Hagop Kavafian
Contributing since January, 2019
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About Hagop Kavafian
Hagop is a tech-savvy guy, who's also into traveling, fitness, biking, food, and planes. He's heptalingual and has lived in 5 different countries, but has decided to settle in Paris for the time being.
Latest Articles
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- Still waiting for your chance to check out the new add-event interface? Some of you in the comments mentioned you were seeing it with Calendar's 6.0.32 release, while others had yet to see it appear. With the publication of this week's new 6.0.34 update, the new look should hopefully be available for more of you — not everyone's getting it, but some who hadn't had it before should start seeing the fresh UI. Rather than waiting around for the Play Store to take action, you can swing by APK Mirror right now and install the latest edition of Calendar for yourself.
I've always hated sending out meeting invites from my phone, mostly because I find it much harder to see other people's calendars on my mobile device than on my computer. When I do manage to access whether they're available or not, I often find myself creating an appointment that overlaps another item. For these reasons, I'd usually prefer to wait to be in front of my computer to manage my calendar, but Google might make me change my mind with the improvements it's bringing to Calendar.
After a bunch of Galaxy Fold units failed in the hands of reviewers, Samsung preferred to delay its new device's launch to further investigate and fix the issue that led the displays to go berserk. After an initial analysis, the company concluded that removing the inner screen's protective layer could cause external substances to come into contact with the panel, causing it to malfunction. The manufacturer recently announced it would publish an updated release schedule for the Galaxy Fold, and some details are starting to leak explaining how Samsung plans on fixing the device's flaws.
We've recently told you about Rivet, a free reading-practice app for kids developed by Area 120, Google's experimental product division. Since the software is still in beta phase, it's continuously improving with better features and interface tweaks. The app was initially designed for tablets because they offer a better experience, and couldn't be installed on phones through the Play Store. The APK could still be sideloaded on handsets, though, but the interface didn't look pleasing compared to larger screens. However, the application has just been updated and now officially supports smartphones as well.
Google has been trying to be more transparent with the information it collects lately. After launching the My Activity site back in 2016, it recently let users delete their "OK Google" recordings from its databases. The company is continuing to make it easier to review what it has on you, as it just added an option to access your Assistant data directly into the app's settings.
Google is more and more integrated into our daily lives: Many of us use the company's email, calendar, and Assistant services, which work seamlessly with each other. They can be particularly handy when you receive an email for an event, which is then automatically recognized as a calendar appointment and added to your schedule. The day of the event, Assistant can remind you of this meeting and even tell you how long you'll need to get there. However, in order for all of this to work, Google's services need to be available where you need them, which is unfortunately not always the case. The company is taking a step toward making life easier for people living or visiting Bulgaria by adding support for public transportation into Maps.
Remember when you first used Assistant and had to repeat "Ok Google" and "Hey Google" a couple of times to train it to recognize your voice? Well, there's a way to delete these recordings entirely from Google's database, in case you've decided to part ways with the search company.
Despite new flagships coming out, the Galaxy S10 is still one of the hottest phones around. Even though its price could have been a roadblock when it was announced back in February, you don't need to spend as much now. Indeed, thanks to a a promotion on the device's international version on eBay, you can pay as low as $596 for the S10, $675 for the S10, and $775 for the S10+ in their 128GB versions.
As surprising as it sounds, there are still recent phones that haven't been updated to Pie, and the HTC U11, H11+, and U12+ are among these few. However, the Taiwanese manufacturer is finally getting ready to roll out the new Android version to these devices, right on time before Q becomes available.
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- Things might not be as clear cut as we thought for Google. Indeed, during the Android Fireside chat at Google I/O 2019, someone asked David Burke, Android's VP of Engineering, if he could explain why this feature wasn't going to be implemented. David replied he was unaware of who said they couldn't do it and thought it was a good idea, but it all comes down to prioritizing it compared to other feature requests. We've pinged him to see if he wanted to reprioritize it, but haven't heard back yet. Let's hope things move forward and Google works on adding this feature natively to Android.
