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Master & Dynamic intro silver and navy variant of MW60 headphones

AndroidGuys
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In the market for a set of kick-ass headphones? We’ve recently fallen in love with Master & Dynamic’s MW50 on-ear headphones; be sure to check out our review!

For those of you who might prefer something over-the-ear, we suggest you take a look at the MW60s. They’re built with the same attention to detail and level of craftsmanship as the MW50s but cover the full ear.

Previously, you could get the MW60s in Gunmetal/Black Leather, Black Metal/Black Leather, and Silver Metal/Brown Leather color options. Today, however, Master & Dynamic add a new color variant: Silver Metal/Navy Leather. It’s a gorgeous combination that looks altogether modern and yet somehow traditional, too.

Although M&D’s headphones carry a pretty hefty price tag, we definitely think they’re worth a look. Considering that, with proper care, these will last you a good decade, it’s fairly easy for us to justify it. There’s no doubt in our mind that we’d drop that much on a few pairs of lesser quality units over the same time frame.

Learn more about Master & Dynamic’s MW60 headphones, or order a pair, at its website.

You can poll people in Google Allo now

Alexandra Arici
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Allo is one of Google’s many messaging apps, one that brought an interesting feature to the table. The service offered users the option of using the Google Assistant in chats, even before the company started rolling out the AI companion to most phones running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above.

And this week Google has updated Allo to include a new feature, although we doubt it was intensively requested by the app’s user base. Allo just added the option of conducting polls from within the app. Not too mind-blowing, but we guess the feature could find it’s uses. Can’t sleep at night without knowing how many of your friends will be purchasing the Galaxy S8 (by the way we’re giving a free Galaxy S8, just so you know) or not? Create a poll and find out.

To create a poll in Allo, type @yesno in the message box and follow it by a question. Naturally this is an option to be used in group chats. However you should know that at the moment the feat is quite limited allowing only for Yes or No answers.

At some point, Google will probably allow customized answers, as well. But so far that’s all we get. Once created, the poll will go live at the bottom of the chat with the votes being displayed in real time.

Google advertises Allo as a chat app that helps you say more and do more. And with the addition of the new feature, users will be able to stay informed regarding their friends’ preferences.

How does the Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner work?

Alexandra Arici
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Samsung wants the Galaxy S8 to be a super safe device. With that purpose in mind, the company bundled the phone with several systems meant to ensure your personal information stays safely locked away from prying eyes. Apart from the traditional PIN, pattern or password unlock options, the Galaxy S8 also offers a fingerprint scanner authentication system, iris scanner (which was first made available with the Galaxy Note7) and an old fashioned face recognition system.

Iris scanning technology is advertises as being one of the most secure forms of biometric authentication, since an iris pattern is practically impossible to replicate. The iris scanner is practically a camera designed with a very specific function in mind which works alongside an infrared LED in order to recognize the unique pattern in your iris.

The camera includes a special image filter that receives and recognizes the reflected picture of the iris via a red IR LED light.

To use the iris scanner to authenticate yourself, users will need to lift the phone to eye level at arm’s length and wait for the iris scanner to capture the data. And compared to the scanner found in the Galaxy Note7, the one in the Galaxy S8 is a lot faster to process the information and unlock the phone for you. Samsung has improved the technology, so now you don’t even have to align the phone perfectly with your face, as long as the eyes are in the viewfinder. It also works from a considerable distance.

Like in the case of the Note7, once the iris pattern has been registered, the phone will store the information as an encrypted piece of code. Then, when a user tries to access the phone, the LED and camera combo work to capture the iris, then extract the code and compare the two against one another, before granting the owner access.

Users can also use the iris scanning technology for some of the most sensitive activities like paying with your credit or debit account. Scan your iris to make purchases with Samsung Pay (or Android Pay if you prefer this option) or check your bank accounts via Samsung Pass.

However, in recent days it was shown to have a loop hole. A user revealed that the Galaxy S8 can be unlocked by sampling using a picture of the phone’s user where the eyes are visible. By taking a photo of the Galaxy S8’s owner and by placing it in front of the phone’s iris scanner, the flagship can easily be unlocked. So the Galaxy S8’s authentication system is far from being bulletproof.

Actually iris scanning technology has limitation which Samsung itself acknowledged a while ago, like speed and accuracy (as demonstrated above). That’s why Samsung decided to add facial recognition to the Galaxy S8. With a face scanner, the phone can be unlocked with less than 0.01 seconds.

Face-authentication on Galaxy S8

In the end you’ll have to pick between the two, as you can have only method of facial unlocking activated on the device. Now if you are concerned about the security, we advise you to use the iris scanner. However, if you want speed above anything else, you should opt for face recognition.

