Android News

The Essential Phone  was an incredible phone, but a flawed one. A very flawed one, especially at launch. The software was a bit buggy, the camera was not very good, and the price tag was simply too high for most people's tastes. Over time, the price tag fell, the camera was greatly improved, and the software experience was damn near perfected. Even better is that it will continue to get better. The device offers so much to Android enthusiasts. It runs pure, stock Android and gets updates quicker than any other manufacturer. Hell, it's gotten a few security patches quicker than some of Google's own devices. It's also gotten multiple Oreo betas ( as well as a final 8.1 release ) and even the new Android P Developer Preview . Not to mention the Treble support for easy future-proofing and ROM support. It offers a pure Android experience not unlike Google's old Nexus line, and that's something that's special. Most Android phones are running heavily modif

The newest IDC projections for the smartphone industry show significant growth starting after the downturn of this year. The three biggest factors for growth will be India, 5G, and phones with large displays. In 2022, the IDC projects the industry will churn out 1.654 billion smartphones. The International Data Corporation (IDC) just published its projected analysis of the smartphone market from now through 2022. Overall, the IDC expects the market to spiral down slightly throughout the rest of 2018, but then begin a steady climb next year. The three primary factors the IDC cites as driving future smartphone industry growth will be the Indian market , 5G technology , and phones with displays larger than six inches. Overall, the IDC's report hypothesizes that smartphone shipments in 2018 will likely amount to 1.462 billion units, a 0.2 percent drop from last year's 1.465 billion units. However, shipments will rise steadily starting in 2019 eventually reach

A Dutch court case against Samsung ended with Samsung the victor. The case was over Samsung's spotty history of updating its smartphones with the latest security patches. The judge in the case ruled that Samsung is under no legal obligation to update its smartphones. A Dutch court today ruled in favor of Samsung when it comes to issuing smartphone updates. Samsung – the defendant in the trial – was accused by a consumer advocacy group of neglecting to keep the software of Samsung smartphones up-to-date for a reasonable length of time. The ruling, via The BBC , gives Samsung free reign to neglect issuing security updates to its smartphones without any legal penalty. The Dutch trial has been running for over two years now , with the famous consumer advocacy group Consumentenbond pushing to force Samsung into keeping all of its smartphones up-to-date with security patches for a full two years after the device is sold. The loss of this case is a disappointing ou

If you're bad about losing your car keys, you'd probably benefit from a smart tracker that you could slap on your keys to find with your smartphone. The device uses Tile's location tracking and can hold up to 10 keys, completely taking the headache out of finding your keys in the morning. Holds up to […] Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Save 33% on the KeySmart Pro with Tile location tracker Visit TalkAndroid #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

It has been a few months, but you may remember that Alcatel announced a couple of new devices at MWC 2018 . One such device was the Alcatel 1X , and it was confirmed to be coming to the US. Well, the wait is finally over, as the company has announced that the Alcatel 1X will launch next week. As a refresher, the 1X is an Android Go smartphone, which is optimized to work with devices with 1GB of RAM or less. Alcatel 1X is coming On the spec front, the Alcatel 1X features a 5.3-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Powering the handset is a MediaTek chipset, combined with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. As for the cameras, there is a standard 5MP front-facing selfie lens and an 8MP rear-mounted sensor. Both of these come with flash, along with a few extra goodies that Alcatel has included. Battery life on the Alcatel 1X should be quite impressive with its 2,460mAh battery. This combined with Android Go could make for quite the one-two punch. What may be e

We have received a number of tips from Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge owners saying that the Oreo update for the device is available in a number of European countries. The update was released for Nordic countries earlier this week following its debut in the UK and then South Korea , and it is now available in at least Germany, Belgium, and Spain. In Spain, the update seems to be rolling out to only Vodafone-branded models, but it shouldn't take long before the unlocked versions are updated as well. Galaxy S7 Oreo update rolling out in more countries The firmware version for the update is  G930FXXU2ERE8 , so it is the fixed version of Oreo for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge that Samsung had released after discovering a serious bug in the original version . Hopefully, this also means Samsung will soon be releasing the update globally to Galaxy S7 and S7 edge owners. It's been a fairly long wait, although that's not totally surprising as the pace of updates is expected t

