Category: Android

Today’s Deal is on the entry level but well appointed LG X Charge.  This is one of the Amazon Prime phones and right now you can pick it up for $119 with the Prime ads on the lock screen.  Normally this version of the phone is $149.

The LG X Charge is a 5.5″ 720p display phone powered by the MediaTek MT6750 SoC.  It has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a MicroSD slot for memory expansion.  That memory can be expanded up to 2TB.  It has a 13MP main camera and a 5MP selfie camera.

With the holiday season in full swing, Google has rolled out a new holidays promotion in the Google Play Store.  The aptly named Google 12 Days of Play brings discounts to games, movies and television shows, books and discounts on subscriptions.  It is a pretty impressive offer and there is likely something for everyone in the promotion.

Let’s talk about apps.  In the Google 12 Days of Play, there are 20 games that are discounted up to 80% on offer.  You can find the full list here but some of the games include:

• Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2  for .99 Cents (normally $4.99)
• Bloons TD 5 for .99 Cents (normally $2.99)
• Final Fantasy Tactics: WotL for $4.99 (normally $11.99)
• The Game of Life for .99 Cents (normally $2.99)
• The Room Three for .99 Cents (normally $3.99)
• Need for Speed Most Wanted for .99 Cents (normally $4.99)

It is inevitable that at some point you are going to need to convert a document from one format to another.  Generally, doing so on a Windows PC or a MacBook is pretty straightforward.  But what if you are on the go?  Then the challenge gets a bit tougher as there are dozens of apps out there that convert to one type of file or another but not necessarily universally.  That’s especially true if you are using cloud-based storage for documents like Dropbox or Google Drive.

Enter PDF Converter by Cometdocs.  This single app is able to convert virtually any type of document to a PDF or a PDF to any type of document.  It is impressive and while the conversions can take some time based on the horsepower of your phone and the size of the document in question, it is one of the best in its class for what it does.

Recently the Cometdocs team sent me an unlocked version of the app to install and review.  I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and it is an impressive app.  The question many readers will ask is if the $19.99 price tag for the fully unlocked version of PDF Converter is worth it?  It is a fair question, especially in the less-than-a-dollar app economy.  The short answer is yes if you meet the use case scenario:  Lots of documents to manage and on the go.

For readers who are in the Essential Phone beta program, you have a new second beta for Android Oreo rolling out to you today.  The new build is version OPM1.170911.213 for those keeping score and brings a handful of new features as well as a significant number of bug fixes from the first beta.  The new build is 142MB in size so it is advisable to download it via WiFi.

As for new features, this new build brings some of the standard Oreo features to the PH-1.  These include:

• Smart text selection
• Instant apps
• Picture-in-picture

Also, sign-in to apps has been improve as has the overall startup time of the Essential Phone.  All of these are positive steps in the evolution of Essential’s Oreo build as it brings more of the standard features of Oreo to the device.

T-Mobile customers who are carrying the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus, there is a new software update that has been released for you.  The update brings the December Android Security Update to the devices but nothing else is mentioned in the release notes by T-Mobile.  It likely contains some performance fixes and bug fixes, especially given the size of the update files.

For the Galaxy S8, your new build is G950USQS2BQL1 and is 130.66MB in size.  For S8 Plus owners, you are getting build G955USQS2BQL1 and it is slightly smaller at 127.11MB.  The updates have been released by T-Mobile so you should start seeing the OTA updates for them as soon as today.

Today’s Deal is on the powerful, 5.2″ Sony Xperia XZs.  The XZs is a revamped version of last year’s XZ and has, as you would expect from Sony, some pretty impressive specs.  Today, the XZs has dropped in price down to $399 on Amazon.  That is its lowest price ever.

The Xperia XZs is powered by the Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.2GHz, has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.  That storage can be expanded and additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The XZs is IP68 rated against water and dust intrusion and, a not-so-common thing here in the US, it is a dual-SIM phone.  The display is a 5.2″ FHD and all of this is powered by a 2900mAh battery that is charged via a USB-C port and it supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

What really makes the XZs however are the cameras.