Android co-founder teases smartphone reveal date on Twitter

Android co-founder Andy Rubin teased us with a photo of his new smartphone this past March. The glimpse was small, showing only a corner of the new phone made by Rubin’s company, Essential Products, Inc. The company jumped on Twitter today to announce that “something big” was coming May 30. Assuming the hype machine is in full force, this likely means that we will get a glimpse of the Essential smart phone in five days.

Hi, welcome to our Twitter page. We’re here to let you know something big is coming May 30th! Stay tuned…

— Essential (@essential) May 25, 2017

Essential will focus on a line up of connected tablets, smartphones and mobile software, according to early reports. The smartphone prototypes are reportedly larger than Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus and feature bezel-free sreens and ceramic backings. The reports also say that the Essential team is working on a feature similar to Apple’s 3D Touch and magnetic charging capabilities, which seems to position Rubin’s new company as iPhone competition rather than other Android-powered hardware. We hope to find out more next week.

Via: The Verge

Source: Essential/Twitter

‘Titanfall 2’ gets its first new mech

Titanfall 2 was one of last year’s most hotly-anticipated –and well-received — titles and the team behind it has kept its multiplayer scene alive with several free DLC releases. While the playerbase has dwindled, the next gratis content addition, Monarch Reigns, might lure enough back to revive the game when it drops on May 30th. At long last players will get a seventh titan, the first new battle mech added to the game since its launch.

The Monarch is a rework of the Vanguard titan — aka, the original model that housed your robot bestie from the campaign mode, BT — but tweaked for PVP. As the video’s description states, the new robosuit “features a unique Upgrade Core, which allows her to improve her combat abilities during a battle based on options set by her Pilot. Monarch also has an impressive ability to draw power from enemy Titans to recharge her own shields, or the shields of her friendly Titans.”

The Monarch Reigns DLC will also add a new map, Relic, which returns from the first Titanfall. Expect many vertical faces to wallrun and big open space to snipe. Players can also buy a pair of prime skins for the Tone and Ronin titans, plus other in-game items, to support the team. Y’know, since they keep giving content away for free.

Source: YouTube

Apple Confirms June 5 WWDC Keynote Will Be Live Streamed

Apple today added a new events page to its main website, confirming that its June 5 Worldwide Developers Conference will be live streamed and available to watch on the Apple website and through the Apple TV.

Apple previously said it would provide a live stream of the Worldwide Developers Conference through its Apple Developer website and through the WWDC app, but the new event page makes it clear the keynote event will be available for all to watch even without a developer account.

WWDC 2017 is looking like it will be one of the most exciting conferences we’ve had in years. Along with introducing new versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS, there are rumors suggesting Apple will introduce new hardware.

New MacBooks and MacBook Pro models are expected, and there’s a chance Apple will also introduce a refreshed MacBook Air. Rumors suggest the notebooks will feature more powerful processors and perhaps some other internal upgrades, but no design changes will be included.

Along with new MacBooks, Apple may also introduce two much-rumored products, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and the Siri speaker. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is said to feature a bigger display in a body that’s similar in size to the current 9.7-inch iPad Pro, made possible through much smaller bezels.

Apple’s Siri speaker is the company’s answer to the popular Amazon Echo, and it is expected to feature Siri integration, superior sound quality, and perhaps a touch display.

For the June 5 keynote event, MacRumors will provide a live blog both here on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account, along with detailed coverage of everything Apple announces during the week.

Related Roundup: WWDC 2017
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iOS 11 Wishlist: Features MacRumors Readers Are Hoping to See in the Next Version of iOS

Apple will introduce the next-generation version of iOS, iOS 11, on June 5 at its Worldwide Developers Conference. While WWDC is less than two weeks away, we’ve haven’t heard many details on what we can expect.

There’s talk about an overhauled design and an updated user interface along with rumors of new functionality for the iPad, but beyond that, we don’t know what’s coming, and we don’t know what that new user interface will look like. In the absence of rumors, we’ve taken a look at some of the most-desired features MacRumors readers are hoping for in iOS 11, culled from our forums.

