Huawei’s best mid-range phone is coming to Canada in October
The Huawei Nova series is an interesting product line. Half flagship, half midrange, it embodies the shifting nature of the Android market away from expensive, highly-subsidized phones.
After debuting at IFA earlier this month, the Nova and its larger Nova Plus counterpart is coming to Europe in early October, and now we’re learning that the larger model will come to Canada, too.
Huawei Canada has announced that the 5.5-inch Nova Plus will arrive in Canada on October 18, going on sale at Rogers, Fido, and Virgin Mobile for an undisclosed price. The phone, which features a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a Snapdragon 625 SoC, 3GB of RAM, a 16MP rear camera sensor with OIS, and a large 3,340mAh battery, retails for €429 across the pond, so you can expect a similar price in Canadian dollars when it arrives later next month.
More: Huawei Nova & Nova Plus review
I admit to being pretty excited to see more higher-quality Huawei devices in Canada after the awful GR5, which was a rebranded Honor 5X. Based on Alex’s review, it seems that the hardware is pretty solid, and the only imcumbrance is the EMUI 4.1 software, which while based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, purposefully branches away from several elements of Android so compelling.
Are you interested in the Huawei Nova Plus? Let us know in the comments!
Spigen Style Ring Review: The ultimate phone accessory
Spigen’s Style Ring is a multipurpose minimalist phone accessory you may just fall in love with.
So many smartphone accessories claim themselves to be a must-have accessory, but rarely do they actually live up to the advertised hype. More often than not, they end up in some drawer after a month or two for one reason or another — you’ve upgraded to a new phone that’s not compatible with it, or you just got bored with using it.
The Spigen Style Ring may just be able to buck that trend. By incorporating so many handy features into one universal smartphone accessory, it basically become more and more essential the longer you use it.
And if you’re also among the millions of folks swept up in Pokémon Go mania, you’ve spent countless hours running through your city trying to catch ’em all. During our own hunting adventures, we’ve come to realize the Style Ring is also the perfect Pokémon Go accessory.
No more death-gripping your phone
If you’ve own a smartphone for long enough, drop damage is inevitable. If you’re lucky, it falls the “right way” and doesn’t cause any permanent scuffs or cracks. With the Style Ring, you get an added layer of security when your phone is in hand. Slip your finger in the ring and you really don’t have to worry about dropping your phone.
For Pokémon, the idea of not having to death grip your phone as you weave your way down streets and through parks tracking an elusive Pokémon is pretty novel. The Style Ring gives you the confidence and freedom to take off running when you hear someone yell about a wild Vaporeon — without ever having to worry about dropping your phone.
Perfectly car compatible
Another simple accessory included with every Style Ring is the Hook Mount, a little rubberized-plastic nub with mounting tape on the back. Wipe down a spot on your car’s dashboard, adhere the Hook Mount, and you just installed one of the most minimalist car mounts for your phone on the market.
To mount your phone, you simply extend the ring, hook it on the mount, and push until you feel it pop into place. BAM! Your phone is secure and accessible to you as you drive. Perfect for controlling your music on the go, following along with turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps, or a quick swipe if you’re near a PokéStop at a red light.
For Pokémon players who love to play while being driven around, the Style Ring lets you confidently lean out the window like a dog and really stretch your phone to get into range of distant PokéStop. As long as you’ve got the Style Ring on your finger, your phone is secure. We’re definitely not recommending such behavior, we’ve just seen people doing it and it’s only a matter of time before someone’s phone slips and shatters on the pavement below.
Also works great on bike
If you’re more of a Pokémon purist, maybe you prefer to bike around as you hatch and catch. With the Style Ring, you’re able to maintain much better control of your bike while still managing to keep your phone literally on hand. This allows you to conveniently swipe PokéStops as you bike past, or pop off your bike at a moment’s notice when you feel that vibration informing you a Pokémon is around.
This goes without saying, but as the game warns on load up, always be careful and alert when you’re out and about. Heed the words of Professor Oak who frequently scolded you — there are time and places where you simply shouldn’t be on your bike. Be considerate to your fellow trainers!
