Category: Android Nougat

One big change in Android Nougat is the ability to adjust the urgency of notification.  In Android Marshmallow, you can you somewhat have a binary decision when it came to notifications.  With Nougat, you have far more granular controls around notifications and, in fact, have six levels of notifications that you can set for applications.  The nice thing is that you can set this for each and every app on your device should you want to go through that process.

In this How To I will show you how to access the Power Notifications Controls and how to configure them for applications.

Today’s Deal is a great one for those looking to pick up a solid performing Android Phone.  Right now over at Amazon you can pick up the Sony Xperia XA Ultra with a 64GB MicroSD card for $298.  That is a savings of about $100 on the phone alone so this is a really good deal.  The Xperia XA Ultra is a flagship device with flagship specs.  It is powered by the octa-core Mediateck MT6755 processor with 4 cores running at 2.0Ghz and 4 running at 1.0Ghz.  That is coupled with 4GB of RAM and 16GB of built in storage.  It has a 6″ IPS display that renders 1080 x 1920 pixels for ~367 ppi.  The cameras built into the XA ultra are pretty awesome too.  The main camera is a 21MP with hybrid autofocus while the 16MP front face camera has a flash and a gesture shutter so you can take that selfie with just a wave of your hand.

Give credit to T-Mobile.  Usually the question of if a device on a particular carrier will see a major Android update is a mystery at best and a frustration at worst.  T-Mobile is working to eliminate that for their customers.  The carrier has published a list of all the devices that are on their network that will see the Android Nougat update.  Now let’s be clear:  This isn’t going to happen overnight.  Customers are likely weeks or months away, depending on the device, from seeing the update.  Further, the carrier points out that the update has to come from the manufacture first, then they will release it.  If the manufacture doesn’t release it, then that device won’t get the update.

Earlier this week I told you about a deal over at eBay on the Nexus 5X, 16GB storage model for $199.  That’s a great deal but if you want one with 32GB, you can also get a great deal on that model as well on eBay.  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. The nice thing is, the 32GB model is available in Carbon and Quartz where as the 16GB model is only available in Quartz.

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.

HTC took to Twitter yesterday and clarified the target dates for the Android Nougat update to their devices.  The news is mixed in that it looks like there is still going to be another couple of months before we see the first device updated but, to their credit, the company is being upfront about things.  According to the Tweet, the HTC 10 will be the first of their devices updated and that will happen in Q4 of this year.

We’re excited to receive final shipping Android 7.0 Nougat software from Google! pic.twitter.com/BNbQBpgddK

— HTC (@htc) August 24, 2016

Probably more disappointing is that the One A9 will not be updated until after the older One M9.

With Android Nougat out and already hitting Nexus devices, the big question everyone now wants an answer for is when their particular manufacture will be rolling it out to their devices.  For their part, Sony has published a list of no less than nine Xperia devices that will see the Nougat update, which will great to see, will leave some disappointed.  Missing from the list is the super popular Xperia Z3 as well as the entire Xperia C, E and M lineup.  To be fair, the Z3 missing from the list isn’t that shocking given that it was released in September 2014.  That’s right at the cusp of when a manufacture would consider an update.  For the newer C, E and M lineups however, that is a big disappointment.