Unsurprisingly, many readers are looking forward to a new design and an overhauled interface. Here are some of the things readers want in a design refresh:

– Animated icons – Allowing developers to add small animations to app icons is something that iOS users have been wanting for several years. With access to subtle animations, apps like Fantastical could feature an icon with the current date, or third-party weather apps could display the current temperature.

– iPhone complications – The Apple Watch interface features multiple complications or small icons that let Apple Watch users glean information at a glance. On the iPhone, complications could be added to the lock screen or the Home screen to serve the same function, letting users see information like weather or activity level without needing to open an app.

– Customizable Control Center – iOS 10 made a mess of the Control Center, splitting it into three screens. MacRumors readers are hoping for a more unified design with the ability to choose what icons and functions are displayed. Expanded 3D Touch for more granular control over Control Center options would also improve the Control Center.

– Call interface – When an incoming phone or FaceTime call is received on an iPhone, it takes over the entire display with a call interface, something people would like to see changed in iOS 11. A call interface that pops up over what a user is doing instead of domineering the entire iPhone is a feature several readers mentioned wanting.

– Volume interface – On a similar note, there’s a lot of hate towards the current volume display that pops up when the volume is adjusted on the iPhone because it’s a giant icon in the middle of the screen. Something subtler and less intrusive is at the top of several wish lists.

– Widgets – Android-style Home screen live tiles or widgets are another feature that some iOS users have long desired. Apple added widgets to the Notification Center on the iPhone, but some readers want a more integrated, customizable solution directly on the Home screen.

– Keyboard – Users who prefer a swipe-based keyboard (where typing is done by swiping across the screen) would like to see that added as an option. A top number row across the default keyboard is also highly desired.

– Dark mode – Dark mode was a feature rumored for iOS 10 that never materialized, and MacRumors readers are hoping to see it in iOS 11. A system-wide dark mode that comes on at sunset is something a lot of people want, and with an overhauled interface rumored for iOS 11, it could happen.

A dark mode concept from iHelpBR
– iPhone 7 Plus multitasking features – Some users would like to see the iPad’s multitasking features expanded to the iPhone 7 Plus, including Split View, which allows two apps to be used at once, and picture-in-picture, which allows a video to be watched in the corner of the display while other apps are in use. With a larger 5.8-inch display rumored for the OLED iPhone, it doesn’t seem out of the question.

Split-View multitasking on iPad
Along with the above listed design changes, there are also wish lists for individual apps, Siri, and other internal features, ranging from notifications to Continuity.

Photos App

Many MacRumors readers want to see some significant improvements to the Photos app, which got a major overhaul in iOS 10. Facial recognition was added, allowing iOS devices to automatically recognize the people in photos and group them accordingly, but the feature is on-device only and does not sync for privacy reasons.

Some users want the People option to sync across devices for convenience purposes, while others want to be able to choose specific albums to sync to iCloud Photo Library. Other desired features include options to fully hide photos from albums and options for manually adding things like keywords and location.

Camera App

Several camera settings for adjusting video and other options are tucked away in the Settings app, and several readers would like to see those options added to the Camera app instead, where accessing them would be much easier.

An option for manual controls in the Camera app is also a requested feature, as it would allow users to have more control over photos without needing to download a third-party app.

Maps

iOS users would like to see an option for offline Maps and multi-destination routes in iOS 11, two features that are available in Google Maps.

Siri

Along with an overhauled interface, a better version of Siri seems to be one of the features people are most hoping for in iOS 11. The good news is that Apple’s rumored to be working on some major Siri improvements, and it’s likely we’ll see something Siri-related in iOS 11.

– Text-based Siri – A Siri assistant would allow people who don’t want to talk to their phones to interact with Siri via text, sort of like a chatbot. Google just introduced chatbot abilities for Google Assistant, and introduced a Google Assistant iOS app, which could inspire Apple to release a similar feature.

– Unified Search – A merged Siri and Spotlight Search feature goes hand-in-hand with a text-based Siri assistant. The search function could be updated to support Siri-style commands that could be typed into the current search interface.

