Baidu’s new A.I. can mimic your voice after listening to it for just one minute
We’re not in the business of writing regularly about “fake” news, but it’s hard not to be concerned about the kind of mimicry technology is making possible. First, researchers developed deep learning-based artificial intelligence (A.I.) that can superimpose one person’s face onto another person’s body. Now, researchers at Chinese search giant Baidu have created an A.I. they claim can learn to accurately mimic your voice — based on less than a minute’s worth of listening to it.
“From a technical perspective, this is an important breakthrough showing that a complicated generative modeling problem, namely speech synthesis, can be adapted to new cases by efficiently learning only from a few examples,” Leo Zou, a member of Baidu’s communications team, told Digital Trends. “Previously, it would take numerous examples for a model to learn. Now, it takes a fraction of what it used to.”
Baidu Research isn’t the first to try and create voice-replicating A.I. Last year, we covered a project called Lyrebird, which used neural networks to replicate voices including President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama with a relatively small number of samples. Like Lyrebird’s work, Baidu’s speech synthesis technology doesn’t sound completely convincing, but it’s an impressive step forward — and way ahead of a lot of the robotic A.I. voice assistants that existed just a few years ago.
The work is based around Baidu’s text-to-speech synthesis system Deep Voice, which was trained on upwards of 800 hours of audio from a total of 2,400 speakers. It needs just 100 5-second sections of vocal training data to sound its best, but a version trained on only 10 5-second samples was able to trick a voice-recognition system more than 95 percent of the time.
“We see many great use cases or applications for this technology,” Zou said. “For example, voice cloning could help patients who lost their voices. This is also an important breakthrough in the direction of personalized human-machine interfaces. For example, a mom can easily configure an audiobook reader with her own voice. The method [additionally] allows creation of original digital content. Hundreds of characters in a video game would be able to have unique voices because of this technology. Another interesting application is speech-to-speech language translation, as the synthesizer can learn to mimic the speaker identity in another language.”
For a deeper dive into this subject, you can listen to a sample of the voices or read a paper describing the work.
Editors’ Recommendations
- Deep learning vs. machine learning: what’s the difference between the two?
- This A.I. eavesdrops on emergency calls to warn of possible cardiac arrests
- A.I. bots just dropped a black metal album that will make your head explode
- Science fiction’s 5 most haunting A.I. villains, ranked
- Truly creative A.I. is just around the corner. Here’s why that’s a big deal
Baidu’s new A.I. can mimic your voice after listening to it for just one minute
We’re not in the business of writing regularly about “fake” news, but it’s hard not to be concerned about the kind of mimicry technology is making possible. First, researchers developed deep learning-based artificial intelligence (A.I.) that can superimpose one person’s face onto another person’s body. Now, researchers at Chinese search giant Baidu have created an A.I. they claim can learn to accurately mimic your voice — based on less than a minute’s worth of listening to it.
“From a technical perspective, this is an important breakthrough showing that a complicated generative modeling problem, namely speech synthesis, can be adapted to new cases by efficiently learning only from a few examples,” Leo Zou, a member of Baidu’s communications team, told Digital Trends. “Previously, it would take numerous examples for a model to learn. Now, it takes a fraction of what it used to.”
Baidu Research isn’t the first to try and create voice-replicating A.I. Last year, we covered a project called Lyrebird, which used neural networks to replicate voices including President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama with a relatively small number of samples. Like Lyrebird’s work, Baidu’s speech synthesis technology doesn’t sound completely convincing, but it’s an impressive step forward — and way ahead of a lot of the robotic A.I. voice assistants that existed just a few years ago.
The work is based around Baidu’s text-to-speech synthesis system Deep Voice, which was trained on upwards of 800 hours of audio from a total of 2,400 speakers. It needs just 100 5-second sections of vocal training data to sound its best, but a version trained on only 10 5-second samples was able to trick a voice-recognition system more than 95 percent of the time.
“We see many great use cases or applications for this technology,” Zou said. “For example, voice cloning could help patients who lost their voices. This is also an important breakthrough in the direction of personalized human-machine interfaces. For example, a mom can easily configure an audiobook reader with her own voice. The method [additionally] allows creation of original digital content. Hundreds of characters in a video game would be able to have unique voices because of this technology. Another interesting application is speech-to-speech language translation, as the synthesizer can learn to mimic the speaker identity in another language.”
For a deeper dive into this subject, you can listen to a sample of the voices or read a paper describing the work.
Editors’ Recommendations
- Deep learning vs. machine learning: what’s the difference between the two?
- This A.I. eavesdrops on emergency calls to warn of possible cardiac arrests
- A.I. bots just dropped a black metal album that will make your head explode
- Science fiction’s 5 most haunting A.I. villains, ranked
- Truly creative A.I. is just around the corner. Here’s why that’s a big deal
Best of MWC 2018 Award Winners
Share
With yet another popular Nokia phone resurrected from the dead, a driverless car powered by a smartphone, and of course, the return of the Samsung’s Galaxy S-series, Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona has been lively, packed with plenty to see and experience.
