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All Posts by Jerry Hildenbrand

Android O's notification coloring is an abomination

48 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 24 Jun 2017 6:18 pm
This idea needs a second look, Google. Not every idea is a good idea. And some good ideas aren't nearly as good as they sound once put into use. I'm not sure where the idea of colorizing media notifications in Android O fits into the "good" scale of ideas, but I know one thing. It's an idea that needs to change. In case you're not up to snuff with what I'm talking about — even when launched...

Get your groove on in this week's comment thread!

23 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 24 Jun 2017 1:07 pm
Sit back, relax and chat about stuff because it's the weekend! Hey hey! Another week is done and we're all closer to _________ (fill in the blank there with retirement, graduation, or whatever). Hopefully, you had a good one. We did because we get to live through yet another OnePlus launch and the internet fun-times that always go with them. It seems like a great phone. A great phone that may...

What's on our home screens! [Roundtable]

27 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 23 Jun 2017 3:00 pm
Be together. Not the same. One of the things that people love about Android is how easy it is to customize and personalize. The companies that make the phones we all love have no desire to restrict us to keep the design and style they use, and nobody cares how beautiful or gaudy we make things. Some even provide a theme engine to make it easy to mix things up with one tap. Everyone does...

Android O brings huge improvements for VR

3 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 22 Jun 2017 8:00 am
For Google Daydream, software is as important as the hardware. Mobile VR has come a long way since Google Cardboard. And it's one area where a lot of different companies have ideas for how it can get even better. We're nowhere near a "peak VR" situation and expect advances with every generation. Daydream-ready phones need to perform without overheating or killing the battery in 10 minutes...

The LG V30 said to be announced at IFA 2017

50 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 21 Jun 2017 4:03 pm
It's big, bold, and should appear in Berlin this September. According to the Korean technology site ETNews, we should see the new LG V30 at September's IFA 2017 show. The G6-inspired design features an edge-to-edge OLED display. This would be the first OLED display LG has used since the G Flex series, but the industry trend has clearly seen the advantages OLED offers and the days of an LCD...

OnePlus 5: Do you really need 8GB of RAM in a phone?

36 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 20 Jun 2017 2:30 pm
Nope. But it opens a lot of possibilities. You can buy a OnePlus 5 that has 8GB of RAM on board. That's 4GB more than most other high-end Android phones (and Chromebooks and cheap Windows Laptops) have and about 6GB more than the absolute bare minimum you can get away with. We'll answer the question right here in the first paragraph: No, you do not need 8GB of RAM in a phone. But it does mean...

All about Android O's Notification Channels

6 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 20 Jun 2017 9:00 am
Android 8 comes with the power to take control over your notification tray so you can sort out just what you want to see. One of the bigger changes and features coming with Android O is the new Notification Channels system. It can also be a little confusing to talk about, since it's not something we're used to seeing on our phones. But when you cut through all the fancy technical words and...

Google selling select Pixel and Pixel XL cases at half-off

8 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 19 Jun 2017 4:54 pm
Save 50% on the "Pixel case" models from Google for either size Pixel while supplies last. One of the first things you'll notice when you take a new Google Pixel out of the box is that there's a lot of glass involved. Unless you're super careful and lucky, that means there's a good chance you'll scratch things up. Or even have a phone that looks like it stormed a beach during a war or something...

E-ink hybrid YotaPhone 3 announced, but don't expect to see it anywhere outside of Asia

12 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 18 Jun 2017 2:58 pm
Yo dawg, we heard you like e-ink. Remember the YotaPhone and the YotaPhone 2? They were those crazy phones from Russian manufacturer Yota that had a regular screen on one side and an e-ink display on the other. The first one pretty much sucked but the second version was not completely terrible, though it never made it to the U.S. as promised. Well, there's going to be a third model. You can...

Keeping the same phone for two years

153 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 17 Jun 2017 7:06 pm
Long term support should be as important as the hardware when it comes to our next phone purchase. I've been thinking about this for a while. Apple, Samsung, and Google are pricing their premium phones high enough to make a dent in most everyone's bank account. There's a lot of room to talk about phones, no matter how smart, being worth the asking prices, but talk probably won't change...

