Today, T-Mobile has announced a deep partnership with Google across various experiences, including changes in messaging, phone backup, TV, and phone availability.
Phone Availability
One of the biggest changes is the phones you might be seeing when shopping at T-Mobile. The Uncarrier plans to carry more Pixel and Android devices. T-Mobile wants to showcase the Pixel phones to be able to provide a phone that provides security, stability, and a strong user experience and also showcase the power of 5G.
Messaging
Last year, T-Mobile gave the ability for their users to use RCS features on Google Messages. Now, the Uncarrier plans to use Google’s Messages app as the default messaging app on all T-Mobile Android devices. This provides the advanced messaging capabilities that come with RCS, such as the ability to send better photos and videos, chats no matter what network your on, read reports, and reactions.
T-Mobile and Google also plan to further expand RCS capabilities, allowing for better commerce, support, and communication.
TV
T-Mobile is shutting down their TVision service in favor of YouTube TV. Current TVision Live subscribers will get their first month of YouTube TV for free if they register by June 30. T-Mobile customers can also get $10 off YouTube TV at $54.99 a month starting on April 6
Phone Backup
T-Mobile has also brought in Google One as the default backup service on their phones.
All of these changes bring T-Mobile and Google closer together and hopefully will create a more streamlined Android experience to T-Mobile users.
Xiaomi on Monday announced its latest smartphones in the form of the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Lite 5G, and Mi 11 Lite 4G. As one might expect the Ultra is the top-tier stuff outright insane specifications and features, while the others are a more budgeted approach to its 2021 offerings.
Let’s jump right into the main specifications for each, shall we?
Mi 11 Ultra
The Mi 11 Ultra comes with a 6.81-inch AMOLED display at 3200 x 1440 resolution and features a 120Hz refresh rate and 480Hz touch sampling rate. With Dolby Vision, HDR10, and a 360-defgree ambient light sensor it is among the most well-rounded on the market and all of it is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
A Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor powers the show and is complemented by 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage.
The triple camera configuration consists of a 50-megapixel wide angle camera, 48-megapixel ultra-wide (128 degree) camera, and 48-megapixel telephoto camera. All three boast a number of great features, shooting modes, and high-end details such as incredibly high 120x zoom. A 20-megapixel camera is located around front.
It’s worth noting here that the Mi 11 Ultra has a rather unconventional design to the rear camera. In fact, it’s module has a second screen that measures 1.1-inch which is used for notifications, alerts, and selfie previews.
The 5,000mAh battery is good for about two days of usage and supports 67W wired turbo charging as well as 67W wireless turbo charging. Yep, that’s right – a wireless charge that’s faster than pretty much anything you’ll find even with a cable. It also supports 10W reverse charging.
The 5G phone comes in Ceramic Black and Ceramic White colors and supports a whole range of networks and bands.
Mi 11 Lite 5G and Mi 11 Lite (4G)
Powered by Android 11 with the custom MIUI 12 interface, the Mi 11 Lite offers up a 6.55-inch display with 2400 x 1080 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate as well as a triple-camera system.
Internally, the 5G phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 780 processor while the 4G model has a 732G chipset. As for memory and storage, it breaks down as so:
Lite 5G:Â 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB (UFS 2.2 + LPDDR4X) Lite 4G:Â 6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB (UFS 2.2 + LPDDR4X)
As for the cameras, the rear of the handset features a 64-megapixel main shooter as well as an 8-megapixel ultra-wide and 5-megapixel telephoto cameras.
Mi 11 Lite (4G)
When it comes to batteries, the Mi 11 Lite 4G packs a 4,250mAh power source with support for up to 33W fast charging. Other notable details include Bluetooth 5.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, dual speakers, and a fingerprint sensor built into the power button.
In terms of 4G/5G connection, it breaks down accordingly as:
Look for the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G in three colors (Truffle Black, Mint Green, and Citrus Yellow) with the Mi 11 Lite 4G in its own trio of options (Boba Black, Peach Pink, and Bubblegum Blue).
Feel free to watch the video embedded below for the full suite of new products unveiled by Xiaomi.
Technological advancement has been an active and consistent fundamental in recent human history for years now. Going back decades, the rise and ongoing enhancement and improvement of technologies has been quite a sight to behold. There has been an incredible amount of attention to detail and overall emphasis surrounding the ways that we first embraced technologies and now the exceedingly prominent reliance that we have on those same technologies. It has been quite the journey. And this is just the start.
Around the globe, technologies are today a core construct that are more instrumental than ever before. And like never before, we are more interested and invested in actively and continuously propelling them from one height to the next. As a dominant species here on Earth, we are in a position of power. And over the years, our own self interest has been a driving force in our evolution and enhancement as a species. Technologies came into play and ever since, they have been a leading force to be reckoned with in technology.
