Author: Clinton

Good news this morning for those of you who have a Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus on the AT&T network.  A new update is rolling out for both devices that brings Google’s Daydream VR support to both phones.

The update for the Galaxy S8 is G950USQU1AQGL while for the S8 Plus, you will get update G955USQU1AQGL.  These updates not only bring support for the Virtual Reality solution from Google, but also brings the August Android Security update along with several other bug fixes and patches.

The good news:  Blackberry has confirmed that the KEYone will receive an update to Android Oreo, the latest version of Android released yesterday.

The bad news:  Absolutely no clue when it will happen, joining a slew of other manufactures who plan on but haven’t committed dates for the update.

Android Oreo started rolling out to Google devices yesterday (specifically, those who were registered in the Android Beta program) with a broader rollout happening “soon”.  Several manufactures including HTC, Huawei, Samsung and Sony have already said they will be coming out with update to Android 8.0 but they, like Blackberry, haven’t committed to a date.  That means it could be months away.

Today’s Deal is another great offer from the team over at AUKEY.  Today you can pick up their 10000mAh Power Bank for charging your Android, iPhone and other devices for $13.  To get the special pricing, you will need to use the coupon code AUPOWER7 when you check out at Amazon.

The AUKEY Power Bank is a minimalist design with a solid scratch-resistant case.  There are four LEDs on the top of it to let you know how much power is left in the pack.  It sports dual USB-A ports to charge your devices with devices like the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Google Pixel XL getting just over 2 complete charges out of it prior to the pack itself needing recharging.

Microsoft has released a significant update to the task management app, Microsoft To-Do, for Android.  The updated build is version 1.11.29 for those keeping score at home and brings some nice improvements and new features.

First, and for those who have managed accounts (like Office 365) you can now add those accounts to To-Do.  Previously, the app would only work with @Outlook.com or @Hotmail.com accounts which was fine, but if you want to have all of your information within your Office 365 account, you couldn’t do it.  In order for this feature to work, you must have To-Do enabled on your account which is something that your administrator will need to do if you can’t sign in with your managed account credentials.  Also keep in mind that if you are adding a managed account, permissions to your Contacts will be required for it to work properly.

The ability to integrate with Office 365 accounts was something that the company said would be coming when the announced the original preview of Microsoft To-Do back in April.

After pre-order customers were notified yesterday that shipping would happen within a week, the Essential PH-1 is now available from Sprint, Best Buy and Amazon to purchase.  The unlocked variant of the phone is $699 through the Essentials site.  You can also purchase it through Amazon for the same price but orders placed at the online retailer won’t ship until September 1st.

Carriers are in the mix too.  Sprint is offering the PH-1 at a substantial discount, some $250 off, if you purchase it through them and sign up for service.  For those looking for payment options, if you order it through the carrier now, the price is a mere $15 per month for 18 months on the phone.

The Essential PH-1 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.

HMD Global, the OEM who owns the Nokia brand, have finally announced their first flagship device, the Nokia 8.  Sporting impressive specs throughout, the Nokia 8 will be available in September, starting in Europe, for €599.  That translates to $704 at today’s exchange rate.  It is expected that the device will make it to the US at some point this year but for September, expect it to be in Europe and China first.  It will also likely be at a lower cost than $700 as device tend to be a bit less here than in Europe.

At that price point, the Nokia 8 is in the flagship category which begs the question of if the specs justify the price.  On the surface, it would appear that way.  The 5.3′ QHD device is powered by the Snadragon 835 octa-core processor and is coupled with the Adreno 540 GPU.   It has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.  That storage can be expanded by an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The phone is rated as splashproof with an IP54 certification and will run a near AOSP version of Android Nougat 7.1.1.