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Sticker Market: Emoji Keyboard lets you get creative while you chat (Review)

Alexandra Arici
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Overview

If you like to spice up your online conversation with creative stickers and GIFs, then you’ll be glad to know there are dedicated apps out there which offer access to entire libraries of fun stickers. This is the case of Sticker Market: Emoji Keyboard, a fun little app designed to replace your standard keyboard in order to give you access to all kinds of emoji while you’re using your favorite social media apps.

Getting started

Just head on to the Google Play Store and download the Sticker Market: Emoji Keyboard for free on your Android device and install it. The app is also available in the App Store and can be accessed as a Chrome extension on your desktop computer.

Overall experience

Once you fire up the app, you will be asked to sign in either with your Facebook or Google account (or register with another email). After you’re done you’ll have to go through the keyboard setup tutorial which shows you the simple steps you need to take to activate the keyboard.

Sticker Market

Then you should be transported to the main screen, where you’ll be able to check out your profile and from there, access the Sticker Market which comes packed with stickers, GIF images, and templates. The interface feels quite familiar, as it’s reminiscent of the Google Play Store which means you’ll be able to find your way with ease.

From the Sticker Market, you can download all the stickers you want. Just bear in mind that for some you’ll have to pay. You can browse them by categories including “Top Free”, “Trending” or “Top Paid”.

There’s always a search function, so you can find stickers by searching for keywords in the search box. You can also activate different search filters to sort stickers by your preferred creator, pricing, sorting, and animation.

The app stores the stickers, templates, and GIFs you’ve downloaded in the cloud for later access.

Sticker Keyboard

The second major segment of the app is the Sticker Keyboard which is laid on top your phone’s regular keyboard. You’ll notice a dedicated Sticker button on your keyboard which once tapped will give you access to all the stickers you’ve downloaded so far.

You can use the keyboard in concert with all your social media and messaging apps including WhatsApp , Facebook or Snapchat. The keyboard is customizable as you can choose between a Light Theme and a Dark Theme. It also supports multiple languages including English, Spanish, Polish, Romanian, Armenian and French.

Sticker Cam

But that’s not all, the app also includes a feature called the Sticker Cam. Here you can either add masks or templates and superimpose them on your selfie pictures (similar to Snapchat), or create your own face emoji. How do you do that? By taking a self-portrait and then cropping the part which you want to turn into an emoji. All these custom-made emojis will then be saved under the emojis category in the menu.

Speaking of which, if you’re the creative type Sticker Market invites you to become a sticker creator. Designers and illustrators can submit their work and start selling them on the market.

While the app is easy and fun to use, using the Sticker Cam would at the times result in freezing. I couldn’t load certain templates and some would just force the app to shut-down.

Loading up some types of emojis takes longer than others, but in order to prevent such issues, you should make sure you’re on a stable Wi-Fi connection.

I would also have liked the app to provide more keyboard customization options, not just the light and dark themes, but who knows maybe they will be added later on.

Conclusion

All in all, Sticker Market: Emoji Keyboard is a fun, easy-to-use app that delivers tons of stickers right at your fingertips. The best thing about it is that you no longer have to switch between apps and keyboards to get your daily new emoji fix. Just download the app and start chatting.

Visit the Sticker Market website or;

Download the Sticker Market: Emoji Keyboard app from the Google Play Store

Sprint will bring the LG V30+ to the US

Alexandra Arici
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LG unveiled the V30 and V30+ phablets yesterday, but at launch, the company said the V30+ will be available in limited markets. Well, the good news is that the model will make it to the US courtesy of Sprint.

Thanks to a recent Tweet by the Sprint CEO himself, we now know the LG V30+ will land in the country. For those who haven’t been following the news, the only difference between the LG V30 and V30+ is that the latter carries 128GB of storage instead of 64GB. The phone does not come with a larger display, more RAM or any additional features.

While LG hasn’t officially announced the pricing for the V30 in the US, the company’s ongoing Sweepstakes’ terms and conditions reveal the phone will most likely come with a $749 price tag. And the V30+ variant could set you back with as much as $800.

The LG V30 is a breath-taking new smartphone that comes with the latest specs (yes, LG included a Snapdragon 835 this time) and the truckload of features like the 32-bit Advanced Hi-Fi Quad DAC.

