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Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5-inch now official with Snapdragon 450

Hot on the heels of announcing their new flagship Galaxy Tab S4 tablet, Samsung is announcing another, cheaper option.

The company has officially announced the Galaxy Tab A 10.5 which, as the name suggests, boasts a 10.5-inch display. Unlike the Galaxy Tab S4, though, this panel is a TFT LCD with a resolution of 1920×1200. There is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor under the hood which is coupled with 3GB of RAM.

The Galaxy Tab A 10.5-inch has 32GB of built-in storage and there is a microSD card slot that supports expandable storage up to 400GB. There is an 8MP camera on the back and a 5MP front-facing camera on the other side. The Galaxy Tab A’s battery measures in at 7300mAh, it’s running Android 8.1 Oreo, and it has a USB Type-C port for charging.

Samsung is including some kid-oriented apps, preinstalling titles like Toca Hair Salon 3 and BRIO World – Railway. There are eight titles built for kids already installed on the tablet out of the box.

Unfortunately, Samsung isn’t announcing a release date for the Galaxy Tab A 10.5-inch just yet, and there is no word on pricing just yet. There will be Wi-Fi-only and LTE-equipped models.

The Galaxy Tab A will probably not cost a lot of money, and it appears that Samsung is aiming to have a more kid-friendly tablet with this newest Galaxy Tab A model. Do you think you’ll pick up this new option depending on price?

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Android and Me 1:45 AM No comments

Plex podcasts get offline support, OPML imports, and more

Plex announced podcast support a few months ago, but some admittedly basic features were missing. In Plex's defense, podcasts were still in beta. Today, podcasts leave beta and get some of those basic (and vital) features.

Here's the full changelog for the new update.

[Mobile] Android Auto support for Podcasts.
[Mobile] Podcasts: improve artwork.
[Mobile] Now you can download podcasts, including immediate download of episodes or set up automatic download for shows.

Plex podcasts get offline support, OPML imports, and more was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 1:00 AM No comments

Facebook announces tools to help you use its apps less

In June, we found out that Facebook was developing tools to help users limit use of its social media platforms. The feature was spotted in an incomplete form in the Facebook app, and a Facebook representative confirmed that tools were coming to both Facebook and Instagram in the near future. Now, Facebook has formally announced the new features, which will be "rolling out soon."

Both Facebook and Instagram's mobile apps will be getting optional features to curb the amount of time users spend with them.

Facebook announces tools to help you use its apps less was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 12:45 AM No comments

Samsung unveils the Galaxy Tab S4 with a 10.5-inch display

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S4 has been making the rounds of the rumor mill for a bit of time now, but today the company has finally decided to make it officially official.

Samsung has announced the Galaxy Tab S4, which boasts a 10.5-inch sAMOLED (2560×1660) display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and minimized bezels on the top, sides, and bottom. It boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor under the hood which is paired with 4GB of RAM and will be offered in 64GB or 256GB configurations, depending on how much storage you need and how much you want to spend on a new tablet.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S4 has a 13MP camera on the back, a 8MP camera on the front, and a battery that measures in at 7300mAh. It’s running Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, but you’ll have to work with Samsung’s proprietary skin here: There’s no stock Android on this tablet.

The Galaxy Tab S4 does include Samsung’s DeX software, which turns the experience into a PC-like environment. This typically is handled with an accessory, but Samsung has baked the feature directly into the tablet’s software this time around, and it says the Galaxy Tab S4 can handle 20 open windows at the same time. Samsung is also including the S Pen stylus in the box.

You’ll have to fork over $650 to get the 64GB version of the Galaxy Tab S4 or $750 for the 256GB variant. Samsung is offering the Galaxy Tab S4 in either black or gray, and pre-orders start today. Shipping begins on August 10. An LTE variant will be arriving at a later date, with Verizon, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular offering coverage in the United States.

Do you plan on picking up a Galaxy Tab S4?

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Android and Me 12:45 AM No comments

24 temporarily free and 32 on-sale apps for Wednesday

Hello, all, and welcome to August. We've got our first app sales roundup of the month to get through. It's a respectable size, so browse through at your leisure to see if anything today catches your eye.

Today's app sales roundup is sponsored by Edge Action Launcher by Edge Action Studio. This launcher brings the sidebar function from previous Samsung Galaxy phones to your device. You have several different panels to choose from, including your list of apps, contacts, calendar, soft keys, and much more.

24 temporarily free and 32 on-sale apps for Wednesday was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:45 PM No comments

Dolphin emulator improves Vulkan compatibility, adds Android TV channels for games, and more

If you're not familiar with it, Dolphin is a cross-platform emulator for the Nintendo GameCube and Wii. The Android port came out in 2013, and the Dolphin community has continued to improve it since. The project's July 2018 progress report highlights several improvements to the Android version, including Android TV channels support and improved Vulkan compatibility.

Dolphin on Android first added support for Vulkan, the low-level graphics API, in October 2016.

Dolphin emulator improves Vulkan compatibility, adds Android TV channels for games, and more was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:30 PM No comments

[Bonus Round] Tower of The Wizard, Dinosaurs Are People Too, Chicken Rider, Curling Buddies, Unlikely Heroes, and Super Starfish

bonusround Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a 2D pixel-based platformer, an adorable idle tapper, a quirky endless runner, a solid curling game, a fantastic dungeon crawler, and a drop dead gorgeous endless runner with a slick theme.

[Bonus Round] Tower of The Wizard, Dinosaurs Are People Too, Chicken Rider, Curling Buddies, Unlikely Heroes, and Super Starfish was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , reviews , Tablets 11:20 PM No comments

Strava announces Summit, new premium membership model with themed packs

After making headlines for the wrong reasons earlier this year, Strava is hoping its new membership plan will create some positive buzz for the popular social fitness app. Strava Premium is being replaced by Summit, a customizable model with three different packs.

Users can mix and match the Training, Safety, and Analysis Packs as they see fit, with each costing $23.99 for a whole year or $2.99 per month. You can get all three together for an annual fee of $59.99 or $7.99 monthly.

Strava announces Summit, new premium membership model with themed packs was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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