Android TV’s YouTube App Gets a Refreshed UI with Latest Update

Android TV will be receiving a massive refresh to its user interface later this year when Android O is released, and while we still have some time to wait for the overall platform to get a fresh coat of paint, Google finally updated the YouTube app for the big-screen version of Android after more than a whole year.

The core functionality of the YouTube Android TV app remains the same, but there are a few big changes that do clean it up quite a bit. Upon opening the app, you'll notice that the top section now features categories for videos you may want to watch, including Recommended, Originals, Technology, Music, Gaming, Entertainment, Trending, Comedy, and more. The navigation menu on the left is also a lot less cluttered with the new update. Previously having tabs for your Watch Later list, Purchases, Uploads, every channel you were subscribed to, and plenty more, the new menu now only has tabs for Search, Home, Subscriptions, Library, History, and Settings.

Another big change lies within the video player. With the old YouTube app, pressing the select button on your Android TV remote would bring up information for the name of the video you were watching, video playback controls, and more. All of this functionality is still there, but it's presented in a much cleaner and less distracting fashion this time around (see pictures below).

In addition to all of this, the YouTube update also changes the way that autoplay videos are handled. Previously, the YouTube app would automatically start playing a new video as soon as the current one you were watching ended. In the new version, you'll see a screen that shows which video will start playing in the next 5 seconds, along with other suggested videos below. And, better yet, you can hop to the refreshed settings menu and turn off autoplay functionality altogether.

Although I personally didn't have any major problems with the old YouTube Android TV app, the changes that Google has made are very welcome. The update should be rolling out now, but if you don't want to wait for the new software to hit your Android TV box or television, you can sideload the APK below.

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Android Police

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Vivo’s Prototype Device Showcases New Under-display Fingerprint Scanner

Last month at MWC Shanghai 2017, Qualcomm announced a new range of ultrasonic fingerprint solutions with the introduction of "Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensors". The new solution allows OEMs to implement a fingerprint sensor under display, glass, or metal. At the time, Qualcomm said that it would be collaborating with Vivo to demonstrate its Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensor for Display and Metal. However, up until now, we never got a chance to see how this new solution will look like on an actual device.

Thankfully, the Chinese smartphone OEM, Vivo, has posted a video on its official YouTube channel that shows this new technology in action. As you can see in the video below, the device in question features an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that is hidden under the display, enabling the user to unlock the device just by placing a thumb or finger on the display.

The under-display scanner makes use of ultrasonic signals that can scan through an OLED panel up to 1200 μm thick. Additionally, the sensor works even with wet fingers and can also detect heart rate and blood flow.

While Vivo is the first OEM to demonstrate this new solution, luckily, it will not be the only one to take advantage it. Qualcomm says the new solution is designed to be compatible with all future Snapdragon Platforms and will work with non-Snapdragon chipsets as well.

Although the new solution is impressive, it also suffers from several sore points. One of the major drawbacks of using a under-display sensor right now is that it reportedly doesn't scan quite as fast as a capacitive fingerprint scanner. Also, the new solution only works when implemented on an OLED panel, leaving LCD displays out of the luck.

On the up side, the new solution will open up the doors for flexible designs since OEMs wouldn't have to drill a hole to add in a fingerprint scanner.

The technology is expected to be available in commercial devices in the first half of 2018.

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Playing with Fire Mod Brings Android TV Apps and UI to Amazon Fire TV

The Amazon Fire TV is a really solid streaming box if you want something that'll stream 4K content, have access to a strong selection of apps, offer some decent games to play, and look fairly sleek on your TV stand. Dig a bit deeper into the Fire TV though, and you can do some pretty neat things with this little guy.

We've seen previous mods for the Fire TV that allow you to install GApps onto it, and while that's great if that's all you want to do, XDA Junior Member SimLynks recently created a thread over on the Forum to introduce a new mod that allows you to essentially transform your Amazon Fire TV into an Android TV.

The mod is called, "Playing With Fire", and it requires root access, the Xposed Framework, Build.prop modifications, changes to the system partition, and (of course) very careful reading of all the instructions that SimLynks has provided. Going through all of these steps will require a bit of time, but seeing as how this mod changes pretty much every single thing about the Fire TV, that's to be expected — make sure to be very, very careful when following these instructions.

