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Sprint buys a big stake of Jay Z’s Tidal music streaming service

Alexandra Arici
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0

Today Sprint just announced it will be acquiring a 33% stake in Tidal – a streaming music service owned by famed rapper and business man Jay-Z.

The partnership between the two companies translates into Sprint customers will be offered exclusive content if they are Tidal subscribers. Tidal is co-owned by iconic music artists including Alicia Keys, Kanye West and Madonna, with each holding a 3% stake with Jay-Z holding the remaining. Sprint says more info on upcoming Tidal exclusive offers will be announced soon.

Tidal SprintThe service became quite popular among music lovers, after exclusively hosting Beyoncé’s award-winning “Lemonade” album (plus others).

“Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential. Marcelo understood our goal right away and together we are excited to bring Sprint’s 45 million customers an unmatched entertainment experience.”

Jay-Z

The Tidal service is available in 52 countries and has a song catalog of more than 42.5 million tracks and 140,000 high-quality videos.

Tidal 3In its official statement, Sprint said the service will continue to run by the artists that own it, but the carrier’s CEO Marcelo Claure will join the Tidal board.

Other companies including Apple, Samsung, Google, Spotify also expressed an interest in making a deal alongside Sprint, but it seems that the carrier beat everyone to it.

Google confirms all 2017 Chromebooks will come with Android apps out of the box

Alexandra Arici
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1

Google announced back May of 2016 that soon Chromebooks will come bundling support for Android apps. Now it according to a recent update to the Chrome OS support page it seems like all Chromebooks coming out in 2017 and afterwards will have access to the Google Play Store.

Case in point, the new Samsung Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro and the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302CA which were introduced back at CES 2017 earlier this year.

ASUS Chromebook FlipAnyway Google also lists a bunch of older Chromebooks which will get Android app support at some point. There are many models in that list which don’t come with a touch screen, so the experience of running an Android app on it won’t be as good, but customers buying a Chromebook today would probably opt for a touch screen model.

Acer Chromebook R11 C738TChromebooks are cheap laptop alternatives, but one of the major complaints for users is the skimpy app ecosystem. With the addition of Google Play Store this issue would be rendered a non-problem.

Currently Android apps are now available on the ASUS Chromebook Flip, Acer Chromebook R11/C738T and Google Chromebook Pixel 2. More manufacturers like HP, Lenovo, Dell or Toshiba will soon launch new models which will arrive with touchscreens and Google Play Store access.

Hugo Barra is leaving Xiaomi to return to Silicon Valley

Alexandra Arici
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0

Xiaomi is possibly one the most well-known Chinese smartphone manufacturer out there.The company built its reputation on selling affordable but very well specced smartphones through its online web store. It also employed the skills of ex-marketing executive at Google, Hugo Barra which certainly helped propel Xiaomi’s name in the industry.

However, it seems that the winds of change are upon Xiaomi. Hugo Barra just announced on his Facebook page he will retire from his Vice President of International duties at Xiaomi. He explains that “living in such a singular environment has taken a huge toll on my life and started affecting my health.”

Barra Leaving XiaomiBarra writes that he will return to Silicon Valley come February 2017, a decision he took motivated by the feeling of disconnect from his family and his life back in the United States.

The work Hugo Barra put in at Xiaomi can certainly be considered one of the driving forces behind the company’s fast ascent. Before Barra arrived, Xiaomi was widely regarded as a cheap Apple copycat, but under Barra’s guidance the company evolved its own design language which culminated in the Xiaomi MI MIX.

White Xiaomi Mi MIXHowever, while Xiaomi has been busy sedimenting its international presence, sales in its home court have seen a drastic decrease. Xiaomi is was no longer part of the five top smartphone makers in 2016, so it’s quite possible Barra’s departure was also expedited by the company’s failure to live up to its earlier ambitious goals.

Back in November 2016, we told you a Reuters report had revealed Xiaomi actually missed its global smartphone target by 12%. In China, things were even worst with smartphones sales declining with a 45%.

In FactoryOn top of that, Xiaomi is yet to launch a smartphone on the Western market. Even if the device maker made an appearance for the first time at CES 2017 in Las Vegas earlier this month, it was only to showcase a white version of the MI MIX (among other things) which will not be available for purchase (officially) in the country.

