Revamped Google News debuts

One of the more surprising announcements at this year's Google IO conference was a wholly revamped Google News experience. The search giant says this combines AI with human intelligence, using the former to find the best of the latter. And by "human intelligence" it means the great reporting done by journalists around the globe. The reimagined Google News employs AI techniques to organize the constant flow of information that hits the web into storylines. Hence, the service understands who and what is involved in a story as it evolves, and connects how all the subjects and objects relate...

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Google Photos gets suggested actions, automatic black and white backgrounds

With all the updates coming out of Google IO, the search giant couldn't forget about Photos, one of its most successful services to date. Thus, it's received a couple of neat feature additions too. First up, we have suggested actions. These will pop up while you're glancing at an image in the Photos app on your phone. They're powered by machine learning and include such options as brightening, sharing, rotating, or archiving a picture. Which of them will show up on any given image depends on what Google's AI thinks you're most likely to want to do with each one. They will only be...

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Oppo F7 review

Selfies are an inevitable part of our lives and they have prevailed over the sceptics into a bright, if not predominant future. Oppo was among the first makers to helm the niche with the Selfie Expert F series. And now the company is the first ever to offer a stunning 25MP selfie camera with the new Oppo F7.

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Gmail's Smart Compose will ensure you never type an email again

Google seems to think email would be great again if only it didn't involve any of that pesky typing on your part. To fix the glaring issue of people having to actually type their messages, it's unveiled a new feature for Gmail called Smart Compose. It uses AI to help you write emails faster. "Write" is a bit of a misnomer here, because in effect it will suggest complete sentences, and you can compose an entire email just by continuously hitting the Tab key. That has the potential to result in some hilarious messages if things go wrong. It works in the background, so you just start...

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OnePlus announces Android P beta for yet to be unveiled OnePlus 6

OnePlus has preemptively announced Android P beta for the upcoming OnePlus 6. The phone is set to be announced on May 16 and the beta should be available from day one, as it should go out to other, already official non-Pixel handsets today. The Android P beta was developed in close partnership with Google and OnePlus is one of the first brands to make it available to early adopters. According to company CEO, Pete Lau: By empowering and trusting in our community we learned users want a fast, smooth, and clean user experience - something we call ‘burden-less'. Beyond building the best...

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Google Lens will be available in your Android phone's camera app

Google Lens has so far been available inside Google Photos for a whole bunch of smartphones, including iPhones, and through Google Assistant on certain flagships. Today at Google IO it's been revealed that Lens is ready to invade your camera app too. It will expand to be available in the camera apps of supported devices from LG, Motorola, Xiaomi, Sony, Nokia, Transsion, TCL, OnePlus, BQ, and Asus, as well as Google's Pixels of course. That's a huge step for the AI-based feature that recognizes what you're looking at. Lens is getting better, too. Smart text selection lets you copy and...

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Android P beta is out today for Pixels as well as Sony, Xiaomi, Nokia, Oppo, vivo, OnePlus, and Essential phones

At Google IO today, the search giant has detailed more aspects of Android P, the upcoming release that got its first developer preview in March and should be finalized in late summer. New gesture-based navigation Perhaps the most obvious new feature in Android P will be the new navigation system. This employs a pill-shaped Home button, and an on-demand Back button which doesn't show up on the home screen, for example. Swipe up from the pill and you'll enter Overview mode, with your apps arranged horizontally this time around, and a set of predicted apps at the bottom. Swipe up again...

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Google Assistant will call businesses for you in the future

At its annual developer conference today, Google has announced a bunch of new features for the Google Assistant, which is already on 500 million devices worldwide. First off, six new voices are on the way for all your Assistant needs. Additionally, you'll be able to pick John Legend's voice to do these duties, at some point later this year. By the end of 2018, the Assistant will learn how to speak to you in 30 languages. Next up, what has apparently been one of the most requested features will arrive in the coming weeks. It's called continued conversation, and it means you won't...

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Project Fi's Moto X4 Android One Edition finally receives Oreo 8.1

Even though the standard version of the Android One Moto X4 received the update to Oreo 8.1 back in March, the Project Fi's version of the phone is just starting to get the OTA update. However, users report a number of problems produced by the update so it might be a good idea to steer clear of the OPW28.1 version of the software for now. In any case, the update brings the automatic dark theme switcher, re-designed power menu and other optimizations and bug fixes. Or in other words, the same changes applied to the standard Android One Moto X4 version. Source

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Watch the Google I/O keynote live

Google I/O 2018, Google's Annual Developer Conference is about to start and you can follow the announcements live from the comfort of you chair. Even with its developer focus, Google's chief executive officer, Sundar Pichai will use the Google Keynote to provide us with a helicopter view of all things in the Google-verse and as such often make compelling viewing. Sundar takes to the stage at 10:00 am PDT/6:00 pm GMT. Unless Google pulls something from left field out of the hat, you shouldn't expect any significant consumer product announcements - we expect them to come later in...

