Flipkart’s BIG SHOPPING DAYS are Back from 15th to 18th July (Special Deals for Android One Smartphones)

All those who get always excited to have discounts on some really good Android Smartphones just like me, have another chance to get excited, as Flipkart announced it’s mid-year BIG SHOPPING DAYS sale starting from 15th of July up to 18th of July, 2019 starting 12 noon.

As always, as an Android Developer and Lover, i always dig into the smartphone section to see which one i can purchase, last time i have purchased Nokia 6.1 (3GB+32GB) which was priced at INR 6,999 and got extra INR 699 discount using Axis Bank Debit card getting it at INR 6,300, but this time it is the higher version of Nokia 6.1 2018 (#Nokia6) with 4GB+64GB having priced at INR 8,499 which ultimately you can by at roughly INR 7,650 by getting 10% instant discount of INR 849 using SBI Credit Cards.

Apart from this device, there is one more device which gets me excited is Mi A2, this Android One device having greater camera and with Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, it is still a powerful device, although we do miss the desired 3.5 mm headphone jack, but at INR 9,999 with discounted price coming as INR 9,000 it is worth a deal. In fact, there is INR 1,000 extra exchange bonus as well if you want to exchange your older device.

There are few other devices as well which can be bought from this Big Shopping Days sale on Flipkart with heavy discounted price as follow:

Redmi 6 (3GB | 64GB) @6,999 after SBI discount, @6,300

Redmi Y2 (4GB | 64GB) @8,999 after SBI discount, @8,100

Mi A2 (4GB | 64GB) @9,999 after SBI discount, @9,000 with extra 1,000 exchange bonus.  

Redmi Note 5 Pro (6GB | 64GB) @11,999 after SBI discount, @10,800

Poco F1 (6GB | 64GB) @17,999 after SBI discount, @16,200 with extra 5000 exchange bonus.

Motorola Moto One Power (4GB | 64GB) @10,999 after SBI discount, @9,900

Nokia 6.1 2018 (4GB | 64GB) @8,499 after SBI discount, @7,650  

Nokia 6.1 Plus (4GB | 64GB) @12,999 after SBI discount, @11,700

Nokia 5.1 Plus (3GB | 32GB) @7,999 after SBI discount, @7,200

ASUS Max Pro M1 (4GB | 64GB) @8,499 after SBI discount, @7,650  

ASUS Max M1 (3GB | 32GB) @6,499 after SBI discount, @5,850  

last but not the least is ASUS 5Z (6GB | 128GB) starting from @21,000.

There are few other devices from Honor as well with likes of Honor 9N, Honor 8C, Honor 10Lite, also from Samsung the A series and S series will have discounts.

So guys, those who love Android One, grab your favorite device from this sale, and if you are not an Android One lover, then there are few more options which can excite you in this #BigShoppingDays sale from July 15 to July 18, 2019.

Please share and comment below which is your favorite smartphone you want to buy from this sale, or will you wait for the ultimate sale of Festive season, the #BigBillionDay which may have even more discounts?

Stay excited, cheers…!!!

Realme 3 Pro Launch Date Confirmed: 22nd April, 12:30 PM, Delhi – India

After weeks of speculation about when Realme 3 Pro will be launched, now the CEO of RealMe India, Madhav Seth has confirmed that it will be launched on 22nd April in Delhi at 12:30 PM India Time.

Although it was already announced by Madhav at the time of launch event of the Realme 3 that Realme 3 Pro will come in April, but as almost 2 weeks were gone, the fans were so eager to see the official date and want to have the new Realme 3 Pro on their hands as soon as possible.

The reason for excitement is very clear as in the Realme 3 launch event, Madhav compared the upcoming Realme 3 Pro device specs with Redmi Note 7 Pro by Xiaomi.

Regarding the specifications, still no official confirmation from Realme but we can hope to have at least Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 675 and at best may be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710 which will be the real boost to it’s predecessor where Realme gave the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660.

We can also expect 6 GB RAM with 128 GB Storage variant. Madhav also shared few camera samples of this new device which you can find here in his tweet.

Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend.
I am @DelhiUniversity stadium with a bunch of cool students.
yes we are going to launch #realme3Pro in campus again
By the way how's the camera quality ?

RT's as I will invite 3 fans to join me on stage. pic.twitter.com/T8V3VysIGw

— Madhav Sheth (@MadhavSheth1) April 8, 2019

One interesting post shared by Madhav shows that Realme 3 Pro will support Fortnite game which is a real joy for game lovers. See the pic.

