Tag: Android

Google has begun the rollout of several big changes to the G Suite of apps, Google Docs, Sheets & Slides.  The updates are rolling out to the web-based versions of the apps currently but you can expect some of this functionality to eventually make it to the mobile apps.

According to the announcement from Google, there are four improvements that are rolling out now.

1. Name versions of a Doc, Sheet or Slide. Being able to assign custom names to versions of your document is a great way to keep a historical record of your team’s progress. It’s also helpful for communicating when a document is actually final. You can organize and track your team’s changes in one place under “Version history” (formerly known as “Revision history”) on the web. Select File > Version history > Name current version. For even quicker recall, there’s an option to select “Only show named versions” in Docs, Sheets or Slides.
2. Preview “clean versions” of Docs to see what your Doc looks like without comments or suggested edits. Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all OR Preview reject all.
3. Accept or reject all edit suggestions at once in your Doc so your team doesn’t have to review every single punctuation mark or formatting update. Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all OR Reject all.
4. Suggest changes in a Doc from an Android, iPhone or iPad device. Click the three dots menu in the bottom right of your Doc screen to suggest edits on-the-go. Turn on the “Suggest changes” toggle and start typing in “suggestion mode.”

All of these changes are aimed at making it quicker and easier for you to collaborate on documents and work through the change process on them.

For those of you who have had your eye on the Huawei Mate 9, today is your day to pick one up.  For Today’s Deal, you can pick up the 5.9″ phablet with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $435 in Grey, a savings of $150 off its original $599 pricetag.  I reviewed the Mate 9 earlier this year and it is an outstanding device with an awesome display, great battery life and excellent cameras.  At this price, it is well worth considering.

So what does $435 get you in the Huawei Mate 9?  A lot frankly.  It is a 5.9″ phone running Android Nougat, an octa-core processor running at 2.4GHz and Leica optics dual-camera setup shooting at 20MP and 12MP respectively with OIS.  The front facing selfie camera is 8MP shooter.  You also have 64GB of built-in storage that can be expanded up to an additional  256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  Finally, it comes with a US warranty so you are not buying an international version of the phone.

Good news this morning for those of you who pre-ordered the Essential PH-1.  Your device should be shipping to you over the course of the next seven days according to the company.  It follows delays in shipping as the Andy Rubin’s founded company had expected to ship the phones in July.

The Essential PH-1 has a titanium body with a ceramic back, a 5.7″ 2560 x 1320 Quad-HD display, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage built-in.  It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.  This octa-core processor has four cores running at 2.45GHz and the remaining four clocked at 1.9GHz.

The camera configuration on the back of the PH-1 is becoming somewhat of the standard.  It is a dual-camera setup with a 13MP RGB camera coupled with a 13MP monochrome camera.  It is has a f/1.85 aperture and hybrid autofocus (laser and phase detection).  It is capable of shooting up to 4K video.  The front facing 8MP camera is a fixed focus f/2.2 shooter that can also shoot 4K video.

The Google app for Android has a server-side update rolling out today that brings detailed Pollen forecasts at a glance thanks to the Weather Channel.  The update, much like the weather forecast feature of the app, will give you detailed information about how much pollen is in the air for your location as well as the different types of pollen.  The good news is, you don’t have to do anything to get the update.  Since it is a server-side update, so long as you have the latest Google app on your phone, it will come to your phone automagically.

To get to the new forecast, use the Google app to search for pollen forecast.  Using the location services on your phone, you will see the level of pollen in your area as well as the main type of allergen.  For those of us who suffer from seasonal allergies (Clinton raises his hand), it will mighty helpful in deciding how much time you spend outdoors or if you open up the windows at home.  Or maybe make double sure you take your allergy medication for the day.

There is a new update to the Google Camera app rolling out in the Play Store that brings a new double-tap to zoom feature.  The update is version 4.4 for those keeping score at home and it works on the Google Pixel lineup as well as the Nexus and Android One devices.  The update brings features that were actually in the app during the Android O beta cycle (Developer Preview 3) but it has now been ported out to all devices running Marshmallow or higher.

The primary new feature is the ability to double-tap the screen while you are in viewfinder mode to zoom.  If you double-tap, it will zoom in 50% and will return to the normal wide angle when you double-tap once more.  The new tapping works in both photo as well as video mode.

The August edition of the Android Distribution Report was released last yesterday and there are a fair number of positives to take away from it.  For the 7 day period ending August 8, 2017, Android Nougat was on 13.5% of devices that visited the Google Play Store during that time.  That is up 2% over the July report which is steady growth.  Android Marshmallow was the only other version of the platform to gain usage during this month’s report.  Version 6.x of Android was up to 32.3%, an increase of .5% over July.

Combined, the last two versions of Android are on 45.7% of devices hitting the play store.  That’s well below what it should be for sure but it is a significant increase over the course of 2017.  Still, it does speak to the challenge facing the platform and hopefully Project Treble will make an impact in 2018 on the latest version of Android being on more devices.