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OnePlus 5T Star Wars Edition is coming, but you might not be able to get it [Update]

Alexandra Arici
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Were you disappointed when the Lava Red OnePlus 5T turned out to be just another color version and not the rumored Star Wars edition?

Don’t be, because it seems like the OnePlus 5T Star Wars edition is actually a real product. Although it will not be offered in Red, as previously expected.

Present during India’s Comic-Con, OnePlus (who is one of the sponsors) briefly teased the upcoming OnePlus 5T Star Wars Edition. As you can see in the image attached above, the phone sports a white paint job, while the Star Wars logo lives at the bottom. There’s also a red alert slider button – a neat little detail.

Don’t miss: The OnePlus 5T is now official, here’s what’s new

The OnePlus 5T Star Wars Edition will reportedly also be bundled with Star Wars effects and wallpapers, as to make it even more appealing to fans of the galactic saga.

According to Tech PP – the publication who noted the handset was teased during Comic-Con in India, the device will go on sale on December 16, just a day after the new Star Wars: The Last Jedi is scheduled to start showing in theaters.

Unfortunately, it seems the OnePlus 5T Star Wars is the product of the partnership between OnePlus India and Disney India and as a result, the phone will be sold only in the country. Hopefully, this won’t end up being the case, as many Star Wars fans across the world would love to be given the chance to buy the phone.

Yet OnePlus seems to have a tendency to sell its Limited Edition phones locally. For example, do you remember the OnePlus 3T Colette Edition which was made available only in France?

Going back to the OnePlus 5T Star Wars edition, the phone is expected to come packing 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Only 15,000 units will be made available at launch.

[Update]: GSM Arena reports it has received confirmation that the phone will exclusively be sold in India to celebrate OnePlus’ anniversary in the country. The phone will be available starting December 16 online, as well as offline in experience zones in Bengaluru and Noida. The official announcement is scheduled for December 14.

Galaxy S9 could be accompanied by the DeX Pad

Dan Bartram
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Samsung is reportedly working on a new version of the DeX Station that was first introduced with the Galaxy S8. The second generation DeX Pad is likely to resemble more of a wireless charging pad than a dock and will accompany the Galaxy S9.

The source comes on the back of reports by popular leaker @evleaks that suggested a revamped DeX station was in the works for the next Galaxy.

The reason to move to a pad rather than having the phone docked is thanks to enhancements in Android Oreo that could mean the Galaxy S9 can be used as a mouse pad or a keyboard. This would remove the need to have to carry around a separate keyboard and mouse to use your device as a portable computer.

The phone will still need to be connected somehow to the USB Type-C port so Samsung will need to come up with some clever method of making connecting the Galaxy S9 a slick process and also hiding the connecting port when not in use. It’ll probably be similar to the fold-away connector on the Gear VR.

Certainly including functionality to have the phone function as a mouse of keyboard would widen the use case for DeX meaning you only need a screen.

What do you guys think? Would you use DeX if the new version could offer a keyboard or mouse functionality?

Google reveals the best apps & games of 2017

Alexandra Arici
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With only one month to go before the New Year, Google has unveiled its collection of “Best of 2017” apps, games and media from the Play Store.

The lists are available for every country where the service is available, but below you’ll find the most popular content in the US this year:

Most popular new games of 2017

Most popular games of 2017

Top streamed songs of 2017

Top movies of 2017

Top TV shows of 2017

To books of 2017

Have you tried any of these apps and games? If you haven’t then it might be time to download them on your smartphone or tablet right now.

Essential Camera updated with portrait mode and more

Dan Bartram
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Essential has rolled out a pretty important update that will make quite a few people happy.

We’ve previously reported that the camera software on the Essential Phone was somewhat underperforming and in fact sideloading the official Google camera on the device improves the picture quality. Essential hasn’t stood still with improving the performance of its device and this time have released yet another update to improve the camera on the PH-1.

