Earlier this week Samsung officially confirmed that its “Galaxy Unpacked” event will be held on January 14. In this event, the company is expected to launch the much-awaited Galaxy S21 series. But now, it looks like the South Korean tech giant will launch the unannounced Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy SmartTags at the event as well.
According to a recent post shared by Evan Blass, a leaked marketing render of a promotion shows either the Galaxy Buds Pro or SmartTags will come alongside the Galaxy S21 Ultra pre-order.
Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy SmartTags
Image courtesy: Evan Blass
A lot of reports have hit the web talking about the upcoming Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy SmartTags recently, and we have a lot of information about both of them already. So it’s widely expected that we can see both of these truly wireless earbuds on January 14. Previous leaks show the Galaxy Buds Pro will come in three color options — black, violent, and silver. Reportedly, they will feature active noise cancellation and a beefier 500mAh battery.
On the other hand, Galaxy SmartTag is a Tile-like tracker that uses Bluetooth to connect with nearby devices. It will let Galaxy owners find their misplaced devices. Powered by a replaceable button cell battery, the device relieves the user of its regular charging. According to the leaks, SmartTag is a small square device with rounded corners and a hole at one edge for a keychain or something like that.
Image courtesy: Evan Blass
The new pre-order poster indicates the Galaxy Buds Pro may expectedly arrive as a pre-order gift with the (presumably more expensive) Galaxy S21 Ultra model. The pre-orders for the other two models in the Galaxy S21 lineup — the Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus — may come with the Galaxy Buds Live instead. Since there’s less than a week left for the Samsung event, we should get to see these devices soon.
Last year, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra became one of the best flagship phones launched. It packs some of the great hardware and software combinations making the device a gem to use. As some of the features are restricted for development use, rooting is the solution one thinks of to experience it. So, today, I’ll be guiding you on how to root your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra using Magisk software.
What is Rooting
Rooting an Android device is like what jailbreak is to iOS devices. It is a process granting the users to gain complete control over their Android devices unofficially, allowing them to flash custom ROMs, manage bloatware and default applications installed, customizing the device with various animations and themes, installing MODs, and many more.
Advantages of Rooting
Extensive support to customizations.
Full manual control over the kernel coding.
Grants full access to manage applications, software, and bloatware.
Ability to install custom ROMs, OS in BETA, or stable version.
Disadvantages of Rooting
The device warranty gets void.
Malware and hacking problems are more prone to rooted devices.
The device may become useless if any step during the rooting procedure goes wrong.
Once the device is rooted, it becomes officially unsupported by the brands irrespective of the warranty is present or has expired.
Once enabled, switch off your device. Press and hold both the Volume buttons and connect your phone to your computer using a data syncing cable (no charge only cable to be used).
A warning screen will flash after which, release the Volume buttons and wait.
Press the Volume Up button once to boot your phone into Download mode.
Once booted into Download mode, long-press the Volume Up to enable the Bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which will now proceed further in the wiping data stage.
Once the step above gets completed, reboot your device and check for the status of OEM Unlocking in the Developer options menu and check whether it has been greyed out or not. If yes, then the bootloader of your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra was successful. If not, then try again with the steps carefully this time.
C. Rooting Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Using Magisk Tool
Extract the firmware on your computer, and search for an AP file in the extracted folder. It’s a file named with AP in the beginning in the tar format.
Extract the Odin Flash Tool zip file on your computer.
Copy it to your phone’s internal storage.
Open the Magisk Manager application on your device and click on Install>Install.
As the installation progresses, a pop-up shows up, asking for the method selection. Here, select the Select and Patch a File tab. Browse the path and select the AP tar file that you earlier copied into your device.
The patching process will now begin.
When the patching process finishes, go to the Download folder of your phone, where, you’ll find a file named magisk_patched.tar.
Copy that file from the Download folder to your computer and extract it.
When done, you will find the boot.img file in the extracted folder. Copy it to your phone and perform the same patching steps as you did for that AP file.
Copy the (magisk_patched.img) to your computer and rename it to boot.img. Archive the above file in the tar format.
Open the Odin Flash Tool on your PC and untick the Auto-Reboot options.
