Category: Android

Google has just released the February Android Security Update patches for the Pixel and Nexus lineup.  Traditionally, Google releases the patches on the Monday of the first full week of each month (barring a holiday falling on Monday) so today’s release was somewhat expected.

All told, the updates this month are pretty small when it comes to patching vulnerabilities within Android.  It does consist of two patches, one dated January 1 with the second dated the 5th.  Google devices will receive the second patch when the OTA updates are released.

In the fast paced world of Android phones (and iPhones for that matter), some devices age well while others seemingly die without much of a thought to them.  A lot of it depends on the manufacture and their willingness to continue to develop updates for the device but also it depends on the niche in which the device attempts to be the answer.

In the case of the Huawei Mate 9, the Chinese company has continued to support the 5.9″ phablet by recently releasing their Android Oreo based EMUI 8 experience.  That, along with filling the need of a large screen device for some, has let this phone age well.  It’s still a powerhouse of a device that, even though it has now been superseded by the Mate 10, I don’t have a problem recommending.

I reviewed the Huawei Mate 9 back in March 2017 and at the time, I felt it was one of the fastest devices I had reviewed to that point.  I felt the same way about the smaller Huawei P10 which has the same SoC (System on Chip) setup as the Mate 9.  Now nearly a year later, I still feel the same way.  This is a solid phone with a lot to offer despite its age.  Yes, Android Oreo will likely be the last major update for the Mate 9 but that shouldn’t completely turn you away from it.  It has a lot to offer and remains one of the best overall flagship phone options out there, especially now that it is under $500.

I’m not necessarily going to be re-reviewing the Mate 9 in this post but rather will highlight how the phone has performed over time.  I’ll cover how the chassis has held up, how battery life has performed over time and the new EMUI 8 update for the phone to name a few things.

An update to the Google app on Android Wear has resolved a significant bug with the OK Google detection on wearables.  The issue was that if you had OK Google detection enabled on your watch, overall performance of the watch would be impacted.  Watches were either laggy or they would stutter through things as you navigated the watch interface.

This seems to have been fixed with the 7.18.50 release of the Google app for Android Wear.  According to Android Police, once you have this update, you should be able to turn on the OK Google detection and not impact the overall performance of your watch.

A new update to Outlook for Android is rolling out in the Play Store that brings a key new feature:  The ability to resize image attachments prior to sending your email.  The update is version 2.2.95 for those keeping score at home and should land on everyone’s Play Store account over the course of the next few days.

After you update, when you attach an image file to an email, you will have the option to keep the image its original size or to reduce its size for faster sending of that email.

The much anticipated update to Chrome 64 has arrived in the Chrome OS Stable channel.  The new version is build 64.0.3282.134 (Platform version: 10176.65.0) and it contains several new features along with the normal bug fixes and security updates that come with every new build of Chrome OS.

Here is the rundown of the new features in this build:

• Take screenshots faster on Chromebooks with a 360-degree hinge by pressing the power and volume down buttons at the same time
• Revamped Intent Picker for Play Applications (Same window by default with override)
• Lockscreen Performance Improvements
• Enable VPN for Google Play Apps
• Enhancements to our protected media pipeline for Android
• Android Container Auto Update Optimizations
• Touchscreen pairing settings

In addition to these new features, there is now a flag you can set to enabled split screen viewing.  This was something that was found in a commit last month.  Android apps can now run in the background too.

File this under the “better late than never” category.  Over a year after releasing the ability to manage iOS devices, even those without a Mobile Device Management (MDM) profile, Google has added the same functionality for Android devices in G Suite.  The feature means that admins can set basic security requirements on Android devices without requiring the BOYD owner to install a MDM profile on their phone.

When Basic Mobile Management is enabled, admins can:

• Enforce a device screen lock. (Lollipop or later)
• Wipe a corporate account (but not the entire device).
• View, search, and manage their device inventory.

It is unclear why it took Google so long to add this functionality for Android devices but likely has to do with the shear number of devices that are out on the market with various configurations.