It was a matter of “when” instead of “If” that the guys at Samsung started trying to fix all those little details they always have had during they reign.
They are now letting users have a taste of what the upcoming versions of Android for Galaxy will feel like.
Android 7.0 Nougat is the latest instalment of the Android ecosystem, and as far as today only two 2016 phones have it.
And something that has always been an issue with Samsung is timely updates, but this time they seem to have a different strategy to make updates faster by letting userw get involve.
The program is available since November 9th to users residing in the U.S., U.K. and Korea, with China soon to join.
Some things you need to have in mind:
For the U.K, the beta program is only available to users of S7 and S7 edge who have a non-operator locked device or have purchased an open market version.
Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Limited Edition and Galaxy S7 edge Injustice Edition are excluded from the program.
So if you happen to have a locked carrier version of the phone or one of those extremely rare and expensive “Special Editions” you’re so “special” that you can’t participated in something for the normal S7 user.
So run as fast as you can to get your taste of Nougat and the Grace UX found on the Note7 with all those little tweaks to the AOD and other small things that will make your phone feel like new again.
Just a few days ago, we read about the public release of a consumer ready Android 7.0 Nougat for the masses. But although this is great news, the well known Android update stress began.
But amongst all that chaos, there are some OEMs that have served well their customers when it comes to OS updates, one of them is Sony who just anounced which devices will be updated first.
Xperia Z3+ Z4 Tablet Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact and Z5 Premium Xperia X, XA, XA Ultra and X Performance
These devices were the ovious choices as actual or former flagships, but something that caught our attention was the ommision of the regular Xperia Z3 as the company let users installed an early version of the OS.
As it has happen before, probably this first list of phones will be updated later with new additions like the M or C series of phones released on 2015.
But what do you think about this? What are your most expected features of this update? Let us know in the comment section below.
If something has shown us that not everyone is after a high end phone, is the fact that more and more smartphone manufactures are filling the market with tons of mid-ranger offers, being Samsung and their A series or Apple and the iPhone SE.
The mid range territory is still a battlefield, even more today as LG has just aanounced four new offers on that department to join the recent X series line up.
Following the steps of their previous model, each of these X phones have something unique to find its way to the customer pocket.
The X power
This model aims to those power user that are battery eaters, with 4,100mAh battery and Fast charging (PE+) technology that promises to charge your phone twice as fast.
The X mach
This model got that name after the ultra fast data connection its capable of, with LTE Cat. 9 3CA connectivity your downloads will take no time. Apart fron this, the phone also comes with a QHD screen and a high definition camera.
The X style
The style is that smartphone for the “fashionistas” with an elegant and extra-slim body.
The X max
About this model we have almost no info besides it sport a “larger display for an enhanced viewing experience” so we can expect a phablet size phone for this model.
“Each X series smartphone pairs perfectly with its user by offering uncompromising quality and one truly outstanding feature that speak the user’s personal preference and lifestyle — all at a great value.” – Juno Cho, president of LG Electronics and the Mobile Communications Company.
As far as today we have just the promo video for the X power, so lets take a look:
So, what do you think about this new wave of mid rangers? Are you going to pick one up? If so, which one will be? Let us knopw in the coment section below or tweet us to join the conversation.
Users of the BB PRIV on T-Mobile have been waiting for the official update since it was announced, but for one reason or other was delayed.
They were able to get it as beta through the Beta program Blackberry itself offered, but now is official but all those who didn’t want the struggle of “bug full” releases.
In case you missed it, we did a full review HERE were you can find all the benefits of the update.
But everything will be there, from DOZE to improve your battery life to the granular app permission that will boost the DTEK service.
Also unlike other manufactures, Blackberry did include to “Adatable Storage” on this update, so you can use an SD card to add more “onboard” memory.
Remember that the phone needs to be charge at least 60% (but I strongly recommend you to have it at 100%) and as this is an OTA update you’ll need to check every now and then to see if is available to your particular device.
Do you have the update already? Are you exited about it? Let us know in the comment section below or Tweet us to join the conversation.
Dont forget to check out our INTERVIEW with Blackberry too…
During the weekend we received some awesome news from the people of Samsung, as now they’re rolling out the Android 6.0 update to their Galaxy A series phone.