Now, click on the AP button on the right-hand side and load the magisk_patched.tar (This is the file that you manually compressed earlier) file.
In the USERDATA section, load the boot.img file that you patched in the earlier steps.
Boot your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra into Download Mode. Now, connect it to your computer. Odin Flash Tool will automatically detect your device and blue color will display in the first stack.
Click start. This will begin the process of flashing the patched Magisk file to your phone.
A completion message will show up after which you can disconnect your device.
Boot your device into Stock Recovery mode.
Select the Wipe Data/Factory Reset option for final cleaning.
Reboot yourphone into the system mode and install the Magisk Manager. Open the application and check the status, which will indicate that your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is now rooted.
Conclusion
Congratulations, your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is now officially rooted. Go ahead and try out various custom themes and ROMs, animations, apps to experience the magic of root. Lastly, dropdown your views, comments, or any feedback for further assistance, and we shall see you in the next one.
Google’s latest app simplifies the player screen in Google Podcasts. The redesign gives more space to control keys, though some other controls might be difficult to access. The new UI comes with certain layout changes as well. For instance, the scrubber now appears below the scrolling episode title and the cover art. In comparison with the old layout, this looks a tad bit wider. The play button follows it, accompanies by a ’30-second jump’ and ’10-second rewind’. It is a part of the new Google App, that the now playing screen gets redesigned. Recently, other Google appsalso got a revamp.
Here is the new layout of buttons
The new position of the ‘Play Queue’ breaks the symmetrical look of the UI. It is now located just beside the ’10-second rewind’ button. The bottom row of buttons is categorically made for avoiding accidental taps. It also increases some negative space in between the buttons.
Image Courtesy: 9To5Google
You would find the ‘Playback Speed’ tile at the left bottom of the screen. With the Now Playing Screen redesigned for Google Podcasts, the ‘Cast To’ is right under the ‘Play Button’. Additionally, if you wish to ‘Share’ the podcast, set a ‘Sleep Timer’ or mark some audio as played, head to the ‘three dots’ at the bottom right corner. The sleep timer would give you an option to set the podcast for 5, 10, 15, 30, or 35 minutes. You can even set it to 1 hour or till the end of the episode.
Image Courtesy: 9To5Google
The redesigned Google Podcast comes with version 11.42 of Google’s Open beta. It has not come out as stable update yet, while the iOS application has not received any update yet. Google has consistently been updating its services across all platforms. Be it the workspace apps, smartphones, or other utility features.
It might surprise some of you, but JBL is the child company of Harman. They have recently announced a brand new series of headphones named the “Tour Series”. For this product, business professionals would be the primary target audience. The JBL Tour Series would ease work calls for one and all. The headphones would likely be available by May.
There is a wide variety of wireless headphones in the market that offer a plethora of features. However, noise cancellation and audio quality during phone calls are common issues among people using wireless headphones. Hence, JBL has swooped in with a solution to enhance the calling experience, once and for all.
Image Courtesy: Harman Newsroom
Here is what you can expect from the JBL Tour Series
JBL is a well-known brand and a reliable choice for headphones and speakers for the majority of people. It has recently announced that the upcoming JBL Tour Series would ease work call.Additionally, it would also offer commendable noise cancellation to the customers. The Tour series comprises two perfect pairs of headphones. The first one is the JBL Tour ONE, an over-ear model. The in-ear headphone model would be called as JBL Tour Pro+. They offer excellent portability and are lightweight and compact.
Image Courtesy: Harman Newsroom
The Tour ONE features True Adaptive Noise Cancellation. It cancels the noise by monitoring outside background noises. Tour ONE offers a playback time of impressive 50 hours, which gets half while using true ANC. While Tour Pro+ offers 8 hours without ANC and 6 with it. The charging case adds an additional 30 hours. Tour ONE would be priced at USD 299. While Tour Pro+ would be available at a slightly lower price of USD 199.
TheJBL Tour Series would ease work callswith these products and offer an outstanding listening experience. It is nothing less than a jackpot for customers, as it would solve their long-standing troubles with the calls.
