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Yesterday, Google Photos' product lead, David Lieb, took to Twitter to ask users for direct feedback about the app. The goal, as he said, was to be made aware of outstanding bugs, possible performance improvements, and most importantly feature requests. The conversation lasted for many hours, during which David replied to many of the messages sent, confirmed a few features are coming, and heard what everyone had to say.
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- Google and Sonos have announced that a software update will roll out today in the US to the One and Beam speakers, adding built-in support for Google Assistant. The UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, and the Netherlands will get the update in July, while more countries will have to wait until later.
In October of 2017, Sonos introduced the One speaker with Alexa built in, but it promised Assistant would be coming the next year. Most of 2018 came and went and it wasn't until November that users were able to sign up for a private and demanding beta to test the feature. Then at CES this year, Google teased Sonos compatibility again, but we still had no official date. Thanks to Sonos's second quarter financial report, we now have an official confirmation: Assistant will come to Sonos next week.
We've been using Android Q for a few months already, but we're still coming across some minor and unexpected changes in our favorite OS. Take for example the Quick Settings and notification area. It was redesigned from Oreo to Pie, then again from Pie to Q, and one of those changes involves a few invisible, but very confusing, shortcuts.
Google's quirky side rarely shows up these days, but we're always reminded of the company's more fun and personable nature when we come across an Easter egg in its apps and services. The latest to be pointed out to us is in the YouTube app on Android TV and it's a cute corgi that trots along the seek bar, similar to the one we saw in Hangouts a couple of years ago.
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- OnePlus has issued an official statement saying that the error occurred while testing software for the upcoming Android Q update. It also assured users that the notifications doesn't indicate any risks for personal data and that it's implementing processes to make sure this mistake doesn't occur again.
About an hour ago, OnePlus 7 Pro users got pinged with two weird notifications on their devices, emanating from OnePlus's own Push service. One of them had a string of gibberish latin consonants and the other what appears to be Korean or Chinese characters. Users were obviously confused and thought this was spam or the servers were hacked, but OnePlus has just cleared things up saying it was an error originating from a test.
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HMD is keeping its word when it comes to Android updates. The company had committed to two years of software upgrades for its devices and has made sure that promise holds true, regardless of price and positioning. Today, the last hold-out in the line-up, the Nokia 1, is receiving its own slice of Pie, just in time before the end of Q2. And HMD can finally say that its entire portfolio of smartphones is running Android 9.
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One of the constants in consumer societies is deals. As long as companies exist and make products, they'll try to discount them to move some inventory and gain market share. That's even more true when it comes to the smart home, where products are often considered novelties but can also provide a strong tie-in to an ecosystem. Like Amazon, Google wants you to grab its own smart speakers and connected devices, so it keeps discounting them to lure more of us in. I have enough smart devices in my home, but if you're still looking to beef up your own setup, there are some Google deals to take advantage of now.The discounts started today and will last until July 17 2019 at 11:59 PST, so you have a couple of weeks to make up your mind. But overall, these are some of the best discounts we've seen on these Home and Nest products, or at least they're close enough. They're also better than the most recent Father's Day deals.Most notably, you'll find a half-price Google Home Mini, $160 off a two-pack of Nest Cam Outdoors (it's even better than the four- or six-pack deal), and a Nest Learning Thermostat with free Google Home Mini for $189 (a total of $109 off). Here are the noteworthy deals:
Despite WhatsApp's near-ubiquity in my region, its Status feature has failed to gain much traction even though it's been available for over two years. Some of my friends love it and post multiple updates per day, but they're a clear minority. Yet, WhatsApp seems to think there's hidden potential in statuses and has already announced that ads would be coming to it in 2020. Another feature now rolling out in beta is the ability to share a status to other apps, most notably Facebook.
For those of us who only travel occasionally, Google search and alerts about upcoming flights are more than enough. But if you're a frequent traveller, you likely use a service like TripIt to stay on top of every detail regarding your flights. Starting today, you won't need to open the app on your phone to do so, you can simply ask your Google Home or Echo speaker and get the answer.TripIt is now integrated with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. To enable the skill for each service, click on the corresponding link and connect your account. Then you simply need to say, "Hey Google, talk to TripIt," or, "Alexa, open TripIt," and you'll be talking to the service. It's only able to answer questions regarding your next trip though, not the ones after, so keep that in mind if you have multiple ones planned.
