The Essential Phone is sold out and will stay sold out

If you were hoping to snag the Essential Phone before the year was up, you’re out of luck. An Essential spokesperson told 9to5Google that the phone is out of stock and won’t see new inventory.

The spokesperson also told 9to5Google that Essential is “hard at work on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community.”

Droid Life first noticed that the Essential Phone is out of stock from the company’s website. The phone is also unavailable through retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

Even if you go to Sprint’s website, the page seems to be broken and doesn’t show any information. You’ll still be able to buy the Essential Phone from resellers on Amazon and eBay, so all hope isn’t lost yet.

Editor’s Pick

That said, this was bound to happen at some point. The Essential Phone originally launched in August 2017 with issues ranging from poor image quality and cellular reception on T-Mobile to touch response issues.

It wasn’t all bad for the Essential Phone. As polarizing as it might be, the phone’s design still holds up well against today’s smartphones.

The Essential Phone is also a great example of what a continually-updated smartphone looks like. Essential even confirmed that the phone will get Android Q. That would make the Essential Phone one of those rare Android devices with three major platform updates.

There are murmurs that Essential is working on a new device that might be shown off during January 2019’s CES event. The device reportedly uses artificial intelligence to either replace or augment the current smartphone experience.

Source: Android Zone

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LG’s trio of soundbars look to impress with Google Assistant and Dolby Atmos

LG SL9YG soundbar LG

Ahead of CES 2019 in January, LG announced three new soundbars: the SL10YG, SL9YG, and SL8YG.

All three soundbars were developed in conjunction with Meridian Sound, an English manufacturer known for its high-fidelity audio and video components. LG calls out three features: Bass and Space, Image Elevation, and Upmix.

Bass and Space supposedly improves the soundstage with added bass. Image Elevation creates an imaginary 3D space that emits sound to “lift” the soundstage. Finally, Upmix takes two-channel audio and makes it sound like multi-channel audio without noise or distortion.


LG specifically calls out the SL9YG, which features a built-in gyroscope that determines how you orient the soundbar. The SL9YG then adjusts the sound output accordingly.

Editor’s Pick

The SL10YG, SL9YG, and SL8YG also support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for surround sound. LG will offer a wireless rear speaker kit that should increase the bass output.

Lastly, all three soundbars feature built-in Google Assistant functionality. That means the soundbars listen to voice commands and act as smart home hubs that can control other connected devices.

LG didn’t say how much the soundbars cost or when they’ll launch. That said, LG will show them off during CES and might have more information to share then.

Source: Android Zone

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Samsung rumored to be working on a second Galaxy Home smart speaker

We are still waiting for Samsung to release its promised smart speaker, the Galaxy Home. However, there are now rumors that Samsung may already be deep in development for a second smart speaker that could be smaller, and cheaper, than the Galaxy Home.

Related

According to SamMobile, via unnamed sources, this second smart speaker has the model number SM-V310, compared to the SM-V510 number that’s attached to the Galaxy Home. The report adds that this second speaker will have a black color. Other than that, we don’t have any information on the hardware specs for this second device, but the lower model number may indicate that it could be a smaller device than the Galaxy Home.

Samsung first announced the Galaxy Home in August as part of its Galaxy Note 9 press launch. We got to go hands-on with the speaker in November at the Samsung Developer Conference and it has some high-end features, including eight far-field microphones, Harman AKG speakers and a feature that will allow it to detect where you are in the room so it can send audio directly to you. It sounds like more like what you might find on Apple’s expensive HomePod than the cheaper Google Home or Amazon Echo. Of course, both the Galaxy Home and this rumored second speaker will use Samsung’s Bixby digital assistant for voice commands.

Hopefully, Samsung will use the 2019 CES trade show in early January to officially announce a launch date and price for the Galaxy Home, and it could also reveal this second speaker at the show as well.

Source: Android Zone

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The Huawei P Smart (2019) brings a waterdrop notch, Kirin 710, and pretty blue color

Huawei

Huawei looks to squeeze one last smartphone announcement before the end of 2018 with the Huawei P Smart (2019). Today’s announcement arrives mere days after Huawei sub-brand Honor announced the Honor View 20 in China.

As rumors suggested, the P Smart (2019) features the waterdrop-style notch that we’ve seen on the Huawei Mate 20, OnePlus 6T, and Oppo A7. The small notch allows the 6.21-inch display with Full HD+ (2,340 x 1,080) resolution to nearly stretch across the top without looking completely obnoxious.

Huawei

Elsewhere, the P Smart (2019) features either an 8- or 16MP selfie camera, dual 13 and 2MP rear cameras, Huawei’s own octa-core Kirin 710 processor, 3GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 3,400mAh battery.

The P Smart (2019) runs EMUI 9.0 on top of Android 9 Pie out of the box. The latest version of Huawei’s Android overlay, EMUI 9, features speed improvements, fewer menu options, gesture-based navigation, and more.

Editor’s Pick

Unfortunately, the P Smart (2019) features microUSB instead of the increasingly popular USB Type-C. Because of the older port, don’t expect the fastest charging speeds or transfer times. That said, the P Smart (2019) supposedly charges 22 percent faster than its predecessor.

Finally, the phone comes in three colors: Midnight Black, Sapphire Blue, and Aurora Blue.

Some European markets will get the P Smart (2019) starting January 2 for 250 euros (~$286). The phone will then launch January 11 in the U.K. for 149 pounds (~$189). U.K. residents can buy the phone from Carphone Wireless, EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone.

