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Thursday, March 10, 2016

#TBT: That Time Steve Wozniak Called the Thunderbolt the Worst Gadget He Ever Paid For

For this week’s #TBT, we would like to highlight a low point in the history of Android. Remember the Thunderbolt? The man, Steve Wozniak, very much disliked that phone from HTC. But, how is that possible? The Thunderbolt was the first publicly available phone to run on Verizon’s uber-fast 4G LTE network! What was wrong with it? Well, how about the constant reboots, crap signal no matter where you went, and the despicable update support? Mr. Woz apparently liked this phone so little that he felt the need to go into Gizmodo’s comment section and share his feelings. 

When Gizmodo asked its community “What’s the Worst Gadget You Actually Paid For?,” this was Steve’s blunt reply.

Screen Shot 2016-03-10 at 3.04.48 PM

While the explanation is not all there, the fact is, undeniably, Woz thought it was the worst gadget he ever paid for. Ouch.

Good times, right, ex-Thunderbolt owners?

#TBT: That Time Steve Wozniak Called the Thunderbolt the Worst Gadget He Ever Paid For is a post from: Droid Life



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Hangouts 8.0 is Out, Includes Inline Notification Replies for Android N

An update to Hangouts started rolling out last night on Android and has picked up steam today, bringing with it support for Android N’s inline notification responding. The update is v8.0, though we aren’t seeing much new on Marshmallow devices. It really seems like this update was pushed with Android N in mind. 

If you are running the developer preview of N, installing this allows you to respond to Hangouts messages from within the notification shade. As you can see in the image above, a quick tap on “reply” within a notification opens a reply box and send button for quick messaging. During the entire reply, you are never taken from the notification shade. It’s super slick and you’ll want to give it a shot.

The update should also add Android N’s new bundled notifications to Hangouts as well.

You can install via Google Play or sideload the apk that we collected.

Play Link | Download Link (v8.0.116581895)

Hangouts 8.0 is Out, Includes Inline Notification Replies for Android N is a post from: Droid Life



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Photos: Here’s the HTC 10, In the Flesh

We have seen plenty of press renders for the HTC 10, the company’s upcoming flagship device, but now, actual photos of the reported device have hit the web. In my mind, photographs represent what to expect from hardware much better than press renders, given the eye can better see tiny details and textures that are not apparent in digital renders.

The photos in question, posted to Twitter, show that we can expect more metal from HTC in 2016, but also that the company has apparently taken a step backward in embracing what the Android community wants.

Focusing primarily on the righthand photo, we can see the device’s frontside. Now, draw your attention to the bottom. See anything incredibly disturbing? Yup, those are capacitive buttons on the left and right side of the home button/fingerprint reader. Does anyone else remember when HTC removed capacitive buttons from the One M series, much to the delight of consumers? It was HTC taking a step toward aligning themselves with what Google offered in Nexus devices, which was on-screen buttons. We loved this move, as it made the frontside bezels take up less space, allowing for larger displays. Now, not only is HTC putting a home button on front, but also slapping Back and Recent Apps buttons down there. Feel free to take note of the large gap between the display and home button, too. That’s a whole lotta chin. Additionally, we should probably expect a HTC logo to make its way to the front as well.

For a bit of speculating, it would be interesting to see if HTC implements a software feature like OnePlus, which allows users to switch back and forth between on-screen buttons and capacitive buttons. That might fix the main beef we have with this move, but then you still have these large, unused sections on the front of the phone.

The rest of the photos align nicely with the press renders we have seen, not showing off too much else in terms of new intel. We can see the Sense clock widget, a few of HTC’s Sense icons, and a sweet lava flow wallpaper.

Please, do share your thoughts below. Are you okay with HTC bringing back the capacitive buttons?

HTC 10 2HTC 10

Via: @tanalibera

Photos: Here’s the HTC 10, In the Flesh is a post from: Droid Life



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Android N: RIP, Slow as Hell “Optimizing Apps” Screen

What’s our least favorite screen in Android? You don’t need to answer that because I’m about to tell you. It’s the “Optimizing apps…” screen that pops up just after you install a new update on your phone.

You know you have seen this screen. It’s the screen that stairs back at you after updating to the latest version of Android, knowing that you can’t contain yourself at the joy beyond that first reboot. But it won’t let you experience that joy. No, sir, this screen’s shit-eating grin is next-level as it “optimizes” one app after another, potentially over a hundred times, depending on the number of apps you have installed. It’s sipping a watermelon mojito (probably blended), enjoying the fact that you want to hit buttons or speed something up or do…anything (!) to get past it. “Hah,” it often says, “Do you even optimize, bro?” with a popped Polo collar and chuckle.

Yeah, the “Optimizing Apps” screen sucks. It was created to torture you. It’s good at it. You hate it. We hate it. But guess what? 

