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After wrapping up the beta program for Android Nougat last week, Samsung has pushed the button and started sending out the OTA update for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.  The first to see the update will be those who participated in the beta as they will be moved to the stable build.  After that, unlocked variants of the S7 lineup will get the update.  The news of Nougat hitting the S7’s is certainly good news.  Samsung has been lackluster at best in getting major OS builds out in a timely manner but in the case of Nougat, it took about a quarter.  That’s pretty reasonable given the amount of changes and testing that has to happen for a major update.

Long with all the goodness that Nougat will bring to the S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung is also doing some minor UX updates and other under-the-cover fixes to add stability and performance.  If you don’t remember all that is in Nougat, you can catch up on it here.

HTC has announced two new phones that will be coming soon to select markets, the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play.  The new lineup is a departure in design for HTC with both phones having a curved glass design over metal designs like the HTC 10.  What’s interesting here is that HTC isn’t being real clear on if the new U lineup is replacing the 10 or if it is a complementary device.  With the 5.7″ Ultra expected to be around $749, it certainly has a flagship price tag to go along with the flagship specs.

Focusing on the HTC U Ultra, it has a 5.7″ Quad HD display along with a 2′ secondary display that is 160 x 1040 in resolution.  That secondary display is aimed for things like notifications and is strikingly similar to the second display on the LG V20.  Powering the phone is a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor running at 2.15GHz and is coupled with the Adreno 530 GPU.  It has 4GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage which can be expanded up to an additional 2TB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  You will also find a fingerprint scanner built into the Ultra.

The main camera of the Ultra is a 12MP shooter with laser auto focus, phase detection auto focus, OIS and a dual tone LED flash.  The front facing camera is an even more impressive 16MP shooter.  The Ultra has a 3000 mAh battery which is good but battery life will be interesting to find out as the 5.7″ display is certainly going to draw a fair amount of juice.  All of this in a sleek package that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.  What is not know is which markets or even a definitive launch date for the Ultra.  It looks like the price will be around $750 but that’s about all that is know otherwise.

Google Gboard for Android has just been updated with some significant performance improvements.  The update is still in the 6.0 train so if you have the app installed, the OTA should be coming to you over the course of the next few days.  Almost immediately you will feel the difference.  First, overall Gboard is much faster and more responsive to typing.  There isn’t the millisecond delays between you pressing a virtual key and it registering.  But perhaps a bigger improvement is around Glide Typing.  In this update I find there is virtually no lag or false positives of me picking up my finger when I don’t.  It is remarkably better in this release and if you use Glide Typing, you will want this update ASAP.

Microsoft has pushed an update out to their Android lock screen app, Next Lock Screen.  The new 3.11 version brings much improved battery performance so all users of the app are encouraged to upgrade.  If you aren’t familiar with the app, it is designed to give you more information on your lock screen than the standard lock screen found on Android devices.  Sure it can give you things like notifications and weather, but it gives so much more.  You can for example text friends who have texted you right from the lock screen or have your favorite apps one-tap away.  It will also allow you to do searches via Bing right from the lock screen.  The idea is to give you quick information or access to key apps without having to go through the unlocking process.