You can read more about the smartphone in our First Impressions article right here.

Review: Griffin Survivor Glass tempered glass screen protector for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

Matt Adams
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One of the best, and the most noticeable, features of the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is the massive, 6.2-inch curved display. To my eyes, it’s the best display on the market and there’s no real competition for the crown. How Samsung managed to cram a screen that big into the phone is beyond amazing. But, when you’re shelling out over $900 at launch for such a device, you want to make sure it’s protected. Normally, that comes down to finding a nice case and screen protector, but the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are unique.

See, that curved edge display is incredibly hard to protect. Since the display curves, there’s a lot more surface area to protect and it’s very hard for companies to make curved tempered glass screen protectors. There are a ton of screen protectors on Amazon right now, but it’s hard to find any with good reviews, especially without spending an arm and a leg.

Griffin is a name that you might know. They’ve been around forever and make some excellent cases. Now, it’s trying its hand at curved screen protectors for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. I was initially skeptical because this has been so hard for other companies to pull off, but I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with the Survivor Glass that Griffin sent over for us to review.

A friend picked up a tempered glass screen protector made by another company from a Verizon Wireless brick and mortar store at launch. He experienced what many others complained about, missed touches. This is a terrible issue with tempered glass screen protectors on curved displays because if you don’t get the screen protector dead on, it can leave gaps between the protector and the glass it’s protecting. Those gaps cause missed taps. There’s no adhesive in the middle of these screen protectors, they only hold onto the sides of the device so positioning is important. I’m happy to report that I’ve never had a missed touch due to the screen protector on my Galaxy S8 Plus.

The fit, for the most part, is pretty good. The Survivor Glass does NOT reach across the entire display, but it does get damn close. You will see clear-ish lines on your display while looking at it due to the end of the screen protector not reaching, but you get used to it quickly. I don’t even notice them anymore. If you’re the type of person who will not accept anything on your screen, then you’re probably not going to find a tempered glass screen protector for your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus.

The Griffin Survivor Glass stops before the top of the device

Since the Survivor Glass doesn’t reach all the way, you will be able to feel the edges of it. It doesn’t feel super sharp or thick, but you can definitely tell it’s there. Much like the lines, I didn’t mind it at all and found myself from running my thumb over the edge from time to time. A nasty side effect of the screen protector ending before the edge of the phone is that sometimes you’ll get hair or dust sticking to the side or slightly underneath the screen protector. It’s annoying but I’ve been able to get everything out from under it easily. It does feel messy though.

The display will also feel messy because this thing is a fingerprint magnet. I don’t know exactly what Griffin coats the Survivor Glass with, but it doesn’t do a great job of resisting finger grease and my phone looks noticeably worse with it on. It’s a quick wipe away from looking great again, but I hate that I have to do it so often.

I’ve tried several cases with the screen protector and since case manufacturers are generally hesitant to go much past the buttons on the side of the device, there have been no issues. If you’re going to grab a full coverage case like a Lifeproof case, there could be some conflicts but everything I’ve used from Caseology, Spigen, and Samsung has worked wonderfully.

The glass stops short of covering the entire display but works well with cases like this ultra thin case.

All in all, I love the Griffin Survivor Glass. I paid a lot of money for my Galaxy S8 Plus and I’d like to keep it for years and years. We all know that glass scratches even when we’re trying to baby phones so I’d much rather put a decently thin, clear glass screen protector on to protect it. While the screen protector isn’t perfect, it does the job as well as any other screen protector I’ve seen on the market today. I definitely recommend it.

You can pick up the Griffin Survivor Glass tempered glass screen protector for the Samsung Galaxy S8 on its website and Amazon and for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus on its website and Amazon.

B&O Play debuts an expensive pair of wireless earbuds

Alexandra Arici
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Don’t like the new Samsung Gear IconX 2018 wireless earbuds for some reason? Well, maybe you’ll prefer what B&O Play has to offer instead.

At IFA, the audio specialist unveiled a pair of wireless earbuds called simply E8. Naturally, they look pretty sleek lined with aluminum and coming with a premium leather case, but the twist is – they cost more than the Apple AirPods (which you can grab for $159).

If high pricing doesn’t scare you off, then you should know the B&O Play E8 earbuds will be available in October for $299 a pop.

