Apple Releases Safari 10 Developer Beta for OS X Yosemite and El Capitan

Apple today released a developer beta of Safari 10 for OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan users, allowing those who don’t yet wish to install macOS Sierra to test out the upcoming Safari update.

The Safari 10 beta for Yosemite and El Capitan can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center.

Safari 10 for Yosemite and El Capitan does not include all of the same features available in macOS Sierra, like Apple Pay on the web and Picture in Picture support, but a limited number of Safari 10 functions are available, as listed below:

– New Bookmarks sidebar, including double-click to focus in on a folder
– Redesigned Bookmarks and History views
– Site-specific zoom
– Improved AutoFill from your Contacts card
– Reader improvements
– HTML5 and legacy Plug-ins
– Allow reopening of recently closed tabs
– Back closing spawned tabs
– Improved ranking of Frequently Visited Sites
– Web Inspector Timelines Tab
– Debugging using Web Inspector

With OS X El Capitan, Safari 10 supports Safari Extensions and the development of Safari App Extensions, allowing developers to start creating extensions that will eventually be sold through the Mac App Store. Also unique to El Capitan is Spotlight suggestions for Top Hits.

Safari 10 is currently limited to developers, but will be available to public beta testers as part of macOS Sierra this July. The web browser will see an official public release this fall.

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How to customize your Chromebook launcher

Make your Chromebook look the way you like it with these tips.

If you’re using a Chromebook that has Google Play, you might be downloading a bunch of Android apps. If you don’t yet have Google Play on your Chromebook, you’re probably thinking of Android apps you want to install when it comes. With all those apps — and your Chrome apps — you’ll probably want to tidy things up a bit. Here’s how you can do it.

Set your wallpaper and choose a theme

Like your Android phone, your Chromebook has a launcher. It’s not an app that can be replaced with a third-party offering, it’s more like the desktop and start menu you would find on a Windows laptop. We’re not going to dig into the technical details here, but for our purposes, your Chromebook app launcher is your wallpaper, your “shelf” (the taskbar across the bottom) and the app drawer. There’s quite a bit you can do with these to make your Chromebook fit into your flow a little better. Let’s start with the obvious — the wallpaper and the theme.

Changing the wallpaper is easy. Just right click (remember, that’s a two finger tap on the trackpad) and choose “Set wallpaper …” from the menu. You’ll see a new window with a good many bundled wallpapers, and you can use the tabs at the top of it to sort through them. If you would like to use your own wallpaper, make sure it’s in Google Drive or stored locally on your Chromebook and click “Custom.” You’ll be able to choose any image that the file manager can get to. You can also tick the box that says “Surprise me” and you’ll get a random wallpaper from the included images each time you log in to your Chromebook.

If you’re using your own picture for the wallpaper, you can use an image editor to size it to the same dimensions as your Chromebook screen to keep it from stretching or cropping. You can find images the right size through Google image search by choosing the resolution in the Search tools at the top of the page.

To change your theme, click the status area (down by your account picture). Choose Settings > Appearance > Get themes. The Chrome Web Store will open to the themes category, where you can browse through and find one you like. You’ll only see themes that will work with your Chromebook, and to install it you only need to click the Add to Chrome button on the theme’s page in the Chrome Web Store. If you choose a new theme your old one will be uninstalled, and if you don’t want the same theme on every computer you use, you can selectively sync through the settings.

Customize your shelf

You can customize the shelf in a few ways, too. Some folks want the bar on the side of their screen instead of the bottom. Again, right click on your desktop and get to the menu. Choose “Shelf position” and pick where you want the shelf to live. You can put it on the left, the right or keep it at the bottom.

You can also set the shelf to autohide so that it stays out of the way until you move the cursor to the screen edge. Note that if you don’t have any other apps open, the shelf will stay visible.

Finally, you can add shortcuts to the apps you use most frequently on your shelf as well as bookmark web pages there. To add an app shortcut, find the app in your drawer and right click on it. Choose “Pin to shelf” and a shortcut will be placed on the bar. To add a bookmark, in the browser choose More > More tools > Add to shelf.

You can arrange the items on your shelf by clicking and dragging them. To do this on your trackpad, click or tap with one finger, then slide left or right with another finger. When the item is in the position you like just let go of it by removing your fingers from the trackpad.