More precisely, the A9
The Samsung Galaxy A9 is a China only device (at least the official way) so, the reason why this comes in handy for people like us in the other side of the world, is simply because this is the first A series model to be updated to Marshmallow.
Which means that the A5 and A7 are probably next in line to get the update.
This update in made to give the A9 all the features a Samsung flagship has, but Always on Display, (this can be achieved by an app on the Play Store).
The 6.0 update brings everything to the table, from DOZE to Now on Tap and promises a bump in performance with the devices as seen in other models.
At the beginning of the week, Blackberry gave us awesome news. The update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow for the BB PRIV was ready and was starting to roll out globally.
Us here at TechBuzzIreland are big fans of the PRIV and you can see why HERE, also you can see our full review HERE.
This is quite impressive as the blackberry team just started the beta testing for it less than 3 weeks ago.
We’ve been using the MM update as beta since the beginning but now its available to everyone, we can give our full review of this update.
First of all you need to know, if you’re a beta tester you don’t need to do anything to have the final release as is the same you’re carrying right now.
Overall it is a welcome update, but as weird as it sounds this device seemed to be built to run MM to start with.
Some of the improvements like DOZE are here and with the built-in apps permissions the DTEK suite is now a it’s full power.
We also have new keyboard features the depends on your preference could be great or not.
And last but not least: the camera software was also updated to add two new features.
So let’s start!
Performance:
The device was really fluid to start with, but since the update you now have faster transitions and animations between screens.
Statically looks exactly the same, but is now easier to make changes on the launcher (if you’re still using BlackBerry launcher)
Some users reported heat issues on lollipop, some of which I faced myself, but were mostly on heavily intense apps like a game with unreal engine which demand lots of graphic consumption, and just after a while.
After the update, ram management seems to be addressed and even though you can feel the warmth is nowhere near it was on LL.
The battery on the PRIV and in any other smartphone is something subjective, as the use of it vary from one user to other.
But in general you’ll get a full and maybe a little more of usage, with the doze feature the battery consumption is really good.
Security:
The PRIV security is one of the selling points of the device, previously commanded by DTEK now gains a boost with the granular permission that MM offers.
Going in the app will show you “how secure your device is” and right on top of other options you’ll see “app permission” which takes you to individual software or hardware components that have been used by each app
So, you can see if an app is accessing your location a 100 times in less than a day and proceed to denied that access.
Also if you were using the picture password as your main lock screen you’ll be asked to add a pin or a pattern to improve the functionality. This secondary step will be asked in some particular functions or after you reboot your phone.
As an extra, if you look in settings and about phone, you’ll see that now you have the May security patch.
HUB:
The HUB is the main source of information (or that’s what BlackBerry says) on your phone.
Now after MM is more integrated within the phone software with extra notifications.
Now there’s support for more apps like IG, Skype and even Slack.
If you’re one of the PRIV adopters who’s not coming from a BB10 device I strong recommend you to make used of it. As the productivity edge it’s interlace with it and if you use the Outlook calendar as well the Google one you’ll have the two on the glance screen of the edge.
Keyboard
The PRIV’s keyboards are the other selling point, as is the only flagship phone to sport a Physical KB built-in as well as the Virtual keyboard.
The software that goes along the phone’s KB is good. But now you’ll have Swipe functions to use, not only on the virtual keyboard but the physical too.
Make use of it has a drawback, you lose the “swipe left to erase” feature.
This “new” gesture can be turn on and off on both sides in the options menu, under “keyboard settings”
They are independent from each other so, as me, you can have it on for the virtual and off on the physical one.
Camera
The camera on the PRIV is good, maybe not one of the top 3 but definitely a good performer.
The software received two new additions in the form of video recording, one is a well-known feature on flagships phones but which was missing from the first release, this is the 120fps slow-motionbut you need to have in mind that there’s no audio on this mode.
The second mode added to it is a not so common 4K recording at 24fpswhich promises “cinematic quality” to your videos.
Something I was personally waiting was manual controls through the Camera2 API but I guess we’ll have to wait for another update.
Another cool feature added is the ability to launch the camera from sleep mode with double pressing the power button as the nexus devices.