Being a native Arabic speaker, it never occurred to me how complicated the language is compared to many others. I learned to speak it, read it, and write it ever since I was a kid, so I rarely notice its idiosyncrasies and instead simply think of all of it as second nature. If you come from another background though, Arabic can be a daunting language to learn, but that's exactly what Duolingo has taken on. The service now offers Arabic courses for English speakers in its apps and on its site.
For the money, you can't argue with the value of Plantronics' headphones. The company makes some of the best-sounding and most feature-rich Bluetooth sets at multiple price brackets, and one of the greatest examples of that are the BackBeat Fit 500. These Bluetooth cans are now down to a dirt-cheap $46, $21 off their recent average price (and $34 off MSRP).The Fit 500 are two years old at this point, but they still offer decent specs. They support Multipoint Bluetooth (to connect to two devices simultaneously) and can also be used with a 3.5mm wire should you prefer that. They can last for 18 hours of playback when used wirelessly, use MicroUSB for charging, and are sweat and moisture-protected. When I reviewed them, I found them comfortable to wear, despite their on-ear design, and liked their sound output.
Beats, the headphones brand now owned by Apple, has rebranded its Android app. Previously dedicated to the Beats Pill+ speaker, and therefore called "Beats Pill," the app now services several of the company's headphones too and has thus been renamed to a simple "Beats."
Xiaomi has introduced a system-wide dark mode in version 10 of its MIUI software, but the company is still in the process of darkening all its apps, including non-system ones. The latest app to receive that treatment is the Mi File Manager, but that's not the only change in its most recent update.
The Google Feed, now known as Google Discover, is a delicate balance of what's currently hot online and what you usually read or might be interested in. There's a mathematical reason why any article shows up on it, and that's why you shouldn't be surprised if you see pirated links or torrents there — even if this sounds a little unusual and is, clearly, an oversight from the team behind Discover's recommendations.
YouTube has been in the news these days for good, bad, and relatively middling reasons. Putting aside all the controversies, the app is now trying something new that affects its most important element: the Home page. On Android, some users have started seeing topic filters that let them focus their feed on one subject at a time, thus getting rid of all superfluous recommendations and unwanted content.
Connected security cameras are one of the first smart home devices people think about buying, yet it's understandable that not everyone feels comfortable with a camera inside their house recording their personal life. That's why video doorbells make a lot more sense — they provide the benefit of a security cam aimed at your home's entrance, while also offering several other perks like checking deliveries or answering the door when you're not home. But not everyone has the luxury to install one of them: if you can't mess with the wiring of your existing doorbell, you've probably skipped the product category entirely. Well, that is until you realize that there's a workaround — the peephole — and that's exactly what Ring's new $199 Door View Cam uses.The Door View Cam is a two-piece device that installs on either side of your door, using the peephole as a connection point. It's battery-powered and the battery is removable and rechargeable, so you shouldn't worry about running wires to give it some power or uninstalling it each time you want to charge it up.
Augmented Reality can be used for serious applications but also for fun. Besides taking photos with Captain America or inviting a panda into your living room, you can now bring your doodles to life and use them to add a bit of flair to your photos and videos thanks to a new app, DoodleLens. The concept is similar to Google's own Just a Line, but instead of scribbling on a screen, you can take your time to create more elaborate drawings on paper and apply several edits and animations to them.
Before Shazam or SoundHound existed, I remember searching for a year or even more before I found the name of a few songs I heard a couple of times on the radio. Now it's as easy as tapping a button and getting the result. And Shazam is bringing more handy improvements that make song recognition easier while using other apps or if you have headphones plugged in.
MIUI is one of the most powerful Android OEM skins, if you take the time to delve into it and put some prejudice aside. Sure, it has some shortcomings, like any other software, and it does some things in its own weird ways, but it has plenty of interesting features and additions. There's one aspect though that outright annoyed me when I tested the Poco F1: ads. Thankfully, Xiaomi is now recognizing they're a little too much and will be getting rid of some of them in future updates to MIUI.
Every year, just like Google conducts its I/O press conference to introduce developers to the new Android version and announce all the upcoming features and APIs it will bring, Apple does the same. Its WWDC event took place this past Monday and, as any mobile enthusiast, we tuned in to see what the company has in store for its operating systems. While the dominating rhetoric over many years has been Apple's uncanny ability to announce an Android feature that has existed for years as innovative and ground-breaking, things have changed recently. 2019 was one of the most interesting thanks to plenty of both small and big additions to iOS 13 that leave us a little doe-eyed and jealous. So here are twenty five new iOS features we'd really like to see on Android.