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.

I'll be at Big Android BBQ Europe

I'll be at Big Android BBQ Europe this week representing Coolsmartphone.com in my role as Chief Pixel Density Enthusiast.

Big Android BBQ Europe is the Android developer conference in Amsterdam and this year it takes place from August 14th to August 16th.

Would you like to show off what you've been working on or shout out about a product and have it covered on Coolsmartphone.com? Get in touch with me on Twitter and I'll be happy to schedule a session with you.

I'm looking forward to Big Android BBQ Europe 2016, expect to see my coverage on Coolsmartphone.com.

Changelog - First Fortnight of 2016

In the Changelog I go through the top news in tech and mobile, and maybe provide a few extra snippets. Opinions are my own, and links provided are to my preferred news sources.

We're into 2016 and this is the first Changelog of the year. 2016 started with the tech news explosion that was CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, which is held in Las Vegas. CES is a massive trade-show where most consumer electronics and tech companies have some sort of presence. Nowadays there are less actual product launches during the show as tech news lifespan during CES is short lived. Below are the main CES Changelog items.

Huawei announce the Honor 5X for the US market. A mid-range Android device in price, but which delivers considerable bang for buck, you'll only have to put down $199 for it when it goes on sale towards the end of this month. This is a very US-centric announcement as the Honor 5X has already been available in China for a while and is expected to come to Europe "soon". Phil Nickinson of Android Central did a good hands-on with the 5X.

Huawei also announced the Jewel and  Elegant editions of the Huawei Watch. Thanks to Alex Dobie for pandering to my "mockodile thing" in his tweet.

New Huawei Watch aimed at women. And it comes in #mockodile https://t.co/AtMXFnPc8g cc @Todoleo pic.twitter.com/AFz90Tv7tU

— Alex Dobie (@alexdobie) January 5, 2016

Car Tech was a big thing at CES 2016. Most automotive companies now want to use the consumer electronics and systems on board their vehicles to be a value-add proposition for thier customers. Lots of talk about smartphone integrations, as well as Ford showing off Amazon's Echo integreation. Below is Yahoo Tech's quick video summary.

Hoverboards and CES. I dislike using the term, because if it doesn't hover or have a Mattel logo in my view it isn't a hoverboard. Heavy! Anyway, these mini-segway thingamabobs were very popular towards the end of 2015 to the point that "user testing" prove they are not entirely "consumer proof" [insert rant about average customers of consumer electronics]. When in Asia on business last year they were a very big thing in Shenzhen and I was tempted to put a disco-light boombox two-wheeler in my suitcase on the way back. Many different "hoverboard" companies were at CES, but what caught my attention was the booth raided by authorities due to patent complaints.

Android distribution numbers. Moving away from CES, Google announced the Dashboard update for Android distribution numbers. This is always an interesting snapshot of where Android is in Google markets. Lollipop (Android 5.x) is now more than 32% of the devices using the Google Play Store. Marshmallow (Android 6.x) has just passed 0.7% of the market. Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x) has now almost completely sunsetted at 3%. Full Android Dashboard report here.

BBC 3 new logo unveiled. The BBC showed off the new BBC 3 logo and the interwebs went a bit bananas. I'm not sure what went on at the BBC, but I have a gut feel that they just wanted to troll everyone. Some were angry and most of us just sat back and chuckled. I even made my own effort with a banana for scale, obviously.

@jp_hero @CraigyTweets I'm quite proud of this left-handed effort. Banana and Sharpie for scale. #BananaForScale pic.twitter.com/aPRZJhXE9T

— Matteo Doni (@Todoleo) January 5, 2016

March Of The Droids 2016 tickets are now on sale. I'll be at the event this year MCing. A great Android themed event and an occasion for you to meet like-minded people in real life, this year the event takes place in Edinburgh. Purchase your tickets here.

Microsoft discontinues support for IE 8, 9 and 10. This is actually a good thing for the internet. It will eventually force more users onto more modern browsers. Edge has me pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Brave move from Microsoft which also will improve things for the rest of us.

Skyscanner, my employer, was in the news too. This news confirms Skyscanner is a company well set for doing great things going forward.

Xiaomi announced the Redmi 3. At the price point it will deliver incredible value for money, as well as good battery life (4000 mAh) and a bit more of a quality build. It is on my shopping list. More on the announcement here.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! At the beginning of 2016, I would like to wish you all a healthy and fruitful year ahead.

Last night I enjoyed using my Google Nexus 6P (manufactured by Huawei) to take pictures of the fireworks above Edinburgh Castle for Hogmanay. I'm really impressed by how well the Nexus 6P's camera performs and will no doubt be attempting to fill the Internet with more pictures in the coming year.

Now, if you excuse me, I need to catch up on some sleep and re-hydrate...

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.