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Earlier this week, we wrote about some strong evidence hinting that Canada and Russia would be getting Android Pay support imminently. However, despite a ton of hints toward this, we had no official statements to support these claims. Today, though, The Keyword (Google's official blog) confirmed that those two countries, along with a few more, will have Android Pay availability soon.
Night Light made its formal debut on Android 7.1 Nougat not long ago, but that doesn't mean that it can't be improved upon. The second Android O developer preview has added a slider that allows you to control the intensity of Night Light, just in case you found the default to be too yellow.
We've had the same dark/teal color combo in the notification panel for years now with few complaints, but someone at Google decided it was time to change things up a bit. Android O's second developer preview has made the quick settings' theme grayscale, and rearranged/redesigned some smaller aspects of the notification panel in general.
Google Photos is something many people use every day; the automatic backup feature is so convenient, and the free unlimited storage is a major selling point. At I/O 2017, Google unveiled three new features: Suggested Sharing, Shared Libraries, and photo books. All of these use Photos' excellent machine learning technology to group faces together.
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- Visa updated both its Canada and Russia support pages, indicating that those countries will support Android Pay, but they've since been pulled. MobileSyrup spotted the Canada page change, along with an archived version of the Canadian page here.
Android Pay's been out for around two years now, but it still only supports eight countries other than the U.S. That's... not a large number of countries. But if the signs we're seeing are correct, that figure is about to jump into the double digits. Canadian and Russian Android Pay enthusiasts (okay, that's probably not a real thing), time to get excited.
When the LG Watch Sport was announced, Verizon was on the list of carriers that would sell it. However, it's been three months since then, and Verizon still hasn't made it available for sale, with nothing being shipped to pre-orderers. It turns out that the chunky device has been completely canceled for Big Red.
Android Auto is becoming available on an increasing number of vehicles. Even if it's not as cool as the recently-announced 'Android Automotive,' it's still pretty nifty. Premium German marque Mercedes-Benz has just added support for Auto on three of its cars, starting from the 2017 model year.
Fingerprint sensors are on so many smartphones these days, and for good reason: they're quick and secure. For those reasons, they can also be used as extra security for apps that have private information such as PayPal and banking solutions. The rather nifty Mobile Passport is the latest app to add this functionality, along with support for Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport and a few other things.
Here in the States, we get the Snapdragon 835 chip and a single nanoSIM slot in our Galaxy S8 smartphones. But should you want the more mod-friendly Exynos 8895 chipset (ironic) and/or an extra SIM slot, a little site called eBay can help you out. A newer but reputable seller has the SM-G955FD variant of the Galaxy S8+ for $804.99, with no tax in most states.
Remember when Motorola had a simple three-device lineup: E, G, and X? Those days are no more, and a leaked presentation slide courtesy of master leakster @evleaks is here to prove it. According to this, Moto will now have five levels of smartphones, each with their own target buyers.
It's been a couple of months since the Pixel and Pixel XL debuted, but it's still rare to come across a deal for them, especially on the XL model. In fact, we've posted a total of zero Deal Alerts on the non-Verizon Pixel XL. However, Google itself has decided to offer a free official case to anyone who purchases the Pixel XL from the Google Store.
Video of Moto X4 presentation leaks, reveals Snapdragon 660, 3800mAh battery, dual cameras, and more
We all thought that the Moto X brand was no more after the Moto Z was revealed as the successor to the Moto X Pure Edition (2015), but it's coming back. The first time we heard about this was last week, when leakster @evleaks tweeted a picture of some 'moto x⁴' branding, but we now know much more about the device.
The Galaxy S8 has had a relatively trouble-free launch thus far, with the one real quality issue being with displays. Some units are coming from the factory with a red tint on their displays, worsening the incredible experience that the AMOLED Infinity Display should bring. This fix (which basically allows for further calibration) first began rolling out in Korea near the end of April, but it's since hit AT&T and T-Mobile devices. Verizon is the latest US carrier to roll it out.
