It looks like Vivo will soon launch its new smartphone — the Vivo V20 (2021) — as the device allegedly appears in a Geekbench listing. This upcoming Vivo phone has been spotted on Geekbench with model number vivo V2040, revealing some key possible specifications.
The Geekbench benchmarking platform has listed the alleged Vivo V20 (2021) smartphone with 8GB of RAM. Further, it will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC and run the latest Android 11 OS out of the box. In Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core tests, the device scored 553 and 1765 points, respectively. However, there is no official announcement from Vivo about when the refreshed version of V20 will launch.
Earlier, the Vivo V20 (2021) had also appeared on the Indonesia Telecom website with the same model number, ie. V2040 as well as the BIS website. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) listing suggested that the upcoming Vivo phone could launch in the country soon. Since this handset is believed to be an upgraded version of the Vivo V20, most specs could be the same for both devices. To recall, here’s what the Vivo V20 offers.
Vivo V20 Specifications
The Vivo V20 smartphone launched in India back in October this year with a 6.44-inch full HD+ AMOLED display. The handset comes with a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 720G chipset paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. However, the Geekbench listing for Vivo V20 (2021) suggests a Snapdragon 675 processor, though the RAM size remains the same. We expect the upcoming handset to come with multiple storage options too. Note that there is also a 5G variant for V20 — the Vivo V20 5G.
Speaking of the optics in Vivo V20, it carries a triple rear camera setup with a 64MP primary sensor. The other two cameras include an 8MP secondary sensor and a 2MP monochrome sensor. Like most phones, it packs a 4,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.
As of now, there is not much information on the upcoming Vivo V20 (2021) handset, but, we expect to hear more on it in the coming day and weeks.
Android smartphones have definitely grown smarter than ever. And with tons of advanced features, apps, powerful notification settings, and other such stuff, we hardly feel the need to use widgets. But we cannot deny the fact that widgets are an important part of Android that makes it this better. Not only do they look good on the home screen, but they also serve as a time-saver by providing easy access to most of the essential functions.
So, if you love keeping widgets on your home screen, which is an easier way to have various applications or to keep yourself updated, we are here to help. This article talks about some of the best Android widgets that will multiply your Android smartphone’s performance and increase productivity. They feature the most essential functions that are required in our daily life. And so you might love checking them out.
15 Best Android Widgets To Install on Your Smartphone
1. KWGT Custom Widget Maker
Image Courtesy: Google Play Store
Price: Free/ $4.49
OS: Android
Popularity: 1,000,000+ downloads
Why waste time searching for the perfect widgets when you can create your own? The KWGT Custom Widget Maker supports the WYSIWYG editor that allows you to design your own widget, shape them, and make them look however you want. On the featured section, it holds thousands of great widgets for your Android phone. Besides, it comes with tons of designing and editing elements to create your desired widgets. It employs 3D flip transformations, shapes, layers, gradients, dynamic content download support, native music utilities, and much more. In addition, KWGT also comes with support for external apps such as Zooper, Tasker, etc. In a nutshell, KWGT Custom Widget Maker is one of those rare ones that come with powerful features and is still in development.
Weather apps are certainly important in our day-to-day life. And 1Weather serves as one of the best weather apps, especially for Android. Although it comes with old-fashioned looks, it still looks decent on the screen and provides a lot of necessary information. It has the traditional flip clock, and the weather on your display allows you to look at the time and the temperature of the region in just a glance. On tapping on the clock widget, it will take you to the clock app of your device, whereas the weather widget will open up the actual interface of the 1Weather app. A few benefits of the app are, it does not only provide you the temperature of the place you are in; instead, it offers a detailed overview of it. You can receive hyper-local severe weather warnings, UV rating, Humidity, dew point, track the sun and moon, and more.
Chronus Information is a sleek and simple widget app for Android smartphones. It features some of the essential home screen widgets, which indeed display some of the essential information on your screen. Firstly, the analog clock widget that appears on the home and lock screen looks quite decent. Some other basic widget includes the dash, pixel, pixel2, weather widget, news, and task widgets. All the components are highly customizable and are well optimized, hence ensuring less use of the CPU. Interestingly, Chronus employs a backup and restore widget setting as well. It also includes a built-in Gmail, calendar, text messages, and missed call extensions. Besides, the pro version comes with several other useful features such as a daydream screensaver, additional News and task provider, and a lot more.
IFTTT is one of its kind. This app is excessively powerful and comes with too many functions. It makes your Android device much relaxing, productive, and smarter than ever. IFTTT lets you control almost everything near you using your voice. You can turn on and off your hue lights, text anyone automatically, get time-to-time reminders, and so many more functions. More than 630 apps are working with IFTTT without having any issues, among which some bigger names include Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Twitter, Telegram, Phillips Hue, Dropbox, and so on. Automated and intelligent home security alerts ensure your complete safety. Most of the regular tasks such as backing up and sharing of data are done automatically, hence reduces workload and makes your smartphone more efficient and reliable.
