Google’s mid-range Pixel phone to come out next year with a Snapdragon 710

HMD Global will also release a Snapdragon 710 handset at the end of this year.

Google’s big hardware release this year is expected to be the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL this October, but starting next year, we could see a mid-range Pixel added to the lineup.

According to Roland Quandt on Twitter, Google’s currently working on a “mobile device” that’s powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 710 processor and is scheduled for a release at some point during the first half of 2019. There’s no word on pricing or other specs, but this sounds a lot like the mid-range Pixel we first heard about last April.

In addition to Google, HMD Global is also reportedly working on a Snapdragon 710-powered Nokia phone that’ll be released even earlier this autumn or winter. The Nokia phone is currently codenamed “Phoneix” while the Google one is known as “Bonito.” For what it’s worth, Bonitos are a type of medium-sized fish. Medium-sized fish = mid-range Pixel phone? Perhaps.

The term “mid-range” typically means that corners are cut in some areas to keep prices low, but thanks to the Snapdragon 710, performance shouldn’t see much of a hit at all. I recommend reading through Jerry’s breakdown of the chipset, but it’s essentially a Snapdragon 845 with better power efficiency and scalebacks where they make sense.

HMD Global’s already proven to be one of the best players in the mid-range Android space, and I’m beyond excited to see what kind of work Google can do here, too.

Snapdragon 710 chips mean nobody has to spend $1,000 on a phone

Might and Magic Elemental Guardians for Android: What you need to know

Ubisoft’s latest game for Android is a robust mobile RPG.

Might and Magic is a role-playing game franchise with a legacy that spans over 30 years. It was one of those early titles that helped establish the early PC RPG genre and still maintains a fanbase to this day.

The latest title in the series attempts to reboot the franchise and bring it into the 21st century by making the game accessible to millions of mobile gamers — Might and Magic Elemental Guardians. It fits into the larger Might and Magic universe that fans will recognize without being inaccessible to gamers who are coming in fresh to the franchise.

Download: Might and Magic Elemental Guardians (Free w/IAPs)

An iconic RPG franchise finds new life on mobile

Ubisoft bought the rights to the Might and Magic franchise from 3DO back when the company folded in 2003.

After 15 years, we’ve finally seen Ubisoft take up the franchise and turn it into a brand new mobile experience that borrows the fantastical settings and creatures found from the original series while updating the graphics and gameplay for mobile devices.

Elemental Guardians gives you have multiple ways to play. The game starts out with a single-player campaign that introduces the world of Ashan and the Akadimia, an Academy of Magic where you are a young Wizard apprentice. As part of your training, you are tasked with training and evolving mystical creatures which are discovered by breaking Soulstones. Create an ultimate team of your best creatures and battle to become the champion of Ashan.

The game features a brand new story that fits into the established world of Might and Magic. But story aside, this game is mostly about creating an epic team and battling through Special Dungeons to collect evolution items for your creatures and then battling other players in the PvP Arena.

The basics of battle strategy

Each creature you unlock is linked to one of four elements — Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. As you’d expect, each element has an advantage or disadvantage over another (for example, Fire is weak against Water but strong against Earth). Different creatures fall into one of four roles.

The most important part of preparing for battle is making sure your creatures are as strong as they can be, and that you have a balanced team that won’t get dominated by a single Element.

Creatures are also defined by their roles. There are four different roles that a Creature can play on your battle team: Attackers, Defenders, Support, and Saboteurs.

Attackers are capable of doling out serious damage but are more susceptible to damage. Defenders are the tanks on your team that are capable of taunting the enemy and can take more damage. Support creatures have special spells that can heal your team. Saboteurs feature spells that affect your opponent’s creatures and can help shut down particularly powerful characters.

To be successful in Elemental Guardians, you will need to be constantly upgrading, evolving, and tweaking your team to make them stronger. Once you unlock PvP mode, you can set your four best creatures to defend on your behalf as you work your way up the PvP ladder.