– Offline Siri – Some users would like to be able to use Siri when the iPhone is offline for tasks that are able to be accomplished without an Internet connection.

– Extended SiriKit – Opening up SiriKit to more kinds of apps would expand Siri’s capabilities.

Other Features

File management – Several MacRumors readers mentioned a desire for a better file management system that would make it easier to transfer content between apps. MacStories’ Federico Vittici made a mockup featuring a drag and drop interface and a file storage shelf on the iPad that would be an ideal way for Apple to implement simpler file sharing options.

Federico Vittici’s iOS 11 file sharing concept
– Notification grouping – A lot of people hate the way notifications are handled on iOS. Options for grouping notifications by app would go a long way towards cleaning up the Notification Center.

– Default apps – While it probably won’t happen, MacRumors readers would like to see an option to set non-Apple default apps, like choosing Chrome for the default browser or Google Maps for the default mapping app.

– Improved Continuity – For those of us with multiple devices, Apple’s Continuity features that let tasks be transferred from one device to another are super useful. Improvements to make existing Continuity features more reliable would be nice, as would support for ongoing media — the ability to transfer a call in progress, or a movie that’s playing.

Another thoughtful Continuity suggestion involves the Mac and native support for using the iPad as a secondary Mac display, functionality that’s currently enabled through third-party apps like Duet Display. Apple could also potentially add support for connecting an iPad to a Mac to enable drawing features, allowing it to serve as a substitute for a Wacom tablet. That’s another third-party feature that’s already available through apps like Astropad.

– Multi-user support – Support for multiple users on the iPad has been a long-desired feature, but Apple has thus far declined to implement it outside of a classroom setting.

– Touch ID for locking apps – Third-party developers can use Touch ID as a second layer of security for locking iOS apps, but some users would like to see this feature expanded to encompass all apps. The option to lock apps like Photos with Touch ID would prevent them from being accessed without a fingerprint or a password even if someone bypassed an iPhone passcode.

What features are you hoping to see in iOS 11? Join in on the discussion about the update on the MacRumors forums.

Apple will unveil iOS 11 on June 5, the day of its WWDC keynote event. The update will be provided to developers immediately, while Public Beta testers can expect access later this summer. iOS 11 will be officially released this fall alongside new iPhones.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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App Highlight: Arena Masters – Legend Begins

The App

Developed by NEXON Company, Arena Masters: Legend Begins is an established app with over 500,000 installs. Having been updated on May 24, 2017, the developer is constantly fixing various bugs with the latest update introducing new gear and skins. The game is a PvP real-time battle strategy royale.

What it does

You can battle in real-time in a variety of battle modes including zombie virus, king of the hill, and dual arena. You have full control of your battle heroes of which there are 13 to choose from all with their own special abilities.

Combining the heroes can be used to create teams to gain strength and be even more powerful. Choosing from a variety of skins adds a touch of customization to your own army.

Why we like it

Arena Masters draws you in and you’ll find you won’t be able to put it down. The graphics are great and I really like that you have control of your heroes rather than have to sit helplessly and watch AI make bad strategic decisions. If you’re into PvP games then be sure to pick this one up.

How to get it

Arena Master: Legend Begins is available for free from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.

MosaLingua Spanish: A different but familiar way of learning Spanish (Review)

As the only native Spanish speaker in AndroidGuys, it is always amusing for me to see Android apps for learning Spanish. After all, it is a fairly useful language, with approximately 500 million people talking it natively throughout the world. There are different approaches for learning it, but MosaLingua Spanish uses a fairly common one: repetition.

Developer: MosaLingua Crea
Price: $4.99

Setup

Even though apps are trying to move from an extensive setup process and assume defaults that can be configured afterward, MosaLingua Spanish deviates from this approach and makes you go through a lenghty setup wizard.

