Tag: Android

If there is one fact in Android life that remains true, it is that Samsung will be slow in getting updates out to their devices.  It was four months after Android Marshmallow was released before the company pushed it out to the Galaxy S6 and they have been even slower on other devices and releases.  So when reports that Samsung has a test build of Android Nougat in the wild for the Galaxy S7, just weeks after it was released, it is good news.

Before you get your hopes up, no, a release of Nougat on the S7 lineup is not immanent.  In fact it is probably months away.  But SamMobile is reporting that Samsung has confirmed to them that they are indeed testing Nougat on a S7.

The good news is that the Chromium team has released into the stable channel a build of Chrome OS that supports Android apps.  The bad news is that, for now, it is only for two devices.  We have been waiting for months now for the release to happen and technically the support of Android apps is still in beta, but it is finally to the production build of the OS for users and that is a great sign of things to come.

Officially the build is 53.0.2785.129 (Platform version: 8530.90.0) and it is available for the Acer Chromebook R11 and the Asus Chromebook Flip.  Readers may recall that these two devices along with the Chromebook Pixel 2015 from Google have had the ability to run Android apps for a while in the beta channel.  Essentially this update brings the support to all users with these devices.

Google has rolled out a small but important update to Google Photos that makes it much easier to share your photos with others.  The update gives you the ability to share a photo or set of photos with an individual contact, not just another app.  The ability to share with another app has been there for a while but to share photos with a contact, you had to dive into another app (Messages, Hangouts, etc.) to make that happen.  Now you will see your contacts in the Share menu and can share directly from within Photos, saving taps and steps.

After weeks of anticipation and waiting, Google finally pulled the trigger and launched Google Allo, their new messaging app.  The company had indicated it would be available this summer and as expected, it launched today (late last night technically) on the last day of summer.  Promise kept!

The new app that is “a new smart messaging app for Android and iOS that helps you say more and do more right in your chats. Google Allo can help you make plans, find information, and express yourself more easily in chat. And the more you use it, the more it improves over time.”

Leveraging phone numbers of contacts in your contacts list, you can SMS or, if they are using Allo, rich message them with larger text, inked photos and stickers.  If you message someone and they are not using Allo (on SMS), they will get a small prompt to download the app if they are on Android but they don’t necessarily have to do so.  Allo can be just a SMS app if you so choose.

The real killer feature in Google Allo however is Google Assistant that is built into it.

Android fans, time to mark your calendars.  All indications including a teaser video from Google are pointing to the Google Pixel and Pixel XL to be announced on October 4th.  The video, which popped up on Google’s YouTube channel, starts with a search box that slowly morphs into a phone-shaped device by the end of the 30 second clip.  Couple this with the new Made By Google website, which features the same morphing search box, it is clear that the Mountain View company is getting things prepped for their new devices.

Android Pay continues to grow at an impressive rate with more banks supporting the pay service all the time.  Today there are an additional 44 new banks throughout the United States and the UK that have been added.  The complete list of financial institutions supporting the service is well over 100 now ranging from large national banks to regional and state banks.  The update today focused primarily on those regional and state banks.  The good news is, regardless of the size of your banking institution, check the list as it is increasingly likely that it is supported.