https://derpibooru.org/images/3589444

Image posted as content this time because Cloudfare doesn't like to show previews on the link.

• Android 16 now supports cloud compilation, a new feature that could speed up new app installs.
• The goal of cloud compilation is to avoid running the dex2oat tool during app installations by offloading compilation to the cloud.
• Dex2oat takes an APK file and generates app artifact files that the Android Runtime loads. Depending on the device and the amount of code to compile, this could take some time.

It looks like the ART (Android Runtime) JIT is playing an increasingly less important role with time.

Friendly reminder that the cloud is just someone else's computer.

• An Android Authority app teardown has revealed that Google is working on an inactivity reboot feature.
• This security feature would reboot devices if they’ve been locked for three consecutive days.
• This will likely be part of Android 16’s Advanced Protection Mode, which also blocks sideloading, disables 2G connections, and more.

AI Summary:

Corning Incorporated recently unveiled Gorilla Glass Ceramic, an innovative and transparent glass ceramic designed to enhance the toughness of mobile devices. This new material outperforms aluminosilicate glass in drop tests, showing significant improvement on rough surfaces. Gorilla Glass Ceramic expands Corning's durable material offerings for OEMs and will debut on a Motorola device in the near future.

I often manually choose English every time I post, but do I actually have to do this? Does this affect the ability of other users to view my posts, or am I wasting my time by taking this extra step on most posts and comments?

Google can't make a move in 2025 without veering into the realm of generative AI, and the release of the Pixel 9a is no exception. Curiously, the AI experience on this phone may not match what you've seen from the company's high-end smartphones. Google has confirmed to Ars that the phone's lower memory prevented it from implementing the full suite of Pixel AI features. You can still talk to Gemini by holding the power button or opening the Gemini app, but the on-device Gemini Nano model has seen a downgrade on the 9a.

A new study reveals that thousands of Android apps covertly collect location data using Bluetooth and WiFi beacons, allowing continuous tracking and profiling of users without explicit consent.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26586326

Phone makers need to collectively decide how we approach SIM cards going forward. The current state of eSIMs is an absolute mess, so we either need to ditch the idea of the eSIM-only future, or the big companies need to partner to solve this once and for all.

• Android 16 is on track for its June release, a departure from Google's usual August releases.
• Google's President of the Android ecosystem confirmed to Android Police it's on track for its target.
• Google has switched to Trunk Stable development, allowing it to release Android updates earlier.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite promises big things for late 2024 and 2025 flagship smartphones. From a new custom CPU to unrivaled graphics performance, photography, and enhanced AI capabilities, it’s the chip that claims to do it all, and, for the most part, it does. However, our initial impressions of the chip have been tainted by exceedingly high temperatures when placed under stress.

According to our source, those purchasing the Google Pixel 9a will get Fitbit Premium for 6 months, YouTube Premium for 3 months and Google One 100GB for 3 months. This is similar to the freebies that Google offered for the rest of the Pixel 9 series.

I feel like this isn't all that interesting news though because I thought trials were commonly included with new Android phones.

This is merely a small blurb. Here's the (nearly) complete text of the article (no real need to visit the page):

Qualcomm says Arm is no longer threatening to take its chip architecture away.

”Arm recently notified us that it was withdrawing its October 22nd, 2024 notice of breach and indicated that it has no current plan to terminate the Qualcomm Architecture License Agreement,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said on today’s Q1 2025 earnings call. (Qualcomm reported record quarterly revenue, and Amon says Snapdragon now has 10 percent share of $800-plus Windows laptops at US retail.)

Sounds like the chip licensing drama is coming to an end, although it's hard to know what agreements went on behind the scenes to call off the giants' battle.

• Android will soon be able to alert you when your device’s time zone has been automatically updated.
• This alert will come in the form of a notification.
• The feature isn’t live yet in the latest Android 16 preview, but when it does go live, it’ll be opt-in.

Sounds like a nice QOL mini-feature.

Hello Linux Gurus,

I am seeking divine inspiration.

I don’t understand the apparent lack of hypervisor-based kernel protections in desktop Linux. It seems there is a significant opportunity for improvement beyond the basics of KASLR, stack canaries, and shadow stacks. However, I don’t see much work in this area on Linux desktop, and people who are much smarter than me develop for the kernel every day yet have not seen fit to produce some specific advanced protections at this time that I get into below. Where is the gap in my understanding? Is this task so difficult or costly that the open source community cannot afford it?

Windows PCs, recent Macs, iPhones, and a few Android vendors such as Samsung run their kernels atop a hypervisor. This design permits introspection and enforcement of security invariants from outside or underneath the kernel. Common mitigations include protection of critical data structures such as page table entries, function pointers, or SELinux decisions to r