First, in case you feel more comfortable in languages other than English, you will be glad to know that you can also learn Spanish with MosaLingua on the basis of French, Italian, Portuguese, and German. Also, in an effort to tailor the app to your needs, it asks you what are your motives for learning Spanish. Unfortunately for some of you, “Understanding reggaeton lyrics” is not one of the choices, but there are other possibilities for you:

• Travel
• Speak and socialize
• Work and do business
• Improve my grades at school or study abroad
• Pass an exam (DELE, SIELE…)
• Other

In case you already know some Spanish words, MosaLingua Spanish lets you start at a higher level. However, for testing the app, I started from the very basics.

Finally, the app asks you to make an account. If you don’t want to, you can scroll down and press skip, but some features will be unavailable until you sign in. Nevertheless, it’s nice to have the option of creating the account later, in case you discover that the app is not for you.

Overview

You can start at any level.

Unlike other language-learning apps, MosaLingua Spanish is not based on a gamification approach, like Duolingo. Instead, you are the biggest input for it. If you are the kind of person who writes words into cards and goes through them constantly, then you’ll feel right at home here.

The whole approach is based on repetition. The app makes you repeat each word by talking, reading, and spelling it, and then asks you at the end how confident you are that you memorized it correctly. If you feel like you will have problems with remembering the word in the future, you can let the app know and it will bring it up on your next sessions.

There are different categories of words, such as eating, weather, and transportation, but the recommended way is to follow the order that the app gives you. In it, you go through basic stuff and gradually get more challenging words and expressions.

General Impressions

Each exercise is composed of a set of cards, which the app will first read out loud to you. Then, it will ask you to record yourself. However, it doesn’t give you feedback on how good or bad you did. It more or less relies on how you think your sound compared with the recording, which is, frankly, not ideal.

Easy enough? It gets more difficult later, don’t worry.

Then, it makes you memorize the words by looking at a picture of it. Yet again, it speaks the word to you, so that you not only memorize its meaning but its pronunciation. Finally, the app asks you to spell the word (or phrase) by giving you the letters (or words) in a scrambled order. It will give you immediate feedback on how good you did.

Through constant repetition, the app aims to slowly improve your Spanish level. Later, it also adds dialogue in conventional situations, such as asking for a table in a restaurant, buying medicine, asking for a taxi, and similar useful situations.

As a native speaker, I find these dialogues to be very useful for anyone who is learning Spanish. There’s a point where learning more words is useless if you can’t form a sentence with them, so this is a great way to use all of this vocabulary.

There are different activities you do with each set of cards in order to memorize words.

Frankly, I’ve used a variant of this kind of repetition method myself when learning German and Estonian, and I know several people who have used similar approaches, so I’m sure that MosaLingua’s research about this topic is based on real evidence and not just made up.

If your motivations for learning Spanish are not enough, then the app has you covered. It keeps you going by asking you to do your exercises every day and by showing you different stats, progress graphs, and videos by MosaLingua members in which they constantly encourage you.

If you find that the available content is not enough for you, there are optional packs with more words and exercises. These include advanced vocabulary, slang, and vocabulary for specific situations, such as news and idioms that native speakers use. These are all available separately or can be bought as a discounted pack.

Interface and Sound

The dialogue at first sounds very generic, but you can download a pack to improve its quality. I suggest you download it because audio recordings go from regular to top-notch with this. If you are interested to know, the dialogue sometimes uses the Latin American way of pronouncing “c” and “z” (that is, make everything sound like an “s”), and sometimes it uses the Spanish way (so they have a “th” characteristic sound, as in “thaw” or “theater”). Look it up on YouTube if you are unsure of what I mean, but this lack of cohesion between pronunciations could be very confusing for newcomers.

Interface is the weakest point of the app

Regarding the interface of the app, I find that sometimes it looks like kind of unpolished. It feels as if the app was developed with one of these mobile web frameworks that then generate Android apps, instead of using native tools. Animations are not as fluid as they could be, interface doesn’t follow material design guidelines, elements such as alerts appear out of nowhere instead of using Android’s built-in animations, and the app itself feels like it was brought directly from the Jelly Bean days.

