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So, Samsung is set to relaunch sales of the Note7 next month on October 21st. That may also be the date of another important device popping up on store shelves—the LG V20. While LG has yet to comment, noted leaker of things Evan Blass says that's the date.
OnePlus is busy with community builds of OxygenOS that will eventually merge it with the code base of HydrogenOS, but work has not stopped on the stable version of the software. OxygenOS 3.2.6 (still Marshmallow) is official for the OnePlus 3. This OTA brings a lot of small improvements and bug fixes, and as usual, it's rolling out in waves.
Ever since capped mobile data became the norm, we have been faced with a conundrum—download things on mobile data for instant gratification or wait until there's WiFi that won't put a dent in our data plan. The Play Store has long had an option that would prevent large downloads from starting without your express permission on mobile data, but now Google is testing a system that lets you queue these downloads for the next time you're on WiFi.
The newest little phone from Sony has been made more developer-friendly today. The Xperia X Compact has joined the Sony Open Device program, allowing the more technically inclined out there to build stock Android from AOSP for the phone. Sony has made the necessary code available for both Nougat and Marshmallow builds on the X Compact.
Samsung is currently working to recall all the Galaxy Note7 devices it sold in the last month because of the well-known risk of battery failure. Knowing if your Note7 is affected right now is easy—if you have a Note 7, it's recalled. In the future, you might not know for certain when you see a Note7. Samsung's online IMEI check tool is now available to verify if a device is recalled or not.
There aren't a ton of devices running the commercial Cyanogen OS ROM these days, but the Wileyfox Spark and Spark+ are two of the most prominent (which really tells you something). These UK phones launched with Cyanogen OS 12 (Lollipop) earlier this year, but now Cyanogen OS 13 is finally rolling out.
SwiftKey released an early experimental version of its neural network-powered keyboard as a standalone alpha app late last year. At the time, we were pretty impressed with the quality of the predictions. Now, the company (which has since been acquired by Microsoft) has updated the main app with new neural network features.
Noted Android developer Koush has decided how much you should pay for two of his apps, and technically that amount is zero dollars. You can continue to use the new app Inkwire and the much older Mirror screen recorder for free. However, all of Mirror's new features are only free if you don't mind watermarks on all your stuff.
You can see the same emails on your phone as you can on your computer using Gmail, but these devices have a number of fundamental differences. The way emails render on a large screen device won't always make sense on a smaller one, so Google is getting ready to implement responsive design for emails in Gmail.
OnePlus is continuing its efforts to merge HydrogenOS and OxygenOS into a single, unified build of Android. There are new community builds of OxygenOS for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus X. Neither one includes a jump to Nougat, but there are some new features.
In recent years, a raft of new smartwatches would launch each fall in time for holiday shopping, but not this time. There were a few fitness-oriented watches released earlier this summer, and some new Fossil watches have started popping up at retail. But where are the big names like Motorola, LG, and Huawei? Cnet has gotten confirmation from all three companies that they won't be releasing any more watches this year.
Fans of animated things on the Fox network and in-app purchases have reason to celebrate today. After a geo-limited test period, Animation Throwdown is live in the Play Store for everyone. It's a collectible card game with all the animated characters and in-app purchases Fox can legally cram into a single product.
CloudMagic has long been one of the most popular third-party email applications on Android. Today, the developers are really testing the loyalty of their users by changing the name and payment model of the app. It's now called Newton Mail, and it will cost you $49.99 per year after an initial 14-day trial. Thus far, people do not seem pleased with the change.
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- That reprieve didn't last long. Sunrise is now officially done. The team shared the news on its site explaining that any changes you make to Sunrise will not be reflected to your services and everyone will be logged out of their account in a matter of hours. Your calendar info is safe on whichever account you had been using with Sunrise. The app's beloved features now live on as part of the updated Outlook.
The popular calendar app Sunrise was supposed to shut down permanently yesterday, but that didn't happen. Microsoft now says it has decided to hold off on killing Sunrise while it works to integrate more Sunrise features into the Outlook app. That doesn't mean Sunrise is alive and well, but it's not dead at least.
Samsung has partnered with Health Canada (the government agency responsible for consumer safety) to officially begin the Note7 recall in Canada. Note7 owners in Canada can now start the process of swapping out their defective phones. To drive home the importance of trading in the old phones, Samsung and Health Canada have revealed that 70 phones have caught fire in the US alone.
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The current version of Google Maps has an Explore bar at the bottom of the screen, giving you access to nearby points of interest. It appears that some people have started seeing a different version of that bottom bar with options for seeing locations, driving, or transit details. It looks rather handy.
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If you need a factory image for Motorola's new Moto G4 (XT1624), there's good news. It's now available. If, however, you need a factory image for an older Motorola phone, you're out of luck. The Moto G4 is currently the only device with an official factory image available for download. The Moto G4 Plus is also not listed right now.
Motorola is going all-in on modular accessories this year, and Verizon is right there with it. The Moto Z Play was announced recently, and it's a Verizon exclusive for a few weeks before it ships unlocked in October. This device works with all the same Moto Mods as the other Moto Z variants, but it's much less spendy at around $400 on Verizon. That's a big advantage when you're pushing Mods that cost as much as $300. Are the trade-offs worth it? Is this finally the phone that makes modular smartphones viable? Let's find out.
Google made split-screen multitasking a reality in the Android 7.0 update, and now developers have started fiddling around with the feature. We've already seen Taskbar, which lets you turn on the hidden freeform window mode, and now there's Parallel Windows for Nougat. This app lets you run two copies of the same app in split-screen.
There's a new version of Google Play Services rolling out, but isn't there always? Sometimes there are notable new features, and other times not. This time, the updated version includes a nifty extra for Nougat users in the form of a new quick settings tile for Nearby.