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Users complain Bluetooth on Pixel or Pixel XL turns off unexpectedly

Alexandra Arici
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The Pixel and Pixel XL are wonderful phones, but they’ve seen their fair shares of bugs and issues. One of the most recent ones affected the phone’s speakers, but that got fixed via the February update.

Well now it seems like the same update triggered another issue – although we can’t be 100% sure. A lot of Pixel and Pixel XL users have taken to Reddit and Google’s own product forums to complain of Bluetooth turning off automatically without the owner having any say in the matter.

Bluetooth can be turned on again without problem, but only to turn itself off again a few moments later.

On Reddit, an official Google Account replied the following on the Bluetooth bug thread:

“Hey All,

Thanks for letting us know. Want to hop in here and confirm that we are looking into this. We’ll keep you posted.

*Edit – For those that are experiencing this, please post over on our Pixel community thread with details. I’ll be able to reach out for bug reports to get to the proper eng folks. Thanks!”

So if you too are seeing the same problem on your Pixel, go over to the official Pixel forums and tell Google about it in detail. This will ensure Google is made aware the problem is quite widespread and will motivate it to come up with a fix fast. Especially since, there are no known workarounds for this problem at the moment.

In related news, select Pixel owners are noticing another issue – this time related to placing phone calls over Bluetooth. Probably due to Google’s latest update to its dialer application, some Pixel users are now unable to make phone calls over Bluetooth. Keep in mind the two are separate issues.

Are you experiencing any Bluetooth troubles on your Pixel?

Instagram lets users post up to 10 photos per update

Scott Webster
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Instagram today announced a change to the app which makes it possible for users to create posts which include up to 10 photos. Why? Rather than filling your stream up with tons of pictures and/or videos from the same event, the new way consolidates things.

It’s easy to control exactly how your post will look. You can tap and hold to change the order, apply a filter to everything at once or edit one by one. These posts have a single caption and are square-only for now.

According to Instagram, users can have full control over the individual pictures, including filters and order of appearance. Once published, followers will be able to swipe left or right through the carousel of images and clips. The slideshows will be marked by a blue dot, indicating there’s more to see.

It’s worth noting that, at first, there will be just one caption for the entire bundle of photos and clips. Moreover, all items will be limited to squares as well.

The updated version of Instagram will hit Android and iOS devices over the coming days.

Multiple Photos and Videos in One Post on Instagram from Instagram on Vimeo.

How-To: Using Google Maps for Public Transit

AndroidGuys
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Transit options and schedules

Google Maps is great for seeing navigation options, traffic, and travel estimates. But what if you don’t have a vehicle or wish to take public transit? Well, Google Maps now goes a step beyond just being a map for drivers.

Besides transit maps, Google Maps now provides, in many instances, real-time departure times. When that is not available, Google Maps will show you schedules for train and bus departures.

If you use public transit (and more of us should), knowing how to use Google Maps for public transit will make your commute planning easier, more accurate and faster.

Checking Departure Times

For our purposes, we will be planning a trip from Downtown Long Beach to Staples Center in Downtown L.A. We will be using the Blue Line, thus employing Google Map’s train options. Begin by performing the following:

  1. Open Google Maps. See Figure 1.

    Fig. 1
  2. Since we are using the Long Beach to Los Angeles Blue Line Train, we will click on the small train icon at the bottom of the screen. See Figure 2.

    Fig. 2
  3. You will immediately see the train route with stops, as designated by the blue lines and icons on the map. You may have to zoom to see the individual stops. See Figure 3.

    Fig. 3
  4. If needed, zoom in on the map and click on the station nearest you. The station name will appear on the bottom. See Figure 4.

    Fig. 4
  5. Slide up on your screen to see the stations details, including departure times. See Figure 5.

    Fig. 5
  6. Click on depart. You will be taken to an address screen. See Figure 6.

    Fig. 6
  7. Proceed to enter a destination address. Since we’re going to Staples Center to catch a game, simple begin to enter the venue name. Google will proceed to show your options. See Figure 7.

    Fig. 7
  8. After selecting Staples Center as your destination, Google Maps will show you commute times and route options. See Figure 8.

    Fig. 8

Switching from Train to Bus

The bus options are similar to train options. If you want to change options, perform the following:

  1. Click on the options link in the commute and route options screen seen in Figure 8 above.
  2. You can now select Bus, Subway, Train and Tram / Rail. Depending on your choice, the route options will change. For our example, select Bus and tap on Done. See Figure 9.

