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Asus devices will come bundled with Microsoft Office to avoid a lawsuit

Matt Adams
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Asus devices will come bundled with Microsoft Office to avoid a lawsuit

After years of suing everyone in sight, it appears that Microsoft is in the market to make some friends. This week they’ve announced a deal to end a patent war with Google and now they’re buddying up with Asustek.

In a deal announced on Thursday, it appears Microsoft will agree to not sue Asus for their Android patents if Asus agrees to bundle Microsoft software, including Office, on their tablets and phones. The agreement calls for “closer integration” between the two companies that currently share a patent agreement. The deal will see Asus “…pre-install Microsoft Office productivity services on Asus’ Android smartphones and tablets”, like the popular budget Asus Zenfone 2. Microsoft and Asus also announced that they will work together on future projects.

[blockquote author=”Nick Psyhogeos, president of Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC”]“Beyond ensuring continued improvements to our products, it opens the door to the kind of collaboration between Microsoft and ASUS made possible only through mutual respect and alignment on intellectual property.”[/blockquote]

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has struck a deal to bundle their software onto phones and tablets in an agreement not to sue. Samsung owners were greeted with a Microsoft folder in their application tray, in this generation of flagships, which contained apps like Office, OneNote and OneDrive within.

Microsoft has continued a strategy of pushing their mobile apps into the view of customers in any way possible. Whether these agreements are smart or annoying is based solely on which side of the table you sit. For Microsoft, it definitely extends the reach of their products and getting your software on a users device is a huge advantage to lock them into your ecosystem. For users, extra added software out of the box, or bloatware, is annoying and if it’s impossible to remove, can build resentment. Luckily, carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint allow users to uninstall those applications with ease.

What do you think of Microsoft’s strategy? Will moving their apps into the mobile world pay off big, or cost them? Let us know what you think.

[graphiq id=”d6si7wkdOjH” title=”Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML)” width=”600″ height=”400″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/d6si7wkdOjH” link=”http://smartphones.specout.com/l/2573/Asus-ZenFone-2-ZE551ML” link_text=”Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML) | SpecOut”]

Source: PCWorld

15 million T-Mobile customers have their data stolen

Matt Adams
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In an a letter to customers, T-Mobile CEO John Legere has responded to reports that 15 million customers have had their data stolen by hackers. The fault comes from Experian, “a vendor that processes our credit applications” states Legere. He goes on to explain that T-Mobile’s systems seem to have escaped being breached and no payment information like credit card numbers or bank account information was among the stolen data. Hackers have gained data on anyone who has had a credit check run from September 1, 2013 until September 16, 2015.

[blockquote author=”John Legere, T-Mobile CEO”]”The investigation is ongoing, but what we know right now is that the hacker acquired the records of approximately 15 million people, including new applicants requiring a credit check for service or device financing from September 1, 2013 through September 16, 2015,”[/blockquote]

Included in the stolen data are names, addresses, and birth dates as well as encrypted fields with Social Security Numbers and ID numbers (such as driver’s license or passport numbers). According to Experian, it’s possible, that the encryption may be able to be broken. In response to the breach, Experian is offering two free years of credit monitoring and identity resolution services.

At least 15 million customers, the T-Mobile/Experian data breach is the third worst of 2015 following only Anthem (80 million) and The US Office of Personnel Management (21.5 million). Experian explains in a statement that a customer node was compromised but made sure to point out that its consumer credit bureau was unaffected. Experian notified both US and International authorities of the breach which happened two weeks ago and was discovered within two days of the initial intrusion.

“Obviously I am incredibly angry about this data breach and we will institute a thorough review of our relationship with Experian, but right now my top concern and first focus is assisting any and all consumers affected. I take our customer and prospective customer privacy VERY seriously.” wrote Legere.

It’s still too early to predict the fallout from the situation but we’ll keep you updated as the story continues to unfold.

Source: T-Mobile, USA Today

Lower your screen’s minimum brightness with Dimly (App Review)

Jack McNenny
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While maximum screen brightness is a highly sought-out feature in phones, making sure your phone’s screen brightness is low enough at night is important too.

Overview

Reading, web-browsing, watching videos and more at night can negatively affect your eyes if the screen’s brightness is not in check. Dimly, made by Ricardo Solano, is an app that lowers your brightness much more than your phone allows it to. With AMOLED screens, the brightness can be lowered all the way until the screen is literally off. With LCD displays, the screen will still get extremely dark, but the standard backlight will still be on no matter what, contrast to AMOLED screens.

DimlyScreenshot

Setup and Function

Dimly runs in the notification bar while it’s active, allowing you to tap it to bring up its brightness slider. This is also where you can go to the app’s settings, where you can adjust the apps default minimum and maximum brightness. Set the brightness too low and can’t see your way back? The developer allows you to press and hold the phone’s power button for 8 seconds until Dimly resets. Anyway, I found the default settings to be perfect for night web-browsing, so while adjusting to your preference is there, I didn’t have to. Also in the settings in the blue-light filter toggle, which helps fight the supposed negative affects that blue light from screens can have on your eyes.

