Travels, Big Android BBQ, All About Android and more

I'm back, back in Yurp, and have got over the jetlag. Since I last blogged here, I've been to the US of A a couple of times. The first time was a vacation road trip from Seattle to the San Francisco Bay Area and back.

The second time was deliver a talk and attend Big Android BBQ in Texas and then revisit the San Francisco Bay Area.

As now customary, when in the SF Bay Area, I visited the new TWiT Eastside Studio and was a guest on All About Android. Beware: there be #murica shirt and goat puns as well as the best coverage and commentary on Android News. 

I now have no major trips planned before the end of the calendar year, so expect my ramblings here and on Coolsmartphone.com to be more meaty and more frequent. I'll be experimenting with blogging from my shiny new Pixel XL more.

What a week! Nougat, All About Android & Honor 8

It's been quite a week! I'll focus on the geeky positives here, because quite a lot happened.

Nougat

On Monday evening I updated my Nexus 6P and Nexus 9 to the public release of Android 7.0 Nougat. A pretty painless experience, the update weighed in at between 40MB and 50MB. There was no app optimisation process which sped things up considerably. There was no major change for the Nexus 6P, testament to the fact that the final beta was pretty much production ready. The NExus 9 on the other hand improved further. No lags or slowdowns yet, so I'm now happy to use the HTC made device again.

All About Android 280

On Tuesday (Petaluma Mean Time), early Wednesday morning here, I was a guest on All About Android. It was great fun being on and discussing the week's latest Android news and hardware, and it was the first time I was on the show with Flo. As usual I brought some bad puns, some goat and mockodile and my rampant opinionism to the table. 

This was the first episode of All About Android in the new TWiT Studio in the East-side of Petaluma. It was very thoughtful of Lisa, Leo and the rest of the TWiT crew to choose that location as the hotel Candice an I stay in when in Petaluma is across the road and it is within walking distance from the Lagunitas Brewery. I plan on being in Petaluma at the end of September and the end of October, so keep an eye on TWiT.tv for my future appearances.

Honor 8

Not long after All About Android finished, I went to Edinburgh Airport and to Paris from there. In Paris I was a guest of Honor for the launch of the shiny new Honor 8.

The Honor 8 is Honor's new flagship and is definitely an eye catcher. With its shiny glass design, impressive spec sheet and awesome camera setup it has immediately placed itself in my current top 4 smartphones for everyday use. Leigh was great support for Coolsmartphone coverage from the UK, and yesterday I published a sample camera gallery to show off how awesome the Honor 8 camera is. I'll be passing my Huawei P9 on to Candice who will no doubt do great things with it. Expect my review of the Honor 8 after I've been using it for IFA.

#ShotOnAndroid #ShotOnHonor8 #Honor8

Coming Up

Speaking of IFA, I'll be covering the consumer electronics show in Berlin for Coolsmartphone next week and the one after. I'm excited by all the WiFi connected LED bulbs I'll see there. Or maybe not...

Oh well, keep an eye on my Interknight presence (that one is for you Alex Dobie) in the coming week for IFA coverage and my other ramblings. Expect to see the #honor8 and #ShotOnHonor8 tag used a lot, I'm enjoying the shiny new blue smartphone.

This Week On The Internet

This has been a busy week for me. As well as a productive week in my day job at Skyscanner, I appeared on All About Android and the Coolsmartphone Podcast, and published my review of the Meizu M2 Note.

I thoroughly enjoyed being on All About Android, it is always a pleasure to be on the TWiT.tv show with Jason and Ron, and this week I was a guest with the excellent Gina Trapani.

Later in the week John and I engaged in blatantly reminding everyone of Coolsmartphone.com on the Coolsmartphone Podcast. We touched on various tech subjects, including my review of the Meizu M2 Note and the news that I am now officially on the organising committee of March Of The Droids 2016.

In case you hadn't noticed, this morning I also updated the template to matteodoni.com (this site). I've added a Pixel Density Enthusiasm page and am playing around with some new technologies which I will reveal more about soon.