Add folders to the app drawer

Making a folder is done the same way as Android. All you need to do is drag one app on top of another to create a folder, or drag an app on top of a folder to add it. To name your folder or edit the existing name, open it and click the area under the search bar where it says “Unnamed folder” (or where the existing name is) and type your new name. You can’t add a folder to the shelf, or merge one folder into another to nest them.

A quick tip here — if you are trying a lot of Android apps on your Chromebook, I’ve found it’s handy to make a folder named “Testing” and put them all in there until I decide if I want to keep them or not. This way I know only apps that work to my liking live outside of it, and nothing is there eating my precious disk space.

While there are no complete home or desktop environment replacements on your Chromebook, you can do a lot to make it easier for you to use. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments or in the forums.

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Google Cardboard apps work great on your Gear VR now!

It’s real, and it’s awesome.

Samsung gear VR owners can now use Google Cardboard apps through their preferred headset, instead of having to switch back and forth between a Cardboard viewer and something else. It’s pretty easy to set up, and our friends over at VRHeads have everything you need to get started with every version of the Gear VR. Enjoy!

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Nextbit plans battery life boost for Robin in future OS update

Nextbit has revealed its plans to release an OS update for its Robin smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2016 that will offer owners better battery life.

In a community forum post, Nextbit says it wants to improve battery life for smartphones in the same way it helped to increase file storage for the Robin.

Because battery technology has improved slower than other technology, the industry has relied on more efficient processors and larger batteries (What do you think is under all those 5.5″+ screens?) to do their dirty work. These steps do give you more battery life, but the improvement is only incremental. Nextbit will solve this problem a new way – once again offering performance beyond just what the specs say.

We can apply the same intelligence we’ve used for smart storage towards making your battery last significantly longer. In Q4 we will launch a new version of Nextbit OS that gets to know your habits and optimizes functions at the system level to ensure you get the most screen time possible. Just like with smart storage, we can apply this on top of the features Google has implemented in Marshmallow and even on what has been announced for N, compounding the power savings to offer you true peace of mind.

Nextbit recently announced that Robin owners can sign up to participate in a software beta program, to test out new features before they are officially released.

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How we’d change the Nexus 6P

Several months into the life of the Nexus 6P, we’re taking a critical look at the phone.

Each Nexus phone garners extra attention as it they’re Google’s chosen platform for development, and a bastion of light for the Android enthusiasts among us. For some, the Nexus 6P is just yet another phone … but for many of us, it comes with higher expectations, no matter the fact that it’s less expensive than the top-end phones out there.

Just about everyone at Android Central has been using a Nexus 6P since it was launched, bouncing back and forth as work duties bring in fresh phones to try, and with this wealth of time spent with the phone we have a few ideas for how we’d change it to make it just right for us. Read on.

Phil Nickinson

Every time I go back on the Nexus 6P, I ask myself why I ever left. Part of that’s just the job, of course. I don’t have the luxury of using just one phone. But I do have the luxury of having the Nexus 6P to go back to.

When I pick back up the Nexus 6P, I ask myself why I left.

There really are just a couple things that cause me to not mind putting it back down. One is the size. It’s just bigger than I want it to be. I love using it, but I often hate carrying it around.

The other is the camera. I don’t use third-party camera apps because I’m lazy. But the speed at which the Nexus 6P camera launches is, to put it mildly, not great. Once it does fire up it’s a perfectly acceptable camera. But that lag? Not so acceptable.

One thing that absolutely keeps me coming back, however, is that Nexus phones are the only phones I’ve used that have never had an issue connecting to Android Auto. So there’s that.

Jerry Hildenbrand

I’ve been using the Nexus 6P every day since it launched. I had briefly considered switching to the Galaxy S7 edge for my “daily driver” because it’s a really good phone, but then I stopped drinking and put that idea to bed. There’s really no reason for me to switch, because nothing else works as well for me.

For me, there’s really no reason to switch away.

I don’t have kids running around and my dogs are old and don’t do things that are worth taking pictures of any more, so I’m not concerned with the camera taking 500 milliseconds longer than some other phone to load, but it’d be nice if they fixed it for the folks who do care. I used to wish it was smaller, then I gave up because nobody is going to make a phone the size I want (that’s worth using, anyway) until tiny phones become the hot ticket like they used to be.

Really, the only change I want to see is one that isn’t ever going to happen, and that’s a better audio package. I want great music through my headphones without having to carry a separate thing around to make that happen.

I’ll probably switch phones when the next Nexus comes around, and hopefully it will be as good to me as the Nexus 6P has been.