This one is probably the complete calendar widget for Android, with great customizability and outstanding design. The interface looks pretty modern, and the transparent calendar looks elegant on any display. It is lightweight and fits perfectly with most of the devices. The lite version gives a decent set of features essential to any calendar app. You can filter the events for the current day and the future ones. It even shows past events and has the ability to hide the declined ones. Moreover, it allows you to change the background color of the calendars and set which one to show and which to hide. Home Agenda’s Calendar widget is further available in multi-language and has the ability to sync with Google Calendar to withdraw data of the scheduled events and so.
Just like most other services of Google, the Keep Notes from Google is a note-taking app available for free. This app allows you to take notes of anything, including voice notes as well. It comes with a minimalistic design but many effective, hidden features. You can as well share your notes for collaboration. Besides taking notes, Google Keep Notes allows performing certain editing such as setting the background color, take group notes, add images and drawings, and other such things. It features an Android widget too, which makes it easily accessible from your home screen. Moreover, this Notes app from Google is easily accessible from Google Drive via any web browser.
Tasker is another robust Android application that lets you combine contexts and tasks to create almost anything you want. However, unlike other widget apps, this one is pretty much complicated and needs some amount of experience to work on. It comes with more than 350+ actions and offers you the true power to customize your Android phone like never before. With tasker, you can turn your smartphone into a truly smart device by automating most of the tasks done on an everyday basis. More importantly, it does not require a rooted device and supports external plugins for added functionality. As soon as you create your own automated feature, Tasker will take no time to transform it into a widget. Now you can lay hands on everything straight from your home screen without even losing a second. In a nutshell, whatever you can think of, Tasker can most probably do it for you.
If you are concerned enough about the everyday usage of your smartphone, Digitox can be of great help. It is quite simple and features a bar-like widget that displays how long you have used your phone on a day, the number of times you have unlocked your device, and the number of notifications you have received. Digitox is basically a good way to track how addicted you have become to your smartphone. You can track your results on an everyday basis and try reducing the hours you spent on your phone. It lets you view the data for the current day and the last seven days so you can do a good comparison to track your progress. As the screen time is categorized into separate periods, it becomes easy to compare the number of hours of your phone usage on a particular time period. Besides, Digitox is simple to use and is a battery optimized Android application.
Clip Stack is a simple, easy-top-use clipboard manager app. It helps in managing all those texts copied to your clipboard at a single place in an organized manner. The Android 10 clipboard access is very limited, and so Clip Stack can be a great replacement if you often use the copy to clipboard feature. The app also features a widget that seems pretty handy and works flawlessly. You can see all your previously copied texts on your home screen through this widget. A shortcut lets you add more new clips to the application. The best thing about this application is it can remember unlimited texts which were earlier copied to your clipboard. Overall, it can be a great pick to store some interesting stuff for reading later on.
Overdrop is nothing much but just another normal weather app. However, it features some of the coolest Android widgets for your home screen. It includes a basic weather forecast widget that shows up to 7 days of forecasting, date, and battery life in a card-like layout. In addition, it also comes with a native dark mode that looks nice on display, and there are over 50 different widgets to choose from. It even offers some customizing options for the weather notifications, and Overdrop takes care of your privacy by not allowing the location data to leave your device.
It is one of the best to-do list apps currently for Android devices. The application features a very elegant interface with bright color contrasts and a minimalistic design. The app is very popular and is used by more than 25 million people to effortlessly plan, organize, and collaborate regarding various projects. Besides, Todoist also features some amazing widgets for your home screen that shows up pretty much of the information on your front screen itself. Moreover, you can even integrate other services such as Gmail, Amazon Alexa, Google Calendar, etc., to further increase your productivity.
If you remember the Sticky Notes app for Windows, you can expect a very similar taste with ColorNote as well. However, ColorNote is especially for Android devices and not Windows and is a very lightweight app with great compatibility. It lets you write down notes, e-mails, memos, messages, to-do lists, and more. Plus, the app also includes a widget that offers easy access to the notes app directly from your home screen. But it is not just limited up to that, and you can make certain edits with your notes and organize them as per your wish. Additionally, it allows you to sync your notes on the internet and encrypts all your works before uploading online.
Same as KWGT Widget Maker, UCCW is a WYSIWYG editor. It allows you to make your own custom widget, feature it, design it, and use it on your home screen efficiently. What’s unique about UCCW is, it allows users to export their custom-built widgets on Google Play as APK’s or zip files. And so you too can download other’s work to gain more knowledge and idea. Although the project was on halt for quite a long time, it has started getting newer updates recently. Besides, it features all the required components to create your own functioning Android widgets and shape them as you desire.
