Want to give your Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ a makeover? Dutch accessory maker, Freshfiber just announced a new lineup of phone cases called Full Color Textural which makes use of high definition 3D color technology to create an intriguing aesthetic.
The new Freshfiber cases take inspiration from the natural world with their high depth textures and rich colors. What’s more, customers can personalize their phone cases even more by adding a text, a favorite quote, wish or logo on the back or sides of the case.
All cases in the Full Color Textural lineup offer shock, bump and scratch protection, but also act as style boosters.
Interested parties have a variety of case options to choose from including Anemone, Dragonstone (for Game of Thrones fans), Geo, Glacier, Tide and Kaleido.
Each of these cases (either for the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+) costs €32,99 ($38). If you want Freshfiber to add a text for further personalization, you’ll have to pay €42.99 ($50).
The company ships from the Netherlands worldwide and we’re told the custom-made accessories will arrive at your doorsteps within 2 weeks of placing an order.
We should note the Full Color Textural cases are also compatible with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here – the Essential Phone is up for pre-order through the exclusive US carrier Sprint.
Multiple delays have seen the estimated shipping date earlier in the Summer come and go. Andy Ruben was very vocal and transparent on Twitter about the delay and only yesterday confirmed units would begin shipping next week.
Customers who wish to be among the first to get Essential Phone can pre-order it in black at www.sprint.com/essential beginning on August 17. It will be available in white at a later date. Full retail availability in expected within a few weeks.
“Essential Products was created to realize our vision for a 21st century consumer technology company,” said Andy Rubin, founder of Essential. “Essential Phone and Essential 360° Camera are the first of many products designed around the consumer that embody our commitment to premium craftsmanship and cutting edge innovation. Live streaming Essential 360° video is the kind of unique experience and functionality that is a perfect use of Sprint’s national high speed data network.”
The Essential PH-1 features a 5.71-inch display at 1312 x 2560 enclosed in a bezel-less display. With 4GB or RAM, 13MP camera, Snapdragon 835 processor, and a 3040mAh battery, it’s shaping up to be an awesome device.
For a limited time, you can get 50 percent off Essential Phone and pay just $14.58 per month with $0 down with 18 Sprint Flex Lease payments – that is a savings of more than $260. If you want to keep the phone at the end of your lease, you’ll have to pay the remaining balance for the phone’s full price — $700. Plus, you can also get the Essential 360° Camera for just $199.99 or $16.67 per month for 12 months with Installment Billing.
Head on over to www.sprint.com/essential or the official Essential website to pre-order your device now in black.
Premier audio brand Master & Dynamic is currently offering a limited time promotion which should certainly appeal to those of you looking for new headphones. Available now through Labor Day (September 4) is a back-to-school BOGO deal for anyone who orders some new cans.
Master & Dynamic, in conjunctions with Audible, is throwing in a set of complimentary ME03 Earphones (black metal/black rubber) and two downloadable Audible books for each pair of headphones purchased. The offer is valid with the purchase of any MW60, MW50, MH40, or MH30 headphones.
How to get the deal
Head to Master & Dynamic’s website and put the MW60, MW50, MH40 or MH30 headphones in your shopping cart. Upon doing so a pair of black metal / black rubber ME03 Earphones will be added to your cart at checkout. These will be included at no cost. As part of your order confirmation email, you’ll be given two Audible Book URLs.
A few days before the Samsung Galaxy Note8 is expected to launch, we’re hearing US regulators have issued a recall for select Galaxy Note 4 batteries.
Before you get your pitchforks out, let us tell you that this time around it’s nothing remotely similar to the Galaxy Note7 scandal. Actually Samsung doesn’t even have anything to do it with it.
An overheating issue became apparent with some batteries that have been installed on refurbished Galaxy Note 4 units distributed by AT&T’s insurance program and handled by FedEx Supply Chain.
The recalled Galaxy Note 4 battery
We emphasize that only these units are in danger of overheating and are thus being recalled. The Consumer Product Safety Commission website issued a notice in which it explains the batteries installed on these refurbished phones are counterfeit and pose an overheating risk.
Interestingly enough despite the Galaxy Note 4 being a three-year-old phone, these refurbished units were shipped out to customers relatively recently between December 2016 and April 2017. So far, there’s been only one report of a Galaxy Note 4 overheating, but fortunately no one has been injured.
To prevent any more similar occurrences from happening, FedEx Supply Chain has already started sending out new batteries to affected customers, as well as a postage paid box to return the nasty battery in.
