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Back at Google I/O, Google promised that the Home smart speaker would arrive in five more countries (it was already available in the US and UK). Since then, it has come to every planned region except Germany and Japan. Now the speaker has showed up for sale on the German Google Store for 149 Euros.
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- Community Manager Earnest has posted on the Android Wear Help Forum, stating that the issue is now resolved. The fix is part of the Google app v7.8 update, which you can grab from APKMirror or wait for it to be pushed to you through the Play Store.
Android Wear 2.0 has had some growing pains. Many users (including some of us at AP) would rather use version 1.5, due to major changes to how notifications are displayed and other annoyances. And as with any major software update, there have been a few bugs here and there.
There have been quite a few leaks of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note8 so far. Usually we have to wait for a phone to be released before the included wallpapers show up online, but not this time. SamsungVN, a Vietnam-based site, published the wallpapers and took them down shortly afterwards. But this is the internet - nothing is ever really deleted.
The Moto X Pure has had a bizarre (and frustrating) update history. It originally shipped with Android 5.1, and was updated rather quickly to 6.0 Marshmallow. However, the jump to 7.0 Nougat has been anything but quick. The update is still in the testing phase in most regions, despite Motorola promising it would be rolling out by the end of Q2 2017 (which has already ended).
It's impossible to know what the next hit mobile app will be. One day, it's a game where a bird jumps up and down, and the next, a clone of Bejeweled with candy. Facebook gave it a shot with 'Lifestage,' a social media app exclusive to high school students. Not even a year after it was released, Facebook is shutting it down.
Instagram added its live video feature in December of last year, allowing users to start live streaming directly from the mobile apps. The company has continued to improve live video since then, like adding the ability to save the broadcast after it's over. Another new feature is on the way - guests.
If you've been out of the loop, Mozilla is hyping the upcoming Firefox 57 update, scheduled to arrive in November of this year. It will include a new interface (nicknamed 'Photon') across desktop and mobile, as well as the first stages of Project Quantum to improve performance. Firefox 57 will also remove support for legacy (XUL-based) add-ons, a move that isn't popular with all users.
The Galaxy Note8 is shaping up to be a great device, judging from all the leaks we've seen so far. But as bezels on phones shrink, it becomes a bit trickier to hold them without setting off the touchscreen, and the glass back doesn't help matters. Thankfully, it looks like Samsung will throw a free case in the Note8's box.
The TV landscape has shifted an enormous amount in the past decade. We've gone from requiring a TV subscription to watch almost any new show, to centralizing everything on services like Netflix, to every major TV network creating their own subscription service. CBS launched its 'All Access' site in 2014, allowing users to stream content the day after it airs, and the company is looking to expand it outside the United States.
Sony's phones are almost always more expensive than competing devices, and the XZ Premium is no exception. It arrived in the United States for a whopping $799, making it one of the most expensive (mainstream) phones on the market. Here we are, about a month and a half after its release in 'Murica, and the phone has already dropped $100.The XZ Premium has a Snapdragon 835, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, a 5.5" 4K HDR display, and a 3,230mAh battery. The main selling point is the 19MP back camera, capable of recording 960fps slow-motion video. The 4K HDR screen is pretty nice too, but it only switches to 4K resolution during media playback (in select apps).The biggest downside to this phone, besides the price, is the fingerprint sensor. Or rather, the lack thereof. The US model doesn't have a working fingerprint sensor due to some agreement/legal matter, but flashing the international variant's firmware turns it back on. If you're still interested, you can grab it from various retailers below.Source: Amazon, Best Buy, B&H
Appfour is perhaps the leading app developer for Android Wear. The team has published a variety of apps for the platform, including a web browser, a YouTube client, and a standalone email app. The team's newest project is a third-party keyboard for Android Wear 2.0.
It's that time of the month again - Google has released the August security patch for Android, and it's available to install on Pixel and Nexus devices right now. As always, you can either wait for the update to be pushed to you, or sideload it manually.
Flip phones, at least in the United States, are synonymous with iPod Minis and VHS tapes as relics of another era. But in other regions of the world, flip phones have kept up with the smartphone revolution. Samsung just announced the 'Leader 8,' a flip phone with the specifications to match flagship Android smartphones.
One of the many phones Motorola has announced this year is the Moto E4 Plus, a step up from the base Moto E4. It has a Snapdragon 427 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 5.5" 720p display, and a whopping 5,000mAh battery. Now you can finally buy it.The E4 Plus is a Verizon carrier exclusive, meaning that while Verizon is the only one carrier selling it, you can still buy it unlocked and use it on other ones. Unlike many other phones in this price category, the E4 Plus (and the normal E4) is compatible with both CDMA and GSM networks. So you can use it on every carrier in the US.Amazon is also selling the E4 Plus as a Prime Exclusive phone with ads, bringing the 16GB model down from $179 to $139, and the 32GB model from $199 to $159. Not a bad deal.
The first phone to be equipped with Google's Project Tango augmented-reality capabilities was the Lenovo Phab2 Pro. If you read our review, you'll know that it wasn't a good experience at all. But another Tango-powered phone is on the way, and you can order it now from Verizon.
Last month, premium camera company RED announced it was developing a smartphone called "Hydrogen." The product sounded like vaporware - almost no details were disclosed at first, besides the whopping $1,200 price tag. Perhaps in an attempt to prove that the device will actually come to market, the company gave MKBHD (a well-known tech YouTuber) a few prototypes to try out.
The ZTE Maven 2 is one of many phones offered on AT&T PREPAID (previously AT&T GoPhone), and currently goes for $39.99 from the carrier. It has the specifications to match - a 480x854 display, a Snapdragon 210 processor, and 1GB of RAM. Still, this super cheap phone has one thing the Galaxy S8 doesn't have - Android 7.1.1.
It's a pretty common practice for manufacturers to upload their custom system applications to the Play Store. This is done so the apps can be updated outside of Android system updates. The Nokia phones produced by HMD Global are pretty close to stock Android, but there are a few custom apps. One of these is the Camera application, which has now been published to the Play Store.
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- It looks like someone at Amazon jumped the gun a little and released the firmware changelog three weeks earlier before the feature was live. Now it's really official. Amazon says that the feature is rolling today in the US for all generations of Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, whereas smart TVs with Fire TV Edition will have it within the week. There's also a promised support for viewing smart home camera feeds on the Fire TV and 2nd gen Fire TV Stick, but that's said to be "coming soon."
One of the Google Home's best features is the ability to control playback of a Chromecast with voice commands. For example, you can ask "OK Google, play Gravity Falls on the living room TV" to start playing content without having another device nearby. Now the Fire TV can do that, but with Alexa devices.Amazon's Fire TV and Fire TV stick already have an Alexa button on the remote, which you can use to control media playback and open apps. A software update is rolling out to all Fire TV models that allows you to use all the same commands, but from another Alexa device (like an Echo or Echo Dot). You can use phrases like pause, play, resume, fast forward, and next episode.If your Fire TV finds that the update is available, it will install automatically when you reboot it (or after it is idle for 30 minutes). You can find more information at the source link below.
Has it really been almost two months since Chrome 59 for Android was released? Well, Chrome 60 is finally here with plenty of improvements for both users and developers. Let's take a look.