Unquestionably, air pollution is one of the major factors behind the ill environment and adverse conditions of living. And so it has become important to track the air quality to assure how healthy and safe we are. That is where the AirVisual comes to help. It features some elegant widgets that continuously monitors real-time AQI. If you are conscious enough of your surrounding, this app becomes a must for you. AirVisual informs about the 6 key pollutants of air, including PM2.5, PM10, Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, and Carbon Monoxide. Apart from that, the app also features a 7-day weather forecast, which is an added advantage for the users.
TickTick is another to-do list application for Android devices, but a much more refined one. The app features a very intuitive interface. However, there are a considerable number of features as customizing options. You can effortlessly create your lists for different purposes, and further share them with your friends, families, and more. Unlike most other to-do list apps, TickTick also includes reminders. Luckily, the free version supports most of its features unless two reminders per task aren’t agreeable, you can upgrade to its paid version.
As for your Android smartphones, these were the best widget apps you could use on your device. They not only look good on the screen but are also very useful at times. These widget apps bring the most essential information right on your home screen, thus making your device more efficient and productive. So, let us know about your favorite Android widget and inform us if we missed something essential.
It seems like Motorola has a new smartphone in queue for the upcoming year, and it could soon debut its new Moto G Play (2021) handset. Reportedly, a new smartphone named Moto G Play (2021) has surfaced in a Google Play Console listing, which reveals key specifications and the front-side image of the device. Last month, the company launched its 5G smartphone — Moto G 5G — making it India’s most affordable 5G smartphone. Now, the alleged leak indicates that the smartphone brand has one more device coming in early 2021. However, you should know that there is currently no official confirmation about this device from the company.
According to a report from MySmartPrice, Moto G Play (2021) has been spotted on Google Play Console with some specifications and an image. The leak reveals that the upcoming Moto G Play (2021) will derive power from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 460 processor and run Android 10 under the hood. However, the image shows only the front side of the handset that suggests the presence of a notched selfie camera with relatively thick bezels all around. Let’s have a look at the complete specifications of the upcoming Moto G device.
Moto G Play (2021) Leaked Specifications
Previously, the device was also spotted on Geekbench listing with the same processor, ie., the Snapdragon 460 SoC. In the Google Play Console listing also there is the mention of the same Snapdragon 460 chipset. Reports suggest that the chipset will come paired with an Adreno 610 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Further, the new listing reveals that the device will feature an HD+ display with a resolution of 720x1600px.
While looking at the image, it’s evident that the Moto G Play (2021) will have a water-drop notch screen with a fairly thick chin bezel. Also, it reveals that the power and volume keys will lie on the right corner of the device. However, at this point, we don’t know exactly whether the image is really of the Moto G Play (2021) or it is just a representational image. Currently, there are no details about the screen size and camera specifications.
Image courtesy: MySmartPrice
Apart from this, the Google Play Console listing reveals that the upcoming Moto handset will run on Android 10 out of the box. Also spotted on the Google Play supported devices listing, the phone appears with a codename “guamna.” We believe the device will launch soon, and we should get to hear about more specs in the coming weeks.
The best launchers, of course, enhance your Android smartphone using experience. As we talk of the Android launcher apps, we might be amazed by the huge number of apps available in the play store. Surely, many of them come with a certain theme and offer a pleasant experience after all. However, when we look for an excessively flexible and robust launcher, we might be left out with a countable number of options.
And in this article, we have picked out 10 of the best selected Android launcher apps that will provide you with exactly what you are looking for. The following launchers come with an uncountable number of advanced features that will completely transform your Android smartphone into a better device. More interestingly, these launcher apps are highly flexible and are able to shape your phone in every other way. So, keep reading to find out what you are looking for.
10 Best Android Launcher Apps
1. Nova Launcher
Image Courtesy: Google Play Store
Price: Free/ Pro at $4.99
OS: Android
Popularity: 50,000,000+ downloads
It is an idle Launcher for Android smartphones, especially if you are looking for a versatile home screen replacement. This launcher is excessively powerful and fully customizable. Nova brings you some advanced customizing features to enhance the overall usage of your device yet keeps everything user-friendly and easy to navigate. Besides, the Nova launcher is highly optimized and provides fluid-like performance on any Android device. It further comes with a Night mode, a dark theme, custom icon themes, a customizable app drawer, backup and restore, and many more features. You can even apply third-party themes such as the KLWP themes with Nova to completely transform your device into a cool-looking gadget.
This free Android launcher comes with tons of features the take complete care of the style and privacy of your device. It is fast, small, truly efficient, and pretty stylish. With APUS Launcher, you will get a personalized environment right on your smartphone. It comes with a sleek interface. Besides, free themes and stylish wallpapers are updated on a weekly basis. So, if you get bored with using a similar-looking interface on your phone, surely the APUS Launcher will serve you well. You can as well come up across certain smart features such as smart folders, hide apps, quick settings, etc.
