The wireless speaker market is getting more and more competitive with each day that passes. And this week at IFA 2018 we’re probably going to see quite a few new products from this category.
Case in point, Soundcore just announced the expansion of its popular Flare series with the Flare S+. The newcomer is a cylindrical-shaped speaker that’s wider at the bottom and narrower at the top.
The Flare S+ is Soundcore’s first Alexa speaker
The speaker features a cloth-covered body that incorporates back-to-back full range drivers, bass radiators and dual-tweeters to deliver 360-degree sound. The Flare S+ also takes advantage of Anker’s charging technology which allows the speaker to act as a charging station for your other mobile devices. According to the producing company, the audio device can offer up to 16 hours of playtime on a single charge.
Given that this product is marketed as a party speaker, the Flare S+ is IPX7 rated for water-resistance. So you’ll be able to take it with you at the pool or the beach.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the Flare S+ is that is has a LED ring at its base so it can deliver an intensified beat-driven light show. On top of that, the Flare S+ is Soundcore’s first speaker to come with Alexa built-in. So you’ll be able to do things like control your smart home devices, check the weather, order pizza and much, much more.
Soundcore says the Flare S+ will be available just in time for the holiday season via Amazon.com for $129.88. If you don’t think you can wait that long, the company is currently selling the Flare+ for $99.99. This speaker might not have Alexa enabled, but it can still deliver a unique light show and promises 20-hours of playtime instead of just 16. For those who want something smaller, the standard Flare is also available for $59.99.
On top of that Soundcore by Anker also unveiled a bunch of other products which you can find listed below:
PowerHouse Mini
Price: $299.99
This is a portable power charger that can deliver up to 1 week of power for any of your mobile devices. It’s expected to launch in mid-September.
Life Journey U
Price: $129
The Life Journey U are a pair of earbuds that can be worn around the neck. They take advantage of 12mm drivers to deliver professional-tuned sound. The accessories also boast Hi-Res audio compatibility and offer u to 10 hours of playtime. Expect them to land on the market in October.
RoboVac 30C
Price: $299
A smart robot vacuum that features Alexa and Google Assistant controls. It will go on sale in the US in September.
Audio accessory specialist IFROGZ launched this week the new Sound Hub wireless earbud family which includes the Sync, XD2, Tone and Plugz. Each of the new earbud pairs come with IPX-2 rating for water resistance and a warranty.
The accessories are already available for purchase from the official IFROGZ website and other select retailers. So let’s see what they offer:
Second Hub Sync
Price: $49.99
The Second Hub Sync is an earbud system that also doubles as a wireless receiver that can turn any device with a 3.5mm jack into a wireless device. This includes headphones, speakers or other earbuds.
The Sync wireless buds incorporate 8mm drivers for immersive audio experience and ship with four sizes of earbud tips. They also provide up to 8 hours of listening time on a single charge. Available in Black and White.
Sound Hub XD2
Price: $39.99
The XD2 feature 6mm dual neodymium drivers in each ear and can sustain up to 8 hours of battery life. You can grab them in Black, White or Navy.
Second Hub Tone
Price: $29.99
Equipped with 12mm drivers, the Second Hub Tone were created for those who never seem to find a comfortable fit with their earbuds. Thanks to the adjustable earbud tips, the Second Hub Tone perfectly mimics the shape of the ear. The audio accessories can deliver up to eight hours of playback and are available in several color options. These include Black/Gray, Coral/Gray, White/Gray and Navy/Red.
Sound Hub Plugz
Price: $29.99
The Sound Hub Plugzz rely on 8mm neodymium drivers to deliver quality audio. They have an estimated battery life of six hours and come with three earbud tip sizes. Get them in Black/White, Red/Gray, White/Gray or Purple/Pink.
Additionally, we should also note that the Sound Hub XD2, Tone and Plugz come with three EQ settings that let users choose custom sound profiles to suit whatever you’re listening to. On the Sound Hub XD2, you get Signature Sound, Bass Boost and Podcast.
