Category: Android

HTC has announced two new phones that will be coming soon to select markets, the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play.  The new lineup is a departure in design for HTC with both phones having a curved glass design over metal designs like the HTC 10.  What’s interesting here is that HTC isn’t being real clear on if the new U lineup is replacing the 10 or if it is a complementary device.  With the 5.7″ Ultra expected to be around $749, it certainly has a flagship price tag to go along with the flagship specs.

Focusing on the HTC U Ultra, it has a 5.7″ Quad HD display along with a 2′ secondary display that is 160 x 1040 in resolution.  That secondary display is aimed for things like notifications and is strikingly similar to the second display on the LG V20.  Powering the phone is a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor running at 2.15GHz and is coupled with the Adreno 530 GPU.  It has 4GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage which can be expanded up to an additional 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  You will also find a fingerprint scanner built into the Ultra.

The main camera of the Ultra is a 12MP shooter with laser auto focus, phase detection auto focus, OIS and a dual tone LED flash.  The front facing camera is an even more impressive 16MP shooter.  The Ultra has a 3000 mAh battery which is good but battery life will be interesting to find out as the 5.7″ display is certainly going to draw a fair amount of juice.  All of this in a sleek package that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.  What is not know is which markets or even a definitive launch date for the Ultra.  It looks like the price will be around $750 but that’s about all that is know otherwise.

Chrome OS is still in the process of having Android apps rolled out to various Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, but that doesn’t mean further improvements are coming.  According to a post on ChromeUnboxed, it looks like Android Nougat 7.1 support will be coming at some point in 2017.  Currently, Chrome OS devices that can run Android apps are running them based on the Android Marshmallow 6.0 API set.  For most of us, that’s fine.  There is however one big bonus to having things move over to Nougat:  Multi-Window support.

Right now if you run an Android app on your Chromebook, only one app at a time can be displayed, just like it was on your Android phone running Marshmallow.  With Nougat, the ability to show multiple apps and resize those windows comes into play and that could be a real game changer.  Along with this comes true multi-tasking too.

Microsoft has pushed an update out to their Android lock screen app, Next Lock Screen.  The new 3.11 version brings much improved battery performance so all users of the app are encouraged to upgrade.  If you aren’t familiar with the app, it is designed to give you more information on your lock screen than the standard lock screen found on Android devices.  Sure it can give you things like notifications and weather, but it gives so much more.  You can for example text friends who have texted you right from the lock screen or have your favorite apps one-tap away.  It will also allow you to do searches via Bing right from the lock screen.  The idea is to give you quick information or access to key apps without having to go through the unlocking process.

Let’s all have a moment of silence for a dearly departed friend, Android Froyo.

(silence)

Google has just released the latest Android Platform Report and the nearly 6 year old Froyo is no longer on the report.  The report is based on devices that came to the Google Play Store for the week ending January 9, 2017.  While certainly not a definitive resource when it comes to the Android install base, it is a solid resource that gives some great insights to just what versions of Android are out there and in use.  The news for Nougat is that installs still remain low.  The latest version of Android only accounted for .7% of the devices hitting the store, miles behind Marshmallow at 29.6% and even further behind leader Lollipop, which sits at 33.4% of visitors.  Still, that Nougat number is a .3% increase over last month but equally, Marshmallow jumped up 3.3% for the report.  For the rest of the versions, numbers declined.

Android Lollipop dropped .6% to 33.4% while KitKat had the biggest drop of 1.4% to 22.6%.  Jelly Bean dropped to 11.6%, down from 12.8%, Ice Cream Sandwich dropped .1% to 1.1% and finally, the now quite crusty Gingerbread release dropped to 1%.

Microsoft has rolled out a sizable update to their intracompany, Slack competitor, Microsoft Teams.  The update, version 1416 for those keeping score at home, brings a lot of improvements to the collaboration app, the most notable of which is the ability to have voice conversations through the app.  Now if you are collaborating with a colleague, you can elevate that chat to a voice conversation with a push of a button.  No longer do you have to leave the app for that voice interaction to happen, making this sweet and simple.  All indications are that this new feature is leveraging the existing Skype for Business infrastructure on the backend.

Another nice update to the app is the ability to delete messages.  Now you can delete a message within 24 hours of it being sent.

A small update to the PayPal app is rolling out in the Google Play Store that brings the ability to add funds to your account at your local 7-Eleven.  The update builds on a feature that was introduced late last year which saw the same feature come to local CVS and Rite Aid stores.  How it works is pretty straight forward.  Take your phone and the money you want to add to your account to a participating 7-Eleven.  Go into the app and go to Manage Balance>Add Money>Add cash at a store.  Follow the prompts and you will get a barcode that you need to show to the cashier.  Once they scan that barcode and collect your money, the funds will appear in your PayPal account in about 15 minutes.  Quick, simple and easy.

As you would guess, there is a convenience charge to do this type of transaction which is $3.95.  Also keep in mind that not every 7-Eleven (or CVS or Rite Aid for that matter) is setup to take funds like this.  You will need to check with your local store.