It also sometimes doesn’t feel responsive enough, and I found a bug in which if I went to the optional packs screen, tried to buy one but canceled instead of going through with the payment, and the app became unresponsive.

Conclusion

MosaLingua uses a different approach than several language-learning apps. Instead of incorporating a gamification aspect to the process, MosaLingua bases its method on constant repetition of words throughout time for the best results. Obviously, every person learns stuff in a different way, which is why we should be thankful that there are so many options. There’s a free version of MosaLingua Spanish if you want to evaluate its effectiveness first. If you are able to deal with a fairly antiquated interface, the content beneath it is good, and, in the end, eso es lo único que importa.

Download and install MosaLingua Spanish from the Google Play Store.

Intel’s upcoming 10-core i9 chips will hit 4.5GHz without even overclocking

Why it matters to you

Core i9 chips might be far too expensive for the average consumer, but top-end performance often trickles down to the hardware we mere mortals can afford.

New details have emerged for Intel’s upcoming 10-core Skylake X CPU, the i9 7900X, and it looks like the chip could end up being more powerful than anyone expected. Along with its 10 cores, it sports a base clock speed of 4.0GHz, which boosts up to 4.5GHz. That shows a real architectural difference between it and AMD’s upcoming Threadripper Ryzen chips.

The latest details for Intel’s i9 series CPUs appeared in a published Sisoft Sandra benchmark results post. Although it labels the chip as an i7 part, that’s erroneous because of the lack of official support for such a chip yet. The specifications, however, should be perfectly accurate, telling us that despite running 10 cores and 20 threads, this chip is still capable of hitting 4.5GHz without any overclocking.

Overclockers.ua

This is far higher than we would expect from a chip with 10 cores as there is a real possibility of a CPU running rather hot at that sort of speed. Considering it was initially expected to be clocked far lower, some have speculated that this could be a revision on Intel’s behalf to counter the potential for AMD’s Ryzen CPUs to unseat its performance crown before the end of the year.

Other details about the chip confirmed by this listing include the fact that it has 10MB of level two cache with 1MB for each core and 13.75MB of level 3 cache, with a TDP of 175W (thanks Overclockers, via TPU).

Although this release is mostly exciting because of the Intel CPU detail reveal, we can also draw a little information on the motherboard from it. The Gigabyte X299 Aorus Gaming 7 is an unannounced motherboard and shows that Gigabyte will be one of the first partners supporting Intel’s upcoming CPU design.

While chips like this aren’t really designed for everyday consumers, the added performance of that high clock speed should further ramp up the competition between AMD and Intel, which has been raging this year since the launch of Ryzen. It’s a good year to be a hardware enthusiast.

Moto G5 and G5 Plus: Everything you need to know

Why it matters to you

Lenovo’s midrange G series added two new family members at Mobile World Congress: The Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus.

The Lenovo Moto G5 and G5 Plus have finally been unveiled, and the two made a big appearance at Mobile World Congress 2017. The new phones, successors to last year’s G4 and G4 Plus, are in keeping with the series’ core tenet of uncompromising affordability. Both pack capable processors, high-definition displays, fingerprint sensors, and sizable batteries. And like their predecessors, they’re compatible with all major carriers in the U.S., including T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and U.S. Cellular.

Check out the latest details about the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus below — but you can also read our full review here.

Improved G5S and G5S Plus on the way?

Android Authority

AndroidAndMe

The Moto G5 and G5 Plus have only just been released, but reports from AndroidAndMe and Android Authority indicate even better versions could be waiting in the wings. They’re called the G5S and G5S Plus, and although details are scant at this moment, the one clear difference appears to be the inclusion of a dual-lens rear camera on the larger Plus model, visible at the right.

Aside from that, both phones look to be constructed entirely from aluminum this time, compared to the metal back plate and plastic sides of the current G5 models. Because of this, the rear of the S variants sport antenna lines, and there doesn’t appear to be any removable battery cover.

According to AndroidAndMe, both phones will retain the sizes of their counterparts already on the market — meaning we’re looking at 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch screens here, still at 1080p resolution. If there are any other changes lurking beneath the surface, we aren’t aware of them yet, but we’ll update this article as we hear more.

