Category: Android

Today’s Deal is on the all new Moto G5 Plus.  The phone was announced last week and today is its first day of availability.  You can pick up the Android Nougat running phone with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $239 from Amazon.  There are a lot of options on this phone but if you are willing to put up with Amazon ads on the lock screen, you can save a few dollars.

The Moto G5 Plus has a 5.2″ Full HD display rendering at 1024 x 1920.  That gives you a solid PPI count of 424, making it easy on the eyes for long periods of viewing.  It is powered by the Snapdragon 625 processor running all eight cores at 2.0GHz.  As mentioned, the top end configuration has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.  That storage can be expanded up to an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.

The phone is sold unlocked on Amazon so it works with various carriers.  A nice benefit is for you Verizon and Sprint customers.  Yes, this phone will work for you as it supports GSM and CDMA.  AT&T and T-Mobile customers, it’s fully compatible for you too.

Project Fi subscribers, there is a small update rolling out for the app that should be hitting your phones in the next few days.  The update is build N.3.3.19 for those keeping score and it brings with it some minor updates and improvements.  Perhaps the most noteworthy update according to the Fi User Forums moderators post is more flexibility to notify users from inside the app.  What this means exactly wasn’t explained but I can assume it means that there are improved notifications or different types of notifications coming from the Fi app than previously.  I’ve already received the update but I’ve not seen any noticable changes in notifications or how it functions.

Along with this, fixes for app crashes have been applied in this update as well as, “Minor polishes to the account management experience”.  Again, having looked at this, I’m not seeing a change.  If you are a subscriber to Google’s MVNO and see a change, let me know (I’ll update this post with proper credit).

A small update to Gmail is currently rolling out to the Google Play Store that brings support for GIF keyboards from within the app.  The update is build 7.3.13.151698241.release for those keeping score at home and who like to play Google version Bingo.  When it is installed, you will be able to insert GIF animations directly from the keyboard instead of having to go to another app, then copy-and-paste it into your message.  In order for it to work, you have to be using a GIF supporting keyboard like Google’s own Gboard.

Once you have the update, inserting GIFs is done like it is any other app when using a supporting keyboard.  You can search for GIFs from the keyboard, tap them, and they are inserted into your messages.

Twitter continues to tweak their service to give you more space in your replies on the service.  Starting today, the company is rolling out an update to users that eliminates the username of those to whom you are replying to from your 140 character limit.  This means you will have those characters to formulate your reply and, hopefully, not have to do so in multiple Tweets.

How this works is pretty straightforward.  When you reply to a Tweet, the @username part is removed from the tweet but you are shown who you are replying to at the top of the page on your Android phone.  While this isn’t a big deal for individuals you are replying to, for large groups, it is a big space saver.

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ and the LG G6, a new 18:9 (in the case of Samsung, 18.5:9) is making its way to Android devices and Android developers will need to support it.  If developers don’t update the maximum aspect ratio of their apps, their apps will be rendered at 16:9 on these devices.  That means that users will have a black bar at the top and bottom of the display.  It’ll work, but won’t be so pretty.

In a blog post on the Android Developer blog, Google has posted on this and is encouraging developers to increase the maximum ratio of their apps to support this new 18:9 view so their apps can take full advantage of the screen size.

Good news for those of you who are wanting to get your order in for the new Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+.  All four of the major carriers here in the US have them available to order as well as Best Buy and Amazon.  If you do place a pre-order, you can expect your new Galaxy to be at your doorstep just before or on April 21st when the phone will be available in stores.  Demand for these phones is expected to be extremely high so pre-ordering is not a bad option.

All of the major carriers are pretty much around the same price for the phones which will be locked to their networks. AT&T will be offering the S8 for $749.99 outright or you can pay $25 per month for 30 months.  The S8+ will be $849.99 or $28.34 per month for 30 months.

Sprint will be offering the S8 at $744 or $31.25 per month for 24 months.  The S8+ will be $844 or $35.42 per month for 24 months.