Articles about Android

At an event on Tuesday, HTC announced the launch of One A9, "the best HTC smartphone in years", according to the company. The handset comes with a big promise. HTC claims that it will deliver the latest version of Android to the One A9 within 15 days of its availability.

The metal-clad HTC One A9, which looks very similar to the iPhone, comes with a 5-inch Full HD 2.5D AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protecting the screen. It is powered by a Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor with integrated X8 LTE, and offers users a choice between a 2GB or 3GB of RAM. For storage, users get to pick between 16GB and 32GB, with both variants supporting microSD card for external storage.

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The New York Times is an institution -- one of the most important and respected news outlets in history. While some will decry its pro-liberal stances, even conservatives cannot deny the strong writing and relevant topics.

Today, the news organization takes a very weird, albeit cool, path in its quest to stay relevant in the digital age. Shockingly, it is partnering with Google to embrace virtual reality with a new mobile app called "NYT VR"; I kid you not, folks. The app will require Google Cardboard, which the New York Times will give away to some of its readers as a promotion.

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If you asked me two months ago about using a Huawei smartwatch or smartphone, I would have scoffed. Yet, here I am doing just that. Timing on the latter is ironic. On Oct. 15, 2015, I bought a 128GB silver (and white) iPhone 6s Plus using Apple's 24-month finance plan, rather than paying in full up front. Huawei-made, Google-branded 64GB Nexus 6P arrived the next day for review. The following morning (the 17th), I hauled down to Apple Store and returned the iPhone for full refund. That act sums up my reaction to the new Android flagship running "Marshmallow".

I didn't expect to be so wooed by Nexus 6P, but Google got me by delivering superior contextual experience. This device, and Android 6, is all about context, starting with what for me is the killer function I couldn't part with: the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. Picking up the device and placing my forefinger on the circular indentation wakes and unlocks the 6P. Wow-way is right! The mechanism beats the Hell out of Apple's two-handed jimmy from the Home button.

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Finely balanced and contextually practical are the terms that best describe my first impressions of Google's flagship Android. Nexus 6P preorders are about to ship, and I was fortunate to receive a review model but with short embargo lift: Delivered Oct. 16, 2015 before every blogger and reviewer on the planet blasted out simultaneous reviews and first-reactions on the 19th. I choose the latter, because a scant three days isn't enough time to rightly evaluate the smartphone.

Much of my experience is cast in moving from the previous flagship, Nexus 6, although there was a day between them where iPhone 6s Plus and I fitfully danced. The 6P is in many respects what its predecessor should have been: Smaller. Much as I like the larger Motorola-made phablet, its Huawei-manufactured successor has greater physical and feature balance. Both are superb smart devices, but the newer Nexus is better tuned to practical purposes.

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Modern smartphones come with great cameras which generally deliver good results, but of course they can’t change the photographic basics: if there’s not enough light then your pictures are going to ruined by noise.

Photo Noise Reducer Pro is a free-for-personal-use Android app which provides various ways to denoise, smooth and generally clean up your images.

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South Korean maker LG has announced plans to roll out Android 6.0 Marshmallow as early as next week, making it the first vendor, outside of Google, to bring the new mobile operating system to existing devices.

The first handset that LG will upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow is its current flagship smartphone, G4, with customers in Poland being the first to see the software update available on their devices.

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OK Google, Siri, and Cortana all make it possible to control a phone simply by speaking to it. In the case of Google, what you might not be aware -- it's hardly something the company shouts about -- is that recordings of every command, question, and request are stored online.

Listening back through these could well be interesting, embarrassing, perhaps even nostalgic. You can step back in time and remind yourself of trips abroad, fun nights out, and the like, but you might also be concerned about privacy. If you would rather these recordings were not stored online, you can delete them; here's how.

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The rumor mill has put a price tag on the upcoming BlackBerry Priv handset, and this smartphone won’t be cheap.

That likely won’t come as a surprise though, given the noises that have already been made about this being a premium phone, and BlackBerry’s chief executive John Chen has even previously said that the device will have a top-end price tag.

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Facebook has become much more than just a social network; indeed, networking is fairly low down on the list of priorities for many users. The site is increasingly used for gaming, news gathering, and video consumption. Today Facebook announces a batch of new video features in recognition of the fact that videos are what people are looking for.

A small-scale test with iPhone users to try out a video suggestion feature is set to extend worldwide, ultimately spreading to the web and Android. Facebook is also borrowing some ideas from the likes of YouTube, including the ability to build up video playlists.

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OnePlus has announced that its sought-after Android flagship smartphone will be available to purchase without invite today, October 12. Consumers interested in getting their hands on OnePlus 2 will have a one-hour window to complete their purchase before the company goes back to its invite-only system.

This is the first time that OnePlus 2 is officially sold without an invite, so, to avoid any issues with the ordering system, the one-hour window will start at noon in every major region. Outside of it, consumers will need to have an invite to snap up a OnePlus 2.

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Google is so ubiquitous that it has become much more than just a company. It is a verb, an ecosystem, a way of life. But just as with anything that you experience every day, it's easy to take it for granted or overlook what's under your nose.

With your Android smartphone in your hand (or an iPhone for that matter), the Google app is a portal to a wealth of information; all you need to do is speak to your phone. It's easy to forget just how helpful the app is -- but Google is here to remind you that it is more than capable of taking on Siri and Cortana. The company has released a trio of videos highlighting what the app can do for you. And you know what? They're actually pretty decent.

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Microsoft continues to show that it is interested in mobile platforms other than its own. The company has placed an increasing importance on iOS and Android, and new reports reveal that the Skype team has developed a new Android dialer app that is currently destined for India.

As the app comes from the Skype team, it seems reasonable to assume that Skype integration is to be expected -- blurring the boundaries between cellular and web-based calls. India is a sensible testing ground for such an app, but it's likely that it will also spread globally as well as to other platforms.

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If you have an iPhone, you're stuck with running iOS apps; if you have an Android phone, you're stuck with Android apps. At least that used to be the case. For desktop platforms such as OS X and Linux, tools and emulators exist that make it possible to run software designed for a different platform. CodeWeavers produce CrossOver which enables PC games and applications to run on non-PC platforms.

At the moment, CrossOver is available for Mac and Linux, but there are plans to bring the tool to Android. This means that, ultimately, it should be possible to run Windows software on an Android phone or tablet.

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With the release of Marshmallow (Android 6.0) the usual question rears its head. It's the eternal question that Android users ask themselves every time Google releases a new version of its mobile operating system: will my phone get the upgrade? If you have a Nexus device, you are probably in luck -- unless it's really old, of course -- but what about everyone else?

Unlike Apple's iPhone, which has a very long support lifecycle when it comes to iOS upgrades, Android is famous for its fragmentation. Marshmallow may have been released, but it's down to individual handset manufacturers and carriers to push out the updates. So... is your handset in line for the upgrade? Here's what we know so far.

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YouTube can be a great resource for young children, but there’s also a vast amount of adult content that you probably won’t want them to see.

The regular YouTube app and even the website can place some limits on what you access (Manage Subscriptions > Restricted Mode > On), but if that’s not enough then you might like to try Google’s official YouTube Kids app for Android.

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