Reminder: T-Mobile is offering 1-year of free MLB.TV Premium today

Alexandra Arici
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As we told you last week, T-Mobile is bringing back the MLB.TV promotion it also offered last year today. Starting April 4 and ending April 1:59 a.m Pacific Time, customers will be able to grab a one-year free of charge subscription to MLB.TV Premium and MLB.com At Bat Premium, both valued at $112.99.

MLB.TV will give users access to every out-of-market game for the 2017 MLB season, as well offer the ability to do home or away broadcast and live game DVR.

The MLB services will be available through T-Mobile’s Tuesdays app which can be downloaded by iOS and Android users alike. Remember that you’ll need to sign up for MLB.TV Premium before April 11 at 1:59 am Pacific Time. After which all you need to do is download the MLB.com At Bat app and tune in for your favorite games.

T-Mobile subscribers on most of the carrier’s consumer, business, postpaid and prepaid plans, can go ahead and claim the freebie.

The Magenta carrier will also be giving baseball fans the chance to win a $100 or $50 MasterCard gift cards and an all-expenses-paid trip to MLB All-Star Week in Miami, which takes place between 9 July to 12.

Android 7.1.2 update for Pixel, Nexus devices is available – here’s what’s new

Alexandra Arici
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As anticipated, Google has released the Android 7.1.2 update for the Pixel and Nexus family of devices. The new build is available for the Pixel (N2G47E), Pixel XL (N2G47J), Pixel C (N2G47D), Nexus 5X (N2G47F), Nexus 6P (N2G47H) and Nexus Player (N2G47H) – which all based on Android 7.1.1. As for the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 – they have reached the end of their journey and will remain at Android 7.1.1 (while Google is concerned).

So if you too own one of the devices listed above, you can go ahead and download the factory images and OTA files from Google directly. The April 2017 security update for the phones are also available and you can grab all the OTA files right here. However, if you don’t want to do things manually, you should know that the OTA updates should start rolling out automatically in the next few days/weeks. So just wait a little.

Google detailed on the Google Product Forums the changes and enhancements we can expect the new Android 7.1.2 update to bring to the table. We’re told that the new build for Pixel and Pixel XL is bound to hit devices in the next few weeks (unless you’re in the beta program, which means you’re probably going to see yours sooner), bringing along a number of bug fixes, added feats and general performance/stability improvements like:

  • Improved fingerprint swipe performance
  • Bluetooth connectivity improvements (could fix the remaining Bluetooth issues some Pixels were having)
  • Battery usage alerts
  • Pink banding on the camera fix
  • Early shutdown issues fix
  • Audio popping at high volume fix

As for the update rolling out for the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel C and Nexus Player it’s a bit different than the Pixel one. It brings with it:

  • Enhanced notification stability
  • Fingerprint swipe on the 5X/6P models (a highly-requested feature)
  • General connectivity improvements
  • Battery usage alerts

Google has started sending out the OTA updates for the Nexus C and Nexus Player over the weekend, but we expect other devices will  be getting it soon too.

Ottm Watchbands: Unique artworks with a renewable source. (Review)

Donovan Jeska
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Ottm Watchbands started as a little IndieGoGo project with a relatively modest goal of $10,000 to make unique, wooden watchbands for smartwatches. It ended up raising three times that – a success by all metrics. Mark Adams – Ottm’s founder – oversaw production personally, living in China for three (freaking) months to make sure everything was perfect. The result is something pretty damned beautiful. Each band is unique, and comes in three different woods: Canadian Maple, Gabonese Zebrawood, and Indonesian Sandalwood. In addition, Ottm Watchbands also come in two form factors – Apple Watch and Pebble/Wear.

I had the pleasure of giving Ottm’s Gabonese Zebrawood a spin on my Moto 360 (2016), and at first blush, I was very impressed. The entire band is made of premium, precision cut hardwood links, with the exception of the standard, stainless clasp. The striped (get it? Zebrawood?), well-stained wood strikes a dashing figure alongside the dark aluminum of the 360, and the smooth finish it utterly flawless. I’ve always had trouble with watchbands out of the box, finding that most are too short for my fat-kid wrists, but Ottm’s came with plenty of length right out of the box (with two extra links, to boot!).

Fun-Fact: Quick-change springs are the bee’s knees. With no tools required, and less than a minute to completely change bands, it really blows traditional spring-pins out of the water.

