Turns out a Galaxy Note 7 did not explode in a child’s hands

About that Note 7 exploding while a kid was using it…

The general consensus amidst hours of conversation here at Android Central was that as long as a Note 7 didn’t actually harm a human being during the recall process, there was a chance the Note brand could eventually recover from this exploding battery problem. Then the NY Post published a story claiming a 6-year old from Brooklyn was using his grandfather’s Note 7 when the worst happened. Anger toward the grandfather for recklessly continuing to not only use the phone but share it with a child filled our forums and comment threads. Speculation as to whether this would have happened if the battery were removable grew, and a constant wave of speculation as to how Samsung and their partners could have better handled this situation has filled the internet.

There’s just one small problem here — that phone wasn’t a Galaxy Note 7. NBC New York identified it as a Samsung Galaxy Core Prime, released in 2014. This detail still isn’t good news for Samsung, and this detail certainly doesn’t make the suffering Kadim Lewis or his family feel any better, but it’s significant all the same. The Galaxy Core Prime is a phone with a removable battery that has no history of battery problems. The reasons for the explosion are still being investigated, but at the moment there is no reason to believe it is directly related to the ongoing Note 7 battery flaw. It hasn’t even been confirmed that this Galaxy Core was using the original Samsung-provided battery, and when you consider how many shady “cell phone parts” stores and carts exist in NYC it’s not impossible for this battery to have been third-party.

It’s still a mess, and still unfortunate for a child to go through all of this, but it’s important to recognize there’s no reason to assume this is Note 7 related. No reason to blame the parents and grandparents, and certainly no reason to call for all Samsung phone sales to be halted until a full investigation is completed. And yes, you should still absolutely, unquestionably power off your Note 7 and go exchange or return it immediately.

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Save $50 on this Chromebook that will soon run Android apps!

Right now you can pick up a Samsung Chromebook 3 for just $180 at Amazon, a savings of $50. The 11.6-inch Chromebook offers 4GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, an Intel Celeron N3050 processor to help it run Google’s Chrome OS with ease. Samsung’s Chromebook 3 offers 11 hours of battery life, which should get most people through an entire day’s use without plugging it in.

If you’ve been looking to check out a Chromebook, or want to be prepared for when they can run Android apps, Samsung’s offering is one you will want to check out. This deal won’t last long, so be sure to get your order in quickly if you are interested. Will you be picking one up? Let us know in the comments.

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Google’s fancy new Wallpaper app is the best thing about its leaked ‘Pixel launcher’

The launcher for Google’s upcoming smartphones has leaked — but that’s not even the most interesting part about it.

In the past day notorious HTC leaker @LlabTooFeR has leaked the latest version of Google’s “Pixel launcher” — the home screen app that’ll be preloaded on the two upcoming HTC-built Pixel phones (neé Nexus). Obviously it’s important that this is branded as the Pixel launcher — removing any doubt that that’s what this year’s Google phones will be called. Also big: No more Google search bar, instead a Google “tab” icon you can drag out to get to Google Now. And the app drawer has changed significantly, almost moving back to the Android 2.x days where the drawer was a literal drawer that you’d pull up to see your apps.

All of that is important a neat, but what’s way cooler is what Google’s now doing with wallpapers.

Google’s new wallpaper picker exists as a separate APK, meaning it can be installed without loading the Pixel launcher, and used with any Android home screen. As well as standard options like your own photos and built-in wallpapers, the app gives you a vast selection of wallpapers from different categories of artwork:

• Earth: Satellite-style imagery, as we’ve seen from the past couple of Nexus releases
• Landscapes: Beautiful scenery like the sort you might find preloaded on a Chromebook
• Cityscape: Urban photography, including a few impressive macro shots with beautiful bokeh effects.
• Life: A collection of photos featuring abstract, floral and everyday objects.
• Textures: Repeating patterns, sometimes abstract, sometimes from the real world.

These categories appear to be curated, and pulled down from the Internet, so it’s likely the library will grow and change over time. After selecting a wallpaper, you can view more details, including where it was taken and by whom.

This admittedly huge selection of wallpapers is just the beginning.

Each category has as few dozen options to choose from, and if you want a new wallpaper from any of these categories every day, the “Daily wallpaper” feature lets you start off each morning with a fresh background. It’s reminiscent of the Muzei app created by Google designer Roman Nurik, which did much the same thing with classic artworks.

This new wallpaper app, which should be loaded on the upcoming Pixel phones, is great way to provide owners with an easy way to freshen up their wallpaper on a regular basis, and stop things from becoming stale. Good wallpapers are hard to find, and a phone maker providing free, high-quality wallpapers as a service is a feature so obvious it’s surprising it’s not happened before. And what we see here is just the start. We’re hearing that the loadout of still wallpaper will be augmented with some sweet new live wallpapers — along similar lines — when the Pixel phones eventually land.

