Aukey is offering its Quick Charge 2.0 chargers for as little as $6

Aukey is currently offering a bunch of its Quick Charge 2.0 accessories for as little as $6 at Amazon. Whether you need a new charger for the home, car or travel, there is something for you. You’ll save between $5 and $7 on the purchase with a simple coupon code.

The deals include:

• 2-Port USB Wall Charger w/ Quick Charge 2.0 & Foldable Plug (White) – $5.98 with code UYHOLG2W
• 2-Port USB Wall Charger w/ Quick Charge 2.0 & Foldable Plug (Black) – $5.98 with code UYHOLG2W
• Dual-Port Car Charger w/ Quick Charge 2.0 & USB C Cable – $5.92 with code RLPVGR5Z

If you are looking for a new charger, you’ll want to grab one of these quickly. We don’t know how long the deal will last, so don’t wait too long to place your order.

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Android Central’s top picks from IFA 2017!

Here’s what made a splash at IFA 2017.

The Android Central team has returned from Berlin, and that means it’s time to look back on all of the best announcements from IFA 2017. The show has traditionally been about more than phones, and that means this year’s picks continue the trend of crossing into several different genres. This year we handed out 10 different top picks, plus additional choices for the most innovative and best design of the show.

Here are our top picks from IFA 2017!

LG V30

It really shouldn’t come as any surprise that the LG V30 took down three different awards for its unveiling at IFA. Most innovative, best design and our best of IFA 2017 award all went to what is easily the biggest announcement from the show if you’re looking at things from an AC perspective.

With plenty of run-up and anticipation, the V30 seems to have exceeded what people expected of LG this year. The V30, unlike its predecessors, is no longer a niche or interesting-but-flawed device. It lost the second screen and bulky body, but added a beautiful and sleek frame covered in curved glass instead. It packs in all of the latest specs and features, including a 6-inch display without being very large overall. The camera story is still strong, and initial results are promising.

Now, we just need pricing and availability. If the pricing is right, we could have a serious competitor on our hands.

More: LG V30 hands-on: A galaxy of good ideas

Motorola Moto X4

It was also great to see Motorola make a big move at IFA with the Moto X4. This definitely isn’t a device that actually fits the same mold as the previous three phones to wear the name, but once you get past that nostalgia you realize this is easily the best Moto X to date. Not only does it have more features and really solid specs compared to the competition, it’s actually appropriately priced for what it offers — coming in at just €399. Running typically wonderful Motorola software on capable specs in a solid body, it obviously shares a lot with the Moto G line — but that’s not bad company to hold.

We don’t yet know how it’ll be priced when it comes to the U.S., but if this floats around the $375 range it has everything it needs to be a hit in that mid-range segment. We do, of course, have to see how the cameras do — it surely isn’t Motorola’s strong suit lately (or ever). The Moto X4 may not be as special and differentiated as we all wanted to see from a Moto X, but it’s going to be a really nice phone for a lot of people.

More: Moto X4 hands-on: Familiar name, entirely different phone

Samsung Gear Sport

IFA has been Samsung’s wearable exhibition for a few years now, and the Gear Sport is precisely the kind of refresh that’s suited for this show — getting a bit of recognition whereas it would be completely overshadowed launching alongside a flagship phone. The Gear Sport is effectively a replacement for the aging Gear S2, and that’s exactly what so many people wanted to see after being turned off by the size and weight of the Gear S3 watches last year.

The Gear Sport has serious durability and enhanced water resistance, plus all of the great fitness tracking capabilities of the Gear Fit 2 Pro and full smartwatch functionality with the same software as the Gear S3. And with a smaller display and a bit less to do it’ll get the same battery life as the Gear S3 out of a smaller capacity. Sure you miss out on Samsung Pay over MST, and it doesn’t have LTE, but then again it’s also small enough that you could actually wear it comfortably while running or hitting the gym.

Again we still need to see pricing on this one, which will come later in the year when it hits stores for the holidays, but if it hits the expected $250 price point it’s going to be a great choice for those who want to split the difference between a fitness tracker and smartwatch.