WhatsApp is the most used messaging application on this planet. In not more than a period of six months, the platform has bought various updates for its users. Be it WhatsApp Payments, Disappearing Messages, or the Group Calling – all of them actually help the user. That being said, the latest WhatsApp Web version might support a multi-device login.
While you can transfer your WhatsApp account from one device to another, a true multi-device support is absent. Some of you must have noticed a recent ‘new terms of service’ pop-up while using WhatsApp. Given the trend, an update follows soon, which is under development. To ensure complete user privacyand utilization of modern features, WhatsApp recently announced to discontinue their serviceson some old devices.
Image Courtesy: Business Today
WhatsApp might roll out Multiple Device Support
According to a report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp might release a multi-device feature soon. A true multi-device support would imply an uninterrupted connection on multiple devices at the same time. For an instance, social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram allow you to access your account from different devices. According to the news, WhatsApp is considering the idea to offer a public beta for WhatsApp Web. If this happens, it would make WhatsApp a true cross-platform messaging application.
Image Courtesy: WABetaInfo
However, the availability of a public preview beta is still not clear. The feature is yet under development. With people who use multiple devices at the same time, the feature would not only make them happy but also save time. We might also get to see robust improvements in WhatsApp Web, including losing connectivity and the load time.
Currently, if you wish to use a WhatsApp account on another smartphone, you have to go through the lengthy re-installing and logging in process. In the case of WhatsApp Web, your mobile device shall be connected to the internet at all times.
In recent years, smartphone manufacturers have changed their approach regarding smartphone UIs. While most of them initially began with a custom UI, they have started providing stock Android to customers. One such example is ASUS. Dropping their ZenUI, they have now started loading their devices with the simple Android experience. It turned out to be a great move for the company. Surprisingly, one of these devices has already got the latest Google experience. Asus has rolled out Android 11 update for Zenfone 6.
First to welcome the latest Android experience was Taiwan. Released earlier as an open beta version, the update is currently making its way to the global markets.Asus Zenfone 6is a flagship from 2019 and comes with Snapdragon 855 powerhouse. Moreover, the model turned a lot of heads for its outstanding flip camera setup. It simply meant getting the primary camera’s quality to get amazing selfies. Interestingly, Zenfone 7, a more recent model from Asus is yet to get the latest update.
Image Courtesy: NDTV Gadgets 360
Here is what is new
Bringing in all the new fruits to its basket, the global Android 11 update for Asus Zenfone 6 is complete and stable. Enhanced permission control, notification history, the chat bubble icons, better security and an improved DND mode are some of the key characteristics of Android 11. Additionally, you might find a low key touch of ZenUI as well.
One of my personal favorites features is the full-screen gesture control. While it was present in previous versions as well, it was not as refined. Essentially, it lets you enjoy the beautiful display of your phone, without hogging the screen for back, home and recent buttons. Some specific functions brought to the Asus Zenfone 6 via the Android 11 update is one-hand mode, power man function for efficient battery consumption and adjustments for the quick set-up panel.
Rooting an Android smartphone requires many prerequisites out of which, OEM Unlocking is one of the main processes. While being completely easy to enable OEM Unlocking, many don’t know how to enable the same, so, today, I’ll be guiding you on how to enable OEM Unlocking on any Android smartphone.
The Use of OEM Unlocking
OEM Unlocking is used primarily for unlocking Bootloader on any Android smartphone.
It is an essential part of the operating system as it protects from any unknown users and happenings.
OEM Unlocking is very important for the process of rooting or any other such operations.
It provides identification certificates and credentials for security purposes.
Go to the home page of the ‘Settings‘ application.
Search for the ‘Developer Options‘ tab.
Scroll to the ‘OEM Unlocking‘ category tab.
Enable the toggle of the ‘OEM Unlocking‘ option.
OEM Unlock has been enabled successfully on your Android smartphone.
Conclusion
If you have a stock Android phone, then these steps will be a straight forward procedure but, if you have a smartphone having custom skins like MIUI, Realme UI, then either use search in settings or find the above in the additional settings tab.
Lastly, dropdown your views, comments, or any feedback for further assistance, and we shall see you in the next one.
