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If you're not aware of the existence of a man named Eldar Murtazin, I'm inclined to consider you lucky. But now you're about to hear of him anyway, because the sometimes-right (but often not) mobile industry veteran and serial rumor-monger was the subject of a spate of posts on blogs over the last two days for claims he didn't even make.
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5:30PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here (warning: this video is uncut). As always, we'll take your questions at 530-HELLO-AP and also at our email address: podcast at androidpolice dot com.
It looks like Alcatel's MWC launch plans have been spoiled a bit, based on a couple of leaked support pages on the company's website just tipped to us. The Idol 4 and 4S follow up the rather nice Alcatel Idol 3 with beefed-up specifications all around. Though we don't have much in the way of visuals, we do have a lot of information.
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- US Mobile has published a blog post saying it will no longer be selling the devices after T-Mobile intimated that it would drop the MVNO's wholesale service agreement for selling devices it hadn't tested on its network. US Mobile says it will attempt to get the devices certified so it can start selling them again, but I have my doubts as to whether or not they'll be successful. Additionally, Xiaomi reached out to us this morning to clarify that, yes, US Mobile has abso-freaking-lutely nothing to do with their company.
An article on PC Mag published earlier today claims that US Mobile is the "first legit" Xiaomi and Meizu carrier in America. This is, frankly, misleading. To clarify immediately: some US T-Mobile MVNO that no one has heard of is working with an electronics distributor in Hong Kong to sell gray market Xiaomi and Meizu devices on its online store, and they don't even support US LTE bands.
Not to be outdone, WhatsApp today announced literally during Alphabet's earnings call minutes after it was announced Gmail had 1 billion MAUs that it, too, has joined the billion user club.
During Alphabet's first earnings call this afternoon, Google CEO Sundar Pichai commented that as of this month, Gmail now officially has one billion monthly active users. That's a lot of Gmail.
Device security is a pretty personal thing, and we all likely have a given level of security we're comfortable with before impracticality starts to get in the way. While a secure lock screen is highly advisable, some of us still don't even do that (which is slightly scary) because it can be an annoying barrier to using your phone.
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5:30PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here (warning: this video is uncut). As always, we'll take your questions at 530-HELLO-AP and also at our email address: podcast at androidpolice dot com.
Waze 4.0 is on the way to Android soon, and with it comes a complete overhaul of the entire app's interface. Everything, and I mean everything, has been touched by this update. The app is still clearly recognizable as Waze, but definitely a much slicker, more animated Waze. I wouldn't call it "material" by any means, but it's certainly a lot more modern than what Waze is shipping right now. Take a look at these two GIFs for examples of just what I mean - even the traffic flow animation is now snazzier. There's also this fun little loading bar any time you start a route that shows potential obstacles and traffic on your way.
Spotify subscribers are in for a treat today as the company's awaited video and podcast service has gone live in the Android app. Spotify Now, the company's start screen "hub" sort of thing, now features video content in addition to the mood stations and other stuff it's had since it launched last year. Spotify's beta app has had video and podcast content for quite a while now through a long-standing A/B test (over six months), but today marks the wide rollout of the feature to non-beta users. Last September, the other major Spotify Now feature, Running, left beta as well.
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5:30PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here (warning: this video is uncut). As always, we'll take your questions at 530-HELLO-AP and also at our email address: podcast at androidpolice dot com.
I'll admit: we're kind of behind on our review of the Huawei Mate 8. Pretty much everyone's published one at this point, and so instead of trying to play catch-up and rushing, I had a different idea. Specifically, I want to know what you want to know about the Huawei Mate 8, especially if it's not something you've seen covered elsewhere. As long as it doesn't involve physically taking it apart. Or a battery life benchmark test (because I despise them).
Let me be unambiguous: the Huawei Mate 8 is a good phone. I actually like a lot about it. But when I updated to the latest beta software (and yes, that deserves highlighting, obviously) this morning, I was greeted with a rather unpleasant new prompt in the default launcher settings area. Check this out.
The Nexus 5X and 6P are both pretty good smartphones. But they're not without flaws - and this weekend, we'd like to talk about what issues have troubled your new Nexuses now that you've had a couple of months (well, some of you) with your devices.
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5:30PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here (warning: this video is uncut). As always, we'll take your questions at 530-HELLO-AP and also at our email address: podcast at androidpolice dot com.