Google Pixels just got a welcome boost for PC emulation
TL;DR GameSir has confirmed that its GameHub PC emulator will also perform better on Google Pixel phones.
This comes shortly after it announced performance improvements for devices with Mali graphics.
The company hasn't detailed which improvements will come to Pixel phones, but this is still good news for mobile gamers.
Controller brand GameSir recently announced that its GameHub app for PC emulation offers much better support for devices with Mali GPUs. The company specifically pointed to devices with recent high-end Dimensity chips. We also wondered whether this would affect Pixel phones, and we now have an answer.
GameSir confirmed to Android Authority that Google Pixel phones will benefit from Mali GPU performance improvements:
Our collaboration is carried out through MediaTek, but all devices with Mali GPUs — including the Pixel series — will benefit. This is a strategic move on an ecosystem level.
There's no word on specific improvements coming to Pixel devices, but this is good news for Pixel owners who want to emulate PC games. I'm also guessing these enhancements could benefit Samsung phones with older Exynos chips, as these also have Mali GPUs.
The GameHub team previously announced that its Mali GPU improvements enable 'performance comparable to Qualcomm Adreno, and even surpassing it in some scenarios.' The company even said it was teaming up with MediaTek to eventually release custom drivers to 'address long-standing Mali GPU issues at the chip level, further enhancing the gaming performance of Dimensity devices.'
There is one potential downside to this announcement, though. The Google Pixel 10 series is rumored to have an Imagination GPU in lieu of Mali graphics. If confirmed, this means the Pixel 10 phones won't benefit from these newly announced optimizations.
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Swipe to skip or rewind in the mini-player The second gesture is to swipe left and right on the mini player to replay the previous song or skip to the next one. It's faster to do this on the bottom of the screen than opening the full player to do the same thing, especially if I'm listening while browsing the app. Swipe to find songs in a playlist And my third favorite gesture is to swipe down on any playlist to reveal the Find in playlist box to find any song or artist in that playlist. It helps a lot in super big playlists when I don't want to scroll to find a song. Quickly access your favorites Using Spotify sometimes feels like a constant struggle against the algorithm. No, I don't know what those recommendations are doing at the top of my home screen, nor why my playlists are sorted like that. Why can't I get to what I want to listen to faster? Well, there are three ways to speed up access to my newest musical addiction. Pin music in your library Pin album Pin artist Pin playlist My pinned playlists or playlist folders The easiest way is to pin favorites to the top of the library. Just go to the Your Library tab, tap and hold on any artist, album, or playlist you want to see first, and select Pin artist, Pin album, or Pin playlist. This keeps them on top of anything else in your library, no matter what sorting order you use. Create Android home screen shortcuts My second favorite trick is to add shortcuts to artists, playlists, or albums on my Android phone's home screen. Spotify used to offer this option in the options menu of whatever you were listening to, but it now hides it a bit. What you need to do is first go to the artist, album, or playlist you want to create a shortcut for, and then tap to play anything there — this is a crucial step. Then go to your home screen, tap and hold on the Spotify icon, and you'll see a new item under Search with the music you just played. This is an app shortcut on Android, and you can drag it to create a standalone shortcut on your home screen. You can repeat this as often as you want and then move these shortcuts anywhere or put them in a folder. Spotify library organization with folders Rita El Khoury / Android Authority The last trick involves using the Spotify web or desktop app to create playlist and album folders. This isn't possible on the mobile app, but on the larger screen, you can add a New Playlist folder to your library and organize some playlists and albums inside it. You can even put a folder into another, creating sub-folders. All your organization carries over to the mobile app, so once you do it on the desktop, you can enjoy the new order on your phone. Rita El Khoury / Android Authority If you hoard a million playlists like me, if you want to group your favorite albums together, or if you want to organize the playlists Spotify makes for you, this is an excellent way to add some order to the madness. I use this, for example, to group the artist and genre mixes Spotify made for me, as well as my top songs by year, to avoid them crowding my main library. Listen with others While I enjoy listening to music in my own bubble, I also like to share the experience with others sometimes. Spotify has two neat ways to let me share my love of music with my husband and friends. Make a blended playlist with another user Start a blended playlist Invite friends Share the invite link Blended playlist created My husband and I tend to enjoy very similar music, but there are still different artists we each listen to a lot more. Creating a Blend of our taste profiles makes a playlist that we can both enjoy while also introducing me to songs he's listening to that I don't know, and vice versa. To do this, just tap the Create button > Blend > Invite and send the link to your partner or friends. When they join, Spotify will create a new playlist and add it to your library. It'll also update it daily. Start a jam when you're listening with other people Start a jam Invite others to join your jam Jam started, multiple users in control Songs added to the queue by other listeners And finally, the last trick is to use live jams to let other Spotify users control music with you. When I'm playing music on my Google Nest speakers or my Samsung soundbar, I start a jam by going to Create > Jam and letting my husband scan the code to join in. This shows the current queue on his phone, too, so he can control playback, skip or rewind songs, and even add his own songs to the queue. If you often have people over or you like listening to music with your friends, and you're nearby on Bluetooth or the same Wi-Fi network, it's an excellent trick to let everyone contribute their own songs to the mood. And this is where I'll stop today with my first and most important Spotify tricks. I'll share more obscure ones in another article soon, but in the meantime, if you have other tricks people should know, please feel free to share them in the comments. Follow
