About Ryan Whitwam
Ryan is a tech/science writer, skeptic, lover of all things electronic, and Android fan. In his spare time he reads golden-age sci-fi and sleeps, but rarely at the same time. His wife tolerates him as few would. He's the author of a sci-fi novel called The Crooked City, which is available on Amazon and Google Play.
Latest Articles
[Update: Reached usage limit] Deal Alert: Get 25% off (up to $100 discount) on a Google Express order
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- We hope you got in on this offer when you had the chance, as even with quite a few days to go until it was set to expire, Google's now informing shoppers that the deal has reached its usage limit.
Google has tried all sorts of things to get us using Google Express, but moving the Assistant shopping list isn't going to do it. Steep discounts like the one rolling out today are a safer bet. You can get 25% off a Google Express order today with a promo code.
Google's Project Fi service has always offered compelling pricing, but the phone selection was severely limited. It recently announced a handful of new devices, and two of them start shipping today. The LG G7 ThinQ and V35 ThinQ can be yours on Fi, but get ready to spend big to get them.
[Deal Alert] GGMM D6 20W speaker dock for Echo Dot on sale for $41.85 ($15 off) via Amazon today only
Smart speakers come in all shapes and sizes, but the smallest ones are basically in impulse purchase territory now. the problem: the speaker performance isn't great in devices like the Echo Dot. Today's Amazon Goldbox deal includes a neat speaker dock for the dot that adds a lot more power.The GGMM D6 looks quite a bit like the full-sized Echo speaker. However, it has a slot at the top to add an Echo Dot. That speaker retails for $50, and sometimes much less. Amazon also gives Dots away with the purchase of certain devices. The D6 dock has power and audio out for the Dot, allowing you to get the Alexa smarts with vastly more powerful speakers. It could be a cool upgrade for any Dots you have around the house. The GGMM D6 does not come with a Dot, though.This device usually retails for around $55-60, but the list price is $90. The current $41.85 price is about $15 less than it was yesterday. You can expect the price to go back up when the deal expires at the end of the day. It has one-day Prime shipping for subscribers, too.Source: Amazon
Speaker maker Sonos has filed paperwork in the US to become a publicly traded company. The company plans to join the Nasdaq under the symbol SONO. It didn't specify an initial list price for shares, but it used a placeholder value of $100 million. That could go up or down as we get closer to the sale.
Motorola has changed a lot since the days when it was a Google company. Ah, what a time that was! With the glory days of the Moto X long behind us, it's all about Moto Mods now. The company has just launched its first 2018 Z device—the Moto Z3 Play, and it's pushing the modular angle even harder. When you purchase the Z3 Play, you get a Motorola battery Mod in the box, plus support for all the Mods released thus far. Unfortunately, that's not as strong a selling point as Motorola would have you believe.
[Deal Alert] New first-gen Pixel on sale for $330 (32GB) and $400 (128GB) [Update: Price bump]
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The 2016 Pixel was a great little phone, and it's still a solid device in the middle of 2018. The camera is one of the best you can get, the screen is decent, and it has a headphone jack. The problem is finding a good deal on it. B&H has this phone on sale currently, and while the price is a bit higher than some other deals, these are not refurbs.
Android P developer preview includes a list of received files in connection settings [Update: It's just in a new place]
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Direct Bluetooth file transfers have been available on Android since time immemorial, but Android P adds a long-overdue related feature. You can finally see a list of all transferred files. The menu is nestled in the connection settings—it's actually been there for a while, and no one noticed.
[Deal Alert] The high-end Pixelbook (Core i7, 512GB) is on sale for $1,499 ($150 off)
Google's Pixelbook is a far cry from those cheap Chromebooks you can pick up on impulse. It can be hard to justify the base model Pixelbook, let alone the $1,649 premium model. That version of the device is a bit cheaper today, though. If you were already looking at the Pixelbook, maybe this will convince you to step up to the best version.The high-end Pixelbook is currently on sale for $1,499 via Amazon and ABT. This model has a Core i7 processor, 512GB of storage, and 16GB of RAM. This hardware would be plenty powerful for a workhorse Windows machine, so it really tears through Chrome OS. This device is also the first to get new Chrome OS features if you run it on the beta or dev channel.
