[Update: Reverted] Chrome for Android will soon support Chrome’s DNS Prefetching for Faster Web Browsing

Update 1/29/18: The Asynchronous DNS feature has been reverted due to an unspecified bug.

Chrome for Android will soon support DNS prefetching, a technology that allows for faster web browsing, according to a merged commit in the Chromium Gerrit.

DNS prefetching, which is also known as asynchronous DNS, has existed as a flag in desktop Chrome since 2012, when it was introduced as an experimental feature and disabled by default. Since then, it's gotten some development attention, and in some cases can now cut page loading times by a few seconds.

Here's how it works: When you visit a webpage using any web browser, your browser queries a Domain Name Server (DNS) to get the IP address of that webpage. It's to eliminate the need to remember IP address numbers for different websites — imagine having to type "209.85.203.94" into your browser's URL bar every time you wanted to visit Google! It's impractical, and a much easier alternative is assigning names to web pages and having those names resolve back to an IP address.

DNS servers around the world keep a database of websites and their associated IPs, but there's a problem: When you're browsing the web, the DNS lookup process can take a few whole seconds in some cases. That leaves folks with perfectly capable connections waiting for servers to finish name resolution and return a website's IP address, which is where Chrome's asynchronous DNS feature comes in.

With the DNS prefetching flag in Google Chrome on Android enabled, Chrome scans the page for clickable links and resolves the URLs to IP addresses. By the time you head to any of the pages, their addresses will have been returned to your device, mitigating any DNS speed issues — the only bottleneck will be your own connection. (Optionally, it will use your device's own DNS servers and won't touch Google's unless you want it to.)

DNS prefetching should be coming to the stable branch of Google Chrome for Android soon.

Google Chrome: Fast & Secure (Free, Google Play) →

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Progressive Web Apps can be enabled on Desktop Chrome right now—here’s how

Apps on Chrome generally offer a good user experience, but they can be nightmares for developers who have to navigate the browser's proprietary APIs. Luckily, Google's moving to adopt a platform — Progressive Web Apps — that does away with many of the complexities, and it's supported in the latest stable version of Chrome.

Enabling Progressive Web Apps in Chrome is easy. Assuming your client's up to date, all you have to do is toggle three development flags: App Banners and Experimental App Banners, which enable the prompts that let you install web apps; and Desktop PWAs, which adds windowing and banner support for PWAs.

If the links aren't working for you, try copying and pasting these URLs into the address bar:

• App Banners: chrome://flags#enable-app-banners
• Experimental App Banners: chrome://flags#enable-experimental-app-banners
• Desktop PWAs: chrome://flags#enable-desktop-pwas

Progressive Web App flags in Chrome.

It's all downhill from there. Once you've enabled the relevant flags and typed in a PWA's web address, you'll see an Install to desktop option in Chrome's drop-down menu.

Then you'll get an Install to desktop pop-up prompt. Clicking on Add will save the PWA to your PC's desktop, where you can launch it just as you would any Chrome app.

PWAs, if you haven't heard, are web apps designed with the flexibility of desktop apps in mind. They launch from icons and shortcuts just like native apps, but their reliance on CSS3, JavaScript, and other open web frameworks allows them to work across browsers and platforms with minimal porting. By using a combination of plugins, web APIs, and scripts, they're able to juggle tasks like network requests, push notifications, content fetching, and more.

There's a lot to like about PWAs. They have the potential to reduce load times and data usage, and some even have better user interfaces than their native counterparts. But they're not perfect. Chrome lacks a first-party storefront for PWAs, for example — to find apps, you'll have to scour community showcases like PWA.rocks. And PWAs can't use Chrome to its fullest just yet. In a statement late last year, Google said that it's been "investigating ways to simplify the transition for developers that depend on exclusive Chrome App APIs."

Like or not, though, Google's going full steam ahead with PWAs. In 2017, the search giant announced that it'd phase out support for Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux in favor of PWAs by "mid-2018".

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First Intel Cannon Lake Chromebook may be a Detachable

It's been pretty quiet on the Chromebook front lately, but that doesn't mean developments aren't happening behind the scenes. Recently, an Acer Chrome OS tablet was discovered at Bett 2018; Chromebooks powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 and Intel's Apollo Lake platform might be on the way; Samsung's detachable "Nautilus" Chromebook is rumored to get a Sony IMX258 camera sensor; and we've seen evidence of wake on voice support in detachable Chromebooks Soraka and Poppy.

