Category: Android

As expected today, Google has released the May 2018 Android Security Update for the Pixel and Nexus devices.  The update, which consists of two patches, is rolling out now to compatible Google devices.  With it being the Monday of the first full week of the new month, it was expected we would see these patches land today.

As has become the norm, there are two patches for this month’s Android Security Update.  The first, dated May 1, 2018, consists of 7 patches, all of which are marked as High priority.  The patches in this build deal with general Android items like frameworks, runtimes and other base elements to the platform.

After some 17 months of testing in various shapes and forms, Android Things has finally been released.  The 1.0 version of Android for IoT (Internet of Things) devices, brings all the benefits of Android but in a streamlined, power friendly package.  Developers of Android should find Android Things familiar straight away.

The beauty of Things is that you have access to all the APIs, development tools and resources that are already used in Android development and can use them to develop hardware solutions on certified Android Things hardware for use in IoT projects.

After an update to their own app last week, Southwest Airlines will now let you save your boarding passes for flights to Google Pay.  It means that you will have one place to go for your boarding passes, purchasing and money transfers on your Android phone.  Southwest is the first airline to support this feature, which has been rumored to be coming down the pike for weeks.  It follows light rail transit tickets in Las Vegas and Portland being supported in the tap-to-pay app last month.

If you have upcoming flights on Southwest, you can view your boarding pass in their app and you will see the option to add the boarding pass to Google Pay.  Tap that button and your boarding pass will now appear in the Rewards & Gift Cards section of the app.

Good news this morning for Moto X4 owners who are on Project Fi.  Your Android Oreo 8.1 update is now ready to download.  The update follows up the Oreo update back in December for the device which is the first non-Google branded phone to work with Google’s MVNO service.

If you have a X4 on Fi, you should have the update available by checking for it in the device’s settings under the About phone section.  It is a small update given that it is incrementing the Oreo build on the device but it is always a good ideal to download these types of updates via WiFi.

The Microsoft OneDrive for Android app has been updated with a feature that has long been requested by users:  The ability to install the app on a SD card.  To this point, if you have an Android phone with a SD Card, OneDrive would not allow itself to be installed on that external storage.  It is something that long time users of the cloud storage app have requested of Microsoft as it can save space, especially if you are syncing a lot of content offline from your OneDrive account, on your phone.

With version 5.9 which is now available in the Play Store, that changes.  You now have the option to install the app on your SD Card.  Further, if you already have the app installed, you can move the app to your card via the Settings in the app.

G Suite has a new feature rolling out to the service’s Mobile Device Management functionality that allows for admins to configure specific Android apps on devices.  The feature gives admins the ability to pre-configure the apps that are available for Android devices in their domain.  Once that app is download, it is configured and ready to go for the end user.

The feature should cut down on configuration errors by end users.  Consider the example of a VPN where users are having to typing often lengthy and odd-for-them configuration information.  In this scenario, under this new feature, that could be configured before the user installs the app and be ready for them to use it almost instantly after it is installed.