Tech advancement is more profound than ever
In fact, today technologies are more profound than ever. The more aware and understanding that we become surrounding technological innovation and impact, the more driven we become to actively and continuously work towards ensuring that those same technologies are always given further advancement and enhancement, the likes of which we make possible and drive forward through consistent pools of interest and investment. Technological advancement is today more profound than ever before – and it only continues to become more so as time goes on.
The ongoing evolution of technological advancement
The evolution of technological advancement and enhancement has been swift and ongoing. And more and more all the time, we continue to see an incredible amount of attention to detail and overall emphasis that is geared specifically towards empowering this exceedingly digitally and technologically inclined era from one strength to the next. The reality is that we are now positively reliant on technological advancement. So, naturally, we are quite predisposed to be on an active path to ensuring that we are always working on enhancing and improving this tech driven world of ours. It is a work in progress. What a wild ride.
Why tech advancement is definitely here to stay Of course, there is quite a lot to be said about the fact that technological advancement is well and truly here to stay. Whether it is seemingly small inventions like the smart thermostat or advancements in artificial intelligence (to name just a few examples), the visions and the like of technology surround us from all angles. We are always searching for more, reaching higher. And technologies allow, encourage, and empower us to do just that. Stepping into the future and beyond, there is every chance (if not every certainty) that we are going to see a consistent stream of interest and investment that essentially and successfully propels technological innovation from one strength to the next. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
One of the best features in Android is the ability to manage all of your various accounts and profiles. Many of us have personal and work email addresses plus a number of social media accounts. Some of us are responsible for managing multiple emails or overseeing different accounts.
The first thing you do when setting up an Android phone is connecting your Gmail to the phone. However, you can connect as many other emails as you desire to the device. This way you are always connected to your other accounts, all in one convenient location – your device.
Outside of emails, when you do set up any third-party apps like Facebook, Twitter, etc. As much as you can add these accounts, you can also remove accounts at your convenience should you feel the need to.
Adding accounts to your phone and maintaining them helps make your phone all the more important to you. If you are new to Android and only have one account loaded, you may want to learn how to add others. If that’s you, and you want to know how to add a new email address or otherwise to your phone, you can do so with a few simple steps.
Adding accounts to your phone on Android 10
Open up the Settings app on your phone and look for Accounts. Similar to our guide on keyboards, or other device settings, this can vary from one OEM to the next as Samsung calls it Accounts and Backup in their Settings page.
Open the Accounts menu and from here, if you haven’t already, you will see an entire list of accounts registered to your phone. Scroll down until you see a small + button with Add Account.
From here, you will see a few options. When you first setup your phone you might see a more limited list such as Gmail, Outlook, setting up an OEM specific email (OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc.). From here, choose whichever account you wish to sign in with.
From there, all you have to do is enter your credentials and let the relevant service provider log you in.
From there, you will need a relevant app to access those services. Apps like Gmail or Spark for your Emails. When you install new apps on your phone, you can also add accounts to them from here, but some apps like Telegram will make you sign in using the app, even if you opt to sign in from this menu.
Should you wish to remove any account, you can go back to the accounts screen, select the account you wish to unlink, and choose Remove Account.
This will remove the presence of that account on only that device. If you are logged in on another phone or tablet, you will remain logged in there.
With that, we have covered all the bases of account management on Android 10. Let us know if you need any help with accounts in the comments section below!
Over the last few years, the idea of a Motorola Moto G series phone conjures up imagery of entry-level hardware and devices that aren’t exactly known for their power. And rightfully so, as that line of handsets carved out a spot in the sub $300 price range.
That changes this week as Motorola unveiled its most powerful G model to date, the Motorola Moto G100. Already available in Europe and Latin America, doesn’t just move the series one step forward, but leaps a bit into new territory.
The Motorola G100 is the the phone maker’s first phone to include a higher-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series processor. Moreover, it is complemented with 8GB RAM and 128GB of expandable storage.
While the 870 5G processor isn’t as powerful the one found in the likes of flagships like the OnePlus 9, it’s certainly an upgrade over the mid-range and entry-level stuff of previous generations. It will be plenty fast enough to handle multi-tasking and hopping around apps and it’s also got 5G support baked in.
Other specifications in the Android 11-based phone include a 6.7-inch display with 90Hz refresh rate, a 5000mAh battery good for about two days of usage, and a 64MP ultra-high resolution Quad Pixel main sensor. Also present is a software feature called Ready For which expands the phone’s capabilities for larger, external displays.
The Motorola Moto G100 comes in iridescent sky and iridescent ocean colors and retails for €499.99 EUR, or approximately $590 USD. Unfortunately, there are no plans to see the Moto G100 come to North America anytime soon. Perhaps a variant could arrive in due time under a different branding.
