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The maelstrom that is Black Friday has come and gone, but there are still outstanding deals to be had in the calm before Cyber Monday. Take the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, for instance: With a display that's tough to beat and helpful multitasking capabilities, the tablet remains one of the more enticing options out there today. Lately, it's becoming one of the more heavily discounted tablets, too. Now you can buy an open-box Tab S3 for just $369.99, which is a rather handsome $230 discount.
At a post-Thanksgiving potluck yesterday, a friend and I were sharing our enthusiasm for Android with someone who recently switched to the platform. One of the first things I always tout in these conversations is Google Opinion Rewards, the app that gives you free Play Store credit in exchange for answering survey questions. As I was talking through it, I took out my phone and opened the app to show my reward history (a shade under $90 since 2014).
The new 5T hotness in town is getting a lot of attention these days, but OnePlus is giving owners of its 2016 flagship smartphones a big pat on the back today with its rollout of OxygenOS 5.0, its first official Android Oreo OTA for the 3 and 3T. This comes about a month after owners of these devices were able to get Oreo through the Open Beta program. OnePlus continues to boast impressive turnaround times for its stable build updates.
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- The Tab S3 is also on sale at eBay, but they are open-box units (not new, but with little-to-no signs of use and with original retail packaging). There, you can get the tablet for $399 when you use coupon code PSHOPEARLY at checkout.
With Black Friday around the corner, it's just about the perfect time of the year for the dozens of you who are in the market for a new Android tablet. As a prelude to the peak season for big discounts on products that have modest demand, Costco has a sweet deal on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, one of the few legitimately premium Android tablets out there. Costco members can scoop up the Tab S3 for just $459.99, which knocks $140 off the original price. The deal includes $20 in Google Play credit, bringing the total discount on the tablet to $160, if you're fine with that sort of math.
When Google recently decided to sell only company-made hardware in the Google Store, Nest products were kept in stock. That's not exactly a surprise, given that it's a subsidiary of Alphabet, just like Google. Now the lineup of Nest security cameras, thermostats, and other smart home security accessories sold in the Google Store is expanding.
Samsung knows how to make some damn good flagship hardware, and they have been doing it for a number of years now. While the Galaxy S7 is about 20 months old now, it boasts a display, build quality, and form factor that some still find desirable in this age of bigger devices. If you've got a hankering for a smaller smartphone without compromising too much on hardware and price, use our exclusive Daily Steals coupon code to buy a refurbished 32GB S7 for just $225 — about a quarter of the going rate for many of today's flagship smartphones.
In her review, Rita called the Blink indoor home security camera "an interesting proposition that falters in execution." In spite of its shortcomings, one of the Blink's virtues was its battery life. Both the original Blink and the outdoors-ready Blink XT run on two AA lithium batteries, with two years of battery life under normal use. Now Blink is doubling down on that strength without hampering its cameras by enabling three video recording modes: Saver, Standard, and Best.
Google Maps has gotten a lot more social this year. Earlier in 2017, location sharing was enabled for the masses. Google also launched a feature allowing users to create and share lists of places. However, only Android and iOS users were able to set up these lists, and web-based Google Maps users were limited to just seeing them. That's changing now, as Google begins a phased rollout of the list creation and sharing feature for desktop-bound Maps users.
Last week, a tweet from a Danish media analyst contrasting Google and Apple's hamburger emoji designs set the internet ablaze. Google's take on the emoji, which places the cheese below the patty, drew the ire of many. Less than 12 hours later, Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded, reassuring everyone that the company would address the matter immediately. While the world waits to see whether Google changes (some would say, corrects) the architecture of its Android hamburger emoji, there is one update to share: Googlers were served "Android Burgers" on Friday – and, yes, the cheese was kept below the beef patty.
Google Lens is taking its sweet time getting ready for its full-fledged debut. The juiced-up version of Google Goggles is already available to those who use the first- and second-generation Pixel smartphones, but it's cooped up in the Photos app and has yet to appear in Assistant, as promised back in May at I/O. One of the reasons for this delay appears to be aesthetic, as Google Photos v3.8 shows off a new animation while Lens is analyzing a photo.
One of SwiftKey's many virtues is its abundance of themes, which are all free to users. By my count – I hand-counted them twice for you, dear reader – the Microsoft-owned keyboard has 125 themes available to download. That number officially jumps to infinity with the latest SwiftKey Beta thanks to a new feature called Photo Themes, which allows you to use any image you want to create a custom keyboard theme.
While large displays can be beautiful, using them in everyday scenarios can be anything but. This is particularly the case if you're holding yourself steady on a bus or train with one hand while browsing your smartphone with the other on a daily basis. To address this potential hazard, Samsung, LG, Huawei, Motorola, and other manufacturers offer a one-handed mode on some of their phones, and now a new XDA app called (wait for it) "One-Handed Mode" is bringing the helpful feature to any smartphone running Android 4.3 or higher.
If you're into frugality and football (or what us commoners call "soccer"), we've got a deal that could make your weekend. Use our exclusive Daily Steals coupon code to purchase a brand new, unlocked BLU Vivo XL2, with a case and screen protector in tow, for a mere $129.99. Hop on that deal and you'll also give yourself a chance at winning a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Spain, including premium seats at the Real Madrid vs. Valencia CF match in January.
[Deal Alert] Galaxy Note8, S8+, and S8 are up to $250 off at Best Buy for AT&T and Verizon customers
Samsung's Galaxy Note8, S8+, and S8 may be enjoying a small bump in interest from consumers who are growing increasingly wary of the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. So it seems Best Buy is striking while the iron of worry is hot by offering $250 off each of these three Samsung smartphones if activated on Verizon, and $200 off each of them if activated on AT&T.
We've seen levitating Bluetooth speakers and connected smart cameras before, but the Moon, a fully funded Indiegogo project, melds those technologies in a $209 ($330 at retail) floating robotic eyeball and base that can also act as a smart hub for your home. That is, if it ever ships. The typical crowdfunding caveats apply. Some Indiegogo projects don't have much of a future, and this is 1-Ring's first.
Pixel 2 and 2 XL owners are getting a small bonus for purchasing Google's latest smartphones. Google Spotlight Stories, a vestige of Google's Motorola days showcasing the power of virtual reality storytelling, is giving owners of the latest Pixel devices early access to "Son of Jaguar," an animated short film about a luchador from director Jorge Gutierrez.
High-quality leather, wood, and metal just aren't enough anymore. A premium automobile cabin requires some modern technology to go along with all those deluxe materials, and car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz understand that. Since the German automaker joined the Open Automotive Alliance in April 2016, it's gradually grown its fleet of passenger vehicles supporting Android Auto. Now with the addition of six compatible 2018 C-Class and GLC-Class models, Mercedes-Benz has a grand total of 24 cars capable of displaying Android on dashboard screens.
Google Assistant doesn't need to do a whole lot more to earn the "spooky" tag, but that's not stopping the team behind it from trying — but this time for smiles, not shivers. The virtual assistant is now equipped with interactive, intentionally humorous responses to some Halloween-related questions and commands.