Category: Android Phone

The Project Fi app for users of the Google’s MVNO has been updated and it brings a great new feature:  Multiple voicemail messages.  Now you can record multiple greeting for your voicemail on the service and select which one you want to use for a particular day or event.  The update comes as version is G.1.7.16 for those keeping score at home and it is in the Google Play Store now.  You likely have already received an OTA update for it but if not, it will be there in a day or two.

You will know that you have the update when you go into the app, scroll down to Voicemail then tap on Manage greeting.  You will see a blue microphone icon at the bottom of the screen which you can tap (and my be prompted for microphone permissions) to record a new greeting.  Once you do, you can name it and it will be saved to your account.

Project Fi – Free – Download Now

Securing your personal information on mobile devices is paramount in today’s world.  With our phones and tablets containing banking information, credit information, work information and other sensitive content, having that information get into a thief’s hands is a borderline nightmare.  While a security PIN or swipe pattern helps, there is one thing you can do that adds another layer of security:  Encrypt your device.

Encryption is pretty straight forward to do in Android Lollipop and Android Marshmallow if your device isn’t already encrypted.  On phones that have Android Marshmallow on them, chances are that it has already been encrypted as that is part of the requirements for manufactures to enable it to deploy Marshmallow.  This is one reason why I think that adoption has continued to creep along – but that’s another story.  If you have a tablet however, it hasn’t been encrypted and on Lollipop it wasn’t required.

How the encrypt process works in Android is pretty straight forward.  It encrypts your entire device – apps, data, accounts, media and basically any other user files – so that a PIN or pattern is required to unlock it.  But here is the added juice:  If someone got your phone or tablet and connected it to a PC via a USB cable, they could hack the device and get to your sensitive content.  If the device is encrypted, they can’t unless they can break a 128-bit AES key.  Is it possible?  Sure.  But we are talking about determent.  If a hacker gets your phone and they see it is encrypted, chances are they will simply reset the device (which erases everything) and use it or sell it.

In this How To I’ll outline how to encrypt your device for this added level of security.

While searching by text has been available to smartphone users for many years now, voice commands to search and do other things is still relatively new.  Sure there have been attempts at it in the past but over the course of the last 18 months with Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft) and Google Now, the ability to do far more than simply search for web content with your voice has grown exponentially.  In fact the challenge now is not so much what you can’t say to your device but remembering what you can say to your device.

This is the first part in a multi-part series on voice commands with Google Now.  I will preface this by saying that this by no means should be considered definitive or final.  Google is continually adding voice commands to the service and while I do plan to update these posts as time goes on, undoubtedly I will miss something.  Your help, of course, is appreciated in finding new commands.  For this first post I am going to focus on commands that you can give to your phone or tablet to perform a function or to get you information.

The way I have structured the information after the break is whatever you find (parenthetically) is the user adjustable command.  For example, “What time is it in (Denver)?”.

Last summer I wrote a review of Google Fit and concluded that while it was a good start for a health & fitness app, it had a lot of growing up to do in order to compete with other apps and solutions out there.  That growing up process has been happening and happening quickly.  Over the course of the last couple of months, Google has added a significant amount of features and functionality to the app along with integrating with other apps like MyFitnessPal.  The latest update makes tracking your exercise easier by allowing you to do it from your smartwatch and not having to touch your phone.

The updated version of Google Fit is build 1.56.14 for those keeping score at home and it is available now in the Google Play Store.  When you update to this version, if you have a connected smartwatch, the app on it will be updated as well to allow you to start tracking activities.  The app is free of course and if you already have the app installed, the update will come to you via an OTA update.

Google Fit – Free – Download Now

Honor, the budget conscious subsidiary of Huawei, has announced their arrive into the US market in a big way.  Their first phone to launch here, the Honor 5X, is a 5.5″ unibody design and is only $199.99 right now at Amazon.  The phone will start shipping on January 31st but pre-orders are being taken now.  For the price, you get an impressive phone.

To start, the Honor 5X has a 5.5″ 1920 x 1080 Full HD display that is powered by 1.5Ghz Snapdragon 615 Octa-Core processor.  It has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of Storage and can be expanded up to 128GB thanks to a MicroSD card slot.  It has a 3000 mAh battery, a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera.  Here in the US it will support LTE Bands 2, 4, 5, 12 and 17 and WCDMA bands 1,2,4,5 which means that it will work on any carrier here at some level.  Be sure to refer to my guide on LTE bands for more details on carriers here in the US and their LTE bands.

Honor 5X – Available January 31, 2016 – Pre-Order for $199.99 from Amazon

Because really, can we have enough gold phones?  Of course not!  If you have been waiting and hoping that the Japan-only gold Nexus 6P would be coming to America, your wait and hoping is over.  At CES 2016 during the Huawei event, they announced that the 6P would be available starting today from the Google Store and Best Buy in both a 32GB and 64GB variant.  Sorry, there is no 128GB version in gold.

As you probably know, Huawei build the Nexus 6P and based on their event today at CES, it has been a rousing success for them and for Google and many who have it have said it is the best Android phone they have ever used.

So how do you get your gold 6P?  There are two places and I’ve got links to both after the break.