ZTE might unveil “world’s first groundbreaking mobile phone concept” at MWC 2017

Alexandra Arici
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0

ZTE is one of the up and coming Chinese companies that’s attracted our attention in the past year. The manufacturer released a very solid flagship not so long ago, the Axon 7 which comes boasting a super affordable price-tag.

ZTE was also present at CES 2017 to showcase its concept phone, the Hawkeye – an adhesive, eye-tracking device which should see the light of day in September 2017. Clearly ZTE has a desire to innovate the mobile ecosystem that will apparently extend beyond the Hawkeye initiative.

ZTE Concept
ZTE Concept

According to Android Pure, which has stumbled upon the company’s MWC 2017 teaser on Weibo, ZTE is gearing up to unveil a number of intriguing results and new products during the event in Barcelona.

The most interesting one of all is the elusive “world’s first groundbreaking concept mobile phone”. Remember that we predicted “concept phones” are going to become a thing in 2017? After the Xiaomi MI MIX, Huawei Honor Magic and its own Hawkeye, ZTE is apparently planning a new phone with disruptive features.

huawei-honor-magic-front-and-back
Huawei Honor Magic concept

We’re not given any information on what we might expect from the phone, but we can speculate a little bit. Given that the Hawkeye is a phone that will make it out on the market with middle-range features including a 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, a Snapdragon 625 and a dual-camera setup (13MP+2MP combo) – the “groundbreaking concept mobile phone” might turn out to be a high-end affair.

ZTE Concept 3
A ZTE Slider Concept

The phone might arrive with an edge-to-edge display in the vein of the Xiaomi MI MIX, a Snapdragon 835 under the hood and a few kooky features (think self-adhesion). Keep in mind we’re only theorizing now and nothing we mentioned above has been confirmed by the company. However we are excited to see what ZTE ends up unveiling at MWC 2017.

The company is also supposed to share info on developments including 5G, cloud services, networking and terminal equipment, the Axon 7 series and the newly launched Blade V8.

Samsung is committed to user safety, intros 8-step battery safety check

Alexandra Arici
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0

In the wake of the Galaxy Note7 disaster, Samsung is upgrading security battery testing protocols and today following its investigation results announcement, the Korean tech giant just introduced the 8-step battery safety check.

With the Galaxy S8 incoming, we’re certainly glad to be given some reassurance that the new flagship won’t be plagued by similar issues. Samsung says the new standards address safety from component level to assembly and shipment of devices.

The new 8-step battery safety check comprises enhanced tests including the Durability Test, Visual Inspection, X-Ray Test, Disassembling Test and △OCT Test, on top of applied measures including Charge and Discharge Test, TVOC Test and Accelerated Usage Test. Check out what each test examines:

Battery Safety CheckSamsung says the new protocol is ramping up safety standards in all areas from overall design and materials used to improving software algorithms for maintaining a safe charring temperature.

Samsung also mentioned in its official Galaxy Note7 investigation report that it has formed a battery advisory group and now the Korean tech giant shares more details on the matter. Members include esteemed scientists from the Universe of Cambridge, Berkley or Stanford. The council is meant to “maintain a clear and objective perspective on battery safety and innovation.”

We’re not told directly, but the new battery testing scheme will probably go into effect with the batteries that will end up powering the Samsung Galaxy S8. Recent rumors claim they are going to be produced by Samsung SDI, but even so with the new standards in place the end result should be a positive one.

Battery Safety Check 2Recent information indicates the Galaxy S8 will not be unveiled at MWC 2016 after all, which might probably be due to Samsung’s extensive tests. While we are super curious about the Galaxy S8, it’s good to know that Samsung is not rushing with this one.

Samsung officially reveals why the Galaxy Note7 caught fire

Alexandra Arici
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1

A few days ago a report revealed the results of Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 investigation, before the Korean tech giant had the chance to do it itself. But today, the official report finally came in as scheduled.

Although previously we weren’t offered too many details, this week we’re finally given a clear explanation of what went wrong with the controversial Galaxy Note7.

