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Samsung Galaxy A8 (2016) now official with 16MP camera

South Korean carrier SK Telecom has announced a brand new smartphone in the Galaxy A lineup from Samsung, raising the curtain on the Galaxy A8 (2016).

The Galaxy A8 (2016) is now officially official. The new device boasts a 5.7-inch 1080p HD display with an octa-core Exynos 7420 processor under the hood. It’s running Android 6.0.1, there’s 3GB of RAM built in, it’s got a metal body, and there’s a 16-megapixel camera on the back.

Other features include a 3300mAh battery, 32GB of built-in storage and a microSD card slot, and there’s a fingerprint reader on board, too. Samsung Pay support is built-in, as well as Always On Display.

The Galaxy A8 (2016) is available to pre-order from SK Telecom in South Korea right now, and it retails for 649,000 won, or about $590 USD. Whether or not it launches in other regions is unknown at this time.

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Android and Me 5:08 AM No comments

Some Android Wear watches not playing nice with iPhone 7

If you’re using an Android Wear smartwatch with an iPhone (and we know that there are quite a few who are), you may want to hold off on upgrading to the iPhone 7.

Some people are experiencing issues with the iPhone 7′s Bluetooth connectivity, including not being able to pair their phone with the second gen Moto 360, Moto 360 Sport, ASUS ZenWatch 2, Fossil Q Founder, and TAG Heuer Connected. This may also apply to the first gen Moto 360 and the LG G Watch.

Unfortunately, this may not be Google’s fault. It seems that people are having trouble with the iPhone 7′s Bluetooth connectivity in general, including flaky or dead connections to cars and other devices. (It was a bad time to remove the headphone jack, huh?) It might be on Apple to fix this, but Google is looking into it.

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Android and Me 5:08 AM No comments

Samsung Pay comes to Russia with support for five banks

Samsung’s proprietary mobile payment system is expanding to Russia. Starting today, folks in Russia will be able to use Samsung Pay with five banks. Those are Alfa-Bank Banking Group, VTB24, MTS Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Russian Standard Bank, and Yandex.

The list of devices that support Samsung Pay in Russia is similarly short. You’ll need a Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy A5 (2016), or Galaxy A7 (2016).

If you own one of these devices in Russia, give Samsung Pay a shot and let us know what you think! And if you’re in countries like Canada and the UK where Samsung Pay hasn’t launched, you can wonder why Russia got it first.

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Android and Me 5:08 AM No comments

Huawei announces press conference on November 3, likely for Mate 9

Huawei has announced a press event on November 3 in Munich, Germany. While there’s no official word on what’ll be shown, the event might be the launch of the upcoming Huawei Mate 9.

The Mate 9 is going to be Huawei’s new flagship to complement the mid-range devices the company recently released. It’s set to be a beast, with rumored specs that include a 5.9-inch display, a Kirin 960 processor, 4 or 6GB of RAM, a 4,000 mAh battery, a 20MP camera, 64 to 256GB of memory, and Android 7.0 Nougat.

The device looks to be fantastic, at least on paper. We’re looking forward to seeing what Huawei announces in November. Let us know what you think!

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Android and Me 4:08 AM No comments

Action Launcher preemptively adds launcher shortcuts expected to debut with the Pixel Launcher

As you may have noticed in a recent teardown, Google's launcher shortcuts are most likely returning in Android 7.1 with the Pixel Launcher. This feature was part of the Nougat developer preview some months ago, but wasn't implemented in the final release. Now, an improved version is on the way, and Action Launcher continues its tradition of adding all the Pixel Launcher things before the Pixel Launcher even exists.

Action Launcher preemptively adds launcher shortcuts expected to debut with the Pixel Launcher was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , Tablets 3:54 AM No comments

Google Calendar events can now be seen in Google Maps

Google Maps has always tried to make it easier to get from one place to another, and its latest update will make it easier for users to find their way to a scheduled event.

The Google Maps team has teamed up with the Google Calendar team to make Calendar events viewable within Maps. You can also navigate to your event’s location inside of Google Maps.

When you enter a new event, you’ll need to make sure to enter the address for where you’re going in the “Where” box. You’ll also have to be signed into Google Maps and Google Calendar to get the feature to work. It’s easy to see a list of upcoming events, too, each of which can be accessed and the address brought up for easy navigation, by accessing the side menu and selecting “Your Places.” Once inside, choose the “Upcoming” option, and a list of events will show up.

How often do you use Google Maps?

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Android and Me 2:58 AM No comments

Google Maps now integrates upcoming events from Google Calendar [APK Download]

Google is making use of its new company blog to announce a feature for Maps. The app now has improved integration with your upcoming calendar appointments, a feature that we spotted in a teardown the other day. When you include a location with your Google Calendar events, they'll now show up on the Map and in a special upcoming places tab.

To access your upcoming events in Maps, open the nav menu and select "Your Places." The upcoming tab lists any events you have in your added that include location info.

Google Maps now integrates upcoming events from Google Calendar [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Apps , Apps/Games – Android Police – Android News , Games , Phones , Tablets 2:39 AM No comments

Top 10 Android app updates this week: Hopper, Telegram

Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most frequently upgraded apps for the week. We’ve found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to find the ones that are actually being updated by the developers rather than selecting the apps with the most installs. As in the past, we’re going to filter out minor updates for the super-popular apps that have over 10 million installs, but we’ll make exceptions for apps that have had significant updates. We hope you enjoy this weekly feature and that you discover some apps that end up being useful.