Once you do get everything up and working, you'll have access to the full Android TV user interface, OpenGApps with almost everything working (Live Channels, USB Tuner, Leanback Launcher, etc.), the ability to install and run apps from both the Google Play Store and Amazon's App Store, automatic updates for Google Services and from the Play Store, button remapping, and much more.

This mod is not for the faint of heart, but if you've got a rooted Fire TV or TV Stick (both version 1 and 2 should work) and a bit of spare time on your hands, this is certainly one of the most interesting developments for the platform that we've seen yet.

You can head over to the thread on the XDA Forums via the link below, and while you should't have any issues as long as you follow everything step-by-step, you can always reach out to the community for assistance should you run into any bugs or issues.

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SimLynks

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One Class Action Lawsuit Against LG’s Bootloop Issue Has Been Compelled Into Arbitration

Bootloops on LG devices are as infamous as they are common, often being used in arguments against the merit of devices manufactured by LG. LG had admitted that the bootloops were hardware related on the G4 and had promised to repair the affected devices "under full warranty". But despite LG supposedly figuring out the issue, the same problem continued to plague other LG-made devices such as the Nexus 5X, LG V10 and LG V20.

With very little respite in sight from the OEM, consumers had to approach the Court for justice. A Class Action Lawsuit was filed against LG when LG continued to manufacture smartphones with the defects and did not follow through with a recall to fix and repair susceptible devices. The lawsuit even claimed that LG replaced bootlooping devices under warranty with devices that once again succumbed to bootloops.

Initially, this particular lawsuit was filed against LG over the LG G4 and the LG V10. Subsequently, the LG-made Nexus 5X, the LG G5 and the LG V20 were also added to the case.

The latest development on the case comes as a heavy blow to the affected consumers and to those who wished to see an end to the bootloops for once and for all. The California Central District Court has passed an order to compel arbitration in this case, thus dismissing the class action lawsuit. LG had filed for a motion to compel arbitration, and based on the facts of the case, the Court saw it fit to grant the motion and dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice (an "open door" to file the case again later).

The grant of the motion in LG's favor came through a smart legal technicality that LG incorporated in its sales strategy. AndroidPolice has uploaded a copy of the Order, which mentions that the Court has adopted the standard laid down in the [famous] case of Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc. The Hill case basically lays down that additional terms can become part of the contract between parties even if they were not specifically spelled out at the time of contract, provided that the parties had an opportunity to inspect the terms and their acceptance of the additional terms can be assumed from their lack of refusal.

In LG's case, each of the purchased phones came in a box which contained documentation related to LG's Limited Warranty. The Limited Warranty contained a provision for arbitration which makes it binding upon the parties (LG and the purchaser) to resolve disputes through binding arbitration instead of in Court, unless the purchaser chooses to opt out. The ability to opt-out of this arbitration clause (a clause that prohibits class action lawsuits and jury trials) is time-limited, giving the purchaser the option to send LG an email or call a toll-free number within 30 days from the date of purchase.

Applying Hill's case to the carefully drafted Warranty Agreement, the additional terms of Limited Warranty become applicable and binding on the parties. This is irrespective of the purchasers even knowing about the existence of these additional terms prior to purchasing, nor is it affected by the simplistic human nature to ignore all documentations inside of our phone boxes. Since the agreement to refer to arbitration and waive off a civil lawsuit hinged on the explicit refusal to accept the clause, the purchasers were deemed to have accepted the arbitration clause when their 30-day period ended. Under the laws applicable in LG's case, silence did constitute assent in this context.

The state-specific law discussed above {in the Order} makes clear that each of the three states recognizes that shrinkwrap or "in-the-box" agreements, such as Defendants', can be accepted through silence or inaction. The agreement here, which could be found inside the box of the product, gave Plaintiffs 30 days to return the product or opt out of the arbitration clause. Plaintiffs chose to keep the phones without opting out. As a result, the Court agrees with Defendants that Plaintiffs have assented to the agreement found inside the box, including the arbitration clause.

