Tag: Android

The LineageOS team has released an update over the weekend that brings a massive number of fixes, improvements and, of course, a few new devices.  Changelog 12 has been posted on the company’s site and frankly, it’s a bit easier to list what hasn’t changed or improved than what has in the latest update.

Let’s start with new supported devices.  Nvidia Android TV, Nvidia Shield Tablet have been added as new devices while the LG G5, V20 and G Pad X on T-Mobile have been re-added to the supported list.  The ZUK Z1 has also been added to the 14.1 train which is based on Android Nougat.  Unfortunately the Moto G4 support has been suspended due to booting issues and support for the LG L90 has also been dropped.

Microsoft To-Do, the daily task manager that was born out of the company’s acquisition of Wunderlist back in 2015, has a new update rolling out that brings a host of improvements.  The update, version 1.8.23 for those keeping score at home, fixes several issues with the task management app but also brings a new Quick add feature to the notification areas of your Android phone.

The new Quick add feature, when enabled, will put a notification for To-Do in the notification area on your phone.  By tapping it, you can quickly create a new task which is added to your list in the app.  All of this can be done without actually opening up the app itself.  By default, this new feature is not enabled.  If you want to enable it, go in the app to the menu, tap your avatar then find the Quick add notification setting in the General settings.  Toggle it on and you are good-to-go.

Microsoft Arrow Launcher has yet another update rolling out in the Play Store.  The update, version 3.6.0.34513 for those keeping score at home, brings a number of UI tweaks and improvements to the launcher.  Many of these tweaks are just that:  Tweaks.  There are, however, some new features to be found in the update too.

One of those new features is the ability to hide the system status bar at the top of your phone.  The system status bar is where you see things like your mobile signal indicator, Wi-Fi indicator, battery and notification icons.  Now you can hide it from view for a cleaner look to your home screens.  To view the status bar, you can just swipe down from the top of your home screen.  This new feature is found in Settings>General settings>Keep status bar.

For readers who have the Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge on the T-Mobile network, be on the look out for a sizable update coming your way.  The update brings a host of improvements to both devices as well as the June Android security update.  For those with a S7, you are looking for firmware build G930TUVS4BQE1 while those of you with a S7 Edge, you are getting build G935TUVU4BQF6.  Both updates coming in at just over 350MB in size.

With that size, there are clearly other tweaks and improvements that have been made to the firmware beyond the June security updates.  Those updates themselves are only about 25MB so the rest is more-or-less other improvements.

Today’s Deal over at Amazon is on the well appointed entry level Asus ZenFone 3 Max.  The 5.2″ phone has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage but what is really impressive is the battery.  It comes with a whopping 4100 mAh battery for all day performance.  Right now you can pick up this phone for $149.

The ZenFone 3 Max is powered by the Mediatek MT6737M quad-core processor running at 1.25 GHz.  It has a 5.2″ IPS display and as mentioned, has 2GB of RAM.  The 16GB of storage can be expanded thanks to the Dual-SIM/MicroSD slot.  You can add an additional 256GB of storage with a card.  The phone runs Android Marshmallow and it is unclear if Nougat will be coming to this phone.

Today’s Deal is on a great phone that I reviewed a few months ago.  The Sony Xperia X Compact has a lot of punch in a little package and right now, it is on sale for $349 at Amazon.  Normally this 4.6″ phone is $399, so this is a good, $50 savings.  It is powered by the Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor.  It has four 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 cores &  two 1.8 GHz Cortex-A72 cores.  The processor is coupled with the Adreno 510 GPU which provides good graphics performance.  The X Compact has 3GB of RAM onboard and has 32GB of built-in storage.  That storage can be expanded up to an additional 256GB thanks to the Micro SD slot that is built into the SIM tray of the phone.

Display wise, the Xperia X Compact has a 4.6″ IPS LCD display that renders at 720 x 1280.  That gives you 319 ppi which is low compared to other devices out there.  I caution readers to consider that this device has a much smaller display so 319 ppi is actually very comfortable on this screen size.  Indeed for comparison, the iPhone 6 had 329 ppi so we aren’t talking about a massive difference from even larger devices.  The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.

The Xperia X Compact, like several other Sony devices, has been upgraded to Android Nougat 7.0.  While you will get the phone with Marshmallow (the version that came with the phone), you can upgrade it immediately (or close to it) after you unbox it and get things setup.