Price and availability

The pricing and availability for the Moto G5 and G5 Plus is a little confusing, so strap in.

If you live in Europe, the G5 and G5 Plus are both available from many local carriers in in a range of different markets. If you live in the United Kingdom, you’ll get access to a special Sapphire Blue color for the G5 through O2. The G5 and G5 Plus launch in March for 229 euros ($244.46) and 279 euros ($297.83), respectively.

If you live in the United States, you’ll have to go for the G5 Plus — however there are two G5 Plus variants available. Those include a $230 model with 32GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, and a $280 model with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM.

If you want to save a few bucks on the U.S. version, Amazon is subsidizing a series of phones, including the Moto G5 Plus — so you can get it for yourself for $185. Of course, getting an Amazon-subsidized phone does have its drawbacks, like the fact that you’ll get ads and personalized offers. It doesn’t seem like the standard Moto G5 is part of the promotion — which we expected, as the standard G5 was not slated to reach the U.S.

Both handsets are available in two color configurations: Lunar gray and fine gold. And both ship running Android 7.0 Nougat.

Moto G5

At first glance, the G5 doesn’t look any different from the G5 Plus, but it’s a different story under the hood. The lower-end handset packs a 5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080p) screen, but sports a Snapdragon 430 paired with 2GB of RAM, a sizable step down from the G5 Plus. It also lacks support for NFC, and internal storage and battery max out at 32GB and 2,800mAh, respectively.

Despite the G5’s weaker specs, it didn’t seem all that much slower than the G5. It flew through apps like Chrome and Gmail, and crushed a burst shot photo session like a pro.

The G5 has support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a 3.5mm audio jack, and USB Type-C.

Motorola said that the designs of the G5 and G5 Plus were informed by its customers, and that much seems clear. Citing the results of a customer survey, Motorola said that 63 percent want a higher screen resolution and display, 62 percent want all-day battery life, and 58 percent want better camera capabilities.

From what we can tell so far, both the G5 and G5 Plus deliver on all fronts.

Moto G5 Plus

The Moto G5, much like its predecessor, is a veritable powerhouse of a smartphone. On the front is a 5.2-inch Full HD display (the same resolution as the G4 Plus) shielded by Gorilla Glass 3, and powered by a Qualcomm 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 and up to 4GB of RAM. The battery is the same size as last year’s model at 3,000mAh, and supports Lenovo’s proprietary TurboPower fast-charging technology. (Motorola said it can deliver up to six hours of battery life in just 15 minutes.) It also has a notable upgrade from the G4 Plus — support for NFC, the wireless standard that enables tap-and-pay transactions via Google’s Android Pay platform.

We were impressed by the responsiveness of last year’s G4 Plus, and the G5 Plus was just as smooth as glass to our eyes. We put the G5 through the wringer in our brief time with the device, opening as many browser tabs and apps at once as we possibly could. It fluidly switched between all of them, but we’ll need to run a few benchmark tests and games to see how it really compares.

A fingerprint sensor is embedded in a raised nub on the front of the Moto G5 Plus, and a MicroSD Card reader sits under the removable back cover. It also features Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C connector, and 64GB of internal storage.

Christian de Looper contributed to this report. Article updated on 05-25-2017 by Adam Ismail: Added Moto G5S and G5S Plus rumors.

Researchers create high-speed internet lane for when disaster strikes

Why it matters to you

This research could help facilitate the important work emergency responders do when natural disasters and other crises strike unexpectedly.

When disaster strikes, emergency responders often rely on the internet to communicate and share crucial information on the task at hand. With that in mind, a group of researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology has proposed a method of creating a high-speed lane of online traffic dedicated to this kind of usage.

The team has created a new network protocol to ensure that vital communications reach their intended recipient, according to a report from Science Daily. The Multi Node Label Routing (MNLR) protocol features an immediate “failover” mechanism, which means that if a link or node fails — which is not uncommon when the network is being stressed — the data is sent via an alternate path immediately.