Then it snowed. Like the blackout at CES this year, it’s all anyone could talk about at MWC.
No matter the snow or the unusually cold weather, Digital Trends’ mobile team waded through the biggest mobile show in the world to find the best products for our annual Best of MWC 2018 awards.
From a smartphone with brilliantly unique camera technology, to a software company bridging the gap between feature phones and smartphones, check out the most exciting tech we uncovered at this year’s show!
Galaxy S9 Plus vs. Galaxy S8 Plus: Battle of the galactic titans
MWC 2018 has seen the reveal of the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, and we’re incredibly excited to get our hands on the newest Plus version of Samsung’s flagship range. But taking a first look, you might be struck by the aesthetic similarities between the S9 Plus and the S8 Plus. Has Samsung pulled a fast one on us and launched the same phone twice?
Don’t worry, it hasn’t. Regardless, it’s definitely worth taking a close look at the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus to see whether it has managed to improve on its worthy predecessor. If you’re wondering whether to get Samsung’s latest or jump back a generation, or if you’re considering upgrading, this comparison will give you the info you need so you can be sure about where to invest your hard-earned dollars.
Specs
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
Size
158.1 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm (6.22 x 2.91 x 0.33 inches)
159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm (6.28 x 2.89 x 0.32 inches)
Weight
189 grams (6.67 ounces)
173 grams (6.10 ounces)
Screen
6.2-inch AMOLED display
6.2-inch AMOLED display
Resolution
2,960 x 1,440 pixels (529ppi)
2,960 x 1,440 pixels (529ppi)
OS
Android 8.0 Oreo
Android 7.0 Nougat (update to Android 8.0 Oreo coming)
Storage
64GB
64GB (4GB model), 128GB (6GB model)
MicroSD card slot
Yes
Yes
NFC support
Yes
Yes
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
RAM
6GB
6GB (64GB model), 6GB (128GB model)
Connectivity
GSM, HSPA, LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
GSM, HSPA, LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Camera
Dual 12MP rear, 8MP front
12MP rear, 8MP front
Video
2160p @ 60 fps, 1080p @ 240 fps, 720p @ 960 fps, HDR, dual-video rec.
2160p @ 30 fps, 1080p @ 60 fps, 720p @ 240 fps, HDR, dual-video rec.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0
Audio
Headphone jack, stereo speakers
Headphone jack, bottom-firing speaker
Fingerprint sensor
Yes, rear-mounted
Yes, rear-mounted
Other sensors
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2
Water resistant
IP68-rated
IP68-rated
Battery
3,500mAh
Fast charging
Qi wireless charging
3,500mAh
Fast charging
Qi wireless charging
Charging port
USB-C
USB-C
Marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Colors
Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Lilac Purple
Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Lilac Purple
Availability
Samsung
Samsung, Amazon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon
Price
$840
$825
DT review
Hands-on review
4 out of 5 stars
Last year saw some huge changes to the design of the Galaxy brand, with the major bezel-less redesign of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus leading the charge for a whole new generation of gorgeous, bezel-free phones with huge displays and tiny footprints — so it’s fair to say that Samsung’s design team has earned something of a break this year. It’s clear from looking at the specifications that Samsung was focused less on redesigning the Galaxy range, and more on improving the formula it already had in place.
Samsung has reduced the choice you’ll face as a prospective buyer though — whereas the S8 Plus came in two different models, the S9 Plus only has a single variety, with Samsung removing the option for 128GB of internal storage space. With the addition of a MicroSD card to add up to 400GB of space on either phone, it may not be significant for many, but we still see the lack of an option for more storage as a missed opportunity. Still, it’s nice to see 6GB of RAM becoming the standard on the Plus version — an S8 Plus with 4GB of RAM just felt lacking. Both phones have the latest Bluetooth 5.0 for super-strong connections and new features, and both have a headphone jack.
It’s only once you get to the processing chip that there’s a major difference between the two phones. The S8 Plus is equipped with the Snapdragon 835 we saw in most 2017 flagship phones, while the S9 Plus is one of the first major flagships to use Qualcomm’s brand new Snapdragon 845. We’re yet to fully test out the differences between the two chips, but the initial results from Qualcomm’s testing show that the 845 outstrips the older 835 fairly substantially, with Qualcomm’s test unit beating Google’s Pixel 2 XL in benchmarks.
What does this mean in real terms? Benchmarks are only part of the story when it comes to finding out how fast a phone is in real life, and we’ll have to wait until more rigorous testing has been done before we can give you a real answer. It seems pretty clear, however, that the S9 Plus is going to be the faster and more powerful of the two phones, even if that difference may only be minimal in real terms.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Design and display
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Put these two phones down face-up and you’re going to be hard pressed to tell the difference. There’s a very slight difference between them in dimensions, and the S9 Plus weighs in only slightly heavier than its predecessor, but the differences are small. The screens are much the same — both the S9 Plus and S8 Plus are equipped with 6.2-inch AMOLED screens displaying 2,960 x 1,440-pixel resolutions. Since these are both AMOLED screens, they’re neck and neck in terms of color vibrancy, and they both display deep, inky blacks. They’re stunning screens, and it’s hard to pick one over the other.