Microsoft Launcher offers you a greatly customizable platform on which you can shape your Android device the way you wish. The new home screen seems extremely cool and empowers you to increase your productivity over the screen. The basic features include the personalized feed, which lets you easily access the notes, calendar, lists, and a few other things. Most importantly, you can easily switch between your current and previous home screen. The new update is completely based on a new codec, making it possible to bring in more features. Apart from that, this launcher is now far more battery efficient, loads up faster, and uses less memory than all the previous versions. In addition, the beautiful wallpapers, customizable icons, and the ultimate dark theme make it worth it.
The Apex Launcher brings a fully personalized customization along with superb efficiency and app-lock security. The home screen is flexible and comes with elastic scrolling and app drawer grid size. It let you optimize your screen, hide elements such as the status bar, dock, etc., to make it look clean and simple. Apex further allows you to apply many transition effects, different colors, and styles to give your device an ultimate look. The powerful app locker helps in locking your personal apps such as Facebook and Whatsapp. It even hides your private pictures and videos and ensures security from unauthorized access. Additionally, Apex Launcher also offers some convenient gesture operations for the home screen.
Evie Launcher is an idle replacement for your regular home screen. This launcher was specially designed for truly ultimate performance. The home screen looks pretty elegant and can be easily navigated through. Its universal search allows you to search for all your applications in a single place. It gives a more personalized feel on hands. Plus, the custom shortcuts, custom navigation, and a few more features make Evie very user-friendly and one of the best Android launcher apps in the market. The new updates from the app now let you choose among multiple browsers; Google Chrome, Bing, and Duck Duck Go. It enables Android O notifications, an app drawer, folder grid customization, and ability to lock your home screen icons.
POCO Launcher is a very lightweight Android smartphone launcher. It boasts your phone’s performance, makes it faster, and much more efficient. The launcher has a considerable number of themes and wallpapers to choose from. Besides, there are a number of animations, widgets, and special effects to make your device look unique. The app drawer contains all your apps in an organized manner. You can even resize the home screen layout, and the POCO launcher is extremely compatible with third-party applications such as icon packs, wallpapers, and more. POCO Launcher updates now bring the latest dark mode, customizable notification badges, lock home screen icons, and a couple more. Above all, the POCO launcher now comes with extended functional support for many selected phone models.
Compared to most of the Android Launchers, Lightning Launcher is quite decent with a minimalistic interface. However, it is one of the most customizable Android launchers available. It is lightweight, fast, and quickly fits in with any Android device. Apart from its high customizability, the app has a convincing list of features and fits very light on memory. The superb script supporting in this launcher lets you make Lightning do all the jobs for you using Javascript. Moreover, you can set multiple home screen as per your needs. Lightning also comes with additional support for plugins, and the app is available in multiple languages.
It is probably a new name on the list of best Android launchers. The Hyperion launcher brings a feature-filled launcher with a simple yet attractive user interface. It features an intricate theme and also includes a dark theme too, both designed by Manuel Mollmann. Besides, you can adjust all the elements such as text color, icon color, label size, icon size, etc. The grid-like app drawer is fully customizable and organizes all your applications in a serial manner. You can further experiment with some of the amazing widgets, animations, custom gestures, and more. Hyperion Launcher makes your profile management much efficient, and newer updates are even expected to introduce the Cloud Sync feature as well.
The Niagara Launcher basically focuses on the simplicity of your device. It comes with a minimalistic design, yet an elegant one along with a clean UI, efficient ergonomics, and smart look. It does include a dark mode and provides a pleasing experience of most of the Android 10 features. Niagara launcher offers instant access to all your apps, and you can respond to your notifications right from its home screen. It features amazing themes and further pulls out the colors from the wallpaper to create a more thematic effect. Additionally, it also supports icon packs. Thus you can change the icons for each application individually. The theme is quite lightweight and works efficiently on most Android devices, meeting its requirements.
Smart Launcher 5 features a modern user interface, which is pretty much different from the Smart Launcher 3. It works great with most Android devices. The launcher is sleek, fast, and offers efficient control over your device. It features ambient themes that automatically change based on your wallpaper to make a similar theme like feel. Smart Launcher 5 automatically detects the applications and manages them as per the categories. Furthermore, it comes with features like on-screen notifications, gestures, hotkeys, smart search, ultra-immersive mode, and a lot more. The app is highly customizable and protects your apps from unauthorized users.
In the end, these were our top 10 picks for the best Android launcher apps. They undoubtedly come with much efficient performance and usage. Above all, each of these launchers contains tons of features and offers full control over the device without slowing it down. So, let us know about your best pick too. Also, comment below in case we missed something out.
Android is the most widely used OS across the world, especially when we speak of smartphones; Android has captured the majority of the market. And thus, we can expect tons of applications for this OS as well. Similarly, if you are looking for a satisfactory Android video player, there is a long list of such apps on Play Store. However, when we talk of only the best ones, that becomes a tough choice to choose from.
As a result, to avoid any sort of confusion while choosing the best Android video player apps, we have come up with a few selected names. These apps are guaranteed to offer a much better visual experience, along with certain additional features that will take your video playing experience to the next level.
