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FreedomPop adds AT&T network support via new SIM card and hotspot

Alexandra Arici
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Here at AndrodGuys we’re big fans of MVNOs and their small business. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, a MNVO is a wireless service provider that does not have its own infrastructure and licenses network access from other carriers.

This week’s MNVO news comes from FreedomPop, the Los Angeles-based started which just announced it is now offering subscribers access to the AT&T network via a new SIM card (priced at $10) and a new hotspot (priced at $30).

freedompop

Previously, FreedomPop allowed users to tap only into Sprint’s network and now the new option gives users more variety.

The hotspot comes with 2GB of free data, while the SIM card can be used in concert with any GSM-compatible phone.

However, like with most service plans, there are a few caveats with what FreedomPop is offering. For starters, the free plan includes only 200 minutes of talk, 500 text messages and 200MB of data which might not be enough for the majority of users.

att globe logo image

Those who want more can jump onboard with a paid option, the most expensive one offering 10GB of data for $74.99 a month.

FreedomPop has gained a reputation of being a low-cost service provider. The MVNO’s tactics for keeping rates down include relying mostly on Wi-Fi access and zero-rating – a practice which allows access to apps and services without tapping in to the allotted data. The virtual carrier is also always looking to strike friendly deals with big carrier players like AT&T.

Verizon reconsiders, will brick the Galaxy Note7 come January 5

Alexandra Arici
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A few days ago we told you major carriers in the US agreed to work with Samsung and push an update that will suspend the Galaxy Note7’s ability to charge. But not all telecoms were so accommodating.

Verizon was the only one among big carriers which refused to help disable the Galaxy Note7 due to concerns related to the added risks the measure could pose to phablet users who don’t have a device to switch to.

On top of that, the holidays are coming and Verizon wanted to make sure its users stay connected with friends and family and have a functional phone in case they get stranded somewhere during the holiday travel season.

galaxy-note7

Well it seems Big Red has reconsidered and will now join the AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint bandwagon and will release the update meant to kill the controversial phablet.

However, the company will let you enjoy Christmas first. But come January 5, Verizon will unleash the scythe of death upon remaining Galaxy Note7 units.

T-Mobile will be the first carrier to start rolling the update, scheduled for December 27. After which both AT&T and Verizon will release it on January 5, while Sprint will wait until January 8 to unchain its kill switch.

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In a recent statement, Samsung revealed that 93% Galaxy Note7s in the country have been return. Now the company hopes to retrieve the remaining 7% and be done with the Galaxy Note7 affair once and for all (at least in the US).

In other countries like the UK, Samsung is applying more permissive strategy. The company is expected to roll out an update which will limit the Note7’s battery charging to 30%.

Easily send your Evernote documents to Google Docs [How-To]

AndroidGuys
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Evernote recently released its new Privacy Policy which is set to go effective on January 23, 2017, in which it states, among other things, that Evernote employees are allowed to review your content for what they call the oversight of machine learning.

We will not get into the specifics in this post however if the changes listed in the article above make you feel like jumping ship and moving to another platform, here is the easiest way i have found to move all of your content from Evernote into Google Docs

Prerequisites:

For this How-To, we are going to use a third party application called IFTTT (If This Then That). If you are not familiar with this app do not fear, we are here to guide you. There are a few things you will need for this to work:

  1. You will need an Evernote account from which you want to export your files
  2. You will need a Google account to access your Google Docs
  3. You will need to create an IFTTT account.

Transfer your documents:

Lets jump right in and get your documents moved.

