Tag: Android

Chalk this one up in the “about time” category.

There is an update rolling out for Google Home that finally brings the ability for Google Play Music subscribers to stream their library of uploaded and purchased music to the Smart Speaker.  The update is rolling out as a device-side to your Google Home.  There is no update to the Home app itself expected – but keep an eye out.

To this point, when you wanted to play music on Home, it would always stream stations from the service, regardless if you had that music in your Google Play Music library.  The work-around of sorts was to specifically name an album that you have in your library, say “Play the album Clockwork Angels from Rush”.  If the album you requested was in Play Music, it would play it but it was streaming from the service itself, not necessarily what you had in your library.  This becomes a problem if there is an indie artist or other music that you have in your library but it isn’t in Google Play Music.  The work-around above won’t work.  The other work-around was to cast Play Music from your phone to your Home but that somewhat defeats the point, eh?

OpenTable, the restaurant reservation and payment app, has a new update rolling out that brings a long awaited feature:  Waitlists.  The update is version 8.0 and for those who already have the app installed, you can expect the OTA update to come to you over the course of the next few days.  Once you have it, at a select number of restaurants, you will be able to apply to be put on the waitlist if there are no reservations available.  Then, if an opening happens, you will be notified of availability.

The new feature is not supported by all restaurants on OpenTable and right now it is pretty limited in scope.  That will change to more cities and restaurants as they add the waitlist feature to their options.

For readers who have the either the Samsung Galaxy S7 or the S7 Edge on AT&T, there is a new update heading your way starting today.  The update brings the June Android Security update to both devices.  The update follows a similar update from Sprint and T-Mobile for the phones on their networks.  It does not bring any significant new features and it remains on Android Nougat 7.0.

For the AT&T Galaxy S7, you are looking for build G930AUCU4BQF3 while on the Galaxy S7 Edge, build G935AUCU4BQF3 is your flavor of the day.  The updates are about 300MB in size, so not huge but certainly one you will want to download while you are on Wi-Fi just to make it all a bit faster process.

For those of you who have had your eye on the Huawei Mate 9, today is your day to pick one up.  As part of Amazon’s Primeday sale, you can pick up the 5.9″ phablet with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $449, a savings of $150.  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 $449 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.

Today’s Deal is on the fun and solid performing Nextbit Robin.  Today, over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $129 in either Mint or Midnight colors.   I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $129, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there right now.  The phone has been down as low as $149 over the past few months so this is a further savings on a phone that is now running Android Nougat 7.1.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.  You can read my review of the Robin to see all my thoughts on this great little phone.  I also think it is perhaps one of the most underrated phones of 2016.

The 7th season of Game of Thrones starts on July 16th and I, like many, can’t wait!  The HBO series based on the books series, A Song of Ice and Fire from author George R.R. Martin and is one of the most acclaimed television series in history.  If you haven’t been watching GoT to this point, now is your chance to get caught up.

In the Google Play Store, you can now get all six of the first seasons on sale to get your binge watching in before next weekend.  The prices vary per season:  Season 1-2 are $18.99, Seasons 3-4 are $19.99 and Seasons 5-6 are $22.99.  There is also an option to buy all six seasons at once for $99.99.  Normally these seasons range from $28.99-$38.99 so the savings are signifiant.  The 6-season bundle is normally $139.99 so you are saving $40 during this sale.

There are no coupon codes are anything like that required.  Just go over to the Play Store and buy the seasons you want or need or get the entire series.  And binge away!

Winter is coming….