Android: Page 24

The fourth and final beta version of Android O just made its debut, and the biggest change is what appears to be a new code name. When you access Android 8.0's version number Easter egg, you'll be greeted by ... a cartoon octopus.

Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones were, and continue to be, impressive in their own right. One of the reasons why can be found in its chipset — the Pixel phones were launched with the newest Qualcomm chips at the time, the Snapdragon 821. Now, rumors point to the Pixel 2 as the likely candidate to ship with Qualcomm's next chipset, the Snapdragon 836.

Even though your phone has a built-in media player, it's got nothing on VLC. The popular third-party video player supports virtually every codec and file format, and even better, you can use it to stream movies, shows, and other video files from your computer to your phone.

Bixby — Samsung's voice-activated digital assistant — has been delayed again because the software still can't recognize English. Although Samsung claims Bixby can execute 15,000 tasks, it appears it's inability to master English is a major obstacle that's preventing its full release in the United States.

To really personalize your HTC 10, you'll need to be rooted — but that can't happen unless you unlock your bootloader. Thankfully, HTC has made it relatively easy to unlock the bootloader on their 2016 flagship.

If you haven't heard yet, Google is revamping the Play Store with version 8.0. While it so far doesn't seem to have any life changing features, there are ones that certainly will make your life easier, like their new updates feature.

The OnePlus 5 may have received a lot of flak for its design mirroring the iPhone 7 Plus' very closely, but that doesn't change the fact that dual cameras have become increasingly more common over the last couple years. Samsung's next smartphone, the Galaxy Note 8, is rumored to be the next major smartphone to sport the technology. Now, Samsung may have confirmed those rumors as truth.

While it might be a little past its prime now, the running gag about Nokia phones never breaking was one of the internet's favorite jokes. "If you buy one," they would say, "you'll never need another phone again." I think if those users could see into the future, they'd change their tune, as the Nokia 6 is now available to preorder — and I'm guessing it would give any of Nokia's old bricks a run for their money.

For people that like to get things done, Android's home screen widgets are almost indispensable. Rather than packing your launcher with a bunch of icons, you can utilize widgets to get quick information in a beautiful package or provide one-tap access to a particular functionality within your apps.

Google has an exclusive launcher for its Pixel devices, and it's pretty slick. But even though we've found ways to get this home screen app on other phones, certain features simply wouldn't work unless you were rooted. That's finally changed.

The beta firmware for OnePlus devices lets you record calls from the stock Oxygen OS dialer, but this feature is never included in official updates. This is likely due to legal issues with recording calls in some jurisdictions, but thankfully, there's a way to get this feature without having to run beta software.

It's the end of an era. Facebook's WhatsApp just announced that older Android devices equipped with the Gingerbread operating system will no longer be able to use the messaging app as of February 1, 2020.

Despite packing some really nice camera specs, the OnePlus 3 and 3T don't take the best pictures. That's because, these days, great software is just as important as great hardware when it comes to image quality.

The OnePlus 5 just made its official debut, so we now have all of the juicy details. From the announcement, this device definitely sounds like it's going to be another flagship killer, following in the footsteps of its predecessors.

Firefox Focus is Mozilla's effort to make your internet experience a little more secure. Originally released in November 2016 for iOS, Focus blocks internet trackers, search history, anything that gets in the way of a clean, private browsing experience.

We've been following the rumors surrounding the OnePlus 5 for a while, and we are more than excited to get our hands on it. That excitement has only increased today, as we learn OnePlus has included a feature in its newest device that resembles the iPhone 7 Plus — real dual cameras.

If you're not familiar with Bixby, I don't blame you. The Samsung assistant was released two months ago with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. While users were excited about this Google Assistant-like feature, they were ultimately disappointed by the limited rollout of only some of Bixby's features. Now, Samsung is hopeful to perfect Bixby using you.

For months, consumers have been itching to know whether it will be Samsung or Apple that has the first in-screen fingerprint scanner in their next smartphone. Now, reputable researcher Jiutang Pan has taken to Weibo to report that the answer is neither.

Update 6/16: This number is now way higher. In just the first two days of this sale, over 350,000 people have pre-registered for the phone.