Source: Android Zone

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Deal: Get $50 off Jabra Elite Active 65t true wireless earbuds at Best Buy

Jabra Elite Active 65t wireless earbuds deal

Picking out a great pair of true wireless earbuds among the flood of poor quality AirPods clones has become a bit of a nightmare for anyone looking to finally cut the cord. Thankfully there are some great options out there, including the Jabra Elite 65t earphones that the experts at our sister site Sound Guys rate as the best pair of true wireless earbuds money can buy!

Editor’s Pick

It just so happens that the Active version of Jabra’s wireless ‘buds are currently on sale at Best Buy. The retailer has slashed $50 off the regular retail price ($189) which takes the Jabra Elite Active 65t earbuds in Titanium Black down to just $139.

As for the Active branding, these are essentially upgraded versions of the regular Elite 65t buds with a focus on fitness. The Active Elite 65ts feature added sweatproofing protection which is IP56 rated compared to the regular Elite 65ts’ IP55 rating. You also get a built-in accelerometer which links up to various fitness apps including Jabra’s own Jabra Sound app.

Otherwise you’re getting the same stellar feature set as the standard pair. That includes assistant support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri, dual-microphone technology, and up to 5.85 hours of standalone playback (based on SoundGuysextensive tests).

There’s no word on when this price matched deal ends, so you’re better off grabbing the deal while you can by hitting the button below.

Source: Android Zone

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Team AA: What would we like to see from smartphone cameras in 2019?

Google Pixel 3 XL Camera

2018 is surely going to go down as the best year yet for smartphone camera quality and innovations. Computational photography, triple cameras and AI capabilities all came together to deliver some beastly smartphone shooters.

It’s clear manufacturers have an excellent foundation for 2019. But what exactly should these brands be working on when they’re designing next year’s smartphone cameras? We asked our colleagues this exact question.

Low-light or bust

This was certainly the most popular choice, with five colleagues indicating low-light performance as a focus area for 2019’s smartphone cameras.

Night Mode is a genuinely brilliant quality-of-life improvement. Every compatible phone should have it,” Scott Gordon answered. It’s tough to argue otherwise, as both Google and Huawei‘s night modes are able to create some astounding results compared to cameras from 2017.

A comparison between the iPhone XS and Google's Night Sight.

“I feel like Google is pulling ahead of the pack because of Night Sight alone,” said Jimmy Westenberg. “For me, it’s a feature I use almost daily on my Pixel 3 and I can’t see myself owning a phone without it or a similar feature.”

Google and Huawei’s modes have since been joined by night modes from OnePlus and Xiaomi, and we’ve also heard murmurings that Samsung could join the party in 2019. Either way, here’s hoping that these modes come to far more devices next year.

Less should definitely be more

Another popular response (with three colleagues calling for this) was for manufacturers to improve the quality of existing cameras instead of simply adding more. It’s an approach taken by Google since 2016’s original Pixel, with the Mountain View company somehow squeezing better and better quality from its single camera setup.

“Sure, the easy/cheap way out is to use multiple cameras instead of advanced cameras, but at these $1,000+ price tags, they can make better cameras. Bigger sensors, better lenses, zoom lenses (actual optical zoom), better vibration dampening and more work on OIS/EIS,” said Jonathan Feist, adding that he could do without selfie cameras.

Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone in sunrise gold in a person's hand.

I don’t know if my other colleagues could go without selfie cameras, but Jonathan certainly raises a good point regarding better camera hardware. Bigger sensors in particular are one of the tried-and-tested ways to get better photo quality, particularly in low-light situations.

“Quality: Quantity of lenses doesn’t matter, I just want high-quality, consistency, and features like Night Sight to improve all-round performance,” Tristan Rayner noted, while also adding his voice to the low-light calls.

Meanwhile, resident list master Joe Hindy also wants better primary cameras: “I’m concerned that OEMs are starting to lean too heavily on the multi-camera setup to add more functionality and flexibility, but we haven’t seen a real jump in the main sensor quality in quite some time.”

Still, Joe points to Sony’s new 48MP sensor (as seen on Huawei and Xiaomi’s upcoming devices) as having potential to deliver a better main camera experience.

Better selfie cameras, AI, and more

Aside from better primary camera sensors and improved low-light performance, our team members also had a few more wishes for 2019’s smartphone cameras.

Luka Milnar wants more manufacturers to deliver wider aperture selfie cameras, saying that Samsung was one of the few brands to offer f/1.7 cameras on the front. We’ve seen a move to higher resolution selfie snappers in 2018, often using pixel-binning in order to generate better low-light snaps, but a wider aperture can definitely help in these situations too.

The Mate 10 Pro camera app.

David Imel is calling for brands to dial back their processing in 2019, saying that today’s cameras tend to “oversharpen and oversaturate images.” It’s a tough ask for manufacturers, as some consumers seem to prefer the oversaturated look over the drab and dreary realistic option. Perhaps user-selectable color modes should be available on more phones?

Finally, Executive Editor Kris Carlon reckons that manufacturers should give us greater control over AI features.

Editor’s Pick

“Computational photography is undeniably great, but the all-or-nothing approach currently being taken by most OEMs needs to put a little control back into the hands of the user,” says Kris. “Not everyone is a good enough photographer to do everything themselves but they’re still good enough that they don’t like the machines doing everything for them either.”

It’s a pretty good point, as AI functionality seems to largely boil down to aggressive hand-holding rather than anything truly personalized and/or robust. No wonder some people prefer shooting with AI modes disabled.