Google Pixel devices are undoubtedly smarter than any other Android smartphones. This is because these are first-party smartphones from Google with a stock Android operating system, three years of uninterrupted major Android OS updates, and security patches. Of course, Pixels are known for their great camera setup and post-processing but it is expensive. At the very least you can have without spending a fortune is its boot animation which is the animation you see when you power on a Pixel device.
We found out that most people love the Google Pixel boot animation. The visual animation of four colored dots dancing on the screen before they converge to show the letter ‘G’ that stands for ‘Google’ is very impressive. There are many ways you can install Google Pixel Boot Logo Animation on any Android smartphone and here, we have listed them all.
Disclaimer:Most of these methods require a rooted device that grants the user access to the various Android subsystems for greater control allowing users to perform functions that otherwise wouldn’t be possible with a non-rooted Android operating system. We have tutorials on how to root an Android smartphone although it is completely your responsibility in case your phone stops working or bricks itself or any other ill-effects.
What Are The ‘Prerequisites’
Prerequisites are things you need before going forward with any of the methods specified below. The first thing you would need to flash or install a Google Pixel Boot Animation on any Android phone is that the device should be rooted. Next up, you need the Google Pixel’s boot animation that you will be flashing on your non-Google Android smartphone. Luckily, we have boot animation right here that you can download.
You need to download the Pixel boot animation that you find below.
Original Pixel Boot Animation 1080p, Light – Download
Original Pixel Boot Animation 1080p, Dark – Download
How To Install Google Pixel Boot Animation on Any Android Phone
Method #1: Using Root File Explorer
This is the most common way you can flash or install Google Pixel Boot Animation on any Android smartphone (rooted). All you need is a rooted smartphone and a file explorer with root access such as ES File Explorer. Here’s how you can do it.
Step #1: Launch the Root File Explorer/Browser on your rooted Android smartphone.
Step #2: Navigate to /system/media folder where the original boot animation is available. Since you have root access, you will be able to see the file named bootanimation.zip or similar.
The path may vary based on which device you are using. For example, some devices have “/data/local/” or “/system/customize/resource/” and so on.
Step #3: Now, you need to take a backup of the existing original boot animation on your device in case the method doesn’t work. For that, locate the original boot animation, rename it by adding the extension “.bak”. This would become bootanimation.bak.
Note that now, you have the original boot animation stored on your device that you can re-install anytime you want in case something goes wrong.
To gain access to the original boot animation, simply rename it to its original name i.e. “bootanimation.zip”.
Step #4: Name the new Google Pixel boot animation that you just downloaded as “bootanimation.zip” that the system will recognize as the one to unwrap and apply.
Step #5: Since you already know where the original boot animation file was, you need to copy and paste the new animation to the path where the original boot animation was available.
Step #6: Next up, long-press on the newly created boot animation file, and select “Permissions”.
Step #8: Now, you need to enable all three options “Read/Write/Execute” under the Owner category and all other categories must have “Read” as selected and others as blank.
Step #9: Save the changes if asked and reboot the device and it is done.
Note: When you replace the existing boot animation with a new one, the system will recognize the latter as the one to apply when you power up the device. The original file is still available on the internal storage or SD card in case you need it later.
Method #2: Using Recovery Flash Method
This is again a very easy method to abide by as it doesn’t require a rocket science degree. Here, you need a custom recovery like Philz or TWRP installed on your device which you can do with or without rooting the device. Assuming that you have a custom ROM installed, here’s how you can install Google Pixel Boot Animation on any Android phone.
Step #1: The first thing you need is a Google Pixel boot animation and we already have the links to download the file for 720p, 1080p, and 1440p devices both in light and dark versions. Download it and proceed. Move it to the SD card on your device.
Step #2: You need to boot into the recovery console. The method could differ based on many factors such as model, custom recovery. If you are using TWRP, you can boot into the recovery console by turning off the phone, pressing power and volume-down buttons together until the phone boots up. This should guide it to boot into the recovery console.
Step #3: Select “Install” (if prompted), Next up, Select ‘Flash ZIP From SDCard’ by tapping on the three dots menu located on the right side.
Step #4: Select the file that you want to flash i.e. the newly created bootanimation.zip.
Step #5: You will get a slider on TWRP to install the new boot animation. Simply slide it to the right and let it process.
