Category: Android

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 continues to get incremental updates from both Samsung directly and carriers here in the United States.  AT&T has started rolling out updated firmware version N910AUCS2EQF1 which is fundamentally the June Android Security update that was released by Google earlier this month.  In fact, only security updates are listed in the release notes on the AT&T site for the device.

This update does not update the device to Android Nougat, an update that is likely never to happen officially given the age of the device and the expected release of the Note 8 this summer.  Indeed, it is because of the debacle of the Note 7 that the 4 is still getting regular updates more-or-less.

In the latest update to Google Photos for both Android and iOS, the ability to backup photos while charging your phone has been removed.  It is unclear as to why the feature was removed but in version 2.17 for Android and 2.18 for iOS, the feature is gone.  You can still limit the app to only backup when you are on WiFi networks as well as if you want to backup while roaming.

Google Photos remains one of the most popular Google apps with over 1 billion users of the service and over 500 million active monthly users.

Sony continues to push Android Nougat out to their various phones and the Sony Xperia X and Xperia X Compact are the two latest device to get updated.  These two devices are now getting updated to Android Nougat 7.1.1 as part of firmware build 34.3.A.0.194.  The update also brings the May 2017 Android Security Update to these two mid-range phones.

If you have the unlocked variant of these phones, which here in the US is likely the case, you can expect the update to hit your device over the next few days.  You can always manually check by going to Settings>About Phone>System Updates.  Overall it is a small update as it is an incremental one over the Android Nougat 7.0 build that came earlier this year.  In the case of my Xperia X Compact, it was under 500MB.

Google has released an update to Google WiFi that, along with the latest firmware for your WiFi or OnHub devices, will allow you to enable IPv6 to your ISP.  For those who are not familiar with IPv6, it is a more advanced version of IPv4 (which you are likely using now) that uses 128-bit addressing of devices.  The theory is you can get more devices on the Internet because there is significantly more IP addresses available with v6.  The lack of IPv6 has been a contention point for many who use Google WiFi or OnHub as it is more secure and is somewhat of a checkbox requirement for a contemporary network device.

The update to bring IPv6 is a combination of firmware for the physical device itself, which is build 9460.40, and the updated app which is in the Play Store.

After a significant number of leaks and rumors, the OnePlus 5 was officially announced yesterday by the Chinese company.  The phone will go on sale on June 27th and will be available in two variants:  a 6GB RAM/64GB Storage model for $479 or a 8GB RAM/128GB Storage for $539.  Both of these price points represent an increase in price over the OnePlus 3T but the OnePlus 5 is a higher spec’d phone too.

Those specifications include being powered by the Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor which has four cores running at 2.45 GHz  & four running at 1.9 GHz.  This is coupled with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM depending on the model you purchase and 64GB or 128GB of storage.  The rear facing camera is a dual-camera configuration that is capable of shooting up to 16MP photos while the front facing selfie camera is also a 16MP shooter.

Today’s Deal is on the well appointed LeEco LE S3.  This 5.5″ aluminum chassis dual-SIM phone is down to $139.99 today at Amazon, a savings of $60.  The LE S3 is powered by the Snapdragon 652 with 4×1.4 GHz cores & 4×1.8 GHz cores.  It is coupled with 3GB of RAM and has 32GB of storage.  It is has a 3000 mAh battery to keep you going through the day, a fingerprint scanner and 16MP camera.

The phone is sold unlocked and will work with GSM carriers here in the US like AT&T and T-Mobile.  Here’s a rundown of the supported frequencies and bands.  Be sure to check with your carrier for support.

• GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
• HSDPA 850 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
• LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 17(700)

For those on Sprint or Verizon, sorry, the phone doesn’t support CDMA.