Category: Android

For those of you who have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, there is a new software update rolling out to you this morning.  The 256.6MB update is mostly a maintenance release, fixing some items but also bringing support for HDR on Netflix.

Before you get all excited, no, this is not the Oreo update for the device.  Samsung is expected at some point to release that update but this is not it.

The update is version T820XXU1AQ12/T820XAR1AQ12 for those keeping score at home.

Last week, I told you about the changes that are coming to Google Finance.  The financial site is getting a makeover of sorts and part of that is the retirement of portfolio management.  However, we could be getting a glimpse of how the new look is going to play out thanks to Google Search.

For a long time, you have been able to search for any stock within Google search and get pricing and other news related to that stock.  Previously, that was one long page within search once you found the stock of interest.  Quietly, over the weekend, it appears that Google changed this to be a tabular style look.

We know that the Huawei Mate 10 is coming in a few weeks but images of the Mate 10 Pro, the top end version of the phone, have been scarce.  It seems that Evan Blass has the answer once again.  He took to Twitter in the wee hours of Sunday to post images of the upcoming Pro version of the phone.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro pic.twitter.com/3RgjObXmw6

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 1, 2017

While the phone is being referred to as the Mate 10 Pro, that’s more or less a distinction from the expected Mate 10 Lite that is to also be announced later this month.  Whether Huawei actually calls it the Pro is to be seen.

Today’s Deal comes from Choetech on their durable USB-C cables.  Right now you can pick up a 3-pack of the nylon braided cables for $12.99 on Amazon.  That’s a $7 savings off the regular price.

The 3-pack of cables includes two 1m (3.3′) cables and one 2m (6.6′) cable, all of which support up to 5Gbps transfer speeds and USB 3.0.  All of the cables are USB-A to USB-C and are, of course, backwards compatible to older USB 2.0 and 1.1 connectors (but you lose the transfer speeds).

Today’s deal is on the compact, 4.6″ display Sony Xperia X Compact.  The 2016 phone packs a lot of punch and is down to $349 today on Amazon.  This is just about half of the cost of the new-for-2017 Xperia XZ Compact and you will still be getting Android Oreo at some point in early 2018.

I reviewed the Xperia X Compact in November of last year and it remains one of my favorite phones of the past year.  It’s compact size is great but the overall performance and camera quality is excellent.

The Xperia X Compact is powered by the Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor.  It has four 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 cores &  two 1.8 GHz Cortex-A72 cores.  The processor is coupled with the Adreno 510 GPU which provides good graphics performance.  The X Compact has 3GB of RAM onboard and has 32GB of built-in storage.  That storage can be expanded up to an additional 256GB thanks to the Micro SD slot that is built into the SIM tray of the phone.  With the smaller screen size, as you would expect, the X Compact is a pretty small device.  It measures 129 x 65 x 9.5 mm or 5.08 x 2.56 x 0.37″ in old money.  Weight wise it is 136g or 4.76 ounces.  The phone is comfortable to hold and very easy to slip into any pocket.

Nokia has been clear that all of their current line up of devices, the Nokia 3, 5, 6 and 8, would be receiving an update to Android Oreo.  The question, as is always the case with manufactures, was when that would happen.  Now we know and it is this year.

In an interview today, HMD Global’s General Manager for ANZ (Australia and New Zealand), Mark Trundle confirmed that the Nokia 3, 5 and 6 will get getting the Oreo update before the end of the year.  As for the Nokia 8, the Android Oreo update is already in a limited rollout.