Mishaal's Android News Feed

Evidently, the Galaxy S25 supports Satellite SOS messaging with Skylo as the service provider, but ONLY if you're on Verizon. Buried in Verizon's press release: "Verizon now offers seamless connection to Satellite SOS messaging powered by Skylo on the Galaxy S25 series, in the unlikely event that you need emergency services and are in an area without cellular connectivity." Why did Samsung not market this feature at all? What may have happened is that Samsung would rather not deal with deploying satellite SOS messages region-by-region and is leaving it up to carriers to make the respective partnerships, as Verizon has done with Skylo. Samsung went ahead and added support for a standards-based satellite solution in the form of the revived Snapdragon Satellite, so it's up to carriers to take advantage of it. I guess a lot of people would complain if Samsung had talked about the feature and how it's only available in a limited fashion, but I'm not sure why they didn't go the Google route and ink at least a nationwide deal.

🔒Here's how Android's new Secure Lock feature will help secure your sensitive data This'll solve a big security loophole: If a thief who sees you enter your PIN steals your phone, they can unlock it and see notifications and widgets. More details can be found in this article on Android Authority.

🔒Here's how Advanced Protection Mode in Android 16 will protect your data Turning on Advanced Protection will block sideloading, 2G connectivity, and enable MTE in Android 16. Read this article on Android Authority for more details on this upcoming security feature.

FYI: This is what Live Updates will actually look like in Android 16 Beta 1, as per Google's documentation. The GIF you may have seen elsewhere doesn't represent the feature in its current form but instead a potential future version. That's why I didn't include it in my article.

Android 16 Beta 1 is now available! The build number is BP22.250103.008, so this is a newer build than Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3. Factory images and OTAs are available for the Pixel 6 and later.

🚨Android 16 Beta 1 is OFFICIAL! The first Android 16 Beta brings big changes like: - Better app support for tablets - iOS-like notifications called Live Updates - Predictive back enabled for apps targeting API 36 Read this article for ALL the details. (FYI: Google just told me the release won't be fully available right now, but will be ready later today!)

Google has announced that Android's Identity Check feature will roll out to more Android devices later this year! This feature is currently available on Pixel devices following the December Android 15 QPR1 stable update and on One UI 7 eligible Samsung Galaxy devices. It only works on devices that support class 3 ("strong") biometrics. Identity Check forces biometric authentication to be used when trying to change sensitive settings, accessing your Google or Samsung accounts, seeing your passwords, and much more when your phone is outside a designated trusted location. This protects you from thieves who know your PIN/passcode/password when they steal your phone. To enable Identity Check once it rolls out, go to theft protection settings - Identity Check will be listed there if your device supports it. Google also announced today that its Theft Protection Lock feature has been 100% rolled out, so you should see it if you're running Android 10 or later and have GMS. This feature automatically locks your phone when it's detected that a thief has snatched it from your hand. It uses an on-device machine learning algorithm to detect this.

Big news: Google has just announced that Android will soon make ALL apps resizable on large screen devices! Currently, apps can lock themselves to portrait orientation or certain aspect ratios, which sucks for large screen devices like tablets, Chromebooks, and upcoming XR devices. On large screen devices, Android 16 will ignore apps' requests to restrict resizing and orientation changes. This behavior applies to apps that target API 36 but doesn't apply to games. Apps can opt out in Android 16 but this opt-out will be removed in the next Android release. Google is previewing these changes in Android 16 Beta 1. Source

Google's Deep Research feature will be coming to the Gemini app for Pixel users with a Gemini Advanced subscription in the next few days. Deep Research "helps you browse through up to hundreds of websites to generate a report with key findings, organized with links to original sources so you can learn even more."

Here's a look at Samsung's Project Moohan XR headset! This will run Google's Android XR software!

Samsung just teased the Galaxy S25 Edge at Galaxy Unpacked! This is likely the long-rumored slim model of the phone!

Samsung just teased the Galaxy S25 Edge at Galaxy Unpacked! This is likely the long-rumored slim model of the phone!