When LG announced the  G7 ThinQ , it used the opportunity to highlight the improved audio properties on offer. Including the phone's ability to emulate a resonance chamber , wherein the device itself helps to increase the audio volume through its physical form, and something that is even more apparent when the handset is placed on a flat surface, such as a box. If anyone was under the impression this was more of a marketing spiel than anything else, then it seems LG might be about to release a more robust solution to accompany the G7 ThinQ – an actual resonance chamber . The images above and below were provided to AndroidHeadlines by a reliable source and showcase what is said to be an upcoming official accessory for the G7 ThinQ. As detailed in the images, this accessory is going to arrive branded as the Boombox Sound Booster, and while the available information on this product is limited, the name is largely self-explanatory – this box will provide an additional volume and b

Inside the Xiaomi Mi8 is a Synaptics-made in-display fingerprint sensor, and today we've got the details. The technology at work here is Clear ID. That's Synaptics' own, coming here in the FS9500, inside the Xiaomi Mi8 Explorer Edition smartphone line. Technology included here was given the Society for Information Display (SID)'s Component of the Year award for 2018. Similar components … Continue reading #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Audio-only and casting to Google Home are Premium features, but please don't pay YouTube Music Premium to get them. Let's call a spade a spade: This is a price jump. YouTube made several announcements this month, from the announcement of a "brand-new" YouTube Music to the evolution of YouTube Red into YouTube Premium . There were many things to get excited about in the new YouTube Music, but one thing made absolutely no sense: the pricing for YouTube Music Premium. Well, the pricing makes a tiny amount of sense, but only in one way: YouTube Music Premium is here so that you feel better about paying more for the same service millions of subscribers have enjoyed for years. Confusingly easy: The Google Play Music combo pack There's no point in denying how confusing Google's subscription offerings for music have been for years now to the average consumer, but up until May of 2018, things were actually pretty easy to sum up: If you subscri

Sony's 2-in-1 USB Type-C cable (EC270) is now available from the company's estore in Europe. For those who aren't aware, the accessory lets you charge your phone and listen to music at the same time. The dongle carries a price tag of £17.99 in the UK and €19.99 in other European countries. Keep in mind that the cable doesn't support quick charging. For additional information as well as to make a purchase, head to the Source link below. Source | Via #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Hello and welcome to one of our #GalaxyS9 troubleshooting post of the day. This material answers two common camera-related issues for the S9 device. If you have some camera ills on your S9, be sure to check this out. Before we proceed, we want to remind you that if you are looking for solutions to […] More The post What to do if Galaxy S9 has "Warning: Camera failed" bug and camera app keeps crashing after an update appeared first on The Droid Guy . #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

NVIDIA Shield TV is still the gold standard for Android TV. It starts at $179 on Amazon . The only Android TV box you should buy just got better. Update: NVIDIA seems to have found some bugs in the 8.0 update during the early stages of the rollout, and has paused the update while fixes are applied. Big news for those of you who have NVIDIA Shield TV — which, by the way, is the only Android TV box you should consider right now. The Android 8.0 Oreo update (which brings it up to the latest major version of Android) is available starting today. This'll bring along a major update to the user interface. You'll get new sections along the left side of the screen, with your favorite apps (customizable, of course), play next (where what you've been watching and playing recently will appear) and channels (which is what apps are now called, sort of). In addition, Amazon Prime Video will get a major refresh, Plex Media Service is improved, and a whole bunch more.

The Might & Magic series hasn't received a new entry since the 2014 release of  Might & Magic X: Legacy on PC. Well, today that changes as Ubisoft have released a new action RPG on the Play Store called  Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians . Even though this should be exciting news for all of you M&M fans out there, all it really offers is just more of the same monotonous gameplay that can be found in countless identical titles on the Play Store, such as Summoners War or Marvel Future Fight . That's right, Ubisoft has revived the Might & Magic brand just to slap its skin on some uninspired free-to-play auto-brawling RPG. VIDEO What I don't get is why the Might & Magic brand was used at all. Obviously there is going to be some name recognition that will garner the new release some interest, but for the most part, any true aficionado of the original games will be instantly turned off by the greedy design. Might & Magic fans don'

Just a little over a year after launching Words with Friends for Facebook's Messenger Instant Games platform, Zynga is back in the news following its acquisition of another mobile game developer, Gram Games, the studio responsible for some relatively big smartphone titles such as "Merge Dragons!" and, more recently, "Six!" In fact, Merge Dragons! is one of Zynga's primary reasons for making the acquisition, according to Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau, who says the series has the potential to be a "forever franchise" for the company. The acquisition itself is said to have been made for $250 million in cash, coupled with a three-year earnout period contingent on Gram Games' team of 77 developers being able to align with Zynga's long-term plans. In the meantime, both companies have unsurprisingly expressed excitement about the prospects. Gram Games co-founder Kaan Karamanci said that the firm looks forward to seeing how operating under Zynga can b