In terms of design you’re still seeing many similarities. The fronts of both phones are dominated by the massive displays, and the slim bezels are almost nonexistent, with the displays extending around the sides of each, with only a slim forehead and chin on each device. They both have a glass-over-metal design, the soft curves feel great in the hand, and the glass adds a reassuring weight that adds to the premium feel. In terms of durability, glass isn’t the best material for taking a blow, so we’d recommend a case for each. But they both have IP68 water resistance ratings, so they should survive a trip into the bath, or down the toilet. One invisible difference is the inclusion of stereo speakers on the S9 Plus. The earpiece partners with the bottom-firing speaker to produce sound that’s been tuned by AKG, and works with Dolby Atmos too.
For all their similarities around the front, flip the two phones over and you’ll see marked differences. The S9 Plus has a vertically stacked dual-lens camera system, contrasting heavily with the single lens on the S8 Plus. The fingerprint sensor has also been moved below the camera lenses, a massive improvement on its previous position next to the camera lens, which fumbling fingers would often brush while trying to unlock via fingerprint. Moving it below the camera lenses fixes one of our major issues with the S8 Plus.
There’s not much to differentiate between the two phones when it comes down to the displays or designs — but the differences that do exist are important, and they’re testament to Samsung’s drive to fixing the issues that people had with the S8 Plus. The new positioning of the fingerprint sensor and the stereo speakers are fantastic tweaks to an already great formula, and they win the S9 Plus this round.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Camera
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Peek at the Galaxy S8 Plus’s camera and you’ll find a good little camera suite. A dual-sensor 12-megapixel lens on the back is joined by an 8-megapixel lens around the front of the phone, and they both take good shots — though they can sometimes struggle with taking pictures in low-light situations.
While the camera on the S8 Plus was good when the phone first launched, it was rapidly outmatched throughout the course of 2017, as manufacturers continued to one-up each other in the suddenly competitive space for smartphone photography. It’s fair to say that Samsung found itself with something to prove — a process it started with the introduction of the dual-lens system in the Note 8, and continues with the new dual-cameras on the S9 Plus.
The rear of the S9 Plus houses two 12-megapixel lenses, one wide-angle with a variable aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4, and the other lens a telephoto with an aperture of f/2.4. The aperture of f/1.5 on the wide-angle lens is the largest ever seen on a mobile device, according to Samsung, and it should boost the S9 Plus’s capabilities at capturing scenes with low-lighting. The phone is also the world’s first to come with a mechanically changing aperture — the S9 Plus will switch between the f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture when needed, ensuring you’ll always get the best shots.
The S9 Plus’s video capabilities have also been boosted. The S9 Plus can record video at a super-slow-motion framerate of 960 fps, compared to the 240 fps on the S8 Plus, and Samsung’s latest phablet also includes AR emojis that mimic your facial movements, tied into the selfie camera. It’s a fun little gimmick, and thanks to an upcoming partnership with the House of Mouse, S9 Plus users will be able to impersonate Disney characters soon as well.
Unlike some of the other categories, the differences here are night-and-day. Samsung has done a tremendous job upgrading the S9 Plus’s cameras, and it really shows. With the AR emojis, super-slow-motion, and new dual cameras, the Galaxy S9 Plus takes this home with few issues.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Battery life and charging
Galaxy S8 Plus
In contrast to the camera, there’s very little difference here. Both the S9 Plus and S8 Plus have the same sizeable 3,500mAh battery. In our tests with the S8 Plus we saw it comfortably last the day, and we expect to see the same performance from the S9 Plus — if not a little more, thanks to optimizations made to the Snapdragon 845. Still, we can’t say those would be enough to tip the scale in the S9 Plus’s favor. It’s all equal in the other stakes as well — both devices have QuickCharge 2.0 and wireless charging, so users don’t have to worry too much about being tethered to charging points all the time.
There’s nothing between the two devices here, and while we expect the S9 Plus to perform slightly better in our tests, we don’t expect it to be anything major. It’s a draw.
Winner: Tie
Software
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Samsung’s smartphones have generally run on a Samsung-tweaked version of Android, and these two flagships are no exception. Both run the Samsung Experience laid over Android, and despite a dark past as TouchWiz, Samsung has gradually built its version of Android into something it can be proud of.
The Samsung S9 Plus runs the latest version of Android 8.0 Oreo, with the latest Samsung Experience 9.0 laid over the top of it — and while the S8 Plus is guaranteed to receive an update that also takes it up to the latest version of Android, the Oreo update on the S8 range recently stalled amid some troubles.