    Fig. 9
  3. Google Maps will now update your route and options. You now have the option of checking and changing your departure times or you can select your arrival time, which will automatically update your departure time. See Figure 10.

    Fig. 10

Updating departure and arrival times

  1. We will enter a departure time and then check the options. Enter the time you would like to depart and tap on Done. See Figure 11.

    Fig. 11
  2. The map is now updated, including your departure time and your travel estimates. See Figure 12.

    Fig. 12
  3. Click on the option that best suits your travel plans. The map will now update and show you directions, including walking estimates to the stations chosen, and travel estimates. See Figure 13.

    Fig. 13

Alternatively, you can switch from a departure time and instead plan your commute based on when you need to arrive. Google Maps will update the map navigation and route options after clicking Done.

Understanding the map

Just like when navigating via car, Google Maps shows the transit route and any delays. To understand the map, let’s see the icons employed and their meaning. See Figure 14.

Fig. 14

Clicking on the icons as they appear on the map will provide you with an update.

This completes this procedure.

Stack: A very simple game done in a beautiful way (Review)

Gerson Noboa
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Sometimes you don’t need a 500 MB game with high-end graphics, 30-hour story and 500 collectible items. Sometimes you just need a game that you can fire up and play while waiting for the lecturer to arrive. Although I am not a fan of endless games that provide very little replay value, Stack, by Ketchapp, is so simple and such a joy to look at that I might have to make an exception.

Developer: Ketchapp
Price: Free

Setup

Stack uses Google Play Games for synchronization of high scores. You know the drill: choose an account and Google will do its magic. There is no tutorial in the game, so you will be thrown directly into the action.

Overview

It is totally understandable that the developer hasn’t bothered with giving the user a single line of information regarding how to play their game. This is because the concept is so amusingly simple that even Patrick Star would be able to figure it out in ten seconds.

You control a diagonal-moving block. Your mission is to stop it exactly on top of the previous block. This is done by tapping in absolutely any spot of the screen. There’s almost no delay between your tap and the block stopping, so you have to time it right.

The concept is very simple but it is executed superbly.

If you do it, then you’re awesome and will get another block exactly the same size. If you fail to do it, the part that is left outside of the underlying block will be chopped off and disappear, and the next block you get will be smaller.

If you keep failing to stop the block exactly on top of the previous one, your brick will get smaller and smaller, making the game progressively harder. Also, the movement of each piece will get faster with each block you land successfully, even if it wasn’t spot on.

Each time you lose a piece of your brick you start to feel more tense since you see the end of the game on the horizon. There’s always a way of salvaging your session though. If you chain a lot of perfect landings in a row (approximately seven), your block will get a bit bigger. This way you can rectify errors from the past.

Since the game is extremely responsive, you feel absolutely in charge of your victory or demise. Even though this is good, this also means that a small mistake can crush your hopes of surpassing your high score.

Talking about high score, you get one diamond-shaped thing every time you stack ten blocks successfully. This diamonds can be used to unlock new patterns for the blocks. Unfortunately, you can’t choose which ones to unlock.

Behold!

When you reach 200 diamonds, the game unlocks a pattern for you. There are 30 different patterns to choose from, so better start working on that if you want them all.

After some sessions, the game will offer you the chance of getting 20 diamonds for free by watching a video ad. After the 30-second commercial, you get your 20 diamonds and everyone walks away happily.

Graphics

There are 30 designs to unlock.

Stack incorporates very simplistic and clean graphics. Colors change slightly with each passing block. It is so subtle that you won’t notice you start with yellow and end up with black, or something like that. The background also changes accordingly, giving it consistency.

I found that the designs you have to unlock can be a detriment to your aspirations of getting a high score, though. Since you need to be precise in order to stack as many blocks as possible, having a pattern on the blocks you are trying to align can obstruct your intentions. Your mileage may vary, though.

Sound

There’s no music in the game, just sound effects. When you stack blocks correctly, you will hear a sharp noise that keeps getting more high-pitched as you stack more blocks. When you fail, you will hear a piece of wood being chopped off. They don’t change even if the pattern changes, so you better like them.