How many creatures can I collect?

There are currently over 400 creatures available to unlock and collect in the game, with much more ready to be added to the game over the coming months and years as the game expands. Each creature is given a star rating from 1 to 5, with one-star creatures being the most common and five-star creatures being exceptionally rare. Creatures are unlocked by using Soulstones, which are unlocked as loot from battles or can also be purchased via in-app purchases.

If you pre-registered for the game in the Google Play Store, you will have received an extra special creature upon the game’s official launch — Andy the Android bot. iOS users got a glowing orb meant to represent Siri so… Android users clearly won here!

Plenty of things to collect and upgrade

The biggest draw of Elemental Guardians is collecting loot. There’s a ton of stuff to collect — crystal and golden seals (coins) used as in-app currencies, energy and tickets for battles, potions for leveling up your characters. But the two most important collectibles in the game are Soulstones and Glyphs.

Soulstones are used in the Summoning Alter to summon new creatures. You can unlock new Soulstones by completing achievements or purchase them using your seals in the shop. You receive a new Soulstone daily, so you can always unlock a new creature simply by logging in each day. Alternatively, you can buy booster packs with Soulstones via in-app purchases in the shop — although to be clear, in-app purchases are limited and are designed to speed up the upgrading and evolving processes. There is no pay-to-win element in this game and everything can be unlocked without spending a dime in-game.

Glyphs are rare stones emblazoned with 14 different types of power-ups that can give your creatures special bonuses for HP, attack or defense powers, and faster cooldowns for special attacks. Glyphs are unlocked by winning battles and can be applied to open slots on your creature. You need to match up three of the same type of glyph to unlock the available bonuses.

Special events, daily missions, and more

One of the best ways to build up your resources in the game is by completing special events and daily missions. Each time you complete a section of the single-player campaign you will have completed multiple missions, and there are many missions that require multiple playthroughs of each island section to complete.

There are also monthly events that offer additional challenges for you to complete to unlock some epic rewards, such as rare creatures. Daily rewards are also gifted to you simply by logging in every day.

You are also able to create or join Guilds to connect and play with your friends.

See your creatures and battles in augmented reality

One of the coolest things making its way into the game is an augmented reality feature that lets you bring your creatures into your world to snap pictures with your favorites. You can also see battles unfold in augmented reality, too, which worked well in the tests that I saw.

The feature should be live on Android phones that support ARCore.

Download: Might and Magic Elemental Guardians (Free w/IAPs)

Are you an Elemental Guardian?

This game just launched and there’s plenty to do. Let us know what you think of this game in the comments below!

Android Gaming

• Best Android games
• Best free Android games
• Best games with no in-app purchases
• Best action games for Android
• Best RPGs for Android
• All the Android gaming news!

Samsung smartwatches, the Amazon Echo Show, and more are all discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on the Amazon Echo Show, Samsung Gear Sport smartwatches, Philips Hue smart lights, and more! Time’s running out to take advantage of these prices, so hurry!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

6 features from iOS 12 that need to come to Android

Good ideas are good ideas.

The WWDC Keynote just wrapped up and we got to see everything we are supposed to see about iOS 12.

We’re Android folks ’round these parts, but that doesn’t mean we can’t recognize a good thing when we see it. I’m all for letting company executives and ever-faithful fans fight about who copied who and who did it better and everything else as long as it means my phone can do something that makes my life easier. Besides, everyone knows that all these companies are copying Palm and/or Symbian anyways. (rimshot!)

Anyways, let’s leave the who-copied-who for another article or the courtroom and have a look at a few things we saw in iOS 12 that need to make their way to Android.

Native AR everywhere

Apple has built ARKit, the company’s excellent framework for AR and VR applications, deeper into the operating system so any app can tap into its power without necessarily adding it to the app itself — it’s just there and lets apps use it for cool stuff.

