Author: Clinton

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus Technical Specifications

The new flagship from Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy S8, has been announced and the specifications of this new phone are certainly impressive.  The 5.8″ Galaxy S8 will be powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor running four cores at 2.3GHz and the other four running at 1.9GHz.  It is coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage which is expandable up to an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD card.  The display renders at 2960 x 1440 QuadHD with an impressive 571 PPI.  Powering all of it is a 3000mAh battery which is charged with inductive charging.

Camera wise, the rear shooter is a 12MP camera with OIS and has a f/1.7 aperture.  On the front is an 8MP camera.  The S8 is IPS68 rating meaning it is water and dust proof.

Download The Samsung Galaxy S8 Wallpapers

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are launching today and we already know a lot about these two new phones.  We also have their new wallpapers that will be shipping with the phones.  All three of the wallpapers are views of nature and all three are pretty stunning.  I’ve added these wallpapers to the Wallpaper page here on the site so you can download them to your phone.  In addition, I’ve added them to this post below the break so for those who are interested in them can move along.

To save them to your phone, just tap-and-hold the image on your phone or right-click on your PC/Chromebook/Mac.

HTC 10 on Verizon To Start Getting Nougat Update March 30th

Some 4 months after the release of the Android Nougat update for the unlocked HTC 10, Verizon is finally releasing the update to the phone on their network.  The fun begins tomorrow, March 30th, according to a Tweet from HTC’s Mo Versi.  The update will make Verizon the last to update the phone on their network here in the United States.  T-Mobile rolled out the update back in January while Sprint rolled it out in February.  AT&T did not sell the HTC 10.

HTC, for their part, have been good about getting updates out on the HTC 10 when it comes to the unlocked version of the phone.  However, for carrier locked devices, they are at the mercy of the carriers to get the updates out to devices.  Verizon is notoriously slow at doing this so it isn’t a surprise they are the last one to update the phone on their network.

Huawei P10 Receives Camera Improvements Update

The new Huawei P10 is just now hitting retailers for purchase and it has already received its first maintenance update.  The new 5.1″ phone has a small update that brings some improvements to the camera as well as general performance improvements.  Specifically, the camera app has been updated so it does not crash when launched or when you launch the camera from Google Assistant.  It also addresses an issue with the camera preview not rendering correctly.

Along with these camera improvements, the software update fixes some stability and performance issues on the phone.

Google Shuttering Location Sharing in Google+

A few weeks ago, Google announced that they would be rolling out location sharing in Google Maps.  The new feature will allow you to share your location with friends and family for a set period of time and it will work across Android and iOS devices.  As a part of that effort, it appears the company is starting to shut down location sharing within Google+.

Google+ has had the ability to share your location for a long while but if you attempt to use it now, you are greeted with a splash page indicating that the feature is moving to Maps.  The tricky bit is that it hasn’t fully rolled out to Google Maps yet either.

Microsoft Cortana Update Brings Lock Screen Interactions on Android

Microsoft Cortana, the company’s digital assistant, has been updated for Android with the ability to interact with it from your lock screen.  Two weeks ago, Cortana was updated for Android adding the ability to have it on your lock screen.  From there, you could access your calendar, news and other information.  What you could not do, however, was interact with it by voice.  That has now changed.

With the version 2.6 update, which is rolling out now, you can ask Cortana questions just as you can when your device is unlocked and you tap the Cortana button.  You can ask the service a question, set a reminder for a task or event from your lock screen.

Chrome for Android Update Brings Crash Fixes to Users

Chrome for Android has a small update rolling out for users of the browser.  The update remains in the Chrome 57 train, with the version number updated to 57.0.2987.126.  The update is a minor one and mainly focuses on addressing a crash issue that some users were experiencing.  If you have been experiencing stability issues with the browser on your Android device, this update hopefully will address those issues for you.

In addition, the Chrome team indicated in the release notes that some improvements around CSS and performance regressions are in this update with the crash fix.

Google Sheets Update Brings Further Column Editing Features

Google Sheets for Android has a small update rolling out to users that brings more advanced editing features to the mobile app.  The update will bring the ability to apply and to edit alternating row colors to your spreadsheets.  This is a feature that the web-based version of Sheets has had for some time and is just the latest feature to be added to the mobile app in Google’s effort to bring parity to the web and mobile device.  This new formatting features if found in the Formatting menu of the app.

The last several updates to Google Sheets, as well as their other productivity apps, have been focused on the parity between the desktop and mobile versions of the app.  The company continues to enable more functionality on mobile so as to limit the requirement of having laptop to get things done.  It is all in the name of productivity and meeting users where they are – likely on their mobile phone.

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