Category: Android

For the first time in several months, the team over at LineageOS have released an update on their recent work and updates as well as a progress report on their Build 15 train for Android Oreo.

The bulk of the work that has been going on since their last update, which was way back in September, has been on maintenance and security updates for the Build 14.1 train (Android Nougat) and 13.0 (Android Marshmallow).  These have included fixes for the KRACK vulnerability, updating to the October & November security updates, new touchscreen gestures, and support for extended NFC.  There have also been updates to the Recorder and Gallery as well as an update to the battery icon in that time too.

For those of you who have an Android Wear 2.0 device, Android Oreo is coming to you.  Google has officially released the Oreo update for Wear, bringing with it several improvements and tweaks to the platform.  News of the release came from Googler Hoi Lam via Google+.

As for new features, here is the brief rundown:

• Notification vibration strength setting
• Touch lock option for wet conditions
• Support for 7 new countries / languages
• Notification channels
• Battery saving background limits

In other words, lots of the great features of Oreo now on your wrist.

Microsoft has released a new update to their OneDrive app for Android.  The update is version 5.1 for those keeping score at home and brings a refreshed UI to the cloud storage app.

With this update, Microsoft has finally moved away from the hamburger style menu and opted for a bottom, tab-style navigation.  This brings it more inline with other Microsoft apps as well as how Android apps look & feel in general.  These changes should help simplify navigation throughout the app.

If you have been wanting to get your hands on the Pure White edition of the Essential Phone, you can get one at Amazon right now at a great price.  Featuring all of the same specs, the Pure White version is down to $499 on Amazon, a savings of $200.

The phone got off to a bit of a rough start but through multiple software updates, it has become one of the best out there.  As I posted earlier this morning, the December Android Security Update is already rolling out for the phone.

The Essential Phone has a titanium body with a ceramic back, a 5.7″ 2560 x 1320 Quad-HD display, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage built-in.  It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.  This octa-core processor has four cores running at 2.45GHz and the remaining four clocked at 1.9GHz.

Today’s Deal at Amazon is on the AUKEY 5-port USB Desktop Charger.  This five port USB charger isn’t much larger than a credit card and one of the ports is fully Quick Charge 3.0 compatible.   If you have a device that has this technology, you will benefit from a rapid charge, something most desktop chargers don’t built into them.  Today on Amazon, you can pick one up for $24.99 and it is completely compatible with Android phones as well as your iPhone.

Full disclosure:  This is the desktop USB charger that I use at home.

With this charger from AUKEY, you can charge up to five devices at one.  Each of the USB ports outputs 5v of power and can charge devices at 2.4A, making it compatible with really any smartphone out there.  Four of the ports have the company’s adaptive charging technology to make sure that devices charge at an optimal rate but also protects against surges and overcharges.  The fifth port, noted with an orange insert, is the Quick Charge 3.0 port.

Good news this morning for those of you who have an unlocked Essential Phone.  The company has begun rolling out an update that brings the December Android Security Update to the device.  It will make Essential one of the first beyond Google themselves to get the December update out to end users.

The update is build NMJ51B for those keeping score at home and, based on Essential’s twitter post about the update, it appears that the update contains only this security patch.

We’re currently rolling out a software update (build NMJ51B) with December security patches.

— Essential (@essential) December 5, 2017

It is possible (likely) that there are some other minor updates in the build but clearly the main focus is on the December security update.