Daily Briefing: If Microsoft is now Apple, what is Google?

All the news you need for this busy Wednesday, October 26.

Microsoft held its annual hardware event today, and I have to say, the company delivered. Not only did it impress with the cross-platform potential of manipulating real 3D objects on a 2D plane using specialized phone apps (and 3D objects on a 3D plane using affordable Windows-powered VR headsets), but it injected life into a tired category with the Surface Studio.

Our friends at Windows Central have the whole story, but I think Google’s renewed focus on building hardware and releasing products under its own name — Chromecast, Pixel, Home, Wifi — makes a lot more sense when you see the year-on-year improvements in quality and confidence from a company like Microsoft. The Surface was kind of mocked when it debuted in 2012 — no one is doing that anymore.

And with Apple’s own fall hardware event tomorrow, where the tech giant is expected to show off a newly-designed MacBook Pro, it’s clear that as focused on software, AI, machine learning and, above all, search, as Google is, hardware is a huge opportunity for the company.

And now, today’s big news stories.

Rumors suggest the Galaxy S8 will be the first to employ optical fingerprint recognition

SamMobile reports that certain “whispers out of China” suggest the Galaxy S8 will be the first smartphone to feature optical fingerprint recognition.

How is this is different from the current implementation? Well, instead of placing your thumbprint on the Home button, you could be logging into your phone by simply placing your finger on the display. We’re bigger fans of the rear-facing fingerprint method, but perhaps Samsung is onto something here. Regardless, it’s all speculation until the phone’s official launch next year.

Speaking of Samsung…

We did a survey about Samsung’s Note 7 recall, and you told us that you thought Samsung did pretty well! More

Xiaomi’s latest hot phones are not coming to America

Xiaomi says that it would be too much trouble, and far too costly, to bring its new Mi Note 2 and beautiful concept Mi Mix to North America — or anywhere outside China for that matter. More

End Screens are the hippest, hottest way to end your YouTube video

If you’re into the more popular shows exhibiting on YouTube, you might have noticed that some of them have end screens of sorts that help direct you to more of the channel’s latest content. Soon, this will become the norm for many prolific video-makers as YouTube has launched End Screens for all of its creators. The best part is that this feature is totally mobile-friendly.

Allo has been updated to support Nougat’s new features

If you’re running Nougat and you’ve got Allo, today’s update enables built-in split screen support, as well as inline replies directly from the notification shade. The update also includes landscape mode, a GIF keyboard, and Incognito key alerts for older versions of Android.

Allo 2.0 is slowly rolling out in the Play Store. Check here to see if you’re up.

OnePlus 3 Pro coming soon

A mid-cycle OnePlus 3 refresh is reportedly coming soon, according to Evan Blass. Android Central has heard similar things about such a device, which would up the phone’s 5.5-inch display to QHD resolution and bump the Snapdragon 820 to an 821.

Other than that, a possible camera overhaul and larger screen is also possible. No word on an announcement timeframe, but look for this so-called OnePlus 3T, or OnePlus 3 Pro, in the coming weeks.

Google Cast is now Google Home

First it was ‘Chromecast’, then ‘Google Cast’, and now Google’s hub for all things streaming has been rebranded Google Home. Obviously this is in preparation for the company’s eponymous home speaker-hub that is shipping early next month, but we like the rebrand, and new icon, all the same.

Your home’s Wi-Fi is about to get a lot faster

The Wi-Fi Alliance (yes, that’s a thing) just certified the new 802.11ad standard under the name WiGig, which operates at the 60GHz spectrum and can transfer data at speeds up to 8Gbps. To give you some context, that’s ten times faster than the average 802.11ac-based Wi-Fi solution found in many homes today. While its range will be much more limited than existing in-home Wi-Fi channels — think more like whole-room rather whole-home — it will work in conjunction with existing technologies to offer ultra-fast transfer speeds for things like wireless VR and 4K video streaming.