To show this off, Apple added a small utility that can leverage ARKit to measure distances or perform other basic measurements like getting the angle of an object as part of the system. It’s also adding a unique file type that lets apps and users share AR experiences across iOS.

Not everything is going to be better with AR involved. In fact, some things should never be paired with alternate anything. But supporting it across the platform and including a small default system tool for measuring anything is pretty awesome and I’d like to see that come to Android, which has been halfheartedly doing AR for years.

Please don’t create a new proprietary file format for it though.

Shortcuts for Siri

Order your @philz Mint Mojito and then tell @AriX you’re running late! pic.twitter.com/H2LTHmPH9N

— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) June 4, 2018

With a few taps, you can have Siri remind you when it’s time to leave, check the weather so you know if you need to take an umbrella, and even check on the traffic if you plan on driving. Called Siri Shortcuts, these small routines can be saved so they are always available.

Android already lets you create linked shortcuts in lots of different ways, but a simple app that would fire up Google Assistant and get an answer to something we need to ask regularly or a solution to any common task is a great idea. Even Bixby has “Quick Commands” that are a very similar idea. Simple is good. We need simple as much as we need powerful and complicated (maybe even more).

Android has Google Assistant Routines, which are similar to Siri Shortcuts. And using pre-built routines is dead simple. Creating custom routines is not. Google Assistant is super powerful and can do so much more than Siri, it’s time for Google to leverage that in a way anyone can use.

A dedicated place for Do Not Disturb

Adding some features like keeping notifications out of the status bar to the Do Not Disturb feature is great. Adding an icon in the action center so you can get to those settings in iOS 12 is one of those little things that can mean a lot.

Did you know your Android phone can probably do the exact same sort of thing with Do Not Disturb (keep notifications out of your status bar, have a quick shortcut for an hour or a day) that iOS 12 can? If you didn’t, it’s because Google has the whole DND system hidden and it’s difficult to understand how it works. On iOS 12, you’ll see it right in the action center and it’s easy to use.

Make it easy, even if that means adding an icon to the app drawer for it. Not everyone has a family member or friend to show them how Android works and what their phone can do.

Activity reports for managed accounts

Seeing part of Apple’s Digital Wellbeing efforts include an easy way to check what your kids are doing on their phones is perfect!

A lot of debate surrounds how children use a smartphone. No matter which side of it you’re on you have to admit seeing a detailed report of how your child is using their phone displayed right on your phone is a great idea.

Kids are impressionable and will absorb what they see to shape themselves. They often needs some guidance or supervision. When it’s easy to manage what your kids are doing on their phone, there’s no excuse to not do it.

Memoji

Take your face, turn it into an Animoji, then use it in FaceTime so your little head can talk along with you. This is the future and it is now.

Come on, we all want a Bitmoji mode built in to our phones. A little cartoon Jerry belongs on every message I send to Daniel. I’ll not say anything about tongue detection because, well, because.

Performance improvements for older phones

Apple is not only supporting a huge number of older iPhones with iOS 12, they are working to make those phones all run better, too.

Everyone wants updates, but often they can leave your phone sluggish and just worse than it was before you updated. New ideas come to software developers and it’s normal that older phones don’t have the specs to handle it very well.

Apple said it has plans to address performance on older models, which is pretty great. They described some kernel scheduler changes they are making to offset the extra software load on older silicon, and since they are heavily involved in the actual hardware design for those older chips, they can do even more.

When all is said and done, none of these other cool features matter when your phone runs poorly and you don’t even want to try them. Older iPhones needed this sort of attention, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to see Google and Android phone manufacturers doing the same.

What about FaceTime and encrypted messaging? With group messaging!

Apple added group calling to FaceTime, which is something iPhone users have wanted for a while. They also reminded us how FaceTime chats are encrypted from end to end so only the person who is supposed to read it can read what you send.

Nope. Keep that one, Apple.

