Tag: Android

It has taken seemingly forever but a new update to the Google Calendar app for Android finally, finally lets you duplicate events in one calendar and copy events between calendars.  The updated build of the app is version 5.8.18 for those keeping score at home.  It was released late last week but it is just now rolling out to everyone.

The update to Google Calendar brings two big improvements.  First, you can now duplicate an event on your calendar.  Now, instead of having to create it completely from scratch, you can duplicate a current event on your calendar and use it as a template of sorts.

HTC Vice President of Product Management, Mo Versi, has once again taken to Twitter to announced a new update for one of the company’s phones.  This time it is for the HTC 10 for customers of Sprint here in the United States.

Sprint HTC 10 customers! We have received the Oreo OS approval from the carrier! OTA to start from tomorrow. Thanks!

— Mo Versi (@moversi) February 12, 2018

The release of Oreo on the Sprint variant of the HTC 10 comes literally a month to the day after the build was released for the unlocked variant of the 2016 flagship phone.  That update just over 1.5GB in size so those of you who have the 10 on Sprint, you can expect a similarly sized update for your phone.

If you haven’t checked into the Google Play Store over the weekend and are a player of games like Candy Crush Saga or Clash of Clans, you may want to take a peek.  Over the weekend, Google started a $1 off promotion on in-app purchases on a handful of games.  The promotion ends on February 28.

There are five games that you can get the $1 discount on throughout this month:

• Candy Crush Saga
• Clash of Clans
• Candy Crush Soda Saga
• Gardenscapes
• Clash of Kings

To get the discount, you just need to accept the promotion within the Google Play Store, then open one of the games and make an in-app purchase.  The $1 discount will be applied prior to completing the purchase.

The sleep monitoring app, Sleep as Android, has a new update rolling out that brings a huge number of improvements and new features.  The most exciting new feature is a new Dashboard view, allowing you to look at all of your sleep related data on one page in the app.

The Dashboard is customizable, allowing you to pin different cards to it to give you information that is personalized to you.  By default, it will show you when your next alarm is, your sleep score, your last sleep recording, your sleep Deficit chart and any advise to help improve your sleep.

There is a new update for the Android Messages app for Android rolling out in the Play Store today.  Frankly there isn’t anything very interesting about the update from a user perspective but what is in the code is quite interesting.  It appears that there is code now in the app that would allow for a Allo-like web experience for Messages.  This could allow for sending and receiving of text messages from your desktop.

The code was discovered by the team over at Android Police in a tear down of the new version of the app.  It appears that, like Allo, you will scan a QR code to sync your computer with your phone and be able to send and receive messages on both.  This feature isn’t something new.  Google Hangouts still has this feature if you are a Project Fi user and use Hangouts as your SMS app (SMS in Hangouts isn’t supported anymore outside of Fi).  Instead, it would be a return of a feature and that is a great thing.

Microsoft Skype has a new update rolling out in the Play Store today that brings improved audio controls to the messaging and communications apps.  The new build is version 8.15.04 for those keeping score at home.

In this new update, you can now switch between your audio sources while in a call.  You can switch between your phone’s build-in speaker/microphone, a wired or Bluetooth device without having to drop the call.  As you switch, you will lose a couple of seconds of audio, especially when moving to a Bluetooth connected device.  This new flexibility should make it easier to start a call while at your office, then move it to your car’s Bluetooth speakers so you can continue the call on your way home.