Step #6: Reboot the device and check out the latest Google Pixel boot animation on your Android smartphone.
Method #3: Using Boot Animations Root App
This method is also less invasive but you still need a rooted device to grant root access to your device. Here’s how you can use the Boot Animations Root app to change the boot animation on any Android smartphone.
Step #1: First up, you need theBoot Animations RootApp on your device. Download and install it.
Step #2: Select Backup/Restore to take a backup of the existing boot animation for later use.
You can use the ‘Restore’ function to re-flash the original boot animation on your device.
Step #3: Once you have downloaded it, you will get a tonne of new animations to choose from.
It has three options i.e. Local, Server, and Randomize where ‘Local’ lets you upload the Google Pixel boot animation you downloaded earlier for your smartphone.
You can use the ‘Server’ option to download boot animations for your smartphone.
‘Randomize’ lets you flash new boot animation every time you power on the device.
Step #4: Once you have uploaded the required boot animation, long-press on it, and select ‘Install’.
Note: You need to name the new boot animation that you want to install as “bootanimation.zip” to avoid any issues when installing and flashing it.
Step #5: Finally, reboot the Android smartphone, and voila, you now have a Google Pixel boot animation installed on your Android smartphone without any hassle.
Method #4: Using The ADB Method
You need ADB tools on your computer to flash the Google Pixel boot animation on your Android smartphones.
Part 1: Installing & Readying ADB
Before you can proceed, you need to enable USB Debugging Mode. You will get complete information about ithere. Now let’s see how you can use the ADB Method to flash a new boot animation.
Step #1: The very first thing you need and it is a no-brainer, is the boot animation that you can download from the prerequisites section.
Step #2: Ensure that the file you download is in “.zip” extension with the name being “bootanimation.zip”.
Step #3: You need to install ADB tools on your computer. You can find the installation file here.
Step #4: Next up, copy the new bootanimation.zip file and paste it under “platform-tools” directory under the ADB binary folder. Look out for “tools” directory if you have an older version of SDK.
Step #5: Proceeding further, hover the cursor to an empty screen and right-click on the mouse, and select ‘Command Prompt’ to launch it.
Step #6: Next step is to open the “platform-tools” on CMD and for that, you need to type in this command. “cd C:\ADB\platform-tools“. If your computer has ‘tools’ folder under ADB instead of ‘platform-tools’, use the command “cd C:\ADB\tools“.
Step #7: Now, you need to plug your phone into the computer. Once you do that, use CMD to check whether the computer has detected the device or not. For that, you need to use the command “adb devices” without the quotation marks. This should return you an alphanumeric variable if the computer detects a device i.e. your phone.
Step #8: There are mainly two methods to do it. The first is via ADB on CMD while the other is via a visual interface which isn’t available at this point. You are required to remount the system files to allow it to read/write the new boot animation. Here’s how to do it.
Enter the command “adb shell” or “adb remount”.
Next, enter the command “mount – o remount, rw -t yaffs2 / dev/block/mtblock3/system”.
Finally, type in the command “exit” and it is done.
Part 2: Flashing The Boot Animation
Step #9: Here, you need to flash the newly created boot animation file to your phone. You can use the said instructions to get it done.
Firstly, launch the CMD and type in “adb shell” and then, “su” to gain the status of a superuser.
Now, you need to find your existing boot animation file that should be available via path “data/local”, “/system/customize/resource/”, “/system/media” or others depending upon what smartphone make and model you are using.
Enter the command “cd [Directory Name]” such as “cd /system/media” based on where your original file is located.
Now, enter the command “Is” that verifies if the original bootanimation.zip file is available or not.
Next up, you need to move the existing bootanimation file to make way for the new one. Use the command “mv bootanimation.zip bootanimation.bak” (obviously without the quotation marks).
Step #10: Finally, it is your turn to flash the newly created Google Pixel boot animation on your smartphone and here’s how you can do it.
You need to enter the command “adb push [File Name] [Directory]“.
Say adb push “bootanimation.zip /system/media” or it could be -> adb push “bootanimation.zip /data/local” and so on.
Finally, enter the command “adb reboot” and the process is over.
