Category: Android

Amazon has done well with their lineup of Android-based tablets and their latest update to their 10″ model is quite impressive.  The new Fire HD 10 is available for pre-order from the retailer and this update is really impressive for its $149 price point.

The new Fire HD 10 has a 10.1″ display that renders 1920 x 1200 resolution making it a full HD display.  It is powered by a Mediatek quad-core processor that runs at 1.8GHz and is coupled with 2GB of RAM.  That RAM count is double of the first Fire HD 10 and should significantly improve performance, especially with multiple apps running.  Storage comes in at either 32GB or 64GB depending on the model but there is a MicroSD expansion slot.  That will add up to an additional 256GB of storage to the tablet.

A new update to the diet and wellness tracking app, MyFitnessPal, is rolling out in the Play Store.  The update, version 6.24-10373 for those keeping score at home, brings a lot of general fixes and improvements to the app as well as bottom tab navigation.

The new navigation in the app falls in line with what Google expects from apps today and provides three options to users.  The Home tab is your news and information feed with posts from MyFitnessPal themselves as well as achievements that friends who use the app have completed.  The Diary tab is where you log your food and exercise for the day while the Me tab gives you an overview of your profile, see your friends profiles, and your achievements.

Build 61.0.3163.98 of Chrome for Android has been released by the Chrome team at Google, bringing with it a handful of fixes and improvements.  The update is now in the Google Play Store and should roll out to devices via an OTA update over the course of the next few days.

The update, as is usually the case, brings a lot of under-the-hood updates to the browser as well as security fixes.  Most of these updates are focused on stability and performance of the app.  There are, however, other fixes that are specifically called out in the release notes.

Today Google has made good on a commitment they Tweeted about a few months back:  There is now a non-Google Project Fi compatible phone.  The new Android One Moto X4 is available for pre-order starting today and takes full advantage of Project Fi’s ability to switch networks on-the-fly just like the Google Pixel and previous Nexus 6, 6P and 5X.

The Moto X4 comes with what Google is calling a pure Android experience and ships with Android Nougat.  An update to Oreo will happen before the end of 2017 and Google has indicated that the Moto X4 will be among the first phones to get the Android P update in 2018.

After being announced last week, the new Google Dashboard designed to be more mobile friendly is rolling out globally.  You can find out if you have received it by going to https://myaccount.google.com/dashboard from Chrome on your Android phone.

For those who may not know, the Google Dashboard gives you the ability to see and manage your data associated with your Google account.  You can, for example, see your activity in Gmail, Google Photos, Google News and the like.  Everything you do associated with Google can be found here and you can download your data.

The latest update to the Google Play Music app for Android brings a much needed ability to stop auto playing of music when you connect your phone to an external Bluetooth device.  The update, version 7.12.5218-1.V.4310085 for those keeping score at home, is in the Play Store now and should come to users as an OTA update over the course of the next few days.

The new toggle is in the Settings of the app and is shows as “Allow external devices to start playback”.  If you disable this, when you connect your phone to a Bluetooth device, it will not start automatically playing music.  This is particularly handy when it comes to connecting your phone to your car’s Bluetooth as it won’t just start blaring music.