10 Best Android Video Player Apps
1. MX Player
Image Courtesy: Google Play Store
Price: Free/ Pro at $5.99
OS: Android
Popularity: 10+ Million Downloads
MX Player surely deserves mention as we talk about the best Android video player apps. It comes with a robust feature-packed video player along with multi-core decoding. It supports a wide range of video formats along with subtitles in multi-language. Apart from playing videos, MX Player comes with added benefits for users. You can watch from a great collection of MX original Web Series and exclusive Shows. Additionally, it also offers tons of Live TV Songs, Music videos, and hundreds of games, and real-time cash prizes as well. You can use the pinch action to zoom in and out and further scroll forward/ backward, move to the next/ previous video, and change the text size too.
If you wish for an uncompromised TV-friendly video experience right on your Android smartphone and tablet, Archos Video Player is here to fulfill your satisfaction. It comes with one of the most enhanced video player capable of playing almost everything. It supports various file formats like MP4, MKV, WMV, FLV, and more. Besides, you can further play videos from your computer and other external storage, and it comes with support for integrated subtitle download. It also gives you instant access to the recently added and recently played video lists. The best part of Archos is, this application comes with a lean back interface ideally suitable for Android TV and 3D TV.
VLC is one of the most popular free open-source multimedia players. It is capable of playing most of the media formats, including disks, devices, and network streaming protocol. The media player also plays audios quite efficiently and further offers a full database, equalizer, and a few amazing filters too. On an extended level, VLC even supports all the essential codecs without any separate downloads. You can browse through the audio and video files independently, and it does come with support for subtitles, Teletext, and closed caption. A few other highlights of this media player include multi-tracking with subtitles, aspect-ratio, auto-rotation, adjustments, gestures, and more.
KMPlayer is undoubtedly the most refined media player that comes with extended media support and perfectly functioning features. It is the perfect playback tool that can play almost all video formats along with complete subtitles. The HD media player can play HD, Full HD, 4K videos and supports up to 8K and UHD playbacks as well. Interestingly, KMPlayer features no ads, which makes it one of the most efficient video player for Android. Besides, some of its advanced features include pop-up play, which lets you keep streaming your video while using other apps. Other features include bookmarking your favorite content, built-in equalizer, speed control, timer setting, subtitle setting, and more. The recent update from KMPlayer has also introduced the video zoom and quick button features for more handy usage.
Apart from being a reliable media player, Plex & Plex, VR offers much more to its users. Surely you can play high definition videos with this player with no issues. But more importantly, Plex & Plex VR works like a media hub where you can simultaneously stream movies, TV shows, and more than 80 Live TV channels without any subscription. As per playing your own collection, the media player also allows you to add your personal media files into the mix. You can add your favorite videos, audios, photos, and even your most preferred podcasts, web shows, and online news as well. The media player features a pretty intuitive interface and well organizes your personal media under different categories.
LocalCast can be better categorized as the perfect solution for casting on your Android device. It is pretty much the same as all cast and performs most of the similar functions. It allows you to seamlessly cast media from your Android smartphone, tablet, or other apps such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., to Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360, Apple TV, or Fire Stick. LocalCast works efficiently with most of the DLNA compliant devices. The Pro version, however, opens a couple of other options such as No ads, Video Preview while on the ‘Now Playing’ screen, and a few more.
X Player is the highest-rated video player with the most number of downloads as per Google Play. It is one of the best video players for Android smartphones and tablets that supports all media formats up to 4K/ Ultra HD. Video Player All Format boasts hardware acceleration and comes with support for subtitle downloader. It further protects your private videos from other users or from getting deleted. X Player also lets you cast videos from your Android device to TV and Chromecast. You can even play videos in pop-up-windows, split-screen, or in the background. Additionally, it comes with several other features such as Night mode for satisfactory usage at Night-time, Quick mute, playback speed, brightness control, efficient managing, and sharing of media.
A professional video playback tool for Android that comes with tons of high-quality features. Firstly, it supports most of the video formats, including MP4, MKV, M4V, 3GP, FLV, WMV, AVI, RMVB, and a few more. It even supports 4K/ Ultra HD files and runs them smoothly in higher definition video standard. Just like X Player, O Player also supports casting on TV and Chromecast, pop-up window, split screen, subtitles, and all other features available in X Player. The floating video player makes multitasking happen without much of an issue. Besides, it is quite easy to use, and your files are all kept in an organized manner, making them easily accessible. In other words, O Player can be considered as a replica of X Player.
CnX is a feature-rich video player for Android devices. It is fully compatible with any device having Android 5.0 or newer versions. This media player is an all-in-one platform where you can find all the essential features properly organized in one place. It can play almost all video formats, including 4K/ 2160 pixels. Furthermore, the CnX player supports all codecs and provides a breath-taking visual experience. The Theatre Mode offers effortless browsing through your video gallery and easy video playing. You can further cast your videos to TV, Firestick, or Chromecast via this Video Player. Apart from all these, the CnX Player has a Plethora of features that provide you the best ever video streaming experience.