FaceTime is awesome in its current form and looks even nicer with group calling enabled. But it only works if you have an iPhone and that means Apple doesn’t really care about providing a safe way to communicate — they only want to sell more iPhones. That’s cool and I don’t begrudge them doing it, just stop trying to paint it as some Good Samaritan effort, Apple.

Google needs to help get end to end end encryption adopted into the RCS standard instead so everyone can benefit no matter which phone they use.

You should be able to use whatever phone you want without having to worry about what anyone else thinks. And that phone should be able to do all the cool stuff you want it to do. That’s why we saw Apple take ideas from Google. Siri Shortcuts are very similar to Google’s Assistant Routines (albeit easier for users to create custom shrotcuts), the company’s Digital Wellbeing efforts mimic what we saw Google present to us at Google I/O 2018 in May, and those new features coming to Apple Photos are a carbon copy of what Google is doing with Google Photos.

We won’t even dig into bundled notifications other than to say it’s great that iPhone users can have them now.

We want iPhone users to love their phone. And we want Android users to have access to all the awesome things smart developers can dream of — even if it does “copy” someone else. And we really want to see these things come in the next version of Android.

WWDC 2018: Everything you need to know!

Android P

• Android P: Everything you need to know
• Android P Beta hands-on: The best and worst features
• All the big Android announcements from Google I/O 2018
• Will my phone get Android P?
• How to manually update your Pixel to Android P
• Join the Discussion

Google Lens now has a standalone app you can download

Available in the Play Store right now.

Google Lens is still far from perfect, but new features are steadily making it a tool that’s worth using with each passing day. To ensure everyone can access Lens in the blink of an eye, Google’s added a standalone app that you can download from the Play Store now.

Aptly named “Google Lens”, the app simply brings up the Lens viewfinder that you’d normally see when opening it via the Google Assistant.

Everything seems to work exactly the same as it does when accessing Lens any other way, including new features like Smart Text Selection and Style Match that were just added last week.

Google Lens is already pretty easy to access in its current form with the Assistant pop-up, and it’ll be even more readily available as it starts to make its way to the default camera app of select Android phones. In any case, if you’re a frequent Lens user and want to make sure you can open it ASAP, it may be worth giving this a spot on your home screen.

Download: Google Lens (free)

Apple Reveals ‘Memoji’ Personalized Animated Emojis Coming in iOS 12

Apple today revealed at its WWDC keynote that Memoji personalized animated emojis are being introduced with iOS 12.

Mimojis work similar to bitmojis – personal emojis that act as expressive cartoon avatars.

Apple offered a quick demo of the Memoji on stage, showing how the faces can be customized to look just like the user.

Tools were shown that allow for multiple changes to face shape, eye shape, nose shape, lips, and so on. Spectacles can be added to faces, as can accessories like caps, rings, and even accompanying pets.

More to follow…

Related Roundup: iOS 12Tags: Animoji, Memoji
Discuss this article in our forums

Group FaceTime Chats Coming to iOS 12, Supports Up to 32 Simultaneous Users

Beginning this fall with iOS 12, FaceTime will support audio and video calls with as many as 32 simultaneous participants. Members will be able to drop in and out of group call as necessary, much like an ongoing conference call.

The announcement could be a blow to dedicated conference call services like Zoom, as smaller organizations may choose to rely on the the built-in FaceTime rather than paying for a more feature-filled service.

On more populated video calls, the FaceTime app will automatically focus on and enlarge the “tiles” of users, and vary the size of individual tiles when someone else talks. You can also choose to lock focus on a certain user, and apply filter effects, Animoji, and the new Memoji to yourself while live on a call.

Group FaceTime will work on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and you can answer on audio using the Apple Watch.

Tag: WWDC 2018
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Reveals tvOS 12 With Dolby Atmos Support for Apple TV 4K, Aerial Screensaver Updates, and More

Apple today announced tvOS 12, which will introduce support for Dolby Atmos surround sound technology in the Apple TV 4K. When the update appears later in the year, iTunes will automatically update compatible movies with Dolby Atmos support for free.