Andrew Martonik

For me, the Nexus 6P is the best overall Nexus phone to date. It’s a simple, well-made, no-frills kind of a phone, which is just what I expect when I pick up a Nexus. It’s all about the software and experience, really, and the hardware mostly gets out of the way. It doesn’t have a funky design or crazy features, it’s just a great phone, and that’s why I appreciate and use it. It’s still a little big for my taste (especially its height), but I can see why that makes it appealing for many — and for as much as I enjoy the idea of using the Nexus 5X, it’s usually the 6P that I come back to when I want a Nexus experience. And what I think many of us forget is how much cheaper it is than many flagships, coming in at just $499.

It isn’t perfect, but I still love using the Nexus 6P.

Now of course the Nexus 6P isn’t all perfect, as you’ll see throughout this article in our various responses. Despite a large battery the Nexus 6P doesn’t exactly have the best battery life out there — and it’s especially disappointing when I’m hitting it hard or traveling. And although the camera can do some really impressive things, it’s often baffling how slow it is to capture and process photos … and that’s before you set it alongside an amazingly fast camera like the Galaxy S7. The screen is just so-so as well, which isn’t anything new for a Nexus but is a bit disappointing considering how great the rest of the hardware is.

Yup, just like any other phone the Nexus 6P does have shortcomings, and depending on how you weigh those it may not be the phone for you. But I still enjoy picking it up regularly despite those few issues, and when I do I’m reminded of how great it is. It’s the phone I use to experience Project Fi, as well as Android N right now, and that puts it in an exclusive group.

Alex Dobie

The arrival of the Android N beta — and more recently, the Android N beta actually becoming usable as a daily driver — have really tempted me to go back to the Nexus 6P full-time. Having not really used it for any length of time since I persevered with it throughout January, I’m once again feeling the pull of Nexus. And on N, the 6P is faster and better than ever.

It’s great to get a look at Android N, but there are still some big flaws.

But then I’m reminded why I moved away from it earlier this year in favor of some of Samsung’s recent devices. The camera’s still painfully slow. (Although if you can live with a slow camera, it can absolutely go toe-to-toe with the GS7 in low light.) The screen, though not at all bad, has aged particularly badly next to the very best of 2016’s high-end phones. And most of all, it’s just too big.

Now, there are big phones, and there are big phones. What make the 6P too large to be manageable, for me, is the bulk around the screen. I’ve quite happily used the Galaxy S6 edge plus — another 5.7-inch phone, but one that’s smaller, lighter and significantly easier on the pocket. I like big phones, but you need to be smart about what you build around that enormous display. I’d opt for a smaller handset overall, even if it meant having to drop down to a 5.5-inch panel.

And Google needs to address the one outstanding software area in which stock Android is just bad — and that’s the speed of the camera. Part of that stems from Nexus phones’ over-reliance on HDR+, but as a regular user I don’t care about that. I just know that my GS7’s taken a dozen or so shots before my 6P’s finished processing its first.

Russell Holly

I pop my SIM card into the Nexus 6P any time I know I’m going out in the evening with friends. The battery is reliable enough that I know it’ll get me through a late night, and the sensor used in this camera combined with Google’s HDR+ tech is still the best I’ve used for capturing a low light still shot.

The Nexus 6P is just too big for me.

My only real complaint about the Nexus 6P is the only reason I put it down and picked up a Galaxy S7 — it’s too damn big for me. I love the way it looks, and the Nexus 6P has always felt nice and solid with just the right amount of heft to it. But I don’t like using this phone with one hand, and that’s generally how I prefer to use phones.

Software has come a LONG way for the Nexus line, but the 6P also started out pretty great which is a nice breath of fresh air compared to previous Nexus releases. The camera is a little on the sluggish side when compared to the top of the line from other phone makers, but the fingerprint sensor is still the best I’ve used and the display is what you expect from something that doesn’t have a Samsung logo on it. I’ve recently switched over to the N Developer Preview, but even before that the software continued to hold up against time.

Despite it not being my personal preference, I wouldn’t ask for a smaller Nexus 6P. Rather, not with existing technology. This phone wouldn’t do well with a sacrifice on battery life, so I’m cool with saying I’m the thing that needs to change in this situation.

Daniel Bader

Tall. So tall.

The Nexus 6P is a great phone. Certainly the best Nexus ever, and one of the best Androids ever. But it’s really tall, and that makes me less likely to pick it up and use it as a daily driver over, say, a Galaxy S7 edge.

