Category: Android

Huawei has become the latest manufacture to indicate which of their phones will be receiving the Android Nougat update.  The news is certainly good for those who have purchased one of their flagship devices over the course of the last 18 months or so and it means that starting in the first quarter of next year, updates should be rolling out.  As for the list, it’s all the ones you would hope for and expect to get the update:

• Huawei Mate 8
• Huawei P9
• Huawei P9 Plus
• Huawei P9 lite
• Huawei Nova
• Huawei Nova Plus

The update will come via the EMUI 5.0 update which is Huawei’s Android UI and flavor of Android.  EMUI 5.0 shipped with the Mate 8 and P9 so those devices are already running Nougat.

Today’s Deal is on the well appointed mid-range Android phone, the ASUS ZenFone 3 Laser.  This 5.5″ phone has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage and supports dual-SIMs and is down to $179 at Amazon today.  The phone is unlocked and works with GSM carriers here in the United States like AT&T and T-Mobile.  The 5.5″ display provides full HD resolution and the 32GB of onboard storage can be expanded up to an additional 128GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.

As the name suggests, the ZenFone 3 Laser uses laser technology to focus the main 13MP camera which ASUS claims will focus in .03 seconds.  The camera also supports optical and electronic image stabilization.

It has been a long time requested feature of Netflix and it is finally here in the Android app.  The latest update to the streaming content provider now gives you the option to download television shows and movies so you can view them offline.

Let’s all take a moment to raise a glass to Netflix.

In the latest update to the app, version 4.12.0 for those keeping score at home, you now have a section “Available for Download”.  Here you will see all of the shows and movies that you can download to your phone or tablet so you can view them later.  You have two options for quality of the downloads:  Standard (720p) or High (1080p) and, as you would expect, the High quality downloads take up more storage on your device.

Google Docs has an update rolling out today that brings the ability for you to insert a GIF animation into a document… and it not break!  The update comes into Google Docs but there are also updates to Google Sheets and Google Slides too.  All of these updates are in rapid release which means that users should see the updated versions of these apps hit their devices over the course of the next few days.

For all three apps, you now have the ability to not only view your Trash folder for the app but also restore files from your trash folder.  Now you don’t have to go to the desktop version of Docs, Sheets or Slides to do a file restore.

Sony is the latest manufacture to start releasing Android Nougat updates for their devices.  Today the company started rolling out the Nougat update to the Xperia X Performance, both the US model as well as the global, dual-SIM model.  The update is software revision 39.2.A.0.327 for those keeping score at home and the OTA update should be hitting devices over the course of the next few days.  The update is about 1GB in size so you will want to be on Wi-Fi in order to download the update.  Once you have it, your phone will need 15-20 minutes to complete the install and it will be rebooted in the process.

Microsoft has rolled out yet another new app for Android today that brings quick and easy copying of text from one app to another.  Clip Layer allows you to copy a page or section of text from one app by pressing and holding the Home button on your phone, then opening another app and copying that text to that app.  While Android natively has the ability to do this on most apps, Clip Layer makes it very easy with just simple taps to copy sections of text instead of having to tap-and-drag.  Plus, the app has the ability to take that copied text and share it with others right from within the app.

The magic of how the app works is within the Assistant settings of Android.  By allowing the app to become your Device Assistance app, that enabled the Home button to become the trigger for copying text.