Still, even without the delays it’s likely that the latest addition to the Galaxy lineup would have taken the day anyway. While both phones are neck and neck with support for Google Daydream, Samsung’s Gear VR, and — of course — the Dex Station and Dex Pad, there’s a handful of features that the S9 Plus has that haven’t been confirmed for the S8 Plus. The AR emoji, for instance, while gimmicky, are a fun addition — so too are the improvements to Bixby, which may yet see a rebirth as a feature that people actually use. While we expect these features will eventually reach the S8 Plus, it’s not guaranteed. The S9 Plus takes this.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Price and availability
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is currently available, and prices start at $825 for the base 64GB storage and 4GB of RAM model. Being one of Samsung’s flagships, it’s available on pretty much every U.S. carrier as well, with decent deals on the handset being offered now the S9 has been announced. As you might expect, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus sits in a similar position, with the phone expecting to be offered on most U.S. carriers. Pre-orders for the S9 Plus begin on March 2, with the first shipments expected to go out March 16 — grabbing one unlocked will set you back around $840.
The choice between these two essentially comes down to the deals you can find. The price difference won’t be as clear cut as between the S9 and S8 — the S9 Plus has that whole extra camera lens going for it after all — but if you can find a deal that gets you a Galaxy S8 Plus for significantly less than the Galaxy S9 Plus, then you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. Otherwise, the S9 Plus is simply the stronger phone for the same money. The phones are just that close in features, and the few minor additions and refinements that Samsung has made to its winning formula don’t justify paying a lot more for the S9 Plus.
There are too many variables here, and it all comes down to the value of the S8 Plus. This has to be a tie.
Winner: Tie
Overall winner: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The king is dead; long live the king. Samsung’s been barely able to put a foot wrong these past few years (with a few Note-worthy exceptions), and the Korean giant wasn’t about to trip up while crafting an improved version of its 2017 hit. The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is simply a better version of the S8 Plus that we saw last year — and considering how good the S8 Plus is, that’s heady praise.
If you can get a hold of the S8 Plus for less than the S9 Plus, you’re likely to net yourself a bargain. Though the changes are good, they’re mostly quality-of-life improvements, and outside of the improvements to the camera, they’re mostly improvements that you’re unlikely to notice after getting used to your device — which is most of the reason why you won’t need to worry about upgrading if you already have an S8 Plus. Still, for the same money, the Galaxy S9 Plus is undoubtedly the stronger device, and the one you should be getting.
I made my own Daydream kit for $50 cheaper than Google’s headset
Customization is king in the world of Android.
For those who have ever tried on a Google Daydream, you know that while it is a solid idea, it has some comfort issues. The area and your face lets in a lot of light and the strap isn’t very secure, and although the additional over-the-head strap does help with that a little, it can press on your face in ways and playing for long periods does create a lot of fatigue.
At $99, the Google View is also at the expensive end of mobile VR, so I set out to see what alternatives there are.
More: Russell Holly’s Daydream View 2017 review
The software is key
What makes the Daydream View worth having is not the hardware itself but the Daydream software and the list of apps that come with it. With the addition of the Daydream controller, the Daydream app is leagues better than the cardboard apps available, so I wanted to make sure we could use the Daydream app in our alternatives. There is really only one way to do that, however, and that is to already have a Daydream controller. Daydream apps don’t start unless they detect the controller — having the headset alone isn’t enough.
The hardware
There are, surprisingly, a large number of people selling just the Daydream controller on eBay. Refurbished and even new ones sell for around $35 and look exactly the same as the one you would get with the Daydream View, but i wanted to keep the price as low as possible, so I went for something else.
I went with the Virtoba VR Remote Controller, a slinky black number from Amazon for the low price of just $22 and I bought it with the sure and certain knowledge it would suck, but boy was I wrong. Once you have it all set up, the Virtoba works exactly like the Daydream Controller — all the same buttons, the same level of response, 3 degrees of freedom, everything, and it does it in a controller that weighs almost nothing for $20.
I also decided to use the Merge VR headset I had laying around at home for the cardboard headset. You can use any Cardboard-ready headset that has the QR code on it, so if you have one already, you can save some money. The Merge VR is a personal favorite of mine — with its soft foam and adjustable head strap, it’s ideal for longer play times. The Merge VR headset is coming down in price all the time and the new headset is set to be as little as $30. Bargain.
See Merge VR at Amazon
See Virtoba controller at Amazon
The software
It is important to remember that you will still need to own a Daydream Ready phone to install the Daydream App. From here I assume you have one so I will go into the setup procedure, it’s a little tricky and you do have to use the Daydream developer options but I will take you through it all.
The steps
Open the Daydream app Settings and tap VR Settings.
Tap controller, then Pair New Controller.
Press and hold the menu button on the Virtoba until connected.
Tap Headset and scroll down to and tap Other, then tap Scan Cardboard QR code.
Scan the code on your Cardboard headset.
Tap Build version multiple times until Developer options appear.
Check the box for Skip VR entry Scenes.
Open any Daydream app to get started.