AndroidPolice states that arbitration is not likely to result in as much relief or compensation for the plaintiffs as compared to the class action lawsuit that was existing. To an extent, we agree, as forcing arbitration in this matter breaks down the collective nature of a class action lawsuit, and acts in the advantage of the big corporation and to the detriment of smaller consumers. Every plaintiff now has to undergo arbitration procedure, making this a barrier for those seeking justice but not possessing the inclination to involve themselves in complex, expensive and time-consuming legal disputes.

But just because the case has been compelled towards arbitration does not mean that all hope is lost. The arbitrator in his review of the case and the evidence can impose a decision that comes out in the favor of the bootlooped parties. Also, since the case has been dismissed without prejudice, an option to file the case in court at a later time still exists.

If you are a US citizen, have been affected by the bootloop on the mentioned LG devices purchased by you through LG or its authorized retailers and would like to join the suit (the arbitration proceeding, in this case), you can contact the attorneys involved. XDA-Developers advises readers to use their own discretion when deciding on their participation.

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Even though the LG bootloop class action lawsuit did not turn out favorably towards the consumers, it does teach us one important lesson. While unboxing your phone, installing software or entering into any sort of agreement in any other scenario, always look for the fine print, and read and understand its implications. The existence of a legal 'loophole' allowed lawyers to craft a way out of a big and ugly mess, and something like this could have been avoided if more purchasers knew how to opt out of such forced arbitration agreements. We recommend readers to take some time out and read through the Warranty Agreements on their recent purchases.

What are your thoughts on the outcome of LG's Bootloop lawsuit? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: AndroidPolice

 

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XDA Begins Regular PC Hardware Coverage, Designed For Our Audience

At the tail end of 2015, I started writing for XDA-Developers — it wasn't a big jump given my involvement on the site for many years, but until then it was all on the forum side. Since then there have been a lot of changes, capped off with a new geographical location and work schedule. It's been challenging to get back on the path after that and a lot of work was done behind the scenes to keep that going. Thankfully it started to come together again in May with our review of AMD's Ryzen processors.

And at the end of that article, we asked: What did you think of that review? And how would you feel about more of this type of coverage? Here's a few of the responses:

Redditor (I have corrected a few spelling errors):

" Honestly, I was quite surprised to see that it was XDA of all outlets who first brought a broad comparison of the whole Ryzen lineup on Linux weighing cores and threads against price and performance. There were a couple of contenders I would have expected to be interested in compiling something like this. I am following XDA for it's android content and open software focus, but if articles like this one keeps popping up, I have one more reason to follow it."

Ryzen review comments:

" This maybe a wise direction to look at. Custom pc building will be around long after devices are locked down."

" Do more of these articles. This is where performance starts for our phones and new hardware coverage, desktop or otherwise, is welcomed on a site all about getting the most from your hardware."

The one that strikes me the most is a comment on Reddit yesterday after we released news about the screen inversion on the OnePlus 5, given it came out of nowhere.

"Yeah, please get into computer hardware too"

What we didn't mention was that at the same time readers were offering feedback, so were members of XDA's own staff. And what did we learn over that time? It says we've tapped something we probably should have done a while ago.

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For all of the discussion about how we focus on developers,  why are we not focusing on the tools they use to produce the software that we love so much? Android isn't programmed on smartphones, nor are the apps that we all love to install and use. Many of our developers are college students or seasoned professionals. Where do they turn to help get advice on how to better tune their systems or, when it's time to look for a new purchase or upgrade, what to look for?

Thanks to you, the readers, we have the attention of many folks globally — honestly higher than most tech outlets, and our audience has grown tremendously in just a few years. We still want to keep the mentality of "By developers, for developers" and mobile content that we're known for. In fact, readers have put an exclamation point on that over the past few days. But that doesn't mean we should be tying our hands behind our back, and limiting what we cover just because we haven't done it before. And what if we could do a lot of potential good by covering things where there is very little attention right now?

After two months of work largely behind the scenes, it's time to finally say it. XDA will start covering PC hardware on a regular basis. This will have a lot of obvious questions. So let's get into discussing this a bit further and help set some mutual expectations on the new coverage.