  1. Log into your IFTTT account. You can use either the web app or the mobile app.
  2. Tap on the search option.
  3. In the search bar, type in “IF the note has a tag upload it to GDrive”.
  4. Tap on the option named the same as above.
  5. Tap the “Turn On” slider.
  6. Set the specific tag you would like to trigger this action. The default tag is “mw-drive”
  7. Tap the check mark in the upper right hand corner.
  8. Launch your Evernote mobile app.
  9. Tap the Hamburger menu in the upper left hand corner.
  10. Select “All Notes”.
  11. Tap and hold on any note to begin the multi select option.
  12. Once you have all your notes selected, tap the three dots in the  upper right corner.
  13. Tap on the “Tag” option.
  14. Type in whatever you designated as your tag in the IFTTT recipe. PLEASE NOTE, the tag MUST be added AFTER the recipe is created.
  15. Sit back and watch the documents roll into your Google Drive folders. (IFTTT\Evernote by default)

YOU DID IT! I know this was a longer How-To than normal. But think about what you just accomplished. You just transferred all your notes into a completely separate system that otherwise had no way to simply export and import documents.

Have you ever used IFTTT before? What are your favorite recipes? Comment below and show us some new life hacks.

Slangwho app uses special algorithm to keep fake news at bay

Alexandra Arici
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Are you sick of all the fake news floating online tainting your mind with misinformation? Well luckily, there’s a way to avoid shady articles and bad stories. Enter, Slangwho – a multi-platform, content news aggregator curated by mobile users.

Today the company has announced the launch of its distraction-free news sharing app for Android and iOS devices. So now you can easily get informed just by taking your smartphone out.

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Slangwho aims to minimize distraction while you’re reading your news, by sending social media alerts and sponsored content into the background.

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Basically the app offers a clean, elegant feed which delivers relevant content which is selected based on what users discover and share.

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Today we’re bombarded with second-rate information that doesn’t offer anything of relevance, so finding worthy news has become more and more a chore. Due to the increasing number of news sources, it’s now extremely complicated to separate the bad ones from the good ones. And that’s where Slangwho wants to give a helping hand.

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With the new app, users work together to build a trust-worthy news database. New comers can find new users and content sites to follow by importing their contact lists from Facebook and Twitter.

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Once you identify an article worth sharing you can do within the iOS and Android share extensions. The news feed has a skim feature which allows user to view at a glance the most important content of the day without having to open the full article per se. Articles of interest can also be bookmarked for later reading.

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Slangwho claims it utilizes a special algorithm, designed to determine the authenticity of the news source and successfully keeping fake news away from your news feed.

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The app is available for download for free from the Google Play Store and App Store.

Google Home update adds hooks to Netflix, Google Photos, and Santa

AndroidGuys
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Personal assistant Google Home gets a little smarter this week, learning a few new tricks along the way. An update to the Google Home app helps the standalone device talk with Netflix and Google Photos.

Netflix

As part of the update, subscribers to Netflix can say things such as, “Ok Google, play Narcos from Netflix on my TV” and having exactly that happen. This is a quick and easy way to have your virtual assistant spring into action, readying your favorite programs.

Google Photos

Additionally, it’s possible to pull up geo-located photos from Google Photos to have them display, too. Try something like, “Ok Google, show me my photos from San Francisco” and you’ll be able to see them. Because Google Photos is already really smart, users should be able to search for, and view, photos by topics and tags as well. Examples here might include beach, dogs, selfies, sunset, snow, and food.

Santa

Each year Google makes it fun to track Santa as he makes his trek across the globe. Typically, this is done inside of Google Maps; however, this year is different. Children, and parents, can use Google Home to help locate the jolly fat guy. It’s as simple as, “Ok Google, where’s Santa right now?” It still ties into Google Maps, but it’s a whole lot cooler when you can use your voice.

YouTube Red Promotion

As if the Google Home was not already compelling enough to purchase on its own, Google is making it even easier to consider one. Anyone who purchases a Google Home before the end of the year can earn a free six-month subscription to YouTube Red. That’s right, you’ll have an ad-free YouTube experience across desktop, mobile, and even consoles, too.

T-Mobile baits AT&T customers by offering a year of free DirecTV Now

AndroidGuys
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Love ’em or hate ’em, T-Mobile sure knows how to be provocative. Especially CEO John Legere, who is always looking for a fight or verbal jab to throw. Today is no exception as T-Mobile announces a deal aimed squarely at AT&T and its customers.