The wallpaper picker — and the Pixel launcher itself — is available from LlabTooFeR’s site. Sideload at your own risk.

Google’s Pixel phones — new launcher, wallpapers and all — are rumored to arrive in early October.

Go Time! Episode 9: Walk your Magikarp

Don’t miss out on Episode 9 of Go Time!

Episode 9 of Go Time has arrived, with Russell, Erin, and James representing their respective teams.

This week we were joined by the wonderful James Bricknell from 3D4Geeks repping Team Valor. We got to chat about the type of Pokémon you find when you live in the desert, and the awesome new buddy system that Niantic has started rolling out. Of course we had to mention that Pokémon Go now has Apple Watch support, and then Erin detailed how she plans on spending $100 in PokeCoins.

We’re still just getting started! Be sure not to miss an episode of our fun with Pokémon Go!

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Get in on Google’s Chromecast ‘Preview Program’ for early access to updates

Want to be the first to see new Google Cast features? Of course you do.

Google announced a new “Preview Program” for all versions of the Chromecast that lets those of us who are eager to see new features in on the latest software updates before they’re broadly released. While this explicitly isn’t a “beta” program that will give you potentially unstable updates, it will give you access to the latest Google Cast features before everyone else.

In Google’s own words:

The Chromecast Preview Program is a user opt-in channel that updates your Chromecast device with the latest version of Chromecast’s firmware before it is made broadly available. This gives members of the program early access to features and improvements on their Chromecast. It’s an exciting way to get a sneak peek at the latest and greatest updates.

If that sounds like something you’re interested in (we bet it is), the process of joining is pretty simple:

Open up the Google Cast app on your phone or tablet.
Tap the overflow menu button on the Chromecast you want to enroll.
Tap Device settings.
Tap Preview Program and tap Join Program.
That’s it! You’ll receive the latest updates early until you leave.

If you chose to allow Google to email you you’ll get a message each time a new Preview Program update arrives, and you can drop back out of the Preview Program at any time from the same menu. It couldn’t be simpler.

While you aren’t likely to see amazing groundbreaking features weeks ahead of everyone else, you may get something neat a few days earlier than your friends who chose to stay on the standard release schedule — and that alone is worth it. And considering that Google isn’t expecting any addition instability in these updates, it’s really a win-win situation.

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Apple iOS 10 review: Bringing more complexity and features to your iPhone and iPad

The latest iPhone operating system update, Apple’s iOS 10, is almost here. And it’s full of promise that will change the way you use your iPhone or iPad.

We’ve been living with iOS 10 on both iPhone and iPad during the public beta phase and, briefly, on the new iPhone 7 at Apple’s launch event in San Francisco.

But just how has the mobile operating system changed, and is it truly for the better?

iOS 10 review: Design

For the most part iOS 10 looks the same as iOS 9. There are tweaks here and there, of course, but the experience is still familiar and there are no shocks in the same way as experienced with the iOS 7 update.

However, iOS 10 focuses on layering, with more information and more options to hand. So rather than create entirely new ways of approaching things, Apple has evolved what we’ve seen in iOS 9, while managing to implement a bolder, clearer and cleaner user interface. On the lock screen, for example, everything is now contained in “bubbles”, which we’ve found delivers a more contained experience.

It is interesting to see how much Apple is relying on iPhone users already being knowlegeable with the OS’s history in order to be happy with the potential complexity of what is being offered. Power users are going to love all the nuances available, from Messages through to the new lock screen.

iOS 10 review: Lock screen

One of the biggest changes in iOS 10 is the new lock screen and how it works.

iPhone users with Touch ID may have found it frustrating that as soon as they touch the Home button the phone unlocks. In iOS 10 you can now “Raise to Wake” your device to see messages and notifications.

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The Raise to Wake function works in a similar way to how it does on the Apple Watch: you need to lift or move the device with purpose to get the response. If you are one of those people who lays your iPhone on a desk or table, you’ll have to physically pick up the phone, or press the power button, rather than merely giving it a nudge.

Like in the Watch, the feature it is not perfect every time. Pull the phone out of your pocket and it’s all good, but tap it as you would the Apple Watch, and it does nothing. Failure to move with the necessary vigour results in the phone staying asleep, although we found Raise to Wake was a lot quicker to respond on the iPhone 7 in our brief hands-on at the event  than the 6S we’ve been using during the iOS 10 beta phase.

Raise to Wake isn’t the only new trick, though. Apple has removed the slide to unlock bar that has been on the iPhone since day one. In the age of Touch ID and the Home button, Apple believes you don’t need it any more. Or, at least, not for the purpose of unlocking: iOS 10 now uses the slide gesture on the lock screen for other things. Four other things in fact.