For this amount of cash, you’ll get a pair that’s splash and dust resistance and works with a companion smartphone app that lets the user customize sound profiles.

What’s more, the buds come with voice recognition support for virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa.

What about battery life you might be wondering? The E8 are said to be able to last up to four hours on a single charge (the AirPods can deliver up to 5).

The good news is that they come bundled with an additional battery in the box which should be good for two extra charges, as well as four pairs of different-sized silicon tips and a USB charging cable (USB-A to microUSB).

Fight Darth Vader in your living room with Lenovo’s new Star Was AR system

Alexandra Arici
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On top of launching its own Windows 10 mixed reality headset at IFA 2017, Lenovo also announced it has entered a partnership with animation giant Disney for the new Star Wars: Jedi Challenge system.

The system is powered by Lenovo Mirage AR headset and also includes a tracking beacon and a lightsaber controller. Of course, you’ll also need a smartphone onto which to load the Jedi Challenges app (for Android or iOS).

Lenovo’s headset should provide a superior experience than what you’d get with a Google Daydream View or Samsung Gear VR thanks to the two fisheye lenses that are used for inside-out position tracking helps the app detect the wearer’s movements through space. As for the external tracking beacon, it communicates directly with the headset to stabilize tracking.

If it sounds awesome, it’s because it is! The app allows users to tap into three different AR experiences. The first one is called Lightsaber battles and is basically a training mode which allows you to develop your skills while fighting against anti-heroes from the series including Darth Vader and Kylo Ren.

The second experience is Strategic Combat during which you are in charge of planning battles against the Separatists, Empire, or First Order. Last but not least, there’s the Holochess which brings the 3-dimensional virtual board game from Episode IV in your living room.

For starters, the Star Wars: Jedi Challenge system will be compatible with a handful of devices including Samsung Galaxy S7 and later, the Google Pixel, Pixel XL and Motorola Moto Z. Support for more devices will arrive soon.

In the US, the system will be available for purchase for $199.99 at Best Buy. You can get it starting this November.

The Harman Kardon Allure is an ugly smart speaker with Alexa

Alexandra Arici
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Do you like the idea of having a smart speaker around the house, but you’d like one that could actually deliver premium audio? Then you might want to skip the Amazon Echo in favor of the newly launched Harman Kardon Allure.

The new smart speaker comes with Harman’s 360-degree soon, as well as a built-in 4-microphone array with advanced noise cancellation technology and includes Amazon’s popular voice assistant Alexa too. Users will be able to play music, have Alexa read them the news, buy stuff from Amazon, ask questions and so on.

Apart from that, the Allure also glows and the multicolored ambient light reacts to your voice commands. It also pulses on the music’s rhythm.

The Harman Kardon Allure will be available for purchase for $249.95 a pop starting this winter. Interested parties will be able to get it from the official Harman Kardon website or Amazon.com.

It’s a bit pricier than the Amazon Echo which is currently available for a discounted $99 (down from $179.99), so it remains to be seen whether the Allure will manage to attract customers. Especially given that it looks quite ugly in comparison to the Echo or any other smart speakers out there. The device resembles a ambulance siren, so it’s not really pretty to look at.

What do you think?

LG is giving away three V30s, here’s how to win one

Alexandra Arici
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A few days ago LG unveiled its latest flagship product, the LG V30 during a press event at IFA 2017 in Berlin. The handset is one of the best looking phones LG ever produced to date and it comes packed with an impressive host of features.

https://www.androidguys.com/2017/08/31/androidguys-ten-for-ten-giveaways-celebrating-ten-years-of-android-week-1/

While we don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to pick up an LG V30 in the US, the company is giving a chance to three lucky fans to win a V30 smartphone. All you need to do to enter the sweepstakes is retweet LG’s tweet embedded below until Saturday, September 2, 2017, at 11:59:00 pm ET (Eastern Time).

https://twitter.com/LGUSAMobile/status/903225001662402560

The giveaway is available for people who are at least 18 years old of age and who reside in the US.

At launch, LG didn’t mention anything about the pricing of the V30, but the Sweepstakes does reveal the “approximate retail value” which is $749. This is probably how much LG is going to ask for the unlocked version in the US.

Anyway if you too like the LG V30 and live in the US, head on to Twitter and retweet LG for a chance to win this beautiful smartphone. A total of three units are going to be given away. Hurry up, you still have time!

