Tag: Home Theater

Over the past year, Google and Qualcomm have been hard at work trying to prolong the life of today’s phones with more software updates. And why shouldn’t they? Smartphones these days are the most powerful they’ve ever been, and more expensive than ever. We should all get as much life out of these devices as possible, and not be restricted due to the lack of OS and security updates.Together the two companies have now announced that all Qualcomm chipsets will support four versions of Android and four years of security updates, starting with the Snapdragon 888.Hold the phone though, because that four generations of Android includes the initial version of the OS your handset ships with. So what this actually means is, your phone will support up to three Android OS updates and up to four years of security updates.If you’re using a Pixel phone or a recent Samsung flagship, not much has changed. Both Google and Samsung have already promised three generations of Android OS updates, but this does add an additional year of security updates to the mix.The real winner here will be low-end and mid-range Android phones, because now all of Qualcomm’s chipsets will support three generations of Android OS updates. However, this in no way guarantees you will receive three OS updates or four years of security updates on your Android device.That responsibility is still solely on the manufacturer of your phone. The only difference being that now the blame cannot be placed on Google or Qualcomm for the lack of updates. Still, this is fantastic news for the Android platform as a whole. All we have to do now is keep the pressure on OEMs to continue updating its lineup of phones at all levels, whether it be a $1000 flagship or a $200 entry-level smartphone.

HMD Global has just unveiled their Nokia 5.4 phone coming to Europe. Here is what the phone has to offerInternalsThe Nokia 5.4 packs a Snapdragon 662 backed by either 4 or 6 gigabytes of RAM and 64 or 128 gigabytes of expandable storage.BatteryThe phone has a 4,000mAh battery with Type-C charging, though it’s only 10W. HMD Global claims this device has 2-day battery lifeCameraThe Nokia 5.4 has a total of four cameras with a 48 megapixel main sensor, a 5 megapixel ultra-wide sensor and two 2 megapixel sensors, one being a depth sensor and the other being a macro camera. The front camera is 16 megapixels.FeaturesThe device features a Google Assistant button, a rear fingerprint scanner, and a headphone jack.DesignThe phone looks like a Nokia device, with a nice chin at the bottom for the logo, the fingerprint sensor on the back, and a circular camera module with the flash set to the right of the phone. It sports a 6.39″ HD+ display, and the front camera is set in a punch-hole on the left top side of the screen.The Nokia 5.4 will launch in a Polar Night (blue) color and a purple Dusk color on its polycarbonate body, though Dusk will release later.SoftwareThe Nokia 5.4 launches with Android 10, though it is an Android One device with two years of guaranteed software updates. In addition, HMD Global is guaranteeing three years of security updates.Release and PricingThe Nokia 5.4 in its blue color is launching tomorrow, December 18th in the UK, with the purple color coming in January. It will be priced at €189 for the base model. There is no information about a release in other regions yet.

When Stadia first launched one of the most exciting prospects of the service was being able to game anywhere on any screen. Unfortunately, at launch, the service was barely available on a handful of screens, including a very limited number of Android phones.Over the past year, support has grown for Google’s cloud gaming service adding additional Android devices, and now Stadia is finally coming to iOS devices. Starting on December 16, 2020, Stadia Pro and free-tier users can load up their favorite games on an iPhone or iPad using the Safari web browser.Unlike on Android devices, Stadia cannot currently work on the iPhone or iPad via an app. That is due to Apple’s app store policies, which requires even game streaming services to submit every game as a separate app for approval. Not only is that ridiculous for a game streaming app, but it’s also just not feasible. To get around this limitation, Google had to implement the service in Safari as a web app.Porting the Stadia web app to iOS was a super fun project, and we’re really happy with how it turned out. Here’s a video I recorded a few months ago demonstrating we could deliver the complete Stadia experience on Safari, even for an extremely timing-sensitive game like Thumper. pic.twitter.com/TNJEdGTwPF— Justin Uberti (@juberti) December 16, 2020That explains why it has taken so long for Stadia to make its way to iOS devices, but all you need to know is that you can now open Stadia.com on your iPhone or iPad using Safari and get your game on. You can even add a shortcut to the home screen making Stadia only one tap away.This year is truly the year that Stadia has evolved into a somewhat viable gaming platform. Initially, Google’s cloud gaming service launched in a barebones state, but it recently celebrated its one year anniversary in November, and it only continues to improve over time.Most recently, Google ran a promotion giving away free Stadia Premiere bundles with the purchase of Cyberpunk 2077. The promotion was so popular it ended before its original cut off after Google ran out of supplies. Alongside that, Google also enabled the option to live stream to YouTube last week. Plus, this week Ubisoft added support for Ubisoft+ so members can now play 15 of the subscription service’s games on Stadia.

Google announced on its blog yesterday that Apple TV is coming to Chromecast with Google TV early next year. The announcement comes after Apple Music support was recently added to Google smart speakers and displays last week.With the addition of the Apple TV+ app, Chromecast with Google TV users will have access to award-winning original programming. This includes titles such as The Morning Show, See, Mythic Quest, Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, and many more. As someone who has already watched a handful of these, this is fantastic news. Remember, you’ll also need a subscription to Apple TV+ and that will run you $4.99/month.Additionally, you’ll also be able to access movies and TV shows bought from the Apple store. That means, soon you won’t need multiple dongles and boxes to watch all the great streaming content out there, because Chromecast with Google TV will have you covered with support for every major streaming service.The post doesn’t mention if the app will also come to other Google TV devices out there, such as the popular Nvidia Shield Android TV. However, given that it is an app running on the Google TV platform, I’d be surprised if it isn’t available on all the supported devices.It seems as Apple transitions itself from a hardware company to one focused on services, it’s now opening up its walled garden. Perhaps, the tech giant finally realized that if you want to make the most amount of money, you can’t ignore some of the largest platforms. That’s part of what made Netflix so popular in the early days, its app was available on pretty much every platform imaginable.Unfortunately, there is still one missing piece of the puzzle, Android mobile app support. The blog post makes no mention of support for Android smartphones. That’s more than a little odd, as Apple Music has been on the Play Store for years now. Hopefully, sometime in the near future, we’ll see Apple TV+ make its way to all Android devices.