Me? I’d like to see meaningful secondary cameras come to cheaper smartphones. Why settle for a depth sensor as the secondary camera on a budget phone when a telephoto or ultra-wide angle snapper is more useful? In any event, 2018 was a fantastic year for smartphone cameras, so here’s hoping that 2019 is even better.

What would you like to see from 2019’s smartphone cameras? Give us your thoughts below.

NEXT: The Nokia 7.1 is a good deal in the U.S., but there are plenty of better deals globally

Source: Android Zone

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Deal: Amazon’s Digital Day discounts books, magazines, movies and Fire tablets

Update, December 28 at 12:19 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with links to the Amazon Digital Day deals.


Amazon has launched its third annual Digital Day sale, a one-day event where you can save big on digital content like eBooks, movies, TV shows, software, games, and more.

In addition to all of the digital-only content on sale, Amazon is also offering discounts on its Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 tablets. You can get the Fire HD 8 for as low as $49.99, a $30 discount, or you can get the larger Fire HD 10 tablet for as low as $99.99, a $50 discount. If you get the Fire HD 10 tablet, you can also get a free three month trial for Amazon’s Audible audiobooks service that is normally worth about $45.

The main focus of Amazon Digital Day is to save you some money when it comes to downloading content and signing up for subscriptions. Here are just some of the items on sale today:

You can check out all the deals and discounts for Amazon Digital Day at the link below. The one-day sale ends at 11:59 p.m. PT. 

Source: Android Zone

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Get AWS and DevOps certified for under $32

AWS and DevOps

It’s still Christmas, sort of, and that means you can still justify buying yourself gifts. Instead of another huge Toblerone, how about something a little more useful. Possibly even career changing.

We’re talking about AWS and DevOps training, and we’re spotlighting it today because a fantastic learning kit is on offer for the first time.

AWS and DevOps are revolutionizing the ways apps are deployed in the cloud today. To work in the tech industry you’re going to want these skills in your locker, and today is the perfect time to start training.

You’ll master tools like Git, Docker, Jenkins, Puppet, Nagios, and much more.

DevOps engineers are the masterminds of tech projects. They make the life of the developers easier by improving and streamlining projects, and therefore saving thousands of dollars. There’s more than a small chance these teams are going to be working on AWS too. After all, it’s the world’s largest and most important cloud services platform.

AWS and DevOps Certification Training is a 21-hour deep dive into these technologies. During the easy-to-follow video tutorials, you’ll master tools like Git, Docker, Jenkins, Puppet, Nagios, and much more. There’s even a certification of completion available to validate your training.

AWS and DevOps Training at a glance:

  • Access 21 hours of high-quality content 24/7.
  • Train in various AWS products, services, and solutions.
  • Learn to navigate the AWS Management Console.
  • Gain expertise in using services like EC2, S3, RDS, and EBS.
  • Understand how to use Docker containers.

This expert-led training is worth almost $700, but it’s on offer this Christmas week at Tech Deals for just $39. Even better, our New Year promo code can be applied for an even bigger saving.

Just add the deal to your cart, then use the coupon code NEWYEAR2019 to pay just $31.59 for the entire package.

The deal ends soon and people are signing up fast. To join them, you can find the deal by tapping the button below.

The AAPicks team writes about things we think you’ll like, and we may see a share of revenue from any purchases made through affiliate links. To see all our hottest deals, head over to the AAPICKS HUB.


Looking for a new phone or plan? Start here with the Android Authority Plan Tool:

This smart tool lets you filter plans by phone, price, data tiers, and regional availability. Stop overpaying for cell service you hate and a phone that you’re tired of. Use our Compare Phones & Plans tool to fully customize your mobile experience and painlessly transition from one carrier to another!

Source: Android Zone

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Android Authority’s favorite tech of 2018!

2018 is finally coming to a close, and Team AA wanted to talk about their favorite tech of the year. Join David, Kris, C. Scott, Lanh, and others as they talk about the technology they couldn’t live without this year, from flagship phones to flagship killers, smartphone printers to true-wireless earbuds, and more.

If you’re interested in learning more about any of the products mentioned in this video, you can find links to each one below:

Affiliate disclosure: We may receive compensation in connection with your purchase of products via links on this page. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. See our disclosure policy for more details.

Source: Android Zone

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You can’t be sewerious: Vodafone will use manhole covers to boost 4G, 5G

4G manhole covers by Vodafone. Vodafone

  • Vodafone is placing mobile equipment in manhole covers, enabling 4G coverage in the process.
  • The manhole covers can be upgraded to 5G in the future as well.
  • This could be a boon for the transition to 5G, which is expected to be a complex challenge.

Developing cellular networks is no easy task. Great distances, varying terrain, and numerous obstacles make it a challenging process. The transition to 5G is expected to be even tougher than LTE was, but U.K. carrier Vodafone thinks it has a way to help it go more smoothly (h/t: Ubergizmo).

The cellular network is placing mobile antennae and equipment in manhole covers, enabling expanded coverage in the process. According to a Vodafone press release, the equipment can be integrated into the manhole cover without street works or construction. This results in a smaller footprint than a traditional cellular tower, along with a 200m radius for call and data coverage.

“By connecting the manhole covers to this network, we can provide great 4G coverage now, and easily upgrade them to 5G in the future,” the carrier explained.

Vodafone has only installed these covers at its Newbury office and technology center thus far, but said it was looking to roll out 4G-enabled manhole covers across the U.K. These would be available both via its own covers and those of utility providers. A company representative told Android Authority that it’s already identified several possible test sites in central London, but it had no launch window to share for them.