Lenovo unveils new Yoga 920 convertible, Surface competitor, and Smart Assistant Pack

Alexandra Arici
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Lenovo came to IFA 2017 with a whole portfolio of new products including a new tablet, a convertible and an Alexa-powered Smart Assistant Pack for the home. If you’re curious and want more information on the new comers continue reading below.

Lenovo Yoga 920

A new addition to the iconic Yoga family is the Yoga 920 – a convertible which comes with a 13.9-inch touchscreen nearly edgeless 4K display (a 1080p version is also available). The crisp IPS display flips around with 360-degrees thanks to a hinge crafted from extra durable machined aluminum.

The convertible ships with Intel’s 8th generation Core i7 processor working in combination with 8GB or 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 256GB or 1TB of SATA SSD. The device runs Windows 10 out of the box with Cortana on board.

The Yoga 920 ships with Lenovo Active Pen 2, for those who prefer it to regular touch input. The new product also boasts JBL speakers and Dolby Atmos when user connect a pair of headphones through the 3.5mm headphone jack. Additional ports include two USB-C (with Thunderbolt and USB-PD support) and a regular USB 3.0.

Lenovo promises 10.8 hours of battery life on a single charge for the 4K version, while the 1080p one gets a more extensive one of 15.5 hours.

Lenovo also showed a pair of black/white Start Wars-themed Yoga 920s – the Star Wars Special Edition Yoga 920 Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire for super fans of the franchise.

Lenovo Miix 520

If you prefer something more portable, the Lenovo Miix 520 tablet-laptop hybrid might be what you need. In tablet mode, this Microsoft Surface competitor weighs only 880g, but if you snap the keyboard on it will add an extra 180g of bulk.

The hybrid features an IPS 1080p display and you can choose to pair it with an 8th gen Intel Core i7 processor, but you can opt for a 7th gen Intel Core i3, as well.

As for memory, there’s a choice between 4GB and 16GB of DDR4 RAM and up to 1TB PCIe SSD. The tablet also includes two cameras of 5-megapixel variety with autofocus. An optional 8-megapixel WorldView that can capture images you can later edit in 3D is alsoavailable.

The Miix 520 boasts stereo speakers and Dolby Audio, as well as an USB-C and one regular USB 3.0. Don’t forget you can use the hybrid in concert with Lenovo’s Active Pen 2 stylus too.

The Miix 520 will start at $999.99 and will become available come October from the company’s official website.

Lenovo Home Assistant Pack

With smart speakers getting more and more attention from customers, Lenovo at IFA 2017 unveiled a new dock attachment for its 4-series tablets, which basically adds an Amazon Echo-shaped speaker complete with Alexa on board to your slate. The mount comes equipped with a three-watt speaker meant to enhance the tablet’s overall sound system.

The Home Assistant Pack will cost you only $69.99, while Lenovo’s 4-series tablets start at a pretty affordable $129.99.

The company is offering two different accessory packs you can get alongside the Home Assistant Pack. The first one is the Kids Pack which includes a shock-resistant bumper, a blue-light filter, and two 3M stickers. Tablets can also be set on Kids mode, which offers a series of kid-friendly apps.

The second pack is a productivity pack which bundles a Bluetooth keyboard case, as well as a customized productivity interface. This pack is perfect for those who want to work while on the go.

Keep your eyes out for the Lenovo Home Assistant Pack in October in the US.

Lenovo Explorer

Lenovo also unveiled its own take on a Windows 10 mixed reality headset. It’s called Lenovo Explorer and with it users will be able to use it to watch movies, videos or take virtual tours in 3D or explore 360-degree environments.

The headset comes to 1440 x 1440 displays with two six-degree-of freedom (6DOF) tracking cameras and connects over both HDMI/DisplayPort and USB. These cameras give the headset special awareness and room tracking capabilities, as well as keeping tabs on the dedicated motion controllers which have been designed by Microsoft.

The Explorer is expected to ship in October for $350 or $450 with motion controllers.

Cat S41 and Cat S31 pack large batteries and IP68 certification

AndroidGuys
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Cat Phones are considered to be some of the most ruggedized smartphones on the market, and some buyers often assume that ruggedization brings inferior specs when the priority is making durable smartphones that can handle the elements. Caterpillar is back with two new smartphones that not only pack large batteries and boost IP water and dust certification (standard expectations for rugged smartphones) but also enable mobile payments.