In Android N, it will become a thing of the past. Well, not completely, but it at least won’t be so obnoxiously slow as it optimizes. There is a whole bunch of nerd developer JIT-ART-AOT stuff going on here in N to minimize the amount of processing and “optimizing,” all of which I have no business attempting to explain to you. Just know this. In Android N, you’ll be able to install apps faster than ever and also install system updates without slapping the blended cocktail out of the “Optimizing apps…” screen.

Google is calling it “Quick path to app install” and describes it as:

One of the most tangible benefits of ART’s JIT compiler is the speed of app installs and system updates. Even large apps that required several minutes to optimize and install in Android 6.0 can now install in just a matter of seconds. System updates are also faster, since there’s no more optimizing step.

As I mentioned, there is a lot more to it than just this single paragraph, so if you are interested in the dirty details, head over to the Android N API overview here.

Android N: RIP, Slow as Hell “Optimizing Apps” Screen is a post from: Droid Life



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Sprint Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are Getting Marshmallow Today

As you all know, Verizon (somehow) became the first US carrier to introduce Marshmallow to a Samsung flagship from 2015. That phone was the Galaxy Note 5. We don’t even want to know the politics behind Verizon being first, when they are almost always last, because it’ll likely anger us, so we’ll just point out that Sprint is now the second in line to do so. Both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, on that other network with yellow involved and unlimited-not-unlimited data plans and something-for-life, but probably-not-for-life leasing options, are receiving the update to Android 6.0.1 today. 

The Galaxy S6 will see software version G920PVPU3CPB6, while the S6 Edge will get G925PVPU3CPB6.

A handful of our readers have already received the update, so you may want to jump into Settings>System update>Update now, to experience Doze, Now on Tap, and the rest of Marshmallow.

Via:  Sprint [2]

Sprint Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are Getting Marshmallow Today is a post from: Droid Life



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Nest Intros Family Accounts, Home/Away Assist for Better Automation

Nest is introducing two new features for owners this week – Family accounts and Home/Away Assist. For those who live in a household with others, and not just themselves, it makes sense that you would want others in your home to have the ability to control Nest. With that said, Nest now allows 10 individuals to control Nest via the Nest app for iOS and Android. All you have to worry about now is a fight over the thermostat. 

While the above new feature is cool, Nest’s new Home/Away Assist is where the learning thermostat really shines. With this feature, the thermostat will employ new methods and algorithms to hopefully learn about your family’s movement habits better. The endgame is to better predict when someone is actually home or not, adjusting the temperature of a home as needed.

For those with a family who all opt-in to a family account, Home/Away Assist should be extremely smart. As more data from various sensors and people’s locations is gathered, Nest should become better at deciding when the heat should be cranked or not. As the Nest team writes, “Family Accounts provides a critical piece of the puzzle. When family members opt in, it lets Home/Away Assist use data from their phones. We’ve wanted to do Home/Away Assist for a long time now. But more importantly, we wanted to do it right. By combining sensor data, algorithms and multiple phones, we think we’ve nailed it.”

To make these changes, simply update the Nest app via your respective app store.

Play Link

Via: Nest

Nest Intros Family Accounts, Home/Away Assist for Better Automation is a post from: Droid Life



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Video: Android N’s App Switcher is Pretty Awesome Now

When Google first introduced the swipe-up gesture for Google Now, our minds start racing over the future and possibilities of navigation buttons. Before then, we all just sort of took those buttons to mean simple functions: back meant back, home meant home, and the app switcher (or menu at one point) meant switching to recently used apps. In recent years, though, we have seen long-presses pop-up multi window functionality on some phones, new options added to the swipe-up gesture, and even old school menu access brought back. With Android N, Google is looking to take these buttons another step forward, specifically, through the app switcher.

In yesterday’s Android N preview tour, we showed you how multi window works and how you activate it (long-press on the app switcher). But after playing around with this first N preview, we realized there is so much more to that button than just activating multi window. 

For one, the new app switcher screen shows much bigger card previews of apps with more information. But it’s when you start tapping on the button that kicks off the magic. For example, a double tap launches you into your most recently used app when on the home screen. If you are in another app, that same double brings up your 2nd most recently used app. You can actually double tap over and over again to switch quickly between two apps. If you want to toggle through your entire list of recently used apps, you can tap the app switcher over and over to do so one by one (with a little pause in between), instead of having to uncontrollably scroll with your finger. And of course, you can long-press to get into multi window, or use that new swipe gesture we pointed out in our preview 2 video. Or maybe you forgot to activate multi window and are in the app switcher already – you can drag and drop card previews into highlighted areas on the screen to take you there.

See? We’re talking some pretty useful new shortcuts. To see them all in action, check out the video below.