Better range for one-handed Pokéball throws
So we’ve talked about how the Style Ring can help you keep a better grip on your phone, but let’s talk about how the Style Ring might help with some Pokémon Go fundamentals: catching Pokémon!
Spigen highlights how the Style Ring grants you a wider reach across larger smartphones. This added range will give you more control over your Poké Ball throws.
Once you’re on that XP grind to to level up your trainer, every little addition helps. That means maximizing every Pokémon catch with a throw bonus. One of the coolest (and often frustrating) techniques is the curveball throw. It nets you an extra 10 XP, which should become automatic when you get the curveball down pat.
If you need to work on your curveball throws, we’ve got a guide for that!
And it’s got other uses beyond Pokémon Go, too
On top of everything previously mentioned, the Style Ring also doubles as a kickstand, which is awesome. With the ability to tilt and swivel the ring 180 and 360 degrees respectively, you have the freedom to set up your phone any which way you want. Prop it up in portrait orientation on your work desk, or flip it to landscape for watching YouTube videos or Netflix.
There are many other clever uses for the Style Ring — you just need to use your imagination. Mobile Nation’s own Kevin Michaluk is a huge fan of the Style Ring. On top of all the awesome functionality of the Style Ring mentioned above, he enjoys using it as a spin-the-phone game for determining who’s going to pick up the cheque when out for dinner with friends.
Because of how the Style Ring secures to the back of your phone, removing it does takes some elbow grease. Best practise is to wedge something thin such as a guitar pick under a corner then slowly peel it back. But you can swap the Style Ring to another phone, which is great. Take care of your Style Ring and it may just outlive your device.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, it doesn’t quite work as a beer bottle opener. We tried.
Get it to match your phone
Spigen offers the Style Ring in five familiar colors — Space grey, Champagne Gold, Black, and White — so you should be able to find the right color to match your phone.
If only they came in Valor red, Mystic blue and Instinct yellow. (Psst! Spigen, you listening?)
An essential accessory, for average phone user, or the ultimate Pokémon Go fan!
See at Amazon
Go Time! Episode 10: The big repeat
Episode 10 of Go Time! has arrived!
In Episode ten of Go Time Jen, Russell and Thom are here to rep their respective teams.
This week, the awesome Thom Obarski joins to represent Team Mystic. The group chats about Pokémon buddies, Pikachu’s easter eggs, and the Pokémon that Thom is used to seeing. But what they really wanted to talk about is how they would play the game differently if they were to start over today. Plus, the best strategies, and how newer players might have a leg up as they make the climb to level 20.
Join us weekly for the awesomeness of Pokémon Go!
- Google Play
- Soundcloud
- iTunes
- Or add us to your podcatcher of choice!
You can also join our Facebook page to keep up on all things Pokémon Go. See you in the world!
Pokémon Go
- Join our Pokémon Go forums!
- How to deal with GPS errors in-game
- Which team should you choose?
- How to play without killing your battery
- The Ultimate Pokémon Go Game Guide!
- Listen to the Pokémon Go podcast!
ABC signs Facebook deal to livestream 2016 presidential debates
When ABC started experimenting with online streaming of the Democratic and Republican national conventions on Facebook this summer, they got a whopping 28 million video views. Whether that was an influx of cord-cutters or just a hungry public that does more browsing than TV watching, the success was proof enough for the network to go bigger for the next phase in the election. They will broadcast the presidential debates on Facebook Live advertisement-free, beginning with the first one on September 26th.
As we pointed out when ABC partnered with Facebook for the conventions, creating material specifically for an online audience is a huge step up from rehashing TV coverage. On the days of, network anchor commentary will precede and follow the 90-minute main events. ABC will fill up its Facebook page with supplementary coverage, including on-the-ground reporting in the debates’ host cities. Just like they did at the DNC and RNC, they will will incorporate viewer questions and discussions into their commentary.
Source: Variety
Tweetbot for Mac Updated With Support for macOS Sierra and Extended Tweets
Following the release of macOS Sierra moments ago, Tweetbot for Mac has been updated with support for the latest operating system. The update also includes support for extended tweets, uploading videos up to 140 seconds long to Twitter, and better media previews for search results.