The Cat S41 features a 5-inch, Full HD IPS LCD Super Bright Display with a Full HD screen resolution of 1,920 x 1,080p that features Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 panel technology for screen protection, the 2.3GHz, octa-core MediaTek MT6757 SoC (Helio P20), 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage with a 2TB-capable microSD card slot. An 8MP front (with fixed focus) and 13MP back camera with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and LED flash ensure that you’ll get great outdoor photos (even underwater; the cameras work underwater). Unfortunately, you can’t play games and see your way in the dark as you can with the Cat S60.

The Cat S41 is a ruggedized device, so the 218-gram weight and 12.85mm thickness of this device (compare its thickness to the slim, 157-gram, 7.3mm-thin profile of the newly-announced LG V30) shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the battery is one of the Cat S41’s greatest features: the device packs a whopping 5,000mAh battery, which Caterpillar says can grant up to 44 hours of standby time and 38 hours of 3G talk time. Apart from the MIL-STD 810G rating for shock and drop protection, the Cat S41 is also “salt fog, sand, dust, dirt, vibration, and pressure resistant,” Caterpillar says.

Other features are worth noting about this rugged handset. First is Bluetooth 4.1, so, while you’re not looking at Bluetooth 5.0, it should suffice. Next, Caterpillar has added Android Pay integration for mobile payments, so you’ll be able to make purchases with the Cat S41 at NFC terminals (only). There’s also the micro-USB 2.0 and USB OTG charging technologies that allow you to use the Cat S41 to charge other devices. Yes, this phone can charge other phones. GPS, aGPS, and GLONASS allow you to location-track no matter where you are.

Now, to the rugged nature of the device. The Cat S41 has 2-meter waterproofing for 60 minutes, which takes the device beyond the current IP68 water and dust certification trend. IP68 certifies the device free from water damage in up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes; the Cat S41 can stay in 2 meters of water for up to an hour.

The thinner Cat S31 (12.6mm versus the Cat S41’s 12.85mm) doesn’t share the 2-meter, beyond IP68 certification of the Cat S41 with its IP68 rating (1.2 meters for 35 minutes) and isn’t as spec-packed as its sibling. Instead of a 5-inch Full HD display, the Cat S31 features a 4.7-inch HD IPS LCD panel with a 1280 x 720p screen resolution, with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection instead of the Gorilla Glass 5 of the Cat S41.

The device packs a 2MP front (fixed focus – no autofocus or OIS here)/8MP back (autofocus) camera combo with an LED. Other specs include Qualcomm’s quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 128GB-capable microSD card slot. The Cat S31 packs a whopping 4,000mAh battery that can hold its own against the S41, but there is no NFC for Android Pay mobile payments.

Both the Cat S41 and Cat S31 also provide the cherished 3.5mm headphone jack come in nano-SIM, dual-SIM, and single-SIM variants, all while running Android Nougat. The Cat S41 will be priced at around $475 and is available from August 31st while the Cat S31 will retail for $355 and will be released for purchase later this year.

Sony launches LF-S50G smart speaker with Google Assistant

Dan Bartram
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Sony has taken a leap into the connected speaker market with the LF-S50G and has turned to Google Assistant for some help making it smart.

Think of the speaker as a Google Home with better audio. Sony’s speaker has a 360-degree speaker array, a downward woofer, and an upward tweeter encased in a splash-proof case. It does have the same number of microphones as Google Home, so expect the voice recognition to be on par with the Google counterpart. Obviously having Google Assistant baked in means it benefits from all the smart integration features Google Home would offer.

The top of the Sony speaker also supports gesture controls – A rotation of a finger clockwise over the top of the speaker will increase volume and moving in the other direction reduces it. You can also use the gesture control to skip forward and back between tracks.

Sony says the new LF-S50G will go on sale starting in mid-October for the retail price of $199 (around £150, AU$250). That’s about $70 more than the Google Home so it will be down to personal preference if the better audio quality is worth the added cost. In a market that is largely dominated by Google, Apple, and Amazon, is there really room for Sony to make a dent? It certainly is positioning the speaker in the right place focusing on sound quality to differentiate against the competitors, but might be a little bit pricey for most.

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