Geek Lane

We’ve seen a lot of changes in the Android Developer Preview program since its inception in 2014 with Android L. While Lollipop only saw one developer preview, Android M would end up offering three previews. With Android N, Google has upped its game even further, with the fifth and final preview of Android 7.0 Nougat arriving earlier this month. So what’s next for Android 7.0 and its release cycle? Typically final versions of Android don’t arrive until October, but with the aggressive development schedule we’ve seen with Nougat, we can’t help but wonder if the update will arrive a bit earlier this year. If Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) proves correct, the answer is “yes, it’s coming next month”. Android 7.0 releases next month, with the 8/5 security patch. Sorry Nexus 5 owners, no Nougat for you 😢 — Evan Blass (@evleaks)  July 30, 2016 Further backing up Evan’s claims, a recent post on reddit   claims one Nexus 6P user was accidentally pus...

If you own a Xiaomi device, you must be sore at the fact that none of the currently available virtual reality (VR) headsets are optimized for MIUI. The Chinese powerhouse is about to fix that by launching its first-ever VR headset on August 1, going by the company’s latest teasers. Xiaomi is well-known for its aggressively-priced smartphones and wearables, but most consumers are unaware that it also offers IoT and smart home automation products, such as air-conditioners and bedside lamps, in China. With VR becoming the buzzword in the consumer tech industry, Xiaomi was also expected to soon jump on the bandwagon. Cheap Google Cardboard-inspired devices, as well as highly expensive VR headsets such as the HTC   VIVE and the Oculus Rift,  have already arrived in the market, though none of them are optimized to work with Xiaomi’s devices which run the MIUI. There have been rumors of Xiaomi working on its own version of a VR headset, which was recently confirmed by ...

LG posted its  second quarter earnings  earlier today, in which the company revealed that a new phone in the V series will make its debut later this quarter. While LG didn't name the device, it is likely that it'll be  called the V20. LG didn't specify a launch date, but rumors suggest that the phone will be unveiled sometime in the month of September, barely 10 months after the LG V10 hit store shelves. The expedited timeline may have something to do with the company's mobile business, which recorded a loss of $132 million this quarter and $170 million in Q1 2016. Samsung's decision to unveil the Galaxy note 7 on August 2 may also have played a part. Either way, the V20 is coming this quarter, most likely in the month of September. With the LG G5 failing to meet expectations, LG needs a strong contender to the Note 7 in the V20. Last year's V10 was a decent phone in many regards, but LG wasn't able to translate that to strong sales. Here's ho...

In case you missed it, a week or so ago some poor guy posted a  CCTV video on Facebook  showing him casually working at his desk when his phone catches fire and explodes. That was a  Xiaomi Mi 4i. Xiaomi  has now officially responded to the incident and vowed to replace the device. Assuming the guy isn’t emotionally scarred from the experience and has decided to go back to feature phones for good, I guess that’s a positive thing. Xiaomi sent the following statement to  XDA Developers  on the incident: We take such matters seriously and we have already been investigating the matter. We have been in touch with the customer and will be getting his device this week to do further investigation. In the meantime, we have offered a replacement phone to the customer. While the cause of the explosion is not yet know, hopefully Xiaomi will be able to get to the bottom of it once the damaged device is in hand. Besides a rash of Samsung fires a few years ago...

Amazon's Alexa has been able to control some smart home products, like Belkin WeMo switches or certain Wi-Fi-connected lightbulbs, for many months, but the intelligent assistant hasn't been able to control your doors. Well, until now. Amazon said this morning that it has partnered with San Francisco-based hardware startup August to allow Alexa to control August door locks. This means that you can say to your Amazon Echo speaker, "Alexa, lock the door" and, provided that your Amazon and August devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, the door will lock. It is the ultimate lazy person move, perhaps even more so than using your voice or an app to turn off your lights when a light switch is an arm's length away. A few things worth noting: first, this is the first smart lock Alexa works with. Second, you can't use Alexa to  un lock your door, because that would pose some security issues if someone could stand outside of your door or a window...