More: Samsung Gear Sport hands-on: The Gear S2 refresh we all wanted

Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro

The original Gear Fit 2 is getting a bit old, but is still entirely capable — so Samsung simply refreshed it and called it the Gear Fit 2 Pro. Many people wanted to see a full design refresh, but Samsung isn’t looking to get people to upgrade from the original Gear Fit 2; nor does it think there are any critical flaws with the original.

The Gear Fit 2 Pro made many of its improvements in software, adding new integration partnerships with Under Armour and Speedo so you can use the Fit 2 Pro as a tracker to feed into other services just as well as Samsung’s own Health platform. That’s a big deal. To go along with that, you get improvements for swimmers including a new secure strap and 5 ATM water resistance.

Samsung has quietly offered one of the best dedicated fitness tracking devices available, and it just got better with this refresh.

More: Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro hands-on: A great fitness tracker gets better

Samsung Gear IconX 2018

The original Gear IconX headphones were nice, but severely hamstrung by their horrible battery life. Samsung knows it was a problem, and focused specifically on it for the 2018 refresh. The new model quotes 5 hours of playback over Bluetooth, or 7 hours when playing standalone from the 4GB of internal storage. That not only makes them great for long workouts, but could also push them into the arena of being good for daily listening even when you’re not going for a run.

The new case that holds the earbuds is smaller than the old model, charges over USB-C now and has a faster charging rate to quickly add an hour of charge to the headphones in 10 minutes. Nobody’s expecting these to all of a sudden be huge sellers, but Samsung has at least fixed the critical flaw with the original version.

More: Samsung refreshes fitness-focused wearables at IFA 2017

Lenovo Star Wars Jedi Challenges

The Force is strong with this one. Lenovo and Disney have teamed up to make an Augmented Reality game for young Padawans: the Star Wars Jedi Challenges. Combining a tracking headset, your phone as a reflected display, a light beacon, and a Skywalker lightsaber hilt, Jedi Challenges places you into training against iconic Sith like Darth Vader and Kylo Ren — all in the comfort of your living room. With a price of just $200 and a draw across generations, Jedi Challenges might just be the AR “killer app” we’ve been looking for.

More: Lenovo Star Wars Jedi Challenges

SanDisk 400GB microSD card

Not much to say here, other than we’re surprised it look this long. SanDisk is the big name in high-capacity, high-performance microSD cards and it went all-out with a 400GB card. Sure we’re not even close to the SDcard slots in all of these phones that can take a 2TB card … but just give it some time.

For now, 400GB is a serious amount of storage — you’ll have to be a serious media hound to want this big of a card. You’ll also need so save a bit of money up, as the retail price is set at $249.

More: SanDisk Ultra 400GB microSDXC is the world’s largest microSD card

BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition

The KEYone Black Edition was already previously announced, but at the time wasn’t supposed to see a wide release. Apparently demand was high, and now it’s launching globally. Alongside the all blacked-out body, the internals received a small bump up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It looks very slick, but that internal bump definitely helps assure buyers who are picking up the KEYone a bit later in its life that it has some runway in terms of taking on larger, more demanding apps in the future.

The price jumps the equivalent of about $75 depending on the market, which may be worth it just for the added future proofing of the spec bump — you’ll need to really want that darker color as well.

More: BlackBerry KEYone ‘Black Edition’ goes worldwide

Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus

Huawei hasn’t launched its current mid-range flagships, the Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus, outside of Asia yet, but what we see here is a well-specced, well-built pair of $300-400 phones. The Novas come in 5- and 5.5-inch flavors, with vibrant 1080p displays and impressive dual RGB cameras around the back. With 1.25-micron pixels, a 12-megapixel resolution and f/1.8 lenses, the Nova 2 series has a promising mid-range camera array. And meanwhile, it steps on the toes of some more expensive handsets with an ample 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

We’re crossing our fingers for a Western release sometime soon.

More: Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus hands-on

Nest Thermostat E

Nest made a relatively small splash at IFA 2017, but it was an important one because its new Nest Thermostat E just lowered the entry price for getting in on the Nest system — whether that’s as a secondary unit or just to save some money on your only one. The Thermostat E comes in at $169, a solid drop below the standard price of $249.