Kodi is an open-source video player available for most Operating Systems. It supports almost all video formats and provides you with an uninterrupted visual experience. Apart from playing videos from your local storage, you can further stream thousands of channels, live TV, movies, TV Shows, and more with KODI. A unique fact about Kodi is, it also supports Retro gaming emulators and digital rights management decryption as well. Kodi allows you to stream channels and contents which are not even authorized in your geographical region.
A good and reliable video player app has a significant role to play in providing a satisfying streaming experience to the users. The above mentioned Android video players open a lot of options other than simply watching your favorite movies and other videos. They let you stream, cast, and have the utter pleasure of effortlessly playing and watching videos on your Android devices. Comment your favorite Android video player below, and don’t forget to mention why you prefer it over all others.
After the announcement of new 3D Cinematic photos and Memories, Google Photos has finally rolled out its Location History-powered Timeline feature into its apps. Google had briefly mentioned this feature last month, but now it has come to the majority of Photos users. Along with the Timeline integration to Your Maps in Photos, Google has added a new satellite layer in the map view — similar to how you change layers in Google Maps.
The new ability to change the map layer and the integration of your travel Timeline has come to the latest version of the Google Photos app and is live on Photos v5.23.0. When you open your app and tap the “Your Map” banner in the Search tab, you’ll be greeted with a prompt saying, “See your path through the world with Timeline added to your map.”
See Exact Route You Traveled In The Day
Previously, the map view showed where the user took the pictures and displayed all the photos shot in a given day. But now, the map view can also display the exact route or path you traveled that day. Also, Google says that the map timeline or trail in Photos is private, and visible only to the user himself.
When a user zooms into a particular location, the app shows all the photos shot there over time. Additionally, there is now a new maps icon in the top-right corner that you can use to zoom out to display the entire day’s path. See how the new feature looks in an Android application of Google Photos from the attached screenshots.
In addition to the travel timeline, Photos now also lets you change your map layers. You can now replace the Default layer with a Satellite or Terrain view. Both of these features, travel Timeline, and Satellite layer, are widely rolled out for Android and iOS. Since the map Timeline is based on your location history, you can turn it off from the settings.
Earlier this month, Chrome OS added Bluetooth battery levels to let Chromebook users see the remaining battery levels of their connected Bluetooth devices. But now, if you have a Chromebook with a stylus and have one connected, you could soon see stylus battery level too.
According to a report from ChromeStory, a new flag has appeared in the Chrome OS code that hints the Chromebook will soon display stylus battery level. Notably, it will be available in the stylus tools menu.
Stylus Battery Level Features, Availability
Recently, a new flag was added to the Chromium OS code, which wrote, “Show stylus battery stylus in the stylus tools menu: Enables viewing the current stylus battery level in the stylus tools menu.”
Image courtesy: ChromeStory
Currently, there are not many details about the upcoming feature and what type of stylus will it support. We expect to see those soon when this feature releases in the Canary channel of Chrome OS. You can see the flag that appeared in the Chrome OS code in the image above.
Also, the feature bug associated with this change is not yet public. However, the new flag for this feature has an expiry milestone set to version 91 of Chrome OS, said ChromeStory in its report. We hope that the feature releases on or before Chrome OS 91. Quite recently, Google also added a Trash folder to the Chrome OS Files app.
Android operating systems on Lenovo devices offer higher levels of customizations, unlike its biggest rival Apple iOS. There’s practically a lot you can do to get stuff done right from startup to root. Just after you power up your device, you are greeted with a boot screen consisting of Lenovo’s logo. Well, what if you can change it?
Apparently, many users want to change their boot image which is also known as splash screen. You can put anything instead of the original boot image like any xyz logo or as you wish. There are plenty of methods that you can deploy to change splash screen on your Lenovo smartphone. Here’s all you need to know.
Disclaimer:This method may require rooted Lenovo devices that grant 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. Also, we don’t take any responsibility for any ill-effects or bricked phones resulting in abiding to these methods as user discretion is required.
How To Change Boot Logo (Splash Screen) for Lenovo Smartphones
There are basically three methods that work on all the devices although you would need to root the device before carrying out any of these methods.
This particular method is comparatively easy when compared to the third method listed in this list. You would need a rooted device with a custom recovery like CWM, TWRP, or Philz to carry it out. Here’s how to do it.
Method #3: Using the ADB Method
This particular method requires you to install ADB on your PC and use it to replace the old boot image with the new one. No doubt this method also requires you to root the device in most cases so be cautious. Here’s how you can do it.
Method #4: Using Splash Maker & Terminal Emulator
Here’s a simple step dedicated to Lenovo devices running on Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. Here’s how to do it. This should work on all Snapdragon devices under Lenovo, although be cautious. It works on rooted Lenovo devices only.