Aside from the size, there isn’t much I can complain about.

That said, I used the crap out of the phone when it was released late last year, and loved its incredible performance and surprisingly good camera. Unlike previous Nexus devices running brand new versions of Android, Marshmallow arrived pretty stable for me, and my 6P never experienced the growing pains of its 5X counterpart. Now that it’s running Android N’s latest beta, I’m back using it full-time, and I am even more impressed with the damn thing: it just flies through anything I throw at it, though I still wish its camera was slightly faster. After months with the Galaxy S7 edge, nothing comes close. Except in low light, which — be it Sony’s sensor magic, Google’s HDR+ prowess, or Huawei’s manufacturing chops — it absolutely excels at.

The 6P is a showcase for Google’s latest software, sure, but in a way it’s equally an opportunity for Huawei to prove its worth to an entirely new audience. While I’m not a huge fan of the boxy, generic design, I am of the 6P’s build quality, which is quintessential Huawei — metal, glass, and visible antenna lines.

Aside from the size, there really isn’t much I can complain about when it comes to the Nexus 6P. If I’m picking nits, I’d get that price down a bit — it’s $699 Canadian Dollars, which is, while lower than many flagships, still a lot of money in this market.

Your thoughts

Those are our thoughts on how we’d change the Nexus 6P, but we know lots of you have been using the phone for several months as well. If you’ve been using the latest high-end Nexus, we want to know how you’d change it if you had the chance! Let us know in the comments.

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BitTorrent Now streams music and video from up-and-coming artists

BitTorrent has launched Now, a new app for Android aimed at making it easier to access music and video from up-and-coming artists. The streaming app offers curated selections from BitTorrent, trending content, search, and more.

Here are the basics of what you can do with BitTorrent Now:

• Experience it now or save it for later: browse and stream curated music and video recommendations from independent artists
• Check out what tracks, artists, and videos are trending within the Now community
• Personalize your experience by signing in with Facebook, Google+, or email to follow your favorite artists to get the scoop on their latest releases
• Explore categories by tag, genre, and more
• Share the awesome stories you’ve discovered with friends
• Uninterrupted listening with background play — listen the way you want to

BitTorrent Now can be found on the Google Play Store right now.

The pocket-sized ASUS ZenBeam E1 will project from your phone, Chromecast and more

If you’re looking for a pocketable projector to use on the go, ASUS has just announced the pint-sized ZenBeam E1. Weighing in at just 307g, the ZenBeam E1 is able to connect to your Android phone, in addition to other sources, via HDMI and MHL.

As for specs, the pocket projector is capable of outputting an 854×480 picture at 150 lumens of brightness. Inside the projector packs a 6,000 mAh battery, which ASUS claims will last up to five hours.

Given the projector’s ability to hook up to not only your Android phone, but also things like the Chromecast and Chromebit, it definitely makes for an interesting option if you’re in need of a screen on the go.

As for when you can get your hands on one, ASUS says the ZenBeam E1 should be available for $249 from major retailers imminently.

Michael Fisher, aka MrMobile, reviews the OnePlus 3

When I first laid eyes on a photo of the OnePlus 3, I was let down. I didn’t like its generic design, its snap-on cases that seemed like afterthoughts, or its higher-than-ever price tag. But then a review unit landed on my doorstep, and I got to use the OnePlus 3 for nine days. While my feelings on its derivative design haven’t changed, I still consider this to be one of the best phones you can buy for $399. Also, it’s a worthy custodian of a brand name that, as Andrew wrote in Android Central’s full review, seems to have finally grown up.

Check out my OnePlus 3 review — my first as MrMobile — above. If you enjoy it, be sure to subscribe at all the links below for much more mobile tech coverage from the final frontier!

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Marshmallow starts rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is currently receiving its update to Marshmallow in the U.S. The update is for both the 8- and 9.7-inch Wi-Fi-only versions of the tablet, and weighs in at over 1GB.

The Marshmallow update brings a number of enhancements and user experience improvements, including Doze, which helps cut down on battery usage. The update should roll out automatically, but you can always check in Settings to grab it manually.

Discuss the update in our forums!

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Which Canadian carrier is the best at pushing Android updates?

Avoid all of these issues by buying a Nexus. But if you don’t want to, here’s some advice.

I get asked this question a lot: Which carrier updates its Android devices the fastest? It’s not an easy one to answer, since there are so many factors. But thanks to data from the carriers themselves, we can finally come to some sort of a consensus on the matter.

