Android Nougat

The Android Nougat preview build for Nexus devices comes packed to the brim with new functionality: multi-window mode, a dark theme, and a data-saver toggle, just to name a few. However, unless you have a Nexus device, it will be a while before you get these exciting new featu ...more

Codenamed "Nougat" after the sugary stuff that fills your Snickers bar, Android 7.0 is living up to its name with tons of sweet features. There's almost too many changes over Marshmallow to cover in one go, with new functionality ranging from a revamped Doze Mode for battery s ...more

Android Nougat came with a lot of new features, including a futuristic and sleek circle animation. When this article was originally published, it was rumored that the circular design would be used as the new boot animation in Android 7.0—but as it turns out, you'll only see th ...more

Apple has stepped up its emoji game lately, and as a result, there are several iPhone emojis that don't show up on Android devices running older firmware. However, Google responded by adding a next-gen set of Unicode 9.0 emojis to its Android Nougat preview build, meaning that ...more

Okay, so that headline definitely got your attention, but what the hell do cats have to do with Android Nougat? Well, apparently, Google's on a far-out trip reminiscent of the post-India Beatles era, because this is actually a thing. Previous Android versions have included an ...more

When Android Nougat is released sometime this fall (or sooner), a new feature called "Quick Reply" will allow users to respond to incoming text messages directly from the notification. It will definitely be nice to carry on a conversation without leaving the screen you're curr ...more

Android Nougat has a new API that lets apps create their own custom Quick Settings tiles. A similar feature was buried in Android Marshmallow, but that required a hacky workaround, and most manufacturers disabled it in their custom versions of Android 6.0. But since this is an ...more

It's now common knowledge that the blue light emitted by phone screens makes it harder to get a good night's sleep. Apple's Night Shift in iOS and its steamrolled predecessor, f.lux (still available for desktop computers), are attempts to combat these harmful effects by limiti ...more

We've seen all of the signs, but now we have some concrete evidence—Android Nougat will make its debut very soon. Canadian telecom company Telus recently posted an update schedule for its Android devices, and one date in particular stands out. According to the schedule, the Ne ...more

A new feature in Android Nougat lets you add your own custom tiles to the Quick Settings panel. This menu, which can be accessed by swiping down from the top of any screen, lets you quickly adjust settings and toggle system features on and off. So now that it's been opened up ...more

If you're ever in a major accident or have a bout with acute onset health problems, first responders will need to know as much information about you in order to provide proper care. For this reason, paramedics and firemen have been trained to search a subject's cell phone to f ...more

Among the many changes in Android 7.0 Nougat, a less talked-about feature may very well be one of the most interesting. As part of a new system-wide API, apps can now create their own Quick Settings tiles, and it doesn't require any complicated workarounds like it has in versi ...more

The new Google phones, which are rumored to ditch the Nexus moniker for Pixel, will most likely come with an Android feature that 7.0 Nougat doesn't currently have—a new set of navigation keys. Don't Miss: Get Android Nougat Features on Your Marshmallow Device The new phone ...more

One of the biggest features to come out with Android O was the addition of a new System UI Tuner submenu that lets you customize the navigation bar at the bottom of your phone's screen. But as it turns out, this same feature can be enabled on devices running Android Nougat, ev ...more

YouTube is a great place for all your mainstream audio and video needs. But you can't simply plug in your headphones, choose a playlist, and put your phone back in your pocket without subscribing to YouTube Red, which costs $9.99/month for ad-free and background playback. If y ...more

One of the main reasons for installing a custom ROM on an Android device is all of the added features. For instance, OmniROM offers a souped-up multitasking mod called OmniSwitch, so instead of the regular app switcher, you get an interface that lets you pin your favorite apps ...more

When Google released the first Developer Preview build of Android 7.0 Nougat, users were happy to see that a new "Night Mode" was included among the changes. The feature would cancel out any blue light emitted from your screen to help you get to sleep a bit earlier, quite simi ...more

The upcoming version of Android has already been made available to certain devices for beta testing, but we won't see the official release of Android Nougat until sometime later this year, maybe even sooner than expected. The trouble here is that Google has made it really hard ...more

Android 7.0 Nougat has finally arrived—well, technically, it's in the process of arriving on Nexus devices across the globe. Google uses a staged rollout system to prevent excessive server load when issuing Android updates, which means even though Nougat has made its official ...more

Android names each major OS version according to the alphabet, but N presented a dilemma. Sticking with their sweet-strategy, the folks at Google weren't left with many options for the 14th letter of the alphabet. In fact, they even opened up suggestions for the name, asking f ...more

