Category: Android

After several months of waiting, the unlocked LG G5 here in the United States is finally receiving its Android Nougat update.  The update comes months after many other unlocked variants in other countries received the update.  Canadian LG G5 users for example, received the update back in December.  Locked variants of the phone on AT&T received the update in February.

The update is a big one at over 1.3GB so Wi-Fi is a must to download it and you can expect the install time after the download to take about 10 minutes.

The Google Wallpapers app for Android has been updated with several new wallpapers in most of the existing categories within the app.  The update, version 1.1.153125266 for those keeping score at home, adds wallpaper options in the Earth, Landscapes, Life, Textures, and Cityscapes sections of the app, giving you the option for more personalization of your devices.

Wallpapers is an app that is native to the Pixel lineup but shortly after the release of the phones, Google released the app (officially – it has been available as a side-load APK for months prior) for Android devices running 4.1 or higher.  It allows users to select a wallpaper for their Home page as well as the lock screen on their devices, both of which can be different wallpapers.

Microsoft has released an update to their popular note taking app OneNote for Android.  The updated build is version 16.0.8067.1772 for those keeping score at home and the biggest new feature is the ability to share a page from the share panel built into Android Marshmallow or later.  This will make it far easier and fast to share thoughts and ideas with others.

The editing tools have also improved in this update.  The ability to cut, copy and past are there now along with other performance improvements to editing tools.  Couple this with the formatting tools being immediately available in the command bar, this overall makes the app easier to use, especially on a phone.

Following the process set for the last Nexus lineup, Google has updated their Android software update page with information on the Google Pixel lineup.  Major version support for the devices will end next year, October 2018 while Android security updates will end a year later in October 2019.  While Google phrases this as “not guaranteed”, it is pretty much a lock that the devices won’t see updates after these dates.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to Pixel owners.  Google has said they will support phones for 3 years after release or 18 months from when the device was last sold in the Google Store, whichever is longer.  This is the cadence they setup on such updates with the release of the Nexus 6P and 5X although it had been somewhat implied prior to those devices. As an owner of a Pixel XL, I’d love to see support longer but the reality is, for Google, developing an Android build for a 3+ year old device is expensive with little incentive for them to do it.  Remember that they, just like any other manufacture, want you to upgrade at some point.

Google TalkBack for Android has a new update rolling out that brings some new services and features to the accessibility app.  For those who may not know what TalkBack is, it is designed for the blind or visually impaired to be able to use their Android device as the content on the screen is read back to them.  This new update brings a new Speech Verbosity feature that allows users to choose just how much feedback is spoken to them.  Before this update, TalkBack read everything on the screen.  Now you can be a bit more selective with it which should speed things up a bit.

Another improvement is the ability to hear feedback when screen magnification is turned on as well as hearing character count in password fields.  This feature requires that you have at least Chrome 56 on your device to work.

With shipments of 21 million phones in the first quarter of 2017, Huawei has claimed the top sales position in China according to a report from Canalys.  The sales and positive response to the new P10, P10 Plus and Mate 9 from the company bolstered them and allowed them to get to the top.  It wasn’t, however, a big margin of victory if you will.  Oppo, who was number one, dropped to second with 20 million units sold while third place went to Vivo.  They shipped 17 million units in the quarter.  The top three therefore shipped 57 million of the 114 million smartphones that were shipped in the quarter, claiming 50% of the market between them.

That 114 million units shipped in Q1 is an increase of 9% over the same period last year.