So it is finally official – the battery was to blame for the overheating tendencies of the Galaxy Note7.

Galaxy Note7 Results 1Samsung hired three independent contractors to investigate and assess the problematic. The company says Samsung engineers tested approximately 200,000 Note7 devices and 30,000 batteries and managed to replicate the incidents which led to the massive Note7 recall.

The results concluded that the Note7’s design, hardware or software were not the culprit – the battery was. As you probably remember, initial Galaxy Note7 units shipped with batteries supplied by Samsung SDI (type A). When the fires started happening, Samsung quickly issued a recall, only to start sending out replacement units shortly afterwards. These new Galaxy Note7 phones run on Amperex batteries (type B), but were soon found to be plagued by the same fiery issues.

Now Samsung’s official investigation report reveals both batteries had major defects which led to the overheating problems so many users experienced.

Samsung provides interested parties with the full technical details on the matter. To make the long story short, what made the both batteries catch fire and explode was a combination of manufacturing and design flaws.

For the type A batteries, Samsung lists deformations at the upper corners (due to a too small battery casing) and thin internal separators as the main issues. With the battery being squashed in one corner, it forced tips of layer of negative electrodes to curve over.

Galaxy Note7 Results 2As for the type B batteries, the culprit lied with missing or misaligned insulation tape (separating positive and negative electrodes) and thin internal separators.

Galaxy Note7 Results 3Samsung wanted to show the world that it has learned from the Galaxy Note7 safety scare. The company said it has installed new protocols like “multi-layer safety measures” and the “8-Point Battery Safety Check”. The Korean tech giant also revealed it has assembled a Battery Advisory Group formed of external advisers, academic and research experts to ensure another Galaxy Note7 never reaches retail shelves again.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S8 soon, although the latest rumors claim the new flagship won’t be introduced at MWC 2017 as expected.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that despite the Galaxy Note7 debacle, Samsung expects to see a massive 50% increase in profits in Q4 2016. If the prediction turns out to be true, it would represent the highest quarterly profit reported by the Korean firm since Q3 2013.

First official LineageOS builds are available for download

Alexandra Arici
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1

Following the demise of Cyanogen Inc. a new entity has emerged: LineageOS – which is basically a continuation of CyanogenMod OS.

The advantage of an open source project is that it never really expires, so LineageOS has picked up where CyanogenMod left off – hence the name (Lineage=direct descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree).

CyanogenMod RIPWell over the weekend, a few official LinageOS builds have started rolling out for supported devices (including Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Motorola Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus, Nexbit Robin and Xiaomi Redmi 1S). More will be coming of course, as the team behind LineageOS plans to add support for more than 80 devices in total.

The new ROM will bestow a taste of Android Marshmallow and Android Nougat on compatible devices. The team says to also expect “experimental” builds along the usual weekly builds for the next two months. Experimental builds are aimed for users running CyanogenMod 13 and CyanogenMod 14.1 builds who wish to migrate to LineageOS. These builds are designed to maintain user data intact except for app permission which will have to be set again.

LineageOS LogoWhile LineageOS is the continuation of CyanogenMod, there are a few difference that need to be pointed out. For example, with the new ROMs there won’t be any default root access. This will be provided separately via a .zip file users will have to flash.

The LineageOS team is currently rolling out official builds for a handful of devices, but keep an eye on their download page as more builds are expected to be added soon.

Noah Camera takes your selfie game to a new level (review)

AndroidGuys
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1

Overview:

Noah Camera is a camera app designed to enhance your photos and selfies with filters and allow you to easily share them on social media and with friends.

Developer: JP Brothers, Inc.

Cost: Free (with ads)

Impressions:

Noah Camera is a camera app designed to enhance your photos and selfies with filters and allow you to easily share them on social media and with friends.

Noah Camera is a neat app for hardcore selfie takers. While I may not consider myself a part of that crowd, I can certainly see the potential in a solid camera app with a myriad of filters available to make your pictures as good as they can be. Noah offers just that, a simple but solid camera app with dozens of filters to customize your shots and make them stand out. While I probably wouldn’t use this over my stock camera app, it is indeed a solid camera experience standalone.