Google just released Android 7.0 Nougat, and as usual, they're doing a staged rollout. This means that most users won't actually get the update on their Nexus devices for a few weeks—that is, unless they take matters into their own hands. Shortly after Nougat made its debut, ...more

Starting with Marshmallow, Android added a built-in theme engine called "Runtime Resource Overlay," or RRO. This theme engine was intended to be used only by smartphone manufacturers, not end-users, so unlike Cyanogen's CM Theme Engine, owners can't use it to change the look a ...more

Android Nougat is a godsend for tablet users, as it's packing some serious multitasking improvements. It goes well beyond the new split-screen mode, too, because as it turns out, there's a hidden setting that turns your apps into completely resizable windows within a desktop-l ...more

Google has already issued a few updates to Android 7.0 Nougat. There aren't many headlining features, as these minor updates are mostly bug fixes and performance improvements. But there's a few security enhancements as well, so staying up-to-date with the latest patches is imp ...more

Perhaps one of CyanogenMod's greatest features was its built-in theme engine. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done and gave users a unique look. Now that CyangenMod is defunct, and the developers behind its successor, LineageOS, have confirmed they won't be continuing th ...more

New Android versions have always been released on a fairly regular schedule—in late Fall, Google debuts a new Nexus device, while simultaneously publishing the next iteration of the world's leading mobile operating system. But things are different this year, as we now have num ...more

Starting in October, many Nexus 6P users have been experiencing a bug that causes their phone to completely shut down, even though there was 20% or more battery life remaining. At first, it was thought to be a direct result of the recent Android Nougat update, but a combinatio ...more

When Google issues an Android update, the changes are usually all over the place—fixing issues, adding functionality, playing catch-up with the latest thing Apple added to iOS. It's how the smartphone wars have evolved, where the two competing operating systems continually mat ...more

Creative thoughts are fleeting, so when an idea strikes, you have to jot it down as quickly as possible or risk forgetting it altogether. Let's say you randomly think of a perfect tweet while you're using your phone. You exit whatever app you were using, head to the home scree ...more

It's official — the newest version of Google's mobile operating system is called Android 8.0 Oreo, and it's in the process of rolling out to many different devices. Oreo has plenty of changes in store, ranging from revamped looks to under-the-hood improvements, so there's tons ...more

Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL flagships are some very powerful smartphones, but as with any high-tech gadget, they're only as capable as the user allows them to be. So if you're a proud new Pixel owner, it's time to bone up on a few new features to help get the most out of y ...more

Some manufacturers, like Samsung and LG, have had split-screen multitasking on their custom versions of Android for years. But starting with Android Nougat, Google added this functionality to AOSP, which means that all phones and tablets running Android 7.0 or higher will now ...more

The Huawei Nexus 6P was released a little over a year ago, but despite doing moderately well in sales, the device has had more than its fair share of issues. When first released, there were numerous reception and memory management difficulties that left users extremely frustra ...more

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ might not have made it into the hands of the public yet, but we sure have come across a lot of the stock apps from Samsung's latest flagship phones. First, there was the new launcher, then Hello Bixby, and now, the extremely elusive Record Screen feature ...more

Samsung's new personal assistant, Bixby, is making its debut on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. In addition to taking voice commands and performing visual searches, a new Hello Bixby feature predicts what you might want to do next with an integrated home screen feed. All of these featu ...more

We've heard a bit about Google Daydream—the new smartphone-based virtual reality platform that is supposed to provide a markedly better experience than Cardboard—but don't really know what it'll look like. Engadget claims we could find out in just a couple of weeks, since Andr ...more

Google has a habit of starting on new projects for Android, then hiding them away if they didn't quite complete them in time for a major release. We saw this with multi-window mode last year (which is now an official Nougat feature), and this year, there was the hidden night m ...more

Up until now, enabling full-time Immersive Mode on an Android device has been a tedious task which required you to run individual ADB commands each time you wanted to toggle it on or off. This was a shame, too, since Immersive Mode helps reclaim lots of screen real estate by a ...more

One of our favorite features on the Pixel Launcher is its App Shortcuts, which work a lot like Apple's 3D Touch for iOS or Huawei's Force Touch. Instead of using pressure sensitivity to call up static and dynamic shortcut menus for apps, Launcher Shortcuts relied on a simple l ...more

Samsung began offering Android 7.0 Nougat to users in its beta program on November 10, 2016. The beta came to a close last month after the fifth and final version was pushed out to users under the build number ending in 1ZPLN. This update was released a couple of days after Ch ...more