For the money it still looks nice and futuristic, but has lost its far-field sensor and has a simpler build. Still, in this case the most important part is price and the fact that the core functionality is the same as the more expensive unit.

More: Nest’s Thermostat E has an all-new design, cheaper price tag

Add a Huawei Watch 2 to your wrist for $182

If you want a Huawei Watch 2, you won’t want to miss this offer from the team at Thrifter!

Most people seem to have a love/hate relationship with smart watches, but if you are looking to pick one up this is the deal for you. Right now you can pick up a Carbon Black Huawei Watch 2 for just $181.91 at Amazon. Running Android Wear 2.0, the watch can track your fitness, display your notifications, and much more.

• Built-in GPS and continuous heart rate: monitor your heart rate and track your workout routes without your phone. Your watch can only be paired using the Android Wear app. It cannot be paired using your phone’s Bluetooth settings. You can download the Android Wear app from Google Play or App Store.
• Workout Coach: get real-time guidance and workout data such as recovery time and Vo2 Max. Note: Ensure that the SIM card is clean and dry, and that it is properly inserted. –
  Otherwise, the watch performance may be affected.Your watch only supports standard nano-SIM cards.
• Music without phone: download and listen to music offline during workout and free Google play music 10-week subscription
• NFC and Google assistant: make payments and have a personal voice assistant from your wrist
• Long battery life: optimized power consumption settings to get the most out of your Device

This is the lowest price we’ve seen on this model, so if you are interested be sure to grab one before the deal ends. As of right now, Amazon does note that it will take an extra day or two to ship, but at this price, it is worth the wait.

See at Amazon

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Mercedes-Benz is giving all its customers a year of Tidal HiFi

Tidal has had a rough few months, what with Kanye leaving in a huff, having to find a third CEO in two years and exclusives like Jay-Z’s 4:44 being held back from new subscribers. The streaming service continues to stay relevant, though, perhaps through corporate partnerships like the one with Sprint, which can net you six months of free Tidal HiFi service (usually $20 per month). Now Mercedes-Benz has its own Tidal promotion. Beginning in 2018, if you’re a member of Mercedes’ Me in-car automation and entertainment service, you will get 12 months of Tidal HiFi for free, which will revert to a regular paid account after your year is up.

“Thanks to the cooperation with TIDAL, we are enhancing the Mercedes me lifestyle range with a unique entertainment experience. Our customers can stream music and videos at home or on the go virtually unlimited. We also offer exclusive opportunities to contact artists or experience them live,” said Mercedes-Benz’s Dr. Jens Thiemer in a statement.

The two companies will also host an exclusive concert on September 15th at the Me Convention in Frankfurt, Germany. While the headlining artists are still unknown, Me attendees can sign up for a ticket now via the official convention app. More tickets will be given away by Tidal and Mercedes-Benz via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter soon.

Source: PR Newswire

Don’t even try to repair the Essential Phone

The Essential PH-1 (aka Essential Phone) is designed to withstand dents and scratches, but what happens if something breaks on the inside? You can forget about fixing it yourself, apparently. The DIY repair crew at iFixit has torn down Essential’s handset, and it’s obvious that you’re not meant to poke around inside. For one thing, iFixit had to freeze the phone (and break the LCD) just to get inside — and even then, it still had to get past a mid-frame shield. The USB-C port is soldered on to motherboard, and the abundance of adhesives makes it likely that you’ll break something if you somehow didn’t wreck the screen going in.

The verdict on the phone’s repairability doesn’t come as a total shock. Essential clearly intended it to be a minimalist, densely-packed design that doesn’t waste space. However, this serves as a reminder that extremely efficient designs carry a steep price: if something goes wrong, you have little choice but to send your hardware in for an expensive repair.

Source: iFixit

Google Voice command may take frustration out of text messages

Google Voice is great for a number of things, in particular differentiating between the contacts worthy of your regular number and those you aren’t quite there with yet. But as has become apparent recently, it’s not great at sending text messages, especially from Android Auto, Android Wear and Assistant. Fortunately, help could soon be on the way in the form of a new voice command.