More: Every Daydream app you can install right now
The details
Making sure the Headset you choose is officially supported by Cardboard is an important step. Because the Daydream View uses different lenses to the Cardboard the App needs to know what one you are using to adjust correctly. I have tried this on 3 different Cardboard ready headsets and it works perfectly with each one.
As you can see from the steps it’s a pretty simple procedure except for the developer options. Hitting the build number to open up those options is fairly common in Android and don’t think there are many in the Daydream app that actually breaks it, but I just kept to the one setting change to allow the Cardboard Viewer to be used.
Something to note as well; because you are skipping the entry screens you will not see the pop-up to turn on your controller. Don’t panic, you can still turn it on and re-center in the exact same way you would with the entry screens on.
That’s all it takes
And there it is, a fully functioning Daydream headset for around $50 — half what an official Daydream View costs. From here you can play any game or app you want as if you were using the official software. The Virtoba VR Controller is far better than I thought it would be and at $20 it makes all the difference.
If you have any questions or if you have already done this, let us know in the comments below.
Google Daydream
- Daydream View review
- The ultimate guide to Daydream
- These phones support Daydream VR
- Every Daydream app you can download
- Catch up with Daydream in the forums!
Android Auto: Everything you need to know!
It’s almost perfect. Almost.
I’m a huge fan of Android Auto. Actually, I’m a huge fan of anything that gets folks’ phones out of their fat fingers while flying down the highway. Or at stoplights. Anywhere, really. And the good news is we have more options than ever. A car mount and Bluetooth are OK. Apple’s CarPlay isn’t too awful.
But Android Auto is what all infotainment systems should strive to be. It’s easy to use. It looks nice.
And most important is that it doesn’t just make it impractical to use your phone while driving — it mostly makes it so you don’t even want to touch the thing.
But all is not perfect in Google’s implementation of a car mode. So as we enter into a new year of hardware and services — knowing full well that things on the horizon are liable to change our views as they come into focus — let’s take a look at what’s working, and what needs improvement.
Android Auto is the safest — and easiest — way to use your phone in your car.
Android Auto: The basics
Your car doesn’t “run” Android Auto. It’s not natively baked into your vehicle. (Yet.) No, whether you’ve got the factory infotainment system, or an aftermarket head unit, you’ll still have to contend with the crappy built-in user interface. It’s just a fact of life.
Android Auto is separate and runs alongside that factory experience. It’s powered by your Android phone. The apps live on your Android phone. And that’s a good thing. Because any car that can use Android Auto can use your Android Auto. Your apps. Your music. Your experience.
Google Maps on Android Auto.
The biggest change for Android Auto over the past year or so actually came at the end of 2016. Until then, Android Auto was an app on your phone that projected itself onto a car’s infotainment screen, and only that screen. Your phone would go dark, effectively (but not completely) locking you out while it did the heavy lifting and projected a driver-friendly UI into the car.
Now? Android Auto starts as an excellent phone-based car mode app. It doesn’t matter how old your car is, or whether it has a radio at all, never mind one with a 7-inch display. No expensive aftermarket installations, and no having to deal with potentially clunky wiring. (More on that in a second.)
But if you do have a compatible head unit, you get a bigger, better experience. Bigger album art. Larger maps. Large touch targets. And something that’s more built-in, which to me makes it feel like something you use and don’t necessarily play with. You currently have to plug your phone in for it to work, though that’ll start to change this year as wireless connections finally see the light of day.
But by and large, whether you’re using the phone version of Android Auto or the in-dash variety, they’re mostly the same experience.
And of course you can talk to your car with Android Auto. If you’ve got a “talk” button on your steering wheel, by all means use that. If you don’t, you can hit the on-screen microphone button. Or you can just have your phone set to respond to “OK, Google,” and that’ll take care of things automatically.
What cars have Android Auto capability built in? A lot, with more being added all the time. (Google says more than 400, though.) And aftermarket options from Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony and more make the full Android Auto experience available to pretty much anyone with a doube-DIN sized hole in their dash.
There are some holdouts, though. BMW? Forget it. Mercedes? Only if you’re lucky. And Mazda is still struggling to add Android Auto for some reason.
Picking an app to use on Android Auto is as simple as pointing a finger.
Android Auto: The apps
Every app that works on the built-in version of Android Auto works on the phone version of Android Auto. That’s because there aren’t really any special apps for Android Auto. Instead, think of AA as a framework for existing apps that reworks features into a car-friendly interface. Google Maps is Google Maps — it also happens to work on Android Auto. Pocket Casts is the same great podcatcher that also happens to work on Android Auto. Waze is Waze.
You can put Android Auto apps (erm, apps that also work on Android Auto) into three categories: Entertainment, messaging, and maps. How many are there? I don’t know. Google’s promotional page is incomplete. But it’s a fairly deep repository.
Not every app works with Android Auto — and apps that do work with Android Auto have to follow a pretty specific set of guidelines, for ease of use as well as safety reasons. You’re not going to be watching video while you drive. (And you really shouldn’t anyway.)