Xiaomi  has officially taken the wraps off its  long-rumored laptop:  the Mi Notebook Air. Naming and design similarities to Apple’s laptops notwithstanding, the Mi Notebook Air represents a major shift in strategy for Xiaomi and runs Windows 10 Home. Here’s everything you need to know about Xiaomi’s first laptop offering. There are two sizes: 12.5 inch and 13.3 inch Xiaomi unveiled two sizes for its Mi Notebook Air: 12.5-inch and 13.3-inch. While neither of these fits the typical size for a workhorse laptop, they definitely fulfill the ultra-portable demands of a highly mobile lifestyle. The 13.3 model is both thinner and lighter than Apple’s 13-inch Macbook Air and the 12.5-inch is thinner but a little bit heavier than Apple’s 11-inch Air. Both have Full HD displays Both sizes of the Mi Notebook Air feature Full HD displays (1,920 x 1,080 pixels). That equates to a pixel density of 176 pixels per inch (ppi) on the 12.5-inch model and 165 ppi on the 13.3-in...

BlackBerry has just taken the wraps off its new Android-powered smartphone, the DTEK50. As you may already know, this is only the second Android device produced by the company. The first was the Priv, which launched in late 2015. The DTEK50, or ‘the world’s most secure Android smartphone’, sports a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 scratch-resistant display, a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, and microSD expansion up to 2TB. It also comes with a 13MP rear camera with phase detection auto focus, an f/2.0 aperture and support for 1080p video recording at 30fps, as well as an 8MP front camera with an f/2.2 aperture. While BlackBerry decided against USB Type-C connectivity, the DTEK50 does come with a non-removable 2610mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 2.0. As for aesthetics, the handset is slightly reminiscent of Alcatel’s Idol 4 , though the BlackBerry device looks to have a more textured back plate. THE CONVENI...

Lenovo launched the Vibe K5 Note, back in January this year in China, rather surprisingly alongside the Vibe K4 Note, but the company is now preparing to bring this smartphone to India, with the device expected to launch next week, on August 1. If you’ve been looking forward to the latest affordable offering from Lenovo, there’s some great news that should get you even more excited about this launch. A post on Lenovo India’s Twitter page teases the fact that the Indian edition of the K5 Note will feature 4 GB of RAM, instead of the 2 GB of RAM that was available with the original version. The K5 Note is an improved version of the Vibe K4 Note that had launched earlier in India, and sports a full metal body. Apart from the upgrade in the amount of RAM, we can expect the other specifications to be similar to the Chinese variant, including a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a large 3,500 mAh battery, and 4G LTE support.  Follow Lenovo India   ...

A couple of weeks on from its iOS launch, photo editing app Prisma is now available on Android through Google Play. For the uninitiated, Prisma uses hefty cloud computing power to add artistic effects to your photos. But the app is a far cry from standard photo filtering offerings like Instagram, with the app's various filters being able to intelligently identify various objects in your photos, and render accordingly. That's because photos are processed by the app's remote servers, as opposed to your phone, in order to bring the full force of cloud-based AI to your images. For that reason, Prisma can become slow during peak times — like right now, when the app has just been opened up to hundreds of millions of new users. Nevertheless, Prisma is a unique app that's capable of producing some truly remarkable images, and it's definitely worth a look if you're a keen Android photographer. If you're trying out Prisma on Android today, be sure ...

Two phones, both alike in dignity. On fair Verizon, where we lay our scene ... The Moto Z lands on Verizon on July 28. And if even if you've made up you're mind that you're going be diving into this modular menagerie , you've got a decision to make. Verizon, as it's been prone to do with its Droid line of late, has  two  Moto Zs from which you'll need to choose. In many ways, they're exactly alike. Same software. Mostly the same internals. And they both use the new Moto Mods accessories. Let's take a look at the ways in which they're different, though, and see if we can't figure out which one is for you. Better battery capacity Should you  ever  turn down the opportunity to have more battery? The Moto Z has a 2,600 mAh battery. The Moto Z Force has a 3,500 mAh battery — that's about a 34 percent increase. Along with that extra battery comes some extra thickness, however. The Moto Z is a svelte 5.19mm thick (or thin, I guess)...

The hugely popular WhatsApp is slowing evolving into a fully-featured messaging service. The latest additions in terms of functionality, now rolling out to the beta version of the app, are a brand new voicemail feature and the ability to use monospace text formatting. We first heard about voicemail and call-back support in , when text related to the featuresWhatsApp a few months ago , showed up in translation requests. Now the feature is going live for beta users. Here’s how it works: if you call someone on WhatsApp and the other person doesn’t pick up or declines the call, you will see a screen that lets you quickly call back or record and send a voice message. The ability to send voice messages isn’t new, but now WhatsApp is integrating it in the calling interface, bringing the app closer to the way a conventional phone call works. Next, WhatsApp is adding a new text formatting option, monospace text. We’re not sure there are lots of users who were eagerly anticipatin...