Spotify to Launch Real-Time Lyrics Support in 26 Countries

Spotify today launches its real-time lyrics feature in 26 worldwide markets including India, countries in Southeast Asia, and Latin America, according to TechCrunch.


In mobile Spotify apps that receive the update, users can tap the Lyrics card at the bottom of the Now Playing screen, and lyrics scroll across the screen in time to the music, allowing listeners to read them or even sing along in real time.

The following countries will reportedly get the new real-time lyrics feature from 10am ET on Tuesday: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The launch is happening thanks to a new agreement with lyrics provider Musixmatch, which was also the source for the lyrics tests conducted last year. Previously, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico included some lyrics support from other providers.

TechCrunch notes that Canadian users who also reported they could use the lyrics feature in last year's trials will no longer have access to it when the support rolls out to other markets later today.

It's currently unknown whether the new real-time lyrics feature will expand to additional markets anytime soon, but it's hard to imagine Spotify not bringing it to the U.S. and other major Western markets when the necessary licensing agreements are made.

Apple Music gained a similar real-time lyrics feature with the release of iOS 13 last September and macOS Catalina 10.15.4 in March this year.

Tag: Spotify

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LG Smart TVs Gain Dolby Atmos Support for Apple TV App

Dolby Atmos support for the Apple TV app arrived this week on select LG smart TVs, reports 9to5Mac. Dolby Atmos enables sounds to be precisely placed and moved in three-dimensional space, rather than being constrained to channels.


LG confirmed in February that Dolby Atmos support for the ‌Apple TV‌ app and AirPlay 2 would be coming in a software update to compatible TVs later in the year. No further details were provided, so we cannot confirm if this applies generally to 2019 and 2020 LG TVs or only some of them.

For those models that do receive the update, users can enjoy movies and TV shows with more three-dimensional audio when viewed in the ‌Apple TV‌ app and, presumably, when streaming content over ‌AirPlay‌ 2. Dolby Atmos is also supported on the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K running tvOS 12 or later.

Apple has released its TV app on several smart TVs, including all of LG's 2020 models and select 2019 models. The TV app lets users access ‌Apple TV‌+ subscription content as well as the iTunes Store, where they can buy and rent individual movies.

Tags: LG, Apple TV apps

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A Massive Star Has Disappeared Without a Trace

An unusually bright star in a nearby galaxy has gone missing, in a mystery of cosmic proportions.

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Google Photos Stops Backing Up Social Media Folders By Default

Google Photos has stopped backing up images and videos from folders created by social media and messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and TikTok (via Android Police).

Previously, Google's photo app would automatically upload all media saved to an iOS device, including any files saved in folders originating from social and messaging apps.

Google says it's now turning off this aspect of its cloud photo backup service "to save internet resources" as people share more photos and videos amid the ongoing global health crisis.

Users can reverse this change and re-enable backup of photos and video from social media and messaging apps by following these instructions.

Other digital services including YouTube and Disney+ adopted similar measures to reduce bandwidth strain caused by the global health crisis several months ago.

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Shipments of mmWave 5G iPhones Could Be Much Weaker Than Expected This Year

The latest shipment estimates for Apple's upcoming mmWave-enabled 5G iPhones are several million units lower than previously expected, which is intensifying competition among suppliers of AiP substrates, reports DigiTimes.

Shipments of mmWave-enabled 5G iPhones slated for launch later this year are estimated to reach only 15-20 million units in 2020 compared to a previous supply chain estimate of 30-40 million units, intensifying competition among Apple's suppliers of FC-AiP substrates for the new phones, according to industry sources.

Apple is believed to be designing its own antenna-in-package or "AiP" module for mmWave iPhones, which use a set of 5G frequencies that promise ultra-fast speeds at short distances, making it best suited for dense urban areas. By contrast, sub-6GHz 5G is generally slower than mmWave, but the signals travel further, better serving suburban and rural areas.

According to DigiTimes, Apple's AIP package is more cost-effective than previous designs, but some analysts believe that models with support for ultra-fast mmWave technology will likely launch after sub-6GHz models due to production challenges and the global health crisis. To counter these challenges, Apple has diversified its supply chain for the modules to minimize risk.

The upcoming mmWave 5G iPhones will adopt more cost-effective FC-AiP process, with ASE Technology to package AiP modules, the sources said. But Apple reportedly has finalized three suppliers of BT-based FC-AiP substrates, including one based in Taiwan and two in South Korea, and they will together supply 30-50 million substrates, the sources said, adding one iPhone will require 2-3 AiP modules.

Prior to the global health crisis, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple was still on track to release both sub-6GHz and sub-6GHz-plus-mmWave "iPhone 12" models simultaneously in the second half of 2020, with shipments beginning in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

Kuo has not indicated whether those plans have since changed, but other analysts have said they believe the mmWave iPhones may not arrive this year because Apple's custom antenna-in-package is proving to be more of a battery drain than the company would like.

Kuo has said 5G iPhone models with mmWave would be available in five markets, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. He also believes Apple may disable 5G functionality in countries that do not offer 5G service or have a shallow 5G penetration rate to reduce production costs.

Related Roundup: iPhone 12

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