If you haven’t already received an OTA update on your device then it will be available pretty soon.This particular update will enable Portrait Mode on your Essential Phone and will also bring some added exposure settings for all modes as well as overall compression of the pictures.

Head on to Settings> About Phone> System Update to manually check for available OTA updates to grab the new portrait mode.

Google finally bans apps that include lock screen ads

Dan Bartram
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Ads are a valuable source of revenue for most companies, and full disclosure AndroidGuys relies on ads to continue to bring you the latest Andriod news, but unfortunately, certain implementation of ads are less than user-friendly.

One of these implementations is lock-screen ads that have previously shown up in apps like ES File Explorer. It seems Google agrees with the detrimental impact ads on the lock screen has to the user experience and is now removing apps that provide such functionality from the Play Store.

While the new policy isn’t a definitive block on ads on the lock screen, it does by proxy prevent such apps from existing.

Unless the exclusive purpose of the app is that of a lockscreen, apps may not introduce ads or features that monetize the locked display of a device.

That means that an app not explicitly designed to be a lock screen app cannot also shoehorn ads onto your existing lock screen. An app that is actually a lock screen may, under the new policy, still provide adds on said lock screen because the user will know what they’re getting into when downloading it.

The idea of the new policy is to make it transparent to the user what they are downloading and not wonder why ads have all of a sudden started appearing. Good move by Google and hopefully it will begin removing said apps that violate this new policy from the Play Store imminently.

CES 2018 is just one month away, here’s what to expect

Alexandra Arici
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One of the biggest consumer electronics shows is coming up next month. CES 2018 will be taking place in Las Vegas between January 9 and 12 and all the bih names in the industry will be present at the event showcasing some of their latest tech.

So what can we expect to see at CES 2018 in terms of Android smartphones? Well, we can’t be really sure, but based on rumors and leaks we have made a list of possible products that could make an appearance during the event.

Samsung Galaxy S9 teaser

According to prolific industry leakster, Evan Blass (who is often right), Samsung’s upcoming flagships, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will make their first public appearance at CES 2017.

That’s not to say that the Korean tech giant will be launching the phones during the event, no, that’s still scheduled for late February, but in Las Vegas, the company might briefly show off its upcoming flagship devices. Who knows, Samsung might do so behind closed doors (like it did with the Galaxy S6 in 2015 for example), so don’t count on seeing much of the Galaxy S9 during the event.

Samsung Galaxy X

Samsung foldable smartphone has been in the rumor mill ever since 2015, but rumors about the purported device been intensifying in the past few months. A support page for the device in question (SM-G888N0) appeared on Samsung’s website no so long ago, fueling hopes of an imminent launch.

So who knows, Samsung might use CES 2018 as the launch platform for its Galaxy X smartphone. Or it could, at the very least, showcase it on the grounds.

Samsung Galaxy A series (2018)

Last year Samsung launched its next-gen Galaxy A (2017) series which includes the A7, A5 and A3 models at CES 2017. So we expect the company will pull a similar move this year and introduce the Galaxy A series (2018) edition.

If the latest leaks are to be believed, next year’s Galaxy A series will include four models instead of three: the Galaxy A8, Galaxy A7, Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3. The Galaxy A8 will be the most high-end one of all, and while all models will feature a bezel-less InfinityDisplays, the A8 will also come with a dual front-facing selfie camera.

LG G7

LG already announced it will be hosting a media event on January 8 at CES, so could we see the LG G7 make an appearance? According to a recent report coming out of Business Korea, it could.

Given that Samsung has a history of monopolizing the initial stock of the new Snapdragon high-end SoC, LG and other devices makers are forced to look elsewhere. This is why the LG G6 launched with the Snapdragon 821 on board, so maybe this year LG is racing to launch its flagship ahead of Samsung with the upcoming Snapdragon 845 on board.

But we’re more inclined to think that like last year, LG will probably unveil a bunch of new middle-range smartphones at CES 2018.

Honor 7X

Last year, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor unveiled the Honor 6X – a dual camera smartphone with an attractive price tag attached.

