Author: Clinton

When the Google Home Mini was announced back in October, one of the highlighted features of the device were touch controls.  These controls would all you to not only adjust the volume with a touch of either side of the device, but would also allow you to long press to play or pause music amongst other things.  Unfortunately it was discovered that the touch controls could be activated without actually touching them, prompting Google to disable the feature (save the volume up and down side touches) via a software update.

It appears now that Google has sorted out a potential resolution and will soon be re-enabling the touch controls of the Google Home Mini by bringing those to the side touch areas.  There is now a software update available to those in the Home Preview Program which is enabling long presses to pause or play music while short presses of the side buttons will remain volume control.  The top tap control however remains disabled and likely will remain so given it is as much a hardware challenge as it is software.

OnePlus has begun rolling out a new OxygenOS build for their new flagship, the OnePlus 5T.  The update is build 4.7.4 for those keeping score at home and brings several improvements to the device.  It is an update that 5T owners will want to get as soon as possible.

The headliner in the update is the optimization of the camera app’s UI and the overall improvement of photo quality.  The improvement in quality is especially in low-light situations.  Most owners of the 5T have been generally pleased with the camera and photo quality from the phone but there have been a few complaints around low light situations.  This update should address those concerns.

Remember back in September when I posted about the fact that the Check for Update button on Google Pixel and Nexus devices actually worked?  Like, it actually looked at the cloud where phone images live, did a stare-and-compare of what was there versus what was on your phone, and would immediately download it to your phone.  It was cool for the few minutes it worked.

No, it is not your imagination.  It is broken.

Googler Elliott Hughes has taken to his Google+ account to update everyone that the feature is broken due to an API incompatibility.  It will get fixed but it won’t be until 2018.

Microsoft has released a new update to their SwiftKey keyboard app for Android.  The new build brings a handful of new features including a new Quick Paste feature.  This new feature allows you to copy text from your screen and it will be available to you in your prediction bar at the top of the keyboard.  This makes pasting that copied text quick and easy.

Along with the new Quick Paste feature, support for seven new languages are in this update.  Those languages are Chamorro, Ju|’hoan, Lisu, Palauan, Piedmontese, Sardinian & Scots.  Related to this, there are also new layouts available for Naratgul and VEGA

Today’s Deal is a great bundle on the Samsung Galaxy S8+.  Right now at Amazon you can pick up the 6.2″ phone along with the Samsung wireless charging station and a $100 Amazon gift card for $724.99.   It is a savings of just over $200 if you were to buy everything seperately.

The  Galaxy S8+ is powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor running four cores at 2.3GHz and the other four running at 1.9GHz.  It is coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage which is expandable up to an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD card.  The display renders at 2960 x 1440 QuadHD with an impressive 571 PPI.  Powering all of it is a 3000mAh battery which is charged with inductive charging.  Remember, the wireless charging dock from Samsung is included in this deal.

As we close out 2017, the odds are better that your bank or financial institution supports Android Pay rather than it not.  That’s because the tap-to-pay service for Android devices added another 59 banks and credit unions to the support list today, bringing the total to 1,131 supported here in the United States.

I remind you that in January of this year, fewer than 400 banks were supported.

As has largely been the case over the past six months, most of the additions to the supported list are smaller, regional or local financial institutions.  Thanks to the team over at Android Police, after the break you can read the full list of new banks supported.