Since the Galaxy Note 4 has a removable battery, users can simply buy a new battery to use. Those who don’t want to pay extra can just wait for the replacement battery to be shipped by FedEx.
The commission advises owners of affected Galaxy Note 4 units to stop using the phones immediately and power them down. A total of 10,000 batteries are currently being recalled.
Back in May during its I/O 2017, Google announced you’ll soon be able to make calls using the Google Home speaker.
Well, the functionality is rolling out as we speak, but for the time being, only users in US and Canada will be able to take advantage of it.
Now you can simply say “Ok Google, call Lori” and the device will swiftly get your friend on the line. Users can call any landline or mobile in US and Canada for free. It works over Wi-Fi, so don’t worry about it draining your plan minutes.
But the new feature has some limitations. For starters, you can’t call another Google Home from yours or answer incoming calls. You can only ask the device to make calls.
Ok Google, call mom
Secondly, unless you’re a Google Voice or Project Fi subscriber, people you’ll be calling won’t be able to see your number when you call. Instead, they’ll see “Unknown” or “No Caller ID” so there’s a big chance they’ll ignore your call.
But Google Voice and Project Fi users can avoid all that by simply connecting their account to a Home speaker. Google says it’s working on a solution for everyone else which will become available by the end of the year.
The roll-out of this new features comes mere days after the Google Home Preview Program, which lets Google Home users try new features before everyone else – opened its gates to the public.
After spending $8 billion on a new low-band spectrum to improve its wireless network back in April, T-Mobile this week announced the first 600MHz LTE network is now live in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The new network, which uses Nokia equipment promises to offer better coverage in rural areas and inside buildings and less data congestion compared to the 700MHz networks which are widely deployed by most carriers today (the lower the frequency, the better the coverage).
T-Mobile promises that by the end of the year it will add ten more 600MHz additional sites in Wyoming, Northwest Oregon, West Texas, Southwest Kansas, Oklahoma, Western North Dakota, Maine, coastal North Carolina, Central Pennsylvania, Central Virginia and eastern Washington.
But there’s a caveat. Residents of Cheyenne can’t really take advantage of the perks brought along by the new technology, as compatible phones aren’t available on the market just yet.
However, the carrier revealed that Samsung and LG will launch 600MHz compatible phones by the end of the year (we’re thinking maybe the Galaxy Note8 and V30). T-Mobile also promised to make available more devices in 2018.
Even so, rolling 600MHz is a particularly tricky business, because TV stations are using the spectrum. These stations are in the process of moving to different frequencies, but the complete transition won’t happen overnight. Still T-Mobile is doing everything in its power to speed things along.
The Magenta carrier says that the FCC granted the licenses for the new network in June, and having it online by August is much faster than was expected. To compare, Verizon purchased 700MHz spectrum from the FCC back in 2008, but didn’t flip the switch on the first network until 2010.
After months of waiting, Nokia’s come back flagship is finally here. HMD – the Finnish company licensing the right to produce Nokia phones – unveiled the Nokia 8 during a press event hosted in London.
The phone arrives to compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and iPhone 8. But even if the new smartphone brings similar specifications to other top-end rivals, Nokia has decided to stick with the more classical design. Meaning that the Nokia 8 features consistent bezels thus going against the industry trend of slimming down bezels as much as possible.
The 7.9 mm-thick phone packs a 5.3-inch display with 2560 x 1440 resolution and takes advantage of a Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The product is made of a single piece of 6000-series aluminum and will be offered in glossy Polished Blue and Polished Copper colors, as well as in matte Tempered Blue and Steel options.
Below the display sits a fingerprint scanner and the capacitive navigation buttons, while the 3.5mm headphone jack lives on top and the USB-C port is at the bottom.
HMD is bringing back the always-on display with the Nokia 8 which shows calls, emails and text messages (and soon social network notifications) on a small section of the display.
The device is powered by a non-removable 3,090 mAh battery that can be recharged quickly thanks to Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 3.0 technology on board.
It runs a nearly-stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat version and you can be sure it will receive the Android O update soon after Google will make it available.
It’s also important to note that the Nokia 8 takes advantage of liquid-cooling technology which at least on paper, should keep it cool under heavy use.
Any stand-out features? Nokia and HMD are betting on photography and video with the Nokia 8 by introducing the so-called “Bothie” mode (or Dual Sight). The Nokia 8 is the first Nokia Android handset to come equipped with Carl Zeiss optics on the back and on the front. All sensors are of 13-megapixel variety, with the mention that the primary camera is actually a dual setup offering f/2.0, laser and phase detection autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, OIS and dual-LED.