Look for the first WiGig-enabled products next year.

Google set to “fix” Pixel camera flare issue with software update

Some Pixel owners are complaining that their new camera flares when taking photos directly into the sun. This is not a new issue for smartphone cameras — or any sensor that picks up light refracted through layers of glass (ie. all of them) — but Google says that an update will improve, if not fix, the issue. A Google engineer posted in the company’s product forums:

You can expect a software update in the next few weeks that will improve the effects of this issue. We’re working on some algorithms that recognize the halo/arc flare, characterize it mathematically, and then subtract it from the image. 🙂 You will need to use HDR+ to see the benefits of this software.

Magic.

If you break it, they’ll fix it

uBreakiFix, a chain focusing on repairs for damaged phones and tablets, has inked an exclusive deal with Google to provide same-day repairs for Pixel and Pixel XL throughout the U.S. and Canada. With 250 stores in 187 cities, screen repairs will run $129.99 for the Pixel and $149.99 for the Pixel XL. Or you can just get Device Protection insurance through Google for $99. Up to you! More

That’s it for today! See you tomorrow, and take good care of yourself.

Samsung Pay to reportedly launch in Canada first week of November

Samsung Pay may launch in Canada in the coming days, according to a customer support screenshot shared with Android Central.

Twitter user Saifali Maknojiya reportedly posed a question to a Samsung customer service representative through its built-in app and received a response that Samsung Pay, the company’s competitor to Android Pay and Apple Pay, would launch in Canada in the first week of November.

According to the representative, the service will first launch with CIBC Visa cards, which would not be surprising considering the bank’s willingness to experiment with new mobile payment partners. CIBC was the first Canadian bank to launch NFC-based mobile payments back in 2011 in partnership with Rogers. It’s unclear when the service will expand to other banks and payment providers like MasterCard and AMEX.

Samsung confirmed earlier this year that Samsung Pay would come to Canada in 2016, so this timeframe does match up with those claims. We’ve reached out to Samsung Canada to confirm the authenticity of this screenshot.

More: What Samsung Pay means for Canadians

Unlike Android Pay, Samsung Pay combines NFC-based mobile payments with a Samsung-owned technology called MST that mimics the traditional magnetic stripe on the back of all credit cards. Because Canada’s payments ecosystem has long moved beyond magnetic stripes, opting for the more-secure EMV-based combination of chip-and-pin, Samsung has seen Canada as a less important market for Samsung Pay than less advanced markets like the U.S. The service launched in Russia, Thailand and Malaysia this week, and already works in the U.S., UK, Australia, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Spain, China and its home country of South Korea.

Samsung Pay currently works with Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 active, Galaxy S6, and Gear S2.

Google aims to solve Pixel retail support conundrum with uBreakiFix repair partnership

Same-day repairs for your Pixel will soon be available.

In an attempt to fix its inherent shortcoming of not having a physical retail presence for in-person phone repairs and support, Google has struck a deal with popular electronics repair chain uBreakiFix to be the exclusive repair company for the new Pixel and Pixel XL. Pixel owners will be able to take their broken phone into any of uBreakiFix’s 250 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada, or mail the phone in if you don’t live near a store, and have the phone repaired with genuine OEM parts by trained technicians.

uBreakiFix specializes in same-day repairs, and Pixel owners won’t need to make an appointment ahead of time to have their phone fixed. Screen replacements — by far the most-used service — come in at $129 for the Pixel and $149 for the Pixel XL at any location.

Google has to have this partnership in place for the kind of customers it targets with the Pixels.

Though Google offers its own “Device Protection” insurance service for the Pixels at the rate of $99 for two years (with a $79 deductible), a majority of buyers are likely to skip the insurance offering at the time of purchase. When their phones eventually break, it’s important to know that there’s a Google-backed repair shop that will be able to fix the phone in the same day with the same level of parts and service you’d expect from Google itself. The fact that the prices are reasonable is just another win.

