Author: Clinton

OnePlus has begun rolling out a new update to their OxygenOS platform for the OnePlus 5.  The new build is version 4.5.14 and has begun rolling out to a select number of users today.  A broader distribution will happen later once it is confirmed all is okay with the OTA.

There are several improvements in this update to OxygenOS but the big one is the patching of the KRACK vulnerability that impacted WPA2 security on WiFi.  This makes OnePlus one of the latest to update their flagship device with the patch.

Here is the full rundown of changes and improvements in this update:

• Supported Airtel VoLTE in India
• Supported Band 66 of Freedom in Canada
• Fixed Wi-Fi WPA2 security issue
• Optimized battery usage in some cases
• Optimized GPS accuracy
• General bug fixes

As is usually the case, we don’t know exactly what falls under the category of “General bug fixes” but knowing OnePlus, it probably has a lot of performance tweaks for the 5.

Today, HTC has announced the new HTC U11 Life, their mid-range Android phone that is also part of the Android One program (outside of the US).  The phone is a well appointed device for its $349 price tag and you can order it now on the HTC site.

The U11 Life is a 5.2″ Super LCD display device that renders 1920 x 1080 to give you a very comfortable ~424ppi.  That display is also protected by Gorilla Glass 3.  It comes with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage with up to a 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  All of this is powered by the Snapdragon 630 octa-core SoC.  Quick Charge 3.0 is supported via the USB-C charging port and the battery is a 2600mAh model.

After weeks of rumors and speculation, the Razer Phone is official.  Razer, who acquired Android phone maker startup Nextbit earlier this year, makes their first named device in the Android space and it spectacular from a specifications perspective.  The phone will be $699 and pre-orders are being accepted starting Friday.  And, get this, it will be in Microsoft stores nationally.

Okay, to the nitty-gritty.  The Razer Phone is powered by the Snapdragon 835 SoC, has an impressive 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of onboard storage.  The phone will support a MicroSD card so you can expand that storage up to 256GB.  Display wise, it is a 5.7″ LCD that renders at 2560 x 1440 at, wait for it, 120Hz.

If you haven’t put it together yet, this phone is squarely aimed at being an entertainment device, both for gaming and for video watching.

Camera wise, the rear camera configuration is a dual camera with a 12MP f/1.75 wide angle shooter and a 13MP f/2.6 normal with both supported by PDAF.

Powering all of this is a 4000mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 4 technology.

As rumored, Samsung has begun the public beta testing of their Android Oreo build for the Galaxy S8.  The program officially kicked off today and is expected to run for at least a couple of months.  It is good news for S8 owners as Samsung is notoriously slow about getting major updates out to their devices.  It would see, at least with Oreo, Samsung is trying to reverse the trend.

Unlike the beta program for Google’s Pixel and Nexus devices, Samsung is being very limited in the number of Galaxy S8 owners who get the beta & who have signed up for the program.  In talking to their technical support team today, I was informed that a small number of users who had signed up for the beta were randomly selected and were offered the OTA update to the beta.  When I asked if this would be expanded later, the support agent indicated it was possible but that she could not comment.

Back in September, I posted on a rumor that an LTE equipped Surface Pro was going to be announced with it likely being available in December of this year.  We can now put those rumors to rest.  The LTE Surface Pro is real.

In London today at the Future Decoded conference, Microsoft announced two LTE versions of the Surface which will be available starting December 1st.  Both models are based on the Intel Core i5 processor and both have the Qualcomm X16 LTE modem with 20 mobile bands support for global use.  The Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD will be $1149 while the bigger model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD will be $1449.

In all, there are 7 LTE antenna built into Surface with the modem built into the motherboard of the device.  Also, it will support eSIM technology for provisioning without a SIM card.

Google has begun rolling out an improved look to the overflow menus in the Google app for Android.  The update is a server-side change, meaning that as long as you have the latest version of the app on your phone, it will be pushed down behind the scenes to your phone.

That latest version is 7.13.28.21 for those keeping score at home.

Previously, when you were looking at cards in the Google app or in the Google Pixel or Now Launcher page, you would get a pop-up card on the display when you wanted to dismiss a card.  Now, when you tap the three vertical dots in the right-hand corner of any card, you get a bottom-up card.  It looks much cleaner and refined over the pop-up card.