Articles by Michael Allison

Available in November starting from $229.99.

What you need to know

Samsung today launched the Smart Monitor with support for Dex and its Tizen-powered Smart TV platform.
It comes in two models, the cheaper M5 with a Full HD display, and the more expensive M7 with a QHD display.
The Smart Monitor will be available from November, setting you back $230.

Samsung today launched its new Smart Monitor, a useful peripheral that comes complete with support for all the usual connectivity protocols (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2), an entertainment hub powered by Tizen, and compatibility with the company’s mobile productivity platform — DeX.

The Smart Monitor comes in two models the Smart Monitor M5 Full-HD in either 27 or 32-inches, and the Smart Monitor M7 Ultra HD with a single 32-inch size.

If you have a compatible phone like the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, you’ll be able to be productive with this monitor by way of Wireless DeX. The company recently brought that to older phones with One UI 2.5, s…

Google’s reputation for privacy is pretty meh, but the company has been trying to improve it for its most used products.

What you need to know

Google’s is adding a new set of centralized settings for Gmail and its various “smart” features.
These new settings will provide clearer explanations of what it’s using your data for when you enable these smart features and let you easily disable them.
It’s rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

Google is rolling out new controls for data privacy to Gmail, the company announced on Monday. For the past year, Google has been rolling new “smart” features that speed up your productivity. Tools like Smart Reply, Smart Compose, and so on build off your existing data to make suggestions based on your past account activity. Google can also use your data from Gmail to inform routes in Maps, events in Calendar, automatically generate reminders, and so on.

Google’s new Settings page will make all of that more immediately obvious. It will also …

Stock Android phones are rare at this point in 2020. If you do want one that offers a lot of screen, a decent camera, and guaranteed updates — the field narrows substantially. The Nokia 8.3 is Nokia’s 2020 flagship. Running on the Android One platform and using the tried and true Snapdragon 765 to bring 5G for cheap, it’s a fairly appealing offering to people who’ve been fans of Nokia’s earlier efforts.

While our review remains forthcoming, other reviews across the web are broadly mixed as far as quality goes. When it comes to pricing, however, most agree that the 8.3 5G is more expensive than it should be. This limited Amazon UK deal in the lead up to Black Friday helps soothe that somewhat, taking £100 off the asking price to bring it down to £399 for the base Nokia 8.3 5G (that’s the 64GB variant that’s paired with 6GB of RAM).

Priced Right

Nokia 8.3 5G | £100 off at Amazon

£399 at Amazon

The Nokia 8.3 5G pairs 5G and Stock Android with the company’s slick hardwar…

Paywalling photo-editing features in the stock Photos app is odd, but not without precedent.

Update, November 06 (08:20 pm ET): Google explains what’s going on.

What you need to know

Google is working on a change to the Photos app that’ll make it easier to monetise.
It’s moving some editing features behind a paywall.
You’ll then need a Google One subscription to access those features.

Google Photos is a fun service from Google that’s been recommended for its ease of use across platforms. It stores all your photos, works on all your devices, and even throws in editing for free. Now, Google is working on monetization for the app. The company already sells albums and prints, now it’s going to put some pre-existing features behind a paywall.

As per XDA Developers, it’s testing moving Color Pop, a feature that would leave the subject in color while rendering the rest of the photo in monochrome, behind a Google One paywall. If this rolls out, to use that feature, you’ll need to have…

HMD Global’s first 5G phone is making its way to Verizon.

What you need to know

Nokia is preparing to launch the Nokia 8 V 5G UW.
The phone is slated for a November 9 announcement going off a now-deleted YouTube live stream.
As the branding indicates, this is likely a variant of the Nokia 8.3 5G which went on sale last month.

The Nokia 8.3 5G has already been made available for sale in America, but a version built for Verizon wireless may just be on its way. Dubbed the Nokia 8 V 5G UW, HMD Global had started a countdown to a live stream for a virtual event on YouTube before pulling it shortly after (spotted via Android Police).