Multiple users have complained that Google Voice forgoes defaults to send text messages through their standard SMS app — and subsequently, from their carrier number. For example, set your Google Voice number as the default SMS number in Hangouts, then set Hangouts as your default SMS app, and when you say “OK Google, send a text”, it ignores everything and sends it as a regular message. This makes it difficult to keep track of where your messages actually are, plus it reveals your regular number to people who you might not want to have it, or to people who don’t have it and wonder who the message is from. Confusing.

‘OK Google, send a Google Voice message’ coming soon to GV, this will help

— Jan Jedrzejowicz (@JanJedrzejowicz) September 5, 2017

But after one irked user reached out to Google Voice product manager Jan Jedrzejowicz on Twitter, it seems help is on the horizon. In reply, Jedrzejowicz tweeted: “‘OK Google, send a Google Voice message’ coming soon to GV, this will help”. It’s not clear yet exactly how or when it will help (we’ve contacted Google for more information and will update this article accordingly), but users will be relieved to know the issue is on Google’s radar.

Via: Android Police

Source: Twitter

Three finally takes Ofcom to court over 5G spectrum auction

Three has followed through on its threat to take Ofcom to court. The mobile network operator, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, is unhappy with the planned rules for the next spectrum auction. It believes they’re too gentle and will allow BT, EE and Vodafone to increase their dominance of UK airwaves, stifling competition in the process. “We confirm that we have filed a judicial review before the UK courts in relation to the competition measures that will apply in the upcoming spectrum auction,” a Three spokesperson told Engadget. “It is absolutely vital that the regulator gets this auction right for the long-term benefit of all consumers.”

At present, BT and EE own 42 percent of mobile spectrum. Vodafone is close behind with 29 percent, while Three and O2 have 15 and 14 percent, respectively. Ofcom has 190 MHz of spectrum to auction; 40 MHz in a 2.3 GHz band, which could be used by networks immediately to improve 4G services, and 150 MHz of spectrum in a 3.4 GHz band, which will be pivotal for 5G connectivity in the future. The regulator has proposed a 255 MHz cap on all “immediately useable” spectrum, which would disqualify BT and EE from the 2.3 GHz band auction. So far, so good for Three.

The second proposal is a 340 MHz cap across all mobile spectrum, which includes the 3.4 GHz band and a future 7000MHz band auction. That would limit any one operator from holding more than 37 percent of the UK’s total spectrum. Three believes that’s too high. Responding to Ofcom’s announcement, Dave Dyson said: “By making decisions that increase the dominance of the largest operators, Ofcom is damaging competition, restricting choice and pushing prices up for the very consumers that it’s mean to protect.” He called Ofcom’s proposals “a kick in the teeth” and suggested the mobile market was “imbalanced and failing customers.”

Last month, Three hand-delivered a letter to Ofcom signalling its intent to mount a legal challenge. We don’t know if Ofcom responded or not, but regardless Three wasn’t content. So now it’s following through with a court case that threatens to delay an already long overdue spectrum auction. Three says it should be a short legal process, however, with a decision by early 2018. The impact should be minimal, the company argues, because the case is concerned with the 3.4 GHz band specifically, which won’t trickly down into consumer-facing 5G services for some time.

Three’s gripes are somewhat justified — it wants to be competitive with EE and BT, but was blocked from merging with O2, which would have created a combined spectrum allocation on par with Vodafone. The company bought UK Broadband, which owns Relish and a smidge of 3.4 GHz spectrum, but that won’t be enough to change its fourth-place position. Its only option is to outbid its opponents in the next auction — an outcome that seems unlikely, based on how feverishly it’s launched this court case.

Via: The Register

Scotland plans to make petrol and diesel cars obsolete by 2032

It’s become pretty clear that the petrol and diesel cars are enjoying their final days in the sun, what with both the English and French governments vowing to phase them out by 2040. Their future goal gives them more than two decades to support the major carmakers as they transition to greener fuel sources, while implementing the necessary infrastructure to support them. Not to be outdone, the Scottish government today announced that it plans to implement its own green project a lot, vowing to phase out all petrol and diesel car sales eight years before their neighbours.