And to complicate matters a little further, the Uber-popular Waze — which is and always has been a mapping app on your phone — works on Android Auto on the full-screen experience, but not on the phone version of Android Auto. Go figure.
The Android Auto Home Screen.
The Android Auto User Interface
You can think of Android Auto as a system within a system. It’s got a background, and a sort of home screen. But you’ll only be using one application at a time, with notifications at a bare minimum, and only from messaging apps that have been extended to Android Auto. The whole point, of course, is to have a few distractions as possible while still actually being able to use the thing.
The main options are all docked at the bottom of the screen. Navigation. Phone calls. Your home screen. Audio. This is where you’ll switch between apps, and open up the app picker if you’ve got more than one in a given category. (And you probably do.)
The home screen is customized with information from your Google account. The weather shows up here. Upcoming events will appear. Recent calls (incoming and outgoing) and messages will be seen. Any current media that’s been playing is here. And it’s all done in an easy-to-read, easier-to-deal-with way.
Entertainment apps on Android Auto
Google Play Music on Android Auto.
While “entertainment” isn’t quite the right word for this subcategory of Android Auto apps (technically it’s “audio”), it’s close enough. Music apps are in there. Google Play Music is usually included by default. And as you’d expect, it works great on Android Auto. But it’s far from the only choice. Spotify is supported. Amazon Music is in there. So, too, are Pandora and Deezer. As are others.
Podcast apps — podcatchers — fall into this category as well. Google’s own is built in to Google Play Music, of course. But other apps like Pocket Casts and Dogcatcher and BeyondPod have included Android Auto.
Android Auto doesn’t really care what you’re listening to. It’s just concerned about how it looks. To that end every audio app looks and works pretty much the same way, with the same styled buttons and menus. That’s by design, and it generally works pretty well.
Messaging apps on Android Auto
Skype is available for Android Auto. If that doesn’t give you a sense of dread, I don’t know what will. But for as distracting as messaging apps tend to be on a phone or computer, Android Auto has done well to keep what otherwise is a black hole of notifications — you’re never getting out of this one — and turning it into something safe and usable.
It’s simple, really. A messaging app on Android Auto routes the app to your screen in the form of a notification — and not the message itself. You can choose to listen to it, or not. And you can choose to reply with your voice, or not. That’s it. It reads the message aloud (which can be fun depending on the message, and whether anyone else is in the car with you), and you can reply.
This goes for things like SMS text messages, Skype, WhatsApp — anything that supports Android Auto. Your experience will vary depending on the frequency of messages — being bombarded is especially annoying here — and by how many emoji your kids might use in a single stretch. You haven’t lived until Android Auto gives you a readout of gold star gold star unicorn watermelon rainbow lighting bolt smiley face Canadian flag clapping missing tooth poop poop poop poop poop poop poop poop fireworks fireworks heart heart poop.
And that would be a short one.
You also can initiate messages using your just your voice. Again, the whole idea is to keep your eyes on the road.
Map apps on Android Auto
You can have any navigation app on Android Auto, so long as it’s Google Maps or, more recently, Waze. (Coincidentally, both of those apps are owned by Google.)
This is one of those times when the lack of choice should be bemoaned. But on the other hand I don’t know what other app I’d use.
Both apps hook into your calendar, so upcoming destinations are literally a tap away.
Which should you use — Google Maps or Waze? As I explained in my deep dive, I’d use Google Maps when I don’t know where I’m going. It’s got better routing, and the map UI is much better. I use Waze when I know where I am, or when getting real-time notifications of hazards (or speed traps) are desired.
Phone calls on Android Auto
Phone calls on Android Auto.
Yes, you can make phone calls over Android Auto, too. When you’re plugged in, any media audio is routed over the USB connection. But phone calls are still a Bluetooth matter.
Android Auto’s contacts and dialer are done in the same “Material Design” scheme you’d find on a phone. Because — wait for it — they’re the exact same apps you have on your phone, just with the output redesigned for Android Auto.
You can use a traditional dial pad if you’re stationary. (There’s a full keyboard tucked away in here, too, though I seldom use it.) You can call with your voice. You can easily answer and reject calls.
If you’ve got a built-in microphone in your head unit — and if you’re using the full-display experience, you probably do — Android Auto routes through that, just as it should.
Google Assistant on Android Auto
Perhaps even more important is that Android Auto has full access to Google Assistant. Pretty much anything you can ask your Google to do on your phone, you can also do in Android Auto, using only your voice.
Have connected lights? Command them to turn on while you’re driving home. Prefer to manually set the thermostat on your commute? Just tell Google Assistant to do it. It doesn’t care where you are. It just does it.
Same goes for all those random questions we ask Google. What time does the sun set? How many movies has George Clooney been in? Do dogs and bees smell fear? Having Google Assistant built in means you can answer any random question your kids yell at you from the backseat.
In other words, Google Assistant is the same on Android Auto as it is on your phone. Because Google Assistant is on your phone.