The Asphalt series has been a staple in the racing genre since its first incarnation all the way back in 2004 — I still remember buying it for my newly-obtained Nintendo DS. It warms my heart to see that, after all this time, Gameloft continues to produce mobile Asphalt games, releasing the latest for Android today. Unfortunately, that's about all Gameloft has taken from its previous efforts. To be frank, this game ain't good.

Android O doesn't have an official code name yet, but it's certainly got plenty of cool new features. The OS won't officially debut until Q3 2017, but we've gotten our hands on some of the updated stock apps thanks to the Android beta program.

Right off of the unveiling of the Moto Z2 Play, it looks like Lenovo is gearing up to announce the highly anticipated Moto Z2.

Meet Android Excellence, Google's latest platform with the ability to showcase the highest quality apps and games on a quarterly basis. Sound familiar? It should.

A new feature of Google's Gboard for Android lets users doodle an emoji in order to find it. The change was part of a few updates introduced earlier today.

The latest trend in smartphone design is all about the display. Manufacturers want larger screens with smaller bezels. The rumors are heating up about Google's next big release, the Pixel 2, and with that, we may have a clue that shows us Google is hopping on the display train.

The leaks and rumors surrounding the highly anticipated Galaxy Note 8 just keep coming. But none have suggested that the new Samsung phone might be powered by a different chipset than the Snapdragon 835, until now.

Here it is folks, after weeks of constant leaks and speculation surrounding the highly anticipated OnePlus 5, the company has decided to release a high-res image of the new phone on the official OnePlus Google+ page.

The Galaxy S8's Always On Display is a fantastic feature that gives you a brief overview without having to wake up your phone. But AOD now has a virtual home button, which kinda ruins the sleek look and can even cause screen burn-in.

Finally, the much anticipated OnePlus 5 has got a release date. A few days ago, a leaked image from OnePlus suggested that June 20 might possibly be the launch date for the Chinese smartphone and today those leaks were confirmed.

Winter is coming for Amazon. It looks like the company is having another go at the smartphone world with its release of new smartphones branded as "Ice".

The iPhone has a feature that lets you see how much juice is left in your Bluetooth headphones, but most Android phones are lacking this ability. Thankfully, there's a simple app that'll close this gap in functionality.

A groundbreaking new Android feature called seamless updates was announced at Google I/O 2016. No longer would we have to wait for updates to download and install — instead, they'd be applied silently in the background, and the new Android version would be waiting on us the next time we restarted our phones.

Most music streaming services will either use the stock Android equalizer or their own built-in equalizer. A couple of apps, such as Spotify, bring both to the table. Spotify has a built-in equalizer which kicks into play when a system or third-party equalizer isn't detected. However, other apps such as SoundCloud and Pandora don't use the installed equalizer even if it's a system-wide one.

If your phone has an AMOLED display, it doesn't waste any battery to power black portions of the screen. This is because the individual pixels that make up an AMOLED screen emit their own light, which means the backlight you'd find behind a traditional LCD screen is not present. In other words, showing a full-screen black image on an AMOLED phone is like turning your display completely off.

Running commands on Linux seems so complicated for the layman that it may as well be a foreign language. But for the die-hard terminal users, or for those who are just curious about the Linux experience, there's a new Android launcher that gives your home screen a command line makeover.

If you're a tech enthusiast, there's no way you're not watching HBO's Silicon Valley. So you surely know the Pied Piper crew's latest shenanigans involve an app that uses a phone's camera to find facts about food items — a sort of Shazaam for food, if you may.

Google's Pixel phones claimed the top spot in our ranking of the best phones for rooting, but they do have one drawback from a modder's perspective: Because of their A/B partition layout for seamless updates, the devices don't have official support for Magisk. Thankfully, though, developer goodwin has stepped in with a fix, so we can now get Magisk working on the Pixel and Pixel XL.

There's no debating that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are top contenders for the most beautifully designed handsets of 2017, but the same can't be said for their TouchWiz interface, which has been met with lukewarm reception at best.

Yep, Google just put in place a new thing called the dun dun duuuun .... "Device Catalog!" No, not like the Macy's catalog of your smartphone dreams. This is quite the opposite.

If you're ever in a major accident or have a bout with acute onset health problems, first responders will need to know as much information about you in order to provide proper care. For this reason, paramedics and firemen have been trained to search a subject's cell phone to find ICE (in case of emergency) contacts that know your allergies, blood type, and other vital details.