Editor’s Pick

Vodafone’s solution could also prove to be a big boost for its 5G ambitions, as it’s tipped to be a more complex endeavor than previous upgrades. More specifically, mmWave 5G is more prone to disruptions than LTE, necessitating the use of more antennae in future smartphones, as well as beam-forming technology. Meanwhile, sub-6Ghz 5G will offer slower speeds but should be more resilient than its mmWave counterpart.

Either way, new solutions like these manhole covers could help make the transition to 5G easier for networks. Manhole covers aren’t the only hosts for cellular equipment either, as Vodafone revealed that it was placing 4G antennae on telephone boxes as well. A company representative confirmed to Android Authority that these pay phone boxes could also be upgraded to 5G “in theory,” potentially giving subscribers more coverage.

NEXT: 2019 will be a great year for smartwatches and fitness trackers

Source: Android Zone

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Here are the biggest tech and mobile blunders of 2018

As 2018 comes to a close, many people in the tech industry will likely look back at the past 365 days with fondness. Others will wish they could forget 2018 entirely.

Plenty of blunders hit the mobile and tech industries in 2018. Many of them could have been avoided with just a little more thought and foresight from the people involved. Let’s take a look at the biggest tech and mobile blunders of 2018.

The Red Hydrogen One is DOA

The Red Hydrogen One experienced lots of release date delays. Many thought the long-awaited handset from the company behind the Red digital camera would become vaporware. In the end, perhaps it should have been. The final product was the single biggest smartphone release failure of 2018.

Launched in late October, the first problem with the phone was its high price of close to $1,300, even though it had hardware specs like 2017’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, and Android 8.1 Oreo installed out of the box. The big selling point for the Red Hydrogen One was its “4-View” (4V) display, which showed off 3D effects without the use of glasses. In our review, we noted the 3D effects looked good, but the display itself was very pixelated.

We also noted issues like the huge 4,500mAh battery that didn’t last as long on a single charge compared to other phones with smaller batteries. In addition, the onboard cameras were not that impressive either, which is really odd coming from a company that’s all about great digital imagery. All of those flaws and more made this highly expensive first effort from Red a huge failure. It shows having a cool gimmick doesn’t excuse making a sub-par phone.

Huawei’s U.S. issues

The Huawei logo.

On the surface, Huawei had a great 2018. It released a number of great smartphones, including the Huawei P20 series and more recently the Mate 20 series. It is the number two maker of smartphones, behind Samsung, and revealed just a few days ago it shipped over 200 million handsets in 2018. However, its efforts to break into the U.S. market have hit roadblocks, mostly because of blowback from the government.

In January, Huawei was all set to officially announce at CES 2018 a deal with AT&T to start selling its phones via the carrier. However, AT&T pulled out of that deal at the last minute, reportedly due to pressure from U.S. lawmakers who claimed Huawei was a major security risk. This was not the first time Huawei’s faced such claims.

Things got even more serious in December, as Canadian law enforcement authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, at the request of the U.S. Reportedly, the U.S. wants to extradite Meng to face charges, alleging she and Huawei tried to circumvent U.S. trade embargoes with Iran. This could be just the beginning of Huawei’s problems with the U.S., as new reports claim the White House may issue an executive order in early 2018 banning its products from being sold to U.S. telecommunications companies. As bad as Huawei’s relationship with the U.S. government has been in the past, it could get even worse in the new year.

Google’s huge $5 billion fine from the EU

Google Search bar Google Pixel 2 XL AA 3

Google is certainly a powerful tech company, but the European Union believes it has become too powerful. In July 2018, the EU hit Google with a massive 4.3 billion-euro (~$5 billion) fine for violating its antitrust rules. Specifically, the EU claims Google forces smartphone companies install Android on their devices to pre-install Google Search and Google’s Chrome browser, and then set both as the default. It claims this cuts out competition from other search and browser apps. The EU also said Google offered incentives to pre-install Google Search, and discourages companies from releasing devices using open-source software based on Android.

Google already said it plans to appeal the EU’s ruling and fine, and CEO Sundar Pichai said the decision does not factor in the competition Android faces in Europe from iPhones. He also claimed Android phone makers don’t have to use Google’s apps or services and can pre-install competing apps from other companies. However, it’s highly unlikely this appeal will reverse the ruling, and that means we could see more smartphone makers in Europe release handsets that do away with many of Google’s apps and services.

Facebook’s many privacy issues and breaches

Facebook suffered through a ton of problems in 2018, and most of them were about the social network’s problems with privacy. Indeed, it seemed like the company was tone deaf whenever it answered questions about its privacy policies and data breaches. In March 2018 it was revealed that a company called Global Science Research used a “personality quiz” application on Facebook to acquire data on its users, which it then sold to another company, Cambridge Analytica, for its own social influencing efforts, violating Facebook’s policies. Facebook later admitted as many as 87 million of its users may have been involved in this data breach.

That was just be the beginning of Facebook’s problems. In September, the company said 30 million accounts had been hacked via a security issue. In December, Facebook said that a bug allowed third-party apps to access non-timeline photos of as many as 6.8 million users,

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before both U.S. and European lawmakers earlier in the year over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but sometimes he didn’t have answers to some of their more basic questions. That has led many in the U.S. government to state more regulations are needed for Facebook and other companies that collect massive amounts of user data. Facebook’s stock price has also plummeted since July of 2018. It remains to be seen if the social network can fully recover from all of these privacy problems.

Essential’s continued problems

The Essential Phone with Android P.

Essential made our blunders list in 2017, thanks mostly to the poor sales of its debut Essential Phone. However, its issues continued into 2018, beginning with a report that the company had decided to cancel the development of a sequel to the Essential Phone. The same report claimed the company, formed by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, was running out of money. In October, the company confirmed a report it had laid off about 30 percent of its workers.