While on the other two models users can take advantage of Music (a setting created to deliver the perfect experience no matter what you play), Movie and Podcast.
On top of announcing the new Sound Hub family, IFROG also took the opportunity to roll out the Flex Force 2 and Free Rain 2 wireless earbuds.
Flex Force 2 Wireless Neckband Earbuds
Price: $29.99
The around-the-neck Flex Force 2 feature 8mm drivers, IPX-2 water resistance and a battery life of up to 8 hours. Available in Black/Gray, Rose Gold/White and Silver/White, these magnetic buds help you eliminate the annoying problem of getting your cords tangled.
Free Rein 2 Wireless Earbuds
Price: $19.99
Free Rein 2 are a very budget take on the idea of wireless earbuds. They are magnetic and feature 8mm drivers and a battery that can support up to 6 hours of play time. They ship with three sizes of earbud tips. Get them in White, Red, Purple or Black.
HTC is among the first Android phone makers to make an announcement at IFA this year. The Taiwanese brand just unveiled a new member of its flagship U12 family. It’s called the HTC U12 Life and it’s a middle-range device that positions itself below the top-of-the-line U12+, which launched a few months ago.
Despite not being a fully-fledged flagship, the HTC U12 Life does pack some great specs and features a premium design. The new handset uses a 6-inch FHD+ (2160 x 1080) display with the trendy 18:9 aspect ratio. And while a lot of Android phone makers have eagerly joined the notch hype, HTC is once again bucking the trend. So the U12 Life features the classic design with relatively slim bezels, although the chin and forehead remain relatively prominent.
HTC U12 Life seems like a promising mid-ranger
But the big highlight here is aesthetics. HTC’s new mid-range offers a beautiful two-tone design in two color options: twilight purple and moonlight blue. With soft, subtle stripes on the back, the acrylic glass unibody offers a premium metal-like feel.
When it comes to performance, the U12 Life is using a Snapdragon 636 processor which is backed up by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. A 128GB model will be available for purchase in Taiwan. The device also includes a dual-camera setup which pairs a 16MP sensor and a 5MP one on the rear. Both have f/2.0 aperture lenses. The front is reserved for a 13MP selfie camera with LED flash and HDR for better selfies in low-light.
The U12 Life also includes stereo speakers and a headphone jack. Rounding up the package is a 3,600 mAh battery. The only negative aspect about this release is that the phone will ship with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and not the new Android 9 version. We should also note that this won’t be an Android One device, so expect some to see some Sense customization on board.
HTC plans to start selling the phone in Europe starting late September for €349 / $407. Unfortunately, unlike the HTC U11 Life, the U12 Life won’t be available for purchase in the US.
Casio has kicked off IFA with a bang with their all-new Wear OS PRO TEK WSD-F30 smartwatch. The WSD-F30 continues with the tradition of their previous outdoor smartwatches. Including a rugged build and specialized features for all the tech-savvy outdoor lovers out there.
This time around they have shaved down the body a bit making it slightly less gargantuan. It might be slightly smaller but the WSD-F30 is still just as durable featuring MIL-STD-810 military certification, while also keeping the 5 bars water resistance up to 50 meters.
Offline Maps
The headlining feature is the new ability to store full-color offline maps for your adventures for up to three days. The fantastic battery life is accomplished using their dual display technology which utilizes an organic EL monochrome display.
By choosing to primarily use the monochrome display it saves battery life and can extend usage up to three days. The monochrome display is also more visible for viewing outdoors, making it perfect for all of your hikes and adventures. If you prefer a color display then don’t fret, the secondary color display is only one button push away.
Improved Display
Casio has again chosen a dual layer display including a 1.2-inch 390 x 390 color OLED screen paired with a secondary monochrome LCD display. The new and improved EL display on the WSD-F30 allows for finer detail. Casio has also updated the layout to provide even more detail than before. The monochrome screen can now show atmospheric pressure, altitude, and your compass bearing. All the details you could need for a hike and with plenty of battery life until you get back to civilization.
