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Twitter continues to tweak their service to give you more space in your replies on the service.  Starting today, the company is rolling out an update to users that eliminates the username of those to whom you are replying to from your 140 character limit.  This means you will have those characters to formulate your reply and, hopefully, not have to do so in multiple Tweets.

How this works is pretty straightforward.  When you reply to a Tweet, the @username part is removed from the tweet but you are shown who you are replying to at the top of the page on your Android phone.  While this isn’t a big deal for individuals you are replying to, for large groups, it is a big space saver.

The news today that Microsoft will be selling the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ in their stores caught more than a few people by surprise.  The company, through multiple reboots, has tried for years to get their Windows Phone platform off the ground with limited success.  At the same time, they have been continually developing their suite of apps for both Android and iOS, appealing to both consumers and enterprises as being available on whatever device the end user wants to use.  It has worked.  Microsoft continues to be the dominant player in the enterprise with Office 365 and are taking their fair share in the consumer space at the same time.

But the addition of the new Galaxy S8 lineup to their store inventory is another step all together.  It is, more-or-less, an admission of defeat.  They know that the market is set between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android and that it simply cannot bear another mobile platform.  Consumers, and for that matter enterprises, have said as much with their wallets.  As this tale of woe has unfolded, much digital ink has been spilled on the lack of a Microsoft mobile strategy.  I, for one, think that is wrong.  I think Microsoft has had a mobile strategy all along.  It’s not about devices or even the platform.  It’s about the apps.

Good news for those of you who are wanting to get your order in for the new Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+.  All four of the major carriers here in the US have them available to order as well as Best Buy and Amazon.  If you do place a pre-order, you can expect your new Galaxy to be at your doorstep just before or on April 21st when the phone will be available in stores.  Demand for these phones is expected to be extremely high so pre-ordering is not a bad option.

All of the major carriers are pretty much around the same price for the phones which will be locked to their networks. AT&T will be offering the S8 for $749.99 outright or you can pay $25 per month for 30 months.  The S8+ will be $849.99 or $28.34 per month for 30 months.

Sprint will be offering the S8 at $744 or $31.25 per month for 24 months.  The S8+ will be $844 or $35.42 per month for 24 months.

When it comes to mid-market Android phones, there are a huge number of options at under $300.  Most of those devices have compromises of some sort to keep that price point, some of which are painful to overlook.  That’s not so much the case with the Honor 6X.  The follow up to last year’s 5X, the Honor 6X brings a lot of power and features in its 5.5″ frame and has the features that you would expect for this price point.  But it is not perfect and does have some blemishes, most of which will be addressed when this phone sees its impending Android Nougat update.  With that update, there is no reason to overlook the 6X if you are wanting a good sized, mid-range phone.

I’ve been spending the last few weeks with the Honor 6X and without giving away the plot, I don’t have a problem recommending it.  It performs well, has a good camera and plenty of battery power to get you through the day.  Here is my review and thoughts on the latest phone from Honor.