Jordan Palmer
Contributing since August, 2016
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About Jordan Palmer
Jordan is an editor for Android Police and a technology enthusiast. He writes frequently, both professionally and as a hobby, loving the process of putting pen to paper... or fingers to a keyboard. Beyond tech journalism, Jordan enjoys writing fiction and spending many of his free seconds world-building for his novels. He also fills his time with video games (like Overwatch), staying fit, and ignoring his house cat.
Latest Articles
To get June started off right, Telegram just released v5.7 for Android. The main focus continues to be on privacy and improving those elements, but there's more, too. This update also comes with probably my favorite cartoon yet.
Last year's Asus Zenfone 5Z was an excellent phone with great hardware and an even better price point. The Zenfone 6, however, takes everything its predecessor did well and ups the ante with a wholly original design, powerful hardware, and a motorized flip-up camera, all while starting at $499 like the 5Z.
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- The download for this update has been posted to OnePlus' forums. If for some reason you can't update via the OTA, you can easily sideload it instead.
OxygenOS 9.5.4 (international) and 9.5.5 (EU) are rolling out for the OnePlus 7 Pro now. Both versions have several enhancements for the camera and the system stability overall, including optimizations for Double Tap to Wake and Ambient Display. Changelog, which is identical for both, follows as usual.
Communication and information display have started to move beyond the smartphone to smart displays and dedicated video devices like the Facebook Portal. Speaking of which, the social media giant has pushed out an Android app for managing said Portal devices. You can now send photos to the Superframe, add accounts, call your Portal when you're away from home, and manage your favorites.
Not too long after it said older phones would get some of the newest flagship features, OnePlus is rolling out a new Open Beta for the 6/6T that brings, among other things, Zen Mode and Screen Recorder. Yes, you've been able to sideload them before, but now they're a part of the update.
Today brings us a good deal on the Moto G7 and G7 Play, both of which have had $30 and $20 slashed off their original asking prices, respectively. That translates to the G7 being $270 and the G7 Play $180, and you can grab yours from Amazon, B&H, and Best Buy.The Moto G7 is the most expensive G phone to date, pushing right up into Pixel 3a territory (or the same effective price with some of the deals floating around). Disappointingly, there wasn't much to justify the hike, though it did feature some more horsepower and a nice design. The G7 Play, meanwhile, represents the minimum a smartphone can have and still get any kind of recommendation. If either of these phones interests you, saving $20 or $30 is a good deal. You have your choice of electronics retailer, but we recommend B&H this time around since it's offering a free case, tempered glass screen protector, and a 3-month 8GB Mint plan on both phones.
Late last year, Google announced that it was shutting down the standalone YouTube Gaming app as it migrated the features to the main application. We had a shutdown date of March of this year, but that Google seems to have missed that mark. Now, the company is saying the app will shut down on May 30, just a few short days away.
The phone hasn't even been out for six months, yet we're already seeing crazy deals on the Galaxy S10 family. Costco is currently running a sale on the Tmo variant of the 128GB S10, allowing you to get one for just $599.99. That's a pretty good buy.
In all the hubbub around the smart home, we often talk about light bulbs, cameras, and other things that it's easy to tell a virtual assistant to act on. One thing that I see less often than others is the front door, rather the deadbolt that seals the entrance to your sanctum. One of the better brands for that, August's third-generation Smart Lock is currently on sale for the low price of $99, its lowest on Amazon.Some are understandably wary of smart locks, me among them — luckily, August lets you use the deadbolt in the traditional fashion if you so choose. Otherwise, if you get the Connect bridge, you have access to Alexa and Assistant for remote locking and monitoring. That part is sold separately and is not a part of this deal.Some people, including our own Aatif, have reported a 20% off coupon that appears on the page and is applied at checkout. We were unable to verify or replicate this, but I figured I'd mention it in case you see it.Buy: Amazon
Steam, despite some controversial competition lately, is still the king of PC gaming — the ubiquitous platform sports a massive list of features, even basic ones like a shopping cart. One of the areas where Steam has struggled, however, is the quality of its mobile app. Now, Steam Link is a fine application and I use it almost daily, but the main one is just... rough. One of Steam's most robust features is its communication tools and Chat, one of the core elements of that, just got separated out into its own app and I have to say, it's pretty nice.
Welcome to Friday, everyone. The weekend is just a few hours away, so that means it's time for some app sales. Today's list isn't too bad and there's even some notable items (in bold).
Asus today unveiled its 2019 flagship, the ZenFone 6. Sporting the latest hardware, its headlining features are its motorized flip camera, a huge 5,000mAh battery, and the very attractive starting price point of $499.For you spec junkies, here's what you get:
We've said it before, but Android OEMs are pretty hit or miss when it comes to releasing kernel source code, as mandated under the GPL license for using the Linux kernel. HMD is the definition of hit-or-miss, having just released the source code for the two-year-old Nokia 2 a few days ago. But here we have them releasing the source for the Nokia 9 PureView, a phone still considered new.
In Chromebook land, Asus' Chromebook Flip C302 was well-beloved, even when it was getting a little long in the tooth. Asus didn't leave fans out in the cold, though, releasing the Flip C434 not too long ago. It's currently one of the best Chromebooks around, and you can pick one up for yourself for $499.99 at Office Depot.
Welcome to another round of app sales, everyone. Despite being in a different time zone, I managed to compile a nice little list for you all. It features some notable goodies, like Trine 2 (SHIELD exclusive) and Dandara. You'll find my recommendations in bold below.
Storage is getting really cheap. The SSD market has finally calmed down and we're seeing prices drop like mad over there (great if you're building or upgrading your PC), but over here in our neck of the woods, microSD cards are also seeing some good sales. Should you need some mega storage space for your phone or Nintendo Switch, then you're going to want to check this out. Amazon has SanDisk's 400GB Ultra card for a mere $56.99, the lowest price we've seen.400GB is a ton of space, and can hold a lot of movies, music, or Switch games. SanDisk claims you'll see about 100Mb/s read speeds, though take that with a grain of salt since they say that was in lab testing. Still, it might not be fast enough for adoptable storage, but it'll load your media up just fine.It's worth noting that the next step down, the 256GB, is $37.99, but we think the extra $20 for the 400GB is worth it. That, however, is up to you and it's easy enough to hop over to that option. Otherwise, you can get started at the link below.Buy: Amazon
Sitting at about the six-month mark, Sony's late-2018 flagship XZ3 just got a nice discount over on Amazon. You pick up the incredibly capable phone for yourself for $585.22, a good $215 and change off the MSRP.Sporting a large 6" 1440p OLED display, a Snapdragon 845, 64GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM, the XZ3 is one heck of a powerhouse. Its quirky design certainly stands out, but the 3,300mAh battery is a bit on the small end. You can check out our review here, but Scott liked the phone even though he thought he cost too much from the outset.Now you can get yours for $585, though savvy phone buyers may want to wait for the OnePlus 7 announcement before making a decision. But if you like Sony phones, or need a 2018 flagship device right now, this isn't a bad deal at all. This price is only good on the gorgeous green colorway, black and silver are both $599.99.Buy: Amazon
Welcome to a fresh, new week, everyone. I hope everyone has recovered from the Google I/O bonanza and enjoyed their weekend — I certainly did. Before I leave for a trip, here's some app sales for y'all.
Among the many Assistant announcements at Google I/O 2019, perhaps some of the most heart-warming came from the new accessibility features. One of those, built for the many who are deaf or are otherwise hard of hearing, is called Live Caption, a captioning service that displays a transcript of what's said in a video, a video call, or even an Instagram story in real-time.