Related

Essential wasn’t helped by more reports on Rubin’s payout by Google when he left the company a few years ago. Google reportedly paid a total of $90 million to Rubin, even though he allegedly had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a female subordinate on his Android team. Rubin claimed in a subsequent Twitter post that the reports were “false” and added that they were made “to disparage me during a divorce and custody battle.”

Essential might stage a comeback in 2019. One report claims the company is working on a new type of smartphone that uses both artificial intelligence and voice commands to handle basic functions like answering emails and text messages, setting up appointments, and more. We will have to see if Essential can come back from a dreary 2018 to have a much better 2019.

Google reveals shutdown plans for Allo and Google+

This is the featured image for the Google Plus eulogy. RIP.

Google’s messaging and social media platforms are getting makeovers, the company announced in 2018 that it will be retiring both the Allo messaging app and the Google+ network. Allo launched in September 2016 with features like stickers, incognito chats, and a Google Assistant chat bot. It never achieved the adoption numbers Google wanted, and in December 2018 it confirmed the service would shut down in March 2019, with many of its features transferred to the company’s standard Messages app.

The death of Google+ has been expected for a long time, but in 2018 the company finally admitted its failed attempt to compete with Facebook and Twitter will come to an end in 2019. Launched with much fanfare in 2011, Google+ had as many as 500 million users at one point. However, the social network failed to differentiate itself enough from Facebook or Twitter. People have predicted its death as far back as 2014.

Ironically, the discovery of a security bug allowed developers to access data from Google+ users that caused Google to officially announce its official death. While it was supposed to shut down in August 2019, another security issue was found, prompting the company to speed up its plans. Now, Google+ finally closing up shop in April 2019.

The Apple AirPower wireless charging pad is MIA

See also

When Apple first announced the iPhone X in September 2017, it also revealed plans to launch the AirPower wireless charging pad. This huge pad was supposed to charge up your iPhone X, your Apple Watch and your AirPod wireless headphones at the same time. That was the last time Apple officially mentioned the product.

The AirPower was supposed to launch sometime in 2018, but Apple’s gone silent on its status. The company made no mention of the AirPower during its 2018 press event for the new iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max, and the Apple Watch 4. In fact, the company removed almost all mentions of the pad from its official website. That’s not a good sign at all.

While the AirPower pad could launch sometime in 2019, alongside rumored new AirPods, it looks like Apple is trying to keep news about this highly anticipated accessory quiet.

Apple HomePod launch was too expensive and limited in features

In June 2017, Apple announced plans to launch the HomePod. The company’s first product in the already crowded smart speaker finally launched in February 2018, and was immediately slammed in reviews for its high price. $349 was much higher than competing smart speakers with similar audio quality, like the Amazon Echo Plus and the Sonos One.

Another big issue with the HomePod is that Apple made this Bluetooth 5.0 smart speaker work only with Apple products. You need an iPod or iPad to set up the speaker, and it will only stream audio content from Mac or iOS devices. That means all of those Android phones, tablets, and Windows PCs cannot connect to the HomePod.

Apple cut the price of the HomePod down to $249 for some temporary holiday sales in late 2018, but the speaker is still overpriced for what it can do. Indeed, the Google Home speaker only costs $129 normally, and it was revealed in a recent study to be the best smart speaker, offering the right answers to spoken questions and commands. Add it all up, and the Apple HomePod is just for Apple fans with big budgets, rather than for everyone.

Companies caught faking photos from smartphones

A stock photo used by Samsung Brazil for the Galaxy A8. Samsung Brazil

Quite a few companies tried to make their phones look better this year through benchmark cheating techniques. However, in 2018 we also reported on at least two incidents of faking photos from smartphones for marketing purposes. In August 2018, the Brazil division of Samsung posted what turned out to be stock photos on its official Twitter page to promote the front-facing selfie camera on its Galaxy A8 smartphone.

That same month, Huawei in Egypt was caught faking selfie photos from a high-end camera as part of a commercial for its Nova 3i smartphone. This was the second time Huawei faked smartphone shots. In 2016, it used an image from a high-end camera to promote the Huawei P9’s photo features.

It really makes you wonder if there are even more publicity and marketing photos supposedly from smartphones that are, in fact, made by DSLRs and other standalone cameras.

GO90 shuts down after Verizon spends over $1.2 billion on it

If you spend over $1 billion on a project and shut it down less than three years later, that’s a massive blunder no matter how you slice it. Verizon launched its Go90 video service for wireless customers in late 2015, hoping to capitalize on the popularity of video services like YouTube and Twitch with millennials. It offered original series, short films, and more designed specifically for that audience.

Unfortunately, Go90’s content was just not very good for the most part, as evidenced by the small audience for the service. Just 2.1 million active users checked Go90 out in February 2017,  just a fraction of the users found on YouTube and Twitch. On July 31, after reportedly spending over $1.2 billion on the project, Verizon finally shut the doors on GO90. It proves you can’t just launch a product with a silly name and expect it to catch on. You actually have to have good content as well.