Well as Honor has already unveiled the 7X successor in China, we expect the company to announce its availability in the US. The Honor 7X is set to bring great specs including an 18:9 bezel-less display, 4GB of RAM and dual cameras and hopefully it will be sold for less than $300.

ZTE Axon 8

Here’s a thought. ZTE just confirmed a few days ago that that Axon 7 is no longer manufactured. So maybe ZTE is gearing up to finally launched the successor of this popular affordable flagship phone? The company already stated a successor of the Axon 7 will come at some point, so what if the Chinese device maker is preparing a surprise for its fans at CES 2018?

But given how quiet the rumor mill has been on the matter, we wouldn’t hold our breath. ZTE will more likely come to Las Vegas with a few new mid-rangers. A successor to the budget dual camera phone, the Blade V8 Pro, that was launched last year might be in the cards.

ASUS ZenFone M1

Last year at CES 2017, ASUS had a lot to show in terms of phones. It unveiled the ZenFone AR, a Google Tango phone with 8GB of RAM, as well as the ZenFone 3 Zoom. So we expect the Taiwanese company to make some sort of smartphone-related announcement at CES 2018.

Here’s our guess. ASUS will announce an 18:9 aspect ratio phone for the US market. So far the company has only two such models in its portfolio: the Pegasus 4S which launched in China and the ZenFone Max Plus (M1), a model which popped up in Russia recently.

ASUS could choose to bring any of these models in the US, although we expect the naming scheme to differ a little bit.

TCL Palm

Back in August 2017, it was revealed that TCL – the company currently holding the rights to the BlackBerry brand – is looking bring back Palm, the maker of iconic smartphones such as Pre. TCL acquired Palm back in 2011.

According to one of TCL’s own executives, new Palm devices should make an appearance in early 2018. So, if we’re lucky we might get to check them out at CES 2018.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 835 in November last year and shared more details about the new mobile platform at CES 2017. Since it’s expected that the Snapdragon 845 will make a debut shortly, Qualcomm will most likely offer a more detailed glimpse of the new processor at CES next year.

Special mention

Google

Google hasn’t made an appearance at CES in a few years. Well, in 2018 the search giant is getting a booth at the event, but don’t get your hopes up about seeing any new products on display.

The most probable scenario is that Google is simply going to showcase some of its current products like the yet-to-be-released Google Home Max, as well as the new Pixels 2, Google Home Mini and more.

Samsung turns fortuneteller, patents odd palm scanning security feature

Alexandra Arici
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Here’s a piece of news that will probably make you raise your eyebrows. According to a recent patent uncovered by the GalaxyClub publication, Samsung is developing a bizarre security feature that reads your palm in order to provide clues about a forgotten password.

We’ve all been there – in a temporary moment of brain freeze we can’t seem to remember our passwords. It’s frustrating, not to mention inconvenient – especially if you have something urgent to do. Well, Samsung has apparently devised an ingenious way to help you remember that password.

According to the patent documents, the new system developed by Samsung – which is set into action once your phone takes a picture of your palm – uses the specific arrangement of your palm’s lines to determine whether you are the true owner of the device and then provide cryptic, but discernible clues about what the password might be. For example, if your password is ABHL, parts of the letters will be displayed on the phone’s screen as to provide hints. Hopefully that will be enough to jog your memory.

The patent explains that the palm reading method is not an authentication method per-se, but a safety measure meant to aid users with password recovery.  So if this feature does make it into Samsung’s future smartphone products (we don’t know yet if it will, since this is just a patent), it will be offered alongside standard biometric security setups such as fingerprint scanners, iris scanners or 3D facial recognition.

What do you think about this idea? Would you like to have palm authentication on your future Samsung Galaxy phone? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Amazon’s Alexa enters the workforce

Alexandra Arici
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Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant is best known for being the brains of your smart home. But Amazon wants Alexa to be more than your home assistant, so this week the company’s business subsidiary, Amazon Web Services announced Alexa for Business.

