Tag: TV

Something came up at my gym this week that has my wheels turning. Yes, I’m still going to the gym. That’s the one interaction I’m currently willing to risk, but I digress. Many of the patrons there are teachers and an ongoing discussion in warm-ups has been about how the pandemic will change the upcoming year.Of course, the precautions and safety are the main concerns. However, the topic quickly evolved to the tech students will need if forced to stay at home. And the almost unanimous answer was Chromebooks. This is the one constant for students whether in the classroom or at home.Google has won the classroomWhen I was in school, you had one, maybe two, PCs in the class running Windows. You also might have one at home if you were lucky. Either way, Microsoft was more than likely running that machine. The company had a stronghold on the entire PC market, but specifically business and education.Over the last five years, that paradigm has shifted. IT departments in education are often underfunded for both hardware purchases and maintenance of services required to run a traditional desktop. This left a huge opening for a fairly cloud-first operating system like Google’s Chromebooks.Google recognized this need and has spent the last several years entrenching itself in the educational sector. The company offers G-Suite for education to school districts around the United States at a very high adoption rate. It’s paired this initiative with extremely affordable hardware that can handle the cloud-centric operating system making it perfect for schools.Built for the unexpectedChrome OS is much less dependent on hardware than Windows. With only your account information, you can have almost instant access to everything you need within minutes of logging into your Chrome OS device. This makes it easily manageable by admins and super clean experience for the kids too.Johnny needs to get some work done on his Chromebook at home. Easy. Just log in and get to that homework assignment in Google Docs. His laptop fails in a week or gets stolen. Just as simple to issue him a loaner or replacement. Within minutes Johnny is back up and on that same Google Doc.This also makes it very seamless to deploy if students need to work from home to complete the school year at this time of the pandemic. Many educational districts already have a one laptop per student policy and can easily translate those hardware resources for kids at home.Even if the school-issued hardware fails, the magic of Google’s cloud could technically run anywhere. As long as you can get access to a web browser, students can perform their assignments regardless of the system. Windows, iPads, or even my favorite Linux systems are all capable of using G-Suite for Education.Trying times with a familiar solutionGoogle couldn’t have planned on the COVID-19 virus shocking the globe. None of us did. However, the company has created an amazing combination of cloud software and almost disposable hardware to make sure the education of our children doesn’t stop.And in its own way, it’s given our kids a familiar option in uncharted territory. They will be forced to learn how to adapt to many of the solutions offered if they have to do at-home learning, but learning a new operating system won’t have to be one of them. They just need Google and an internet connection.

With the recent removal of Fortnite on the Google Play Store, fans are worried about being able to play Fortnite on Android devices and receiving future updates.There is good news on that front — you will have to revert to the original method of installing the game, but you will still get updates from Epic Games. Not only that, but you can continue playing on your favorite Android devices!Until things are ironed out between Epic Games and Google, you’ll have to manually install Fortnite. Here’s how you’ll want to go about doing it.Pre-requisiteThroughout the whole process, you have to keep the phone screen awake. Epic Games app doesn’t download in the background or if the screen is turned off.Let’s Go!Uninstall the Play Store version of the game completely. Simply find the app icon in your app drawer, long-press on it until you get the option to uninstall.Once you have successfully uninstalled the Play Store version of Fortnite, open up https://fortnite.com/android on the web browser on the Android device you want to install the game on. You will be prompted to download an APK file. While that is downloading, you can follow our guide on side-loading an app if you haven’t already as this is required to install the Epic Games app. Once you have the Epic Games app installed, open it up and select Fortnite. This will download the latest version of the game for you. Once the app is installed, you’ll need to start the game to finish off the installation. Once the game is downloaded, you’ll have to sit through the installation of the game. Just tap on Launch and once again, leave your screen on. This is fairly quicker than the first download of the game.Once you finish the installation, you’ll be taken to the main menu. Now you’re ready to play the game and start dropping in!How do I update the game?If you want to update the game, you can open up the Epic Games app and choose Fortnite, followed by tapping the Update button.Alternatively, you may find that when you launch Fortnite you will have to tap the Update prompt where Launch is normally found.The update will download and then install when you can press the Launch button replaced by the Update button.

There’s no time like the present to tackle a new hobby or get started in a new career path. It’s important to do something you enjoy, and for some people, this means creating and tinkering, or even coding.It’s 2020 and it’s easier than ever to learn. What’s more, we seem to have more time on our hands — now that we’re not getting out as much.It’s a perfect time to tackle a new hobby or pick up a side hustle. Really, it’s never to late to chase down a passion. If teaching yourself coding languages like Python sounds interesting, you’ll want to check out the latest promotion in the AndroidGuys Deals Store.Called the Python 3 Complete Masterclass Certification Bundle, it’s over 630 sets of lessons spanning seven different courses. It’s everything you need to get started and on your way to a new passion.IncludesBecome a Python Developer From Scratch & Make Your Job Easier with Python 3Learn How to Automate Excel/Database/Network Tasks with Python 3Do Data Analysis & Data Visualization Tasks with Python 3Learn How to Do Unit Testing & Web Scraping Tasks with Python 3Build Your Own Network Scripts & Upgrade Your Network Engineering SkillsFollowing Up on the Famous Python 3 Network Programming Course, You Will Build 5 More Network Apps from ScratchA Step-By-Step Learning Guide to Python Regular ExpressionsNormally valued at nearly $1,400, each of these courses would cost $200 on their own. But, for a limited time, AndroidGuys readers can scoop up the full bundle for just $29.99.Best SellersEarn Credits!For every $25 you spend in the AG Deals Store you get $1 credit added to your account. And, if you refer the deal via social media or an email that results in a purchase, you’ll earn $10 credit in your account.First Time Buying?If this is your first time buying, you are also eligible for 10% discount! Just be sure to subscribe for email updates.Free StuffNot looking to spend any money today? No worries. You can still visit the AndroidGuys section for freebies and pick something anyhow.

