Author: Clinton

Google has begun the process or rolling out the new Pay with Google service today.  The new way to pay in apps and sites on your phone was teased last May with the introduction of a new Google Payment API.  That API would allow developers to add to their apps the ability for you to pay using your Google account.

For consumers, the idea behind Pay with Google and this API is to make purchases frictionless.  If you go to a participating app or site, no longer will you have to fill out forms with your name, address and credit card information.  Instead, you can tap the Google button and pay for your purchases.  The API will feed all of the proper information from your Google account to the merchant to complete your transaction.

Today’s Deal is on the Essential Phone, the PH-1.  As readers will know, this is the first phone from Andy Rubin’s company and after a few software updates that have come out for it, the PH-1 has proven to be a solid performer.  Right now you can pick on up for $599 on Amazon, a savings of $100.  That price is for either the Black Moon or Pure White colors.

The Essential Phone has a titanium body with a ceramic back, a 5.7″ 2560 x 1320 Quad-HD display, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage built-in.  It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.  This octa-core processor has four cores running at 2.45GHz and the remaining four clocked at 1.9GHz.

Google as a general rule has done a good job of getting fixes out to their devices in a timely manner.  This time however, they failed.

A small subset of Google Pixel owners have been experiencing not receiving SMS messages after upgrading to Android Oreo on their Pixel or Pixel XL.  The problem seems somewhat isolated to Verizon customers but users on other carriers have been impacted too.  The bug first popped up a couple of weeks ago and there is a long thread about the issue in the Google Product Forums.  It appears that it took a while for Google to pinpoint exactly what the issue was but now are stating they have gotten to the bottom of it.

We want to let you all know that we have been able to identify and implement a fix for this issue. Thank you to those that sent over bug reports and for including detailed information here on this thread.

There was an issue introduced in the release of Android Oreo that affects text message (SMS) delivery for a subset of Pixel (not Pixel 2) users.This issue was only seen on a small number of carriers. Unfortunately this has resulted in devices getting into a state where they do not receive messages.

The problem is that users who are impacted by this issue will have to wait until the November Android Security Update to get the fix.  That’s right, you get to live with it for at least another 2 weeks.

Google’s new Made for Google program is kicking off in earnest as the new site for the program has now gone live.  The site lists 22 different vendors who make accessories for various products like the Pixel phone lineup and Pixelbook.  Those accessories have been certified by Google as working with the device for which they are designed for flawlessly.

The site more-or-less is a landing page with links to the 22 different vendor sites.  Those links go to the accessories they make for particular devices like the Pixel, Pixel 2 or Pixelbook.  Not all of the links on the page are functional yet but that will likely change quickly.

Google has quietly made a background update to Google Assistant that allows you to link your HBO NOW account to it.  That means that you can stream content from the service to your Chromecast devices simply by asking Assistant to do so via your phone or Google Home.

HBO NOW is the stand alone streaming service from the premium movie service.  It is $14.99 per month and is for cable cutters who do not have a cable or satellite subscription.  For those that do have HBO as part of their cable package, the app to stream content on your Android device is HBO GO but that cannot be connected to Google Assistant.

Good news this morning for those of you who have the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus.  The company has begun rolling out an update that brings the October Android Security Update to the devices.  Software version G955FXXU1AQI9 is rolling out to unlocked variants of the phone and along with the security fixes, there are some other improvements to be found.  The update is 479MB in size so it is advised that you be connected to WiFi when you download it to install.

The biggest thing with the October update is a fix for Bluetooth issues that impacted all Android devices.  There are, of course, a wide range of other fixes and security updates too.