolve in the comments below.

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Via: Gadgets 360

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