Moto G50, G30 and G10
Motorola has also introduced three other models for the middle of the pack in the Moto G50, Moto G30 and Moto G10. Each speaks to a slightly different user type and feature things like 5G speeds, “industry-leading camera systems”, and long battery life.
The new Moto G50 comes with the Snapdragon 480 5G processor and has a 6.5-inch Max Vision HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate, a 48-megapixel triple camera system, and 5,000mAh battery.
The Moto G50 will be available in selected European markets in the coming weeks for €229.99 EUR.
The Moto G30 has a 64-megapixel quad camera system with a Macro Vision camera, an ultra-wide lens, and a depth sensor. Additionally, it has a 6.5-inch Max Vision HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 662 processor, and a 5,000mAh battery.
Already on sale across Latin America, Europe, India, Asia and Middle East for €179.99 EUR, it’s also headed to Australia in the coming weeks.
The Moto G10 offers a 48-megapixel quad camera system with an ultra-wide lens and depth sensor similar to the Moto G30. Also packing a 5,000mAh battery, it’s equipped with a Snapdragon 460 processor and ultra-wide 6.5-inch Max Vision HD+ display.
The Moto G10 is available in Latin America, Europe, India and Asia, for €149.99 EUR; it arrives in Australia in the coming weeks.
Like the Moto G100, these phones won’t be heading to the US. At least there are no plans for that as of yet.
If you’re looking for a lucrative career in modern workforce, it’s pretty tough to find one where technology is not involved. Be it coding, web administration, app development, or something else, chances are good that you’ll need to know a thing or two about tech.
The IT space is one that shows no sign of easing up. If anything, it will only become more in-demand as new businesses come online or grow. Skilled IT individuals can essentially pick their jobs, whether it’s holding down complex networks behind Fortune 500 companies or creating systems for local businesses.
Where does one acquire those those skills? While there are plenty of resources available online — we’ve highlighted plenty — there are few repositories for IT knowledge than ITU Online.
With a massive library of more than 2,400 hours of up-to-date training in IT systems, it’s a university of sorts which lets you take only the curriculum that matters most.
The Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet is a very popular device. It has become a conduit for the online retailer to wrap all their services up in a single, portable device. Book, video streaming, and online shopping are at your fingertips for all your media consumption needs.
If you act today, the company has the Amazon Fire HD 10 at an all-time low price of just $108 for the 64GB model. You won’t find a better deal for a brand-new Fire HD 10. That’s $82 off the full retail pricing.
While the tablet isn’t an iPad Pro, for many it’s just what they need. You get a combination of 2GB RAM paired with a 2Ghz octa-core processor providing plenty of horsepower for most tasks. You can also expand the 64GB internal storage with a microSD card.
The Amazon Fire HD 10 doesn’t skimp on battery life either. With a 12-hour battery pack and USB-C fast charging, an outlet should rarely be necessary.
The 10.1″ full HD display at 1080p also makes this perfect for Ring camera monitoring and even has an option to use this as an Alexa Hands-Free device much like an Echo Show.
This special offer lasts today only for the Amazon Fire HD 10. The discount applies to both the ad-supported and ad-removed editions. Although, the latter will cost you another $15. These should sell out fast at this price so get on over to Amazon and snag yours!
Mobile Hotspots are a feature that have been baked into Android for nearly a decade. For those who are not aware of what it does, it’s basically a way of taking your wireless connection and sharing it with other devices.
Much like you would connect to a router at home, mobile hotspots make it so that you or others can piggyback off of your mobile 4G and 5G data. It’s helpful stuff for laptops, Chromebooks, and tablets which would otherwise be offline when out in the wild.
In this guide, we will walk you through all the steps involved in setting up a mobile hotspot on Android 10.
Setting up a mobile hotspot on Android 10
To start, open your Settings and open your Wi-Fi & Internet menu. This can vary from one OEM to the other but mobile hotspot settings are most commonly found in the Wi-Fi settings menu.
Next, choose Hotspot & Tethering, or anything that sounds similar to Hotspot.
A new menu will open up. Over here, go to Wi-Fi hotspot.
When in the Wi-Fi hotspot menu, this is where you can configure the name of your hotspot so you can know what your device is transmitting as, and to share with others if needed.
Choose your preference of security, but always make sure its WPA-2 or a similar protocol to protect against others piggybacking off your unprotected Wi-Fi.
Once you have chosen your security, set a password (preferably AlphaNumeric).
Lastly, choose the AP Band. If you are on 4G or 5G, we recommend using 5Ghz, but certain devices like the Nintendo Switch and others can’t properly use 5 Ghz so if you or anyone you’re sharing the internet with is facing connectivity issues, drop the AP Band down to 2.4 Ghz.