Conclusion

Stack focuses on relaxation rather than replay value or story and provides an endless game with very simple mechanics, but that can get quite addicting. To cater to the competitor in all of us, it records our high score and lets us compare it with people online, as well as providing diamonds to unlock new patterns.

However, there’s very little variation to the game from the first day you download it, so if you are looking for a game with progression elements, story, or replay value, you’re going to have to look elsewhere. If you want a lightweight game that you want to play in short bursts or while waiting in line, then Stack is a simple game with beautiful graphics that can get very addictive.

Download and install Stack from the Google Play Store.

T-Mobile is having one of the most ridiculous sales ever, selling some flagships for half price

Matt Adams
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Editors Note: It look’s like T-Mobile has ended the deal. As of 2/26/17, you can still pick up the Samsung Galaxy S7 for $360, but the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is now $480 and the LG V20 has returned to its normal purchase price of $769.

Original Article:

T-Mobile is doing it again. Another ridiculous sale on flagship phones has just gone live at T-Mobile.com. Hey, I’m not complaining because its consumers that are saving money but I sometimes wonder how the nation’s third-place carrier is actually making money.

Well, today we’re getting a look at T-Mobile’s latest deal. If you’re in the market for a flagship phone you should definitely head over to T-Mobile’s site and look at the Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, or LG V20. Right now you can pick them up for $360 each which represents a $313, $413, and $439 savings, respectively. That is an amazing deal. Actually, that’s three amazing deals.

The first thought I had when I saw these prices was “Yeah, but the Galaxy S8 is about to come out….” But honestly, I’m not sure if paying $400 more for the S8 is really worth it. Yeah, we’ve seen some pretty impressive leaks but the Galaxy S7 has held up extremely well and is one of the only flagships that you can use one-handed.

Even if you’re unconvinced by the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge deals, the LG V20 is certainly worth it. The phone has only been out for about 5 months and has some of the best specs on the market (awesome 5.7″ display, 4GB of RAM, expandable storage, quad-DAC). This thing is truly a powerhouse and at $360 it’ll cost you less than a OnePlus 3T, Moto Z Play, Axon 7, or Honor 8.

The fine print reads as follows: “For a limited time, get an amazing, fully-featured phone for just $15/month with qualifying plan & finance agreement. For well-qualified customers.” So it looks like you’ll need to grab one of the new T-Mobile One plans but as we discussed in our recent post about unlimited plans, they’re actually pretty cost effective.

T-Mobile is running a few other deals on phones like the Samsung Galaxy On5 which you can pick up for $5 a month, the ZTE ZMAX Pro which is $6 a month, LG K7 at $7 a month, and the Samsung Galaxy J7 and LG Style 2 PLUS both coming in at $10 a month. All of these represent pretty good deals on introduction-level smartphones that might be good for a teenager or parent or someone who doesn’t demand much from their device.

Are you going to pick up one of these on-sale phones? Let us know down in the comments.

Finally, a smart speaker capable of delivering premium audio is on its way

Alexandra Arici
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It might not seem too intuitive, but a smart speaker’s primary goal is not delivering great audio.  In reality, customers tend to buy voice-activated products like Google Home or Amazon Echo mainly due to the virtual assistants living inside them.

It’s fun to talk to Alexa or the Google Assistant and ask them to do stuff for you – call an Uber, play a song or turn that light off in the kitchen, right? But with all the smarts built into them, music performance seems to take a back seat. So let’s just say it out loud and get it over it – sound quality isn’t really their best feature.

Luckily, it seems that soon enough a new entrant in the market will finally bring good audio to smart speakers. Back in December, audio-giant Harman published a video teaser showcasing an upcoming voice activated speaker. The clip promised a connected speaker capable of delivering premium audio quality and now it looks like the launch it’s just around the corner. The device is expected to be powered by Microsoft’s Cortana assistant.

Now it has been revealed that a Harman Kardon speaker recently received its Wi-Fi certification via the Wi-Fi Alliance. In the product description, there’s a mention that the device is powered by Cortana, hence it must be the same device that was teased back December.

A Harman Kardon connected speaker with Cortana onboard doesn’t sound half bad – as it provides a much needed variation in the market. Speaking of variation,  Samsung has been rumored to be prepping a speaker of its own too. Dubbed Samsung Hello, the device will probably be powered by Bixby, the company’s newly developed intelligent assistant.