DimlyPhoto

What We Liked

  • Simple enough without interfering
  • Modern design in the settings menu
  • Blue-light filter works perfectly

What We Didn’t Like

  • An occasional ad will show up only when adjusting the brightness

Conclusion

Dimly does everything it promises to, and it’s free on the Play Store. For the night time reader, or for watching media at night, this app is a must to prevent your eyes from being strained. This is an app I will definitely be keeping on my devices.

[pb-app-box pname=’com.sebmorand.brightcom’ name=’Screen Dimmer’ theme=’discover’ lang=’en’]

YouTube Kids app updated with new features

AndroidGuys
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Everybody loves YouTube, especially little kids, thanks to the YouTube Kids app launched back in February. YouTube have recently announced it will introduce new features for both their kid viewers and their parents, making it easier for the whole family to enjoy their favorite videos.

YouTube Kids now supports casting, so that videos on the app can now also be watched on the big screen including Chromecast, Apple TV, gaming consoles and smart TVs. The update also introduces guest-curated playlists, featuring guests like National Geographic Kids, Kid President and Geena Davis, with more planned from the likes of Vsauce and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls.

YouTube-Kids-Screenshot2

There are also more features for parents. Whenever a parent user opens YouTube Kids, the app will explain how the system works in choosing and recommending content and how to flag inappropriate videos. Parents can also customize their own pass codes in parental controls, rather than using a generated spelled-out code.

These new features for YouTube Kids add great piece of mind for the parents of young children, who are free to watch all the Stampy Cat they want without being exposed to any inappropriate content.

Source: YouTube Official Blog

[pb-app-box pname=’com.google.android.apps.youtube.kids’ name=’YouTube Kids’ theme=’discover’ lang=’en’]

Nextbit successfully funds campaign to back cloud phone

Benton Trerise
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Nextbit is a new company (with people from companies like HTC and Google) that placed their new phone, the Robin, on Kickstarter a month ago. The Robin is akin to Chrome OS on a smartphone, but taken to the next level. The main idea is for the Robin to backup data (including apps and all of its settings) to the cloud when you haven’t used it for awhile, only for you to be able to quickly call that data back when you need it. Essentially, the storage on your phone is only limited by the amount of cloud storage you have.

Well, the Kickstarter campaign is closed, and it’d be an understatement to say they reached their goal. They had a goal of $500,000, and they more than doubled it – completing with a total of $1,362,343, with 3,611 backers! This included a deal with Verizon, and a brand new color chosen by backers: “Electric”, which is “sort of a pool-colored blue”.

Nextbit Robin - Electric

The Nextbit Robin is supposed to start shipping as early as January of 2016. We will be working to get our hands on a model to tell you more about the Nextbit Robin. In the meantime, keep a lookout for more news on the Nextbit Robin.

Is this a phone you’d be interested in getting? Let us know!

Benchmark tips specs for 18-inch Samsung Galaxy View tablet

Josh Noriega
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Do you remember that mysterious Samsung tablet that leaked a few weeks ago? Well, we got some juicy details about it today. Looks like Samsung created a whale of a tablet, and we’re not yet sure who the market audience will be.

The latest leak was courtesy of GFXBench, listing several specs for the Samsung SM-T670 (assumed to be marketed as the Galaxy View). The star of the show is the monstrous 18.5″ screen size.

Samsung-Galaxy-View-SM-T670

The other specs are a mixed bag. There seems to be a beefy processor – octa-core Exynos 7580 (bumped up from the 7420 in the current Galaxy phone) with Mali-T720 GPU, but only 2GB of RAM.  The 1080P panel means that this tablet won’t be a pixel-density champ.

We’re also looking at 32GB of on-board storage (no word on microSD expansion), 2MP front camera (strangely, the specs for the rear camera didn’t come through), and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

Samsung could be targeting more productive uses for a huge tablet, such as in a classroom or office. Hopefully, because I don’t think I could live through seeing a tourist taking pictures with it on my next trip.

Source: SamMobile

Boost Mobile rewards on-time paying customers with “Growing Data”

AndroidGuys
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Boost Mobile, a subsidiary of Sprint Corp., announced a new way to reward its customers who pay on-time.  Customers who pay on time will be rewarded with free data upgrades without being charged a single penny more, an industry first for simply paying your bill on-time.

Every third on-time payment earns a customer 500MB of high-speed data on top of their current plan. After 18 on-time payments, customers can add up to 3GB of data which can more than double the base plan of 2GB per month.

“Boost Mobile is always rewarding customers for their loyalty, and the best way to say thank you is by offering plans with growing high-speed data. Our new $35 plan, or $30 with Auto Re-Boost, offers the best value now with 2GB of high-speed data and we’re offering our customers more value by slashing the prices on some of our latest smartphones to as low as $19.99. Now is the best time to be a Boost customer; you can get a premium smartphone at an affordable price and earn extra high-speed data just by paying on time.” Angela Rittgers, Vice President, Boost Mobile

Growing data is available on the $30 Unlimited with Auto-Re-Boost, $35 and $45 Unlimited plans. You can check out more details on their website.

