The week in Android saw a few new things happening around the world and in Australia. In hardware, we got our first official look at the HTC 10 and the initial impressions are positive, closer to home in Telco news there was a PR hiccup from Telstra, though thankfully there was no outage this time. Coming up this week, we should be finally able to bring you some more information about the LG G5 launch in Australia; stay tuned, we’re excited by what LG is trying with the G5, even though some other reviewers in the USA aren’t.
Android
Google released the Android N Developer Preview V2.0 Beta which fixed bugs and added some new features (the calculator in Quick Settings is a handy addition). You can enrol your Nexus 5X, 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player or Pixel C to receive an OTA update to the latest N Developer Preview on the Google Developer Preview site.
Reviews
Duncan took a full look at the Oppo F1 which he found was a pretty good performer all round for the most part, with an excellent camera for the price in a light, well designed body. There’s a few cons in the list, but it’s worth reading through to find out more.
Hardware
HTC 10
The HTC 10 got launched this week, Chris attended the launch and wrote up all the details as well as his initial hands-on impressions. HTC have supplied a review unit and Jason got to play with the phone for a longer period and supplied his thoughts as well as camera samples in a first impressions piece and the phone is now winging its way down to Canberra where Daniel will be putting it out for a full review.
- Check out the specs, launch information and hands on
- Take a look at Jason’s first impressions post where he took the camera for a spin
- We did up a comparison between the flagships — LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7/Edge and HTC’s 10
Google released customisable ‘Live Cases’ for Nexus phones, but it’s only available in the US. Live Cases lets you put your own picture or map location on the case and you also get a custom Live Wallpaper, all for $35USD. Looks like fun, but US-only is a big minus.
Apps
Google added an awesome new feature to Calendar, allowing you to tell Google what your goals are and Calendar will do its bets to slot in time in your schedule to help you achieve them. You can re-schedule them easily, or defer them and Calendar will automatically re-schedule them for you.
Google announced some new accessibility features for Android, Chromebooks etc. including a new voice control app. The app is in beta but unfortunately the Beta group is now full so if you didn’t get in you can’t officially try it out now.
For some fun and the chance to win a prize, check out the new V8 Supercars companion app from Volvo, you can win a car by playing the game it’s an interesting take and fun to play.
Are you a speed demon? Maybe you need some speed limit warnings in Google Maps. Velociraptor adds them in for you as an overlay in Google Maps.
Telco
Said to be under pressure from the Catholic Church, Australia’s largest telco Telstra stepped back from public support of marriage equality in Australia. A social media storm ensued, and while Telstra tried to clarify their position, their message was lost in the groundswell of discontent. Even Telstra CEO Andy Penn took to the Telstra blog to set the record straight, where he indicated that Telstra was merely pulling back from outright advocacy for marriage equality and waiting for the plebiscite promised by the government to take place.
Virgin Mobile is letting you bid on prizes by telling them how much unused data you have at the end of your bidding cycle in a unique auction on Facebook between 7-8pm every night. It’s a neat hook regardless of whether you’re a Virgin customer or not.
Aldi has unveiled their new ‘Value Packs’ which take advantage of the new 4G capability of the underlying Telstra network. The data packs aren’t as good value at the higher end, but there’s been some added minutes and SMS is now unlimited.
Deals
Nexus 5X owners can get 50% off an Adopted or Speck case from the Google Store until May 6th.
Software wise, make sure you part with 40c and grab both the app and game Deal of the Week from Google Play.
