Corbin Davenport
Contributing since August, 2015
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3615articles
Page 150
About Corbin Davenport
Corbin is a tech journalist and developer who worked at Android Police from 2016 until 2021. Check out his other work at corbin.io.
Latest Articles
Google regularly conducts server-side tests - showing new features and UI changes to only a handful of users at a time. Unfortunately, sometimes these have adverse affects on users. In this case, Google has broken the Play Store and Google Now for some users, as a result of two independent server-side tests.
The first carrier to support Google's Jibe RCS technology was Sprint, back in November of last year. Since then, several carriers in Canada, Asia, and Europe have made the switch. Now it looks like Celcom will support Jibe RCS, becoming the first carrier in Malaysia to do so.
Although the Alexa voice assistant is a popular choice for smart speakers like Amazon's own Echo line, we've seen plenty of devices with screens running it too. For example, the Huawei Mate 9 was updated to include Alexa not too long ago. According to AFTVnews and Evan Blass (aka @evleaks), Amazon is working on a touchscreen Echo device.
Remember when everyone thought tablets would replace PCs, at least for average consumers? Yeah, that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite is happening. In a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide tablet shipments in Q1 2017 have dropped 8.5% compared to Q1 2016, with just 36.2 million devices shipped.
Google released the first Developer Preview for its new 'Android Things' operating system back in December, and the company has been improving it ever since. A minor update, Developer Preview 3.1, was released today with support for the new AIY Projects Voice Kit.
Lately, we've seen the Ecobee3 smart thermostat go on sale a few times, and now it seems obvious why. Ecobee has announced its new smart thermostat, fittingly named the ecobee4. This time around, the thermostat has Alexa built-in, so you can talk to it to change the temperature (or do anything else Alexa can do).If you're not familiar with the ecobee product line, its main selling point is the room sensors (the white square in the above image). They monitor a room to help manage hot and cold spots in your home, and should help save a bit on your power bills. Unfortunately, only one room sensor is included.Just like the last model, the ecobee4 is also compatible with "most residential heating and cooling systems." It can also still be controlled by an external Alexa device, whether that be an Amazon Echo or your Alexa-equipped refrigerator.You can already pre-order it from various retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Lowes, and Home Depot. It costs $249.99 for the ecobee4 and one room sensor.
Android Wear started off, as many Google products do, as something closer to a proof-of-concept than a finished product. The first watches had problems, the software was unfinished, and tech companies were the only ones producing them. Now that Android Wear is becoming a more mature platform, mostly thanks to the long-awaited 2.0 update, we're starting to see more watches than ever hit the market.
Perhaps due to today's outbreak of a widespread phishing scam, or simply by coincidence, Google is rolling out enhanced anti-phishing security checks in Gmail for Android. When users tap on a suspicious link, the above warning will now appear.
Phishing emails are annoying and potentially dangerous, but very rarely do we see one as nefarious as this. A specific email, shown above, has been making waves in the news and Google has released an official statement regarding it.
Having trouble sending WhatsApp messages? Don't worry, you're not alone. The entire service seems to be down for everyone at the moment. The outage has lasted over an hour at this point, with the web interface showing a "Trying to reach phone" screen:
What's better than a remote control BB-8 toy, you ask? A remote control BB-8 toy on sale. Perhaps a day early for May the 4th (as in "May the Force be with you"), Sphero has discounted the popular toy to just $122 on Amazon.If you're not familiar with it, the droid is primarily designed to be controlled with the provided iOS and Android applications. It can move up to 30m away from the controller, and should last for about 60 minutes on a single charge.The bundle on sale includes the 'Force Band,' which allows you to control BB-8 with hand gestures. You can find it on Amazon at the link below.
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Some messaging applications allow you to add shortcuts for contacts to the home screen, and now Snapchat has added a variation of that feature. Snapchat 10.4 beta allows users to create home screen widgets for their friends, but only if they have a Bitmoji.
Back in 2012, Amazon launched a service called 'Kindle FreeTime Unlimited.' For $4.99 per child ($2.99 for Prime members) or $9.99 for a family (max four children, $6.99 for Prime members), FreeTime gives kids access to a massive library of age-appropriate TV shows, movies, books, and apps.
It's been just over a year since Google first started publicly testing a new Material Design makeover for the YouTube website. The design has gradually rolled out to some users, but many (myself included) had yet to get it officially. Now YouTube is allowing anyone to try it out.
The community behind LineageOS, the successor to the ill-fated CyanogenMod ROM, continues to impress. New devices are constantly being added to the build roster, and we're even seeing new software features crop up, like custom Quick Settings tiles. Now the project has started supporting nine additional devices.
Most Android devices use ARM processors, usually with ARM's 'Mali' display unit to render graphics. Usually every new Mali upgrade is a small incremental improvement over the previous design, but not this time around. ARM has taken the wraps off 'Mali-Cetus,' the company's next-generation display processor.
We've seen plenty of deals on the Samsung Galaxy S7 lately, but not so much for the S7 edge. If you've been holding out for that model, you might be excited to see the international unlocked S7 edge for just $479 at B&H and eBay.
The Graphics Interchange Format was initially developed by CompuServe in 1987, and has become a staple of the internet. However, GIFs have some limitations, and many sites have switched to using HTML5 video in WebM or MP4 format (such as Gfycat, Imgur, Twitter, and others).
It's the first day of May, and Google is wasting no time releasing the May 2017 factory images and OTAs for Nexus and Pixel devices. Just like last month, the security update has reached the Pixel/Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, and Nexus 9.
The ZTE Axon 7 was updated to Android 7.1.1 last month, becoming one of the few non-Google devices to officially receive it. A new software update, referred to as 'B25' by ZTE, is now rolling out to the Axon 7 A2017U with a few minor new features and bug fixes.