A tool is included in the package to add or remove links – and while I was able to adjust the length without too much trouble by hand, I’m wary of having to use any kind of force on the wooden links. Which brings me to my next topic – just how sturdy is the Ottm wood? Will it stand up to the daily wear and tear of an office job? How about a more physically demanding one? Despite the lightweight nature of the band, I got the feeling that it can stand up to some punishment. As I wear it daily, I’ll let you all know if I run into any breakage – so far, I’m impressed.

I have exactly one item on my wishlist: I’d love to see a Build Your Own tool on Ottm’s website, where we can choose our wood, choose our form factor and finally, choose the color of the clasp on the band – as it stands, the band on the Zebrawood band is stainless, while my Moto 360 is black/gunmetal. It still looks great, and it’s a tiny gripe, but hey. Nothing’s perfect.

Ottm’s Watches can be purchased either from the source itself, or from Amazon. It should be noted that buying directly from Ottm also ensures that a tree will be planted for each order placed – I’m not sure if that’s the case with Amazon.

Either way, the bands cost between $29.99 and $49.99, depending on the wood and style chosen.

n7player – a music player than even more demanding listeners will love (review)

Alexandra Arici
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Ever since I can remember I’ve been a fan of music. Actually I like to say I’m a being made of music, because music has always followed me around throughout my existence. I have a varied taste and go throw periods when I like to listen to post-rock a lot, followed by weeks when my playlist is dominated by deep-house or techno.

That’s why I’ve always had a music player app installed on my phone. And since there is a myriad of options available in the Google Play Store, I tried a number of them. Which brings us to the app I’m going to review today. It’s simply called n7player and it’s an intuitive, easy to use music playing app I really enjoyed using lately.

Setup

Just download the app for free from the Google Play Store. Once installed on your device, n7player will automatically scan your phone and populate the app interface with the albums/tracks it finds. It can recognize mp3, mp4, m4a, ogg, wav, 3gp, mid, xmf, ogg, mkv, flac and acc and will display the tracks by artists, albums, tracks or genres. I prefer to view them by Albums especially since the app also shows the accompanying Album Art.

Impressions

The app is quite easy to use and plentiful in customization options. However, some features are locked and you’ll have to pay if you want to take advantage of them – for example, changing the skins of your music player.

To get started, find the track you want to listen to and just tap Play.  If the tunes don’t come out sounding the way you’d like, the good news (especially for more demanding users) is that you have an (10 band) equalizer option at your disposal. Among other things like letting you boost the Bass or Treble via separate controls, allows you to create your customized pre-amp, channel balance, audio normalization and surround effects. The app also brings features like repeat once, repeat all, shuffle plus easily accessible current queue of tracks.

As I mentioned above, your tracks show up categorized as artists, albums, tracks or genres. You can easily filter what you see, meaning you can hide certain albums you don’t want to see at the moment or limit your music library to a few specified folders.

There’s also a tag cloud layout, which enables you to see all the tracks listed under a particular genre by virtue of a single tap. A built-in tag editor is also available, so you can organize your library in no time. Tagging a song is supe easy. Just tap on the album, then the respective song and find the “Edit tag” option in the menu that pops up. From the same menu you can add the tune to a certain playlist or add to queue or view the lyrics.

Have a headset you’d rather listen to music with? N7player will respond to the headset’s controls allowing you listeners to skip to the next song or go back to the previous one.

When it comes to visual customization the app lets you do a few things. With n7player you can select a notification theme or preferred widgets and change your lockscreen. Still you should keep in mind that most of the free customization options are simple toggles and you won’t be able to do things like change fonts or layouts. For a different skin, you’ll need to pay a small fee ($3.49).

It’s also worth mention that if you connect your n7player to ToasterCast you will be allowed to stream music on external devices via Chromecast/AirPlay/DLNA.

Conclusions

For me, the n7player worked like a charm. I loved the modern, clean user interface, but more (free) visual customization options would be very welcomed. As for features, I was quite satisfied with what the app offered especially the equalizer option.

Affordable ZTE Prestige 2 comes to Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile

Alexandra Arici
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0

Looking for a budget phone these days? Then you’re probably going to be interested in knowing that ZTE just unleashed a new wallet-friendly device, the Prestige 2 which is now available with Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The ZTE Prestige 2 is the successor of the original Prestige that launched in 2015. It doesn’t bring stellar specs to the table, but with a price tag as low as $79.99 you should expect it to.

Despite its name, the ZTE Prestige 2 includes a 5-inch display with 480 x 854 resolution and a Snapdragon 210 processor clocked at 1.1GHz. ZTE throws in 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. For those who crave more, there’s also a microSD card slot which allows for memory expansion up to 32GB.