Sprint has started rolling out the Android 8.0 Oreo update to its LG G6 , becoming the second American carrier to do so. The LG G6 is the OEM's flagship smartphone from 2017 and although it's no longer the latest and greatest, it still packs high-end specifications which should deliver a premium performance. The smartphone launched with Android 7.0 Nougat and recently started getting a taste of Oreo in Europe and the United States. Verizon was the first U.S. carrier to push the update a couple of weeks ago, and Sprint is now following suit. The update is rolling out to Sprint customers who have the LG G6 with the model number LS993. The package weighs in at 1.8GB and also contains the latest Android monthly security patch dated May 2018. The update brings the OS to the newer Android 8.0 Oreo version and adds some performance optimizations, along with the various tweaks, changes, and new features that Oreo has to offer. The May 2018 security patch, meanwhile, aims to ensure t

CurAegis Technologies launched a new fitness tracking application called myCadian to help users monitor and even predict fatigue and sleep patterns. The app is based on what the company calls its Circadian User Risk Assessment (CURA) system. In the shortest possible terms, that's a solution which uses sleep patterns and other metrics pulled from secondary hardware – in this case, a smartwatch or another wearable – to provide users with a CURA Score. The goal is to provide users with means to gauge their own biologically-linked circadian rhythm. That can be used to both keep an eye on overall well-being, as well as to predict at what point in the day or workday the user is going to begin wearing down. As to how that works, CurAegis says its algorithms take 16 data points and a proprietary sleep pattern analysis IP which create a ten-point rating called the CURA Score. That's a gauge for overall alertness and fatigue, which the app will alert users to when changes occur. There

Veckle has discounted its Air Vent Magnetic Phone Car Mount, bringing the price down from $10 to just $6.50. That brings an already inexpensive car mount down even further, making this a really good deal. Now you will need the promo code  EO6EWLXV  to get this for $6.50. The Veckle Air Vent Magnetic Phone Car Mount is a great car mount to pick up since it is pretty small, so it can sit on your air vent when not in use and not really be in the way. This is a magnetic car mount, which means you will need to affix a magnet to the back of your smartphone – the best way to do this is to put it inside a case on your phone, so it's not directly on your phone. Then when you get in the car, you can just put your phone on the mount and you're good to go. This makes things super easy, and that's definitely something we like here. This air vent will work on virtually any smartphone, since it is using a magnet to keep your phone in place. However, it may not work on bigger phones and

Artificial intelligence technologies are likely to almost double the value of the global digital economy and push it to $23 trillion by 2025, up from $12.9 trillion last year, according to the latest iteration of Huawei's Global Connectivity Index. Digital solutions accounted for over 17-percent of the world's GDP in 2017 and their importance is likely to continue growing moving forward, as per the Chinese tech giant, though its new study didn't attach any specific figures to that prediction, having been more focused on investigating broader trends. The fifth edition of Huawei's GCI identified three key requirements to embracing AI on a massive scale – algorithms, computing power, and labeled data. While many countries have already secured all three, what everyone is lacking is AI developer talent, Huawei believes. Governments around the world should hence start thinking about restructuring education and supporting the job market in a way that won't see technolog

If you're not a fan of the notches we're seeing on a lot of flagship phone this year, then you might want to get excited for the Lenovo Z5. The notch's day could be numbered, as Lenovo has been teasing a notch-free and bezel-free phone in the Z5. We haven't seen the Z5 in the flesh yet, but that's all … Continue reading #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Xiaomi is fast. It is one busy phone maker, launching new devices left and right. Before the 8th Anniversary Mi flagship model, we were introduced to the Mi Mix 2 and the Redmi S2. The month of May ends with the Xiaomi Mi 8 which comes in different variants: the Anniversary Edition, Explorer Edition, and the SE model with your choice between 6GB or 8GB RAM and 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB storage capacities. The Mi 8 actually has many selling points: high RAM, large storage, dual-frequency GPS, and AI-powered camera. The Explorer version even boasts 3D face unlock and a pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint technology. The Xiaomi Mi 8 has reached DxOmark already. We're assuming the Chinese OEM has shared the phone with the DxOMark testers. It's not surprising since we've been hearing about the new Xiaomi Android phone the past few months. The premium flagship smartphone runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor so you know it can be really fast and powerful. Its featu