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Blu is best known for its large variety of budget Android phones - some good, some not so good. Today the company announced two new devices - the Vivo XL3 and Vivo XL3 Plus. But unlike most of Blu's lineup, they aren't a good value at all, unless you buy one of them on sale.
The Google Phone app has been updated fairly frequently as of late. In December, assisted dialing was added, and floating chat heads arrived in February. Now the company has opened a testing program on the Play Store, so you can try out in-development features before they arrive for everyone.
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- A representative for OnePlus said the links were removed because the company was switching from oneplus.net to oneplus.com, as we covered here. The builds were not pulled intentionally, and they will be restored soon.
OnePlus frequently releases 'Open Beta' updates, where users can try the latest changes before they are ready for widespread use. The builds are usually pretty stable, but since they are intended for testing, issues occasionally crop up. It appears the latest Open Betas have a nasty bug, as OnePlus just pulled them from its website.
You probably already know that clicking any image in an Android Police post will open the gallery view. But the feature had a few problems - you couldn't zoom in, and it didn't fill the entire screen. We have now updated the gallery to fix these issues, and added a few new features!
In August of last year, Huawei released four new MediaPad tablets, including the M3 Lite 8". It was already a good device when it was $200, but now it's on sale again. The tablet is currently $149.99 from Amazon and Newegg, a $50 reduction from the MSRP.
If you're not familiar with it, YouTube Kids is a mobile and TV app designed to only show child-appropriate content. However, YouTube Kids filters content using algorithms, so inappropriate content sometimes slips through. Conspiracy theories, suggestive videos depicting superhero/Disney characters, and other harmful content has been known to appear on the app.
Facebook will soon allow users to permanently delete messages, after executives were caught doing it
Facebook continues to run into trouble regarding privacy. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light, many people deleting their Facebook accounts realized that Messenger has been collecting call/SMS metadata for years. Now the company is once again under fire, this time for allowing executives to delete Facebook messages, when normal users never had that option.
Unlike every other desktop operating system, Chrome OS updates are rolled out on a per-device basis, instead of being pushed to every Chromebook at once. This usually results in a less-buggy experience, but it can also mean updates for certain models become delayed.
Twitter has become openly hostile to third-party apps over the past few years, to push users to its own applications. Many features have never been available to third-party apps, like group DMs, polls, and Moments. The company also introduced a token limit a few years ago, causing popular clients to suddenly stop working (like Flamingo).
TWRP is the tool of choice for everything from flashing custom ROMs to backing up your phone. Last time we covered the project, it added support for the Moto X4. Since then, a few more devices have been added, including the Sony Xperia XA2 and Verizon Wear24 smartwatch.
Android TV apps aren't coming out as frequently as they were a few years ago, but occasionally an interesting TV app or game will appear on the Play Store. CNBC, a popular cable channel centered around coverage of financial markets, has offered an Android app since 2010. Now the company has released an Android TV version, allowing users to watch the current broadcast or on-demand content.
Earlier this year, LG announced the 'V30 ThinQ,' a slightly-upgraded version of the V30 with the ability to detect objects in photos (which was later brought to the original V30). Then, just this week, Evan Blass reported that the company's upcoming flagship would be called the 'LG G7 ThinQ,' indicating it would have those same AI features. Now we have confirmation and more details, thanks to images from TechRadar.
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The smartphone market is extremely saturated at this point, so it's not often we see something actually unique. Xiaomi makes plenty of regular phones, but it has also produced a few wild devices like the Mi Mix family. It appears that another strange phone from Xiaomi is on the way - one tailored to gamers.
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Over the past few years, we've seen Amazon's Alexa voice assistant expand to a wide array of electronics. This includes robots, appliances, and even bathroom mirrors. But there is one product category that Alexa hasn't yet made an appearance in - soundbars. While you could already connect an Echo Dot to a soundbar, there hasn't been one with Alexa already integrated. That is, until now.At CES in Las Vegas, Polk Audio announced the 'Command Bar.' For $299.95, you get two 1 x 3.25-inch full-range drivers, two 1-inch tweeters, and a ported wireless 6.5-inch subwoofer. It also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, a microphone array for hearing voice commands from any corner of the room, two 4K HDMI 2.0a inputs (with HDCP 2.2 compliance), one HDMI output, an optical input for TV audio, a USB port for powering a streaming stick, and an Ethernet jack.The Command Bar also has full support for Dolby/DTS surround sound, HDR 10/Dolby Vision on the HDMI passthroughs, and HDMI CEC/IR for remote control. This is very much a high-end soundbar, which makes the high price a bit more understandable.Pre-orders will start on April 1 at Amazon, but it will only be available in the US and Canada at first. Polk will sell it in Germany, Australia, the UK, and other regions later this year.
Late last month, Google announced it would block the Play Store and Google Play Services from running on 'uncertified' devices. This was meant to keep OEMs from sideloading the Play Store on devices not approved by Google. The company offered a way for custom ROM users to register their devices, but it was a complicated process, because the registration page didn't actually provide instructions.
Smartphones are getting more and more expensive, but flagships from a year or two ago are still good devices - I should know, my main phone is still a 2016 Google Pixel. If you've been looking for an inexpensive phone, or even a secondary/backup device, today might be your lucky day. Daily Steals currently has several refurbished Motorola phones on sale at steep discounts, when you use our exclusive coupon codes.
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- LineageOS 15.1 builds for the Pixel C (dragon), Nexus 6 (shamu), and OnePlus 2 (oneplus2) are now available to download.
After much anticipation, LineageOS 15.1 (based on Android 8.1) was announced last month. Only a handful of devices had official 15.1 builds at the start, but over time, more have been moved up to Oreo. The Nexus Player, OnePlus One, and Oppo Find 7 were recently added to the roster - and now three more devices are coming.
The Android One Moto X4 is a good mid-range device, but the price was too high when it launched. It's only officially available from Project Fi in the United States, and the carrier has run multiple promotions in the past that brought down the price. Most recently, the phone dropped to $249 ($150 off).
Snapchat hasn't been doing well lately. The recent redesign received almost universal criticism, the company's stock price continues to fall, and layoffs have become common. For those of you still using the app regularly, you can now do group video chats with up to 16 people.
Unlocked Android phones typically receive faster updates, as they are not subject to carrier update testing. Despite this, unlocked Samsung phones in the US are almost always updated after the carrier models, and this time is no exception.