Multiple Modes
Another way the Casio WSD-F30 stands out from other smartwatches on the market is with their different display modes. On Normal mode all features and functions of the WSD-F30 are available and it provides up to 1.5 days worth of battery life.
With Extend mode enabled the Pro Tek WSD-F30 uses both displays and can last up to three days on a single charge without Bluetooth or WiFi enabled.
When using Multi-Timepiece mode the WSD-F30 turns off Wear OS which provides smartwatch functions. You’ll still enjoy all the useful data on the monochrome screen but without using the smart functions or color screen the watch can last for up to one month on a charge.
Availability
The WSD-F30 will be available beginning in January of 2019 from select jewelers and retailers for a price of $549. It will come in a choice of colors including black, blue and orange.
Wear OS formerly Android Wear is continuing to evolve as Google attempts to improve the platform. With this new update comes a lot of visual changes as well as functional. Wear OS appears to be making a shift to focus on being smarter, more useful, and I can’t wait.
Wear OS is getting smarter and more practical gestures
First up the UI and gestures are getting a bit of an overhaul. Swiping to the left or right no longer changes your watch faces and instead becomes more practical. From now on, swiping to the right now brings up Google Assistant.
The new revamped Google Assistant has gotten smarter and will provide you with helpful info based on your location. For instance, if you’re on the way to the airport it would show your flight status or hotel reservation. It might even give you the weather forecast for your destination, and the more you use it the more relevant the information will become.
Swiping to the left brings up the all-new Google Fit putting a larger focus on using your watch as a fitness device. The recent upgrade to Google Fit brought the addition of Move Minutes and Heart Points.
Google worked with the AHA and WHO to provide better ways to track your health. It only makes sense to give you quicker access to your health information. Which is why your health info will only be a swipe away from now on.
Improved notifications and shortcuts
With the world being so connected now and more information flying at us than ever, Google has revamped the notification system as well. Swiping up still reveals your notifications except now you will see them in a continuous stream.
In order to manage them better, Wear OS makes it easy to reply by simply tapping one and providing you with smart replies. All of this without ever leaving your stream. Talk about streamlining your communications.
Swiping down has always revealed shortcuts and that hasn’t changed. However, the shortcuts you see will be changing. Find my phone and Google Pay have both been added making it quicker than ever to locate your phone or make mobile payments.
When can you expect the change
Over the next month, these changes will be rolling out to Wear OS watches. However, some of the features may vary by phone OS, watch, or country.
Just in time for Labor Day, it looks like Honor is having a sale on two of its most popular phones, the Honor View10 and the Honor 7X. The latter starts its sale on August 31st and ends September 5th, while the former runs from September 3rd through the 30th. Both are getting a pretty significant discount: the Honor View10 will drop down to $429 (from $499) while the 7X will cost just $179.99 (down from $199.99). Great deals, all around.
Honor 7X
The Honor 7X is a value phone, and as such your expectations for its specifications should be tempered somewhat. It features a 5.93″, Full-HD LCD display, a Kirin 659 CPU, 3/32GB RAM/ROM (expandable), a 3340mAh battery, and a 16+2MP dual sensor rear camera. While its WiFi (802.11n) and Bluetooth (4.1) specs are a little outdated, it comes preloaded with Android 7.0 – not bad for a budget phone. It can be had for just $179.99 from August 31st to September 5th – a great bargain.
The Honor View10, by comparison, is more of a traditional flagship-style phone. It features a 5.99″, Full-HD display, a Kirin 970 CPU, 6/128GB RAM/ROM (expandable), a 3750mAh battery, and a 16+20MP dual sensor rear camera. It won’t compete with the true flagships – or even the so-called Flagship Killers – on the market, but it can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it admirably, and save you a pretty penny in the process. The Honor View 10 will cost $429 from September 3rd through the end of September, which is significantly less than any other flagship-style phone on the market.