All in all, it will be interesting to see whether it will really overtake the Redmi Note 7 Pro or not.

I hope some of those people like me who has waited for this Realme 3 Pro instead of buying Redmi Note 7 Pro, will be pleased and satisfied after 22nd April.

See you soon with more updates.

 

Google Introduces Android Q Beta

As the Google I/O is coming nearer we can always expect new release of world’s most popular OS, of course Android.

And heading to that May’s event, Google has just released the new Android Q Beta for developers.

We still don’t know whether it will be Android 10 or some decimal with Android 9, but one thing is for sure that we do have new Android version name starting with latter Q.

In Android Q there are lots of minor improvements and enhancements with newer release, but there are some major enhancements as follow:

• Support for Foldable Devices.

Android Q will support Foldable devices natively. We have already see some cool devices from Samsung (Samsung Galaxy Fold) & Huawei (Huawei Mate X) and many more to follow from other top brands in future, so it is obvious from Google to make Android suitable to adopt these new category of Android Devices.

• Privacy Protections in Android.

As the mobile users are increasing at a rapid pace, the data privacy is becoming a major topic for any tech giant to consider.

We have already seen Facebook having hard time in recent past due to user data leaks and misuse.

It is important to have more protection within your Android device which not only helps you to know what data you are allowing to the apps, but also makes you aware the kind of data can be used by the apps.

In Android Q it enables users to give apps permission to see their location never, only when the app is in use (running), or all the time (when in the background).

Earlier it was like you give permission once and app can use the location at any given time whenever app needs it whether your app is in foreground or in the background, but now it is more user controlled.

• More Privacy Protection in Android Q

In Android Q, the OS gives users even more control over apps, controlling access to shared files.

Users will be able to control apps’ access to the Photos and Videos or the Audio collections via new runtime permissions.

For Downloads, apps must use the system file picker, which allows the user to decide which Download files the app can access.

• Sharing Shortcut 

In Android Q Google is making the process of sharing content like a photo with someone in another app quicker and easier with Sharing Shortcuts, which let users jump directly into another app to share content.

• More for developers

There are more things for developers to look forward to in this new release of Android Q Beta with many new apis and advancements in the existing apis. For detailed information please follow the link:

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/03/introducing-android-q-beta.html

It will be interesting to see when Google announces the final version of Android Q, but even more interesting thing will be to see what name Google uses this new sweet of Android.

 

Firebase Error: java.lang.Long cannot be cast to java.lang.String (in Firebase Database)

Those who are integrating Google’s new Firebase database in their Android App, may be facing this common issue of java.lang.Long cannot be cast to java.lang.String.

Make sure you are having String data with double quotes in your Firebase database.

Don’t worry, as this is a common casting error of Java and to solve this, please make sure you are creating the Bean class with proper datatype for your Firebase node.

Actually, by default, Firebase considers the values without double quotes as long (“8” as String & 8 as Long).

To tackle this, just make sure you have entered the proper values in your firebase data structure and according to that, you are fetching it within your code in Bean classes.

To understand this issue easily, please see the following snapshot in which i have a class node for device information where i have considered it as a string value for each of the detail entries in my app (String display, String model, String version):

However, in version, one can clearly see that, i missed the double quotes (” “), this will crash the application as the variable which i am using for version is a String type member variable in my Bean class, but here, as i missed the double quotes while inserting data into Firebase Database, this will be considered as a Long value by Firebase.

Thus, this annoying error of casting will occur if you don’t take care while reading and writing the data.

To solve this, i need to put double quotes for value 7.1 of key version and it will look like “7.1” as showing in below snapshot.

Now, all data are consistent as String and there will no casting error and no more crashes.

Happy Coding…!!!

Missing Toolbar Shadow? Here’s A Proper Way To Set Toolbar Shadow With AppComapt

As Google has introduced new #AppComapt library since the arrival of Lollipop, new Toolbar widget is a standard replacement for legacy action bar.

However, the toolbar of #AppCompat not showing shadow which breaks the whole UI. Following screen shot shows the toolbar which doesn’t show the shadow:

So here is a standard solution to see the proper shadow below the #Toolbar, see the below snippet:

Here, as seen in the above screen shot, the solution is to wrap your #Toolbar with the new #AppBarLayout view which will give you the exact shadow which you are looking for.

