Category: Android

The OnePlus 3T was announced today by OnePlus, the latest flagship device in their lineup.  The new 3T is essentially a OnePlus 3 with improved specifications in some key areas as well as a new 128GB storage option.  Available in a Gunmetal or Soft Gold color, the phone will start at $439 for the 64GB model and will be available for purchase starting November 22nd.

The big news on the 3T is the improved processor and RAM.  This new phone has the Snapdragon 821 Quad-Core processor and is coupled with 6GB of RAM.  It sports a 5.5″ Full HD IMOLED display that is protected by Gorilla Glass 4, comes with either 64GB or 128GB of storage and has dual-SIM support.  Camera wise, the main camera is a 16MP shooter while the selfie camera is also a 16MP shooter which makes this phone a real powerhouse camera wise.

Google is in the process of dropping a new app into the Play Store, Google PhotoScan.  As the name suggest, PhotoScan is aimed at making capturing old photos and them storing them electronically (like in Google Photos) painless but in great quality.  The app detects edges, straightens the image, rotates it to the correct orientation, and removes glare.  Then you can save it to your Google Photos account with a single tap.  And remember – if you are using Google Photos and storing photos in High Quality (photos under 16MP really benefit from this) then they don’t count against your Google Drive storage quota.

Using Google PhotoScan is easy.  With the app on your Android phone, point your camera at the photo you want to scan.  In the PhotoScan app, after you line up the photo and tap the shutter button, there will be four dots on the screen.  Line up the camera with those four dots and PhotoScan stitches things together to create a high quality digital image of your photograph.

Joining the ranks of Facebook Messenger, Microsoft Skype and Google Hangouts, WhatsApp has finally added video calling to the popular messaging app.  The update comes after several weeks in beta testing and the service will be using parent company Facebook’s data centers for the video calling functionality.  The updated version of the Android and iOS app will be rolling out over the course of the next few days.

In order for video calls to work, both parties in the call will have to be running the latest version of the app so it make take a few days for all of your contacts to get the update – thus being able to make video calls.

Google has announced that a major overhaul of their music streaming service, Google Play Music, is rolling out this week.  The update will bring a significant change to the user interface of the app but there are also a lot of changes happening behind the scenes to make a better overall experience.  What the company is doing is building in Google’s machine learning into the app.  The idea is for it to learn the music you like as well as when you listen to certain types of music so it can make better and more accurate suggestions.

Google Play Music uses machine learning to figure out what music you like and then mixes in signals like location, activity, and the weather along with hand-picked playlists to personalize music for wherever you are and whenever you want tunes. Starting this week on Android, iOS and the web, the new experience will roll out globally (62 countries, to be precise).

This should sound pretty familiar.  Google has been in the process of injecting their machine learning into all of their apps and services over the course of the past year with the aim to have their apps and devices understand you better.  While we tend to think of machine learning in big contextual things (like Google Home for example), having it in straight forward apps like Google Play Music will bring a much richer experience to users too.

Today’s Deal is on your choice of external battery packs from RAVPower.  Over at Amazon, they have three different models ranging from $19.49 up to $37.49 but all are anywhere from 51 to 63% off the regular price.  The 12000 mAh model has dual USB ports and 2.4A of output for $19.49.  This is the new model of this pack which is 20% smaller and 15% lighter than the previous model.  It will give you 3 charges of a Galaxy S7, has a combined 3.4A output (2.4A max each) on its dual USB charging ports and has RAVPower’s iSmart technology for fast, safe and efficient charging of your devices.  This pack is also using the lates Li-Polymer technology for higher performance and better protection against short circuits and over-charging.  At $19.49, this is a solid deal.

Next up is the 16750mAh model that also has dual USB ports but higher total energy output.  This $23.99 model can charge a Galaxy S7 3.5 times and claimed to have the hight output of any external pack on the market in this capacity.  It features 4.5A of total output which makes it capable of charging 2 tablets at the same time.  It too features batteries that have over 500 charge cycles, have short-circuit and over-current protection to keep you and your device safe.  Normally this model is $41, so at $23.99 you are saving about 61%.

The news aggregation and magazine reading app from Google, Google Play Newsstand, has a major update rolling out today into the Play Store.  The new version 4.0 of the app is, more-or-less, a complete revamp of the app.  The new update is more in line with Material Design and overall Android app design and features bottom navigation instead of being driven from the hamburger menu like the previous version.  The new For You section gives you a summary and highlights of news from various sources including sources for local news.  New in the app is the ability to have this section of the app downloaded to your device for offline reading.  You also note that the articles are heavily AMP driven for faster loading and when you have read an article, the title will go from bold to normal text to let you know.