Step #1: You need to create a splash screen. You can create it using this tool.
Step #2: Find your logo file inside the “pics” folder as “logo.png” it could be stored as “splash.png” or “splash.img“.
Step #3: You need to create a new boot logo as per your choice.
Make sure the image is in PNG format.
It should be compatible with the resolution of your device. If you have a phone with 1080×2400 pixels resolution, you need an image equals to or less than the size mentioned. If the screen resolution is lower or higher, you need to create the splash logo compatible with it.
Note that the splash screen partition on your device has a fixed buffer that could be as low as 70KB or less. You need an image that abides by the size requirements or else, the system will reject file sizes greater than the buffer.
The easiest way to reduce size is to decrease the number of colors in the image. You can also use compressPNG or any other compatible tool to reduce the file size.
Step #4: Once you have created a new boot logo, replace the old boot logo or splash screen with this new one and that should do the trick.
Step #5: Next up, run “CREATE_LOGO.bat”. Once you have created a splash.img, you’ll find it in the ‘output’ folder.
Step #6: You need to transfer the splash screen (logo) that you want to set up on boot. Transfer it to the device’s internal storage.
OnePlus offers one of the best smartphones lineup packed with state-of-the-art Android-based custom UI called OxygenOS. Out of the many aspects you interact with daily, a splash screen or boot image is the first thing you see when powering a device. It pops up on the screen after you long-press the power button to turn it on. In the case of OnePlus, you will see OnePlus and Android branding. But do you know you can change it?
Splash screen or boot image or the image you see at the bootup is changeable. Though you need a rooted device to start with, there are plenty of ways to change the splash screen on OnePlus smartphones.
Depending upon which OEM your phone model belongs to, some of the methods may work and some might not. Here, this particular method works for OnePlus devices while others might work too.
Image via YouTube
Disclaimer: This method may require rooted OnePlus devices that grant 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. Also, we don’t take any responsibility of any ill-effects or bricked phones resulting in case of abiding to these methods as user discretion is required.
Method #1: Using Root File Explorer Method
This is a straightforward method as you don’t need a rocket science degree to get it done. Perhaps it requires you to root your phone first, using the file explorer method is the easiest way to change a splash screen. You can use our step-by-step instructions by clicking here.
Method #2: Using Recovery Flash Method
Another go-to method to get a new splash screen installed on your OnePlus device. You can use this method on your OnePlus device after installing custom recoveries like TWRP or CWM among others. No doubt it requires users to root the device in most cases. Here’s how you can deploy this method to change the splash screen.
Method #3: Using the ADB Method
The third method you can deploy to change the splash screen is the ADB method. Install it on your computer, root the device beforehand, and follow these step-by-step instructions to change a splash screen.
Method #4: Using Splash Screen Image Injector Tool
The first prerequisite with this method is a rooted OnePlus device. Here, we are talking about an example of the OnePlus 5T, although you can use this method for all OnePlus smartphones by changing the device name in the code if case sensitive. Next up, you need an unlocked bootloader and a backup of all the data just to be on the safe side. Finally, you need this tool i.e. OP5TLogo Splash Screen Image Injector available in a ZIP File. Download it and extract it for further use. You can also download the source code for Splash Screen Image Injector from Github.
This particular method decodes the existing logo.bin file which consists of all the images that make up the boot logo. The task is to decode it, extract it into different PNG images as mentioned below, make changes and encode & inject it into the logo.bin file. Seems too much of a job, isn’t it? Here’s how you can do it using the Splash Screen Image Injector tool.
Step #1: You need to download the said Splash Screen Image Injectortool by clicking here and extract the files and you’ll find an .exe file with it, click on it.
Step #2: Search for your device’s logo.bin file which consists of all images required for the splash screen. You can search it manually or use a root file explorer to find this path /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/ and you must get it. Now copy this logo.bin file for later use.
Step #3: Next up, you need to go to the extracted .exe file you just downloaded and drop the logo.bin file in the same folder.
Step #4: Next step is to hover the mouse cursor to an empty space in the file explorer itself where you just dropped the logo.bin file and select ‘Open Command Window here’. This will open Windows Command Prompt on your computer.
Step #5: To decode the logo.bin file which is a crucial step towards changing a splash screen, use this code: OP5TLogo -i logo.bin -d. This will allow users to peep into all the PNG images stored in the logo.bin file.
Step #6: From the extracted file, you need to change/alter/edit the existing boot logo from the array of images available. The file you are searching will probably have ‘FHD’, ‘splash’, ‘logo’ or a similar term signifying that this particular image is used at startup.
Step #7: Now it is time to encode and inject the images back to the existing logo.bin folder. Note that this method will save those edited images on the logo.bin file that the system will recognize during startup once the process is over. Use this code on the CMD: OP5TLogo -i logo.bin -j image_name. The code will be “OP5TLogo -i logo.bin -j boot_logo_FHD” in case the file name you saved is “boot_logo_FHD”.