I’ve taken some shots with my stock Google Pixel camera app, and then with Noah and some filters so you can see some examples of how Noah can change your photos and the quality in which they come out:

Noah Camera

The filter selection is extensive, to say the least. Noah Camera sorts them by type and shows a preview on the viewfinder before you take the picture so you’ll know exactly how it turns out. Many familiar filters from Instagram and other camera apps are present, and some fairly original ones as well that really transform your photos. Selecting the desired filter is easy thanks to the swipe to select feature, as well as a gallery of filters that pops up along the bottom for fast and easy selection. Noah also allows for some personalization of the app itself, with a customizable shutter button and the option to run in silent shutter mode, for the sake of others around you.

Noah Camera also has some strong social sharing options, with the ability to post straight to Instagram and Facebook right after you take your photo in-app. Of course, it also saves to your gallery so you can do whatever you like with the pictures, but the easy sharing options are excellent especially for Instagram junkies.

Admittedly there isn’t much else to go on with Noah Camera, as it’s simply a camera app with some fancy filters and sharing settings, but for how simple it is it works very well and is very user-friendly. I do have some complaints, like the watermark at the bottom right, which is also customizable but is difficult to remove. There is a setting for removing it but it didn’t always work and most of my photos have the “Noah” watermark in the corner. A small complaint but still annoying. Also, a lot of the filters seem the same to me. Many really alter the look of the photo, but there are a bunch that mostly wash it out or make it darker in small increments which I feel would have been better implemented as a slider for saturation or brightness.

Conclusion:

Noah Camera is a useful tool for content creators and selfie enthusiasts of all stripes. It’s simple, straightforward, and has a bunch of useful features to help set it apart from other camera apps on the Play Store. Be sure to give it a try.

Download Noah Camera from the Google Play Store

Redraw Keyboard – Customize ALL THE THINGS (App Review)

AndroidGuys
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1

Android has a billion keyboard options. Okay, maybe there’s not quite a billion keyboard apps out there to choose from, but with all of the customization options offered by some of them, it might at well be since every Android user ever could easily have a different looking keyboard. However, not all keyboards are created equal and there are plenty that choose to be flashy over having the functionality of other keyboards. Redraw attempts to combine the best of functions, appearance, and even achievements into a keyboard. Yes, achievements. Let’s take a look.

Developer: Redraw
Price: Free/IAP
Download: Google Play

Oh, Google. You slay me.
Oh, Google. You slay me.

The Setup

The first thing that will pop up when you first open the app is a Google Play Games login. This may seem strange at first but connect it. I’ll cover more on this a little later on. The app will take you through all the necessary steps of enabling the keyboard in system settings and selecting it from the list of keyboards available. You then receive your daily reward. At this point, you’ve probably realized that this is no typical keyboard app but incorporates a game type element to it. Your daily reward of coins will enable you to purchase your first theme from a very extensive list. There are clean and simple themes that are a simple black and white, ones that simulate the iPhone keyboard, and ones that are way more detailed with fire, lighting, roses, skulls, and even themes such as Easter, Winter, and Black Friday (yes, that’s really a thing). After you pick your first theme, your setup is complete and you’re free to start typing to your heart’s content.

YES! I needed a good Black Friday theme!
YES! I needed a good Black Friday theme!

Features

Redraw includes a lot of popular features that are present in most of the top keyboard apps. You can tap to type, swipe your finger, word prediction, spell check, and quick access to emojis. The keyboard is set up in an intuitive way that allows you to effortlessly add emojis or stickers to any message. There are dozens upon dozens of sticker packs available, so if cute animals are your thing, you’re covered. If you like things a little edgier, there are fingers with attitudes. If you’re still feeling the Poké-craze, maybe a cool creature pack (read: not real Pokémon, but with a similar design) is more to your liking. You can also buy wallpapers for your phone, more fonts for your keyboard, and even additional sounds for your keyboard. Everything can be used to customize your keyboard exactly to your liking. There is a menu button on the top left of the keyboard that allows you to quickly access most of these setting, themes, or even achievements.

Wait… Achievement?!

