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The latest Nokia Android handsets are easy on the wallet

OnePlus 6 vs OnePlus 5T vs OnePlus 5 vs OnePlus 3T Camera Shootout

OtherThe Mi8 is probably coming to at least 8 new countries other than China

Pixel Experience brings Google Pixel features to Project Treble supported devices

Apple is releasing iOS 11.4 with support for Messages in iCloud, AirPlay 2 and more

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2019 iPhone may bring stereoscopic vision & 3X optical zoom via 12MP triple-lens rear camera

BlackBerry teaser shows the KEY2 Android phone with dual cameras

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From The Forums:

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Apple Visual Voicemail Issue on iPhone 8

I still can't figure out how you retrieve applications from Google drive

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From The Web:

Google will always do evil

Facebook and Google hit with $8.8 billion in lawsuits on day one of GDPR

Experts Say Canadians Will Also Benefit from Europe’s New Data Privacy Laws

Internal Documents Show Apple Knew the iPhone 6 Would Bend

Nokia teases May 29 event with 'some new stuff to share'

From The Forums:

T-Mobile/Sprint Combined Coverage Map May 2018

replacement for Motorola flip phone

Google voice issues

Visible "BETA" testing with three months of service for free!

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If you're a fan of Android and software freedom I've got some bad news for you this morning.

The first is that Essential has apparently cancelled their second-generation smartphone. Bloomberg broke the story yesterday afternoon, going so far as to say that the entire company might soon be up for sale. CEO (and father of Android) Andy Rubin quickly took to Twitter for damage control:



I can't say that I was a fan of the Essential phone—I had a brief hands-on at a Telus-sponsored event last August—but I certainly appreciated its unlockable bootloader. Whatever Essential's future plans may be, for the moment they don't seem to include modder-friendly phones.

Speaking of unlockable bootloaders, here's some more bad news from Twitter:



If you weren't aware, Mr. O'Brien is a UK-based Android developer responsible for the once-popular MoDaCo ROM. Sadly, his news is true: one of the world's top 3 smartphone OEMs will no longer give its users the keys to take control of their devices.

And the war on general-purpose computing continues...

Sources: Bloomberg, Twitter (1) (2)

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From The Web:

Europe's New Data Protections Will Affect You Too. Here's How.

New YouTube Music starts rolling out today, will eventually have more Play Music features

Moto Z3 Play Specs and Software Features Leaked – Moto Experiences, Cinemagraphs and More

Senators Say FCC Boss Ajit Pai Being 'Evasive' on Net Neutrality

Canada’s House of Commons adopts motion to formally enshrine net neutrality into law

From The Forums:

FreedomPop Unreal Mobile

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Moto G5 international dual SIM - not always working on data

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From The Web:

HTC U12+ hands-on: Bigger, better, and just a bit weirder

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Qualcomm is able to release the Snapdragon 845 source code in 6 weeks

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Freedom Mobile customers now have wireless in Vancouver’s SkyTrain Dunsmuir Tunnel

From The Forums:

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From The Web:

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From The Forums:

thinking about leaveing verzion

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Samsung Galaxy S5..can't make or receive calls suddenly

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From The Web

There’s still no easy way to simultaneously charge and listen on Android phones without headphone jacks

Nokia X6 to go global after all

House committee doubles down on ZTE sanctions despite Trump support

Xi Jinping says ‘China can come out of trade war in better shape than US’

How and when Rogers, Telus and Bell sell your location to third-party companies

From The Forums:

Verizon’s Visible review

OnePlus 6 on Verizon Network???

Safelink sub-MVNO - Does it have access to all T-Mo bands, including the new Band 71?

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From The Web:

The OnePlus 6 is the best Android phone with a notched screen yet

The OnePlus 6 has an Avengers edition, and it's dope

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From The Forums:

Why is there no Band 7 in the US?

Voicemail notification issue

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IMESSAGE or just the carrier texting?

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From The Web:

OnePlus 6 is official: Snapdragon 845, 6.28" notched display, and glass back - starts at $529

OnePlus 6 Hands-On: Redefined Speed and a Premium Design that Reflects 2018’s Smartphone Trends

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Evolution of Android Homescreen and Navigation

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From The Forums:

AT&T’s Donovan on T-Mobile/Sprint merger: We won’t contest it

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G6

GO Unlimited Family plan throttling question

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From The Web:

Lenovo teases what might be the first true ‘all screen’ phone

iPad Pro and iPhone X Win 'Displays of the Year' Awards

Ontario’s first emergency text alert gets a mixed reception

Wireless Carriers Again Under Fire for Lax Location Data Privacy

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From The Forums:

5G is a gimmick.....

How often miss calls?

International roaming on nettalk, a Tmobile mvno.

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What kind of poster are you?

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From The Web:

OnePlus 6 leaks in full

Xiaomi's European market share explodes in the first quarter of 2018

Blu settles with FTC over allegations of lax user data security

Trump wants to save Chinese smartphone maker ZTE now that he killed it

Ontario just received its first emergency text alert

From The Forums:

Stay or Go?

Tracfone Rebel 3 GSM phone

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Koodo iPhone VoLTE users

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This Canadian won't pretend for a moment to be an expert on U.S. politics, yet I feel obliged to report on the latest bizarre twist in the story of the growing American ban on Chinese smartphones.

A quick refresher: This past January, AT&T abruptly pulled out of an agreement to be the exclusive American carrier for the Huawei Mate 10 Pro; Verizon also announced that it would no longer carry Huawei products. In February, the heads of six U.S. intelligence agencies expressed "deep concerns" about Chinese-made telecom products to the Senate. In March, Best Buy halted all sales and any future orders of Huawei hardware. In April, the Department of Commerce banned U.S. companies from exporting components to ZTE for seven years. As a result, ZTE ceased its main business operations earlier this month.