Slide right to left to reveal the camera (it used to be a slide up). Slide in the opposite direction, from left to right, and you reveal the Notification Center with Widgets for things like Calendar, Weather, search options, and app suggestions.

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Sliding down from the top of the screen reveals your notifications, or access to Widgets if you then scroll left to right again (more on those in a moment). Sliding up from the bottom of the screen gives you access to an enhanced Control Center which has now been spilt into three panels: Main controls, Music, and Home (more on that later).

It does all take a little bit getting used to – especially for accessing the camera. And over the months we’ve been using iOS 10 we’ve not found it to become second nature. We’ve not used the Widgets as much as we had hoped, and the inability to delete emails from the home screen is a missed opportunity.

All that said and done, where the lock screen wins is that you can now access so much information through notifications, Widgets, and even devices, that you’ll find at times there is no reason to even go beyond it. It’s great for glancing without digging deep.

iOS 10 review: Widgets

Put simply, Widgets are snippets from within an app, visible on the lock screen. That could be your Activity data, a football score, the latest headline, or shortcuts to controlling smarthome devices – without the need to fully open an app.

Indeed, Widgets could have the power to negate the need to open apps altogether. Once you’ve got the ordering of your selected Widgets sorted they can be incredibly powerful.

As is stands, however, Widgets are incredibly basic – and only editable within the app they are from; there’s no centralised control. But they will become even more powerful when more app developers add support.

We like Weather, Battery (for checking up on the Apple Watch), Philips Hue for Scenes, and Activity, but we are sure more will come as the feature becomes more widespread among iPhone users.

iOS 10 review: Messages

If you do make it beyond the lock screen, you’ll find Messages is the next big iOS 10 overhaul. Apple has looked at what messaging apps are doing – like Snapchat, Instant Messenger, Whatsapp, Line, and others – and tried to emulate it for iMessages too.

Aside from making emoji bigger so you can see the cute little things, there are a number of new types of message to tease and taunt your friends and family with. Whether that’s messages that “slam dunk” their way into an inbox, or ones that are revealed after a pause, there is plenty to play with… if you remember.

And that’s before you start to experiment with iMessage backdrops like fireworks or balloons, drawing messages in the same way Apple Watch users have been able to do for the past year, automatically getting suggestions to replace words with the right emoji, or play with the dozens of third-party iMessage apps that will also be able to tap into the experience. It’s like BBM never went away.

The new elements can be ignored if wanted, and for most we suspect they will be. Yes, they add fun to the experience, but after the initial excitement you could find yourself reverting back to your old ways and completely ignoring or forgetting about them.

iMessage apps, meanwhile, offer a range of different things including, probably most importantly, stickers. Some are free, others you’ll have to pay for, but most are fun. They range from cats to veggies, to premium third-party ones like Star Wars emoji, and are no doubt going to be a massive hit for Apple and developers keen to get on board. It’s not all stickers though, other apps include IMDB, City Mapper and Scanbot Go. 

How iMessage apps will be received is anyone’s guess. We suspect there will be a handful of apps that will be really useful to a handful of people, but for the rest of us it will probably go unnoticed andd just add to the noise.  

iOS 10 review: Home

After seemingly years of talking about HomeKit, Apple has created a dedicated app to allow iPhone and iPad users to not only access their HomeKit-enabled devices, but also create Scenes to allow different HomeKit devices to talk to each other.

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The app itself is simple, yet powerful. Broken down into three main areas – Rooms, Scenes and Automations – you can quickly access all the HomeKit devices in your house, view them room by room, or create automations based on specific triggers. We’ve covered Home in much greater depth in our HomeKit preview, linked below.

READ: Apple HomeKit preview: Is Apple’s smarthome system ready to shine?

What Apple Home really gets right with Home is the “one app to rule them all” approach. And it really starts to shine above and beyond dedicated device apps when you pair multiple devices together. It’s at that moment everything snaps into place.

iOS 10 review: Photos

Apple hasn’t really touched the camera app in iOS 10. For older iPhone users (i.e. not the new iPhone 7 range) there are no new shooting modes to experiment with. The iPhone 7 Plus gets a 2x zoom feature and dedicated Portrait mode, but every other device running iOS won’t.

Apple has always had a strong focus on photography and many of those iPhone users who are generations deep will have amassed years upon years of photos. And iOS 10 wants you to find those photos quicker, whether through search or suggestions.

The Photos app will now scan your complete library and then attempt to track people, places, events, and a few other things to group photos together to make them more relevant and easier to find. That might, as we’ve found, be photos from a place you’ve been, a collection of photos based on a date, or even a collection of what Apple thinks are some of your best photos over a given period of time.