Note: The prefix used here is OP5T, you can try if using this very code helps you change the splash screen of any xyz OnePlus device. If not, you need to alter the prefix to your device model such as the prefix for OnePlus 6T will be OP6TLogo and so on.
Step #8: The last method is to flash the modified file called “modified.logo.bin” on your OnePlus 5T or any other device using fastboot and use this code on CMD: fastboot flash LOGO modified.logo.bin
In case you don’t know how to boot into the ADB and fastboot mode, here’s a quick step-by-step procedure to follow. Step #1: First up, you need to enable Developer Options on your OnePlus smartphone by going to Settings >> About Phone >> Build Number and tap it seven times.
Step #2: Enable USB Debugging by going to Settings >> Developer Options >> and enable USB Debugging.
Step #3: Now, connect your phone to the PC via a USB cable. If you see a prompt asking whether to“Allow USB debugging”, select “Always allow from this computer” and confirm.
Step #4: You need todownload ADB and fastboot tools on your computer. You can find it here. Once you have downloaded it, install/extract it and navigate to the ADB folder.
Step #5: Right-click on your mouse on an empty space in the ADB folder and select “Open Command Window Here” and type this command: adb reboot bootloader.
You have successfully entered ADB and fastboot mode on your OnePlus device. Here’s a link to check out the same method for OnePlus 3, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 6.
Additional Information About Method #4
There’s some additional information that you will find handy when flashing the splash screen on your OnePlus device. Here, you aren’t changing your original logo.bin file but creating a modified version. This also means you can restore the splash screen to the original whenever needed. You can type the command “OPT5Logo -i logo.bin -L” to find a comprehensive list on your CMD.
In case the colors of the PNG images are messed once when you decode the files use this command: OPT5Logo -i logo.bin -d -s where ‘-s’ is for a switch. Also, if you use the switch command here, you will have to use it again when encoding the altered files before injecting them. Once the modified.logo.bin is successfully encoded when happens if the process was successful, you will see the file size. It should exceed above 16MB although different OnePlus models may have different partition sizes. If your files overboard the allocated partition side, the program will automatically delete the newly created modified.logo.bin and replace it with the original file.
Splash Screen Logo Injector
Here’s a detailed c language codedeveloped by a user on XDA Developer that will help get the logo or splash screen ready for your OnePlus devices. As pointed out by a user on OnePlus Forums, there are a few changes to make.
First of all, open “src/LogoInjector.v1.4.c” and go to line 35. Next up, go to “#define MAXOFFSETS 28” and change it to “#define MAXOFFSETS 32”. Next up, recompile (“gcc -o logo -c LogoInjector.v.1.4.c lodepng.c”). Note that you can alter the code linked here according to your requirements although we would recommend you to only proceed if you have the required knowledge on tweaking c language code and so on. Once you have hands on the modified logo.bin file, you can use the fastboot method as specified on Method #4 Step #8 to flash it on your device. We have also listed the procedure on how to boot into the ADB and fastboot mode on your OnePlus device if you don’t know how to do it.
We hope this entire guide helps you change/flash boot logo on your OnePlus device without much hassle. Almost all the methods specified above require root access and doing so may void your warranty so user’s discretion is advisable.
This year, due to the ongoing virus pandemic, all offline marketplaces and shopping centers remained closed. As a result, more people have turned towards online shopping and it has become more popular now than ever, and Google has also come to play a major role in this. Google Shopping is among the ones to bring new features for shoppers to make it easier for them to find their favorite products. Now, it has just launched a new virtual try-on feature that lets users try on makeup products virtually before buying them. For this, the tech giant has partnered with ModiFace and Perfect Corp, the developer of YouCam.
Similar to the filters in Snapchat and Instagram, Google Shopping has now launched an AR-powered cosmetics try-on experience on Google Search. The web search giant is working in partnership with top cosmetics brands like L’Oréal, MAC Cosmetics, Estée Lauder, Black Opal, and Charlotte Tilbury to allow shoppers to try on the makeup shades with various skin tones. It even lets them try on themselves using their front camera and see how the shade would look on them.
Google Shopping Try It On Feature, Availability
Image courtesy: Google Blog
This new innovative process will help customers find and choose the best make-up product for their skin tone by trying it beforehand, virtually. When customers search for makeup products, say a lipstick or eyeshadow product, like L’Oreal’s Infallible Paints Metallic Eyeshadow, they can virtually try it out and see what it looks like on a range of skin tones. They can also compare the shades and textures and find the right products of their choice.
Using the Google app on your smartphone, you can now virtually try makeup products from within the app. For example, when you search for a specific lipstick or eyeshadow, you can now see what it looks like on a range of skin tones. Starting December 17, this feature is already available in the Google app for brands including L’Oreal Paris, Black Opal, MAC Cosmetics, Charlotte Tilbury, and more.