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Google announces the best apps and games for 2018

On the eve of Android P's announcement, Google has announced the best apps and games of the year. For the first time, the Google Play Awards don't have one outright winner but instead are divided into nine categories. The nominees were announced late last month and have been judged by Google employees in that time. All apps follow the Android vitals guidelines and have either launched or had a major update since April 2017. Standout Well-Being App Apps empowering people to live the best version of their lives, while demonstrating responsible design and engagement...

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Xiaomi launches Mi Mix 2S Art Special Edition

Xiaomi launched the Mi Mix 2S initially in two colors - Black or White. Now a third, more sophisticated option was announced by the company with the unique moniker Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Art Special Edition. The phone comes in a neat box with a portrait of a woman from a dish plate from the early 1500s, part of the Deruta ceramics exhibition of The British Museum. The Mi Mix 2S is branded with the logo of The British Museum on the back underneath the glass panel. There are also some visual customizations of the MIUI 9.5 on board. The package brings a black case, branded with the same...

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Sony rolls out new update to Xperia XZ, XZs and X Performance

Sony has started pushing out a new update to some of its smartphones. The update - currently hitting the Xperia XZ, XZs, and X Performance - bumps the build number from 41.3.A.2.107 to version 41.3.A.2.128 and includes the May security patch. There's currently no information if the update brings any new features or UI changes. As is usually the case with OTA roll outs, it might take time for the update notification to pop up on your device, so be patient. Via

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Deals: Save $50 on Apple Watch 3, $100 on Sony Xperia XZ2

The Apple Watch Series 3 is now available at discounted rates in the US. Retailer Best Buy is offering a $50 discount on 38mm and 42mm GPS models, which means you can grab them for $279 and $309, respectively. Officially, Apple and other third-party retailers are still offering these variants for $329 and $359, respectively. Best Buy is also offering a deal on Sony's brand new Xperia XZ2 series smartphones. The retailer is offering a gift card worth $100 on each purchase of Xperia XZ2 or XZ2 Compact. No information on when the promo ends, so those interested in availing it...

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Report: Google to announce new controls to help you manage time spent on mobile

While last year's Google I/O conference was focused at AI, this year's theme is 'responsibility,' according to a report from the Washington Post. The report says the search giant is expected to announce new Android controls aimed at helping you manage the time spent on mobile devices. It's worth mentioning that Google already offers an app called Family Link that lets you control certain aspects of your kid's Android phone usage, such as manage apps, keep an eye on screen time, and set a bedtime for your child's device. The report further says that while 'responsibility' will be...

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Huawei's Hisilicon Kirin 980 to be powered by TSMC's 7nm manufacturing process

Just last month, the Huawei Mate 20's AnTuTu benchmark score leaked revealing the performance of the company's Hisilicon Kirin 980 chip and suggesting it will be better than the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset. And now, we have some more details regarding the Kirin 980. The report reveals that the new chip will arrive just in time for the Huawei Mate 20's launch during the second half of this year powered by TSMC's 7nm FinFET manufacturing technology. It's also believed to adopt the Cambricon's latest AI chip technology as part of the 1M series. Thanks to the improved manufacturing...

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Android P leak shows new features ahead of Google's I/O conference

We are just hours away from Google I/O's keynote, but a fresh new leak unveils a good chunk of the new features that the upcoming Android P is going to bring. These include a revamped navigation menu with new gestures that turn the home button into a scrolling bar, adaptive battery and new DND (do not disturb) feature. New navigation gestures and home button scroll According to the leak and the screenshots provided, there's a new option in the settings menu called "Swipe up on Home button" that removes the recent apps button on the right and replaces the home button with a...

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Lenovo teases a smartphone with over 95% screen to body ratio

Lenovo's VP Chang Cheng just teased a "full-screen smartphone" on its official Weibo account and judging by the photo, it appears to be a notch-less one too. A fresh new look amidst all the handsets that follow the trend of the iPhone X. Along with the photo, Chang Cheng posted a poll asking users what they think a full-screen smartphone really is: 1. 80-84% screen ratio 2. 85-89% screen ratio 3. 90-94% screen ratio Further down, Lenovo's VP clarifies that the upcoming device will break the 95% barrier and deliver a truly full-screen smartphone experience with virtually...