Though there’s a robust industry of third-party repair shops out there, and it’s tough to go through any city in the U.S. without finding a small store that will offer its services, having a consistent experience with hundreds of stores across the U.S. and Canada is amazingly important. The service and parts you get from these little repair shops often varies dramatically, and chances are that you wouldn’t find one to replace the cracked screen on a Pixel, either — most focus on the best-selling devices from Apple and Samsung.

You may never have to replace a cracked screen on your Pixel, but knowing that Google is thinking about this and you’ll have a guaranteed option in that time of panic is extremely valuable.

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

Google Store
Verizon

Surface Book (2016): Not an overhaul, but certainly more oomph

Microsoft made a new Surface Book. And it looks a lot like last year’s model.

The company introduced a refreshed Surface Book during its hardware event in New York City, where we got a chance to play with the device for a few minutes. Microsoft told us the laptop-tablet hybrid has more battery life and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M GPU. It’s claiming up to 16 hours of battery life in total, which is helped by a redesigned cooling system. Because of that system, this Surface Book is actually heavier.

The 2016 Surface Book has been redesigned “from the outside in”. It added a cooling fan and a pair of hyperbolic cooling fans at the back to keep temps down. While the trend is to go thinner and lighter every year when it comes to laptops (and mobile devices in general), Microsoft upped the weight from 3.48 pounds to 3.63 and made it slightly thicker.

• Microsoft October Event: All the announcements that matter

Pocket-lint

While the new Surface Book lacks Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors, graphics have been doubled compared to the original model. RAM also sits at 2GB. Microsoft claimed you’ll get more than three times the power of the current MacBook Pro 13-inch. So, all you’re getting with this update is more graphics power and battery. It’s not an exactly an overhaul, to say the least.

But, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. I guess.

Microsoft told us the request it received the most was to up the battery power and graphics. Instead of adding a bunch of new features, it did exactly that. Though it may be a little heavier and thicker, you don’t really notice. It still looks great visually. We used it with the Pen, and the device worked smoothly. When writing with Pen, it had the feel of using a pencil on paper, but you have the ability to change what you are writing at any time and with more options.

Pocket-lint

First Impressions

Microsoft went pretty simple here – upgrading a few things that are important to any user. However, it did add what was created for other devices, such as the Surface Studio, like the use of 3D and the Surface Dial. Though Microsoft only demoed the Dial on the Surface Studio, it does work on the Surface Book, as well as the Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4. You can read more about what we thought of the Dial in our Studio hands-on.

If you’re in the market for the latest and greatest from Redmond, the updated Surface Book will be available on 10 November in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations. It’ll cost $2,399, $2,799, and $3,299, respectively.

Apple to unveil new Apple TV app that suggests TV shows to watch

Beyond new Macs, Apple has another new product up its sleeve for the ‘Hello Again’ event: a new Apple TV app.

Apple is expected to unveil a new MacBook Pro with an OLED touch panel on 27 October during an event in San Francisco, CA. But according to a new report from USA Today, Apple also plans to announce an Apple TV app that will give users a new way to discover TV shows. Referred to as “The Watch List”, the app will suggest shows based on the content users access through their Apple TV.

So, if you’re subscribed to FX Networks, you might see a recommendation to watch Atlanta. It will basically aggregate content from several apps and services, then distill recommendations into a single app, and improve upon the search and discovery features introduced with the latest Apple TV. The app, which will get a different name, basically helps with finding new stuff to watch.

But Apple isn’t only thinking about consumers here. For network programmers, the app doubles as way to promote shows. We can’t help but wonder if Apple is simply developing new ways to please network programmers, considering the company has long been rumoured to be developing a TV package with live broadcasts, but those ambitions are hampered by stalled talks.

Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up to see what else Apple might unveil.

The Complete Android N Developer Course will get you building your own apps with help from Rob Percival (90 per cent off)

Developing mobile apps is a lot easier when you have a top-rated instructor walking you through it. Featuring acclaimed coder Rob Percival, the Complete Android N Developer Course will teach you how to create apps for Android’s latest platform. Get it on sale for only £15.52 ($19 USD).