Don’t miss out! Honor is a brand of phones made by the massive Chinese OEM Huawei, and as such is one of the better-made phone brands out there. Huawei’s run into its own problems Stateside lately, but the quality of its phones has never been in question. Don’t miss out on a pair of great phones at even better prices.
Whether you’re at home or at the office, it can be a pain to sit at your desk all day long. The pain is not only figurative but also literal, as you may end up sitting for more than 8 hours a day.
It’s recommended that you take a few breaks throughout the day, but what if you have a big project due? Well, that’s where a company like UPDESK comes into play.
The company has been around for a few years and specializes in standing desk solutions. Just last week, UPDESK introduced its new Home desk, which is for the more budget-minded folks.
This is priced at just $595 and includes everything you want in a motorized standing desk. To help celebrate the launch of the Home desk and Labor Day, UPDESK is holding a pretty awesome sale.
Between now and September 4th, those interested in purchasing a (fully-priced) desk or desktop workstation will receive a FREE anti-fatigue floor mat. But the fun doesn’t stop there, as some popular accessories are being deeply discounted.
In addition to offering some deep discounts, UPDESK has also announced a few changes to its financing program. Starting now, you can use Affirm and UPDESK to finance your desk for up to 36 months.
This is a pretty awesome sale overall, and one that you should check out if you are in the market for your first standing desk. Oh, and stay tuned to AndroidGuys as we may have something awesome in the works from UPDESK!
Let us know if you have any questions, and we’ll be more than happy to help in any way possible.
The S-Pen is what truly makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 stand out from all other phones on the market. Without the S-Pen it would just be like any other large screen flagship and cost quite a bit less. Therefore if you’re going to get a Galaxy Note phone it’s best to put the S-Pen to use. Check out these tips and tricks below to get the most out of your S-Pen.
We’d like to thank AT&T for providing this loaner unit.
App Actions
This year the S-Pen got its biggest update ever in the form of Bluetooth LE. With the addition of Bluetooth, it also learned some new tricks. One of these is App Actions which allow you to use the button to perform certain actions within select apps.
For instance, you can use a long press to launch an app, by default this is the camera. Once the camera is opened you can take a picture using the button and a double press switches between the front and rear camera. It can also be used to control media playback by playing/pausing with a single press and skipping tracks with a double press.
Samsung also allows you to customize shortcuts. For now, the app selection is rather limited but Samsung will open the SDK soon allowing it to support even more apps.
Unlock Your Phone
Another new trick the S-Pen gained from Bluetooth LE connectivity is the ability to unlock your phone. Unlocking your phone this way is not as secure as using biometrics, a PIN, or a password but it is convenient. Just be aware with this enabled anyone who removes the S-Pen can access your phone.
Customize Air Menu
Most of us probably never dive deeper than the original shortcuts presented in the Air Menu. However, if you were to scroll down and click the plus button you would see there are several other apps you can add.
Whether or not those are worth adding is up to you, but they are some handy features for the S-Pen in there. While you’re in that menu the current shortcuts can also be edited, either by removing ones you don’t use or rearranging the default ones.
Bixby Vision
Bixby Vision is one of those features hidden from the default Air Menu. In order to use Bixby Vision, you’ll have to first add it like we discussed above. After it has been added you can access it and all of its features from the Air Menu.
Thanks to Bixby Vision’s image recognition features it allows you to extract text from images to easily copy and paste it. As well as recognizing objects to perform a search or shop for the item online. If you happen to come across a QR code it can help you out there as well.
Translate
The translation option can really come in handy for all you travelers. Not only will it translate but if you tap the little speaker it will pronounce it as well. After you launch it from the Air Menu, all you have to do is hover your S-Pen over a word on the screen to get started.
Create Gifs
The internet loves gifs even if we cannot agree on how to pronounce it. Using the power of Smart Select from the Air Menu the Note 9 turns you into a gif making machine. Depending on how much you use this it could be a blessing or a curse to your friends.