As consumers become more educated on pricing models offered from big carriers, they are jumping over to plans like these. 5GB of data with unlimited texts and minutes for $30 dollars is cheaper than Google’s own Project Fi. Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon continue to battle it out on the postpaid front, but the prepaid wireless space is a battleground that is picking up intensity rather quickly and quietly. Lets hope this trend continues as these battles help lower prices across the board.

Source

Glean promises a quality news experience (App Review)

Jason Botha
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The news department has been heating up a bit as of late. Apple included its own news app in iOS 9, and FlipBoard has been improving their own service, not to mention all the Material Design overhauls. Now we have come across something called “Glean”, which is another newsstand-style app. I was initially rather dubious at how Glean can compete against the bigger services, but as soon as I opened up the app up, my view on that changed completely.

Setup

Although the setup can take some time, it’s a necessity as the app wants to deliver relevant news and topics of interest to you. You begin by signing in, either creating an account or with an existing Google or Facebook account. I chose the Google account, and then was greeted by an interesting screen that allowed me to choose my topics of interest. I am not lying when I say that the list is vast and full of subjects, and there is guaranteed to be something that you can think of.

Once you’ve selected your topics, you go straight into the news area. There aren’t much options setting wise, you can only read the Privacy T&C’s and log out of your account.

Features

The function of Glean is to obviously provide news that is of interest to you. Like the competitors, you can browse a large amount of any topics pulled from the web, along with some neat options like bookmarking articles, changing text size and sharing to your various social media accounts.

Glean is packed with these features. It offers most of the things that its competitors do, but unfortunately doesn’t seem to offer anything unique against the competition. Glean does, however, do the job well and at no point was I disappointed at what it had. This is made even better by the Material Design that the developers have incorporated into Glean to create an aesthetically pleasing experience.

Is it for me?

As Glean is a bit late on the scene, it is likely you already have a dedicated app for news topics. Regardless, Glean is something you should still try out and perhaps replace your existing app.

What we liked

  • The incorporated material design
  • Packed full of features
  • Customization of topics
  • No adverts

And not so much…

  • Not much options for the app in the settings

Glean certainly has the potential to fill the market with its great service. With a decent mobile app, features and service, we can expect to see more people take it on as their main source of news.

[pb-app-box pname=’com.delvv.delvvapp’ name=’Glean News Reader’ theme=’discover’ lang=’en’]

Introducing the AndroidGuys Device Database

AndroidGuys
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If you are a regular visitor to AndroidGuys you may have noticed some subtle changes taking place over the last few weeks. Namely, as we discuss various smartphones and devices, we’re linking to specific pages dedicated to said products. In other words, when we mention the Motorola Moto X Pure Edition, we’ll hand off a link to a page gives readers a number of tools and details.

Depending on the model you might find a short blurb about the phone, a link to its official announcement post, links to tagged articles, a gallery, and buttons to purchase the product. Perhaps the coolest thing you’ll see on the product pages is a handy embedded widget with all of the hardware details for the device.

sample_graphiq

We’ve worked closely with the wonderful team at Graphiq (FindTheBest) to put together a widget that delivers all of the stuff we think you’ll find most relevant to the phones, tablets, and other devices. Starting with today’s top models and working back a generation or two, we’ll continue to add devices and improve the experience.

If you want an at-a-glance view of things like processor speeds, screens sizes, memory, and connectivity, it’s there. Moreover, you’ll also be able to check whether a product has support for 4K video or features a particular screen technology.  And, should you want to dig deeper, there’s a link at the bottom to head out to the full Graphiq listing. Once there you can also pin the phone or two against each other to see how they stack up.

The widgets are dynamic, which means they can and will change over time. As software updates roll out or new details are made more obvious, the widget will adapt. You’ll note that we’re also doing this for unannounced products, too. Indeed, it’s a great way to keep an eye on the growing specifications for rumored products.

We’re extremely happy to bring these pages to you and think they’ll help to better serve our audience. AndroidGuys has transitioned away from being a strictly news and rumors site to one that offers more insight, analysis, and guidance. We have a ways to go before we’re where we want to be but today’s news was a big step for us – and you.

Here are a handful of recently announced devices to check out!

New Stagefright attack targets Android users with audio files

Matt Adams
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Android users are under attack again. The Stagefright bug that Google and OEMs scrambled to fix, only to have a second bug discovered, is back. Users are being targeted with faked audio files that exploit the multimedia preview function in Android to gain access to sensitive areas of a user’s phone or tablet.

The target is sent an mp3 or mp4 file that is encoded with a malicious program and can compromise the Android file system and its security, once opened. More troubling is that an attacker may be able to leverage public Wi-Fi hotspots to infect victims by having them download a file or visit an infected site to infect their phone.

Zimperium Security found the exploit, which isn’t covered by the two rounds of security patches released since July.

Many phone makers like Samsung, LG and HTC have recently committed to begin releasing monthly security updates to their phones but as of yet, this new exploit hasn’t been patched. SMS apps like Textra have recently updated to add Stagefright protection as a feature.

Google is working on fixing the Stagefright exploit in the core code of Android that is distributed to OEMs. A security patch will be available in the October monthly security update that will roll out to Nexus phones on October 5th.

Source: The Verge
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