Video: Android N’s App Switcher is Pretty Awesome Now is a post from: Droid Life



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SwiftKey Keyboard Intros Stats, Number Row in Password Fields

SwiftKey’s first update after being acquired by Microsoft is now available to the public through Google Play. Inside, SwiftKey has implemented SwiftKey Stats, which gives visualizations of how you, the user, type. This can be accessed by visiting the Settings inside of the app. 

Also included in the update, there are improved corrections in Korea, the hub menu no longer blocks the Q/1 key in password fields, and a number row is shown in password fields. SwiftKey even felt it necessary to list that they agreed to join Microsoft in the changelog.

Go grab that update.

What’s New

  • My SwiftKey Stats’- fun visualizations of how you type (in settings)
  • Number row now shown in password fields
  • Improved corrections in Korean
  • Agreed to join Microsoft*
  • Hub menu no longer blocks the Q/1 key in password fields
  • You can now flow in Vietnamese
  • Hebrew undocked thumb layout displays correctly

Play Link

SwiftKey Keyboard Intros Stats, Number Row in Password Fields is a post from: Droid Life



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Waze 4.0 Launches on Google Play, Fancy ETA Panel and Improved Power Consumption

After much teasing, Waze 4.0 is officially available on Google Play, bringing a gang of changes to Android users. Inside, Waze has “significantly” reduced battery consumption, while also incorporating an entirely redesigned reporting menu for sharing road information with fellow drivers.

Also listed on the changelog is “fewer taps.” This means, when you start up the app, it will take fewer taps to start a drive, send locations, as well as get directions. A new ETA panel organizes all of the info you need during a drive in one place. From the ETA panel, you can view reports, check alt. routes, add stops, and more.

View the changelog below, then give it a go if Waze is your navigation app of choice.

What’s New

  • Significantly reduced battery consumption.
  • Fewer taps to start a drive, send locations and directions.
  • New ETA panel organizes everything you need in one place. View reports, check alternate routes, add a stop on the way, or instantly send ETA to friends and family.
  • Smart reminders to leave on time for your Calendar events based on traffic conditions and drive times.

Play Link

Waze 4.0 Launches on Google Play, Fancy ETA Panel and Improved Power Consumption is a post from: Droid Life



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DEAL: Huawei Watch, One of the Best Android Wear Devices You can Buy, is Just $269 Today

The Huawei Watch, a smartwatch that is easily one of the two best available today, is discounted at Amazon for the day by as much as $130. You can read our Huawei Watch review for details on why we love this watch so much. Actually, here are 3 reasons you should buy it right here.

Huawei positioned this watch as a premium timepiece, rather than just another quickly made, affordable smartwatch. They went with premium materials, finishes, and presentation. They also put in an amazing display and were hoping to build a device that will last for a while.

Amazon has almost all variants discounted today, even the all black version for just $319. This is is the unit that normally retails for $450. But they also have the stainless steel model with stainless steel bracelet for just $279 ($120 off), the stainless model with mesh band at a $85 discount, the rose gold model at $96 off, and the base leather band model for $269.

These are easily the best prices we have seen yet on the Huawei Watch.

Amazon Link

DEAL: Huawei Watch, One of the Best Android Wear Devices You can Buy, is Just $269 Today is a post from: Droid Life



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Nexus 6P Update to MHC19I Will Also Introduce a Number of Improvements

On Tuesday, a Nexus community manager showed up at reddit to inform Nexus 5X owners that they would finally be receiving their jank-fixing update. The update would rollout as special build MHC19J, with not only bug fixes and the latest security patches, but stability, connectivity, and performance enhancements as well. Of course, Nexus 6P owners were wondering why they weren’t getting the same love.

Yesterday, during the surprise release of Android N, Google quietly snuck in a new factory image for the 6P (which we noted here) with a similar build number that is also a substantial update. Orrin, the Nexus community manager, returned to reddit to confirm as much. 

The update, which is build MHC19I, includes a “number of bug fixes that will improve overall stability and performance.” We’re talking “general device performance,” but also fixes for the disappearing Do Not Disturb next alarm option, some carrier-specific stuff, and connectivity issues.

The over-the-air update should have started, so let us know if you get it.

Via:  reddit

Nexus 6P Update to MHC19I Will Also Introduce a Number of Improvements is a post from: Droid Life



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LG G5 Will Arrive in the US in Early April

This morning, LG announced that its new flagship phone, the LG G5, will arrive in the US in early April at all of the expected spots. You will be able to buy the G5 and its “Friends” at AT&T, Best Buy, B&H Photo, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon. 

Today’s announcement did not include pricing or an exact date, but LG is going offer – “for a limited time” – a free extra battery and battery charging cradle when you purchase a G5. You know, because it’s all modular and has a removable battery, and all. Details for that promo can be found here.

Don’t tell me you forgot about the G5? I know we are fully invested in Galaxy S7 and Android N hype-mode, but the G5 should not be overlooked.

LG G5 Will Arrive in the US in Early April is a post from: Droid Life



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