Starting from tomorrow, December 16, anyone who brings two lines of service from AT&T over to T-Mobile can earn one year of DirecTV Now at no cost. Yes, the same service that recently launched from AT&T and its DirecTV brand.

AT&T is so distracted by their new businesses and DIRECTV that they continue to ignore their 110 million wireless customers. Luckily, the Un-carrier’s here to show them how to actually take care of customers!

DirecTV Now is a mobile television service which offers live sports and programming. Prices range from $35 to $70 per month, depending on which package a subscriber purchases. T-Mobile, for its part, will cover the $35 plan so long as the AT&T customer ports two lines of service and signs up with a One plan. The free service comes as a result of a monthly credit for $35 over the span of 12 months, resulting in a grand total of $420.

T-Mobile has also added DirecTV Now to its Binge On portfolio, too. In other words, any video watched under the “DVD quality” level of 480p will not impact the monthly data allotment.

Pebble promises its smartwatches won’t be rendered unusable in 2017

Alexandra Arici
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The world of wearables as we know it is changing. Not so long ago it was revealed that Fitbit will be acquiring Pebble for the sum of $40 million, while obliterating future Pebble products expected a debut on the market in 2017.

Yes, the Pebble Time 2 and Pebble Core won’t be shipping out to customers and Kickstarter backers will be getting their money back. Right now it seems quite obvious that Fitbit doesn’t seem to be interested in keeping the Pebble brand alive.

enjoy-life-with-pebble

However, it does seem that Pebble’s services will survive the acquisition – at least through 2017. According to a post on the Pebble developer blog, customers should rest assured “no one in the freshly-formed team seeks to brick Pebble watches in active service.”

So for the time being, the Pebble SDK, CloudPebble, Timeline APIs, firmaware availability, mobile apps, developer portal and Pebble appstore will continue to be available.

pebble-will-continue-to-amaze

This is relatively good news, considering that Pebble owners are given one more year to enjoy their smartwatch fully. However, even after support stops it doesn’t mean you will be forced to give up on the watch.

Pebble says that the “mobile app updates will ensure the operation of core Pebble functions, even with cloud services discontinued – they won’t break functionality.”

The features in danger of getting discontinued are those that relay on third-party services like dictation, messaging and weather. Although Fitbit is willing to work with Pebble in order to update those mobile apps to lower dependence on scattered cloud services.

This OnePlus 3T alternative sells at almost half the price, see how it compares

Alexandra Arici
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OnePlus is one of the better known Chinese smartphone makers which managed to break into the international market. The company has recently unveiled the OnePlus 3T handset, a ramped up version of its OnePlus 3 model which was released a few months prior.

Well other Chinese manufacturers are trying to challenge OnePlus by offering phones which are not only similar in looks, but offer similar specifications and are priced even more competitively.

vernee-apollo-front

It’s the case of the new Vernee Apollo which aims to provide a better alternative to the OnePlus 3T. Let’s see how they compare.

vernee-apollo-metal-build

At a glance you could very easily mistake the Vernee Apollo with the OnePlus 3T, except there’s no 1+ logo and the main camera on Vernee is circular not square-ish. Also the Vernee has a fingerprint scanner located on the back. But the two phones feature an all-metal bods with 98% metal coverage. The two handsets are also similar in their industrial design characteristics.

But let’s see how they compare specs wise. The OnePlus 3T made a debut into the wild with a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with 1080p resolution, while the Vernee Apollo also takes advantage of a 5.5-inch display of LTPS IPS variety with 2K resolution (2,048 x 1,080 pixels).

The better resolution comes in handy because the Vernee Apollo focuses on the VR experience and comes with Virtual Reality headset as part of the bundle.

vernee-apollo-vr-ready

When it comes to computing power, the OnePlus 3T is juiced up by a Snapdragon 821 SoC clocked at 2.35GHz, while the Apollo draws life from a Helio X25 chip clocked at 2.5GHz. The MediaTek chipset is said to be able to support 3D heavy games and 2K/4K video playback.

vernee-apollo-built-for-vr

Moving on, the OnePlus 3T ships out with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which should ensure the phone runs super fast. The Apollo features a more “modest” 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage setup. But consider that current high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge offer great performance with 4GB of RAM onboard, so you shouldn’t be worried the Vernee will lag behind.

oneplus-3t-promo

As for photography, the OnePlus 3T comes boasting a 16MP/16MP camera combo, while the Apollo embeds a more advanced 21MP main camera plus an 8MP selfie shooter. Selfie lovers will probably prefer the OnePlus 3T.

