#Google_services

[phonemantra-blog]

This bug makes the devices very difficult to use Google has acknowledged the problem and is now studying a glitch in Android 14, which, according to user reviews, has wreaked havoc on branded Pixel smartphones.  [caption id="attachment_76815" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google[/caption] Android 14 crash 'wreaks havoc' on Pixel smartphones, Google investigates The issue affects users who have multiple profiles. Many Pixel users complain that the main account, when set up, cannot access the storage, while the secondary account can. Problems range from missing apps to constant crashes and completely locking out the internal memory of one of the device's user accounts. A Google spokesperson said the team is "working diligently to fix" the glitch. The first complaints began to come mainly from Pixel 6 owners who encountered the problem when the update began to roll out. Initially, Google ignored the problem and it quickly began to spread to other Pixel series smartphones. There are now almost half a thousand messages in Google's problem-tracking system.  Moreover, some users insert log files or screenshots. Others said they couldn't provide screenshots because the phone said it didn't have free space to save them. Some have compared the experience to being infected with ransomware.  

[phonemantra-blog]

More than 13 thousand applications from 7 thousand developers are already available in the store The team of the online application store RuStore for the Android operating system, the domestic analog of Google Play, analyzed the most downloaded games and applications in the regions of Russia. Among the popular game genres were simulations - 13% of all downloads, casual - 12% and puzzles - 11%. [caption id="attachment_70098" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google Play[/caption] The simulators that topped the top most downloaded games were most often played by residents of the Nizhny Novgorod region and the Republic of Tatarstan. Among the most popular games in this category are “Matryoshka RP - online game” and “Bus Simulator 3D”. Casual games took second place - they were most actively downloaded in Bashkortostan and the Chelyabinsk region. The top popular games included “Plus City - City Simulator”, “Chain Cube 2048: 3D Puzzle” and “Escape from Ghost Town”. The top three also included puzzles - the most downloads were in the Leningrad, Moscow, and Sverdlovsk regions. Favorite games of users are “Dungeons and Diamonds Three in a Row”, “1000 and one logic problem”, and “Secrets of the Castle - three in a Row”. The domestic alternative to Google Play is reaching the masses Several games lead the way in terms of downloads but are not included in the most downloaded genres. The top card game “Fool Online” opened; residents of the Sverdlovsk region and the Republic of Tatarstan downloaded it most actively. In second place is the San Andreas race, which is loved by residents of the Novosibirsk, Samara, and Chelyabinsk regions. The role-playing game “Den” turned out to be popular in the Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. Among the non-game genres, applications from mobile operators and email services were the most downloaded. They were most often used in the Samara and Rostov regions. In addition, users actively install shopping apps - they are most often chosen by residents of the Leningrad and Chelyabinsk regions. Applications for navigation and transport services round out the top three. They were most actively downloaded in the Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk regions. Among the popular ones: are mapping services, taxis, and gas station applications. Let us remind you that RuStore was created by the VK company (formerly Mail.ru Group) under the patronage of the Ministry of Digital Development. This application directory became available in May 2022. At the beginning of February 2023, RuStore left the beta testing stage. Since its launch, RuStore's monthly audience in Russia has exceeded 17 million people. More than 13 thousand applications from 7 thousand developers are already available in the store. Of these, more than a thousand applications were created by foreign developers, in particular from China and Singapore.

[phonemantra-blog]

Microsoft Edge offers three levels of tracking protection Google some time ago began blocking the viewing of videos on the YouTube platform for users who use ad blockers. The fight against ad blockers has led to unexpected consequences. More and more users of the Microsoft Edge browser have begun to complain about warnings and pop-up messages blocking YouTube playback. [caption id="attachment_64938" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Windows 11[/caption] The problem was brought to the attention of the WindowsLatest thematic resource. As the study showed, the problem was one of the tracking protection modes implemented in Microsoft Edge. The browser has three levels of tracking protection: Basic, Balanced (default), and Strict. In "strict" mode, Microsoft Edge applies additional protections to all sites the user visits. This includes limiting tracking capabilities for companies like Google, which could impact content and advertising. Google blocks some Windows 11 users from viewing YouTube videos. [caption id="attachment_64939" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Windows 11[/caption] Google treats Microsoft Edge's "strict" mode as an ad blocker, WindowsLatest discovered. As a result, users who installed this level of protection were faced with all measures to combat ad blockers, including blocking video viewing on YouTube. Unfortunately, for now, the only way to deal with this problem is to disable strict mode. After switching to "balanced" mode, YouTube allows you to resume playing the video. Of course, we are only talking about users with free access to YouTube. Users of the paid YouTube Premium subscription do not encounter such problems.