Learn how to make Android apps faster with these 5 tools (PROMOTED)

AndroidGuys
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Have you ever thought about building a mobile app for your business, product, blog or service? If you’ve had no experience, you’ll likely want to make it quick and light, meaning pre-made solutions to do it in a matter of hours, not months. Can it be done? It’s absolutely possible; you can quickly invade the mobile market and get your slice of the pie.

We’ve assembled a list of top 5 Android development tools to help you craft your mobile app quickly, on a budget and even without any coding skill. And by the way, the majority of these platforms allow to design not exclusively Android mobile apps, but also for iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry. Also, be sure to check out The App Solutions, app development company, on how you can build your own mobile app on your own.

How to make Android apps faster

TheAppBuilder

TheAppBuilder has a range of app types to offer, which will satisfy the needs of clients and businesses, employees and eventual visitors, etc. This service differs from all others by its’ curious approach, in fact, two of them available.

You can build your app with the online toolkit or take a training, which will lead you through the entire process and help build the structure of the app and fill it with the appropriate content initially. Customizing your app with your own brand style is also possible with this engine, as well as personal accounts and groups.

What’s even better is that updating the structure of the app and its content is continuously available even after mobile app’s actual release – quick update publish within 60 sec after submitting changes. Writing Android applications with this tool feels mobile by all means, doesn’t it?

Good Barber

This platform specializes in making Android applications, as well as ones for iOS. Like others found in this list, the tool doesn’t require any coding at the same time allowing you to take control of every component of your app. A wide chain of design templates, icons and fonts allow building Android app from scratch.

On top of that, you get a free mobile version of your website with a ready-to-go mobile app.

Basically, every change you do in the process of designing your mobile app will be visible to you on screen immediately. Decide on the most attractive look of the push-notifications, make the structure of the app more organized by adding sections of content like photos, videos, and sounds or any others by choice, enable commenting and adding content functions to engage your users and make them contributors.

Appery.io

This cloud-based platform is another easy way to build Android apps (also provides iOS and Windows app development tools). This is literally a one-stop-shop for building your app, available online – so nothing to download or install here.

Drag and drop approach is really cool for using a visual editor of Appery.io. Connection to any API, cloud databases, and backend solutions are very handy in this option.
Moreover, select powerful and useful functions out of the available in Appery plugin catalog, or craft the app solutions by yourself to embed into your software. We consider Appery.io one of the easy Android app development tools.

Appy Pie

Apply Pie is also a software to create apps for Android. This cloud app builder lets users without particular programming knowledge craft sharp mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows. The same drag and drop technology helps create the app with a bright UX/UI fast and get your HTML-5-based hybrid application downloaded. It’s going to work with all platforms including Blackberry.

You can easily integrate social media buttons, any audio or video content, blogs, etc. Also, send push notifications to your audience, check analytics, apply ads monetization and even add appointment scheduler – literally most of the features available in the native mobile applications.

AppMachine

AppMachine is a rather effortless program to develop Android apps (iOS too). With this Android app development toolkit a unique navigation logic can be built, all colors, styles, fonts and icons, too. Drag, drop and preview the progress; all of this is based on building blocks with a range of available features.

Additionally, you can also test your app and observe the changes from different devices. This tool will also help you publish the ready-to-go software, promote it and analyze the user data. So basically, if you want to get to Google Play, it’s a nice one-stop-shop, too.

This wraps up our ultimate list of best Android development software. Try out a couple of these dev tools for Android, choose the one you like the most, and enjoy building a mobile app without any coding. Should be much fun!

Odd phone diaries: the Meitu T8 employs AI to take better selfies

Alexandra Arici
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Taking selfies has become a daily part of our life, as technology has made it so easy for us to snap self-portraits whenever we feel pretty.

Now if you’re one of those people who spends a lot of time taking selfies, only to delete them all in the end, you’ll probably want to hear about this new phone.

You don’t like that selfie?

Meitu is an obscure Chinese device maker which has recently pulled off the wraps a pretty sleek device called the Meitu T8. It’s a selfie-centric phone that takes advantage of artificial intelligence to help you snap better selfies.

But as it turns out the Magical AI Beautification feature is just a fancy name for something you could do using an app like BeautyPlus.

Anyway, the “magical” AI companion can determine age and genre, but like a plastic surgeon it can also point out whether you have yellow teeth or saggy eyes and take steps to improve that.

The tool can also make the skin look smoother and add make up, And you know what, you’ll be able to beautify yourself in real-time videos too.