In November, Chrome Unboxed reported that a new Chromebook codenamed "meowth" was in development. It's said to be the first powered by Intel's 10nm Cannon Lake platform, which hasn't been released yet. There weren't (and still aren't) any details about the laptop's specifications or release timeframe, but new commits on the Chromium Gerrit hint that it might be a detachable Chromebook.

Commit number 888222, titled, "common: Add base detection support", mentions a "detachable base" and "ADB pins". Here's the description:

This commit adds a common framework for detecting a detachable base. The framework requires two ADC pins which are for attach and detach detection. It implements a basic state machine and a valid detach or attach is left for board specific code to decide. This may simply be comparing the read values with given thresholds.

BUG=b:69140200
BRANCH=None
TEST=Add base specific code to meowth; enable base detection, verify it works as expected.

And commit number 888223, titled, "meowth: Add support for base detection", states:

TEST=Verify that we can detect a base attach and detach.

The launch of Intel's Cannon Lake platform is probably some time away, given that it's Intel's first 10nm microarchitecture. (The company released Kaby Lake Refresh as its 8th Generation Intel Core platform in 2017.) It's more likely than not that "meowth" won't see the light of day for some time, but we expect to learn more in the coming months.

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Nokia 3 to Get Android Oreo Beta Soon, while Nokia 2 will Jump to Android 8.1 Oreo

It's been less than a year since HMD Global entered the Android smartphone market with the launch of the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, and Nokia 3. The company later released the Nokia 8 as its flagship smartphone in 2017, and the entry-level Nokia 2 soon after. Notably, all of HMD Global's smartphones last year shipped with stock Android, and the company promised that they would receive quick updates.

So far, it's kept its word. The Nokia 8 recently received an update to Android 8.0 Oreo, and beta programs are underway for the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, and Nokia 9. Now, HMG Global Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas said via Twitter that a beta labs program for the Nokia 3 is "around the corner", and that the Nokia 2 will skip Android 8.0 Oreo in favor of Android 8.1 Oreo.

Also #Nokia2 but will go straight to 8.1 to get memory optimization features as it is a 1GB RAM device. #Nokia3 Beta Labs right around the corner.

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) January 27, 2018

HMD Global previously confirmed that the Nokia 2 would receive Android Oreo, and according to Mr. Sarvikas, Android 8.1 includes memory optimizations that'll benefit the phone's 1GB of RAM.

Previously, we have explained how Android Go can help older phones run Android 8.1 Oreo. The Nokia 2 doesn't have specifications that rival devices such as, say, the Xiaomi Redmi 4, but Android 8.1 has the potential to improve its software performance.

Mr. Sarvikas didn't offer a timeframe for the Nokia 2's Android 8.1 update, but it's not unreasonable to expect it to be rolled out after the Nokia 8 receives an update to Android 8.1.

When it comes to Android Oreo updates, HMD Global has established itself as one of the forerunners. It likely helps that the company's phones run stock Android — it doesn't have to make major software changes or customizations when it's packaging firmware for its devices. In any case, we applaud it for its prompt update rollouts and hope that the trend continues.

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Report: Trump administration officials reportedly proposed a nationalized 5G network

The US government's suspicion of Chinese telecom and smartphone companies appears to grow with each passing day. In early January, US lawmakers pressured AT&T to renege on deals with Huawei to launch the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and collaborate on upcoming 5G networking standards. It isn't exactly surprising, then, that it's reportedly entertained the idea of building a centralized 5G network designed to thwart China from conducting "espionage" operations. According to a report in Axios, members of the White House's National Security Council believe that a nationalized 5G network would aid in protecting against the encroachment of foreign actors.

According to the report, there are two ways the US government has proposed approaching 5G. The first involves building a 5G network and renting out access to telecom operators such as T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T, using the banner of "national security" to install wireless equipment in cities and states around the country. Telecom operators would effectively act as MVNOs in the arrangement, report, and the US would export its work on a secure network to emerging markets to protect "democratic allies".

The second option would have telecom operators build 5G networks on their own, just as they did with 3G and 4G. Trump officials were initially inclined towards the first option, according to the report, but have recently taken a more neutral stance.