And then yesterday, President Trump suddenly and unexpectedly tweeted that he was working President Xi Jinping of China to get ZTE "back in business". But why?

I believe the answer lies within the nature of the ZTE ban. First there are the specifics: the ban was initiated because ZTE failed to punish employees who violated trade controls against other nations. Second are the political stakes: The New York Times reports that China is acting as an intermediary in talks between North Korea and the USA. Reversing policy on ZTE might help secure China's continued involvement.

But here's what's most telling to me: According to Reuters, ZTE paid over $2 billion to U.S. exporters last year, including $100 million each to Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel and Texas Instruments. So banning ZTE would adversely affect not only Chinese jobs, but jobs in the USA as well. Huawei, on the other hand, has its own Kirin chipsets, and is therefore far less reliant on Qualcomm, at least.

Which makes me wonder whether this whole China scare is less about security and more about trade. What do you think?

Sources: New York Times, President Trump on Twitter, Reuters

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From The Web:

Google now says controversial AI voice calling system will identify itself to humans

How Android P gestures compare to the iPhone X

With Android P's new gestures, how long until the back button is a thing of the past?

Not So Fast: Digging into MEI’s Report on the State of Canadian Wireless Services

Cops Can Find the Location of Any Phone in the Country in Seconds, and a Senator Wants to Know Why

From The Forums:

Verizon has launched a new MVNO

What's keeps you with cricket or what's your favorite feature etc?

About a month in. A review.

Red Pocket Taxes and Fees

Will an unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 work on T Mobiles 700 LTE?

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Another year, another kooky OnePlus campaign...

From The Web:

Now Is a Terrible Time to Buy a Phone

ZTE suspends “major operating activities” following US trade ban

Videotron, Telus, SaskTel Lead Wireless Network Quality in Canada Says J.D. Power

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From The Forums:

TracFone beating AT&T here

cheap phones that can have battery removed?

T Mobile Nashville and Hopkinsville, KY

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Visual voicemail on Sprint iPhone 5c?

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So many lifeless Android Wear screens...

From The Web:

New LG Wear OS watch shows up at FCC

Qualcomm's new smartwatch chips launch this fall - here's what it means for Wear OS

Apple Watch Series 3 v Fitbit Versa: Which stylish smartwatch is best?

Apple wins patent for round-faced Apple Watch, seemingly not a rejected design

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From The Forums:

30+ towers down, central Texas

Travelling from Canada

Roaming in Quebec

LG Fiesta - No Keypad in Spreadsheet

Moto X 4th generation $249 at Best Buy with 20% off Cricket refill but must buy a SIM

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And in their current form I can't say that I'm a fan.

If you thought the display notch was the big smartphone innovation of 2017 you'd be sadly mistaken; the best thing about the iPhone X was the gesture navigation that they lifted from the Palm Pre's card-based interface. A year later it seems that where iPhone goes so does the rest of the industry; notches are popping up on Android phones everywhere, and at the Google I/O keynote yesterday gesture support was announced for the first public beta of Android P.

I've been enjoying the OnePlus interpretation of gestures on an Open Beta of their OxygenOS, and if I had the choice I'd never go back to the clunky navigation bar again. Moreover, I think OnePlus has come up with a more elegant gesture-based UI; no "pill" is required, you only need to remember three moves—swipe up from the centre to go home, swipe up from the centre and hold for your app menu and swipe up from either left or right to go back. For me it became second nature in minutes.

Google's implementation of gestures has a pill similar to the iPhone X; unlike the iPhone, however, the pill seems to stay visible at the bottom of your screen at all times. Since dropping the navigation bar frees up real estate at the bottom of your screen, having an always-on pill doesn't exactly seem like a win. One good thing is that it doubles as a slider when you're in your app menu, which admittedly is a neat trick. I'll also admit that having a contextual back button can sometimes be handy; if I'm using the software keyboard on my OnePlus I can't really use the back gesture without inadvertently typing some random characters.

Still, I do prefer gestures the OnePlus way. I hope they keep it.

Source: Android Police

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From The Web:

Gesture navigation officially announced for Android P

Montreal think tank MEI argues for shutdown of Canadian telecom regulator

Canada’s High Wireless Prices are Worth It; You’re “Paying for a Lexus, Not a Yaris”

AT&T will ask Supreme Court to cripple the FTC’s authority over broadband

Spy agency NSA triples collection of U.S. phone records: official report

From The Forums:

Help Me Pick a Red Pocket Network!

question about switching from Cricket

Transfer to Cricket Help or Reviews

line not being used...does Cricket cancel for non-use?

Report Says Charter Plans June 30 Launch for Spectrum Mobile

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To be fair, I don't think that my current carrier (Virgin Mobile) is even participating. I did receive an alert about the alert from Rogers, as did my neighbour on Freedom Mobile. It doesn't look like I missed much, however; by all accounts the first big tests of Alert Ready, Canada's new wireless alerting system, were a big fail.

In Québec a typo prevented the test from being executed properly, which isn't exactly encouraging. One thing I didn't know about Alert Ready is that it's run by Pelmorex, who own and operate Météomédia and The Weather Network. If you have either of these apps installed on your phone then you should receive any emergency alert through that, even if your phone isn't Alert Ready-ready.

In Ontario it quickly became apparent just how many phones aren't yet compatible with the technology; in my girlfriend's office exactly one phone received the test alert. My advice? Install The Weather Network app on your phone. Better to risk duplicate alerts than to get none at all.

If you need it, carrier-specific information about Alert Ready is available for Bell, Rogers and Telus.

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