See the below screen shot which shows proper shadow right below the toolbar, thanks to the new AppBarLayout.

For more tips on styling in Android, stay tuned…!!!

How To Set Transparent (Translucent) Status Bar In Android Versions 4.4 & Above

From the Android Version of KitKat, Google has allowed us to support transparent status bar which is coolest ever as was looking for that for years in the official SDK.

And now in Lollipop’s new Material theme with some beautiful UI controls and color combinations, we can really make most out of that cool feature.

This transparent status bar usually used with the left navigation drawer where the drawer seems beneath the status bar. Also for the detail activity with image on top and coordinator layout, the transparent status bar is now became a standard UI stuff.

Here i will be showing how you can implement that same look in your app for the devices running Android versions 4.4 and above.

First of all as this translucent status bar only supported in version 4.4 and above, we need to create a new directory of values with v19.

So create a new directory in your res directory as values-v19.

In this values-v19, copy your normal values styles.xml which is having your normal themes in it.

For example, following can be your theme:

This above theme will be in your normal styles.xml which is normal values directory. Here, the NoActionBar means you will be having no title in your activity. Please use new toolbar and then set it as your activity’s action bar.

Following snippet explains how to set toolbar as an action bar:

This will set the new toolbar as an action bar. Now, coming to our main point is how we can set the translucent status bar over the toolbar.

I hope you have copied the normal values folder styles.xml in the new directory values-v19. 

In this styles.xml which you have copied in values-v19, define the theme as follow:

Here, in the above snippet, the last line android:windowTranslucentStatus having value as true is the magical line which will make the status bar transparent (translucent).

In your container activity layouts, don’t forget to set the fitSystemWindow=”true”, for the parent layout and also for the toolbar and other internal views for which you want the UI fit to the system window. Which is quite a common use for drawer activity and detail activity with coordinator layout.

After applying the above changes, you will finally get the layout look as below:

 

To apply this same thing for Lollipop as well, just copy the directory of values-v19 and paste as values-v21 in which you can make some changes specific to the Lollipop version as well.

Final thing is not to forget to set this theme in your activity for which you want to set this cool effect of transparent status bar.

Enjoy designing, enjoy coding, cheers…!!!

 

 

The New Moto X Force Is Coming In India Soon

Yes, the new Moto X Force, the most durable from Motorola, is coming soon in India.

Here is the video in which the the President of Motorola Mobility showing off the durability of this new tough beauty:

After the Moto X Play and Moto X Style, the Moto X Force will be Motorola’s first smartphone to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset this year.

This is quite late to jump into the currents but still there is something extra-ordinary which make this new baby unique.

That extra-ordinary thing would be the shatter-proof screen that protects its Quad HD AMOLED display that makes for Motorola’s ShatterShield technology.

Additionally, Motorola will also provide a 4 year warranty on the device’s screen to make the deal sweeter. Also there is the now standard water-resistant nano-coating, which makes the device more durable when compared to its competitors.

The much-talked about 21 MP unit from the Moto X Style already taken in this new device.

So ultimately this will be a Indian Variant of Droid Turbo 2.

Although there is nothing quite clear regarding the final pricing, but it seems that pricing will be around 40,000 INR.

 

 

 

 

“YU” Yuphoria Is Finally Here @ Rs. 6999 With YuFit & HealthYu @ Rs. 999 & Rs. 4999 Respectively.

Well, we have seen “i” from the world’s best, Apple, the “Mi” from the China’s best Xiaomi, the Apple of China, and we are now seeing “YU” from Micromax’s sub-brand probably the India’s best, as they have launched their second “YU” device named as “Yuphoria”.

Well, I’m planing to make my own firm as “Wi”, the Apple of India, aha, sounds crazy, doesn’t it? HA HA MAIN CRAZY HU…CRAZY, CRAZY…!!!

Let’s focus back on the “YU”. In similar fashion to Hugo Bara of Xiaomi, the founder of #YU, Rahul Sharma announced the new budget device at the price of Rs. 6999, with latest Cyanogen OS 12 based on the #Lollipop version.

Just to inform you that Cyanogen is the custom Android OS developed by some of the greatest brains with aim to make Android more powerful with more enhancements and also with more customization than Google.

The device will be available for sale from 28th May, and the registration will be opened from today 5 PM on Amazon India.

As far as the specification goes, the device is having Metal Body, with 5 inch HD IPS Display with resolution of 720X1280 having Corning Gorilla Glass 3 as the protection.

