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We'd gotten wind of this change a few weeks ago, but now it's official: Google will be restricting access to non-public APIs in the next version of Android. This means that in Android P and going forward, APIs that are unofficially supported in Android's SDK will (generally) not be available to developers to use in their apps.
Passwords are a necessary nuisance in our modern digital lives: they help keep our accounts and personal data safe, but they're a hassle to keep track of and type out every time you need to log in somewhere. Android's Smart Lock for Passwords makes everything much easier by letting users automatically logging in on Android, as long as the password is synced to their Google account. Somewhat unfortunately, though, each app has to be updated to work with Smart Lock, so support isn't as ubiquitous as one could hope. Thankfully, many developers eventually do add support for Smart Lock, and the NBC app is just the latest one on that list.
Ultimate Ears makes some of the best Bluetooth portable speakers around, and though they're a little on the expensive side, we usually think they're a good buy for anyone looking for a portable speaker that's capable of putting out some very respectable sound. One of those speakers is the UE BOOM 2, which sounded great when it first came out and can still hold its own against others on the market, despite having been launched a tad over 2 years ago now.UE now has a new model called the UE BLAST, so the BOOM 2 is now being discontinued in several places. The BLAST has some fancy new tricks like Wi-Fi connectivity, but it arguably isn't all that different from the BOOM 2 in terms of sound quality. For most people, the BOOM 2 is still a solid purchase, especially since Amazon, Best Buy, and Target have all placed it on sale for just $99, 50% off its initial MSRP of $199 — the BLAST, on the other hand, currently retails for 9. This matches the lowest price we've seen for this speaker, with the added bonus that the sale isn't limited to a single color like last time.In addition to sounding great, the BOOM 2 is shockproof and IPX7 waterproof rated, lasts for 15 hours of playback on a single charge, can be paired to another BOOM 2 for stereo sound, and even supports Alexa and Google Now voice interactions through the UE BOOM app. If you're interested in buying one, you should definitely take advantage of the deal before the BOOM 2 is eventually discountined altogether.[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.logitech.ueboom[/EMBED_APP]Source: Amazon, Best Buy, Target
It's easy to take a gesture as intuitive as pull-to-refresh for granted. That simple downward pull to reload content really only came into being once smartphones started becoming a thing: it was only used for the first time by a Twitter app called Tweetie back in 2008. Before that, we were mostly reduced to tapping a little 'reload' button to refresh content. Yuck. Twitter eventually acquired the app and filed for a patent on the gesture, though it promised to only use the patent defensively. Anyway, that's a little history on the now-ubiquitous gesture, which I'm sure will come in handy at your next cocktail party.
A GoPro is great if you want to record some action shots in wide-angle, but what about when a fisheye lens isn't wide enough? If you want to record your entire surroundings while barreling down the ski slopes, anything less than a 360-degree view just doesn't cut it. Sure, you could jerry-rig 6 GoPros together onto a twelve-hundred-dollar mount, but what if you want to spend a little less than three grand?Fortunately, Samsung's 2017 edition of the Gear 360 is on sale right now for just 5.45 on Amazon — over 40% off its initial retail price. This price is the lowest we've seen yet: it was on sale for $150 back in December, which was already cheaper than the $163 price for Black Friday.The 2017 version of the Samsung Gear 360 is a handheld 360-degree camera comprised of two 8.4MP CMOS fisheye lenses, and can shoot 15MP photos and 4K video at up to 24fps. It's also IP53 water-resistant, so it can probably handle a few splashes of water here and there.Via: The WirecutterSource: Amazon
Google continues to invest heavily into getting as many partners as it can to start using Rich Communication Services (RCS). RCS, the new standard that aims to replace SMS and MMS, was first championed by Google back in 2015 and is powered by Google's Jibe RCS cloud platform — at least in Google's embodiment of RCS. As of today, there are already 43 carriers and manufacturers that have partnered with Google to create a more dynamic and rich messaging experience.
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- As spotted by XDA Developers, it looks like Android P will also block idle background apps from accessing the microphone. Needless to say, the possibility that an app could be recording users without their knowledge — as long as it had, at some point, been granted permission to access the microphone — is a gross violation of privacy. Of course, there are some situations where you might actually want an app to continue recording audio while in the background, so hopefully they'll be some way to allow for that in Android P.
We still don't have much solid information about the next release of Android — we've heard that Android P could have some notch optimizations and that access to undocumented APIs could get blocked, but we don't really know too much more than that. However, the open-source nature of Android means that we can sometimes get a glimpse of what the next release of Android might have in store.
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- Speaking to SamMobile, Samsung has revealed that the update was halted as it investigated a limited number of S8+ units rebooting unexpectedly on Oreo.
