Category: Android

One of the best things about Android Messages for Android is Smart Replies.  If you aren’t familiar, Smart Replies allows for one-tap replies to text messages received, relying on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to give you the appropriate answer options.  Now it seems that Google is building this same AI/ML into Google Gboard to enable it to work across a wide range of messaging apps.

The feature is still very much in development so don’t look for it in the stable release of the keyboard app just yet.  Instead, the team over at XDA has done a tear down of the latest beta of the Gboard app and has discovered the code to support Smart Replies across multiple different messaging apps.

T-Mobile has become the last US carrier to release the Android Oreo update for the LG G6.  Build H87220a rolled out to a small group of users last week but has now begun rolling out broadly to T-Mobile customers with the 2017 flagship phone.

To check for the update, go to Settings>About Phone>Update Center>System Update and check for the update there.  Keep in mind that it is still rolling out so it could well take another day or two before it lands on your phone.

T-Mobile, who generally is one of the first to release software updates, has taken their time on this one.  AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon have all released the update, in some cases nearly two months ago, so it is unclear why it took T-Mobile so long.

Google Pay has once again been working hard with banks and financial institutions, adding another 63 of them to the roster today.  With the additions, Pay now is supported by some 1,427 institutions in the United States alone, well ahead of their nearest competition.

In addition to the these financial institutions being added, which I’ll list out after the break, Google Pay also picked up support for the PayPal Mastercard.  Support for PayPal was added back in May of last year but the Synchrony-backed Mastercard was not supported.  Now it is and you can add it to Pay to use as a purchasing option when you tap-to-pay at a retailer or online.

A fourth Chrome 68-based build of the Chrome for Android Beta app has arrived in the Google Play Store.  The new build, 68.0.3440.40, brings a number of bug fixes and stability improvements as the Chromium team continues to work on the build for public release late next month.

As you may recall from the first beta release from a couple of weeks back, there are a slew of changes coming to Chrome for Android with Chrome 68.  A new horizontal task switcher is available, a new Home screen mini bar instead of a banner has been added as well as new identifications for non-HTTPS sites that you visit.

Honor, the Huawei sub-brand here in the United States, has a great promotion running now through July 4th.  The deal is on the Honor View10 and the Honor 7X, with the company offering various bundles deals on both devices through their online store.

First, on the View10, the company has setup a spin wheel that gives you the opportunity to win a discount on the phone.  You can save $25, $50, $75 or $100 if you are lucky enough to spin the wheel for that discount.  In addition to this, there are two different bundles being offered.  In both cases, the bundle is $499

1^st Bundle: Purchase the Honor View10 and receive free pair of Honor Sport Bluetooth Earphones AM61 Red

2^nd Bundle: Purchase the Honor View10 and receive a free Tripod Selfie Stick

YouTube is now broadly rolling out the ability for all users, regardless if you are a YouTube Premium subscriber or not, to utilize the app’s support of Android Oreo’s Picture-in-Picture feature.  By all indications, this is a cloud-side change so as long as you are running the latest version of YouTube on your phone (v 13.24.59 for those keeping score at home), you should see the update now or very shortly.

Up to this point, PiP has been limited to YouTube Red previously and now YouTube Premium as a benefit of the paid service.  With this change, assuming that the content creator has given permission for PiP to happen, all YouTube users should be able to utilize the feature.