In the hours after the report's publication this morning, it was denounced by several members of the Trump administration, who told Recode that the proposal was a "dated" idea floated by a White House staffer.

Separately, FCC chairman Ajit Pai vehemently opposed the proposed buildout of a government-owned 5G network.

"I oppose any proposal for the federal government to build and operate a nationwide 5G network," he said in a statement on Monday. "The main lesson to draw from the wireless sector's development over the past three decades — including American leadership in 4G — is that the market, not government, is best positioned to drive innovation and investment."

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Source: Axios Via: Recode Via: Uber Gizmo

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OnePlus Alert Slider Customization now possible with an Xposed Module

It's a common complaint of OnePlus phones that the alert slider, while a major time saver, is configured in a way that isn't terribly useful for most users. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that there isn't an easy way to customize it in Oxygen OS — putting the phones in silent mode (with vibration disabled) can be an annoying undertaking. The built-in options are fairly lackluster and don't leave much room for tinkering, and while third-party developers came up with ways to modify the alert slider's behavior in older versions of Oxygen OS with root access, those methods no longer work as a result of the changes OnePlus made when it merged Oxygen OS with the China-only Hydrogen OS. But thanks to the Xposed framework and a new module from XDA Member Seveilith, it's possible to customize OnePlus devices' alert sliders once again.

There aren't a lot of options for configuring the alert slider on the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T.

Enter Seveilith's Oxygen Slider for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T running OxygenOS 4.7.6 Nougat stable, which also works on the latest OxygenOS Open Beta for the OnePlus 5 with the newly released Xposed for Android Oreo. It has a huge list of options to choose from — you can program the alert slider to launch an application or switch toggle Wi-Fi, or even take a screenshot.

Here's a sampling of what you can do:

• Total Silence (AOSP)
• Silent
• Do Not Disturb
• Gaming Do Not Disturb
• Silent (Vibrate)
• Ring
• Reading mode [on/off]
• Night mode [auto/custom/on/off]
• Caffeine [from LOS/CM]
• Launch application
• Flashlight
• Camera
• Take screenshot
• Wi-Fi [on/off]
• Hotspot [on/off]
• Wi-Fi [on/off]
• Bluetooth [on/off]
• Power saver [on/off]
• Do nothing

And if that weren't enough, it's also packed with a few extra features that modify some of OxygenOS's other default behaviors:

• Show a Zen Toast (from Marshmallow) on slider changes.
• Disable volume dialogue peeking on slider changes.
• Hide the zen footer in the volume dialogue.
• Override the zen footer's settings shortcut with Oxygen Slider.

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Customizing the OnePlus alert slider using Oxygen Slider

Prerequisites

This Xposed module only works on OxygenOS. It isn't compatible on any custom ROM for the OnePlus 5 and 5T. It might also work on the OnePlus 3 and 3T, but hasn't been tested.

Part 1 – Installing Xposed

This part is pretty simple, and we suggest referring back to the Xposed for Android Oreo announcement post for details. You'll need to unlock your bootloader (which will wipe your device), then flash the Xposed for Android Oreo ZIP file.

Part 2 – Installing, enabling, and configuring the Xposed module

This is the easy part. First, follow the link below to visit the Google Play Store page for the Xposed module.

Oxygen Slider (Free, Google Play) →

Once you've installed it, navigate to the Xposed app, enable the newly added Oxygen Slider module and reboot your device. When it starts up again, the module will be enabled and you can start configuring it!

Part 3 – Customizing the OnePlus alert slider with Oxygen Slider

The app adds a lot of customisation options for the OnePlus alert slider. If the module is loaded correctly, you should see what's in the screenshot below.

If you see this, you're on the right track.

Take a look at all of the options in the screenshots below. As you can see, there's a lot you can do. (Note that you'll have to reboot your phone in order for any changes you make to the alert slider to take effect.)

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Why do I need an Xposed module to customize the OnePlus alert slider?

Previously, root access was used to intercept input from the alert slider, but due to Oxygen OS framework changes, root access alone isn't enough anymore. Xposed changes how apps and software interface with the device's hardware on a lower level than root, modifying how applications and other software compile and run. The Oxygen Slider module makes use of those capabilities to intercept alert slider changes in the system framework.

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