With that your Wi-Fi hotspot is set up. Keep in mind that you should only use this according to your data plan. It is generally not recommended to do heavy downloading on these networks. Mobile hotspots are geared more for light work such as checking email or downloading a crucial video when your home internet is not accessible to you.
You might think that Android is a pretty big player in the mobile space, but do you know how big? It’s huge, actually, taking up around 70 percent of the worldwide market share. That means tons of phones and bajillions of apps.
According to AppAnnie, mobile app downloads are projected to hit nearly 260 billion, up almost 50 percent from just a few years ago. If you’ve ever thought about turning your idea into an Android app, you’re in luck. Right now, the Android 9 Development Cookbook ebook can point you in the right direction.
Sure, Android 11 is in full swing now and version 12 is on its way, there are plenty of reasons to develop for an older build. This is especially true as the newer releases are more about polish and refinement.
This extensively updated cookbook helps you find solutions for working with user interfaces, multitouch gestures, location awareness, web services, and other device features.
Lifetime access to eBook with 464 pages
Find solutions for working with the user interfaces, multitouch gestures, location awareness, web services, & device features
Get useful steps on packaging your app for the Google Play Store
Learn many tips & tricks on the rich features of Android Pie
The coursework walks you through deploying various app solutions to actually start creating your own apps. It will help you examine how to modernize and enhance app interfaces, how to make apps communicate better between activities, and even how to troubleshoot.
Cobra Kai is one of the best shows on TV and seems to have only gotten more popular after having been acquired by Netflix. It features the return of two central characters from the Karate Kid movie and features a cast of new characters that fans have come to love.
Cobra Kai Card Fighter is a mobile game based on the series and features a unique twist on the usual deck-building games. Here is what we think about it, and if it is for you.
This is a free-to-play game, available on both Android and iOS, and features a multiplayer system that pits players against each other in live PvP modes.
Gameplay
Unlike other deck-builders, players have to choose cards at the same time behind screens, and there isn’t exactly a turn-based structure here. You build a deck of 30 cards, and there are various moves that range from kicks, punches, grabs, boosts, and health cards that you can choose from. Now, each turn, you choose three cards from the ones you drew. The opponent is doing the same, and players are given some time to decide.
After you have a sequence of three cards decided, both players’ cards will be pit against each other in a rock-paper-scissor scenario. We won’t spoil which card cancels out which, but to give you a general idea, if you picked Kick, it will beat a Punch. If both players had the same card in the sequence, it will be considered a draw, for example, if your second card was a kick, and the opponent’s second card was a kick as well, it will be considered a draw.
Essentially, your goal is to finish off your opponent, and their health bar. Each card has an energy requirement too, so you will be using energy boost cards to maintain that. The gameplay itself isn’t exactly deep, but it is fairly engaging. Especially if you want to kill some time, and collect more cards on the go.
A game like this would have been better with on-screen combat buttons like Mortal Kombat Mobile, but the deck building helps in giving it a unique element.
Visuals and Audio
Considering this is a mobile game, the visuals are decent enough. Players’ characters are shown on-screen as they perform the various card moves you have decided for them. These short bursts of animations are surprisingly well done for a mobile game and provide both players some visual feedback on their decisions. Usually, card games don’t exactly animate their player avatars, and since this is a karate game, it does commit to that part, with a lot of effort.
Character portraits are well done, and all the game icons are self-explanatory. The menus aren’t very cluttered either, so navigation throughout the game is fairly simple. We have various characters from the TV show as playable characters, mainly the teen stars.
The game sounds fine, and as well as you would expect. I would’ve appreciated, if the general soundtrack was a bit more thrilling, and it sometimes falls flat even during intense encounters. The grunts and impact sounds of characters are pretty good though and keep players engaged throughout the match.
Here are a few screenshots of the game in action.
Online Experience
Since this game is entirely online, you will be either taking part in Quick, or Ranked matches. These are fairly self-explanatory, where Ranked has higher stakes. Now, finding a player wasn’t that hard, and it took me a few seconds in most cases. Given how this is a free-to-play title, the player-count is pretty healthy at the moment. So for now, the online experience is satisfactory, without any disconnections whatsoever. Hopefully, the developers keep adding content to the game to keep players engaged, which in turn will ensure that there are enough players to keep online play functional. Given how there is a turn-based element to the game, your ping doesn’t matter all that much either.
Conclusion
Cobra Kai Card Fighter is a fun game, that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It features characters from the hit TV show from NETFLIX and puts a unique spin on the deck-builder genre. You can face off against other players in a deeper version of rock-paper-scissors with energy management, and a decent amount of strategy. The visuals and audio are decent, and the online experience is good enough. Recommended for players looking to kill time.
