Bertel King, Jr.
Contributing since April, 2013
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3518articles
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About Bertel King, Jr.
Bertel is a Linux user who likes budget smartphones more than flagships, uses a custom ROM, and gets his apps from F-Droid. When he isn't writing short stories for Android Police, you might find him penning the fictional kind. Otherwise, look for him reading pixels that were converted to ink and paper.
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When Motorola unveiled this year's flagship Moto X, it didn't stop at just one device. Here in the states, we have just the Moto X Pure Edition. But in certain other countries, you can also get the Moto X Play. This is a less expensive phone with significantly more battery life and a smaller screen. Now Motorola has made the kernel source code for this device available on GitHub. Tinker away, tinkering types.
You could say that Google Now on Tab has had an on-again-off-again relationship of sorts with the Android M developer preview. Back when version 5.3 of the Google app rolled out a few weeks ago, it enabled the functionality we saw detailed during Google I/O. If you tried to use Now on Tap a few days after that, it didn't work. Eventually you would see a pop up window saying, "Now on Tap is coming soon! Stay tuned..."
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- If we had to wager a guess, we'd say this upcoming device would be the previously leaked HTC A9. Signs point to a launch around that time for the relatively spiffy mid-range device. Why not release it with Marshmallow?
There's a lot to take in today. The new Nexus devices are official. There are two of them. And while both will ship with Android 6.0, folks will more likely get their hands on Marshmallow using older devices before the new ones start shipping.
Android now has over 1.4 billion active 30-day users, says Google CEO Sundar Pichai. This is an increase of at least 400 million since Google I/O back in June.
A few weeks ago 9to5Google ran a report saying that Google probably intends to announce Spotify support alongside the new Chromecast at today's event. Now more evidence is out there that suggests this may be the case.
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You've been waiting for months now. Much of that time has been spent debating. Do you go with the Nexus 5X or the larger, more powerful Nexus 6P? Well, hopefully you've made up your mind, because pre-orders have just gone live.
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- People labeling and Chromecast support are now available in Google Photos version 1.6. As for album sharing, that feature is coming later this year.
Last week Cody tore down Google Photos 1.5 and saw what was on the way. We then got confirmation yesterday. Now Google has shown the features off for the world to see.
Sony has been pushing out Android 5.1 to its devices over the past several months. Now it's time for Xperia M2 and M2 Aqua to have their moment in the sun. On the day that Google will give us a better look at Android Marshmallow, Sony has announced an over-the-air update bringing both devices up to the latest version of Lollipop.
Amazon is known for its fast delivery times and reliability. I know when I place an order from the site, if it doesn't get here in the promised two days, that's because it got here in one instead. This has brought the online retailer widespread adoption, even if that hasn't necessary translated into huge profits.
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Today is Nexus day, and there isn't long to go before Google starts providing the details itself. But hey, you're curious. You're tired of waiting. Well, the leaks are still coming. A full Nexus 6P press release has hit the web, and it shows additional pricing information that we haven't yet seen.
What do you do with something you want to save for later? You stick it in your Pocket. Simple. But what about when you're ready to share it with someone? Well, you could hand things out to one user at a time. Or, with the latest beta update, you can share things to your new public profile page for everyone to see.
It's okay for updates to be late. We get it. These things take time. But when they do arrive, it's nice for them to bring the latest and greatest.
We here in the States aren't always quick to adopt new technology (or in this case, new-ish). Take those little security chips embedded in credit cards. Yeah, we're only just now getting around to using those. Banks are starting to send them out, and retailers are having to update their machines.
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Android Wear watches have come a long way in such a short period of time. Though the first wave of devices included the plastic, Pebble-looking LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, these days we have the LG Urbane and the Huawei Watch. Soon we will also have the Fossil Q.
The Chromebook Pixel launched in 2013, and a replacement followed up in March of this year. Now Google plans to expand the Pixel brand to tablets with the Pixel C. And no, it won't be running Chrome OS.
Some major changes for the YouTube Android app appear to be coming down the pipeline. Several readers have reached out to us with screenshots and video documenting substantial tweaks they noticed when firing up the app.
Tomorrow is the big expected Nexus day, but that doesn't mean you have to wait to find out what's going on with this year's devices. Obviously. I mean, what more is there to know about the Nexus 5X and the larger, oddly-shaped Nexus 6P at this point?
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You don't need me to tell you why expandable memory is nice. Sure, the user experience may not be as smooth as simply having more internal memory, but no amount of built-in storage will ever equate to a larger number than 64GB more.And right now you can get that many additional gigabytes for just $18.74. That's how much Samsung's 64GB EVO MicroSD cards are currently selling for on Amazon.This is over $5 less than the $25 you would spend on a SanDisk card of the same size. It's also less than the $24 Best Buy wants for an identical card.Samsung's smaller sizes are also cheap. A 16GB card will only cost you $8.72, while the 32GB option is just $12.47. At $64.99 though, the 128GB card will still set you back quite a bit. You might want to go with SanDisk and save yourself a few bucks if you need that much space.
How hard am I kicking a soccer ball? Not hard at all. I don't play soccer, or football as you folks living in most other countries call it. But if I did kick soccer balls—and by kick, I mean apply enough force to quickly send them in a straight direction, rather than nudge them awkwardly and accidentally off to the side—the Adidas Snapshot app might just pique my interest.
Are you in the market for an external battery pack? No? About to be tempted anyway? I thought so.The Icefox F1 portable charger packs a capacity of 12,000mAh. That's enough to charge your smartphone three or four times, and it can pump at least a couple charges into your tablet while you're at it. With two USB ports, you can charge both at the same time, and Smart IC support means the pack will try to pump juice into both while avoiding overcharging and overvoltage. A little LED screen shows how much power you have left to work with.