Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on bringing dual camera and dual display support to the Gmail app.
- There appears to be a new option for controlling all smart features and personalization settings.
- There’s also a new option for attaching pictures directly from the camera.
Google appears to be working on a few new features for the Gmail app. These features will introduce dual-camera support, dual-display support, and options for controlling smart features and attaching pictures.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
While investigating Gmail (version 2024.07.28.657813293.Release), we discovered lines of code referencing support for dual camera and dual display features. If you’re unfamiliar with these functions, dual camera is a feature that utilizes both the front and back cameras on your device. As for dual display, this is a foldable phone feature where content is displayed on both the exterior and interior screens.
The code we found mentions turning these features on/off. So when you’re using Google Meet from Gmail, you’ll have the option to use these functions. It appears effects will need to be turned off first if you want to use the dual camera feature. Additionally, it seems dual display is only available for 1:1 calls. Once these features are on, however, you’ll be able to show the person on the other side of the call what you’re looking at.
Here are the strings we found referencing the two features:
Code
<string name="conf_turn_off_dual_camera_content_description">Turn off dual camera</string> <string name="conf_turn_off_dual_display_content_description">Turn off dual display</string> <string name="conf_turn_on_dual_camera_content_description">Turn on dual camera</string> <string name="conf_turn_on_dual_display_content_description">Turn on dual display</string> <string name="conf_dual_camera_disable_effects_dialog_confirm_button">Turn off effects</string> <string name="conf_dual_camera_disable_effects_dialog_message">Effects must be turned off to utilize dual camera feature</string> <string name="conf_dual_camera_disable_effects_dialog_title">Turn off effects</string> <string name="conf_dual_camera_tooltip_body">Turn on both cameras to show both you and what you’re looking at</string> <string name="conf_dual_camera_tooltip_title">Let them see what you see</string> <string name="conf_dual_display_not_supported">Dual display has been turned off and only available for 1:1 calls</string> <string name="conf_dual_display_turn_off_tooltip_body">Your rear camera will still be on, but you won’t see it</string> <string name="conf_dual_display_turn_off_tooltip_title">Hide the rear camera display</string>Besides dual camera and dual display, we also discovered a new setting linked to Google Workspace users. The setting appears to be where Google plans to place all the smart features and personalization options. Unfortunately, attempting to access this setting forces Gmail to close out with an “icon not found” error, so we weren’t able to access it.
Last but not least, we were able to find a new option for attaching pictures directly from the camera. The left image below shows the current version of Gmail that offers three options: Attach file, Insert from Drive, and Insert photo. Meanwhile, you can see in the right image there is a new Camera option added to the list.
As with any APK teardown, it’s unknown if or when Google will implement these features. If the company does, these would complement the seamless device switch feature Google Meet received back in April.
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