In terms of extended tweets, Twitter no longer counts photos, videos, GIFs, polls, and quote tweets towards its 140-character limit. Previously, media content took up approximately 24 of the 140 available characters, and older versions of Tweetbot still enforce the 140 character limit accordingly.
Tweetbot for Mac version 2.4.2 is available now as a free update [Direct Link] for existing users on the Mac App Store. The app initially costs $9.99.
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
Tags: Tweetbot, Tweetbot for Mac
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macOS Sierra: How to Use Apple Pay on the Web
macOS Sierra and iOS 10 both include a new Continuity feature that allows Apple Pay to be used to make purchases on the web using Safari, giving Apple users an alternative to other web-based payment services like PayPal.
On Macs, Apple Pay for the web requires an iPhone with Touch ID and Apple Pay support or an Apple Watch, as payments are authenticated through the phone or watch. Apple Pay on the web requires merchants to adopt Apple Pay, so it isn’t yet available everywhere, but support has started rolling out.
Sites like Time Inc., Wayfair, and Apple’s own online Apple Store have started accepting Apple Pay, and payment processors like Stripe, Big Commerce, Shopify, and Squarespace all offer support, so it may be almost everywhere in just a couple of months.
Here’s how it works:
Visit a website that supports Apple Pay on the web, like Apple.com. I’ll be using Apple’s online store as an example.
Choose a product you want to purchase and click “Add to Bag.”
On Apple’s site, you’re automatically taken to the cart, where “Check out with Apple Pay” is an option. Choose it.
At the next checkout screen, choose delivery options and then click on the Apple Pay button.
If you’re wearing an authenticated Apple Watch, you’ll be asked to verify the payment with the watch. Double tap on the side button (watchOS 3) to confirm and make the purchase.
With no Apple Watch, a confirmation screen will pop up on a connected iPhone, locked or unlocked. It requires a fingerprint to be placed on the Touch ID home button to confirm the payment.
Once the payment is confirmed on the Apple Watch or the iPhone, that’s it. The purchase is made and on its way.When checking out on the web, all payment and shipping information is entered automatically, so you don’t need to do anything but tap the confirm button to pay. It’s quick, simple, fast, and safe. There is, however, a popup that will let you select the card you want to use, choose the shipping address, and more, if you need to make alterations.
Apple Pay on the web is a Continuity feature so it requires a Mac with Bluetooth 4.0 support. It is compatible with the following machines running macOS Sierra:
– MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
– MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)
– MacBook Air (2012 or newer)
– Mac mini (2012 or newer)
– iMac (2012 or newer)
– Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Apple Pay also requires an iPhone 6 or later running iOS 10 or an Apple Watch with watchOS 3, and it only works with the Safari browser. Apple Pay on the web is also available on iOS devices and will be available as long as one card has been added to the Wallet app on the iPhone.
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
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iWork Apps for macOS Sierra Updated With Real-Time Collaboration
With the release of macOS Sierra today, Apple also updated its line of iWork apps, including Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. The new update for each app introduces the same real-time collaboration feature, in beta form, brought to the iOS versions of each app last week.
Using real-time collaboration, users are able to edit one document in any iWork app simultaneously, no matter if they’re using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iCloud.com. Within Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, live updates of each user’s cursor and a list of document editors keep everyone up-to-date on the progress of any document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
What’s New in Version 6.0
– Real-time collaboration (feature in beta)
– Edit a document with others at the same time in Pages on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iCloud.com
– Share your document publicly or with specific people
– See who else is in a document
– See participants’ cursors as they’re editing– Open and edit Pages ’05 documents
– Use tabs to work with multiple documents in one window
– Wide color gamut image support
In Keynote, there’s a new “Keynote Live” feature that lets users present a slideshow that anyone can follow from a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iCloud.com. Pages and Keynote also both feature support for opening and editing Pages and Keynote ’05 documents.
Apple’s line of iWork apps are free to users who have recently purchased a new Mac or iOS device. Otherwise, each iWork app for Mac is available for $19.99 while each iWork app for iOS is available for $9.99.
Pages for macOS [Direct Link]
Keynote for macOS [Direct Link]
Numbers for macOS [Direct Link]
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
Tag: iWork
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