Author: Clinton

Today’s Deal is on the powerful, 5.2″ Sony Xperia XZs.  The XZs is a revamped version of last year’s XZ and has, as you would expect from Sony, some pretty impressive specs.  Today, the XZs has dropped in price down to $499 on Amazon.

The Xperia XZs is powered by the Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.2GHz, has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.  That storage can be expanded and additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The XZs is IP68 rated against water and dust intrusion and, a not-so-common thing here in the US, it is a dual-SIM phone.  The display is a 5.2″ FHD and all of this is powered by a 2900mAh battery that is charged via a USB-C port and it supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

What really makes the XZs however are the cameras.

Microsoft Launcher has a new update rolling out that should get those of you who are on the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10 excited.  The updated version of what was once known as Arrow Launcher is build 4.1.1.37741 and it brings with it a Fluent Design inspired look to the Utility page.

For those who are not Windows users, Fluent Design is Microsoft’s take on the semi-transparent look of apps that you find in MacOS and mobile.  To this point, the Utility page has had two themes:  Light or Dark.  Now you can change that to be transparent and can adjust how much blur you want behind the cards or widget.

Another week, another crop of Android Pay supporting banks.  Seriously, with over 1,000 banks now supported in the US so we are getting to the point where it is more of a question of which banks don’t support the tap-to-pay service than those that do.

As you would expect, most of the new additions today are small, regional banks and credit unions.  The list includes:

• 1st Northern California CU
• Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union
• Bankwell Bank
• Central Alliance Credit Union
• Coastal Heritage Bank
• Cumberland Valley National Bank
• Greenfield Savings Bank
• Home National Bank
• Sauk Valley Bank and Trust
• Sicily Island State Bank
• UnitedOne Credit Union

If you bank at one of these institutions, you can now add your bank card to Android Pay and use it where the service is accepted.

Probably more interesting in this update however is the support for Synchrony private label credit cards – well some of them at least.  Synchrony is the company behind many department store cards as well as online cards like Gap, Banana Republic and Nissan Visa card.

If you are looking to have the new Pixel 2 launcher look and feel on your current phone, the latest update to Action Launcher is your ticket.  The update, version 30.2 for those keeping score at home, brings all of the goodness that is in Google’s new default launcher to any phone without rooting.  In fact, looking at it side-by-side with the Pixel 2 launcher, it is all-but identical plus you have a lot of tweaks that you can do that are not available in the Google launcher.

Action Launcher in this update has brought the At A Glance feature, giving you the date and weather at the top of the display on your Home page and updating with calendar notifications when you have an upcoming appointment.  Functionally, it is the same as the Pixel 2 launcher and it looks identical.

To say that the launch of the Google Pixel 2 lineup is off to a rocky start would be an understatement.  There has been a huge amount of debate about the display on the devices and audio issues that have cause distorted audio or “popping” sounds.  Google’s addressed the display issues both with an explanation and some software tweaks that will be coming to the devices.  Now we know that there will be fixes for the audio challenges too.

According to CNET, Google has told them that fixes for the audio issues on the Pixel 2 are in the works and will be rolling out “in a few weeks”.  When is a few weeks exactly?  Not sure but it is unlikely to be bundled in the November Android Security Update.  That should be released next Monday, November 6th.  It will likely be a supplemental update for the phones.

Today’s Deal is great for those with a USB-C phone, tablet or laptop and you need an extra wall charger.  The AUKEY 27W USB-C wall charger is able to charge all of those devices quickly and efficiently while not compromising safety.  Normally this high powered charger is $25.99 but now through November 1st, you can pick one up for $17.93 on Amazon.

In order to get the discounted price, you will need to use the coupon code 4IPHONEX when you check out.

The AUKEY charger delivers up to 27W of energy, making it capable of charging most Chromebooks and MacBooks as well as phones and tablets.  It supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology and is backwards compatible with 2.0 devices.  It is a small, lightweight charger that has folding AC prongs so you can drop it into your backpack without it snagging on anything.