What’s broken, and what’s next
Android Auto isn’t perfect. And for as simple as it is, there are a lot of variables at work here — particularly when we’re talking about the full-display AA experience and not just using it as a car mode on your phone.
If there’s been one single bugaboo that should be called out, it’s connection problems.
For Android Auto to be truly great, the connection has to work the first time, every time.
Again, lots of variables here. The phone itself. (Is it USB-C? MicroUSB? Did the manufacturer do something dumb when it senses that a cable’s been connected?) There’s the cable itself. (Are there manufacturing defects, or some other property that causes it to not work properly?) There’s whatever the phone’s connecting to — be it a factory-installed infotainment system, or aftermarket head unit. (And what about any extension cables used with them?)
That’s also something that conceivable will be fixed — or at least circumvented — with the addition of wireless connections to Android Auto. Though one man’s fix is another’s problem waiting to happen.
I also want to see more control over which apps appear on Android Auto. For example: I’ve got the New York Times app on my phone, but I don’t necessarily want it showing up in my Android Auto list. There needs to be an option to hide apps from the app picker. I’ve got six apps in my entertainment app picker. But I only listen to two — and one of them requires me to scroll down a couple times when I switch between the two.
The bottom line
Gripes aside, this much is true: There’s no better in-car experience than Android Auto. It’s one of those pet projects that doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves — and that’s all too often a rare thing in this industry.
Android Auto has shown that it’s possible to create a distraction-free interface that’s usable. Android Auto is easy to use. It’s intuitive, and it just works. And it’s safe.
And Android Auto looks fantastic. It’s one of the better examples of design meeting both form and function goals in the same package. It makes any factory infotainment user interface look like the utter garbage it generally is. It makes Apple’s CarPlay seem as boring as it is jumbled.
And that Android Auto is now available to everyone with an Android phone is a huge step toward curing one of the biggest hurdles on the road — getting our phones out of our hands.
Huawei P20 Lite shows off its notch, dual cameras, and Android Oreo
Huawei will announce three new phones on March 27 in Paris — the P20, P20 Lite, and P20 Plus. The regular P20 showed off its good looks earlier this week thanks to a leaked hands-on photo, and now its Lite sibling is getting similar treatment.
Once again, Evan Blass has given us a clear look at what to expect from Huawei next month. Just like the P20, the P20 Lite has two rear cameras, very slim bezels surrounding its display, and an iPhone X-style notch at its top. I’m personally not a fan of this look, but it seems to be a design trend that’s here to stay for at least the next year or so.
The P20 Lite has two 16MP cameras on its back.
Aside from the fingerprint sensor being moved to the back of the P20 Lite rather than below the screen like on the P20, both phones are very similar in regards to their design.
In addition to the above photo, Blass has also shared a few specs we can look forward to on the P20 Lite. The screen is said to be 5.6-inches with an 18:9 aspect ratio and 1080 x 2250 resolution, Huawei’s own Kirin 659 will power the phone along with 4GB RAM, and you’ll also find 64GB of internal storage, a 3,520 mAh battery, and Android 8.0 Oreo with EMUI 8.0.
The dual camera system on the back was made in partnership with Leica, and it features two 16MP sensors that’ll allow for a “hybrid zoom” feature.
There’s no word on pricing or availability at this time, but we’ll thankfully get all the official details from Huawei in just under a month.
Are you looking forward to the P20 Lite?
Huawei P20: Rumors, specs, availability, and more!
How to use Google Calendar
There’s a myriad of tools, online and off, for organizing your life, but one of the easiest to access and use is Google Calendar. With options for setting specific dates and times for events and reminders, notifications sent to your email, and the ability to keep others in the loop about what you’re doing, it’s a versatile tool with a ton of features.
To take advantage of all that, you need to learn how to use Google Calendar. Fortunately, it’s easier than you might think and in this guide we’ll teach you everything you need to know. In just a few clicks, you’ll have your schedule for the next few weeks mapped out, and you’ll never forget a birthday again.
For more help with Google’s online tools, here’s some great tips for using Gmail, and everything you need to know about the Google Assistant.
Use your Google Account
To be able to use Google Calendar, you need to have a Google Account. If you have one of those already — and you do, if you ever logged in to Gmail, YouTube or any other Google applications — click through to Google Calendar and skip forward to the next section. If you don’t, follow the steps below to create one.
Step 1: Go to the Google Calendar homepage. When presented with the Google Account login page, click “More options,” followed by “Create account.”
Step 2: Fill out all of the relevant information in the account form and click “Next step” to continue.
Step 3: Google may ask you to verify your account using a mobile device. Do so and then you’ll be sent through to the welcome screen.
You now have a Google account that can use all of its services, and that includes Google Calendar.
Creating an event
Arguably the most important element of a calendar is making sure you are reminded of important dates. To do that with Google Calendar, you need to create an “event.” Here’s how to do so.
Step 1: Find the date and time that the event is taking place on. Click the corresponding block. Alternatively, click the red “+” button in the bottom right-hand corner.
