Android 7.0 Nougat starts to roll out to Nexus devices
There have been numerous beta versions of Android 7.0 Nougat, and now the official rollout is underway. This is not a full-scale rollout just yet -- it's limited to the Nexus 6P, 5X, 6, 9, and Nexus Player, as well as the Pixel C and General Mobile 4G.
You'll notice that the Nexus 5 is missing from the list, but the remainder of the handsets are in line for an OTA update anytime over the coming weeks starting today. If you're impatient, you can always download the factory images and flash your device manually, but whichever route you go down, what do you have to look forward to?
Windows falls to 0.6 percent share in the smartphone market
Windows continues to lose ground to Android and iOS in the smartphone market, according to a new report from Gartner. Driven by the poor performance of the Lumia line, its share dropped to just 0.6 percent in Q2 2016, down from 2.5 percent a year ago.
Microsoft is the largest platform vendor, selling over 90 percent of the smartphones that run Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile, so its performance has a direct impact on Windows' share in this market. And, since in Q2 2016 it only sold 1.2 million Lumia devices, it dealt the platform yet another blow.
Save hundreds on Apple products and more in Best Buy's 50-hour, 50th anniversary sale
Best Buy is turning 50 and what better way to celebrate than by encouraging people to throw some of their hard-earned cash in its direction? That is precisely what's happening in a 50-hour 50th anniversary sale which is including 50 Black Friday-like deals.
The company points out that the sale comes just in time for those essential 'back to school' purchases, but with a bundle of money to be saved off the likes of MacBook Pros, and iPhone 6s Plusses, there's something for everyone.
Besiter Eclipse: A nicely designed power bank [Review]
As we become more and more reliant on our portable devices, running out of battery power at a crucial moment is always a risk.
Fortunately there are plenty of USB power banks on the market to give your device a boost. The latest to come our way is the Besiter Eclipse from UK company Kavson. It claims to have one of the most powerful batteries available, making it able to charge an iPhone 6S up to 5 times and a Samsung Galaxy S7 up to 3 times over.
Satechi launches elegant Wireless Charging Pad for Qi-enabled smartphones
As an iPhone user, there is one thing that I am jealous of when it comes to Android -- wireless charging. While plugging in a cable is hardly a chore, a wireless charging pad is not only more convenient, but really cool too -- it feels futuristic. It is not enough to make me leave iOS, but I digress.
If you have a Qi-enabled smartphone, and want to buy a wireless charger, Satechi has a new product that may interest you. The unimaginatively named 'Wireless Charging Pad' looks great and is reasonably priced. Best of all, if your phone is compatible with fast-charging technology, Satechi's offering can charge your device faster than standard wireless chargers.
Cisco Meeting Server enables Skype for Business users to connect with other platforms
Skype for Business users have had a pretty rough time connecting with other platforms (like Cisco or Avaya), but that’s no longer the case as the Cisco Meeting Server gets released.
Cisco's new product will allow Skype for Business users to easily connect to users on other platforms by clicking a link. The company believes its product will completely reshape office collaboration, and the impact will be "huge".
Huawei's P9-based Honor 8 smartphone coming to US
Huawei may be the third largest smartphone vendor worldwide, thanks to its strong presence in Asia and Europe, but the Chinese firm has yet to find success in the Apple and Samsung-dominated US market. Can the new Honor 8 finally put it on the map?
The Honor 8 is basically a more affordable version of Huawei's P9 flagship, which has been well received by the media, that Huawei will release in US next month. It features premium hardware and a high-end build, but will be priced at a reasonable $399.
Apple's iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are the best selling smartphones in US
Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge's reign as the most popular smartphones in US in the three months ending May was short lived, as the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus climbed to the top of the sales chart in the second quarter of 2016. Perhaps it's not all doom and gloom for Apple's flagships.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus accounted for 15.1 percent of the smartphones sold in Q2, while Samsung's flagships only made up 14.1 percent of sales, according to a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Previous figures were 14.6 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
'QuadRooter' vulnerability affects 900 million Android devices -- the sky is falling!
As a Linux desktop user, you'd think I'd be a big Android proponent. Actually, I rather detest Google's mobile operating system lately. Other than Nexus devices, most Android devices fail to get regular updates, leaving users exposed to vulnerabilities. That is unacceptable! It is why I own an iPhone now, but I digress.
Sadly, yet another set of vulnerabilities have been discovered for Android. Dubbed 'QuadRooter', all Qualcomm devices are affected. In other words, this is really, really, bad, folks. You see, 900 million phones and tablets are impacted, and most of them will probably never be patched. The Android sky is falling!
Latin America set to see major mobile growth
Until now the Latin America region has been slow to adopt mobile apps, partly because of limited availability of high-speed data connections.
But as the Rio Olympics kick off and the world focuses on the region, Yahoo's analytics arm Flurry is releasing its first-ever report analyzing mobile activity across Latin America.
Xiaomi announces Mi VR headset
Xiaomi is getting ready to enter a new market, as today it unveils its first virtual reality headset, called Mi VR. Just like most other devices of its kind, it relies on a smartphone to work, but what sets it apart from the crowd is its unique design.
Mi VR features a case made of Lycra, which is said to provide "long-lasting comfort" to the wearer. The smartphone is held with by a zippered cover, which gives users a certain degree of flexibility when it comes to the size of the device that they want to use with Mi VR.
Uber China will merge with Digi Chuxing
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced via a blog post that Uber China -- a subsidiary of the taxi-hailing app -- will merge with its biggest competitor in the region -- Didi Chuxing -- in a whopping $35 billion deal.
The blog post has recently been doing the rounds on Chinese social media, with the deal effectively signalling the end of a hard-fought market share battle in China in which both companies have invested huge amounts of money without really getting anywhere.
First Android 7.0 Nougat smartphone to be LG V20
LG must know something about its competitors' plans for the next version of Android, because it wants everyone to know that it will be the first vendor to ship a new smartphone with Nougat on board.
The smartphone in question is called V20, and it is the successor to the V10 that LG unveiled nearly one year ago. It will reach store shelves in the coming quarter -- or at least two months from now.
Total iPhone sales will exceed one billion mark
Just days after it was reported that Facebook has a billion people using Messenger, a similar thing will happen with Apple.
The company has either already, or will very soon, sell its one billionth iPhone. In the last reported quarter (Q1 2016), it was unveiled that the company had sold a total of 987 million iPhones in the seven years since its inception. Some 40 million had been sold in the quarter alone, and according to Financial Times, analysts expect at least another 40m quarter ahead.
Google is making it harder to root Android 7.0 Nougat
Rooting Android remains very popular with a certain crowd of users, but fact of the matter is for most folks it is an unnecessary hassle. I have gone through the pros and cons of hacking the operating system in previous articles, so I will not discuss them again here, but suffice to say that both the software and the hardware have matured so nicely that the vast majority of people can be perfectly happy with their new smartphone or tablet as it comes out of the box.
Google has been somewhat permissive with regards to rooting, but, behind closed doors, it has been working hard to close the open avenues. While hacking Android has become harder, Nougat will take things to the next level, bringing new security features to make sure that your device stays the way its maker intended.
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