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In all of the fun Pixel news this week, it was easy to forget about other Android phones (well, until this happened). And while no official date has been given for Google's latest at the time of this writing, the Pixels are set to ship to those who pre-ordered within two to three weeks.
A few days ago, Garmin announced its newest wearable for kids: the vivofit jr. Despite the name being in lowercase, it sounds like a pretty neat device. Garmin claims that it is water-resistant, comfortable, durable, and that it has more than a year's worth of battery life. Like other fitness trackers, the vivofit jr. will monitor the child's steps, sleep, and physical activity.
Amazon took to its developer blog today to announce that Alexa, its very successful smart home speaker, will be supporting scenes. These will allow users to speak simple commands to set predefined conditions on various connected devices. Prior to this announcement, interaction with them was limited to specific manufacturer apps.
The team behind TWRP has been busy lately. The very popular custom recovery (the one running on all of my devices) is fantastic for flashing, creating backups, file management, and other tasks. There is a good reason that most experienced users in this area recommend it to newcomers.
It is no secret that Sony is not the largest smartphone player in the U.S. While the phones (and tablets) are typically pretty good, they are not too commonplace here. Regardless, some of us still get excited when Sony announces new devices. That excitement is easily doubled whenever those make it to the States.The Xperia XZ was announced at IFA back at the beginning of this month with U.S. availability. You can now pre-order it from Amazon for $699 in blue, silver, and black (though, at the time of this writing, the black was showing at $717.59 for me). The official date has been given as October 2, where you should also be able to purchase this phone at Best Buy (and "other participating retailers").As a refresher, the Xperia XZ sports a 5.2" 1080p screen, a Snapdragon 820 CPU, 32GB of storage, 3GB of RAM, a 23MP camera with "triple image sensing technology", microSD slot, USB Type-C, and IP 65/68 water and dust resistance. Overall, it sounds like a very appealing device
Allo was finally released earlier this week, much to my own excitement. Google's latest messaging app seems pretty appealing in some regards and I am always willing to try something new. Thus far, I am enjoying it.
Android apps on Chrome OS are not a new thing. In 2014, Google announced that it was working with a few select partners to bring certain apps to Chrome OS. Only a small number became available, and it was never really a consumer-facing project. Earlier this year, Google said that the experiment was scrapped in favor of a different system. Android apps would now run in containers, which would open the whole Play Store to Chrome OS users. This new approach would come to only some Chromebook models which had to be running the dev and beta channel builds.
Anyone who asks me what launcher I use will know how much I love Action Launcher. Not only is the feature set massive, but developer Chris Lacy puts a lot of hard work and love into it.
I have in my hands the Pure XR, Blu's latest flagship. Teased back at the beginning of August, many noted that the phone bore some striking similarities to a few other phones from the front. Despite this, Blu was quick to express its excitement for this new device. Looking at the company's portfolio, notably the last member of the Pure line, the Pure XL, the reason for the fuss is pretty obvious. I have been using it for about a week now and I have a lot of thoughts on it. Foremost is that at the price of $299, this phone packs some good specs into a very nice frame.
OnePlus 2 owners, be on the look out for a new update. The 2016 Flagship Killer is receiving OxygenOS 3.1.0, which is rolling out incrementally starting today.
Today, Google took to its Work blog to announce the new partnership between Google Apps for Work and Box. The latter will now integrate with Docs and Springboard for further efficiency in business practices. Box will also serve as a third-party repository for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The cool thing about that is users will be able to create new files and edit collaboratively within Box itself.
In a blog post today, Intel announced its planned acquisition of Movidius, a "vision" chip manufacturer that focuses on low-power hardware and algorithms to give machines sight. Having seen a market for its technology at its founding, Movidius set out to develop its own processing architecture to tackle large workloads and image processing while keeping expenditure low. This eventually became the company's Vision Processing Units (VPU), which allow for tracking, navigation, and mapping all while sipping at power. Because of the success in its endeavors, the company was able to partner with some big names in the tech space, including Google and its Project Tango.
When I was approached about writing an introductory post about myself, I really had no idea where to start. The point here is to get to know me a bit better, so I guess I will start with the basics.
With Bluetooth speakers so common these days, it is pretty easy to find one that fits in almost every price bracket. One of the more popular ones that I see around my hometown is the UE Roll line, due in no small part to its portability and water resistance (Colorado folks like to go outside, what can I say). The Roll 2 brought some improvements, including a longer range and louder output than its predecessor, but it maintained the utter simplicity that makes this speaker iconic. Coupled with the UE Roll app, you can set up an alarm, adjust EQ settings, remotely power on the device, and connect up to three phones to it.On Amazon today, you can get this for $20 off, totaling $79.99 before any shipping or relevant taxes. The deal is good on all four colors of the device, which is nice for some choice options. As for how long this deal will last, I cannot say. So don't wait too long if this is something that catches your fancy.
It looks like Google is finally moving into the San Francisco ride-sharing market. According to the Wall Street Journal, the tech giant is looking to offer commuters cheaper rates (and lower fares) than the two big players, Uber and Lyft. The plan is to connect drivers and riders who are going in the same direction, instead of the on-demand service you would see with other ride-sharing services.
Blu Products has done some interesting things in the affordable smartphone market. Oftentimes, you will hear Blu devices described as "great for the money" because the value that you get from them is rather surprising. Even on the lower end, I have found that Blu can do what I need a smartphone to do: make calls, check email, and use Hangouts. Ever since the Vivo 5 and Vivo XL, priced at $199 and $99 respectively, released earlier this year, Blu has really upped its game on its core value proposition. Recently, we saw the Energy XL, a mammoth of a phone with an equally large battery, for $299 that turned out to be quite a competitor in the market.Today, Blu is announcing the newest device in the higher-end portfolio: the Pure XR. The Pure line, not having seen a new member since the Pure XL released last fall, is certainly getting what sounds like a worthy addition. Encased in full aluminum, this phone looks to pack equally solid specs into a 5.5" body.
Several years ago we learned that a port of the classic Duke Nukem 3D was coming to Android, courtesy of mobile games developer MachineWorks NorthWest. But that version of the game is no longer in the Play Store.
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Mobile gaming has been getting pretty intense in the last few years, due in no small part to increasingly powerful hardware available to shove into phones and tablets. Games like Clash of Clans and Hearthstone have served to push the mobile platform forward into general popularity, something that the rest of us gamers can appreciate. Hoping to take full advantage of what we have available now, developer Madfinger Games has released a teaser trailer for their upcoming addition to the Shadowgun franchise: Shadowgun Legends.
Today, OnePlus announced the next version of its stock-ish take on Android, a "Community Build" of OxygenOS 3.5. This version is only for the company's flagship OnePlus 3. For all of you who own the phone, this is pretty exciting... but not too exciting. This version is still based on Marshmallow.
Following a surprisingly fun couple of mobile titles, Deus Ex GO takes Square Enix's formula for adapting its popular AAA series to handheld devices and brings it to the delightful Deus Ex Universe. This turn-based “point-and-click” style board game shares precious little with its cyberpunk dystopian source material (which happens to be one of my favorite franchises). However, that is not to say it is a bad thing, as the fanboy in me screams to claim. It is actually a fun, rewarding, and decidedly challenging experience that fits in nicely with the Deus Ex library.