Category: Android

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai took to Twitter last night and provided an important update to everyone:  Google Duo has hit the 5 million download mark.  The new video calling app was released the same day as Android Nougat and frankly is a pretty refined experience versus other video calling solutions.  Duo gives you a preview of who is calling before you even accept the call.

Google Duo now over 5M Android downloads in a week! https://t.co/ctwn131gYq

— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) August 25, 2016

While 5 million isn’t exactly huge when you compare it to the hundreds of millions of Android phones and iPhones out there, it is significant in that there is some excitement around this new video app.

HTC took to Twitter yesterday and clarified the target dates for the Android Nougat update to their devices.  The news is mixed in that it looks like there is still going to be another couple of months before we see the first device updated but, to their credit, the company is being upfront about things.  According to the Tweet, the HTC 10 will be the first of their devices updated and that will happen in Q4 of this year.

We’re excited to receive final shipping Android 7.0 Nougat software from Google! pic.twitter.com/BNbQBpgddK

— HTC (@htc) August 24, 2016

Probably more disappointing is that the One A9 will not be updated until after the older One M9.

Great news and yet another reason to pick up a Nexus phone.  The Nexus team at Google has announced that Wi-Fi Assistant is coming to all Nexus phones in the coming weeks.  Wi-Fi Assistant to this point has been exclusive to Project Fi users which allows their devices to automatically connect to Google approved Wi-Fi hotspots securely and without any user intervention.  It is a huge benefit to Fi frankly as it saves on data plan usage.  It will connect your phone to Wi-Fi without you even knowing it.  Now all Nexus owners will benefit from the feature.

While Android devices have quick and easy access to Google search, having alternatives on your phone is never a bad thing.  The Bing search app from Microsoft has been available for Android for a while now and it, like many of the Microsoft apps for Android, continues to grow and mature nicely.  The latest update to the search app brings a music discovery feature that allows you to find the song you hear in your local coffee shop or other location.  Like other apps, you simply turn on the app, hit the Music button and have Bing listen to the song.  Within a few seconds it will return the result, giving you the song title and artist.  You can then tap on that information at the bottom of the screen and get more details about the song, artist and albums that are available from that artist.  On most songs you will also get the lyrics for the song.

With demand high and supply limited, Samsung is having to ramp up production of the Galaxy Note 7.  Reuters reports that the Korean company has had higher demand than they expected for the Note 7 and that they will be sorting out how and where to increase production to meet the needs.

“As pre-order results for the Galaxy Note 7 have far exceeded our estimates, its release date in some markets has been adjusted,” Samsung told Reuters in a statement without commenting on where launch delays could occur.

Samsung has made similar comments in the past, most notably on last year’s Galaxy S6 Edge, and one could argue that they creating a false urgency in the market.  While there is probably a little bit of truth to it, the numbers don’t lie.  Samsung is expected to sell upwards of 15 million Galaxy Note 7’s this year and delays in launching have already happened with further “adjustments” to the launch schedule made to try to keep up with demand.

The challenge, of course, is that Samsung risks losing buyers outright to competitor products so the faster they can ramp up that production, the better.  Samsung’s stock was down 2% yesterday after this news broke.

The latest update to Skype is rolling out in the Play Store and with it comes bots.  The messaging, text and video call app now has a wide selection of automated services that can be accessed to play games, give you information and help you with tasks throughout your day.  There are dozens of bots to use within Skype and they are accesses from the floating menu at the bottom of the display, the same you use every day for IMs, video calls and phone calls.  Now when you open up the menu you will see the option to chat with a bot.  This new feature is in build 7.13.0.708 for those keeping score at home and if you have Skype installed, you should get the OTA update over the course of the next day or two.