Kick off summertime in this week's comments thread

21 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 17 Jun 2017 12:00 pm
Sit back, relax and chat about stuff because it's the weekend! It's the last weekend of spring. That means we are all gearing up for the heat, the sunshine and the fun outdoorsy times that come with summer! I'm spending this one in style at a friend's cabin on the lake to enjoy the weekend on his deck, drinking his beer and loving his rural broadband speeds. I might even wake up early and see...

How do you take and edit pictures with your phone? [Roundtable]

19 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 16 Jun 2017 1:00 pm
There's more to taking a great pic that mashing the shutter button. Here's how we do it. Having a great camera on your phone is a must in 2017. Even so-called budget models phones have a decent camera, and the high-end devices from every company in the game can all take some awesome pictures. But there's usually more involved in taking a great pic than just tapping the shutter button. This...

These are the Chromebooks that can run Android apps from Google Play

Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 15 Jun 2017 3:00 pm
Android on Chrome
Android — and 1,000,000+ apps — on your Chromebook is awesome. But not every Chromebook is going to get updated to have Google Play and Android apps. And most of the ones that will are in a long testing process. We all hate waiting. And we all hate updates that break things. Google and the people who made your Chromebook are trying to make sure everything is good and keep the wait time to a...

Best Chromebook, June 2017

Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 14 Jun 2017 2:00 pm
Best overall Best on the go Best on a budget Best overall Samsung Chromebook Plus See at Amazon Samsung and Google have built the best Chromebook you can buy with the Samsung Chromebook Plus. It's incredibly well built, has one of the best displays of any laptop and is the first Chromebook with the new Pen that adds pressure sensitive drawing. The bottom line: For anyone who wants to...

How to add a second user and Google account to your Chromebook

6 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 13 Jun 2017 1:00 pm
You can add as many accounts to your Chromebook as you like, and there are even some handy ways to administer them all. A great thing about Chromebooks is that whenever you sign into one, it syncs all your apps, extensions, and settings, so you always have the same experience. It's pretty cool knowing exactly what to expect and where everything is. And Chrome is ready for multiple users on...

Router vs. Mesh Networking: What's best for your home Wi-Fi network?

56 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 13 Jun 2017 11:40 am
Google Wifi
Don't just replace a working home Wi-Fi network because Google Wi-Fi is new, but if you need a change here are some tips to get you started. Google Wifi isn't the first consumer-focused mesh networking product. Offerings from eero and Luma have been around for a while and offer a mesh networking solution very much the same as what Google is selling. The difference is that Google Wi-Fi is a...

Cheap Cloud Storage — which one saves you the most?

Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 13 Jun 2017 9:00 am
Cloud Storage Options
Cloud storage is something ever more useful and ever more popular, but there's also a ton to choose from. Updated June 2017: Added current plans and pricing for the various online storage providers. Fortunately, most also have free trials, and any storage provider worth its salt is going to give you a few gigabytes of space for free anyway to try to get you to stick around. Let's take a look...

Xbox One X versus PlayStation 4 Pro: Which high-end console brings the better hardware?

89 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 11 Jun 2017 5:38 pm
Microsoft's new Xbox One X brings some beefy specs. Tonight at E3 in Los Angeles Microsoft introduced the new Xbox One X and it's time to compare their best to Sony's latest and greatest. The Xbox has become more than just a game console as Microsoft has focused on making it another part of the expansive Windows platform. Meanwhile, Sony has focused on adding features to the PlayStation to...

Best Smart Smoke Detector

Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 11 Jun 2017 11:00 am
Update, June 2017: We've kept our choices unchanged for now, since the Nest Protect is really the best smart smoke detector around. Best overall Best for integration Best overall Nest Protect See at Amazon When it comes to connectivity options, the Nest Protect has most everything covered. That's an important reason to want or need a smarter smoke detector and gives the Nest Protect a...

Google needs to build a Chrome tablet

57 Comments
Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 10 Jun 2017 5:43 pm
Developers needs the right tool to get their products ready for the future of computing, and Google is the company that needs to build it. Many people reading this will have paid at least a passing interest to Apple's WWDC 2017 announcements. Among all the hyperbole and salesmanship in the keynote address there was one thing that became clear: the iPad is closer than ever to the only "computer...

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