Corbin Davenport
Contributing since August, 2015
-
3615articles
Page 79
About Corbin Davenport
Corbin is a tech journalist and developer who worked at Android Police from 2016 until 2021. Check out his other work at corbin.io.
Latest Articles
If you recently upgraded to a headphone jack-less phone and you don't want to spend much on Bluetooth headphones, today might be your lucky day. Right now, JBL's T450BT on-ear Bluetooth headphones can be purchased for $29.95 — a $20 drop from the usual price.
It has taken OnePlus a bit longer than expected to bring Android 9 Pie to the OnePlus 5 and 5T, but the wait is over — if you're willing to use beta releases, anyway. Open Beta 22 for the OnePlus 5 and Beta 20 for the 5T are now available, which are based on Android Pie.
Amazon makes the best e-readers around — mostly because Barnes & Noble hasn't refreshed its Nook lineup in years (excluding the recent LCD tablet) and Google never entered the market. New models of the Kindle Paperwhite arrived a few months ago, and now they're on sale for the first time.The Paperwhite with 8GB storage is currently $99.99 ($30 off), and the 32GB model is $119.99 ($40 off). That extra capacity is mostly for storing Audible audiobooks, which can be listened to over Bluetooth. The new Paperwhites are also IPX8 waterproof and feature a backlight.The only drawback is that the models on sale contain lockscreen ads, but honestly, they don't get in the way at all. You can opt out of the ads for an extra $20 through the device's settings (or at the time of purchase).Source: Amazon (8GB Paperwhite, 32GB Paperwhite)Via: The Verge
Read update
- CNN reports that Meng Wanzhou has been released on a $10 million bail ($6.7 million USD) while her extradition hearings continue. She has agreed to surrender her passports, live in her Vancouver home, and wear a GPS ankle bracelet at all times.
Two days ago, Canadian police arrested the chief financial officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, following an extradition request by the United States government. Wanzhou was arrested for allegedly covering up Huawei's links to a company that tried to sell equipment to Iran — a country under trade sanctions by the United States.
Back in October, Google announced that it would shut down its Google+ social network, following the discovery of an API bug that could have led to user data being stolen. Even though there was no evidence that anyone took advantage of the API bug, Google decided it would be as good a time as ever to shut down the mostly-dead social network. Google+ was originally scheduled to shut down completely in August 2019, but now the timetable has moved up.
Back in October, Amazon unveiled its very own smart plug. It's slightly more integrated with Alexa than other plugs, and doesn't require a smart home hub. The Smart Plug just dropped in price by $5, bringing the cost down to $19.99.Amazon's plug only covers one outlet, it doesn't require a separate app (assuming you already have the Alexa app), and it's cheaper than most other options. However, the plug does have one major drawback — it can only connect to Alexa. If you use a Google Home or other Assistant-powered speaker, this isn't the plug for you.You can buy the Amazon Smart Plug from the source link below.Source: Amazon
Rumors about a possible budget Pixel phone have been circulating for months, but last month was the first time pictures of one leaked. The 'Pixel 3 Lite,' as it has been referred to, combines the design aesthetic of the Pixels with a midrange Snapdragon 670 processor. Renders of the phone have now been released, and we're getting our first look at a larger variant.
It has been a year and a half since my last 'What We Use' post, where I explained what technology and products I used on a regular basis. Nearly every aspect of that post is now out of date — in my never-ending quest to find what devices, services, and applications are best for me, my arsenal of technology has completely changed.I've upgraded my desktop, switched phones, bought and sold two laptops, and purchased a car. Like all 'What We Use' posts from the AP staff, this is mostly an opportunity for me to ramble about technology I like. However, I do hope some of this information ends up useful — maybe I'll end up mentioning a tool or device you've been looking for.Without further ado, here's all the technology I use on a regular basis.
Slowly but surely, Chrome is trying to converge native and web apps. Chrome 71 came out a few days ago on Android, but one new feature flew under the radar — web apps can now appear in the system share menu.
Android 4.0, nicknamed 'Ice Cream Sandwich,' was an exciting release. It brought all the improvements in Honeycomb back to smartphones, and for the first time ever, Android had a somewhat-cohesive visual style. However, those days have long since passed, with 4.0-4.0.4 now representing less than 0.5% of the overall Android install base.
23 years after the first version of Internet Explorer was released, Microsoft has given up developing its own web browser — sort of. After a few days of rumors and speculation, the company confirmed yesterday that Microsoft Edge is being rebuilt, and the new version will be based on Chromium (the open source version of Google Chrome).
Last month, we reviewed TP-Link's new Kasa Smart Power Strip. Put simply, it is six individually-addressable smart outlets in one compact package. If the original price of $80 was too much for you, it has now dropped to $55 at B&H Photo.
Last month, Metro by T-Mobile (formerly MetroPCS) started charging customers a $15 fee whenever they put their SIM card in a different phone. The fee has technically existed for years, but it wasn't enforced well — customer support or sales representatives often canceled the charge. Metro's new policy made the fee mandatory, and the $15 charge didn't even include taxes.
There has been a whirlwind of rumors around Google's messaging strategy over the past few days. First we heard that Hangouts might be shutting down, with a Google product lead refuting the claims, then a report came out that Allo is also shutting down. Google has now published a blog post to set the record straight, and it seems the rumors were mostly true.
[Update: Now $80] Anki Overdrive is $86 ($64 off) on Amazon, Fast & Furious Edition is $93 ($76 off)
Anki's 'Overdrive' is a lineup of smartphone-controlled racing cars that can drive on a customizable track. We reviewed the Fast & Furious Edition last year, and it offered plenty of fun for the original price of $170. Now you can get the Fast & Furious version for far less than that, and the non-themed version is also on sale.The regular Overdrive kit is now $85.82 (a drop of $64 from the original price), and the Overdrive Fast & Furious Edition is now $93.37 ($76.62 off). Both products are very similar, but the latter includes cars from the Fast & Furious films (Dom's Ice Charger and Hobbs' International MXT) and a slightly tweaked mobile app.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv3cpB-Ez9w[/EMBED_YT]On both versions, the cars can accelerate, change lanes, and fire virtual weapons at other racers. You can buy either edition from the links below, and you can find our review here.
Shortly after the 6T was released, OnePlus discounted all versions of the OP6 by $100. That was a solid deal, especially since the OP6 has continued to get better over time (and it still has a headphone jack). If you missed out on that sale, it's back — for both the US and Canada.
Chrome 70 was a relatively minor release (at least when it came to user-facing changes), and it seems like Chrome 71 is much the same. The latest version of Chrome is now rolling out to desktop platforms and Android, with a few noteworth changes — particularly involving the 'Duet' interface and autoplay.
This year's flagship phone from Motorola, the Moto Z3, was something of a disappointment. Still, if you own one, here's some good news. Motorola just published kernel sources for the Z3 (codenamed 'Messi'), so developers can now easily create custom ROMs and recoveries for the phone.
The Pixel 2 was one of the first smartphones with eSIM — a feature that allows devices to connect to cellular networks without inserting a physical SIM card. The Pixel 2 and 3 both have eSIM, but it's only used for Google Fi. That will soon change, as multiple carriers are working to support the feature.
Read update
- SIM swaps are now free on Metro, see this post for more details.
Back in September, the T-Mobile-owned MetroPCS was rebranded to 'Metro by T-Mobile.' Along with the name change, the carrier refreshed its available plans, which looked great on paper; $60/month gets you unlimited LTE data, 100GB of Google Drive storage, Amazon Prime, and other goodies. However, there's a new catch if you plan on switching — you'll have to pay $15 any time you put your SIM card in a new device.