With the addition of Dolby Atmos, Apple said that this makes the Apple TV 4K the only streaming box with support for both 4K and Atmos. Additionally, iTunes will become the “home to the largest collection of Dolby Atmos-supported movies anywhere” after the update.

Apple also reiterated the Apple TV as a game-changer for the television market, announcing that cable company Charter Communications will begin offering the Apple TV 4K to its customers this year (in a similar vein to promotions from DirecTV Now). Secondly, customers will have access to live channels and thousands of on-demand programs through a new Spectrum TV app on tvOS and iOS.

Apple is upgrading Single sign-on for Apple TV and iOS with “zero sign-on,” wherein the Apple TV detects the user’s broadband network and automatically signs them in to “all the supported apps they receive through their subscription – no typing required.” Zero sign-on support will launch with Charter in 2018 and roll out to other providers “over time.”

The company is also upgrading Aerial screensavers in tvOS 12 with new Earth footage captured in collaboration with the International Space Station National Lab and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. The screensavers have been taken by NASA astronauts and filmed in 4K HDR, and all Apple TV Aerial screensavers will now be more interactive with location information and swipe-to-change features through the Siri Remote.

A few other tvOS 12 updates include:

– With iOS 12, users can securely AutoFill passwords from iPhone and iPad to Apple TV to easily sign in to Apple TV apps.
– The Apple TV Remote will be automatically added to Control Center on iPhone or iPad for Apple TV users, giving users quick access to Apple TV controls.
– Home control systems like Control4, Crestron and Savant can be used to control Apple TV, including using Siri for voice search and control.

tvOS 12 will launch for all users as a free software update for the 4th generation Apple TV and Apple TV 4K in fall 2018.

Related Roundup: Apple TVTag: WWDC 2018Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple’s watchOS 5 Adds Automatic Workout Detection, Walkie-Talkie, and More

At WWDC this morning, Apple previewed watchOS 5, the newest version of the Apple Watch operating system. The update adds a number of new fitness and communications features that Apple says will help Watch owners “stay healthy and connected.”

Auto-workout detection is a major quality of life improvement for those who use their Apple Watch devices for fitness. In watchOS 4 and prior versions, users needed to manually begin a workout in the Workout app — and failing to do so meant missing out on tracking and other data related to their workout. watchOS 5 will use heart rate and movement data to determine if the user might be working out, and pop up an alert to the user to start the workout and even give retroactive credit to the start of the workout. It will also prompt users to end workout sessions if the user forgets to turn the app off.

Also new is an “activity competition” mode, that will allow fitness-focused friends to challenge each other to seven-day competitions, with users getting points for closing activity rings over the course of a week. Smack talk and achievements are, naturally, tightly integrated.

Yoga and hiking have been added to the types of workouts supported, taking into account elevation change and heart rate to accurate measure calories burned and total exercise minutes.

Runners have received a number of new features that will help keep them on track. A cadence or steps-per-minute metric that works on both indoor and outdoor runs has been added, and outdoor runners gain a new pace alarm that alerts if they are ahead of or behind a target pace. Finally, a rolling mile pace shows the pace for the immediately preceding mile, on top of the current and average pace displays.

A new Walkie-Talkie app lets users send push-to-talk messages (like an old-school Nextel phone) to each other from watch-to-watch, and a new Podcasts app has been added as well. That will allow subscribed podcasts to automatically sync to the device for offline listening, and music and audiobooks from apps like Pandora and Audible will sync to the Apple Watch for offline playback as well.

The Siri watch face has been updated with better shortcuts and suggestions, including sports scores or commute time ahead of your drive home. And actions for supported third-party apps will show up as well.

Finally, the Apple Watch will support on-device Student ID cards, allowing students access to buildings, to pay for food and laundry on campus, and more. It’s supported by a number of major universities at launch including Duke, the University of Alabama, and the University of Oklahoma this fall, with others — including Johns Hopkins and Temple University — offering support by the end of the year.