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What We'll Cover

News Coverage & Analysis: Articles of this nature will not be as constant as you may see on other sites. The reason for this at the moment is simple: Our readers don't just read XDA. We're not the only site out on the Internet that can offer this either. If news seems relevant enough to our readers or we believe we can add insight or analysis that may be missing from the general tech site coverage, you'll likely see us cover that. We remain, above all else, a site designed for mobile technology. We're also dedicated to supporting developers at all levels joining the open source scene.

Product Analysis & Reviews: If we're going to do this right, this means we do this, and that we strive for the same level of detail and insight as the rest of our content. The goal has already been agreed upon – major hardware releases will be covered. It may take a bit to get caught up – but here's a few of the in-depth topics we will be covering in the month of July.

• A review of Intel's Kaby Lake i7-7700K. It was one of the missing pieces to really consider during the Ryzen review. And our thanks to the folks at Intel who are willing to work with us on this new journey. And for those curious, we intend to review both Core X and Threadripper fairly soon.
• A follow-up to the problems we noticed in Gigabyte's AM4 motherboards and how they stand now. We'll also take a look at one of their Intel motherboards as a part of this.
• At the end of the month, news from SIGGRAPH. At the moment we know of at least one big release during this time frame: AMD's RX Vega. We expect there will be more news there relevant to our audience.

Reviews will largely focus on the Linux operating system and continue to have a developer focus in them. We decided to keep our reviews on Linux for two primary reasons. First up was the lack of dedicated Linux coverage for new PC hardware in the global market. We hope that this will help introduce corroboration to findings of other Linux reviews, of which there are not many beyond Phoronix. The other half is one that I have heard several times and experienced on my own: A lack of information on how to get most PC hardware working on the day of release. As part of our reviews we will be including notes on any issues with using hardware as well as any solutions and/or workarounds available.

So what about Windows? Given the many choices of alternate sites to offer this coverage it seems that, in many cases, it does less for our readers to offer a review of PC hardware on Windows. The immediate exception to this rule will be the upcoming ARM on Windows. We know and love the Snapdragon SoC quite well here and so it makes every sense that we would cover devices powered by it, independent of the platform on which they run.

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There's obviously a lot more to be said here. Much of it still has some fine details left to straighten out before we announce further information. But we'll continue to share relevant news on the topic as this new venture develops. We again thank our readers for the (very) vocal support on these efforts and hope you will continue to offer that support as we continue our coverage!

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Sailfish OS Community Port Available for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

XDA Senior Member piggZ has released a community port of Sailfish OS for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. The build is currently in alpha state so there are quite a few things either missing or broken at the moment.

The port is based on Lineage OS 13.1 and requires you already have an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery installed. The list of things that are currently working fine include calls, data, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. If you're looking to try something new on your Redmi Note 4, give it a shot. Be sure to check out all the instructions before you attempt to install it on your device.

Check out Sailfish OS for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

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Report: Samsung to use Solid-State Batteries for its Galaxy Phones within Two Years

Samsung will be able to produce solid-state batteries that are safe enough for use in smartphones within one to two years, one of the company's executives said. Solid-state batteries are far more durable and provide better longevity than standard Lithium-Ion batteries.

One of the Samsung's SDI executives told The Korean Herald:

"Our technological level to produce a solid-state battery for smartphones will be mature enough in one to two years. However, it depends on Samsung Electronics whether it will be used for phones. (…) As far as I know, the level of battery technology of our rival firm (LG Chem) is also similar to us."

Solid-state batteries do not use liquid to conduct ions, which is how Li-ion batteries operate. Li-ion batteries can ignite and even explode when liquid inside the battery contacts air or water outside. On the other hand, the solid electrolytes found within solid-state batteries are much less likely to ignite. If you'll recall, Samsung was forced to discontinue the Galaxy Note 7 after a series of reports on its Li-ion battery exploding.

"Solid-state batteries are a realistic alternative to lithium-ion batteries in solving the chronic safety issue as the development has been relatively faster than other next-generation batteries over the last 10 years."

Choi Jung-deok, Analyst at LG Economic Research Institute

Solid-state batteries can be used in smartphones and electric vehicles. While we should see the first smartphones with this battery type within the next two years, vehicles will need more safety testing. The predicted premiere of a vehicle with a solid-state battery is expected to occur by around 2025.

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Source: The Korean Herald

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