Now let’s pause for a second here. This keyboard includes 35 achievements that will all supply you with even more gold coins to deck out your keyboard. Achievements range from easy things like swipe your first 5 words, to ones that you’ll get over time, such as send 10 stickers. Each achievement has a monetary value attached to it that can range from only 50 coins to a couple hundred depending on how long they take to unlock. This is a really innovative and creative feature that I believe is a first for the Android keyboard community, and it’s a welcome feature that really spices up an already extensive list of features.

What should I go with: Blue Haired Betty, or Fingers with attitude?
What should I go with: Blue Haired Betty or Fingers with attitude?

Daily use

I’ve been a pretty regular user of GBoard up until this point, and in my first day of using this keyboard, I was a little underwhelmed. It didn’t seem to have as good predictions as GBoard, and I had an ugly white keyboard with big bubble looking letters. Then I dug a little deeper. I turned on such features as auto-correct which fixed a great number of typos (and consequently, a lot of my complaints) then discovered where you can customize your own theme. I’m pretty big into Overwatch right now on Xbox, so I took a picture of the logo, placed it in the background, tweaked the color of the keys so they could easily be read, added an orange accent color, and changed the transparency of the key outline until my keyboard was totally geeked out and I was over the moon. My keyboard now worked great, looked great, and I was turning the heads of lots of my friends.

Conclusion

Redraw keyboard has most of the features of a lot of the popular keyboards out there but adds extensive customization and some truly unique features such as achievements. You will need to make sure that predictions and auto-correct are enabled, but once you get everything setup, the keyboard really does offer a solid experience and does it with style. Achievements are just the icing on the cake and add a lot to otherwise mundane tasks. All in all, you owe it to yourself to take this one for a spin.

HTC U Ultra vs LG V20 (Smartphone Showdown)

Alexandra Arici
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6

Earlier this month, HTC unveiled the HTC U Ultra flagship in a bid to restore customers’ interest in the brand. HTC has been struggling to remain relevant for years now and the company’s latest “U” phone family hopes to spark some enthusiasm with Android fans. For this purpose HTC has mixed in a lot of fancy features, some borrowed, some re-cosmeticized and some potentially useless into its latest and greatest.

One of the HTC U Ultra’s marking traits is the presence of an additional secondary display in the vein of the LG V20. Given that there aren’t many phones on the market that offer this feature, we thought we’d compare the two, especially since they’re both premium devices.

Display

Main: 5.7-inch with 1440 x 2560 resolution with 513ppi vs 5.5-inch with 1440 x 2560 resolution with 513ppi

Secondary: 2.05-inch with 160 x 1040 pixels vs 2.1-inch with 160 x 1040 pixels

HTC U Ultra SecondWe live in the era of big phones. Just look at Samsung – the Korean tech giant is expected to unveil a Galaxy S8 with 5.7-inch and 6.2-inch versions. However, not everyone is a fan of huge phones that can’t be held properly in hand. If that’s the case for you, you’re probably going to have to skip both these phones and go pick up a more moderate 5-inch Google Pixel instead (obviously, it’s not the only option).

Going back to the HTC U Ultra and LG V20, both these phones feature ginormous displays PLUS a secondary one. HTC calls it “Dual Displays”, while LG says the V20 has a “Second Screen.” However you want to call it, the tiny displays on top offer similar features. Owners can use it to check for notifications real quick or easily access apps via shortcuts.

While in theory the inclusion of a secondary display ticker makes total sense, given that users are no longer required to switch the phone on to check notifications and launch apps, which should help save battery life, in real life things are a bit different. The ticker does put a strain on battery life and that’s why we might even see the LG V30 arrive without one.

So at this point it seems to us HTC just wanted to bundle all sort of “cutting-edge” features into the HTC U Ultra, in a desperate attempt to make the device stand out. The company didn’t really innovate, so you shouldn’t expect to see the smaller display on the HTC U Ultra do anything different than the one on the LG V20 already does.