Dishonorable mentions

Even with this top 10 list, there were plenty of other major tech and mobile blunders in 2018 we just didn’t have room to include:

  • Cryptocurrency bubble bursts: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency business were riding high at the beginning of 2018. By the end of the year, they had suffered massive losses they may never recover from.
  • OnePlus announcing it would be first for the Snapdragon 855: It was exciting to hear the first Snapdragon 855 phone would be made by OnePlus. It turned out that was a mistake, thanks to a translation issue, of all things.
  • MoviePass bombs: This monthly or annual subscription to watch movies in a theater for a low price was also doing extremely well at the beginning of the year, but just flat out ran out of money, causing the company to make changes that eliminated most of its great features.
  • Elon Musk: He may be one of the richest people in the world, but the founder of Telsa and SpaceX had a number of issues in 2018. That included calling a diver who tried to help the trapped Thai boys soccer team a “pedo guy”, getting fined $20 million over a tweet, and smoking weed publicly on a podcast.

What do you think?

Now we want to hear from you. What are your picks for the most outrageous and dumbest things that happened in tech and mobile over the past year?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Source: Android Zone

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Bixby 2.0 can’t perform some simple tasks Bixby 1.0 can

samsung galaxy s9 one ui review bixby

Samsung’s Bixby 2.0 virtual assistant performs worse at certain tasks than the original Bixby 1.0, according to Sam Mobile. The updated assistant, which launched with the Galaxy Note 9 and started rolling out to the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus with Android Pie earlier this week, can’t perform some actions that its predecessor can.

Sam Mobile said it asked Bixby to check for a new software update, to enable Dolby Atmos, and to show YouTube subscriptions, all of which it failed to pull off (presumably, these work on Bixby 1.0). Bixby also can’t launch the Uber app with both the S9 Plus on Pie and the Galaxy Note 9 on Oreo running Bixby 2.0, so this isn’t a problem inherent to the Pie update.

Editor’s Pick

Samsung has been working on Bixby 2.0 for more than a year now and it’s supposed to offer better voice recognition capabilities, better IoT product integration, and more. Though the Galaxy Note 9 has been around since August, I expect these issues will be fixed in an over-the-air patch at some point — especially now they’re being experienced by Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus owners. Still, it’s a shame they’re there at all, given the lengthy development time and anticipation surrounding the new assistant.

You’re stuck with Bixby 2.0 for now if you have a Note 9, but if you have an S9 and are a Bixby fan, you can avoid the poorer experience by not upgrading to Pie. I expect most people would prefer Android Pie than a supposedly slightly better Bixby, though.

Source: Android Zone

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12 Best Live Chat Software for Small Business Compared (2019)

Did you know that more than 67% of users on eCommerce websites abandon their shopping carts without checking out? Customers want their questions to be answered instantly, and any uncertainty with their purchase can result in losing a sale.

Using a live chat support software helps you instantly answer user questions and convert them into paying customers. In this article, we will share our pick of the best live chat software for your small businesses. These live chat services work perfectly with any WordPress site.

Choosing the best live chat support software for your WordPress site

Why Add Live Chat Support to Your Website?

According to eConsultancy, live chat has the highest satisfaction levels of any customer service channel at 73%, compared to 61% for email and 44% for phone.

It is a no brainer that live chat has such a significant impact on online sales and marketing. It allows customers to get instant answers without leaving your website. A positive live chat experience can effectively help customers make the buying decision.

Adding live chat support can definitely reduce cart abandonment, increase sales, and boost conversions. But a lot of it depends on the live chat software that you use.

A poor live chat support experience can have an adverse impact. You can lose sales, customers may leave with a bad impression of your brand, you may end up paying too much for the service, or fail to utilize the live chat app due to technical skills.

Basically, you want to find an affordable live chat service, that is easy to use, works with WordPress, and comes with all the features to help you make more sales.

That being said, let’s take a look at our expert pick of the best live chat software that you can use to grow your business.

1. LiveChat

LiveChat

LiveChat is the industry leader in live chat software. It’s very easy to set up and install with their free LiveChat plugin for WordPress.

LiveChat also offers beautifully designed live chat support apps that you and your agents can use on your laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. That means you can chat with customers while on the go, without having to login to your WordPress dashboard.

You can add survey forms before and after a live chat session, so you can evaluate how your support team is doing. During your off-hours, your users can also conveniently send a support ticket directly from live chat.

LiveChat integrates with dozens of other services like popular CRM software, Google Analytics, Zendesk, all the top email marketing services, and many more. This will save you time since you won’t have to enter customer details manually into your other systems.

Perhaps the best feature of LiveChat is speed. It loads extremely fast, works on all devices, and offers a much better user experience than most other live chat software.

We use LiveChat on our eCommerce websites.

Pricing: LiveChat has different plans for businesses of all sizes. Their starter plan starts from $16 per agent per month billed annually, or $19 for month-to-month. Each plan comes with a 30 day free trial.

Special: WPBeginner users get 30% off the first payment when you use our LiveChat Coupon.

2. Olark

Olark

Olark is a popular live chat solution for online businesses. It’s easy to use, and adding Olark to a WordPress site is simple. All you need to do is copy and paste a code snippet into your WordPress sidebar widget or in your child theme.

If you’d rather not work with code, then there is also a free Olark Live Chat plugin which makes setup even easier.

Olark offers integration with other services such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Highrise, etc.

There are third-party mobile apps which allow you to connect to Olark chat from almost any iOS or Android device, so you can chat with customers on the go.

Pricing: Olark offers simpler pricing plan starting from $17 per agent each month. There is a 12% discount if you choose annual billing and 29% discount for two-year billing. They also offer 2-week free live chat support trial.

3. Zendesk Chat

Zendesk Chat

Zendesk is the leading help desk support software provider. They recently acquired an existing company called Zopim to enter the live chat support market and rebranded it as Zendesk Chat.

If you are already using Zendesk, then the best advantage you get is that it already integrates with your existing support software. It also works smoothly with WordPress, Salesforce, and a number of other third-party services.