The phone’s best feature is the arguably the 12MP selfie camera with f/1.8 aperture and a dual-pixel sensor tech similar to the one present in the Samsung Galaxy S7. So selfie fans will be able to take great shots in low-lighting environments. The front camera also boasts optical image stabilization, phase detection autofocus, dual graphics engine, independent IPS and noise reduction.

As for the other specs, the Meitu T8 rocks a 5.2-inch AMOLED display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and a Helio X20 chispet under the hood. Meitu also throws in 4GB of RAM and 128GB of native storage. The main camera is a 21MP Sony IMX338 sensor with f/2.2, optical image stabilization, autofocus and dual-color temperature.

Quite disappointing for a phone launching in 2017, the Meitu T8 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS out of the box.

However, the phone has an appealing design featuring a metal chassis and a hexagonal shape – so it might get some attention from customers, specially girls.

The phone will become available in some vivid color options including Rose Gold, Magic Orange, Sparkling Blue, Lime Trasure and Phantom Black. Prices start at approximately $479 and while it only launched in China for the time being, we’re pretty sure it’s going to pop up with retailers like GearBest.

Remix OS for Mobile transforms your Android smartphone into a PC

Alexandra Arici
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0

Back at CES 2015, a little-known device maker called Jide launched a 2-in-1 Android tablet called Remix, which looked very much like Microsoft’s Surface hybrid.

The device actually ran a custom version of Android called Remix OS which bundled features such a taskbar and support for running apps in re-sizable windows. What Jide was trying to do is allow users to Android apps in a Windows-like fashion.

Anyhow, fast forward to 2017 and the Jide is launching Remix OS for Mobile. Like the name suggest, Remix OS for Mobile is a new custom ROM for Android smartphones. But once you plug your handset into a computer monitor via a dock of some sort (details are still sketchy on this particular matter) you’ll be able to run the full-fledged version of Remix OS.

The PC mode skins Android, so that the OS can deliver the desktop experience. It brings features like floating windows, a start menu and a task bar. Essential apps like Google Docs or Microsoft Word are also available.

The system which allows users to do that is called “Singularity” and is Jade’s own version of Microsoft’s Continuum for Windows 10 Mobile. A version that is truly affordable.

Remix OS for Mobile is a work in progress – so don’t expect it to be perfect just yet. For example, the Google Play Store doesn’t come by default. Users will have to side-loaded if they want to access it, something that might prove a bit tricky for people who are not all that tech-savvy.

But even if it needs a bit of fine-tuning, the concept behind Remix OS for Mobile is quite promising. As Jide explains, having a phone that can replace your PC will bring about huge savings. It also has a big impact on productivity and we agree. But it remains to be seen whether people actually want to have this option.

Jide says that Remix OS for Mobile will launch this summer and we’re certainly going to keep an eye on it.

Nokia might announce a smartwatch or a wearable soon

Alexandra Arici
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0

If you are a wearable fan, you’re probably familiar with Whitings. The French company which was acquired by Nokia last year, is mostly known for its aesthetically stunning activity trackers. Whitings also has a line of smartwatches called Activite – that brings hybrid features to the table.

Now ever since Whitings got acquired by Nokia, the French company operates under Nokia Technologies’ Digital Health division. And since the Finnish icon is coming to Barcelona to unveil a few new products, Whitings will be coming along too.

More specifically, Whitings has announced on Twitter, it will be joining Nokia for an “exciting keynote announcement” at MWC 2017 on February 26.

No other info was shared with us, but we can speculate Nokia is probably gearing up to unveil a wearable – hopefully a smartwatch.

Google recently introduced Android Wear 2.0, so it wouldn’t be such a big surprise if Nokia’s partnership with Whitings would result in smartwatch running the latest version of Android Wear.

MoonRanker, a Nokia smartwatch project that was killed off by Microsoft

On the other hand, the majority of Whitings’ products are fitness-centric so maybe Nokia is looking to make an entry in the fitness wearable market with a connected bracelet of some sort or a health app.

Apart from that HMD and Nokia are coming to Barcelona to unveil a few new handsets. If the rumor mill is correct, we’re going to end up seeing at least 3 or 4 new Nokia handsets including the Nokia 6 (which was already released on the Chinese market), Nokia 5, Nokia 3 and a modern version of the once popular Nokia 3310.

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