Author: Clinton

The Android team has issued an update to the Material Design guidelines for developers.  The update is primarily aimed at the new features that have come to the platform in Android Oreo.  The guide adds a new Offline States section which covers how to customize apps to work for users when they do not have an Internet connection.  This is a big emphasis for Google, particularly in developing markets.

For those who don’t know, the Material Design guidelines is aimed at developers to assure that their app has the look and feel of what Google expects in Android.  Even if you are not a developer, the guide is great insight into the functions and looks of apps.

Samsung has finally started allowing the Bixby button on the S8 lineup and the new Note8 to be disabled… well, partially at least.  Bixby is Samsung’s assistant built into these phones and one of the biggest complaints about the Galaxy S8 lineup when it was released this summer was the fact that the dedicated hardware button for the assistant could not be disabled or remapped (to say Google Assistant).  Samsung stood by their decision and despite numerous hacks to get around this (which Samsung subsequently closed with software updates), pretty much forced the issue with users.  Until this past weekend.

A small software update for the Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and Note8 is allowing the button to be partially disabled.  In the Bixby settings, you can disable to button although it will still fire up if you long press the button.  The software update does not allow for remapping of the button.

Today’s Deal is on the powerful yet budget friendly Honor 6X.  Honor is the sub-brand of Huawei and the 6X is one of their late-2016 models.  I reviewed the phone back in March and it was the first Honor product I’ve reviewed.  I was impressed, especially for the price point.  That price has gone down to $179 on Amazon and that makes it an even better deal.

The Honor 6X measures 150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2 mm or 5.94 x 3.00 x 0.32 inches in old money.  It weighs 162g or 5.71 ounces.  The display on the phone measures 5.5″ and renders a Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920.  That gives you an approximate pixel-per-inch count of 403.  It has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which can be expanded thanks to the MicroSD slot.

After weeks of pre-orders from carriers and Samsung themselves, the Galaxy Note8 is finally available for purchase.  The new phablet, which has been receiving rave reviews and has set a record for pre-orders, can now be purchased directly from Samsung, carriers and Amazon.  It is also available in 42 markets globally with more coming in the next few weeks.

For those that don’t recall, the Galaxy Note8 is a  6.3″ device that renders at 1440 x 2560 resolution with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio.  Physically it is 162.5 x 74.6 x 8.6mm and weighs 195g.  In old money, that’s 6.39 x 2.9 x .34 inches and a weight of 6.87 ounces.   It is powered by the Snapdragon 835 processor here in the US while the international version will be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 8895 processor.  Regardless of which version you get, it will have an eye watering 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage.  That storage can be expanded up to 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.

Another key manufacture of Android devices, Motorola, has confirmed that a wide swath of their phones over the past year and a bit will be receiving the Android Oreo update.  The news came through the company’s blog and it has a nice list of devices from late 2016 through today that are going to eventually be upgraded to the latest version of Android.  The question, as always, is when.  The announcement indicated “this Fall” but for the majority of the devices, it will likely be 2018.

Here is the list of devices that will be upgraded to Android Oreo

• moto z
• moto z Droid
• moto z Force Droid
• moto z Play
• moto z Play Droid
• moto z² Play
• moto z² Force Edition
• moto x⁴
• moto g⁵
• moto g⁵ Plus
• moto g^5S
• moto g^5S Plus

Interestingly, the Moto G4 and G4 Plus are not going to be upgraded.

For readers who are on Sprint and wanted to pick up the new Essential PH-1, today’s a good day.  Starting today, you can pick up the PH-1 from the carrier both online and in stores.  It will mark a turning point for availability of the phone as shipping from Essential has been slow and it has hasn’t even started from Amazon yet.

Sprint has a promotion running on their Sprint Flex Lease scheme.  Effectively you save 50% off the cost of the phone if you order now which drops the price of the phone to $14.58 per month for 12 months.  Using this program, you save about $260 according to the carrier. Want to buy it outright?  No problem.  You can do that from Sprint for $699.99.