Just last week, Samsung began rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to the Galaxy S8 and S8+ after a roughly three-month beta phase. However, according to SamMobile, it seems like Samsung has suspended the rollout, though the reason behind that decision is unclear.
Magisk, one of the most recognized and well-known rooting solutions around, has just received an update to version 16.0. The update comes just a short week after version 15.4 was released, and includes a bootloop fix, support for Huawei and Honor devices with Treble (the Mate 10, 10 Pro, and View 10), and a few other changes.
The company behind Snapchat is rolling out a new feature to its app that allows users to paste animated GIFs onto their Snaps and stories. The new functionality is the result of a partnership with Giphy, and provides users with access to Giphy's enormous GIF database from right within the Snapchat app.
Waze is a pretty popular navigation app, even among Google diehards. In fact, Google actually bought Waze way back in 2013 for a little over one billion dollars and uses some of the data sourced by Waze in Google Maps. For many people who drive for a living or just happen to be on the road a lot, Waze's extra features when compared to Google Maps are something they just can't live without.
If you've got a Huawei Watch 2, you may want to hold off installing the new Oreo update for now. According to users on reddit, the update appears to disable the Android Pay app on watches that are outside the US or UK, even though Android Pay works in several other countries, including Australia and Canada.
It may be true that mobile devices account for more than 50% of all internet usage around the world, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to neglect the desktop segment entirely. Up until now, if your preferred music service was Pandora, you were out of luck if you wanted to listen to Pandora Premium on your desktop. Thankfully, Pandora has just announced they are finally launching their premium tier for the web, catching up with other services such as Spotify.
Over the past couple of months, more and more phones have begun receiving Android 8.0 Oreo. Despite being about six months old now, Oreo is still rolling out to several devices, slowly contributing to its 1% marketshare. Just recently, Samsung started (and then stopped) the official rollout of Oreo to the Galaxy S8 and S8+, and now ZTE is joining the club by announcing its Axon 7 A2017U Oreo Preview Program.
T-Mobile is sweetening its ONE plan this Valentine's by offering a free line of service when you add a new one to an existing family plan or start a new one. That may sound slightly confusing, but what it really boils down to is that you can get a T-Mobile ONE plan with 4 lines for $35 per line (that's $140 total), instead of the usual $40. T-Mobile's ONE plan already comes with unlimited 4G data (deprioritized at >50 GB), tethering, data roaming in 140+ countries, and a standard Netflix subscription.
Nowadays, there are several ways to watch content on your TV if you don't like using a set-top box. Smart TVs are one way to go, but they do have some downsides. For one, you're stuck with whatever software that comes with the TV, so you can't pick the platform you like best or that's most compatible with your devices. Then there's also the fact that the software on your smart TV will probably become outdated much sooner than the actual hardware will, so you're left with the prospect of buying an expensive new television just to get more up-to-date software. The alternative is to get a media streaming device, which have all (if not more) of the functionality of a dedicated smart TV, work with virtually any TV with an HDMI port, and are very affordable.The Amazon Fire TV is one such streaming device, and today Amazon is running a sale on the 2017 version with 4K Ultra HD support and Alexa Voice Remote, bringing the price down from $69.99 to $49.99 — that's just 10 bucks more than the regular Fire TV stick which doesn't support 4K. There are several retailers who are selling the 4K Fire TV for the same price, including Best Buy, Target, and B&H. It looks like B&H is currently out of stock, but if you don't mind waiting 4 to 6 weeks, buying from B&H means you won't pay sales tax if you live outside of New York or New Jersey.If you're thinking about purchasing a Fire TV, you really should hurry, though: the sale ends tonight at midnight.Source: Amazon, Best Buy, Target, B&H
Getty Images and Google are announcing an agreement for a multi-year licensing partnership, allowing Google to use Getty's images in Search and across its other products. The agreement requires that Google make some changes to Image Search, including making copyright disclaimers more prominent and removing direct links to certain images.
Being late isn't usually a good thing, but when it comes to purchasing technology, it does have its upsides. Chief among them is probably being able to pay a reduced price for something that not long before could only be purchased at the full MSRP. If you've still been looking to purchase a first-gen Pixel XL with maxed out storage, then eBay currently has a deal which can save you at least $269, plus any additional sales tax savings if you live outside of Illinois.
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- Samsung has stopped the rollout due to some devices experiencing unexpected reboots.
After a few months of beta testing, Samsung has finally begun rolling out the official Android 8.0 Oreo update to the Galaxy S8 and S8+. It's been almost six months since the first public version of Oreo was released to the original Pixel, but then again, it's not like we aren't already used to slow rollouts anyway.
Chrome notifications are great in theory, but now that virtually every site supports them, that constant, nagging banner under the URL bar can get annoying fairly quickly. Of course, you can always block each site individually, but that doesn't really solve the issue, since you'll still get the pop-up every time you visit a new site that supports Chrome's notifications.