In the latest “Programme for Government,” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon outlined ways to “seize the opportunities of the low carbon revolution” by promoting the use of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) and reducing the need for vehicles powered by fossil fuels. In order to achieve its target, the government will tackle the lack of electric charging points in rural, urban and domestic areas by investing in rapid charging units that mean drivers can travel further and spend less time off the road.

Scotland is also set to get its own “electric highway.” The country’s longest road, the A9, will be littered with electric charging points, “demonstrating that electric vehicles offer important advantages to motorists in rural, as well as urban, Scotland.”

The government’s other commitments are similar to those south of the border. The promotion of EVs to the public and private sectors is key, with the First Minister’s specific making specific references to transforming car and van fleets by the mid 2020s and bus fleets by the early 2030s. Money will be put aside to finance large scale pilots across the city that extol the virtues of investing in greener transport.

While its plans stand alone from its neighbour’s, Scotland’s greener future is directly linked to the successes and failures of the UK government. “We recognise that many of the key fiscal levers still rest with the UK Government and we note their 2040 commitment,” the SNP leader said. “We will ask them to play their part in meeting our ambitions by making full use of their reserved powers to help shape the market, including through vehicle standards and taxation.”

Come 2032, not all cars will be ultra-low emission, but Scotland hopes that the majority will either be powered purely by electricity or have a hybrid option. By investing in the country’s EV infrastructure, the government believes consumers will be confident enough to make their next car an electric model, allowing it to phase out petrol vehicles without having to specifically outlaw them.

Via: The Independent

Source: Scottish Government

YouTube improves stream performance and simplifies live chats

YouTube announced a handful of new features available now for its livestream function. The changes, including reduced latency and simpler chat moderation, are aimed at making YouTube Live a more functional and efficient feature for users.

First up, streamers now have the option to enable ultra-low latency, which will bring down streaming video latency to just a couple of seconds. That will make functions like answering questions during a livestream easier and more timely. YouTube has also made moderating chats easier and more efficient. You can now pause a chat feed by pressing “alt/option” and then hover over messages to take them out or approve them. Streamers can also opt in to a feature that will hold possibly inappropriate messages for review. The system, which can learn users’ preferences with greater use, will keep identified messages from posting before users can decide whether to approve them, hide them or report them.

YouTube is also introducing hidden users lists that can be shared between moderators and across both comments and live chat as well as the ability to stream directly to the main YouTube app with your iPhone or iPad from any app that supports Apple’s ReplayKit. All of the new features are launching today.

Uber has a new London rival in Taxify

In the US, Uber has an arch rival in Lyft. In the UK, however, Uber doesn’t have such an obvious competitor. Sure, there’s Mytaxi (formerly Hailo), Gett and Taxiapp for hailing black cabs, or Kabbee for booking minicabs, but no service that quite matches Uber blow for blow. That changes today with the London launch of Taxify — an Uber clone that already operates in numerous cities around the world, including many in Europe. But how exactly does Taxify hope to compete with Uber, which has over 40,000 drivers roaming the capital? By giving drivers a bigger cut of the fare, and passengers a cheaper ride.

During September, all Taxify trips are half price and surge pricing is suspended, but in the longer-term — when this introductory, promotional period ends — the ride-hailing service says it’ll be 10 percent cheaper than Uber. Drivers will apparently be better off with Taxify, though, since it only takes a 15 percent cut of fares, compared with Uber’s 25 percent.

That sounds all well and good, but having wheels on the ground to pick up passengers is the important part. Taxify says it had signed up 3,000 drivers in London before today’s launch, and any Uber driver can of course become a double-agent since they’re technically self-employed as far as the law is concerned (at least for now). But if Taxify were to grow in the same way Uber did, and London was to have more drivers than ever working across different platforms, it could increase the chances that there simply isn’t enough work to go around.

Via: The Telegraph

Source: Taxify