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The intelligence stems further, too, allowing you to ask Siri to try and find a photo for you – perhaps of a dog or a beach – and we’ve found on a number of instances when it’s saved us from scrolling back through a good seven years of phone pics trying to find “that photo”.

Start looking at your Memories and, as you might expect, the rabbit hole runs deep. There’s the ability to play slideshows of collections, see photos in a given collection, who is in the collection, where the collection was taken, and then related collections. You can then share that collection as a mini movie. 

If you shoot a lot of pictures then after upgrading to iOS 10 expect to lose yourself for the first couple of days in the Photos app.

iOS 10 review: Siri

Apple has made Siri available to developers, allowing them to access the voice assistant to not only build it into their apps, but allow you to ask Siri to interact with apps on your behalf. You will be able to conduct a photo search in IM or stop and pause your runs in apps like Runkeeper, for example, all via Siri.

However, this is one of the features that we’ve not been able to fully test yet, given availability, but we will be updating this review as and when supported apps become available.

iOS 10 review: Extras

iOS 10 isn’t just about Message enhancements, a new Photos app, and HomeKit. Across the board there are new and upgraded features: from a handy quick shortcut, to unread mail in the Mail app, or being able to remove the Stocks or Tips apps from your home screen so you never see them again.

For iPhone users with 3D Touch, apps will now be able to give you more information without you having to open the app. Apple Maps gets new features too, while Apple Music and Apple News have both had a complete overhaul, making them a lot easier to use.  

READ: What is Apple’s 3D Touch and how does it work?

iOS 10 review: iPad

There are just two specific features in iOS 10 for iPad: the ability to split-screen two Safari windows side-by-side in Split Screen mode; and Swift Playgrounds, an app designed to get people and kids into coding.  

Both appeal in their own ways, and although it sounds incredibly geeky we really appreciate the Safari add-on. For us, having one window with our content management system open, and other with details of a story from a manufacturers’ website or email, has made our workflow a lot easier. 

Verdict

The notion that iOS is a simple operating system is now a long and distant memory. In iOS 10 Apple has focused on layering the experience with even more  complexity and depth than ever before.

iOS 10 isn’t about redefining or dumbing down, more about adding functionality on top of what, for many, is an incredibly functional experience already. It’s a bold move, given that some of that complexity might be overwhelming to a brand new iPhone or iPad user.

But Apple has got the balance right. Yes, your two-year-old will still be able to navigate iOS 10, but while once upon a time they would have been classed as geniuses, now they will only be scratching the surface. And for power users the depth of features is richer than ever before.

So should you upgrade to iOS 10? The simple answer: yes, of course. There are many new features, tricks, and goodies to be found in iOS 10 that to not upgrade, would simply see you missing out.

Ford will offer a B&O Play in-car sound system in 2017

Ford will be upping its in-car audio game as of next year thanks to a collaboration with Harman and B&O Play.

The car manufacturer has said there will be a global roll out of a new sound system, which will take on different forms in different cars. The two companies will work out where best to place speakers and how to calibrate them depending on the size of the Ford vehicle, although just which Ford vehicles will get the system is yet to be announced.

Whatever the configuration, B&O Play says the tuning will make sure you get the best possible sound experience no matter where you’re sitting in the car.

In-car technology is becoming more and more important to consumers, with the likes of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto taking centre stage in many new cars and with them, so do music streaming services.

Ford claims a recent Ipsos 2016 Automotive Audio Branding study found that one-third of new car buyers say the audio brand available to choose as an option has a “significant impact” on their car choice.

The new system will mark the first time a B&O Play sound system is installed in a car and the first since Harman bought B&O Play’s automotive business for €145 million in 2015. It is separate to Bang and Olufsen sound systems that can be found in cars from higher-end manufacturers such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Got a US Sony Xperia XZ or X Compact? You won’t be able to use the fingerprint scanner

It seems Sony just can’t avoid disappointing its US customers. Sony Mobile US has confirmed the Stateside versions of the latest XZ and X Compact flagship smartphones won’t come with a fingerprint scanner, but they will in Europe.

It’s not the first time Sony has kept the feature from US phones either, with the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact and Xperia X Performance all lacking the fingerprint scanner.

There was never any explanation as to why those phones didn’t have the feature and it’s the same case once again with the Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact.

Perhaps the most unexplainable thing is that the hardware is said to be on the US-bound phones, but has just been disabled. Does Sony think US consumers won’t be able to work out how to use it? Can its scanner not recognise US fingerprints? Or could it be Sony is worried about privacy issues in the US? We may never know.

Neither phone is available to buy just yet, but Sony has said they’re due to be released some time in October. For now, you can read our initial impressions of the Xperia XZ and Xperia X Compact.