Amazon hopes employees will soon take to using Alexa at the office to launch conference calls, organize room bookings, check flight details and more by using simple voice commands.

Alexa for Business is the latest extension of Amazon’s popular product, which is currently powering Echo speakers, cameras, thermostats and other smart products that have been typically used within the home. Certainly, bringing Alexa into the corporate environment will pose numerous challenges like IT management of devices and security issues, but if Amazon succeeds in taking over the enterprise sector it could stand to gain immensely.

Alexa for business supports an extensive list of new skills and integration from popular enterprise firms like Salesforce, Concur Solutions, SAP SuccessFactors, Splunk, Acumatica, Teem, Twine and Polycom with the aim to extend the virtual assistant’s functionality to suit the work environment. For example, employees can say things like “Alexa, ask Salesforce for the current status of my team’s big deals scheduled to close this quarter” or “Alexa, ask Concur when my flight leaves.“

What’s more, companies can even build their own custom skills that integrate with their own IT applications and office system. Customers can also set up shared Alexa devices in common areas in the workspace such as conference rooms, huddle rooms, lobbies and more.

Customers in the US can already bring Alexa at the office by purchasing the Alexa for Business Starter Kit. Each kit includes 3 x Echo (2nd generation) devices to be used in conference rooms, 2 x Echo Dots (2nd generation) for controlling equipment in large conference rooms and 2 x Echo Show devices for desktop use. An Alexa Business kit will set buyers back with $709

Cricket Wireless is now offering 4 unlimited lines for $100

Alexandra Arici
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, but that doesn’t mean you should stop expecting to see new promotions pop up. It’s December after all.

For example, Cricket Wireless just announced a new deal that gets you 4 lines of unlimited data for only $100/month. The offer is available starting today, December 1.

The deal includes 4 lines of Cricket’s Unlimited 2 plan which normally costs $55/month for a single line. So with the current offer, you will be able to save a total of $120.

But although it sounds, interested parties should be aware a few things before signing up. The Unlimited 2 plan limits download speeds to 3Mbps and offers video streaming only in 480p when on mobile. Your data cap is set to 22GB a month, so if you use more you should expect to be throttled to slower speeds in times of congestion.

On the bright side of things, the Cricket Unlimited 2 plan includes unlimited texts from the US to 38 countries, as well as data access, unlimited calling and text to and from/in and between the US, Mexico, and Canada.

Don’t need 4 lines? Cricket is also offering 2 lines of Unlimited 2 for $80.

Cricket Wireless’ direct competitors – Boost Mobile and MetroPCS area also offering similar deals that get you for unlimited lines for $100. But in contrast with Cricket’s promotion, these prepaid carriers offer 4G LTE speeds with theirs.

NUU X5 shows you don’t need to spend a ton for a decent smartphone

Dan Bartram
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Smartphones tend to be on the higher priced side of $500 to get the latest flagship features, with the cheapest possibly going to the OnePlus 5T or XIAMOI.

That could be about to change as the NUU Mobile X5 offers some big features in a $200 package. The device will be on show at CES 2018 in Las Vegas on the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th of January at Suite number 31-225.

The NUU X5 has a 5.5-inch screen with an impressive 400 pixels-per-inch, complimented by a 13MP rear wide-angle and 5MP front camera. The device launches with Android 7.0 Nougat on a 1.5 GHz 64-bit Octa-core processor and comes with 32GB of storage that can be expanded with a memory card up to 128GB. $200 will also get you 3GB of RAM and a battery that is quoted as “long-life and quick charging” so we’ll need to reserve judgment until further details around the battery are unveiled.

NUU prides itself on being a unique product with high-quality components and decent specs for $200. While not targetted to the power-user, the NUU X5 would be excellent as a burner phone or someone who wants to perhaps take another device traveling with the dual-SIM functionality.

We’ll definitely keep our eye on the NUU X5 and have some more details after CES 2018.

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