Conclusion
The PRIV a great device, made even better with Marshmallow, the inclusion of DOZE, and the boost to DTEK with individual apps permissions are going to make feel you finally have the phone you paid for.
There’s work to be done though, you can find a little lag with some apps and the camera software needs more work.
The Android 6.0.1 update is available since April 26th for PRIV owners who shop directly from ShopBlackberry and Amazon with models:
STV100-1 in the U.S. and Canada
STV100-4 in the UK and France
The carrier models such as STV100-2 and STV100-3 will have to wait till MAy 3 to start recieving the update.
Overall the update is greatly welcome, fixed some of the issues you could find on Android 5.0 and gives you really functional extras. But with the next version of android just around the corner. The real question now will be:
The Keyboard, one of the most used features of our devices and one of the most discussed topics between mid and high end user on the Android ecosystem.
One of the simplest but useful app in this segment is Chrooma
Chrooma is really simply and is almost like the stock Google Keyboard with some but great adds on.
With this app you’ll be able to customize lots of features on it, like color or even size (this one comes really handy for those with larger phones but no so large hands) and the best part is that packs the Swipe gesture feature that most of us love.
But where Chrooma stands out is the ability to have different colors depending on the app you are using with Palette Mode.
Is like having a virtual Razer keyboard, this one will change the color to match the app, like in the image above, so if your using FB Messenger it will turn blue.
Another cool feature is Night Mode, which will dim the colors as soon as it detects a light change.
So if you one os those people that love changing everything on your phone or want a theme to match perfectly this is the app you’ve been looking for.
Is not free, but the price would not break your pocket so if you want to try it out go and get it here:
As the year is starting many of you are planning on upgrade you PC’s or laptops but if you’re thinking of getting the latest and greatest specs the only version of Windows you can use is Windows 10
Although as today, there’s more than 200 millions devices running Windows 10 there’s also millions of other that still prefer to use the old but reliable Windows 8/8.1 or even Windows 7, (specially companies)
And given the fact this versions of the OS are going to get updates ’till 2020 and 2023 is not a bad idea at all, but there’s a catch.
After CES las week, Microsoft has made official their commitment to Windows 10 as a “One OS to rule them all” therefore, they want to W10 to be on more and more devices.
So with the announcements of the upcoming silicon such as :
Intel’s “Kaby Lake”
Qualcomm’s “8996”
and AMD’s “Bristol Ridge”
Microsoft is planning on rely on this manufactures “a better integration between software and hardware to improve performance” on every device.
How? There’s going to be limitations on how the devices will perform under certain OS, if you have W7 or W8 your system is not going to be well optimize, but if you have W10 you will get up to 30x better graphics and 3x battery life (which is certainly unfair as it’s a really big difference in graphics)
You still are going to be able to install any of the former versions but without the proper optimizations your system will be very vulnerable.
Actually, even the recently announced Skylake silicon is going to have a downfall as those who are still on W7 or W8.1 just going to get security updates until July 17th of 2017.
So this is one of those situation in which you have to choose between to two worst options.
But, what are your thoughts on this matter? Are you happy with this decision?
Or do you think is worth the risk keeping up the old W7 or the not so old W8.1 around?
Let us know in the comment below or tweet us at @jimboireland or @VicenteA_George
Windows fans all over the world has always been proud of the built-in keyboard of W8 and W8.1 as it broke a Guinness World Record for the fastest typing when it was launched.
But ever since Microsoft took over the Nokia Cell phone Division some of those key features of WP are starting to be ported to other platforms, one of the “most infamous moves” was when Cortana became available in other platforms even before being completely available on the WP ecosystem.
Well, this time is the same famous keyboard the one being ported, as accordingly to an e-mail sent to some Windows insiders, they want to have the app available on iOS and possibly on Android.
What does this mean to the WP ecosystem?
Well, it depends on you and if you see the glass half full or half empty.
The Word Flow keyboard resembles what third party apps like Swipe or SwiftKey can do on both operative systems, which is not a warm welcome.
The app is apparently being developed for iPhone 5s and above, although the real question is:
Would you use the WP Keyboard on your device if you already have some of the aforementioned apps?
What’s you opinion on Microsoft and multiple apps going outside of their “home”? Let us know in the comment section or tweet us using #techbuzzireland
