Google has recently confirmed the launch date for its next flagship phone series and Pixel Watch as well as Buds Pro. Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro were teased already in May during I/O conference of Google but now actual launch date has been unleashed. Google is coming up with new phones on October 6. The series engine giant has been confirmed the name for next-generation SoC that will power the Pixel 7 devices. Some of the reports were expecting it to be Tensor 2 but it will be called Tensor G2 instead. The G here could be either Google or a short version or ‘gen 2’ or may be both.

Pixel phones are sticking with familiar camera visor design but now they are separate cutouts for all the lenses. Rest of the phone is almost similar but with a bit smaller display bezels than before. Color options for Pixel 7 phones have also been confirmed and it will be available in Lemongrass, Obsidian and Snow color options while Pixel 7 Pro will be available in Hazel color instead of Lemongrass. Apart from second-generation Tensor chipset we don’t know much about Pixel 7’s specifications. There are rumors that vanilla Pixel 7 will get 50MP main camera and 12MP ultrawide lens and Pixel 7 Pro will have additional 48MP telephoto lens.

Have you been equipped with an Android device with material You theming and are all your playlists a priority? Maybe you have seen something a bit off with your home screen this past week. You may not have been able to pin it down at first sight but if you are using YouTube Music for your listening desires.

YouTube Music home logo is actually a circle with cut-outs for an inner ring and the signature YouTube play button. The new design has expanded the logo plate and has shrunk the stroke size of the inner ring while keeping the radius intact. The larger size provides the icon an improved weight compared to most of the other icons that you see completing the row. With Material You, it is all Google design but with custom coloring.

As creator your social media accounts are your lifeblood. The best two-factor authentication apps as well as password managers are critical for keeping the accounts safe but they can only do so much when the apps you are using themselves are vulnerable. Now imagine by clicking on the link that provides you random person unrestricted access to your TikTok account, access your messages, complete with permission to make private videos public, change your bio and also upload your new content. By tapping on the targeted link you could have ended your account as you knew but thanks to Microsoft which has identified this vulnerability before any widespread disaster.

Android apps like TikTok has declared in the app manifest how they need to handle these kind of links to content within them. Deeplinks are necessarily very specific hyperlinks which provide you access to individual components as well as functions of an app. The manifest ensures that clicking on an m.tiktok.com link in your browser takes you to TikTok app. TikTok is supposed to only load the content on WebView component after URL validation like Instagram Reels does not accidentally open in TikTok app. Microsoft discovered that the culprits could bypass deeplink verification and load whatever URLs they please with WebVIew component of TikTok.

After the launch of Instagram’s Close Friends feature in 2018 which was an instant hit, many other platforms got used to this idea of uploading the content that is visible only to a selected group of people. Twitter has also introduced similar feature recently known as Circle. After testing, Circles are opened up to everyone.

Twitter has announced access to Circles is now opened to all the users on the platforms. Circles are almost similar to Instagram’s Close Friends stories but instead of working with the stories, Circles lets you to post private tweets that only select few users can read. You can post almost anything that you want from the text threads to photos as well as videos. A lot of us have friends and family among out followers and if you need to post something aimed specifically at them this is an ideal way to do that. For posting a tweet in your Circle you just need to fire up new tweet panel and tap on “Choose audience” drop-down menu above the text field. You can also add 150 people to your Circle, a bigger audience than what Instagram provides you.

WhatsApp has become very active in recent months in adding new features in order to make it more user friendly. In 2022, Meta has announced some new privacy changes to its platform, including ability to hide your online status from specific contacts, exit group chats without informing anyone. WhatsApp has also introduced Communities which is another key new feature which is currently under development and it should be released at the end of 2022. With loads of impressive new additions, it is very common for the bugs to come out, in order to ensure that you can report them easily, WhatsApp is working on overhauling bug reporting system.

WhatsApp beta for Android v2.22.19.12 has introduced a new Report bug option, letting you to send detailed bug reports to Meta. Currently if you need to report the issues to WhatsApp, you are required to use Contact Us section in the app. However, the app has not clarified that you can use it for bug reporting. WhatsApp always tests the new features for at least few weeks on its beta channel before releasing them to public. But with loads of new features as well as hundreds of devices running a different flavor of the OS, users are bound to run into problems sooner than later. An improved bug reporting system will encourage users to reach out WhatsApp actively.

Google Contacts was one of the first Google apps to get Material You design in July 2021. Android 13 does not pack many visual changes as the last year’s release. Google developers have got their focus towards ease of use and homogeneity across the app offerings of the company.

Last year, Google provided Gmail some very easy-to-access search filters for it Android app, dubbed chips. Chips allows you to sort your mail based on the sender, recipient, date, attachments and many more. Now major overhauling is being done for Google Contacts. There is a chip for filtering the contacts as well and it could be a great asset especially where someone you have been talking to works but can’t remember their name. you can also see it as a very handy tool for finding all of your work colleagues in one place.

Google Duo and Google Meet mergence has been very confusing for everyone involved. Once the merger is finished, the old Meet app will be phased out and what used to be Duo app will become Meet. Google Meet branding came to Duo app few weeks ago. This change is proving to be hard to handle for some Duo fans, because Google has brought back the old icon of Duo.
The latest update has brought back familiar blue launcher icon. It coexists with new four color Meet icon that was added but by tapping on either icon leads to same app being opened. Google has said that it made the decision in order to help the people who keep searching for Duo and can not find the app because the name has been changed. When you tap the Duo icon, the new Google Meet experience complete with splash screen that tells the transition in detail still shows up. The icon in original Meet app is still green, serving visual indicator that it will be phased out down. The icon of Duo should finally see it demise in few weeks or months once everyone is aware of the new merged experience.