The Vernee Apollo ships with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, but given that the company has plans to update the Vernee Mars to Android 7.0 Nougat, there could be hope this model will get the newest Android update at some point too. The OnePlus 3T should get Nougat by the end of the year.

In the end it’s up to the user to decide which phone is better, but consider this one last thing. The Vernee Apollo sells for $299.99, but starting December 15 for an unlimited time it will be offered for $249.99 a pop. It’s almost half the price of the OnePlus 3T.

T-Mobile might merge with Sprint or buy US Cellular in 2017, says Morgan Stanley

Alexandra Arici
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Rumors of a possible merger between two of America’s biggest carriers, T-Mobile and Sprint have been floating around for quite some time. A previous attempt by Sprint to buy the Magenta carrier fell through in 2014, after the Federal Communication Commission intervened.

But Morgan Stanley analyst, Simon Flannery believes the two companies might join forces in 2017.

The research firm sees T-Mobile as being a strong strategic position, so the carrier might want to take advantage of it by doing something bold. Like merging with Sprint.

sprint-and-t-mobile

According to Morgan Stanley this would be best scenario, although it’s the least likely possibility from all the options available to T-Mobile at this point.

Flannery points out that the scenario would bring about “significant savings from network, distribution, customer care, rationalization, reduced churn, avoided capex and spectrum purchases”, although he does warn against the long regulatory reviews given anticompetitive concerns are bound to pop up.

But T-Mobile might not want to have anything to do with a rival saddled with so much debt. Instead, the carrier might prefer a deal with cable company Comcast Corp. Apparently Comcast is expected to make its MVNO debut in 2017 using Verizon’s LTE networks and its own Wi-Fi hot spots.

comcast

“A cable merger would likely be viewed very positively for tower stocks,” says Flannery.

Another scenario sees T-Mobile in the buyer position. Flannery believes the Magenta carrier might consider buying U.S Cellular, although the latter might not want to sell its business. The case of the third largest carrier buying the fifth largest might easily raise some objections with regulatory agencies.

US-Cellular-logo-web-new-700x336

Flannery’s last scenario envisions T-Mobile being interested to merge with a fiber provider such as Zayo – one of the last remaining independent fiber providers of scale.

We should note, these are all predictions and nothing more and it remains to be seen if any of them will even translate into real life events.

But when the Sprint and T-Mobile deal is concerned, many investors and analysts believe the odds of the merger happening are much higher under the Trump administration.

 

Twitter now lets you broadcast live video

Alexandra Arici
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Twitter becomes the latest app to add live video to its list of features. If 140 character is not enough for you to express yourself thoroughly, then the live video option powered by Periscope will come quite in handy.

Users can broadcast live directly from the Twitter app as long as they have the latest version of the Android or iOS installed on their device.

go-live-on-twitter-now

Twitter purchased Periscope back in 2014 for $100 million, but now the service has been backed into Twitter’s core app. Does this mean Twitter has plans to slowly strip Periscope of its independence?

Anyway, to get started you need to write your Tweet, then tap on “LIVE” which will open the pre-broadcast screen so you can start shooting your video.

As in the case of Facebook Live, your followers will be able to comment and send emoji as a sign of appreciating your video. Like normal tweets, tweets that contain live video can be retweeted, like and share anytime, anywhere users usually share a tweet.

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Recently Instagram also announced the advent of a live video option, which just became available for all users in the US yesterday.

Going back to Twitter, the company announced not so long ago it has plans of shutting Vine, its 6-second video platform in the upcoming months. To make up for the void left by Vine, Twitter has already rolled out a new live video feature, which puts it on par with competing services.

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