Category: Android

After being announced at CES in January, the much anticipated Samsung Chromebook Pro is finally available for pre-order.  The bigger, more powerful brother of the Chromebook Plus, which is already available, can be ordered on Amazon for $549.99 and it will ship starting May 28th.  The Chromebook Pro is one of just a handful of Chrome OS devices that can run Android apps and with some pretty serious specs for a Chromebook, it will have the horsepower to run the core OS and these apps with no trouble.

In case you don’t remember, the Chromebook Pro is powered by the Intel Core M3 6Y30 processor with integrated Intel graphics.  The processor is clocked at 2.2GHz and is coupled with 4GB of RAM (LPDDR3 for those interested).  It has 32GB of internal storage which is generally more than enough for a Chromebook and has a 12.3″ touchscreen that renders Quad HD resolution.  That display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and there is an digitized stylus that comes with it.

Friday for the Android faithful was a fun day.  Ahead of Google I/O, which starts this week, the company announced Project Treble, a modularized change to Android that will make it far easier for Google themselves to upgrade the core OS while leaving the manufactures and carriers to upgrade their bits on your phone.  It has a huge amount of promise and would go a long way in sorting out one of Android’s biggest problems – timely updates.

Timely updates, particularly security updates, has always been a challenge.  Manufactures are slow (and don’t really have an incentive to keep things upgraded) and carriers just add to the pain. It is a key reason I have chosen Google Nexus and Pixel products as my main drivers.  I know I will get timely updates.   Treble would leave the base level OS upgrades to Google who could upgrade your devices directly for things like security patches without having to involve the manufactures or carriers.

Unfortunately, I have to rain on everyone’s parade a bit.  Treble is coming for Android O and this week at I/O we are likely going to hear a lot more about it.  But don’t expect it to hit your current phone.  Even if you have a Google Pixel, don’t expect it.  Why?  Two Words:  System Partition.

Today’s Deal is on the well appointed and budget friendly Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet.  The 8″ tablet is on sale for $64.99 for the 16GB variant that includes Amazon adverts on the lock screen.  If you prefer to not have those adverts, it is $79.99 for the tablet.  In either case, you are saving $25 off the regular price and that discount also applies to the 32GB variant of the tablet.  The 32GB model is on sale for $94.99.

The Fire HD 8 has a 1280 x 800 display, is powered by a Quad-core 1.3 GHz processor and you can expand the storage by up to 200GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  It has dual-band Wi-Fi for solid wireless performance and is powered by 3210 mAh battery that is rated to give users up to 12 hours of use in mixed usage.  It also has dual Dolby powered speakers and of course, Alexa is integrated into the device much like Google Assistant on other Android devices.

One of the most common questions I get about ClintonFitch.com is how I make the screenshots that you see in reviews, how to’s and articles like this one.  The answer is Screener.  The app is made by Toastcode and they just released a nice update to the app in the Play Store.  The updated build is version 2.5 for those keeping score and it brings a redesigned user experience and some other nice features that make taking screenshots of you Android devices easy.  A bit about Screener.  It is an app that allows you to take a screenshot you have taken on your phone (most often this is the combination of Volume Down + Power button) and put that into a frame of a popular Android device (and iPhones too).  There are hundreds of frames, some of which are 3D, and there are frames for both phones and Android Wear devices.

This update to the app brings improved Notifications so you can be informed of when new device frames are available, app updates are available or other information from the developer.  You can now control which, if any, you get notifications for on your device.  To change this, go to Menu>Settings>Notifications.

The Bing search app for Android has a small but nice update rolling out to users today.  The update is version 6.8.25183598.D2C for those keeping score at home and who like to play version number Bingo.  On the surface, you are not going to find massive changes.  Functionally the app is the same as the previous version.  However, when you do a search, the results page are much more aligned to what you see when you use the desktop search in your browser.

Search results now offer a mix of links, branded results (if you are searching for a brand) and photos.  The idea is to bubble up not just text links to information but also provide more relevant media too.

Microsoft has released an update to Outlook for Android that Office 365 users who use Groups will find helpful.  You can now access groups from within the client, allowing you to see and send messages to teams within your organization.  To this point, Groups has been something that has only been available through the Outlook client on PC and Mac.  For those that may not know what Groups is exactly, think of it as a dramatically improved distribution list.  Now you can send emails to the group and everyone will get those emails (like a distribution list) but it also allows for much easier document sharing and collaboration over sending endless versions out to people.  Files can be shared from OneDrive which makes version tracking much easier and it eliminates the risk of multiple version of a file running around within your organization.

Groups was introduced for Windows users last year and to Mac users in the Outlook client back in March.  With it now available for Android, it will make it easier for those who use the feature to keep up with things (and keep others informed) while on-the-go.