Androidifying

T-Mobile and Sprint are the biggest “will they or won’t they” story since Ross and Rachel. We’ve watched for years as SoftBank, who owns Sprint , and Deutsche Telekom, who owns T-Mobile, have danced around a merger of the nations third and fourth largest carriers . Things had seemingly begun to heat up over the last few months, but a new report is throwing water on the merger. According to Nikkei , Softbank is responsible for calling off the merger. SoftBank and DT had previously agreed to a framework that would’ve combined the two carriers, but the sticking point comes at the ownership share each would hold. Many had assumed that since T-Mobile has an advantage in total subscribers that it would hold a majority ownership in the combined company. It seems that SoftBank’s executives aren’t on board with that idea and voted to call off the talks.  SoftBank is reportedly going to break off negotiations on Tuesday in a meeting with DT. Editor's Pick Unpacking the Uncarrier

Samsung might have significant mindshare in the US, but the company’s retail presence is pitiful at best with its locations within Best Buy stores. That could change in the foreseeable future, thanks to Samsung’s partnership with WeWork that sees the Korean manufacturer opening three pilot service centers across the US. Located in Detroit, Miami, and Williamsburg, New York, these “care centers” can give folks technical expertise on how to use their phones and mail away their devices to get fixed if the situation calls for it. While people wait, they can take full advantage of Samsung’s partnership with WeWork by using the space around them to get some work done. Editor's Pick Samsung Gear Sport Review – middle of the road Think smartwatch and, chances are, Samsung Gear comes to mind. Running the company’s custom Tizen OS rather than Android Wear, Samsung’s Gear range has had many additions over the past few years. From fitness devices … In other words, if folks want

Google rolled out YouTube TV earlier this year and it has been expanding ever since . The over-the-top live TV streaming services combines networks like ESPN, AMC, and BBC America with YouTube Red originals for only $35/mo. It’s a pretty enticing offer if you can get it in your area. One thing that YouTube TV has been lacking that its competitors like PlayStation Vue and Hulu have is a dedicated app for your television. See also 10 best TV apps and Live TV apps for Android The way we watch TV is evolving. TV subscriptions are no longer entirely necessary. There are now a variety of ways to watch TV right on your mobile devices. That includes a new wave of … Luckily, that’s all about to change. The YouTube team announced today that YouTube TV would be coming to Android TV, smart TVs, Xbox, and Apple TV. Currently, the only way you can watch YouTube TV on your TV is with a Chromecast but these new apps will change that. According to YouTube, the new app will be release

SwiftKey has added a new way for you to personalize its keyboard in the latest beta version of its app. You can now use your own images as the basis for the keyboard themes, following the update last week. How it works is that you upload an image from your gallery or Google Photos, select its brightness, then assign it as the background for the keyboard layout. You’ll also be able to turn the key outlines off, if you wish, and display the “long-press” symbols above them.  Themes are a big part of Swiftkey’s overall appeal and it has hundreds of them to choose from. Letting users make their own is a smart idea, but it isn’t a novel one: Gboard by Google has also had this feature for a while. It seems basically like SwiftKey is just catching up. In addition, the latest beta comes with support for a new keyboard language — Ossetian — though it’s probably not an inclusion that most of our readers are likely to benefit from.  Is SwiftKey still an interesting Android keyboard app or i

The Amazon Alexa app is now available on Google Play in India. The app is vital to setting up Amazon’s lineup of smart speakers and it just so happens that those are launching in India too . In addition to speaker setup, the app can show you your previous searches, display the currently playing music, and set up new skills.  To beef up the functionality of the Alexa assistant in India, Amazon teamed up with local companies to create India-specific skills. These companies include NDTV, Ola Cabs, Saavn, Sportskeeda, Syska, and Time of India, among others. This means you can ask for your tech news from NDTV or current events from the Times of India with a simple voice command. Amazon says that there are already 10,000 skills available in India.  See also Google Assistant vs Siri vs Bixby vs Amazon Alexa vs Cortana – Best virtual assistant showdown! AI assistants have become a large part of the smartphone and PC experience over the last couple of years, and the ever increasing

The LG V series of smartphones has always been for those who want a phone that is a photo, video, and audio powerhouse. Now in its third iteration, LG aims to achieve that goal once again by refining its recipe even further. With a refreshed design, a bezel-less screen, and a host of new camera features, is the V30 the phone to beat this holiday season? Find out in our LG V30 review! Design Most smartphone series tend to have iterative designs for a couple generations before completely revamping things. No series has changed more drastically since it’s inception than the V series. Instead of the G5-esque metal of last year’s V20 , or the chunky duraskin of the original LG V10 , the LG V30 now boasts a design that is very similar to many other smartphones on the market— it’s made of glass. There’s glass on the phone’s front and back with a metal frame sandwiched in between. The glass gathers fingerprints quite easily, which is to be expected, but it’s not as slippery as you might e