Category: Android

I’ll be honest: I have an on again/off again relationship with Fitbit.  I’ve been using their trackers for 6 years now and while my first tracker (the Ultra) was rock solid, the two subsequent models (the One and the Flex) have been less than stellar.  I found neither of these tracked exceptionally well and with the One in particular, I was constantly fighting to keep it connected to my Nexus 6 or 6P as the Bluetooth was just not reliable.

Initially, in an effort to find a tracking alternative, I started using Google Fit and my Moto 360 smartwatch to track my activities.  It was, shall we say, painful.  Syncing was not accurate nor were step and exercise tracking.  While Fit has grown up a lot, it still has some growing up to do.  That experiment lasted about three weeks and that was all I could really handle.

Finally I had enough and I decided to step way out of the bounds of what most people consider for a fitness tracker.  I picked up an Microsoft Band 2 and I have to say, it is a solid performing device that is very accurate in tracking your fitness information.  In fact, after two weeks of using it, my Fitbit One is now quietly sitting connected to its charging cable on my desk – untouched and likely not being touched for a while.  I’ve deleted the app from my 6P and moved to Microsoft Health for my exercise and step tracking.

To be sure, the Microsoft Band 2 is not perfect.  It has some things that need improvements, most notably how it tracks stairs and the overall weight of the device.  That said, I’m comfortable in recommending it.  It integrates nicely with Android thanks to the Microsoft Health app (and there is one for Windows 10 users too).  It ties in with other services and apps like Lose It!, MFitnessPal, RunKeeper and Strava, and it has a battery life of a couple of days.  That’s better than most smartwatches today which, in a limited way, the Band 2 can perform for you.

Here is my review of the Band 2 and the companion Microsoft Health app.

If you are considering a Huawei Honor device as your next Android phone, there is some good news for you today.  Taylor Wimberly, the eCommerce Customer Acquisition Manager for the company here in the US, posted on his Google+ account some exciting news around support for Honor devices.  In essence, if you buy one, you are going to be supported with software updates – minor and major – for up to 24 months.

From this year we are making a commitment to provide customers with access to new features (at least once every three months during the first 12 months) for up to 24 months following each product launch.

This is great news as one of the biggest problems in Androidville is device updates from manufactures.  Huawei is giving it a good effort and that should make you more confident in buying their devices.

This is a killer deal and it is today only on Amazon.  Today you can pick up the Nextbit Robin in either Midnight Blue or Mint for just $199.  That is $100 off the normal $299 price.  Stop what you are doing (reading this) and go order it now.  I’ll wait.

Okay, good.  Now let’s talk about what you just bought.

There are a lot of indicators to suggest that we could well see Android Nougat, the next major build of Android, be released next Monday.  Canadian carrier Telus indicated in a forum post that the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X on their networks will receive the update on August 22nd.  If that is indeed the case, it means that Google themselves will be dropping the update out to those devices (as well as the Nexus 6) that day as the carriers and manufactures cannot release it prior to Google themselves.

Adding further evidence to a Monday release is LG.  The Android phone manufacture will be starting a limited preview program in Korea on the LG G5.  Again, like Telus, LG can’t release a preview program prior to Google releasing the bits.  If they are saying that the preview program is starting on Monday, that means Nougat will have to be available on Monday if not sooner.

The utilitarian app Google Calculator has been updated for Android and while it is certainly a small update, it does have one nice new creature comfort feature and an underlying more important one.  First, the update is build is version 7.0.1 for those keeping score at home and it is rolling out in the Google Play Store now.  You should see the OTA in a day or two.  As for the creature comfort feature, the app now groups large numbers.  In other words, here in the US, you will see a comma between each group of numbers such as 123,456,789.  Previously you would just see 123456789.  Again, not a big deal but it does make it easier if you are using the app for computing large numbers.

A new update to Google Photos is rolling out that brings a new editing feature for videos.  The update is build 1.25.0.12950344 for those keeping score and playing Version Bingo.  In the update you will find that you now have the ability to edit a video that you have stored locally.  Those editing features include the ability to rotate the video and to clip it at the beginning or the end to adjust the overall time of the video. Once you save that video that you have edited, it is stored online to your Google Photos account like other videos.  The key thing to remember is that the feature is limited to those videos you have stored locally.  In other words, it does not work on videos that you have uploaded to your Photos account and then used the Free Up Space feature and removed them from your device.