Author Archives: JC Torres

Smartphones seem to be getting crazier and crazier, perhaps as an attempt to keep users excited and interested in them. From bezel-less notched screens to triple cameras to sliding or elevating cameras to foldable screens, you think you’ve seen it all. That is, until you’ve laid eyes on the Nokia 9, or at least what it’s believed to be. The smartphone, which supposedly has not three not even four but five lenses, all on its back, is now tipped to debut sooner than originally intended. All thanks to the media hype around it.

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You’d be forgiven if this news flew under your radar. With all the hype over Samsung’s foldable phone hogging the spotlight, it was almost too easy to miss out on some things that will benefit not just Samsung but all Android users at large. Coincidentally at the same time as Samsung’s developer conference, Google kicked of its own Android Dev Summit over at Mountain View, unloading a ton of goodies Android users can look forward to. And, yes, Google is making sure Android is ready for the new foldable trend.

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The November update for Pixel and Nexus devices have just rolled out and the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P phones have received those as well. While that is normally good news, the update belies some rather sad news. Unless something terribly wrong requires an immediate fix, this is probably the last update the two phones will ever receive officially. And with the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P reaching their end of life, so too ends the line of Google’s Nexus devices.

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Its foldable phone, or at least its foldable phone UX, might make the big headlines this week, but that is hardly all that Samsung has planned. It’s probably going to take the backseat for a while, but Samsung’s augmented reality ambitions are just as big. At its Samsung Developers Conference, the Korean tech company has alloted six sessions to AR. And while some of them seem to be devoted to the AR Emojis everyones either loves or loves to hate, Samsung might also have big news planned in the form of an AR cloud platform and even an AR headset prototype.

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Because of their heavy changes and customizations, Chinese OEMs are actually just as notorious as Samsung was (or still is) in how slow they are at rolling out new Android versions even to their latest smartphone models. That is also a by-product of their market, where Google and Android hold less weight that the names of Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi, and the like. So even when it’s a few months overdue, the fact that Huawei will actually be rolling out Android 9 Pie to a few of its phones this week is definitely worth taking note.

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One of the perks of an open platform such as Android is that almost anyone, with enough knowledge and time, can put it on any device imaginable. Including devices that Google may have never approved of. Of course, Android does run on devices powered by x86 chips, notably Intel’s, but it hasn’t been something that easily available for anyone to just install on their computers. That’s what the Android-x86 project has been trying to do and a newer project called PrimeOS is building on top of that to bring a better desktop experience to laptops and PCs, especially those with slightly older hardware.

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The OnePlus 6T has the distinction of being the first from the company to be made available from a US carrier. T-Mobile USA to be exact. That doesn't mean it's not available for other networks as long as you buy an unlocked version. In fact, the OnePlus 6T is also the first of its line to be certified for Verizon's network. Unfortunately that part isn't proceeding as flawlessly as some Verizon subscribers might have hoped, with numerous complaints about not receiving text messages and the hoops they have to go through to fix that.

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Apple can perhaps be credited for popularizing the already existing “true” wireless earbuds market, giving birth to both new products and knock-offs. Chinese manufacturers are notorious for the latter and one would expect someone like Xiaomi to once again copy those designs and products. The Chinese company has outgrown that inclination and while its new Mi AirDots might sound like the AirPods, they are thankfully quite far from being cheap clones. Though they are definitely cheap if you can get your hands on a pair.

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Like it or not, “the cloud” has become an essential part of modern life. At the very least, more and more people are using cloud storage to hold their files, especially the ones they need on the go or to collaborate with others. Cloud storage, however, really offers just that: storage. To do anything with the files stored in them, you often have to not only launch other apps, you also have to download and re-upload them in the process. That’s why Dropbox has developed a new Extensions system so you can do all of the things you need to do without leaving Dropbox at all.

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LG has been eerily silent on “spin-offs” of its premium G7 brand. In fact, there were only two, both of which may have been forgotten already since their first announcement pre-IFA two months ago. Perhaps trying to make up for lost time, LG is now making sure everyone knows that its LG G7 Fit is still a thing and will be coming to certain markets starting this month. And there might be some delicious irony in how the G7 Fit might have trouble fitting in anywhere at this point.

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OPPO may have wowed consumers with its stunning yet somewhat eccentric Find X and its elevating camera, but in terms of more conventional smartphone designs, its R series is still its main brand. Especially when talking about photography prowess. And that is exactly what the Chinese company is bringing to Europe in the form of the OPPO R17 Pro, designed to seize the night with its triple cameras and last throughout the day with its bi-cell “dual” batteries.

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As if switching to a new phone from the same company isn’t hard enough, switching between iOS and Android devices can be quite the adventure. Not everyone has the luxury of keeping their data stored in some cloud, much less one that can bridge the divide between Google and Apple’s platforms. That’s why migration apps are still a thing and OnePlus is about to take a stab at it to give iPhone owners a one-way ticket to freedom.

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