[phonemantra-blog]

The next time you sign in to your Google account, you'll be prompted to set up a passkey. Google has started actively encouraging users to create a “passwordless” password by default. We are talking about so-called access keys, designed to provide “faster and more secure login” to your account.  [caption id="attachment_64935" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google[/caption] Starting today, October 10, 2023, Google Account users are prompted to create a default passkey for their account.  Google urges users to ditch passwords As Google itself explains, passkeys are a simple and secure alternative to passwords. They let you sign in to your Google Account using your fingerprint, facial recognition, or your chosen device screen unlock method, such as a PIN. At the same time, users will still be able to use traditional passwords, and also completely refuse to use access keys by disabling the “ If possible, do not ask for a password ” option for your account.  Over the past year, Google has introduced passkey support for a number of its products, including Workspace and Cloud accounts, as well as the Chrome web browser. Many leading websites and apps also support passkeys. How to create a passkey is explained on the Google support page. 

[phonemantra-blog]

Even though the Pixel 6a is now only $350 Google has no plans to release a new low-cost Pixel smartphone anytime soon. Google Mobile Business Vice President Nanda Ramachandran said in an interview that there are no plans to release an inexpensive Pixel. According to Ramachandran, this would require too many compromises. [caption id="attachment_64650" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google[/caption] No, Google will not return to releasing smartphones a la Nexus. At the same time, one might think that we are talking about the Pixel line, that is, Pixel 8a should not be expected in the foreseeable future, but this is not what we are talking about. Ramachandran meant a cheap smartphone, that is, the kind that Google used to release under the Nexus brand. For example, for 250–300 dollars. Let us remind you that the Pixel 7a has risen in price relative to its predecessor and now costs $500, while the Pixel 6a remains on sale at $350. Given the latter, doing something significantly cheaper would require many compromises.

[phonemantra-blog]

So far, sales volumes are growing every year. Google is far from a leader in the smartphone market, but the Pixel's popularity is gradually growing. It is reported that during the entire existence of the family, the search giant has sold almost 38 million smartphones.  [caption id="attachment_64501" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google[/caption] In seven years, Google has sold almost 38 million Pixel smartphones. To be more precise, 37.9 million from 2016 to this day. These are quite modest figures, but it is also important to know that over the past year, Google sold about 10 million smartphones, which is, more than a quarter of the total volume over seven years. The year before, the company sold 7.2 million, that is, Pixel sales continue to grow from year to year and at a fairly noticeable pace.  Let us remember that the new Pixel 8 and 8 Pro have become more expensive than their predecessors, but at the same time they have become better, and the seven-year support period is unique for smartphones of this class.  

[phonemantra-blog]

More than 12 thousand applications from 7 thousand developers are already available in the store The team of the domestic analog of Google Play - the online application store RuStore for the Android operating system - shared the latest news about the project. As the press service announced, the store now has tools for collecting and analyzing errors and remotely managing mobile applications. [caption id="attachment_58582" align="alignnone" width="780"] Google Play[/caption] This will allow you to find and fix errors in real-time, as well as test updates without publishing a new version of the application. Developed by the team of the social network Odnoklassniki, the Tracer tool has become the Russian analog of Firebase Crashlycs from Google. It helps you find technical issues in Android mobile apps in real-time and provides automatic bug reports. Another advantage of Tracer is the ability to find performance bottlenecks that cannot be detected during testing. By quickly identifying such problems, developers will be able to avoid application crashes and audience churn. The domestic alternative to Google Play is developing Remote Config allows you to test new features by releasing them to only a subset of users. If the functionality works with errors or is not liked by the audience, you can turn it off in real-time without updating the application. With Remote Config, you can publish feature sets to different user groups. For example, developers have the opportunity to launch updates for part of the audience with a certain device model and enable the rest after testing. New tools are already available to developers in the RuStore Console. As the company noted, they have a clear interface, and the integration process does not require complex settings. Let us remind you that RuStore was created by the VK company (formerly Mail.ru Group) under the patronage of the Ministry of Digital Development. This application directory became available in May 2022. At the beginning of February 2023, RuStore left the beta testing stage. Since its launch, RuStore's monthly audience in Russia has exceeded 12.5 million people. More than 12 thousand applications from 7 thousand developers are already available in the store. Of these, more than a thousand applications were created by foreign developers, in particular from China and Singapore.

