Today’s Deal – Samsung Galaxy S8 Unlocked Down to $624

Today’s Deal is on the powerful flagship Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy S8.  Right now you can pick up the unlocked version of the phone with 64GB of storage in Midnight Black for $624.99.  That’s $100 off the original price of the phone.

The 5.8″ Galaxy S8 is powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor running four cores at 2.3GHz and the other four running at 1.9GHz.  It is coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage which is expandable up to an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD card.  The display renders at 2960 x 1440 QuadHD with an impressive 571 PPI.  Powering all of it is a 3000mAh battery which is charged with inductive charging.

News Not News – Windows Phone in Maintenance Mode

In a series of Tweets answering users questions on Windows Phone, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore admits that, outside of business customers, the platform is in maintenance mode.  It is the closest yet that the company has indicated that they have no further plans for developing a mobile platform.

 

Based on Mr. Belfiore’s sad-face emoji, it doesn’t appear he’s all too thrilled with the situation for fans and users of Windows Phone, but the reality is that the phone platform will slowly ride off into the sunset.

Google Daydream Update Brings Chromecast Support

The Google Daydream app has a new update rolling out in the Play Store that brings the promised support of Chromecast to the app.  The update, version 1.10.170912063 for those keeping score at home, now allows you to cast whatever you are doing or viewing on your Daydream headset so others can join in on the fun.

The ability to cast from Daydream was something that Google discussed back in May at Google I/O and was expected with the next major update of the app, version 2.0, but it appears that made it in a little earlier.

Google Play Movies & TV App Gets Minor Changes in Latest Update

The Google Play Movies & TV app has a minor update rolling out to the Play Store that is bringing a few user experience changes.  The update, version 3.28 for those keeping score at home, has several cosmetic adjustments but nothing that is overly obvious at first glance.  But there are some detail changes that are important.

First, movie trailers can now be access by the cover art for that movie.  It use to be that there was a dedicated section within the movie’s page for trailers.  Now you will see a small banner in the cover art, “Trailer” that will allow you to watch it.  This is a bit more intuitive instead of having to scroll down to find the trailer.

Chrome OS Stable Channel Update Brings Several Enhancements

The Chrome team has released a major update to Chrome OS into the stable channel.  The update is build 61.0.3163.113 (Platform version: 9765.76.0) and it rolling out to devices today.  Normally on Chrome OS releases, there are a few devices that are left off the update for various reasons – device specific features, already on a different train, etc. – but this release has a pretty extensive list and it contains a lot of popular Chromebooks and Chromeboxes.

If you have one of the devices listed below, the update to the Chrome 61 build will not be available for your device:

  • Acer Chromebase 24
  • Acer Chromebook 11
  • Acer Chromebook 14
  • Acer Chromebook 15
  • Acer Chromebook R13
  • AOpen Chromebox Mini
  • ASUS Chromebook C202SA
  • ASUS Chromebook Flip
  • Chromebook 11
  • Chromebook 14 for work
  • Chromebook Pixel
  • Dell Chromebook 13
  • Dell Chromebook 13
  • HP Chromebook 11 G5
  • HP Chromebook x360
  • Lenovo Flex 11
  • Lenovo N23 Chromebook
  • Lenovo Thinkpad 11e
  • Samsung Chromebook Plus
  • Samsung Chromebook Pro
  • Toshiba Chromebook 2

There is no indication on when this list of device will see this new update but generally it is only a week or two after the initial release.  Let’s hope that is the case because this build has a lot going for it.

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