Mobvoi has made a name for itself over the past few years making several high-quality accessories, including its popular lineup of smartwatches and headphones. In fact, we’ve previously reviewed the TicWatch Pro 4G and TicPods 2 Pro here on our site. Now, Mobvoi has provided us with a pair of the standard TicPods 2 for review.DesignThere’s nothing too unique about the design of the TicPods 2; they don’t do much to stand out in a crowd of other AirPod clones. However, I was immediately impressed by how lightweight the buds and case are. After trying several pairs of true wireless headphones over the years, the TicPods 2 buds and case are among the lightest I’ve used.The case itself is a pillbox shape with two LEDs on the front used to convey battery life and Bluetooth pairing status. On the back, you’ll find the USB-C port for charging. Most Bluetooth headphones I’ve reviewed still use the outdated micro USB port, and I give Mobvoi a lot of credit for including USB-C on its midrange headphones.The body of the earbuds are made entirely of plastic without a silicone tip. That means two things, you’re not going to get a seal to help isolate your ears from outside noises, and they are unlikely to make your ears sore during long listening sessions.While the stems on the TicPods 2 mimic the AirPods design, they also serve a purpose by being touch-sensitive. This is where you will be able to manage calls, adjust the volume, and control music playback.ComfortWhen it comes to headphones, comfort is often king, and due to the TicPods 2’s style, they are extremely comfortable to wear. Without a silicone tip, they simply rest inside of your ears, combine that with the lightweight design, and you’ll be able to wear these for hours with ease.User ExperienceIn day to day use, the TicPods 2 were a joy to use. They sound good and provide some smart features, such as automatically pausing music when an earbud has been removed. Mobvoi was also clever enough to make the gestures require a double-tap, instead of a single-tap, which prevents you from accidentally activating them when handling the buds.For all the TicPods 2 do right, I did encounter two minor issues. The first being, that when opening the Mobvoi app it causes the music to cut out for a moment. The second is a personal complaint I have about adjusting the volume. There seems to be a huge jump between the third and fourth steps, where music goes from being barely audible to entirely too loud. I wish there were a couple more steps in between for a finer adjustment when controlling the volume.AppIf you care about music quality, the first thing you should do is download the Mobvoi app from the Play Store. Then, make sure you’re running the latest firmware. Next, you’ll want to enable aptX in the settings, which provides higher quality sound, and finally, adjust the equalizer.The Mobvoi app doesn’t give you extensive controls over the equalizer settings, but it does give you several presets to choose from. In my experience, anything was better than the default, so make sure you find one that suits your tastes.Besides improving the audio quality, the Mobvoi app offers other features that make it worth getting. One of the most useful is the ability to check the battery level of each bud along with the amount of charge left in the case. That’s very helpful for knowing when you’ll need to charge up next.Unfortunately, I was only able to view the battery level of the case from a pop-up when first opening the app. It would have been much more convenient if there was a way to view it on demand.Along with the battery levels and equalizer settings, there are also options to change the actions when using the touch-sensitive stems on the earbuds. The bad news is, the actions are quite limited and so are the gestures. Essentially, you are restricted to a single action controlled by double-tapping on either bud.I would have preferred assigning an action to each individual bud. For example, being able to double-tap the right bud to skip forward and the left bud to go to the previous track.However, I did find the sliding gesture to adjust the volume to be rather ingenious. The tickle gesture, as it is referred to, works well, and provides an easy way to adjust the volume without any physical buttons. Finally, there is also an option to long press to bring up either Google Assistant or Alexa.One last trick the Mobvoi app has up its sleeves is the ability to translate between several languages. It’s not exactly the real-time translation you can expect from the Pixel Buds, but it is a nice feature to have quick access to when you need it. Hopefully, you won’t need it too often though, because in my experience, it failed more often than it worked.Unfortunately, over half the time I was met with an error about my Wi-Fi connection, despite none of my devices having any issues on my network.Sound QualityAs I mentioned above, sound quality can be improved on the TicPods 2 by enabling aptX in the settings and choosing one of the provided equalizer presets. Once you’ve set the TicPods 2 up to your liking, the sound quality is pretty impressive for a pair of headphones without silicone tips for isolation.There is plenty of volume, and the highs help with instrument separation and vocal clarity. The biggest downside is that without isolation, the bass is never going to be as deep as headphones with silicone tips. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a low-end present on the TicPods 2, but if you’re someone who enjoys your bass, then you’ll probably come away disappointed.Battery LifeMobvoi rates the TicPods 2 for four hours of continuous playback and up to 23 hours overall when using the charging case. I was surprised to find they lived up to these claims, mostly because of how lightweight the buds and case are in comparison to other true wireless headphones I’ve used.Rest assured, even though these are so light you can forget you even have them in your pocket, they still have plenty of battery life to get you through the day.Final ThoughtsWhen it comes to true wireless headphones these days, there is an abundance of choice out there. If you prefer a pair that rests in your ears, then Mobvoi’s TicPods 2 are a compelling choice. For only $100 you’ll get up to 24-hours of combined battery life in one of the most compact and lightest packages around, along with good sound quality.The Mobvoi app also sweetens the deal by adding some additional features, and the gesture controls are convenient while being intuitive to use. If you’re looking for even more smart features, take a look at the TicPods 2 Pro, which include head gestures controls as well as hands-free voice assistant activation.Buy from Amazon Buy from Mobvoi