Zendesk Chat also offers real-time chats, advanced analytics, and AI-powered chat-bots to automate the process when no live agents are available. They have beautiful templates and customization options to create attention-seeking chat widgets.

Pricing: Zendesk Chat offers a limited free live chat support account for 1 concurrent chat session. Their paid plans start from $14 per month per agent.

4. Chaport

Chaport

If you are looking for a free live chat support software for WordPress, then you may want to checkout Chaport. They offer a free forever plan with unlimited chats, history, notifications, unlimited registered operators, and up to 5 operators online at the same time.

Their software covers all the basic requirements. They have live chat support apps for mobile devices, beautiful multilingual chat widgets, reporting and analytics, third-party integrations through Zapier.

Paid plans give you access to more features like typing insights, visitor notes, saved replies, file sending, auto-invitations, and more.

Pricing: They offer a free plan and a Pro plan starting from $9.80 per agent / month.

5. SnapEngage

SnapEngage

SnapEngage offers live chat service to businesses of all sizes. It is a bit expensive than some other live chat companies on the list but offers some unique features and add-ons to justify the cost.

They offer integrations with popular CRM software, call back request, automated chat invitations, and customizable chat widgets to match your site.

SnapEngage also offers a SMS to Chat feature as an add-on service to their live chat software, so your visitors can directly communicate with your support team via text. Their OmniChannel chat solution allows you to help customers across different channels like Facebook, Twitter, SMS, WeChat, Zalo, and more.

Pricing: Their essentials plan starts from $16 per user / month, with minimum 3 users and it is billed annually with 7-day free trial.

6. Intercom

Intercom

Intercom is a flexible tool that helps you capture leads, engage users, and boost conversions. It offers messaging services with live chat widgets that you can automate with your own flows, add chatbots, and engage customers.

It is not just a live chat support software. It can be used as an onboarding tool, support assistant, lead generation tool, marketing automation, and user-engagement software.

If you are just looking for a live chat software, then you may not be able to utilize Intercom’s full potential. On the other hand, if you want your live chat support software to do all these tasks, then you’ll love Intercom.

It is easy to use, integrates with Google Analytics, CRM software, Slack, email marketing services, and more.

Pricing: Their essential plan starts from $136 / month, after which pricing is calculated based on your usage and add-ons you purchase.

7. Freshchat

Freshchat

Freshchat is another good live chat support service with awesome features that rival some of the more well-known companies on this list.

Designed to be a conversation and messenger app, it allows you to start real-time chats with customers using agents or AI-powered bots. It also offers customer timeline views, live profiles, in-app campaigns, and customizable bots for automated conversations.

You can connect chats to support tickets on Zendesk or on a slack channel. Your team can use smart plugs, canned responses, labels, private notes, and desktop notifications to be more productive.

Pricing: They offer a free live chat support service plan for up to 10 team members. Their paid plans start from $15 per user per month and are billed yearly.

8. LivePerson

LivePerson

LivePerson is another powerful live chat support software with tons of awesome features to help you engage customers and increase sales.

It allows you to engage your customers via live chat on your website but also through SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more. You can use chatbots to create automated conversation flows and save customer information in your other third-party apps.

LivePerson is targeted towards medium to large businesses and enterprise level clients.

Pricing: You will have to request a quote to get pricing information based on your needs.

9. Userlike

Userlike

Userlike is another neat live chat support software that you can use on your WordPress site. It is based in Germany and their servers are hosted in Europe. They offer GDPR compliant services, which makes them a particularly good option for businesses in the European Union.

Their software is beautifully designed offering a better experience not just for your users but also for chat agents. With a clean and clutter-free dashboard, your agents still have all the tools that you would expect from a professional live chat support service.

It offers beautiful chat widgets, chatbots, integrations with all top support, CRM, and email platforms. You also get meaningful analytics reports, which helps you improve performance and overall conversions.

Pricing: They offer free live chat support account for 1 user. Their paid plans start from €29 per month for 3 operators.

10. Smartsupp

Smartsupp

Smartsupp is a low-cost live chat support software that allows you to track and record user sessions on your website. This helps you see how potential customers use your website and what’s preventing them from making a purchase.

It also helps you track chat conversations in Google Analytics to see your performance. It works with WordPress, Magento, Shopify, and other popular eCommerce platforms.

Pricing: A basic free-forever plan and their paid plans start from $8 per month per agent.

11. Pure Chat

Pure Chat

If you are looking for a free live chat software, then Pure Chat is another good alternative. It allows you to easily add beautiful live chat widgets to your websites and the free plan allows you to add 3 operators with unlimited chat history.

It comes with mobile apps so that you can stay connected with customers. Your customers can send you email messages when you are offline and pre-chat form helps you collect user information to reach out later.

Pricing: A basic free plan, and their paid plan starts $79 / month billed annually.

12. Drift

Drift

Drift is a conversational marketing platform that combines the power of live chat with an automated chat bot to help you save time and increase conversions. It comes with powerful features to help you convert more website visitors into sales leads.

Drift integrates with all popular CRM and email marketing services.

They offer several powerful features including Drift bot, anonymous visitor intelligence, account based marketing, scheduling for meetings, and more.

While it has a lot of powerful features, Drift is not affordable for small businesses.

Pricing: The Standard plan starts at $50 / month billed annually, and it comes with 2 seats. If you want the bot feature, then you will have to upgrade to the Pro plan which starts at $500 / month billed annually, and it comes with 5 seats.