Step 2: Choose whether you want this to be an event with extra details or a simple reminder. Reminders can be set up to repeat on a regular basis, whereas events are designed as one-off occasions that you need notifying of.
Step 3: Type in a title for your event and use the timing options to select how long it will last.
Step 4: If that’s all you need, hit the “Save” button, but if you want to add more detail, click “More Options.”
Step 5: On the page that appears, you’ll be given a chance to create a guest list and invite people to it, set up notifications to your email address at specific times, add a location, and add a detailed description of what’s happening.
Guest lists
If you have a lot of friends and family coming to your event, it can be handy to create a guest list, and you can do that right within Google Calendar’s “More options” menu. For a look at how to organize everything on your mobile device, here’s a few alternatives.
Step 1: Select your big event and head into “More options” as before.
Step 2: On the right-hand side you’ll notice a section specifically for “Guests.” Decide whether you want your guests to be able to invite others and see the total guest list — and even modify the event itself — using the tick boxes.
Step 3: When that’s decided, click the “Add guests” box and begin inputting names. If guests are already part of your Google address book, a real name will suffice. If not, you’ll need to input their full email.
Step 4: When you have populated your guest list, if the event is fully detailed, press the “Save” button. A notification will appear asking you if you want to email the guests. Clicking “Send” will furnish them with an email telling them about the event, who’s going, and asking them whether they will be able to attend.
Sharing your calendar
Although you can invite people to events, if you want someone or a group to know exactly what you’re up to in the coming weeks and months, you can always share your entire calendar with them. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: On your main calendar page, look to the left panel where you’ll see “My calendars.” Hover over the calendar you wish to share and click the three dotted menu icon that appears on the right, followed by “Settings and sharing.”
Step 2: The menu that appears has a lot of options, but you are looking for the third box down, “Share with specific people.” Click the “Add people” link, and then input names or email address as applicable.
Step 3: When you have added who you want to share the calendar with, you can also tweak how much control they have over it.
Step 4: When you’re happy with your sharing settings, click the “Send” link to make people aware of their new insight into your schedule, and their ability to modify it. If you want to continue adding to or tweaking your calendar after that, hit the back arrow in the top left-hand corner.
Editors’ Recommendations
- Learn how to use Google Maps with these handy tips and tricks
- How to make a YouTube channel
- How to take a screenshot on a Google Pixel or Pixel 2 smartphone
- How to update your Gmail picture
- Everything you need to know about Android 8.0 Oreo
Hangouts Chat, Google’s Slack competitor, is now available to download
Included as a core G Suite service from here on out.
If you work remotely or in a large organization, chances are your company uses Slack for business-related communication. It’s something we use here at Android Central every single day, and Google’s hoping it can steal away Slack loyalists with the launch of Hangouts Chat.
Hangouts Chat was first announced about a year ago last March, and it was first rolled out as part of an Early Adopter Program. However, Google’s now making Hangouts Chat a core feature of its G Suite so anyone can download and use it right away.
Similar to Slack and other related apps, Hangouts Chat allows you create various group chats and communicate one-on-one with other employees via direct messages. Hangouts Chat is available in 28 languages, chat groups/rooms can hold up to 8,000 members each, and you’ll find tight integration with Google’s other services — including Docs, Sheets, Slides, Vault, and Hangouts Meet.
And, of course, this wouldn’t be a Google product without some use of AI. According to Google:
When your teams collaborate in Chat, you can speed up manual work, like booking conference rooms, searching for files and more using artificial intelligence.
To help increase your productivity even more, Hangouts Chat also supports bots. There are 25 available at launch, including ones from Xero, Freshdesk, Kayak, Trello, Zenefits, and others.
Hangouts Chat has dedicated apps for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. If you’re like me and have a laptop running Chrome OS, you’ll need to use Hangout Chat’s web app or use the Android app that’s not optimized for large displays.
Download: Hangouts Chat (free)
Twitter adds Bookmarks so you can save tweets for later without liking them
Say goodbye to awkwardly liking tweets you don’t actually agree with.
Twitter’s my go-to social network of choice, and while I enjoy most parts of it, there are a few areas that are in desperate need of improvement (I’m looking at you, un-editable tweets). While edits still aren’t here, Twitter is adding something that a lot of people have been asking for for a while — bookmarks.
As you can probably guess, the purpose of bookmarks is to give you an easy way to save tweets for later that you might not have time to look at right that very second. To do this, tap on the new share icon and then select “Add Tweet to Bookmarks.”
To then find any tweets you’ve bookmarked, just tap on your profile icon and then the Bookmarks tab.
Up until now, the only way to save tweets for later was to like them. This method worked fine, but it meant you had to like tweets for later viewing even if you didn’t really like/agree with what they said.
I don’t currently have access to Bookmarks on my account, but Twitter says this feature is rolling out today to its Android, iOS, and Lite apps, as well as its mobile site.
This is our first look at Fitbit’s next smartwatch
AIVAnet 