Category: Google

Last month eBay had the Nexus 5X down to $239.99 and it has returned at this great price.  Currently the 32GB model of the Nexus 5X is down to $239.99, a savings of about 40% over what you can pick it up from Google directly. Right now both the Carbon and Quartz colors are in stock.

Obviously with the new Marlin and Sailfish Nexus devices on their way, we can expect to see the prices starting to drop on the 5X and 6P but these are still solid devices.  Plus, as you probably already know, the 5X is upgradable to Android Nougat.

As a reminder, the specs of the Nexus 5X are pretty impressive.

Google has pushed an update to Google Drive for Android that has several small but nice updates.  The most notable change is the ability to pin files or folders to your phone or tablet’s home screen.  This gives you quick access to that file without actually having to open up the Drive app itself.  To use this new feature is pretty simple.  Once you have open up the app, next to the file or folder in the list will be an overflow menu (3 vertical dots).  Tap that and you will see an option “Add to Home screen”.  Tap that and it will be added.  To remove it, just tap-and-hold then drag it to Remove.

As you have probably seen or read by now, there is a beta app of the Google Pixel Launcher that is expected to be a part of the upcoming Google Pixel phones.  You may recall earlier this Summer there was a Nexus Launcher that was running around in beta.  This is the exact same thing, renamed and updated a bit.  If you want to try out the new launcher, you can download both the launcher APK and the new wallpaper pack APK in one zip file after the break.

First, a few of housekeeping items before you download these files.

1. This is a beta app and is not officially supported.  There is no tech support for it so if you aren’t comfortable with that, don’t install it.  Wait until it becomes official.
2. No, I’m not tech support.
3. No warranty is expressed or implied.  ClintonFitch.com is not responsible for any damages to your phone, data, pictures, files, etc. on your phone.  Load at your own risk.
4. In order to install the APKs, you will need to allow for apps to be installed from unknown sources.  You can find this setting at Settings>Security>Unknown Sources.
5. You will need to install both APKs for everything to work properly.  I recommend installing the wallpaper pack first.

It took a bit longer than expected but Google has finally released the factory image and OTA image for Android Nougat for the Nexus 6P.  With the release of these images, it means that 6P owners can expect to start seeing Nougat drop onto their devices over the course of the next few days and weeks.  The update is a big one at over 900MB so you will want to make sure you phone is connected to Wi-Fi and fully charged before you start the update process.  All in, it will take about 30 minutes from download to install to reboot.

As for why it took this long to get the update out is a point of speculation.

Google and Box have announced a new partnership that essentially allows the cloud-based storage company to be a repository for Google Docs for Box customers.  This is a big deal for businesses who leverage Box as they can keep all of the documents within Box yet still leverage the power of Google Docs within their SMB or Enterprise.

The integration between Box and Google Docs will enable Box to act as a third-party repository for Docs, Sheets and Slides, allowing users to create and collaboratively edit Google Docs directly from Box.

The integration doesn’t stop there as there are also plans to integrate Box with Google Springboard.

The Google OnHub app was updated last week and while the official release notes indicated it was primarily around performance fixes and adding support for Phillips Hue lighting, there was another small but important change made to the app.  The OnHub app has always been able to do some network testing and when I initially reviewed the router and app, this was one area that was really in need of improvement.  That improvement has come over the course of the past few updates (I have no hesitation in recommending it now) but the change made to the app last week brings some clarity to those network tests.

To begin, the testing of your Internet connection speed and your Wi-Fi speed are now two separate tests.  You can run both of them or just one of them where as before, they were all lumped in together.  To be clear however, you have to run the Internet test first, every time, to get to the stand alone Wi-Fi test.  Hopefully this will change in the future but for now, it is what it is.