[phonemantra-blog]

More than 12 thousand applications from 7 thousand developers are already available in the store The team of the domestic analog of Google Play - the online application store RuStore for the Android operating system - shared the latest news about the project. As announced at a conference for foreign developers, the store has launched monetization in yuan for Chinese companies. [caption id="attachment_52664" align="alignnone" width="780"] Google Play[/caption] The domestic alternative to Google Play is on the march Thus, developers from China will be able to receive royalties from sales in RuStore in yuan to the Chinese account of their company. RuStore base commission is 15%. Recall that RuStore was created by VK (formerly Mail.ru Group) under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Development. This app catalog became available in May 2022. At the beginning of February 2023, RuStore exited the beta testing stage. Since its launch, RuStore's monthly audience in Russia has exceeded 12.5 million people. More than 12 thousand applications from 7 thousand developers are already available in the store. Of these, more than a thousand applications were created by foreign developers, in particular from China and Singapore.

[phonemantra-blog]

A 3D robot can be multi-colored, made from different “materials” and with different additions Google has officially unveiled a new 3D logo for Android. The overall goal of this rebrand is to "help merge Android with Google" and follows a previous rebrand in 2019.  [caption id="attachment_52657" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google[/caption] First, Google changed the spelling of the word Android in the logo. Previously, only lowercase letters were used for this, but now a capital “A” has appeared at the beginning. [caption id="attachment_52658" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Google[/caption] Google has updated the logo and appearance of the robot for the first time in four years The company explained: We hope these small but important updates to the Android font will help better convey the connection between Android devices and the Google apps and services people already know. The image of the robot has become voluminous. The 3D OS mascot has "more character" and is "as dynamic as Android itself." Now it can be depicted in different colors with different textures and complemented with various accessories.  https://youtu.be/cgu-wLSjvqg According to Google, the updated logo, 3D robot, and new branding will "come to Android devices and elsewhere starting this year." https://youtu.be/4uqTrwHhmGo      

[phonemantra-blog]

A 3D robot can be multi-colored, made from different “materials” and with different additions Google has officially unveiled a new 3D logo for Android. The overall goal of this rebrand is to "help merge Android with Google" and follows a previous rebrand in 2019.  [caption id="attachment_52657" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google[/caption] First, Google changed the spelling of the word Android in the logo. Previously, only lowercase letters were used for this, but now a capital “A” has appeared at the beginning. [caption id="attachment_52658" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Google[/caption] Google has updated the logo and appearance of the robot for the first time in four years The company explained: We hope these small but important updates to the Android font will help better convey the connection between Android devices and the Google apps and services people already know. The image of the robot has become voluminous. The 3D OS mascot has "more character" and is "as dynamic as Android itself." Now it can be depicted in different colors with different textures and complemented with various accessories.  https://youtu.be/cgu-wLSjvqg According to Google, the updated logo, 3D robot, and new branding will "come to Android devices and elsewhere starting this year." https://youtu.be/4uqTrwHhmGo      

[phonemantra-blog]

While the feature works best for YouTube videos The Google Chrome browser now has a feature that allows you to directly copy a frame from a video - “Copy Video Frame”. Now there is no need to take a screenshot of a video, which is often accompanied by a low-quality picture and even with a playback panel. To use this feature in YouTube, you need to pause the video, double-click with the right mouse button and select “Copy video frame” from the menu that appears. [caption id="attachment_50867" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Google Chrome browser[/caption] You can now copy a frame from a video in the Google Chrome browser However, as it turned out, for other video playback services, such as streaming platforms, the new feature does not work so well. In addition, the copied frame cannot be saved to the desktop; it is saved to the clipboard. After this, the picture can be inserted, for example, into Google Docs or the Notes application on Apple devices. Users note that the “Copy video frame” function is not yet a universal tool and has not yet become widespread. Perhaps soon it will be improved and become more convenient to use.