Category: Android

Yesterday, Hauwei’s sub-brand Honor released the new Honor Note 10.  The 6.95″ phone is packed with performance and while it is only available in China currently, it is expected that a global variant of the phone will be available later this year or early next.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t get the wallpapers from the new phone today.

The Honor Note 10 has ten stock wallpapers that come on the phone and as these things tend to go, it didn’t take long for them to leak online.  I’ve got all of them now and I’ve linked to them after the break so those who aren’t interested don’t have to wade through them.

LineageOS has rolled out support for the 2016 Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL in their latest firmware build of Android Oreo 8.1.  In LineageOS terms, that build 15.1.  The addition of the two Google phones adds to an ever increasing number of devices that the independent Android development group, which rose from the ashes of CyanogenMod, supports.

Like other phones, in order to use LineageOS on your Pixel or Pixel XL, you will need to have the bootloader unlocked and be comfortable with manually installing a software build.  It isn’t an overly difficult process but if you aren’t familiar with the process or comfortable with it, its best to stay away.

Good news this morning for those of you who have the LG V20 on Sprint.  The carrier has released the Android Oreo update for the 2016 flagship phone and it is making its way out to customers now.  The new build is OPR1.170623.032 for those keeping score at home.

The update brings all the standard goodness of Android Oreo 8.0 to the phone along with the July Android Security Update.  As you would expect, it is a hefty update at just over 1.5GB so you will certainly want to download this update via WiFi and to install, you will need at least 80% battery life.

Today’s Deal is on the well appointed Sony Xperia XZ2.  This 5.7″ display phone with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage is down to $699 at Amazon right now.  That’s a savings of $100 off the regular price.  The Xperia XZ2 is the latest generation of the Sony Xperia lineup and was launched back in April after being announced at Mobile World Congress in February.

As a reminder about some of the key specs of the Sony Xperia XZ2, it is powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC, hs 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage built-in.  That storage can be expanded up to 400GB thanks to the MicroSD card slot.  It is equipped with a 19MP f/2.0 rear camera that can shoot an incredible 960 fps slow motion video, and a 5MP f/2.2 selfie camera on the front.  Display wise, the Xperia XZ2 has a 5.7″  Full HD+ display that renders 1080 x 2160 and is an 18:9 ratio.  It is also HDR.

In a surprising announcement, OnePlus has stated that Android P will be coming to the 2016 OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T phones.  The company has said that in order to do this, they will be abandoning efforts to get Android Oreo 8.1 to these phones and will focus on Android P instead.

After internal discussions and evaluation, we have decided to focus our development resources on the Android P project instead of upgrading the device to Android 8.1, so that we can offer more exciting features and improvements for our OnePlus 3 and 3T users.

The news is surprising in that most 2016 will likely not see the next generation of Android, slated for release as some point in August.

Google has begun rolling out the latest update to ARCore for Android, the system level app that brings Augmented Reality to your devices.  The new update is version 1.4.180716066 for those keeping score at home.  The update brings support for the upcoming Google Pixel 3, codename Blueline, as well as the Pixel 3 XL, codename Crosshatch.  Given that the AR Core app is updated every 4-6 weeks and that this is the first reference to the new Pixels, it likely means that we getting close to launch.

Having the two new Pixel 3’s in the mix isn’t surprising but there was a surprise in that the first Chromebook is now listed as supporting ARCore.  That is the new Acer Chromebook Tab 10.