If you want the fastest and most transparent updates, bring your service to Telus.

Why Telus?

There are a few reasons to go with Telus if you want the best experience updating your Android phone.

• First, Telus is generally the fastest, especially when it comes to Samsung devices.
• Second, Telus is the most transparent, consistently keeping its easy-to-understand Software Updates page current and relevant.

At the end of the day, these are the two most important factors when deciding which carrier will respect the update process of most carrier-sold Android phones.

It can be argued that Telus is more invested in offering expeditious Android updates because delivering on customer service promises is a core tenet of the provider’s marketing strategy. So too is the reason for a distinct lack of bloatware on said Android devices; I usually ask for a Telus loaner device from a manufacturer because it is the least encumbered with unnecessary apps. Telus is also better at scheduling monthly security updates for its Android devices, something we’ve seen U.S. carriers like Verizon do a better job of in recent months.

If you want the fastest and most transparent updates, bring your service to Telus.

Rogers and Bell have content strategies to push, which usually involves embedding video and commerce apps on their devices. Telus, with no such ties, approaches Android software like it does its entire aesthetic: clean, and simple.

Finally, Telus is usually slower to roll out features like Wi-Fi Calling and VoLTE that may impede the update release schedule of various Android phones. Rogers, for example, twice halted the rollout of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop to the Galaxy S6 last year due to bugs in Samsung’s implementation of Voice Over LTE on the carrier’s network.

What about Bell and Rogers?

Being the three biggest carriers in Canada, priority is usually given to Rogers, Bell, and Telus when OEMs like Samsung and LG deliver big-time updates. As we’ve already explained, Telus is often the first, but not always: Bell and Rogers are generally quite good at staging simultaneous rollouts unless there are specific reasons for such a delay.

For whatever reason, Rogers has struggled to push updates to its growing Galaxy line in recent months, offering its versions of Android 6.0 Marshmallow weeks or months after Bell and Telus. Given that Bell and Telus share a network, updates can be pushed to devices sold by those carriers at the same time, but as with all things, it comes down to priorities.

Give me the data, punk

Sure. Let’s look at the last few months.

Telus isn’t always first, but as the data show, it is usually among the first to receive the updates, and is never solely last.

Why is Canada usually second to the U.S.?

Are you talking about in hockey? Because in that case we’re not. If you’re referring to phone updates, then you’re right.

Canada is a relatively small market in relation to the United States. Manufacturers deal with limited resources internally, and would rather customers buy a new phone than update an existing one. Still, a certain number of them are expected within the lifespan of a handset, and after speaking off the record to representatives of a number of Canadian carriers, it’s clear that the country is pretty low on the priority list — rarely, if ever, will we receive a significant update before the same device in the U.S. Indeed, many of the updates are formatted for American versions of the handset and adapted to fit the slightly modified Canadian SKUs.

Rarely, if ever, will Canada receive a significant update before the same device in the U.S.

The odd time that Rogers or Telus pushes out an update before Verizon or AT&T, it’s usually the result of extended network testing on the part of the U.S. providers, or significant changes to the network code that require additional quality testing. All updates must meet the stringent requirements of both countries’ regulators to ensure that 9-11 and other emergency services are always available and working correctly.

Over the past few years, not only have updates to Android devices become more frequent, but intra-version bug fixes have become more common, if not the norm. Much of this can be chalked up to Google’s own commitment to monthly security updates on its Nexus phones, but some of it must be attributable to a normalization within the carriers of an update culture.

An investment in your future

Android updates aren’t always about flashy new features; they are just as often about important bug fixes that protect you from unforeseen exploits and hackers. Back when the Stagefright exploit was a big concern in the Android community, Telus was not only the first carrier to post important information for its customers to easily digest the information, but it was proactive about releasing fixes for as many older Android devices as it could. It could have done better, but it was comforting to know the issue was earnestly being addressed.

Of course, Telus is still a carrier, and must balance available resources with its desire for customer service. It’s not going to release every update ahead of Rogers and Bell, and will occasionally be last, or be fraught with issues. Indeed, if you want the fastest and most comprehensive update schedule on an Android device, purchase a Nexus 5X or 6P — either from Telus, or directly from the Play Store — which affords you the best of both worlds.

But if it’s an LG G5, a Samsung Galaxy S7, or a BlackBerry Priv you’re after, and want to pursue the road most subsidized, then Telus is your best bet for a comprehensive Android update solution.