A human rights activist from the United Arab Emirates recently stumbled upon three gaping security loopholes in iOS that work by enticing you to tap a link sent to your iPhone. Ahmed Mansoor received a text message from an unknown number roughly two weeks ago, but instead of f ...more

The Google Nexus 6P, manufactured by Huawei and released a little more than a year ago, has been a well-received smartphone in general. It sports front-facing stereo speakers, an awesome camera, a massive screen, supports all US carriers, and doesn't allow the infamous Qualcom ...more

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ haven't even hit shelves yet, but some of the stock apps from Samsung's latest flagships have already been leaked. The biggest one so far is the new Samsung Experience Launcher, which replaces TouchWiz Home, and is quite a bit different from anything you' ...more

Its official: On May 8, T-Mobile finally released the Android Oreo update for the LG V30 and V30+. Now, every major US wireless carrier has pushed the update. For me, this update is a big deal. Not only does Android Oreo bring some new tools and features, but LG has also inclu ...more

LG announced their latest high-end device on September 6 and its specs are pretty amazing: The new V20 sports three cameras, two displays, three microphones, four DACs for high-end sound, and it's all powered by a removable battery. Seriously, it's almost to the point where L ...more

Earlier this year, Google rolled out the first developer preview build of Android O. The new version added tons of cool features, but the downside was the fact that you needed to use Fastboot to manually install the update if you wanted to try it out. Thankfully, things just g ...more

Android 7.1.1 stock images for the Nexus 6P were released last week on December 5, 2016. However, Verizon users seem to have been excluded from the update. Google's factory image page states "All carriers except Verizon" next to version number NMF26F. This doesn't seem fair, e ...more

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, a new smartphone manufacturer named Nextbit emerged, then released its first flagship device—the Nextbit Robin. The headlining feature of this colorful gadget is its cloud-based app storage, but the phone itself comes with a very polish ...more

Google just announced that it will be bringing the Google Assistant—previously an exclusive feature on Pixel phones—to many more devices in the coming days. The only requirement they're giving is that the phone must be running either Android Marshmallow or Android Nougat, so a ...more

It's been a while since Android got a true Easter egg with a new software update. Remember when Google added Marshmallow's Flappy Bird-style mini game? For Android 11, we get a new game, and like Android Nougat, it revolves around the infamous Android Neko cat. Google's appar ...more

In case we haven't beaten the '90s revival to death enough, now Nokia is coming back to the US market. The three Android midrange devices that made their debut at Mobile World Congress last month are set for a global release, meaning they will also make their way stateside. T ...more

For some strange reason, Google left several of the Pixel's best software features disabled by default. One of the more interesting tweaks that fall into this category is a gesture that puts your fingerprint scanner to use after you've unlocked your phone. This gesture is cal ...more

Android Nougat included a feature that made it significantly easier for users to switch between recent apps, giving them the ability to quickly go to and fro like never before. This relatively unknown feature has carried over to the Galaxy S8, and it's sure to make multitaskin ...more

Ah, the Nokia Lumia series... what can be said about Microsoft's recently-deceased line of smartphones? They might not have been the best, but they certainly weren't the worst, and they did get the job done in terms of what you would expect from a smartphone. The Windows-powe ...more

For some strange reason, Google Now is unavailable in several countries across the globe. Users from Albania, China, Cyprus, Malta, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Tunisia, and many more big countries have reported for years that the service doesn't work in their area, mostly likely becau ...more

In the past, some of Google's Nexus devices have had root methods even before the phones hit shelves. The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are basically Nexus devices from a software standpoint, so why have we gone more than a week since release without a working root method or custo ...more

Android 7.0 Nougat brought a lot of multitasking improvements along with it, but the most notable addition is a unified multi-window mode (which shines bright in Google's Pixel phones). This means that every Android device can now use the same split-screen interface, and the d ...more

The fourth and final beta version of Android O just made its debut, and the biggest change is what appears to be a new code name. When you access Android 8.0's version number Easter egg, you'll be greeted by ... a cartoon octopus. Octopus starts with the letter "O," and Googl ...more

The battle of the budget phone is well and truly underway, as both T-Mobile and ZTE have launched affordable new devices simultaneously. This week, ZTE's Max XL and T-Mobile's Coolpad Defiant were released for those of us with a limited budget. While not quite as budget-frien ...more

Google loves to play games. That's just what they did when they went ahead and teased us with a few Android O hints after Reddit user Zitroney unlocked an Easter egg in a Google Creative Lab developer's app ShortStories. At the moment Android O, Google's upcoming version of A ...more