Screenshots are useful when you need to save information locally, but they're mostly handy when it comes to sharing what you're seeing. They're particularly convenient when you want to send a text discussion to a third party, but you often end up having to take plenty of screenshots that get mixed, making it even harder to follow the conversation. In order to address this problem, several manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and HTC have implemented "scrollable screenshots" in their user interface, so people can share snippets of a conversation without having to save and send multiple files. As this feature is not natively available in Android, it is fair to expect Google to implement it in a future build. The company, however, doesn't even seem to consider it, claiming it's simply "infeasible."
Google introduced "bubbles" with Android Q Beta 2, which are essentially system-level notifications displayed in a Messenger-style chat head. Although these don't replace the OS' traditional notifications, they can be activated through a toggle in the settings. However, the company announced it wants to move this switch to the developer options menu in the final release, making it harder to spot for most users.
As part of Android Q Beta 3, Google has created 230 new emojis, including 53 that are gender-neutral. What this means is the icon can represent both a man and a woman, without identifying to a particular gender. In order to achieve this, Google has focused on designing a hairstyle that can be worn by both women and men.
If you're thinking of getting a Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, or Galaxy S10+ with a US carrier, now is probably a good time to do so. All three versions are currently on sale, with discounts ranging from $50 to $100 for the Galaxy S10e or $100 to $200 for the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+. The condition to enjoy this rebate is to buy your phone directly from Samsung and activate it on one of the major American carriers, namely AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon.
We recently reported Android Q lets you customize the interface's accent color, which lets you pick a shade that matches your taste to replace the system's default one. In addition, Google officially confirmed its newest mobile operating system will ship with a dark mode, which further improves customization options. While these settings are specific to Android, it seems Gboard will automatically recognize them and adapt its looks based on them.
We've already seen a couple of third-party headphones optimized for Assistant, such as the Bose QC 35 II, the JBL Live, or the Sony WH-1000XM3, which allow you to directly interact with Google's digital helper, but also get your notifications read to you without having to touch your phone. The company now wants to make its assistant easier to integrate into headphones and has teamed up with Qualcomm to build a standard development kit to simplify this process.
Google just announced its Home products would be part of the Nest lineup, and the first one to be rebranded is the Home Hub, the company's smart display powered by Assistant. Together with the name change, Google dropped its price down to $129 instead of the original $149 MSRP, but you can get a much better deal by buying two simultaneously for just $140.
If you're looking for a Pixel 3-like experience but don't want to spend as much, you're in luck as Google just unveiled its Pixel 3a and 3a XL smartphones, which bring the same camera and software for about half the price. In addition to being sold in North America, the new devices are now listed on Google's online stores in various Asian and European countries.
If you're looking for a flagship device that also doubles as a photographer's Swiss knife, you're in luck, as Nokia's high-end 9 PureView just dropped to $600, $100 off its original MSRP. For this price, you get five back cameras that take incredibly crisp photos, combined with Android One, which is free of bloatware and will receive updates for at least two years.
If you're on the lookout for a pair of earphones, to take with you to the gym or to listen to music while commuting, search no more. Aukey's praised true wireless earbuds are on sale, down to just $79 instead of their $99 MSRP. This is a great deal given they offer an impressive battery life, wireless charging, and water resistance.If you put the brands no one has ever heard of aside, these are probably one of the most interesting true wireless earphones on the market. Unlike some other products, they're very discreet and fit tightly thanks to their ear wings. Their case also looks very sleek and can be powered thanks to the USB-C cable that comes in the box or even with a Qi wireless charger — which unfortunately doesn't ship with the buds.Battery life is also insane, as you can enjoy up to seven hours of music on a single charge, and even extend that to 21 hours with the case without even having to power the earphones up. If you like to work out, you'll appreciate their IPX5 water resistance, which will offer protection from sweat and water sprays, but still won't make them fully waterproof. Lastly, the product has received five-star ratings from buyers on Amazon and comes with a 45-day money-back guarantee, which is plenty of time to decide whether you like them or not.
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When software is updated, it's usually to add new features or correct bugs. However, there are times when a new release does the exact opposite by taking functionalities away or breaking them. This is precisely what happened with a recent Google Voice update, which caused the application to malfunction. Indeed, users have reported the new software crashes at launch or, for the luckier ones, ignores speakerphone and Bluetooth toggles.