Apple also released a new rainbow-colored Pride watch band and watch face, which is available today.

watchOS 5 is expected to be released later this fall.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Announces macOS 10.14 Mojave, Featuring New Dark Mode, Desktop Stacks, a Redesigned Mac App Store, and More

Apple today previewed macOS Mojave during its keynote event at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California. Version 10.14 of the Mac operating system introduces a slew of new features, including a Dark Mode, Dynamic Desktop wallpapers, Desktop Stacks, a redesigned Mac App Store, and more.

The new optional Dark Mode lets users shift their desktop to a darkened color scheme that touches almost every part of the OS, including System Preferences, Messages, Mail, Maps, Photos, Calendar, and more. Developers will be happy to learn that the newest version of Xcode coming in Mojave also supports the new Dark Mode, and Apple is making an API available so developers can implement Dark Mode in their own apps.

“macOS Mojave is a major update that introduces powerful new features for a wide range of Mac users, from consumers to pros,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Dark Mode brings a dramatic new look to macOS that puts your content front and center, familiar iOS apps come to the Mac for the first time and the redesigned Mac App Store makes finding new apps easier and more enjoyable than ever.”

Mojave’s Dark Mode also includes a new Dynamic Desktop feature that automatically transitions new desktop wallpapers to match the time of day.

Meanwhile, a new Desktop Stacks feature is designed to keep your desktop more organized. The new Stacks feature organizes messy desktops by automatically stacking files into neat groups based on file type. Users can customize their Stacks to sort based on other file attributes like date and tags.

In addition, a new Gallery view for Finder makes it easier to preview files visually, including images, video, presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, and more. It also comes with a new Finder sidebar that offers media metadata and Quick Actions, which allow users to do things like create and password-protect PDFs and run custom Automator Actions on files.

Finder’s Quick View has also been updated with new Markup tools, and will allows users to rotate and crop images, mark up PDFs, and trim video and audio clips without ever opening an app.

macOS Mojave also introduces desktop versions of a number of iOS apps, including News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home. The apps were were brought to Mac using iOS frameworks that have been adapted to macOS. Apple says that starting in late 2019, these additional frameworks will be available for developers to bring their iOS apps to macOS.

An all-new redesigned Mac App Store is also coming with macOS Mojave. Like the iOS App Store, the redesigned Mac App Store has a new look and includes rich editorial content to help app discovery. The new design also highlights new and updated apps in a Discover tab, while tabs for Create, Work, Play and Develop aim to help users find apps for a specific project or purpose.

Apple has also focused on improving security and privacy in macOS 10.14. For example, the new Safari browser includes enhanced Intelligent Tracking Prevention to help block social media “Like” or “Share” buttons and comment widgets from tracking users without permission.

In addition, Safari now presents simplified system information when users browse the web, preventing them from being tracked based on their system configuration. In another security measure, Safari will automatically create, autofill, and store strong passwords when users create new online accounts, and flag reused passwords so users can change them.

Group FaceTime is another feature exclusive to macOS Mojave, and enables users to initiate chat sessions with up to 32 people at the same time. FaceTime users can also join later if a conversation is still active and choose to join using video or audio from an iPhone, iPad or Mac, or using FaceTime audio via Apple Watch. Group FaceTime is also available on iPhones and iPads running iOS 12.

Elsewhere, in an extension of Apple’s existing Continuity features, a new function called Continuity Camera allows the Photos app in macOS Mojave to access still shots and video captured from nearby iOS devices. Screenshots in macOS will also include new on-screen controls for accessing existing but hidden screenshot options as well as new video recording and photo editing capabilities.

macOS Mojave will be available this fall as a free software update for Macs introduced in mid-2012 or later, plus 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards.

Related Roundup: macOS MojaveTag: WWDC 2018
Discuss this article in our forums