The Pros and Cons of 5GHz WiFi 802.11ac

Posted on by Joe Levi

Back in 1999 we got our first real taste of our wireless future: WiFi. The first variant was called 802.11a and operated in the 5GHz spectrum (later on, 3.7GHz support was added). Back then, 5GHz radios were more expensive than 2.4GHz equipment, and 802.11b quickly surpassed 802.11a in popularity. For years we happily surfed the web, streamed our music, and watched our videos over the 2.4GHz spectrum. But we weren’t alone.Uhura knew about Jawbone before Jawbone knew about ...

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Android Google Chrome exploit: what to do about it

Posted on by Joe Levi

Chrome is the web browser at the center of Google’s empire – both on desktops as well as mobile devices. In addition to being just a standalone app (which may or may not be preloaded on your smartphone), the Chrome engine also drives the component that displays web content inside apps. As you might expect, a vulnerability in that engine could cause significant problems for the device running it. Such is the case with a particularly troublesome Android Google Chrome exploit.During the recent PacSec conference in Tokyo, Qihoo 360 developer Guang Gong showed off a vulnerability ...

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Android Google Chrome exploit: what to do about it

Posted on by Joe Levi

Chrome is the web browser at the center of Google’s empire – both on desktops as well as mobile devices. In addition to being just a standalone app (which may or may not be preloaded on your smartphone), the Chrome engine also drives the component that displays web content inside apps. As you might expect, a vulnerability in that engine could cause significant problems for the device running it. Such is the case with a particularly troublesome Android Google Chrome exploit.During the recent PacSec conference in Tokyo, Qihoo 360 developer Guang Gong showed off a vulnerability ...

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Mobile operating systems are to blame for lousy cross platform wearables

Posted on by Joe Levi

You wear a watch to help you know what time it is. Some watches tell you the day and date in addition to the time. Some display two time zones. Some have altimeters, barometers, stop watches, countdown timers, and more. Your smartphone likely has all of these features and functionalities as well. So why do you still wear a watch? Convenience, of course. It’s easier to glance at the watch on your wrist than it is to fish your phone out of your pocket, turn it on, bypass its security mechanisms, find and launch the corresponding app, and finally see the information you’re ...

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Is Android Pay safe?

Posted on by Joe Levi

Android Pay isn’t the first time Google has gotten into the mobile payments business. Google demonstrated Google Wallet way back in 2011, and released it in these United States that September. The Google Wallet used NFC and a “secure element” in your smartphone to take advantage of contactless payment terminals which were slated to replace traditional swipe-to-pay card readers. Since then, Apple has gotten into the game with its own product, Apple Pay, and Google has restructured and re-released its service, this time calling it Android Pay. Despite all the ...

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Could a Google-designed SoC finally end Android fragmentation?

Posted on by Joe Levi

Long ago, when Google was a rising star giving “everything” away for free, Apple was busy revolutionizing the mobile industry with the iPhone. Google fought back, not by creating the “Google Phone”, but by acquiring the Android operating system, spinning up a consortium of carriers, OEMs, and technology providers, and rolling out a massive initiative that has finally surpassed Apple in number of handsets in use. That strategy, and the momentum behind it, has one flaw that self-professed pundits continue to proclaim: Android fragmentation.Android Fragmentation

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24 hours with the Droid Maxx 2

Posted on by Joe Levi

One of the best things Verizon wireless ever did was acquiring the rights to use the word “Droid” to differentiate its phones powered by the Android operating system from those available from other carriers. Not every Android-powered phone offered by Verizon has carried the Droid moniker. Some of us think this is because the Droid name implies higher-end devices. In the case of the Droid Maxx 2, that’s absolutely the case, and from what we’ve seen, it’s worthy of the name.When asked about the naming of the Droid Maxx 2, Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s CEO ...

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Here’s how Google and OEMs can fix Android OTA updates

Posted on by Joe Levi

Anyone who has ever owned an Android-powered smartphone will probably tell you how frustrating it is to get OTA updates. Whether it’s security patches, bug fixes, or the much-coveted OS upgrades (for example: Lollipop to Marshmallow). Since each of these is different, the reasons for delays and the mechanism for getting updates are sometimes different as well.Operating System UpgradesLet’s start with the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, shall we?First of all, Android and iOS ...

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5 cool things you can do with Google’s low-end Nexus

Posted on by Joe Levi

When other sites review a phone, many simply unbox it and fiddle around with it for a few hours before pulling out the laptop and penning a review. When we review a new smartphone, we try and put several days of actual, real-world use on it. We put it through all the tests and scenarios that we can think of. Even still, sometimes some of the finer details, the intricate settings or features that don’t immediately jump out at us get overlooked or we have to limit what we include in our reviews so they don’t ...

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This was the best Nexus of all time

Posted on by Joe Levi

In 1968, novelist Philip K. Dick asked Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In his book (which was the inspiration for Blade Runner), after war had devastated Earth, a bounty hunter was tasked with “retiring” six escaped Nexus-6 model androids – the latest and most advanced model ever. That got us wondering: what’s the best Nexus smartphone of all ...

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Here’s what it’s like to use a backward fingerprint scanner on the Nexus 5X

Posted on by Joe Levi

A few of us at Pocketnow have been opponents to using fingerprint scanners as biometric security devices on our phones for quite a while. There are various reasons why fingerprints should be used for identification, but not for passwords. Nonetheless, the industry is sprinting toward using fingerprints as passwords, and now Google has gotten in the game with ...

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Nexus 5X vs Nexus 5: the Xtra is worth the upgrade (video)

Posted on by Joe Levi

When talking about phones that carry the Nexus name, we typically consider them to be iterative updates of one another – each building on the success of the one that came before. Google decided to change things up a bit last year by releasing the Nexus 6: a phablet – not a phone. Thankfully, this year Google returned the Nexus to its roots by releasing the Nexus 5X. How does it stack up against the original Nexus 5 from two years back? Let’s dive right in!Nexus 5X vs Nexus 5To begin with, both the original Nexus 5 ...

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Nexus 5X Review: a worthy successor

Posted on by Joe Levi

The “Nexus phone” has meant many things to many people since the Nexus One rolled off the assembly line nearly six years ago. With the debut of 2012’s Nexus 4, it morphed into a super-affordable smartphone for anyone who didn’t want to be tied down by a contract. That was succeeded by 2013’s Nexus 5, which brought LTE and a more accessible design to become the first Nexus to be embraced by the masses. In 2014 Google arguably “jumped the shark” with the oversized ...

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Do Not Disturb Mode: Android Marshmallow finally got it right

Posted on by Joe Levi

Android has gone through a few iterations of “shut up and leave me alone” “Do Not Disturb” mode, but hastn’t gotten it right – until Android 6.0 Marshmallow.At 2am my wife isn’t very supportive of me being “Joe the Android Guy™”. That seems to be when my nightstand lights up with alerts from all over the world. My nightstand typically has an Android Wear smartwatch cradled and charging, a Nexus 9 and Nexus 7 tablet, my Nexus 6, and usually at least one other phone or device that I’m evaluating.When an alert comes in from ...

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Google Chromecast and Chromecast Audio Review: the future is now

Posted on by Joe Levi

In June of 2012 at Google I/O, Google’s developer conference, the company announced an all new product category designed to be conduit between your smartphone or tablet and your media. The product Google used to launch this category was called the “Nexus Q” and was offered for sale for the steep price of US$299. At the time, the orb-shaped device was supposed to let users cast audio to their high-end speaker systems, and could allow people to create their own party soundtrack ...

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