Category: Android

I will admit that these are the kinds of Press Release that make me a little crazy.  Sony at MWC today announced the new Xperia X series, a lineup of new Android phones that includes three new devices, the Xperia X, Xperia X Performance and Xperia XA, but there were scarcely any details given about the devices.  While the Xperia X Peformance will run a Snapdragon 802 processor and has a 5″ display, there is virtually nothing else known about these devices.  I’m sure as the day progresses we will get more details but to not have the basics in the Presser is… aye.

At MWC today, Alcatel made another device announcement this morning.  Yesterday they announced the new IDOL 4 and IDOL 4S while today they announced the even more budget friendly POP series.  In all, there are three devices in the POP series:  The POP 4, POP 4+ and the POP 4S.  The 4S is the premium version of the devices with a 13 MP rear camera and 5MP front while the 4 and 4+ have a 8 MP rear shooter. Likewise, you will find that the 4S has an octa-core processor while the 4 and 4+ have a quad-core.

To the surprise of nobody, Samsung has announced the Galaxy S7 Edge at Mobile World Congress today.  The rumors about this new phone and it’s sister device, the Galaxy S7, have been floating for months and for sure, they did not disappoint.  With significant car integration, VR functionality and more, these two devices are going to be a hot item when they hit the market.  Pre-orders with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular all start on Tuesday, February 23rd with the devices being available in stores the next Tuesday, March 1st.  Prices will be around $26 per month on payment plans through the carriers and devices will also be available through Best Buys, Target, Staples and Walmart as well.

With the LG G5 officially announced today at MWC 2016, the question many have asked is if the phone will come to the US.  The answer is a resounding yes.  Both AT&T and Verizon have announced that they will be carrying the new LG device later this Spring when it hits US shores.   Both companies will be carrying the device itself along with the modules that are available for it as well.  For their part, AT&T has already put up a pre-release page for the G5 on their site which promises more information is coming soon.

Although it is only hitting Asia and Europe at the moment, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is starting to see the Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 update roll out globally.  The update will bring the latest security updates to the phablet along with several other UI tweaks that are exclusive to Samsung.  While the South Korean company has made no official announcements – and they rarely do – it is expect that this update will roll out globally over the course of the next few days.

Last month I posted about a change that is coming to Google Play Games around Gamer IDs and the deprecation of the Google+ linking requirement.  That change is starting to roll out now via some back end changes in the service along with an updated app for Android.   To this point, if you played a game on your Android device and signed into the service, it required you to have a Google+ ID to do so.  It created a multi-step process for users and is a bit of a hold over from when Google tried to push everyone and everything through Google+.  At some point this year, Google is going to eliminate this requirement and gamers will be able to sign in one time per account and any new games they start playing, they will be automatically signed into the service.