Our Pick: Best Live Chat Software

For small businesses, we recommend LiveChat Inc. They’re the top rated live chat software in our list, and we use them on our business websites. It has all the necessary features for the right price.

If you’re looking for a complete platform and cost is not an issue, then we recommend that you look into Intercom.

If you’re looking to hire live chat agents, but not sure where to start, then we recommend using LTVPlus. We use them to hire affordable 24/7 live chat agents for our eCommerce website.

We hope this article helped you choose the best live chat support software for your WordPress site. You may also want to learn how to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce with Google Analytics.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 12 Best Live Chat Software for Small Business Compared (2019) appeared first on WPBeginner.

Source: Wordpres

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Oppo launches Breeno assistant: Do we really need another one?

The Oppo Breeno assistant. Oppo

  • Oppo has announced the Breeno virtual assistant in China.
  • The assistant will support multiple forms of interaction, as well as “system-wide capabilities.”
  • It’s the latest entrant in an increasingly crowded assistant space.

Virtual assistants have quickly become a popular way to add smarter functionality to devices, but it’s hard to argue that we need more rivals in the space. Nevertheless, Oppo has decided to join the fray with its new Breeno assistant.

The company announced the assistant at its 2018 developers conference in Beijing this week, claiming it was “an intelligent assistant for the 5G era.” It’s unclear how Oppo will harness 5G in its virtual assistant, but the Chinese brand seems to be using all the expected buzzwords in describing Breeno’s goals.

Read: Running Dex and EMUI on the CJ89, 49-inch ultrawide monitor? Sure, why not

“The cognitive technologies represented by natural language understanding, knowledge graph, context computing, and personalized recommendation enable Breeno to more comprehensively understand the world,” Oppo noted in a press release. The firm adds that the service will integrate “sensing technology with natural multimodal interaction” in order to understand a user’s demands. Furthermore, Oppo notes that the assistant will have “system-wide capabilities,” possibly suggesting deep integration with the host smartphone.

Breeno will also be available to developers and partners, opening the door for compatible devices and new skills, said Andy Wu, Oppo’s global vice president.

Editor’s Pick

Breeno is only available in China right now, but Oppo’s home market isn’t short of rival assistants either. Prominent assistants include Alibaba’s AliGenie, Baidu’s DuerOS, and Xiaomi’s Xiaoai. The company will also need to contend with Amazon, Google and Microsoft’s assistants if it brings the service to more countries.

It’s unclear if Oppo’s assistant will remain exclusive to its smartphones. But history suggests that brand-exclusive voice assistants have a much tougher time gaining a foothold than widely available assistants. Take a look at Samsung‘s Bixby for example, which is only available on the firm’s devices. The platform endured a rocky launch, and it seems like the assistant hasn’t gained nearly the same level of success as the likes of the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

NEXT: Android in 2018 is the opening act for Android in 2019

Source: Android Zone

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Deal: Write a screenplay like the professionals with WriterDuet

WriterDuet

If your New Year’s resolution is to finally get that great idea for a screenplay down on paper, WriterDuet is the way to make that happen. We’re spotlighting it today because it’s part of a big end of year sale at Tech Deals this week.

WriterDuet comes recommended from high places. Ed Solomon, the writer of Men In Black, called it “the most intuitive, most user-friendly scriptwriting software I’ve ever used.” Christopher Ford, who wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming, said of WriterDuet: “I recommend it to every other screenwriter I meet.”

‘The most intuitive, most user-friendly scriptwriting software I’ve ever used.’ – Ed Solomon (Men In Black)

WriterDuet is designed by screenwriters for screenwriters. It uses industry-standard formatting, and allows you to easily import or export your work to Final Draft, Fountain, Word, or other writing platforms. It’s packed with useful features to help you perfect your script, such as an intuitive revision viewing tool.

Being based in the cloud, WriterDuet allows you to access your project from anywhere. If you’re offline it’ll just save locally, ready to sync once you get back online.

Where this software really comes into its own is real-time collaboration. Whether you’re writing with a friend or a team, WriterDuet lets you work together on the same script in real time. You can also throw your ideas onto a collaborative cork board to keep the creative juices flowing.

WriterDuet

WriterDuet at a glance:

  • Draft your screenplay and collaborate in real time.
  • Outline your story via the real-time collaborative cork board.
  • Write on or offline seamlessly with local backups and auto-sync.
  • Import and export to Final Draft, Celtx, Fountain, Word, and more.
  • Write with industry-standard formatting, locked pages or scenes, revisions, and .fdx compatibility.
  • Edit, color, and move index cards on the real-time collaborative cork board.
  • Easily view changes filtered by date, writer, and time.

A WriterDuet Pro license is usually $11.99 per month, but right now you can save a fortune if you commit for at least a year. Over at Tech Deals, a one-year subscription is only $39.99, and lifetime access is $99.99.

Even better, we’ve got a special promo code to save you even more. If you select one of the above options and use the promo code NEWYEAR2019 at the checkout, you’ll pay just $32.40 for the one-year license, or just $81 for the lifetime license.

The deal only has a few days to run, so don’t miss out. Hit the button below to find it.

The AAPicks team writes about things we think you’ll like, and we may see a share of revenue from any purchases made through affiliate links. To see all our hottest deals, head over to the AAPICKS HUB.


Looking for a new phone or plan? Start here with the Android Authority Plan Tool:

This smart tool lets you filter plans by phone, price, data tiers, and regional availability. Stop overpaying for cell service you hate and a phone that you’re tired of. Use our Compare Phones & Plans tool to fully customize your mobile experience and painlessly transition from one carrier to another!

Source: Android Zone

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