Perfect for aspiring programmers, this 32-hour course will start you at the ground level, guiding you through Android Nougat’s fundamentals. With Android’s latest platform supporting VR, multi-window viewing, and more, you’ll have a myriad of new features to learn about and program for.

You’ll cover a wide range of technologies as you make your way through 270 lectures lectures.  From Parse Server to Firebase and more, you’ll get exposed to some of the industry’s most popular app-building tools.

While there’s plenty to learn from tutorials, this course gets you working hands-on with today’s popular app-building technologies. You’ll start by building clones of popular apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Uber. Once you’ll have a solid foundation, you’ll spread your wings and develop your own Android apps.

What’s more, once you finish building your own apps, you’ll learn how to monetize them. With Rob Percival’s guidance, you’ll discover the best ways to market your Apps online and optimize your revenue. The Complete Android N Developer Course normally goes for £163, but Pocket-lint readers can pick it up for just £15.52 ($19 USD).

Praised by Consumer Reports, the Martian Notifier Smartwatch delivers high-end features at an affordable price (76 per cent off)

The Martian Notifier Smartwatch takes wearables to a new level.

A seamless blend of function and form, this sleek timepiece is loaded with features designed to boost your productivity. From tracking down your phone to snapping pictures remotely, the Martian Notifier Smartwatch’s capabilities make it a solid addition to your everyday carry. Get it on sale for just £24.61 ($29.99 USD).

First and foremost, this timepiece is designed to keep you in the loop. From checking local weather to accessing a digital world clock, this watch makes sure you always have your bearings. The Martian Notifier Smartwatch also lets you assign custom vibration alerts and up to five individual or recurring alarms at one time. Plus, it delivers push notifications from hundreds of apps.

Additionally, this watch makes sure you’ll have a hard time losing your phone. The Martian Notifier Smartwatch sends you alerts when you walk away from your phone. That way, you’ll never be too far away before you realize your phone isn’t in your back pocket.

This watch also makes finding your phone easy. Simply push a button, and this watch will send a call directly to your phone. That way, you’ll have a shot at hearing it ring in the distance to track it down. A perfect fusion of technology and style, the Martian Notifier Smartwatch can be yours for just £24.61 ($29.99 USD).

Tesla posts first profit in two years

Tesla’s having a good month. Last week it announced that all the cars it’s now producing will have the hardware needed for fully autonomous driving, on Friday it’s holding an event in Los Angeles where it’s expected to unveil a solar panel-filled roof for those cars. Plus it turns out that the the Model S got a 59-percentage sales bump year-over-year last quarter. To top it all off, it just posted a profit of $21.9 million for the third quarter.

The company also reported record production numbers, deliveries and overall revenue. In a letter to shareholders Tesla said that orders for the Model S and X grew 68 percent over the same period last year. It also increased production by 92 percent since last year and 37 percent since the second quarter. It expects to deliver on its goal of producing 50,000 cars in the second half of 2016.

Overall revenue was up 145 percent from third quarter 2015 to $2.3 billion which might make shareholders a little less nervous about the company’s $2.6 billion plan to acquire SolarCity.

The automaker also noted that it’s on track to begin deliveries of the new Model 3 in late 2017. The company’s shareholder letter states, “we have completed production line layouts and will soon begin installation of new body welding and final assembly lines.” Of course if you pre-order one now, you’re not going to get it until 2018.

During the quarterly call when asked about the possibility of having to share its driving data with other automakers Musk said, “we’d be happy to share information that would improve safety.”

Tesla also announced that its still on schedule to begin cell production at the Gigafactory later this year. So it should be up and running for Model 3 deliveries near the end of 2017.

As for the upcoming solar-roof event, Musk said, “you should see what we unveil on Friday. It’s really great.”

Source: Tesla