What about the “Bothie mode”? It will basically activate both the front and back cameras to let you capture photos and videos. The video produced will then broadcasted via Facebook or YouTube natively through the camera interface.
Furthermore, the phone also takes advantage of spatial audio technology, which Nokia previously used in its futuristic camera for filming VR – the OZO. This means that videos shot with the Nokia 8 will capture 360-degree audio.
HMD plans to release the Nokia 8 as soon as September in Europe with a price tag of approximately $706. Unfortunately, no details about a potential US launch were shared with the press, but hopefully the new phone will make it across the pond at some point.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were unveiled with typical fanfare when they were announced earlier this year, and, while receiving cheerful reviews from reviewers, have been accused of smaller sales numbers than last year’s Galaxy S7 series. Samsung responded to the claims with a statement that Galaxy S8 sales were 15% greater than Galaxy S7 sales. A new report from Strategy Analytics says that Samsung’s Galaxy S8 has become the best-selling Android smartphone in the world in Q2 2017 with 19.2 million smartphones shipped.
“We estimate Samsung Galaxy S8 shipped 10.2 million units for third place and 3 percent marketshare worldwide in q2 2017. the galaxy s8+ captured fourth position with 9.0 million shipments and 2 percent marketshare globally.”
-Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ proved to be invincible on Google’s Android platform (the closest Android-powered smartphone to the Galaxy S8 series was the Xiaomi Redmi 4A), but they were still no match for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which saw shipments of 16.9 million and 15.1 million in Q2, along with 4.7% and 4.2% global marketshare respectively. Smartphone shipments saw a year-on-year growth of 5.5% when comparing Q2 2017 to the same quarter last year.
The Galaxy S8 features a 5.8-inch Infinity Super AMOLED display with a Quad HD+ resolution of 2,960 x 1,440p and 18.5:9 aspect ratio, Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895 SoC (depending on market), 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage with a 256GB-capable microSD card slot, an 8MP front/12MP rear Dual Pixel (f/1.7) camera combo, and 3,000mAh battery, not to mention the iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, and IP 68 water and dust certification. The Galaxy S8+ has a 6.2-inch display, equal in all other specs except its 3,500mAh battery to its smaller-screened sibling.
The Moto Z Force was a great device for those looking for something hard wearing and with a bit of protection that doesn’t sacrifice cosmetic appeal. However, the device isn’t as young as it once was and with apps getting more resource demanding, you could find the Moto Z Force to be slowing down. Luckily there is a hidden feature that you can change that will instantly speed up your device.
This tip will help speed up your Moto Z Force and help reduce the impact of the aging processor and resource hungry apps, as well as the lower processing power in the device. The best bit is there’s nothing extra to install or tons of settings to change, just a simple case of changing a setting with developer options enabled.
The little hack revolves around the animations applied to transitioning between windows and turning the device on or off. By simply turning this off, it contributes to making the device seem extremely snappy and fast by reducing the delay applied to the animation.
First, you’ll need to enable the Developer Options hidden menu. To do this, go into Settings -> About Device and scroll down to “Build Number”. Now, tap on “Build Number” five times and you’ll see a notification saying that “Developer mode has been enabled”.
With that hidden menu now enabled, we can head on into it to begin fastening up our Moto Z Force.
Head on in to Developer Options in Settings.
Scroll down to the Drawing section.
Of interest here is the Window Animation Scale, Transition Animation Scale, and Animator Duration Scale.
Click on them individually to change the scale.
You are able to turn the animations off completely, or set them to 0.5x (default is 1x) so the animations will be double speed for those who would like to retain them.
You’ll notice your Moto Z Force feels substantially quicker without any hacks that affect your software, warranty, or device battery life. Let us know your comments in the section below.
Most Android manufacturers usually bundle their phone or tables with their own web browsers. My Xiaomi Mi 4i has one and it’s super slow and frustrating to use. If you too are sick and tired of your phone automatically opening links from third-party apps in the stock browser, you should know there’s a simple way to set the device’s default browser to something better, like Google’s Chrome!
This way you’ll also have access to all your synced settings and bookmarks from your desktop while enjoying a swift browsing experience. Here’s how to do it.
1. Open your phone’s Settings app
2. Find the “Device” section and tap on “Apps” or “Installed apps”
3. Find the “Defaults” button (on my Xiaomi Mi 4i it’s located centrally at the bottom, but on some devices, you might have to access Settings first to get to Default)
Master & Dynamic, in conjunctions with Audible, is throwing in a set of complimentary 