Don’t buy this phone if you want to take awesome pictures with it. It features two cameras both of 5MP variety, so you won’t be snapping any award-winning photographs. Last but not least, the device relies on a 2.035 mAh battery, which will supposedly be able to support a 14-hour life cycle and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

If you don’t want to purchase the new ZTE Prestige 2 through Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile, then you’ll be glad to know the phone will land in Best Buy retail stores soon enough.

Check out the best 2017 April Fool’s Day tech pranks

Alexandra Arici
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April Fool’s Day came and went and naturally tech companies raced to produce the best prank, as it’s the custom every year. Well some of them turned out to be pretty funny, while others weren’t too inspiring. Anyway, if you happen catch a free moment, we assembled a collection of what we thought were the best pranks in 2017. Check them out below, they will hopefully help you forget it’s Monday.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile prank this year revolved a full-body wearable suit called the ONEsie (with direct reference to the company’s ONE plan). Designed by forward thinker, T-Mobile CEO John Legere, the fluffy onesie can help you monitor everything, while also acting like a mobile hotspot. The creation features two front pockets and a spacious sleeve pocket, so you can carry your smartphone around too.

OnePlus

People got really excited thinking that OnePlus would be making an announcement related to the Dash Charge rapid charging system found in the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. As it turned out, the Chinese company just wanted to troll folks a little bit in order to celebrate April 1, so it launched a new energy drink called “Dash Energy”. Weirdly enough, the Dash Energy is actually a real product, that got distributed during a few special events in London and Bangalore.

Google

Google had more than one prank to share with its fans this year. Perhaps the most interesting one revolves around Google Gnome – a Google Home variation of sorts (complete with Google Assistant) meant to stay outside in the yard and help you with all things related to the outdoors like delivering weather reports and telling you which plans are edible and which aren’t. However, it seems like the Google Gnome has a very dark sense of humor, as it often reminds us of Hal, the “evil” AI onboard the spaceship in 2001: A space odyssey. You can check all Google’s 2017 pranks below:

Oh yeah, and this year Google allowed users to turn any map in Google Maps into a fun Pac-Mac game.

Honor

Huawei’s Honor sub-brand released a “disruptive” smartphone a few days ago – a gadget to help you get over your social awkwardness and boost your self-esteem. The phone features a “U-daBest Always-On Affirmation” sensor which can detect when a user needs a compliment and swiftly delivers one to maintain spirits high throughout the day. The Honor BFF is still on the company’s official website, so you can check it out in full.

Amazon

Amazon’s best known product is probably the Echo speaker, so for this April Fool’s Day the company is teasing Petlexa integration. Basically this would bestow animal comprehension abilities on Alexa. It would be pretty neat if Petlexa would actually be a thing, as you wouldn’t have to spend the whole day worried about why Fido looked so sad when you left for work this morning.

Duolingo

The language learning app has set up a new goal. Instead of teaching you French or Spanish, it wants to help you learn Emoji. That’s right. Having hard time understanding your teen’s texts? Just download Duolingo to understand their hidden meaning and become a master spy on your child.

Master & Dynamic

Premium headphone maker, Master & Dynamic trolled its fans by teasing the new pair of MH40 Wireless On-Ear headphones made out of…concrete.

Triwa

Swedish watch manufacturer pokes fun at Ikea and its April Fool’s day hoax, by introducing a do-it-yourself smartwatch.

Moto X (2017) shows up in first official-looking press render

Alexandra Arici
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0

Between 2013 and 2015, Motorola launched flagship phones under the Moto X branding. Then in 2016, the company made a transition to the Moto Z, leaving the Moto X behind. Well this year, it appears Motorola wants to revive the Moto X – but not as a premium device, but a middle-range one.

We previously told you that the Moto X (2017) will probably be marketed as Motorola’s first affordable dual-camera phone. And recent leak combo seems to support this theory. It also throws an official-looking press render of the upcoming Moto X into the mix.

As you can see for yourselves in the image, the phone appears to feature a selfie camera with LED flash and a home button reminiscent of the new Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. The dual-cameras setup is visible on the back, as is the stylish golden hue.

According to a recent tweet by tipster, Roland Quandt, the Moto X (2017) is dubbed “Sanders” and will make a debut with a Snapdragon 625 processor onboard and 3GB or RAM + 32GB of internal storage or 4GB of RAM + 64GB of internal storage variants. As for the main camera, at this point we can tell you it will feature a 13MP sensor (info about the second one is unknown).

By the looks of it, the Moto X (2017) will be quite similar to the Moto G5 Plus which is offered in the US in 2GB/4GB of RAM + 32GB/64GB of internal storage. But those keen to have a dual-camera phone, will probably go for the Moto X (2017).

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