Articles by Jeramy Johnson

Out of all of the popular messaging and chat apps available today, there is perhaps none more private and more secure than Signal. Do you want the best encryption? Signal has you covered. Do you want to vanish messages and media? You get that and more with Signal. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to delete everything, you can, of course, delete your account, but there is one secure step that is just below that nuclear option. I’ll show you how to erase your Signal chat history completely so that there is no record of your messages on your phone.

How to erase your Signal chat history completely

Open the Signal app on your phone.
Tap on the settings menu (three dots) in the top right corner.
Tap on Settings.
Tap on Data and storage.

Tap on Manage storage at the top of the screen.
Tap on Clear message history.
Read the pop-up disclaimer, and tap Delete.

Many of us at Android Central have chosen to use Signal not only because of its privacy and security fe…

Nest Hub (2nd Gen)

Google-y goodness

$100 at Best Buy

Pros

Sleep-tracking with Soli
Improved speaker performance over the previous generation
YouTube support
Lower starting MSRP than the previous generation
Awesome integration with Google Photos
Google Assistant

Cons

No camera for video chatting
No Alexa compatibility
Motion controls are still kind of a gimmick
Sleep tracking soon to be a subscription service

Google didn’t change a lot from the first generation, but it didn’t have to. What is new and improved is Soli-based sleep tracking, a better-sounding speaker, and a lower starting price point. The motion tracking is still gimmicky, but the entire package is enough once again to be our top mid-sized smart screen speaker pick.

Echo Show 8

Just right

$75 at Amazon

Pros

Physical camera shutter and mute switch
Perfect for video calls with family and friends
Can help monitor elderly relatives or serve as a security station
Similar specs to its bigger sibling…

These days, just about everyone has heard of or has purchased some smart streaming TV box or stick to consume Netflix, Prime Video, or HBO Max. But I would argue that streaming media’s most valuable is actually one of the best Fire TV Edition TVs. Right now, we think the best Fire TV Edition set is the Insignia NS-65DF710NA21 Smart 4K UHD because it’s one of the biggest and most attractive options available. However, there are several great choices on the market, so let’s take a look at what’s out right now.

Best Overall Fire TV Edition: Insignia NS-65DF710NA21 Smart 4K UHD

Insignia has really stepped up as the premiere high-end manufacturer of the best Fire TV Edition TVs, and this series is a gleaming example of these efforts. This set earns our top spot not only because it’s packed with smarts and looks great, but it is the largest Fire TV Edition TV that you can currently buy.

This line of 4K UHD Fire TV Edition sets is available in 43, 50, and 55-inch variants, and this big…

Chatting with the AC forums.

Well before it acquired/merged with Sprint, T-Mobile attempted to compete with the major U.S. cellular carriers with creative pricing strategies and customer loyalty programs. Still, it may have just scored its biggest coup yet, at least as far as Android fans are concerned. Earlier this week, the company announced a partnership with Google that will see more Google products and services in T-Mobile stores and on devices that T-Mobile sells. This includes Google Messages and Google One being preloaded as officially supported apps on T-Mobile Android phones and greater visibility for Pixel phones at T-Mobile stores. T-Mobile is even shuttering its own streaming service in favor of YouTube TV.

Naturally, these moves caught the attention of our hawk-eyed Android faithful over on the AC forums:

mustang7757
03-30-2021 07:52 PM

“

Tmobile devices will get Android messages as …

“A” stands for affordable, accessible, and adept.

“Google is not a hardware company!”

How many times have we heard this (or said this) in the past? Google is great at providing free or low-cost software and services, but it always seems to stumble and gets in its own way when it tries its hand at making devices. From launching devices before features are ready (like Soli on the Pixel 4 series) to canceling beloved devices before their time is up, to just making some unforced errors, Google has certainly had its ups and downs in the hardware department over the years.

However, one of Google’s founding principles and guiding missions is to make the world’s information accessible to all. A part of that is helping more people access that information more easily in the first place. A big part of this effort has and will continue to come in the form of free (to the end-user) services, but a growing area for this access is in the physical tools through which the world connects to Google’…

Get in there and make your new OnePlus phone your own.

The OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro are two of the hottest phones of early 2021, and they both deserve a spot on our best Android phones list; that much is for certain. Both sport a sleek new design, new Snapdragon 888 chipsets, and much improved cameras, thanks to OnePlus’s partnership with camera titan Hasselblad.

There’s a lot to learn about and explore with these new phones. So once you’ve placed your order and your shiny (or matte) new device arrives, here are the first things that you should do with the OnePlus 9 or 9 Pro.

Jump to:

1. Get the look right
2. Customize the OnePlus Shelf
3. Shove the Shelf
4. Experiment with the cameras
5. Charge forward
6. Customize buttons and gestures
7. AOD
8. Screen settings
9. Moment of Zen

1. Get the look just right

Even with the updating UI in OxygenOS 11, the software on OnePlus’s newest phones is pretty low-key, with minimal deviations from stock or Pixel-flavored Android. Sti…

Aside from Chrome, Spotify, or Instagram, the apps that you probably spend the most time in on your phone are your messaging apps. We all use messaging apps to send thoughts, photos, or funny gifs, but sometimes they have other uses too. I noticed that my son would text himself reminders or to-dos rather than use even the built-in list apps on his phone, and that led me to another discovery — one of my favorite messaging apps, Signal, has this built-in as a feature! It’s so simple, really, so let me show you how to send notes and reminders to yourself in the Signal app.

How to send notes and reminders to yourself in the Signal app

Open the Signal app.
Tap on the compose button (looks like a pencil) in the screen’s bottom right corner.
Search for your own name or Note to Self.

Type your note or message to yourself.
Tap the send icon (looks like an arrow), just as you would any other message.

After you tap the send button, your note will appear as another message thread in y…

Chatting with the AC forums.

Whenever there’s a new best Android phone on the market, we all gush about the colors and finishes and debate on which color we should get. Yet most of us inevitably put a case on our devices, and for good reason. There’s nothing worse than dropping $500, $800, or $1,000 or more on a new phone and then dropping said phone onto a hard surface, destroying your beautiful new device.

However, there are still the brave, daring, or, dare we say, impulsive, among us who insist on rocking their phones naked (without a case), showing off their phones as the manufacturer intended. It’s been an ongoing debate since the smartphone era started, and it’s still a lively one over on the AC forums, even for a plastic phone like the Google Pixel 4a:

cbreze
03-13-2021 01:03 AM

“

Whats the consensus regarding cases for the 4a? I like this one I found on Amazon but was wondering if I need …

Finally, I can get that Led Zeppelin concert T-shirt from 1974.

At this point, many, if not most of us, have a music streaming service that we’re pretty comfortable with. Whether we’re using free, ad-supported versions or paying for a monthly or annual subscription, once we’ve settled in and started building playlists and letting the algorithms learn from our behaviors to suggest new content, it’s pretty dang hard to motivate us to pick up and move to another platform. Of course, that’s by design, so what is a streaming service to do to encourage new signups and switchers? It has to add new, innovative, or at least interesting features.

Spotify was one of the first music streaming services to incorporate podcasts into its app, a feature that was eventually adopted by other services like Amazon Music. I’ve been an Amazon Music subscriber for several years now, in part because I’ve benefited from its AI getting to know what I like and partly because as a Prime member, I get a nice li…

Put your Facebook under lock and key.

What you need to know

Facebook has said that it now supports physical security encryption keys for two-factor authentication (2FA) on Android and iOS.
The social network has offered this option for desktop users since back in 2017.
The new security option can be controlled in the Security and Login section of the Facebook app’s settings menu.

In our uber-connected lives, it is more important than ever to bolster our online accounts with secure passwords. In light of ever more sophisticated hacks, login and password leaks, phishing scams, database breaches, and compromised personal information, securing our accounts through two-factor authentication (2FA) is becoming a necessity as well.

Facebook, and other social apps like it, have long offered users the ability to add an extra layer to their login security by enabling two-factor authentication, either through SMS or through a third party authentication service like Google Authenticator or …