After you launch Smart Select from the Air Menu, look in the upper right for the gif option. Once this has been chosen a square will appear on screen allowing you to resize, change the quality, and start and stop the recording. This is a lot of fun, but I’m sure my friends are quickly growing tired of my gif making.
Hover View in Gallery
When navigating the stock Gallery app from Samsung the S-Pen can help you locate that perfect photo even quicker. By only hovering over the thumbnail it will show you a blown up version of the photo. This saves you from a lot of incessant clicking or swiping. What makes it even better, is with the zoomed in view it also provides you buttons to perform actions such as sharing or editing saving you even more clicks.
Live Message
Live Message is a fun little feature the Note series gained not too long ago. It is along the lines of the gif maker where it’s not essential, but it sure is fun. With Live Message, you can write or draw an animated message using different colors on your screen. After you’re satisfied with it the Live Message can be shared as a gif with friends, family, or the whole internet. I wasn’t wowed by this when it was first announced but I have to admit after playing with it I found it a lot of fun.
Magnify
Even on a screen as large as the Galaxy Note 9, sometimes things are just too small. Not if you add Magnify to your Air Command menu though. Using Magnify allows you to hover over your screen to get a zoomed in view. For the optically challenged out there this can be a real lifesaver. It’s also perfect for checking all that fine print in contracts.
Screen Off Memo
Screen Off Memo is another one of those ingenious features Samsung added a while back to the Note series. Sometimes you just need quick access to write something down. Whether it is an item for your grocery list or a phone number you’re going to need later. It just makes things quick and simple. No unlocking your phone, no launching any apps, just remove your S-Pen and start writing. It couldn’t be simpler and yet it is so useful.
Glance
The Glance feature is another one buried in the Air Command menu that you would need to add manually. This specialized feature would be useful for those times when you need to continuously reference information. Glance minimizes a window into a thumbnail in the bottom right corner allowing you to hover and “glance” at the information without leaving your current app.
Everyone wants to save money, whether it’s on phone bills, clothes or simply apps and games. Android developers regularly put apps on sale, or even make them for free for a limited time, to attract more attention. But sometimes you won’t know an app has been discounted until it’s too late.
Fortunately, there are ways to find the latest apps and games on sale. You’ll simply need a monitor app like Apps Sale. You can get it from the Google Play Store for absolutely no cost.
The first time you’re using the app, a set of quick instructions will pop up for your convenience. Although, you probably won’t really need those, because the app is super intuitive to use.
Get access to all the discounted apps
Once inside the app, you basically get a long list of apps that are currently discounted or available for free. The developer also lists the date when the deal is set to expire, which is super convenient. Simply tap on the app in question and you’ll be redirected to the Google Play Store where you can immediately download it.
On top of that, the app also offers you promo codes for particular apps. There’s a dedicated section for that, which you can access by tapping the App Promo codes option in Settings (the hamburger menu in the top left corner). However, you will have to download App Giveaway Pro in order to claim the promo codes. This time it will cost you $0.99.
There’s also a Google+ community around the app. Here you can suggest apps to the developers and they will do their best to get promo codes deals for you. And you can interact with the other members of the community too.
The app can also send you notifications with the top 10 new deals, which you can schedule at a time that is convenient for you. The developers claim they don’t include apps with lower ratings than 4 and during our testing, we didn’t find the statement to be inaccurate.
Bottom line is, we definitely encourage you to give this app a try if you’re looking to save some money on your app purchases.
When it comes to using phones instead of computers, things are fairly seamless. What’s more, we live in a digital age where we don’t print things out all that often. Getting a physical copy of an email, movie ticket, or school paper is virtually a thing of the past.
This hardly means we can toss the printer out the window. There are still going to be times where it’s those vital times to have something printed. In the era of keeping everything in the cloud or on a device, it’s then that it’s really important to have a printer.
Printing from a mobile device was a terrible experience in its first few years of existence. There were very few standards and not many of the printer manufacturers had embraced the technology.
