One of the most relevant announcements for India at Google IO was how the Android P Beta is coming to a lot more devices. four of the best selling brands in India were on the list – Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and OnePlus. Even Nokia and Essential devices will have Android P beta. 

This is especially exciting, since the beta version of any Android operating system (OS) is usually exclusive to Google phones, like the Pixel and Pixel 2. Samsung was probably the most glaring absentee from the list of participants.

The change in direction points to a faster roll out of Android updates on smartphones in general. But since these brands do focus their business on India, it also means users can expect faster updates. 

It’s a step towards reducing the disconnect between Google, Android devices and customised user interfaces, something the company has been trying to get a handle on for over a year now. Fragmentation in Android is one of the main reasons why Marshmallow has the widest distribution despite being three versions old. 

It’s not surprising if this reminds anyone of Project Treble, which was launched early last year. Essentially, these new partnerships cater to the same goal, making vendor implementation faster.

Specifically in Xiaomi’s case, the Android version of the Mi 6X, rumoured to be the Mi A2, seems more likely to come to India now.

According to reports, the Android P will be available on seven smartphones – the Sony Xperia XZ2, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Essential PH-1, Oppo R15 Pro, OnePlus 6 and  Nokia 7 Plus. Only the latter two devices are currently in the market or will be, in the case of the new OnePlus flagship. But, nonetheless, this development paves the way for faster updates on future devices under these brands.

http://www.techradar.com/news/indians-can-expect-faster-updates-to-android-p-this-year

In a relatively light hardware year at Google I/O, the Mountain View-based company saved one announcement for its most hardcore of Android TV developers – a new device called the ADT-2 that will serve as a testbed for Android TV P, its upcoming version of Android TV. 

The device doesn’t look like much with it’s almost original Chromecast-like exterior, but the latest additions to Android TV should allow even the most low-spec’d devices to enjoy solid playback and quick navigation. 

That said, if it’s the same device we saw in a report last month in an FCC Filing, the ADT-2 uses an Amilogic S905X processor with 2GB of RAM under the hood, and 8GB of eMMC storage for downloading apps and games.

The streaming dongle was introduced by the Director of Android TV, Sascha Prueter during the developer focused “What’s new on Android TV” breakout session, and while the vast majority of the talk focused on how code should be implemented in Android TV P, it did give a fair overview of some of the new features coming to Android TV in the near future.

Besides the performance enhancements, Google will include an autofill feature similar to what you’d find on Google’s search engine, plus suggested settings which uses previous settings from Android TV devices to setup your new Android TV, and suggested apps which recommends apps based on apps that you’ve used previously.

There’s also a new interface, which you can see pictured in the photo above. 

ADT-2, the future of Android TV 

While its name may sound strange, the ADT-2 is a sequel to the ADT-1 that Google unveiled during its 2014 keynote when it announced Android TV. 

Like the original ADT-1, the ADT-2 will be made exclusively to developers who can apply for a test unit of their own via a Google Form located at: g.co/io/adt2-signup. 

Disappointingly, Google was rumored to unveil a new consumer-facing Chromecast device alongside a game-streaming service codenamed ‘Yeti’ – even going as far as to mention “a new device” in the talk’s description – but it seems, for now, the best we’re going to get is the ADT-2. 

The silver lining? Google has given a lot of thought to the next generation of Android TV devices and the ADT-2 is the ground-floor foundation. 

• Missed this morning’s keynote? Don’t worry, we’ve got every announcement in our Google IO live blog 

http://www.techradar.com/news/the-next-android-tv-device-is-here-but-its-only-for-developers

One of the biggest pitfalls of running Windows 10 on a Snapdragon chip is the fact that Qualcomm’s ARM processors don’t support 64-bit applications. However, at Microsoft Build 2018, Qualcomm has announced it is releasing a 64-bit SDK for Windows on ARM.

An early preview of the SDK comes with the latest Visual Studio 15.8 Preview 1 with all the tools to allow you to create your own 64-bit ARM apps. What’s more, Qualcomm says developers will be able to develop x64 apps that run natively on ARM processors rather than relying on an emulator.

“While the algorithms that make emulation possible are engineered to optimize performance,” a Qualcomm spokesperson said in the release. “Running your app natively allows your customers to get the most performance and capability from your app on this new category of devices.”

With this new software developers kit, programmers will finally be able to create 64-bit applications for Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 devices. That said, a software developers kit isn’t going to suddenly make 64-bit applications work on devices like the Asus NovaGo and the HP Envy x2. Rather, developers will still have to rewrite their existing and new programs to work on Snapdragon devices.

Up until now 64-bit application support has been missing on Windows 10 for ARM, forcing users to download the 32-bit version of their favorite programs. Even then though, these x86 apps can’t run natively on the hardware and instead require an emulator.

http://www.techradar.com/news/qualcomm-pushes-towards-64-bit-apps-on-windows-10-for-arm