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All Android TV devices come with a remote control, but those things do have a way of getting lost in the couch cushions. Luckily, your phone can connect to the TV box and act as a remote. Not as luckily, that can sometimes be buggy. Maybe it'll be a little less so going forward now that the remote service is being updated via the Play Store.
Google Voice was waning a few weeks ago, then Google suddenly brought it back and gave it a fresh coat of paint. That was just the first step, though. Google promised it would continue updating Google Voice, and indeed it is. There's a new update rolling out today with more conversation management options, GIFs, and more.
Google has come up with a way to create Google accounts for kids under age 13, which has long been against the rules based on government regulations. However, Family Link allows for a very limited account with powerful parental controls. What's it like to use? It just so happens we've got like a million screenshots of it. Check them out below.
Talon was one of the first apps to embrace material design when Google announced Lollipop a few years back. However, even a material app from that era would look a little old by today's standards. Talon has been updated consistently over time, and today it's moving to v6.0 with some notable UI improvements.
Most modern games are easy... or they're artificially hard and crawling with in-app purchases. The Meganoid series is neither. It's hard as nails and no amount of money will make it easier. There's a new Meganoid title out today, ready to crush your spirit and make you yearn for a $0.99 in-app purchase that will get you past that last boss.
LG will have a precious few weeks to itself before the Galaxy S8 shows up and competes directly with the G6. It's looking to put up the biggest numbers possible in that time with a nice promo. All you have to do is pre-order or buy a G6 before April 30th and you get a free Google Home.
Google has never allowed anyone under the age of 13 to have a Google account, and certainly no one would ever lie about their age on the internet. Right? Well, now you don't have to lie with the new Family Link app. Family Link (invite-only and US-only for now) lets you create a Google account for your under-13 offspring with advanced parental controls built-in. There are some caveats, but this seems like a tool many parents will be anxious to check out.
The Pixel and Pixel XL are the best phones Google has ever made. Good luck actually buying one, though. This is something we've been able to say about every phone Google has released, but the Pixel's supply issues seem much more pervasive than any of the Nexus phones were. After nearly five months on sale, the Pixel just went out of stock on the Google Store yet again.
Fossil is currently on Twitter telling anyone who will listen that it's in the process of pushing Android Wear 2.0 to its watches. Apparently the pace of updating will pick up tomorrow (March 15th) and will be done by the end of March. I'd tell you to start obsessively checking for updates, but Wear 2.0 isn't anything to be excited about.
Android Wear devices mostly hover around $250-350, depending on the specs and features they offer. Tag Heuer has no use for "conventional" pricing. Its first watch, the Connected, was priced at $1,800. Now, the second one is a little more reasonable (but only a little). The Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 starts at $1,650. You can spend over $6,000 on one if you want.
Should you find yourself with a few extra dollars today, I know what you can do with them. A mere $5 purchase will net you a dozen strategy games on Android via the latest Humble Bundle deal. The new bundle is live today and runs for two weeks.
You can customize numerous aspects of SwiftKey Keyboard, but keypress sounds have not thus far been one of them. As of now, they are. The latest update to SwiftKey includes the option to set one of four keypress sound profiles. There's Traditional, Android, Modern, and Blip.
Samsung has had a rough couple of months. It seems like every time the Korean electronics giant is in the news it's because something is catching fire, getting hacked, or its chairman is being arrested. The recent revelation that the CIA has hacked Samsung's smart TVs got the company on John Oliver's radar. Naturally, he roasted the company on the most recent Last Week Tonight.
Pandora has been streaming music for longer than many of the top streaming services, but it's always gone about things differently. Pandora is based on radio stations rather than specific tracks. Today, Pandora is deploying a new version of its service that's more in-line with competing options. For $10 per month, you can pick songs instead of trusting that the radio station won't stink.
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- Nougat is also rolling out to the ZS570KL model of the Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe. It also removes Share Link and PC Suite, and improves NFC performance.
Asus sort of missed the boat with the ZenFone 3 line, which took ages to come out in the US and then wasn't very competitive with other devices. The ZenFone 3 Deluxe was priced similarly to the OnePlus 3, but it wasn't as good. Asus isn't pretending the phone never happened, though. This phone is getting an Android 7.0 update, the first wide rollout of Nougat for Asus.
The name Joaquim Vergès might ring a bell if you've been following the drama over Twitter clients for a few years. Vergès clashed with Twitter a while back as his Falcon Pro Twitter client got increasingly popular. Then, he joined the company as a developer. Now he's leaving Twitter after just a year and a half for a job at Twitch.
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- The 64GB on Amazon has gone up to $379, which is still okay-ish. Newegg has a 0 discount on the 64GB model with coupon code HONOROFF64. That brings the price down to $319.99 ($449.99 regular price).
The Honor 8 has always been a very, very pretty phone. But the software was a serious drawback until just recently. Huawei rolled out Nougat to this phone a few weeks ago, and it improved the experience greatly. If that sounds like something you want to check out, the Honor 8 is on sale today for over $100 off.The Honor 8 is still a budget unlocked phone, but it competes more with the OnePlus 3 than it does with the Moto G4/5. It has dual 12MP cameras, 4GB of RAM, a Kirin 950, and a 5.2-inch 1080p LCD. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the back, and it's great.This phone appears to be on sale all over, but by far the best deals are on Amazon currently. The 32GB version of the phone can be had for as little as $285.05 ($115 off). That's for the white version. If you want black, it's $296.80 and the blue is $310.01. The 64GB is cheapest if you get the black model, which is $324.99 ($125 off). The white is $389.97 and the blue is $350. The gold (only available in 64GB) is on sale for $325.74.You can also get the phone on sale via Honor, B&H, and Best Buy, but none of them are as cheap.
The transition to USB Type-C hasn't been as smooth as we all would have hoped. There were a number of bad cables early on, and there are still different versions of fast charging that require the right cables and wall adapters. You can simplify the process a little with a Type-C wall outlet like the one available from Top Greener. We tested this device to make sure it performs as intended, and indeed it does. This outlet will fast-charge your Pixel (or other USB-PD devices).This outlet costs $28.69 right now, and includes two standard AC plugs in addition to the Type-C and Type-A ports (note: Artem purchased this outlet for his own personal use). The Type-C port promises 5V 3A (up to 15W) charging speed. That's the max for the Pixel and some other Google devices (eg. the Nexus 6P and 5X), but the XL can do 18W. It should fast-charge the Moto Z phones as well, but not as fast as the stock charger (it does up to 5.7A). The wall outlet does up to 4.8A total if both ports are in use. The Top Greener outlet was tested with the aid of a Satechi Type-C charge monitor and several different Type-C cables.
It has traditionally been impossible to get an unlimited data plan on prepaid service, but AT&T has just rolled out that very thing. GoPhone customers who want to use a lot of data can do so for a mere $60 per month. If that sounds like a good deal, get ready for the catch. This is basically the throttled Choice "unlimited" plan AT&T offers as a budget option for post-paid lines.
Paying bills is an unpleasant but necessary part of being a grown up. The budgeting tool Mint aims to make it less annoying by collecting all your bills in one place so you don't forget to pay them. Today, it's adding yet another way to be reminded of all the money you owe by putting reminders on your calendar.