Author: Clinton

Microsoft OneNote for Android has a new update rolling out that finally brings support for setting passwords on note sections.  The updated build is version 16.0.8625.2040 for those keeping score at home and with it comes the ability to set a password on a section of notes and to open that section using your phone’s fingerprint scanner (or password if you phone doesn’t have one).

Password protection of sections has been in OneNote for a while and while you could open up a section on your Android device, you could not set the password in the app itself.  You had to use the OneNote desktop app in order to set passwords.  No more.  Now you can long press a note section in the app on your device and you will see a new Protect Section option on the menu.  Tap it, set the password for the section and you are good-to-go.

As planned, Huawei has announced the new Mate 10 lineup of phones.  There are three variants of the phone, including an updated ultra-high end Porsche design model.  Designed with AI built into the phones, the Mate 10 offers excellent performance and camera quality, building on last year’s Mate 9 line up.

The first phone in the lineup, the Mate 10, is a 5.9″ Quad HD LCD display with a 16:9 ratio.  It has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and can be expanded up to an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.

The Pro and Porsche Design models are fundamentally the same phone.  They have 6″ Full HD+ OLED displays that render at a 18:9 ratio.  The Pro model has either 4 or 6GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of storage.  The Porsche Design has 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.  Both of these models do not have a MicroSD slot so the storage you buy is the storage you have on the phone.  Also, these two models do not have a 3.5mm headphone jack.  All three models are essentially bevel-less.

After spending the past couple of weeks in beta, the rebranded Microsoft Launcher is now available for download in the Play Store.  This is what was formerly known as Arrow Launcher and this update, version 4.1 for those keeping score at home, brings a lot of polish to the already impressive launcher.

From a features perspective, you aren’t going to find a lot of new things in this update.  Outside of the new “Continue on PC” feature, which requires the upcoming Fall Creators Update on Windows 10, you won’t find a lot of new stuff.  Instead, there are a lot of refinements to the launcher.  For example, the Utility page now has a top banner with a greeting, the weather and the number of events you have on your calendar for the day.  Also, the Utility page has more clearly defined cards and they can now be themed both in colors as well as if you want the cards Light, Dark or Transparent.

For those of you who have been wanting to try Microsoft Edge on Android, now is the time.  The preview of the mobile browser went live a few moments ago and is now available to download and install.  You will need to be a tester for the app, which you can sign up to do here.  After that, you can download and install it on your Android Phone.

Microsoft released a preview of Edge last week for iOS with the goal to allow users of the browser on both their mobile devices and desktop to have a common browser experience.  Users will also be able to move Edge browsing experience from their phone to their desktop with the upcoming Fall Creators Update for Windows 10.  That update is due out on October 17th.

When the Google Pixel 2 lineup was released a couple of weeks ago, the new phones, like the first generation, were announced to have free uploading of original quality photos to Google Photos.  For those not familiar with Google Photos, original quality photos normally count against your Google Drive quota (which is leveraged by Photos) but compressed, high quality photos, don’t count against it.  Normally for photos under 16MP high quality is a great option because it is pretty lossless.

After the release of the Pixel 2 phones, it was noticed that the original quality uploading for free ended in 2020.  It cause a lot of confusion:  What happens to my photos I’ve uploaded already?  Do they get deleted?  Do they get compressed?  Thanks to an APK tear down by the Android Police team, we have a clearer answer.

Google has made a quick and significant decision to disable to touch activation of the new Google Home Mini.  The decision comes after reports of phantom touches activating the device with it listening or recording ambient noise or conversations without the users knowledge.  The reports of this happening are few and far between but Google is taking no chances.  An OTA update will be sent to all Home Mini devices to disable the touch activation feature permanently.

We’ve decided to permanently remove all top touch functionality on Google Home Mini. We made this decision to avoid any confusion and give you complete peace of mind while using your Mini. The update will be completely rolled out by end of day October 15, 2017.

This means that in order for you to access Google Assistant on the Home Mini, you will need to use the “OK Google” or “Hey Google” just as you do on Google Home today.