Category: Android

For readers who have the either the Samsung Galaxy S7 or the S7 Edge on AT&T, there is a new update heading your way starting today.  The update brings the June Android Security update to both devices.  The update follows a similar update from Sprint and T-Mobile for the phones on their networks.  It does not bring any significant new features and it remains on Android Nougat 7.0.

For the AT&T Galaxy S7, you are looking for build G930AUCU4BQF3 while on the Galaxy S7 Edge, build G935AUCU4BQF3 is your flavor of the day.  The updates are about 300MB in size, so not huge but certainly one you will want to download while you are on Wi-Fi just to make it all a bit faster process.

For those of you who have had your eye on the Huawei Mate 9, today is your day to pick one up.  As part of Amazon’s Primeday sale, you can pick up the 5.9″ phablet with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $449, a savings of $150.  I reviewed the Mate 9 earlier this year and it is an outstanding device with an awesome display, great battery life and excellent cameras.  At this price, it is well worth considering.

So what does $449 get you in the Huawei Mate 9?  A lot frankly.  It is a 5.9″ phone running Android Nougat, an octa-core processor running at 2.4GHz and Leica optics dual-camera setup shooting at 20MP and 12MP respectively with OIS.  The front facing selfie camera is 8MP shooter.  You also have 64GB of built-in storage that can be expanded up to an additional  256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  Finally, it comes with a US warranty so you are not buying an international version of the phone.

Today’s Deal is on the fun and solid performing Nextbit Robin.  Today, over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $129 in either Mint or Midnight colors.   I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $129, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there right now.  The phone has been down as low as $149 over the past few months so this is a further savings on a phone that is now running Android Nougat 7.1.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.  You can read my review of the Robin to see all my thoughts on this great little phone.  I also think it is perhaps one of the most underrated phones of 2016.

Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides all have an update rolling out in the Play Store for Android.  The update brings the normal raft of bug fixes and performance improvements but also has some new editing tools.

There are new toolbar items will allow you to more easily format tables, images and drawings within your Docs, Sheets or Slide documents.  The editing features are tools that have been on the web-based versions of the apps so these updates bring feature parity between the platforms.

Google has released the July Android Distribution Report for the 7 day period ending July 6, 2017.  The report shows that Android Nougat has finally broken through the 10% install base on devices that hit the Play Store during the week, topping out at 11.5%.  That is up 2% from the June report.  While good news, Nougat still lags far behind the top installed version, Marshmallow.  The report shows that Android 6.x was on 31.8% of devices hitting the store, up .6% over the June report.

All other previous versions of Android in the report saw declines in install base month-over month.

• Android Lollipop:  -.7%
• Android KitKat:  -.1%
• Android Jelly Bean:  -.7%
• Android Ice Cream Sandwich:  -.1%
• Android Gingerbread:  -.1%

In the case of Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread, both sit at .7% of install base.  Generally, Google stops counting it when it hits .1% or less so we will likely see these in the next few Android Distribution Reports.

The Google News & Weather app for Android has an update rolling out that brings some tweaks to the overall layout of the app as well as a new, bottom tab style navigation.  The update is version 3.3.1 for those keeping score at home and it is in the Play Store now.  For those who have it installed, expect to see the OTA update over the course of the next few days.

The overall layout of the app has subtile changes and brings the app a bit more inline with the web version of the service that was updated a couple of weeks ago.  You still have the top carousel that allows you to select topics of interest and the articles presented are heavily dependent upon AMP for quick opening.

The bottom navigation has changed however in Google News & Weather significantly – as in, it’s there now.