It has 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor clocked at 1.2GHz with 2GB of RAM. It also gets 16GB onboard storage. The dual SIM smartphone has support of most of the sensors found in flagship devices. It also supports Bluetooth and #4G LTE. And for audio, it has poweful Cirrus Logic Wolfson Stereo chip.

Features an 8MP rear snapper and a 5MP front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture with LED flash. Having 2230 mh battery with quick charge ability this is an awesome device at this price tag.

Along with the Yuphoria, Rahul Sharma has also launched a couple of more products as A. “YuFit” just like “Mi Band” at the same price of Rs. 999 with almost the same offer as 1000 lucky buyers will get this as free from the first sale, and B. the “HealthYu” a life saving device at Rs. 4999.

Well, it seems that this Indian firm is really doing something great and great with keeping Indian price range in mind, which is really a game changing.

Let’s see how many seconds these devices takes in flash sales…stay tuned, cheers…!!!

Null Pointer Exception While Using MapFragment Of The New Support Library v22 With New Google Play Services 7.3.

If you are moving from old to the latest Google Play Services library with also the new App Compat Support library in your project, you will get the null pointer exception while calling the getMap() method using the map fragment with onMapLoaded callback.

Here is the solution for our map fragment #NullPointerException:

1. First of all, change your OnMapLoadedCallback with new OnMapReadyCallback.

2. Override the method of the callback as onMapReady(GoogleMap map).

3. Change your following line

“GoogleMap map = SupportMapFragment mapFragment =
(SupportMapFragment) getChildFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.map).getMap();”

with this

“SupportMapFragment mapFragment = (SupportMapFragment) getChildFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.map);
mapFragment.getMapAsync(this);”

Here, “this” as the parameter of getMapAsync() method is the new OnMapReadyCallback which you have implemented just like the old OnMapLoadedCallback.

4. Use the map object from the implemented method of OnMapReadyCallback.

5. Do what ever your need, either changing the camera, or placing the markers.

And yes, once you add a marker on this new map and tap on this, you will find the new buttons
which will directly open the Google Maps app either for simple mapping or for navigation, see the
screenshot.

There are lots of new stuffs in this latest Google Play Services, but I don’t have enough time to explain all the new features or changes but, you can learn more about it at here:

http://android-developers.blogspot.in/2015/04/theres-lot-to-explore-with-google-play.html

Thank You, Stay Tuned…!!!

Finally, The “i” Has Arrived From the Apple Of China, Xiaomi, With The Launch of Mi 4i And the Mi Band.

Well, it was too much of excitement for the global launch of the Xiaomi device in India at Delhi, and here is the outcome of that.

The Mi 4i lauched at Rs. 12,999 and will be available online from 30 April, you can register by clicking on the following link: http://www.flipkart.com/mi/mi4i?otracker=_tabs_mi4i

The device is having the full HD display with resolution of 1080X1920 pixels, Qualcomm 615 Octa-Core processor with 64 bit architecture, 13 mega pixel real camera, 5 mega pixel front camera, with 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB as internal memory, but no SD card.

In terms of connectivity the Xiaomi Mi 4i offers dual-SIM slots with 4G support on both of them. There’s also dual-band MU-MIMO Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac support – ensuring the fastest local transfer speeds around. Bluetooth version is 4.1, while the microUSB 2.0 port supports USB host mode.

The Xiaomi Mi 4i is powered by a 3,120 mAh battery. It will be available in five colors – white, blue, orange, yellow and pink. It exact dimensions are 138.1 mm x 69.6 mm x 7.8 mm, and weighs in at 130 g, making it smaller and lighter than the original Mi 4.

On the software side, it has Xiaomi’s own MIUI 6. It is based on Android 5.0 #Lollipop so you get a really up-to-date experience. Xiaomi has also developed a few interesting new features, like IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition), to simplify annoying service line calls.

Along with this super cool device, the global marketing head of Xiaomi, Hugo Bara has also announced the launch of Mi Band, at just Rs. 999 for which the registration will start from 28th April.

Hugo bara also announce two surprices as the first one is to sell the 1000 Mi Band as just Rs. 1, and the second is by introducing the founder of Xiaomi where the later announced the gift of Mi Band to all the members at the event.

It’s exciting time for Android and really there are lots more feature and things about these new devices from Xiaomi, which you can see by clicking on the following link of the official Mi India website: http://www.mi.com/in/index.html.