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OnePlus 6 shines on Geekbench a week ahead of launch

Next week we'll see the long-awaited OnePlus 6 with a notch on the display at its official unveiling. A unit of the phone was just tested on Geekbench and this gives us some new information, as well as confirming older rumors. OnePlus 6 will come with model number A6003, backing the trend of OnePlus 3 being A300X and OnePlus 5 being A500X. It will also come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, but that's no surprise since the company already confirmed the chipset. The OnePlus 6 will arrive with the latest Android Oreo 8.1, but we don't know yet if it will support Project Treble. Back...

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Android P to prevent apps from accessing network activity

Do you know apps running on your Android smartphone currently have unrestricted access to any network activity on your device (without explicitly seeking user permission)? You probably don't, but it's serious privacy issue, as any app can collect data such as when other apps are connecting to the Internet and even what server they are connecting to. Now Google is finally plugging this loophole. A new code change has been committed to the Android Open Source Project that's aimed at preventing apps (with few exceptions) from exploiting this access. This means future Android P...

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Android P to address a major privacy issue

Do you know apps running on your Android smartphone currently have unrestricted access to any network activity on your device (without explicitly seeking user permission)? You probably don't, but it's serious privacy issue, as any app can collect data such as when other apps are connecting to the Internet and even what server they are connecting to. Now Google is finally plugging this loop hole. A new code change has been committed to the Android Open Source Project that's aimed at preventing apps (with few exceptions) from exploiting this access. This means future Android P...

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Linksys router that optimizes Xbox One gaming experience is now available

If you followed this year's CES show, you may remember Linksys showed off a router - dubbed WRT32XB - that's designed to prioritize traffic from Xbox One gaming consoles, including the One S and One X. Well, the good news is the device is now available for purchase in the US. The router carries a price tag of $299.99, and can be purchased from Linksys' own website and Microsoft Stores as well as other major retailers including Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy. Linksys says in future they will roll out an update that will make sure the router prioritizes all gaming traffic regardless...

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Sharp AQUOS R2 revealed with high-end specs and camera dedicated just for video

Sharp phones have always been a bit on the strange side and the newly released AQUOS R2 makes no exception. The company just unveiled the second generation of the AQUOS R lineup with top-notch specs and an interesting feature - dedicated camera sensor just for video recording. The phone comes with a high screen-to-body ratio with a small notch at the top for the selfie camera and earpiece. The screen itself measures 6.0" in diagonal and sports a high-speed IGZO IPS panel with 19:9 ratio and WHQD+ (1440 x 3040) resolution. The specs sheet continues with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845...

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2018 6.5" OLED iPhone to be the same size as iPhone 8 Plus

Stories about three new iPhones in 2018 have been surfacing since November. Analysts expect all of them to ditch Touch ID for Face ID, and latest reports from Japanese sources give further information about the devices. As reported by Macotakara, the flagship iPhone 2018 with 6.5" OLED display, dubbed iPhone X Plus, will be the same in size as the iPhone 8 Plus. It will have the bezel-less design, presumably complete with a notch. The 2018 flagship is about to get bigger The report says that the smaller iPhone, rumored to come with a 6" LCD panel, instead of 6.1". It will also...

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Google releases Android Things 1.0 with long-term support for production devices

Android Things - an Android-based OS from Google, aimed at IoT devices - has been in the preview phase since 2016. Now the company has finally announced a stable, production-ready version (1.0) of the platform. Google says it will offer free, three year support - stability fixes and security patches - for each long-term Android Things release, with additional options for extended support. Manufactures are, free to offer updates even beyond that window. With Android Things 1.0, Google has also announced support for new System-on-Modules. These SoMs are based on the NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm...

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OTA roll out for T-Mobile LG V30 Oreo update begins

As promised, T-Mobile has started rolling out the LG V30 Oreo update over-the-air. The carrier has updated its support page for both V30 and V30+ to confirm this. The update arrives as software version H93220h. The Oreo update for these devices has been available since last week, but manual installation was required. However, that changes now as official OTA roll out has begun. As per official documentation, the update weighs in at 1,677.6 MB, and should include AI features from the V30S ThinQ, as well as the 'ThinQ' branding. Source

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