This protocol can run beneath established internet protocols, which means that other users’ access to the web should not be affected by its implementation.

Earlier this month, the MNLR protocol was put head-to-head with the widely used Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), using the United States Global Environment for Network Innovation. It took the BGP around 150 seconds to recover from a link failure, while the MNLR protocol was able to do so in less than 30 seconds.

Nirmala Shenoy, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the principal investigator on the project, attributes the problems with current protocols to their age. They were put in place at a time when the kind of information transferred via the internet was very different, and they’re not necessarily well-suited to its current usage.

“Sharing data on the internet during an emergency is like trying to drive a jet down the street at rush hour,” said Jennifer Schneider, who served as co-principal investigator alongside Shenoy. “A lot of the critical information is too big and data heavy for the existing internet pipeline.”

In a disaster situation, emergency responders might need to exchange maps, details of where personnel are being dispatched to, cell phone location data, video, and audio calls, and various other pieces of information depending on the nature of the event. Given that such a scenario is likely to prompt a flurry of communication among civilians, internet traffic can become incredibly congested.

While the internet becomes more vital to everyday life all the time, some of the foundational elements of its operation have been in place for many years. Research projects like this one help ensure that the web can continue to grow and evolve in step with our usage.

Google explains how machine learning improved its Gboard mobile keyboard

Why it matters to you

Google’s machine learning techniques predict how you type in Gboard, it’s third-party mobile keyboard.

Gboard, Google’s mobile keyboard for iOS and Android, is almost like a digital secretary. It can predict what you’re going to type before you type it, perform Google searches, translates in real time between more than 15 different languages, and boasts a growing library of handy emojis. And on Thursday, Google researchers pulled back the curtain on efforts to make it better.

“Most people spend a significant amount of time each day using mobile-device keyboards: Composing emails, texting, engaging in social media, and more. Yet, mobile keyboards are still cumbersome to handle,” Google said. “The average user is roughly 35 percent slower typing on a mobile device than on a physical keyboard. To change that, we recently provided many exciting improvements to Gboard for Android, working towards our vision of creating an intelligent mechanism that enables faster input while offering suggestions and correcting mistakes, in any language you choose.”

In a post on the Google Research Blog, Google explained how Gboard is using machine learning to cut down on errors. Using neural networks — computer systems modeled on the human brain and nervous system — researchers were able to correct for for mistyped letters, misspellings, character insertions, and deletions. “[Gboard] address[es] these errors at the character level, mapping the touch points on the screen to actual keys,” Google said.

In addition, Google employed TensorFlow, its hardware-accelerated machine learning platform, to train hundreds of neural networks and optimize them for suggestions, completions, and other keyboard-specific features. After a year of work, the models were six times faster and 10 times smaller than the initial versions, Google said, and showed a 15 percent reduction in bad autocorrects and 10 percent reduction in “wrongly decoded gestures.”

Those changes were just the beginning. Google factored lexicon, which tells which words occur in a language, and probabilistic grammar, which tells what words are likely to follow other words, into Gboard’s machine intelligence. The result was what Google calls Finite-State Transducers, which power the app’s natural language processing and supply word completions and predictions.

Google used the same Finite-State Transducers to map sequences of Latin keys to symbol sequences in Indic languages. The result? Gboard lets you type a word according to its phonetic pronunciation — the Hindi “daanth” for “दांत” (teeth) — and automatically transliterates it. Compared to Gboard’s old system, the new models are 50 percent faster, and reduce the fraction of words users have to manually correct by more than 10 percent. “Some languages have multiple writing systems […] so between transliterated and native layouts, we built 57 new input methods in just a few months,” Google said.

“While we hope that these recent changes improve your typing experience, we recognize that on-device typing is by no means solved. Gboard can still make suggestions that seem nonintuitive or of low utility and gestures can still be decoded to words a human would never pick, Google said. “However, our shift towards powerful, machine-intelligence algorithms has opened new spaces that we’re actively exploring to make more useful tools and products for our users worldwide.”