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Enter Android XR, the first new version of Android made for the Gemini era. Google says it's built with Gemini at the core, enabling a brand new type of user interface that's driven entirely by the way you interact with Google's multimodal AI.

As you might have guessed, the XR in Android XR isn't some weird Roman numeral moniker. Rather, it stands for eXtended Reality and is a new spinoff of Android built to unify XR products — mainly smart glasses and VR headsets — under a new set of standards and tools. It's exactly how Android Auto is built for car infotainment systems, and Wear OS is built for smartwatches.

Google has announced the end of cooperation with developers from Russia on the Google Play platform as of December 26. Russian developers will lose the opportunity to receive revenue from the sale of applications and subscriptions.

This means that Russian developers will no longer receive income from the sale of paid applications or subscription renewals through the service.

According to the decision, the processing of financial transactions for developers with accounts in Russian banks will also be terminated from this date. The last payments will be made on January 15, 2024, but the date of complete termination of cooperation has not yet been determined.

The government is not asking for Google to sell Android right away, but it wants that option if other measures it imposes don’t work to restore competition. In general:

For the avoidance of doubt, Google must not provide itself with preferential access to Android or Google-owned apps or data as compared to the access it provides to all other GSEs and AI Products…

Google cannot:

• “make any Google GSE [general search engine], Search Text Ads, or AI Product (including on-device AI) mandatory on Android Devices”
• “reduce, prevent, or otherwise interfere with the distribution of rival GSE, Search Text Ads, or AI Products on Android Devices”

• Google will discontinue official support for Android Lollipop OS, which debuted with Nexus 6.
• Also known as Android 5.0, it was widely popular for introducing Material You to Android devices.
• The said OS will no longer receive Google Play Updates, citing that less than one percent of active devices are running it.

• Google is discontinuing the Google One VPN service later this year, as it announced in April 2024.
• Some features will be deprecated completely, but the dark web reports feature is staying as a free feature for all Google users.
• Making the functionality free for everyone could help people become more aware of their online safety.

”Dark web report will become available to all users with a consumer Google Account,” the company explains, as reported by 9to5Google. “Dark web report is integrated with Results about you as a combined solution to help users protect their online presence.”

A pricing leak from France seems to suggest consumers are in for higher price points this year with the Pixel 9 series.

Pixel 9:

• 128GB - 899 euros (~$980)
• 256GB - 999 euros (~$1,089)

Pixel 9 Pro:

• 128GB - 1,099 euros (~$1,198)
• 256GB - 1,199 euros (~$1,307)
• 512GB - 1,329 euros (~$1,449)

Pixel 9 Pro XL:

• 128GB - 1,199 euros (~$1,307)
• 256GB - 1,299 euros (~$1,416)
• 512GB - 1,429 euros (~$1,558)
• 1TB - 1,689 euros (~$1,841)

Pixel 9 Pro Fold:

• 256GB - 1,899 euros (~$2,070)
• 512GB - 2,029 euros (~$2,212)

Using Google Messages, those on Android will be able to text 911 using Rich Communication Services. This will let you see read receipts and typing indicators from emergency responders, thus eliminating the “uncertainty of waiting to see if your messages went through.”

Compared to SMS, RCS will allow you to send pictures and videos. Google says high-resolution media could “aid a faster and more effective response from emergency service providers.”

The last benefit is the ability to “share your precise location and additional information automatically through Android Emergency Location Service.” This can include your “language settings and opt-in Medical Information, so emergency responders know exactly where to go and can get helpful details from you even if you’re unable to reply.”

So Epic Games have 10 demans from Google. One of this demands is to allow third party stores to access applications that are hosted on Google Play Store:

If a Third-Party App Store's User wishes to download and install an app not then available on that Third-Party App Store, Google shall have the Google Play Store download and install that app on the Third-Party App Store User's device through a background process similar to the Alley Oop integration offered by Google to certain third-party Developers.

And the judge ordered Google to calculate the costs of developing such mechanism which will basically allow third party stores to list applications from Google Play Store in their own stores.

Google will file by June 24, 2024, a proffer stating in detail the tech work required and economic costs, if any, to provide “Catalog Access” and “Library Porting” to competing app stores for a period of up to 6 years. See MDL Dkt. No. 952 at 7. The proffer may also address tech work and economic costs for the distribution of third-party app stores through the Google Play Store.

In 2022 it was first reported that Google would move up to 20% of Pixel production to India. Later, in 2023, Google confirmed plans to start Pixel production in India with plans to start in 2024, with a report from earlier this year reiterating that.

According to The Economic Times, Google has selected Tamil Nadu, the latest state in India, as the location where it will produce devices.

With the help of Foxconn, Google will set up new production lines in Tamil Nadu for Pixel phones. Wing, a part of Google’s parent Alphabet, will also be producing drones from the region. There’s no word on when production will start, but Google previously said devices made in India would ship before the end of 2024.