That’s pretty much all that you can do to change or install Google Pixel Boot Animation on any non-Google Android smartphone. Hope this works for you. Again, we aren’t liable for any ill-effects these methods could cause on your device as these methods have been tested on some devices but not all the Android smartphones on the planet.
And here we are with a Google Workspace Update again. It was just a few days back when Google released their Chat Shortcuts, Comments Interfaceand PDF improvements. This time, Google has added Smart Compose and Spelling Autocorrect to the comments section in Google Docs. On a blog postdated January 5, 2021, Google officially announced these features.
In a nutshell, Google’s Smart Compose suggests high-quality content, while you are writing anything across all Google platforms. While typing on a desktop, you just have to press the right arrow key to use the suggestion. And if you are typing on your mobile phone, just swipe right to utilize the suggestion. Similar is the case with Spelling Autocorrect – it prompts the user with grammatical errors and contextual suggestions. These are very handy features when you need to write my essay grammatically correct.
In my opinion, both these features have unique use. While writing documents and specifically emails, the Google Smart Compose offers quick suggestions for completing your sentences. Now, with the new feature, you would be able to enjoy both these features while writing comments on Google Docs.
Here is a quick look at the new features
The Smart Compose suggestions would appear as light grey words. If you wish to accept the recommendation, just press ‘tab’ or the ‘right arrow’.
Image Courtesy: Google Blog
If you misspell some word in the comments section, Autocorrect would replace it with the right grammatical composition, and highlight the word with a dotted line.
Image Courtesy: Google Blog
Any Google user would be able to access the feature, without the requirement of admin control. Both of them are available right now. However, it might take 15 days to reflect in some devices. All the Google Workspace apps, for private and for business purposed would be able to use it.
Amazon is offering some of the best deals for today that include the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, TicWatch Pro 2020 Plus TicPods ANC Bundle, smartwatches, SSDs, and more. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 is available at a whopping $150 off for just $250. Check out more about the deals below:
1. Get Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 at $250
Best comes first. Hence in today’s Amazon Deals list, Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 comes at the top place. Amazon offers Active2 (44mm, GPS, Bluetooth, Cellular) for $250 with a heavy price-drop of flat $150. The watch delivers a range of fitness tracking features such as exercise tracking, heart rate monitoring, and more. The circular touchscreen display, backed with an aluminum casing provides the wearable more resistance to damage.
Apart from this, the wearable also has cellular connectivity onboard that can go along with you without you even having to carry a smartphone. Plus, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 offers a 5-day battery life.
Amazon is offering the Honeywell T5 Smart Thermostat at 40% off for just $90. Originally priced at $150, today’s offering provides a $60 drop — about $10 less than the regular offers of $100. The T5 Smart Thermostat works with both Alexa voice assistant and Apple’s Homekit with Siri for voice control. It delivers 7-day flexible scheduling and location-based temperature control using geofencing technology. The price drop is a good excuse to save money and energy to control your house temperature this winter.
Another deal that’s available on Amazon is for Seagate Ultra Touch SSD 1TB External Solid State Drive Portable – White USB-C USB 3.0. The USB-powered Solid State Drive has received a fall of 15% today. Originally priced at $165, the SSD is available at $140 — a flat drop of $25. The portable SSD carries a storage capacity of 1TB and features an Android app to bring extra protection for users. Note that this deal has a limited stock and is available for a limited time, so grab it soon before the stock or time runs out.
4. TicWatch Pro Smartwatch + TicPods ANC Bundle at $249
At a discount of about $100, the TicWatch Pro 2020 WearOS Smartwatch bundled with TicPods ANC is currently available for $249. Usually, this bundle costs around $350 — the smartwatch at $260 and earbuds at $90 (currently selling at $82). Today’s Amazon deal for this smartwatch-cum-earbuds bundle marks a new all-time low. For specs, the TicWatch Pro Smartwatch features a 1.39-inch display and a long 30-day battery life. It comes with fitness tracking features like heart rate monitoring and sports an IPX4 water-resistant design.
On the other hand, TicPods ANC brings you a truly wireless listening experience with active noise cancellation features to your smartwatch and your smartphone.