Computing power

Snapdragon 821 vs Snapdragon 820

Adreno 530 vs Adreno 530

4GB of RAM vs 4GB of RAM

HTC U Ultra 2The HTC U Ultra was launched with 2016’s Snapdragon 821 chipset under the hood. HTC missed the opportunity to be the first Android OEM to intro a phone with Qualcomm’s latest top tier chipset, Snapdragon 835. Anyway, the Snapdragon 821 is a quad-core CPU featuring 2 x 2.15GHz Kyro cores and 2 x 1.6GHz Kyro cores. It’s the same chipset that powers the Google Pixel, one of the best phones out there.

As for the LG V20 which was released in October, the phone is supported by a Snapdragon 820 which is a quad-core processor with 2 x 2.15GHz Kyro cores plus 2 x 1.6GHz Kyro cores. The two phones are on par RAM wise, so they should both run pretty smooth with no major differences.

Cameras

12MP/16MP vs 16MP+8MP/5MP

Selfie HTC U UltraThe awesome 12MP main camera of the Google Pixel is also present on the HTC U Ultra plus a few improvements. Now the HTC snapper takes advantage of phase-detection autofocus, laser autofocus, f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization.

As for the LG V20, the dual camera setup offers laser autofocus, optical image stabilization and LED flash. We should insert a word of warning here, select LG V20 users have been complaining the camera glass on the back is very sensitive and tends to break unexpectedly.

In the selfie department, the HTC U Ultra features an impressive 16MP self-portrait shooter just like the OnePlus 3T and Samsung Galaxy A7 and A5 (2017). The secondary snapper can switch between UltraPixel mode (for low-light environments) to the standard mode when lighting conditions improve.

The LG V20 is less impressive when it comes to selfies, coming with a 5MP front camera.

Software

Android 7.0 Nougat vs Android 7.0 Nougat

LG V20 SoftwareBoth phones ship with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. However, the HTC U Ultra features its own Sense UI plastered on top which adds several new features such as the AI-driven Sense Companion (basically a virtual assistant).

It seems like virtual assistants are becoming a ubiquitous commodity in 2017. Samsung will add Bixby in the Galaxy S8 and Nokia will probably offer up Viki with its upcoming flagships. Going back to, the Sense Companion basically sounds like every smart assistant out there. The system learns your habits and then gives you suggestions, so nothing to write home about really.

However, if you’re not a fan of virtual assistant and prefer daily brain workouts over helpful suggestions, you’ll be happy to know that the LG V20 doesn’t have an AI companion.

Battery

3,000 mAh (non-removable) vs 3,200 mAh (removable)

LG V20 BackBattery is quite important when picking out a new smartphone, especially if you’re going to pay premium.

Phones like the Moto Z and Pixel XL offer stellar battery life, but we don’t suppose the HTC U Ultra will be able to deliver the same. The phone features a power draining 5.7-inch QHD display plus a Snapdragon 821 and even though Nougat is optimized to preserve battery, we are skeptical the HTC U Ultra will surprise us.

By contrast, the LG did a little bit better and bundled a larger 3,200 mAh battery under the V20’s hood. The power source is removable, so you can always swap out the dead battery and replace it with a fresh one.

Other features

64GB/128GB of internal storage vs 64GB of internal storage

LG V20 SideThe HTC U Ultra is going to have a variant with 128GB of storage onboard. However, at launch the phone will be offered with 64GB only.

Surprisingly, the HTC phone does feature a microSD card slot which allows for memory expansion to up to 256GB. And so does the LG V20.

Pricing

$749 vs $799

As we mentioned in the beginning, both phones are premium models which are bound to break the piggy bank.

As you can see the LG V20 is a bit more expensive, but users also have the option of purchasing the phone from carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T with prices ranging between $672 and $830 (unless you really want it unlocked).

Epilogue

To conclude this smartphone battle, we’ll tell you that reviewers have found the LG V20 is a phone that boasts spectacular audio capabilities. As for the HTC U Ultra, we’ll have to draw your attention to the inexplicable absence of BoomSound speakers on board of the device. It was one of the best features offered by the company, so it’s quite puzzling to see HTC is not using it as a selling point on its latest flagship.

The HTC U Ultra also lacks the 3.5mm headphone jack, which is alive and well on the LG V20. But the U Ultra probably boasts a much better camera than the one on the V20. However, if battery life is important to you, you’ll go for the LG V20.

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