If things are as they appear, the Nokia 8 V 5G will follow the same path as other Verizon UW phones. You may recall the Galaxy A71, LG Velvet, and Pixel 4 5G phones making their way to Verizon over the summer. It’ll come with mmWave support, it may have some small spec tweaks, and Verizon may request an exclusive colorway to differentiate its variant as …

Screenwise Meter was a low-key app that became the center of a brief dispute between Apple and Google.

What you need to know

Google is ending its Audience Measurement program.
It’s also killing the associated Screenwise Meter app that granted the company access to user data in return for rewards.
Users have until December 2nd to redeem all their remaining rewards.

Google is killing off Screenwise Meter, an app that it used to track user engagement with their screens, hence the name. It was an audience engagement program that rewarded users 18 and above with gift cards. Users would in turn provided the company with valuable data.

The app is now being killed off by December 2nd, and Google is encouraging all users to retrieve their rewards by that time (via Android Police).

A Google page for the program now reads:

Audience Measurement has ended

Since the end date, you haven’t been metered or earned reward points.
We emailed you to let you know that Audience Measur…

The app debuted with the Galaxy S5 but has been made redundant by Google Translate.

What you need to know

Samsung is killing off its S Translator app.
It’ll be disabled on the 1st of December, 2020.
Bixby Vision and Google Translate can still be used to replace this app on affected Samsung phones.

Samsung is killing off S Translator, an app that debuted with the Galaxy S5 so many years ago. As the name implies, it’s a translator app in the same vein as Google Translate that ships out of the box on some Galaxy phones.

In an emailed message sent to South Korean users (via Tizen Help), the company confirmed the end of the service next month, noting:

In the meantime, we would like to thank those who have used the S Translator service. We inform you that the above service, which has given us a lot of interest and love, can no longer be provided due to the company’s operating policy. Upon termination of this service, your personal information collected for the purpose of providi…

**All of these gifs and photos add up.

What you need to know

WhatsApp is getting an advanced storage management feature.
It’ll let you see what sort of files are clogging up your phone, and it’ll let you delete them in seconds.
The update was being tested on Android a few months ago, but it’s coming out to Stable users this week.

If you’re anything like the average person, your WhatsApp chats aren’t simply text exchanges with little else. They’re filled with gifs, memes, videos, and so on. All of that follows you as you switch phones and restore backups, but not all of that is still useful years later. WhatsApp is rolling out a new storage management tool that will help you keep track of all those files that have built up.

WhatsApp will group files into “Forwarded many times”, offer you a look at files under 5MB, and even show you which chats are taking up the most space. You’ll be able to tap in, select all the media you want gone, and reclaim your space with ease.

It loo…

Getting a tablet repaired quickly is easier than ever.

What you need to know

Asurion now offers same-day tablet repairs in the U.S.
You’ll need to be on its Asurion Home+ plan.
Same day repair is available as long as you drop it off at a uBreakiFix store before 2PM.

You no longer have to wait for days to get a tablet screen fixed, at least, if you’re in the U.S. Tech care company Asurion now offers same-day screen replacement for “most” tablets if you’re a member of its Asurion Home+ plan. Presumably, most tablets include mainstream tablets such as iPads and select Samsung Galaxy tablets.

The company announced the move this week, hailing itself as the first “tech protection product to commit to same-day cracked screen repairs nationwide.”

Mike Dolezal, Asurion’s Vice President of Home Technology Innovation said:

As home tech usage has increased, device damage has also risen. Our ability to provide same-day cracked screen tablet repairs is a huge step forward in our commitm…

Offline playback works on Tizen, Wear OS customers are confused about why they aren’t supported.

Update, October 21 (03:00 pm ET): Spotify has moved offline playback to “Under Consideration.”

What you need to know

Wear OS customers have been requesting access to offline playback on Spotify’s dedicated app as alternatives like Google Play Music are discontinued,
A community manager marked a feature request for the idea as “Implemented” for Wear OS.
They also claimed that due to the large number of devices on the Wear OS platform, it was “impossible” to set the request as “implemented.”

With the loss of Google Play Music and the lack of a YouTube Music client on Wear OS for now (but not WatchOS), it’s now hard to play music offline on your Google-powered smartwatch. Customers have taken to Spotify’s community forums to request for the addition of offline playback. Today, the company finally marked the feature implemented. Not because there was a Spotify update coming down the lin…