So Much Better
Today, thanks to the Mopria Alliance, we hardly think about printing and printers. If we need a physical copy of something, it’s straightforward and simple. We don’t have to think about whether it’s going to work.
Formed in late 2013 with help from players like Canon, HP, Samsung, and Xerox, members of the Mopria Alliance now account for 97% of the global printer business. Take a look, and you’ll find that nearly every major printer brand offers Mopria-certified printers. Alliance membership also includes OS providers, cloud solution providers, and chipset and software developers.
The Android Experience
First integrated in Android 8.0 Oreo last year, the Android Default Print Service, with core technology from Mopria, is ready to go out of the box. The core capabilities are built into the platform and you essentially have nothing to mess with; there are no apps or print services to install. Mopria also contributed to the Android 9 Default Print Service by providing the technology to add Wi-Fi direct printing.
Even though Android 8.0 has been around for over a year, only around 12% of active Android phones run 8.0 or higher. For those devices that run an older version of Android, there is a plugin app you can you can always download the Mopria Print Service from Google Play, to get a similar print experience, on Android devices running an older version of Android.
With the Default Print Service on Android 8.0 and newer devices, or the Mopria Print Service app on Android 4.4 or newer devices, you can print to all Mopria certified printers regardless of brand. This eliminates the need for the user to set up an app/print service for each printer brand.
What Can You Print?
There are plenty of applications you can use to print on Android. Not only can you print instantly from standard Google apps like Gmail, Chrome, Drive, and Photos, you can also print from any app that has added a print button. Such apps include Microsoft’s suite of Office apps, Adobe Reader, Dropbox and many more. So, feel free to open up your favorite app and print away!
More Than Print
The price for a decent multi-function device has dropped to a point where consumers no longer really care about a simple inkjet printer. It’s no longer a big deal for us to purchase an all-in-one which allows for scanning and copying, too.
To that end, we have something really cool to look forward to from the Mopria Alliance later this year. According to the organization a Mopria Scan app will roll out in 2018 and will allow for mobile scanning capabilities. A beta version of the Mopria Scan app is available now on Google Play if want to get a preview.
Our team was provided with a smartphone (Google Pixel 2) and Mopria-certified all-in-one printer (Brother MFC-J985DW) for review purposes. While we were allowed to keep them after our testing this did not color our experience in any capacity.
As indicated above, phones which run Android 8.0 or later come with all of the necessary tools and settings for mobile printing.
We unboxed the printer and set it up on our computer, installing the basic drivers from the PC. Keeping an eye on the clock, we found that it took about as much time to open and load the ink cartridges and paper as it did to ready the printer on the computer. At this point we also added the wireless printing option, going through the menu on the printer itself.
Switching over to the phone, we first ensured the default print service was set to “on.” We then opened up a picture in Google Photos and tapped the drop-down menu. Selecting print, we simply had to select our Mopria certified printer from the list. The whole process was quite simple, as shown in this video from the Mopria Alliance.
It didn’t take but a few minutes for the entire process, and that factors in the full-size color photo being printed. We wager that the longest amount of time spent was tapping out the password to the Wi-Fi connection on the printer.
After this first setup we tried a few more printouts. Emails, pics, and other items were a breeze and we found nearly zero lag in the process of sending from phone to printer. Things move swimmingly when you don’t have to select the printer from a list and you just stick with the one you last used.
Each time you print from your phone or tablet you have the same options that you’d normally have on the desktop. This includes printing a specific page, changing orientation, two-sided stuff, and much more.
One of the biggest pain points of setting up printers in the early days was the process of installing drivers. In previous years, we thought nothing of installing files from a CD or downloading from a website. Now that a lot of us are mobile first, we expect things to work differently.
It might have taken a few years but printing from an Android phone is incredibly easy. Moreover, it’s intuitively integrated into the platform and we’re more than happy to not have to be hassled.
There’s nothing more required for mobile printing than there would be for a desktop experience. That is, of course, unless you’re using an older version of Android and need to install the Mopria Print Service plug-in. Even then, it’s a process that you only have to go through once.
