Androidifying

What is Best of Android?                 In Best of Android, we take the most important smartphones of the year and compare them side-by-side and in-depth. This year, with so many good phones available, we’ve stepped things up a notch and brought the 10 biggest Android phones of the year to the competition. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge HTC 10 Sony Xperia XZ Google Pixel XL Xiaomi Mi 5 Lenovo Moto Z Force Droid OnePlus 3T LG V20 Huawei Mate 9 ZTE Axon 7 Read more about Best of Android  and thanks for being such a valuable part of the Android Authority family! Up next in our Best of Android 2016 series is some audio testing. We’ve seen manufacturers increasingly boast about the HiFi playback capabilities of their smartphones this year, and better quality audio components. So let’s see if the hardware has what it takes. DAC Signal to Noise If you’re looking for a smartphone capable of playing back audiophile grade files, then you’ll definitely want to take a look at the sign

Speedpropertybuyers It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In 2016, mobile technology hit new heights and Android was at the center of it all. But you can’t have progress without missteps, and 2016 was marked by an assortment of bad ideas, questionable business decisions, and some truly embarrassing blunders. See also: 2016 in review: 10 defining moments in the world of Android 3 days ago Time to talk about the 2016 moments tech companies would like us to forget. Let’s get to it! When Samsung set its reputation on fire In the “So Big, Non-Nerds Know About It” category, Samsung somehow managed to turn its best shot to finally outshine Apple into a hugely embarrassing, massively expensive, still-not-fully-explained disaster of a phone launch . Years from now, people (normal people, not us tech freaks) will still be talking about that time Samsung phones kept catching fire. At Samsung HQ, news of burning cars and cancelled flights will trigger PTSD at

It looks like OnePlus is working down to the wire to release its promised Android 7.0 Nougat stable updates for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T  by the end of 2016, at least in some time zones. The company has a Nougat beta update available to download for the 3T right now, and OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei stated via Twitter that the stable over-the-air Nougat update will begin to roll out tonight for both the 3 and 3T phones. See also: Android Nougat on the OnePlus 3 is impressive, even in beta 4 weeks ago The OnePlus 3T beta update is the first, and likely only, OxygenOS 4.0 beta for that phone. The older OnePlus 3 phone has received 10 beta updates over the past several weeks. In his Twitter posts, Pei said the Nougat stable OTA update for the 3 and 3T will be a “gradual” one, so not every owner of those phones will likely get access to it tonight. 2) Android N stable OTA for the OP3 and the OP3T. Gradual rollout will begin later tonight. — Carl Pei (@getpeid) Decembe

Looks like carrier billing for Airtel and Vodafone is going live in India for Google Play Store. Google had officially announced the partnership at the Google Playtime event in India in October, but didn’t share any timeline. In May this year, Google had announced carrier billing with Idea Cellular, although the service wasn’t rolled out immediately. Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) allows you to buy apps, music, books, and movies from the Google Play Store while the cost is reflected in your postpaid mobile bill or taken off your prepaid balance. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the roll-out has been underway since last few days, but I can confirm now that it is working for me. I just set it up, and made the first purchase. You can set up carrier billing under the ‘Add a new payment’ option. It was seamless, really. To use the integrated billing system, each time you need to make a purchase, simply choose ‘Bill my Airtel Account’ on the payment method prompt. Interestingly, Microso

While we still have a few more hours until 2016 reaches its end, LG has decided to go ahead and post the patch numbers on Google’s January 2017 security updates for Android. LG’s website also has information on some patches that are specifically for the company’s handsets. See also: Google to roll out January’s Android security update next week 3 days ago The website says there will be a total of 73 security patches on the Android side in January, with seven of those updates labeled as “critical”. In addition there will be eight more updates that are just for LG’s smartphones like the LG V20 . While there’s no specific info for the Google security updates, other than their identification numbers, there are more details on the eight LG patches. One of them is labeled as “critical” and specifically affects devices that use chips from MediaTek. LG says the patch is to get rid of the MTKLogger application which can log “personal information to storage without user consent” a

LCD displays are still going to be around for a long time, at least for smart TVs such as the ones that use Android TV and other operating systems. Today, the massive electronic manufacturing company Foxconn announced a new partnership with Sharp to build and operate a new TV LCD flat-panel factory in China, which will cost $8.8 billion. See also: AMOLED displays set to close in on LCD this year May 2, 2016 Reuters reports that the new factory will help with the expected demand of new flat-screen TVs in Asia. Foxconn said that the LCD factory will make 10.5-generation 8K displays, along with screens for smart TVs and electronic whiteboards. Production is expected to begin in 2019. This news comes even as other companies are embracing OLED displays for both TV as well as smartphones. However, there’s still some life in the LCD market. Panasonic recently announced an LCD IPS display with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio . It is supposed to have 600 times more contrast compa

More info about the upcoming 2017 editions of the Samsung Galaxy A5 and A7 smartphones are coming into focus. The phones, which are expected to be officially announced on January 5, now have prices in Malaysia. The surprising part is they are a bit higher than one might expect from a mid-range phone. See also: Confirmed: Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A lineup will be water resistant 3 days ago The Galaxy A5 will be priced in that country at RM1,699, or about $378, while the Galaxy A7 will have a price point of RM1,899, or about $424. Samsung in Malaysia will throw in a free Level U Pro wireless headphone for people who pre-order the smartphones between January 6th and January 15th. In addition, firmware for both phones are now available to download on Samsung’s servers, and the company’s Russian site already has the users manuals for the 2017 A3, A5 and A7  phones ready to download and read. Samsung has already confirmed that the 2017 Galaxy A series will be water resistan