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Assistant-powered smart displays have all the voice access features you get with the Assistant speakers, but sometimes it's easier to press a button. There's a new button on Assistant smart displays today, offering quick access to your routines. If you have a smart display, the button is probably already waiting for you.
The Speedtest app from Ookla has long been able to tell you how fast your internet connection is, but now it can tell you how fast individual apps are. The feature is called Speedtest Live, and it's available in the latest version of the Speedtest app. Be warned; there are some potential privacy concerns.
Living in Google's world means giving it a lot of your data, so it's important to take a peek at your privacy settings from time to time. You can't do that in Google Pay right now without a lot of leg work. A botched system update on Google's end has apparently hidden the privacy settings from most users, but Google is working on it.
The extensively leaked Motorola One Vision is official, and it looks like the leaks were dead-on. This Exynos-powered phone sports a super-tall 21:9 display with a hole-punch camera, and it runs Google's Android One build of the OS. You won't be able to buy it in the US, but Motorola will sell it in many other markets.
You know how you've been hoping for more streaming services to further silo content and force you to pay more money? Well, AT&T is happy to oblige, sucker. The company has been angling to launch its own streaming service using all the content it picked up in the recent Time Warner deal. CEO Randall Stephenson now confirms this will spell the end of AT&T-owned content on other streaming services.
It's becoming a tradition that new phones land on the JerryRigEverything workbench where they are burnt, scratched, and bent. Most phones survive the process, but some don't. The OnePlus 7 Pro is official, and JerryRigEverything has one to abuse for your amusement. The good news: OnePlus built a solid phone.
Amazon's Echo devices can now keep an eye, or rather an ear, on your home while you're away. An update is rolling out that enables the new "Alexa Guard" feature. Just tell your Echo that you're heading out, and it will begin listening for signs of trouble on the homestead. This feature was in beta testing over the last few months, but now it's coming to all users.
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HTC is not dead. In fact, it's so not-dead that it's going to release a followup to the Exodus blockchain phone. That's the sort of niche project you'd only expect from companies that have money to burn, which HTC does not. Still, HTC must think there's a business here.
We've covered various connected home security systems from the likes of Nest and Ring, but these systems can cost hundreds of dollars. That's just for a starter kit, too. You might get north of a grand before all your doors and windows are linked up. Enter Wyze, which has made a name selling ultra-cheap security cameras. The new Wyze Sense system costs a mere $20, and pairs with your existing Wyze cameras.
You probably accumulate apps on your phone over time, and you likely had a perfectly good reason for installing them at the time. How many of those apps do you actually need, though? The Play Store knows, and it's starting to tell users to ditch those unneeded apps.
The text messages we all used over the years are archaic and clunky, but RCS promises to modernize messaging with features like read receipts and file transfers. However, implementing RCS through the carriers has been an utter mess. Case in point: T-Mobile says the new Pixel 3a and 3a XL won't have RCS support on its network. We can safely assume the existing Pixel 3 and 3 XL (also now available from T-Mobile) will be the same.
Philips Hue is the most well-known smart lighting brand, but it's been a little behind on features. Until now, the only way to group lights was within rooms. With the latest app update, you can finally create custom groups, known as Hue Zones.
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Google added screen pinning several years back, but the feature never got much attention. Screen pinning locks your phone to a single app, which is handy when you need to hand your phone to someone else and would prefer they didn't go snooping. There's a frustrating bug in Android Q beta 3 that completely breaks this feature when the new gesture navigation is enabled.
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Not everyone has a vehicle with Android Auto included, but Google's on-phone Auto UI has been a capable substitute. However, it looks like Google is getting ready to make Auto for phones obsolete with Assistant Driving Mode. It has many features from Auto, but it's less restrictive. It's coming to all Assistant-enabled phones this summer.
It can be easy to forget that Google I/O is a developer conference, so there are plenty of dev-focused announcements that don't get keynote attention. Most of that is of little consequence to the average user, but you might notice the upcoming change to Play Store ratings. Starting later this summer, Google will recalculate review scores to give more weight to recent reviews.
Google is following through on a promise it made when it unveiled Android Q. As of the newly launched beta, apps running in the background can no longer launch activities. Google has a good reason for doing this, but it's sure to upset the users of automation apps like Tasker.
Security is all well and good, but convenience is nice, too. The latest Android Q beta includes a very thoughtful feature that makes it easy to share your WiFi passwords, and it's pretty simple. It just shows the password in plain text.
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- If you've checked the Amazon Blink XT2 listing lately, you might be confused to see that it's marked as currently unavailable. What happened? We reached out to Amazon to find out:
Amazon is deep into this smart home thing—it has Ring with video doorbells, cameras, and security sensors, but there's also Blink. Amazon scooped up Blink in 2017, and now it has revealed the new XT2 camera. It promises two years of usage on one set of batteries and includes more features than the previous Blink XT.The Blink XT2 works both inside and outside, and you won't have to run any cables to it. All it needs is a pair of AA batteries, which allegedly provide enough power for two years of use. Of course, that will vary based on how many events it records daily. Amazon also stores those clips for free online. Naturally, it works with Alexa and can stream video to the company's array of Fire TV and Echo devices.
Blink XT2 has a 1080p sensor, infrared night vision, and two-way audio—all the things you'd expect from a security camera these days. The $90 single-camera option is just a standalone device. You need a Blink Sync module inside to talk to the cameras. For $100, you get the module and a single camera. There are also two ($180), three ($250), and five-camera ($380) kits. Amazon is taking pre-orders now and will ship the Blink XT2 on May 22nd.
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- True to its promise, Google now has a dedicated page on its Store explaining the various facets of privacy on Nest as well as a support page with a list of all the sensors included in Nest devices and a thorough explanation of what they do.
Nest's business model involves sticking internet-connected HD cameras in people's homes, so naturally, security is essential. Nest has announced a new commitment to privacy and security. Nest promises to be more open about what it does with your data, and you'll have the option of migrating to a Google account.
A smart display has numerous uses, many of which you don't "get" until you have one in your home. For example, you can watch video while you buzz around the kitchen. That's the use case Google showed in its Nest Hub Max demo. Google's Rick Osterloh also casually revealed a new YouTube TV feature: an on-screen guide.