Latest Update to Microsoft Cortana Brings Major Updates

A new and significant update to Microsoft Cortana for Android, Microsoft’s personal assistant for the platform, is now rolling out in the Google Play Store. The updated build is version 2.9.4 for those keeping score at home and brings handful of new features and improvements.

First, Microsoft has made it easier to sign in and to sign up to use Cortana in the app.  You can quickly sign up with your mobile number to get going in the app more quickly.  Second, you can now create a new list (think shopping list for example) and edit list items within the app.  This was a big miss for Windows 10 users as you had to create the list on your PC and then let it sync with Cortana.

Today’s Deal – AUKEY 10000mAh Slimline Portable Battery for $14 with Coupon

Today’s Deal is on a great little portable charging pack from AUKEY.  Right now on Amazon the 10000mAh Slimline Charger is on sale for $19.99.  However, for ClintonFitch.com readers, you can use the coupon code AUPOWER9 and save an additional $6.  That makes the pack $13.99.

The AUKEY Slimline Charger has two USB ports for charging of two devices at a time and each port can put out a maximum of 2.4A.  This low-cost pack doesn’t support Quick Charge technology but doesn’t have AUKEY’s own Adaptive Charging technology which is design to maximize the recharge rate safely.

Huawei Surpasses Apple as Second Largest Smartphone Brand

Huawei continues to make huge strides in the smartphone market and their surge over the course of 2017 continues.  Counterpoint, a global technology research firm, has just released their latest Market Pulse for July 2017.  In that report, the Chinese manufacture has jumped over Apple to take the number two position in global smartphone sales percentage.  Perhaps even more impressive in this is the fact that they made this jump without a “hero” device like Apple’s iPhone 7 or Samsung’s Galaxy S8.

Samsung is by far the leader in smartphone sales percentage globally with just over 20%.

The July report from Counterpoint is the fifth consecutive month of gains in market share by Huawei and they have distanced themselves from others in the highly competitive Chinese manufacturing market.  Still, as the report points out, the risk to Huawei is their over dependence of their home market and expansion into Europe and North America will need to happen for them to hold on to that 2nd place solidly.

Chrome for Android Build 61 Released

Chrome build 61 was widely released yesterday for the desktop browser as well as for Android.  The new build for Android is 61.0.3163.81 for those keeping score at home and brings a lot of fixes, improvements and a few new features.

On the new feature front, there are two noted in the release notes from Google.  First, the translated pages in Chrome has a more compact and intuitive toolbar.  This will give a bit more reading room on those translated pages.  Second, the image picker in Build 61 is improved.  This will make it easier to pick images that you want to post via the browser.

LineageOS Releases Android Oreo Build for The OnePlus 2

OnePlus 2 owners, the sun hasn’t quite set on your 2015 flagship.  Although OnePlus themselves have all-but dropped the phone, the developer community continues to bring out the best in the phone.  The latest is LineageOS who has released an Android Oreo based ROM for the phone.

LineageOS Build 15 is now out in the beta channel and while it is far from being ready for your daily driver, the takeaway here is that development is happening across a lot of devices, including the OnePlus 2.  There are a lot of things that don’t work, including the camera, in this alpha build.  So unless you are a developer willing to give feedback and test (or some sort of ROM masacist), I would recommend staying away from it for now.

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