TL;DR
The Google Photos Material Design update for the Android app is here, via Google Photos 4.0. Along with a new design aesthetic, Google Photos 4.0 also introduces a new swipe gesture. Google Photos 4.0 is available now for everyone. Google announced that the Google Photos Android app would get a revamp this year, and now it looks like that revamp is rolling out to everyone. Along with a Google Photos Material Design theme, the app also gets a new swipe gesture that should make your life a bit easier when you’re looking for photo info.
The amount of data required for updating Google Play apps can really send your mobile bill through the roof, especially if you aren’t using Wi-Fi. Fortunately, your concerns have been heard. Originally created by Colin Percival, Google has rolled out a new Delta algorithm, bsdiff, which reduces the app update size and lets you save on the data required for updating them.
This new algorithm does this by further compressing the size of patches for apps and games.
The Huawei ban explicitly states that Huawei can no longer conduct business with any US-based firms. This teardown suggests that Huawei is fully capable of developing smartphones without buying any US hardware.
However, the hardware isn’t everything. The Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro don’t have access to Google apps which is likely the biggest reason why the device still doesn’t have a full global release. Additionally, even though the smartphone’s hardware didn’t originate from the United States, many of the technologies included in the phone necessitate licenses with US-based companies in order to be sold.
If you heard about the cost of the iPhone X last month, you might have been taken aback. Apple’s flagship smartphone set consumers back $999 when it goes on sale next week, making it one of the most expensive commercial smartphones ever produced. Recent data suggests that it may be part of a trend towards more expensive devices.
According to research provided by insights firm GfK (via Recode), the average smartphone sale price is increasing around the globe and has risen 7% in Q3 2017 compared to Q3 2016.
Another week, another crowdfunding project. In this article series we aim to curate a selection of the best crowdfunding projects hosted in sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. We all know there is plenty to be excited for in these sites, but it’s also a fact not everything really makes sense. This is why we find the coolest gadgets and present them to you here.
Other featured projects:
Today we are taking a look at a very interesting product named HUB by Ekko.
TL;DR
There’s a new budget ZTE phone available as part of Visible’s wireless service. The $99 device is no powerhouse, but looks nice and has some surprising features. Visible, a subsidiary of Verizon, has a one-size-fits-all plan which costs $40 per month. Verizon subsidiary Visible just added an ultra-budget ZTE phone to its very short list of supported Android devices. The ZTE Visible R2 starts at only $99.
One of the benefits to having an Android phone is the ability to customise any number of settings and features once you’ve performed a root, which is akin to jailbreaking which iPhone users may be accustomed to. Rooting relies on an unlocked bootloader and while a root was achieved for the unlocked version of the LG G4, the carrier branded models have so far had to wait.
If you’ve been waiting then you’re in luck as root is now available for carrier branded models of the LG G4, both for the major US carrier devices (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon) and other international carriers.
“Tentative” release dates for the AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Galaxy S4 versions have been spotted in what’s said to be a leaked Staples memo.
According to the document received by Phone Arena, AT&T could launch the Galaxy S4 on April 26, followed by T-Mobile on May 1 and Verzion on May 30.
Like with the previous leak, we can’t say at this time whether this is a real document or a fabricated one, so we’ll hang on to our grain of salt until Staples properly announces its Galaxy S4 sales.
Think today’s quad and octa-core mobile devices are impressive? You haven’t seen anything yet. Speaking at a talk at Semicon West, H.S. Philip Wong, Stanford University’s Professor of Electrical Engineering, talked a bit about the future of computing power, focusing on a theoretical 3D chip stack that interleaves next-gen memory and logic technologies using carbon nanotubes.
The theoretical chip stack could eventually result in a computing system as powerful as the IBM Watson super computer
TL;DR
In response to a bug reported on Twitter, Google has disabled Google Photos integration on Android TV. The bug showed users a long list of connected Google accounts, complete with profile pictures. Fortunately, the private photos of these users were not available, but it’s still pretty scary. One of the perks of owning a device running Android TV is how easily you can integrate Google services into it.