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- You can now download Allo 11 from APKMirror, but clearing the app's cache and force-closing may be required to see the new feature.
Selfies are a bit of a pandemic these days; it's almost impossible to get through a day without seeing at least a few on social media. In keeping with that theme, along with Allo's obsession with sticker packs, the 'smart messaging app' can now create personalized sticker packs from just a selfie. We first spotted this in a teardown back in January, but it's finally live.
Google is constantly adding little touches to enhance its user experience. For instance, that info card that pops up whenever you search for a famous person gives you quick access to stats like their birthday/age, their height, a quick blurb about what he/she is known for, and more. However, the Mountain View-based company hadn't implemented one for event searches - until now. Given how handy this can be, it's hard to believe this wasn't added earlier.
We all know that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are some of the nicest phones on the market. I could go on and on about all of their features, such as their gorgeous edge-to-edge AMOLED displays, brand-new Snapdragon 835s, excellent cameras, IP68 water resistance, and so much more. I personally think that the S8+ is the absolute best phone out right now, which is why I pre-ordered a T-Mobile model in the beautiful Orchid Gray color as soon as I could. Now that I've been using it for three weeks or so, I've discovered some nice quirks that I've come to appreciate in daily use.
Sony's new Xperia X line of phones was considered a bit overpriced when it launched. However, as all phones tend to do after time, they've since dropped in price. Today, you can grab an Xperia X Performance for only $299.99 - a full $200 off the sticker price. If you've been looking to grab a cheap Sony with mid- to high-end specs, now may be the time.The X Performance is, as its name would suggest, the most powerful model in the Xperia X line. Specs include a 5.0" 1080p IPS display, a Snapdragon 820, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and microSD expansion, a 23MP rear camera, a 13MP front-facer, and a 2700mAh battery. Plus, there's IP68 water resistance, Bluetooth 4.2, and PS4 Remote Play. Unfortunately, the fingerprint sensor's been disabled for the American market, but you can flash other countries' firmware to get around this.
In the past few years, smartphone manufacturers have been bundling in free stuff with their shiny new phones in hopes of enticing us to drop hundreds of dollars on something most of us really don't need. Take LG, for example; they threw in a 200GB microSD and spare battery with the V10, some B&O earphones with the V20, and a Google Home with the G6. Like it's done often in the past, Samsung included a free Gear VR with Galaxy S8/S8+ pre-orders (plus a 256GB microSD and some AKG Bluetooth headphones for an extra $99). But if you want an S8 now, you'll get what Samsung is calling the 'Samsung Entertainment Kit' instead.
In the last month, both Sprint and Verizon have updated their Galaxy S6 and S6 edge units to Android 7.0 Nougat. These are some of the last phones to receive the 7.0 update, but hey, they're two-year old Samsung carrier devices. Now, AT&T is sending Nougat out to the Galaxy S6 (SM-G920A), Galaxy S6 edge (SM-G925A), and its exclusive Galaxy S6 active (SM-G890A).
It's not uncommon for BLU to discount its phones for a day or two right after their releases, and the new R1 Plus's launch is proving to be no different. Following its unveiling yesterday, the Plus is now available from Amazon at a pretty substantial $50 discount. If you're in the market for a long-lasting phablet and don't need the latest specs and software, this may be worth taking a look at.The R1 Plus sports a 5.5" 720p display with curved edges, a 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6737 quad-core chip, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a microSD slot, a 13MP rear-facing camera, a 5MP front-facer with flash, and a massive 4000mAh battery. It's GSM unlocked and supports LTE (including T-Mobile's Band 12 and AT&T's Band 17). Those specs were already pretty decent for $160, but $50 lopped off of that makes it even more enticing. Unfortunately, it is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but as many of you have pointed out, the target market for this device probably won't care.Interested in picking one of these up? Well, you've got until the end of the day to do so at the discounted $109.99 price. After that, it'll go back up to MSRP. This being Amazon, you can also get free two-day shipping if you're a Prime member. Check the source link below to see the listing.Source: Amazon