It's been nothing but bad news for ZTE over the last couple months, but there's finally a positive development for the Chinese technology firm. The US Commerce Department has temporarily lifted part of the trade ban that effectively shut down ZTE back in April. This will help ZTE keep the lights on as it works toward full compliance.
Ever since its introduction, the S Pen has been the defining feature of the Galaxy Note series. Some users are so devoted to that stylus they won't even consider buying another phone. The S Pen hasn't changed much over the years, other than no longer getting stuck in the phone. Samsung seems to have something big planned for the Note 9, though. A new FCC report lists the S Pen as a Bluetooth device.
Android P DP4 introduces new rotation toggle icon, gives it more prominent placement in gesture nav
The original Android P developer preview added a neat rotation toggle that let you lock the screen into portrait or landscape when auto-rotate was disabled. Google has played around with how to present this feature, and the new dev preview makes the biggest change yet. The button has been completely redesigned, and it shows up in a different location (sometimes).
All of the Android Go phones we've seen thus far look almost indistinguishable from a run-of-the-mill stock Android phone, but there's nothing stopping OEMs from customizing the Go edition of Android. Leave it to Samsung to take Google up on that. New pics of Samsung's first Android Go phone have leaked, and the OS looks very Samsung-y.
Opera has been making browsers and other apps for years, and now it's taking the next step. Opera has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, hoping to raise around $115 million. However, that number could change as we get closer to the IPO.
Google introduced the dark launcher theme on the Pixel 2 and 2 XL, eventually expanding it to the first gen Pixels with the Android 8.1 update. However, there was no way to change the theme manually—it was always based on the wallpaper. Google recently promised a toggle, and now it's here in the latest Android P preview.
It's showing up a little later than we expected, but the fourth Android P Developer Preview is rolling out today. It's available on the first and second generation Pixel phones as both a system image and an OTA file. However, the Android beta program updates aren't going out quite yet.
HTC was the first manufacturer to produce Android devices, and it continued as a top-tier OEM even after the platform caught on. But that was then, and this is now. HTC has struggled to compete with the likes of Samsung and Huawei, shedding workers year after year. Now, HTC will cut 1,500 jobs in Taiwan, which represents almost a quarter of its remaining workforce.
I'll be the first to admit that the Moto G6 is not the most exciting phone in the world. The days of being wowed by sub-$300 phones simply on the basis of not being terrible are long gone, but Motorola still rolls new budget devices out every year. The new Moto G6 is probably at the top of the list for many budget phone shoppers. Our full review includes ample details, but here are the three best and worst things about the G6.
Looking to kick back and relax this Friday afternoon with some streaming TV courtesy of Google? Well, your plans might be on hold. We're getting multiple reports of YouTube TV outages. Streams are failing to load left and right, and some users can't even log in. Google says it is rolling out a fix so you should be back up and running soon if not already.
T-Mobile has finally gotten around to pushing Oreo to the LG G6. This will be its first major update since launching, but it's still only landing on 8.0 rather than 8.1. At least it's an update. Feel free to head to the update menu and mash the button, but you'll probably have to wait a few days to get it on your device.
Available today: Moto Z3 Play, Moto G6 Prime Exclusive, and Moto Z3 Play Prime Exclusive
It's a day full of new Motorola phone releases. You can pick up Moto's latest semi-flagship phone in either standard or Amazon variants. There's also a cheaper option in the Amazon-tweaked Moto G6.Motorola is asking a whopping $499.99 for the Moto Z3 Play, which is going to be a tough sell when it packs a Snapdragon 636. It does at least come bundled with a Motorola battery mod (2,220mAh) for added juice. The same bundle with phone and battery can be had on Amazon for $50 less if you don't mind the pre-loaded Amazon apps. The third-gen Z phone is compatible with all the mods Motorola has announced over the years.The Amazon Moto G6 is also live today, and it's the same basic experience we got with the retail version from Motorola. However, this one is $234.99 ($15 cheaper) and comes pre-loaded with Amazon apps.Source: Moto Z3 Play (Motorola, Amazon), Moto G6 (Amazon)