Episode 176

On this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Google’s phone dialer app now tells you if you’re getting a spam call
• BlackBerry launched a re-branded Alcatel phone as its own
• Xiaomi is making laptops now
• NextBit has a new color, and they’re soon going to backup your video
• Microsoft made an app that it claims makes your photos better
• HERE Maps is now HERE WeGo
• Facebook now has 1 billion daily active users
• Apple has sold its billionth iPhone
• More people are buying Bluetooth headphones than regular headphones (in US in June)
• It’s official: Smartphone sales have peaked
• LG: The V20 will come out next month rocking Android 7.0
  • Update: September 6th event, in SF
• Instagram Stories—yes, it’s a clone
  • And now Facebook steal Snapchat’s live filter feature
• Oh look, a new Note and Gear VR

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 176, 32 minutes and 11 seconds, 23.2 MB]

Episode 175

This week on The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 821 (it’s a 10% faster 820)
• Pokémon Go (we have to talk about it) is the biggest mobile game in US history
  • Update: Biggest iOS game, ever, in terms of first week downloads
• New Moto E, which isn’t coming to the US, but it’ll be in the UK
• SoftBank buying ARM for $31.4 billion
• HP’s new high end Windows Phone now has a price: $700
• Uber has now done two billion trips
• Facebook Messenger now has 1 billion MAUs
• Sony’s next flagship phone has leaked, and it looks like a Lumia
• Snapchat bought an emoji company so you can create your own emojis
• Nokia Lumia that never came out has been reviewed
• Verizon is buying Yahoo for $4.8 billion

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 175, 38 minutes and 34 seconds, 27.8 MB]

Episode 174

This week on The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Twitter now has stickers—yay?
• Amazon putting ads on Android phones in exchange for installing ads and apps
• HTC spun off the Vive business, but it’s still HTC owned
• Uber app will use a phone’s sensors to make drivers drive better
• Samsung finally brings unlocked phones to the US
• Evleaks leaks the Galaxy Note7
• Apple reportedly buying Jay Z’s Tidal music service
• Android N = Nougat = 7.0
• Facebook is killing Paper next month
• More Nexus 2016 specs
• Sony de-focusing China, India, USA; betting big on East Asia, Europe, Middle East
• Huawei uploaded an image claiming it was taken with their phone; they lied
• Snapchat now has Memories, basically a way to save special snaps
• Google bought an image recognition startup
• Rough render of the next Nexus phone appears
• The next iPhone will have 32 GB of storage as the base option
• Google is building not one, but two watches
• Pokémon Go is out
• James built a chatbot

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 174, 38 minutes and 34 seconds, 27.8 MB]

Episode 173

In this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Recommended reading: Nokia’s future
• Vine/Twitter up the video limit to 140 (get it?) seconds
• WSJ says what we already know: Next iPhones will have few changes
• Motorola’s head of design (pictured above) is out, he’s becoming a professor
• Huawei is working on a new version of EMUI for Western markets; also its own OS
• People are making 100 million calls—every day—using WhatsApp
• YouTube’s response to Periscope and Facebook Live? Add live video to YouTube.
• First Nexus for this year leaks (not really, just the specs)
• Evleaks confirms the next Note isn’t the Note 6, but the Note 7
• Case maker Incipio is buying headphone maker Skullcandy for $177 million

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 173, 43 minutes and 25 seconds, 31.2 MB]

Episode 172

In this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion
• Microsoft is launching an updated XBOX One this summer AND next fall
• PlayStation VR: October 13th for $399 / £249.99
• Everything from Apple’s event in one handy list
  • This 17 minute video shows off all the cool stuff on iOS now
• Next Galaxy Note due August 2nd?
• The OnePlus 3 is out now, and it looks like the company’s first great phone
• Facebook Messenger for Android adds SMS
• The 7 best game trailers from Sony’s E3 2016 press event

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 172, 34 minutes and 52 seconds, 25.1 MB]

Episode 171

On this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• A new ARM CPU and GPU that’s coming to  phones this year
  • “ARM publishes that the A73 uses at least 20% less power than the A72 at the same process and frequency.”
  • “ARM states that we’ll be seeing SoCs and actual consumer devices with A73 by the end of the year.”
• ASUS announces three new phones
• Sony gets a clue, announces its new phones will be sold in the US
  • Prices and release dates in a handy table
• Xiamoi and Microsoft make a deal; phones to come with Office and Skype, patents sold
• OnePlus kisses invite system good bye; OP3 launches June 14
• Nest has a new CEO, Tony is out
• Samsung announced a new Gear Fit and some truly wireless earbuds
• More people use Snapchat every day now than Twitter
• Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S7 Active, but it’s US only, at least for now
• Twitter for Android got redesigned, Snapchat for everything got redesigned too
• Google Motion Stills turns those (useless) Live Photos on your iPhone into smooth GIFs
• All the news from Lenovo Tech World
• Apple’s App Store introduces subscriptions. Developers with a relationship longer than one year will see the 70%/30% split change to 85%/15%. Ads also coming to App Store.
  • Google to adopt same 85/15 split for subs, but no clue when
• Rumor: iMessage for Android to launch at WWDC
• Amazon will launch a Spotify clone this summer or fall

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 171, 47 minutes and 41 seconds, 34.3 MB]

Episode 170

On this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Apple’s making an Amazon Echo clone
• Google is going to monetize Google Maps, finally
• Twitter is changing how it counts characters
• New comic book subscription service, not DC or Marvel
• Pebble launched the “Core” and two new smartwatches
• Microsoft lays off another 1,850 people it acquired from the Nokia acquisition
• More Moto X/Z leaks surface
• Samsung demos an 800+ pixel per inch screen
• Three UK to test ad blocking next month, one day only
• ZTE will open 23 flagship stores this year (only three of which are outside of China)

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 170, 33 minutes and 10 seconds, 23.9 MB]

Episode 169

On this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan discuss:

• Will the next iPhone have speakers on top and bottom?
• Google launched their keyboard for iOS, Gboard
• New Moto G phones; plus rumors say the new Moto X phones are Z phones
• The OnePlus 3 leaked
• Sony’s Xperia XA Ultra (6-inch phone with 16 megapixel OIS SELFIE CAMERA?!)
• Microsoft sells Nokia’s feature phone business to Foxconn
• Spotify for Android TV is out
• Nokia gives Finnish company right to make Nokia branded phones and tablets
• Google I/O 2016: Everything announced there

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 169, 39 minutes and 57 seconds, 28.8 MB]

Episode 168

On this week’s episode of The Voicemail, James and Stefan sprint through the following:

• Facebook is building a camera app
• Microsoft will give you a free Lumia if you buy a Lumia
• Next Apple watch will have built-in cellular. (Is James still using a smart watch?)
• Nokia is back in the news:
  • Disney will make films using that Ozo camera thing
  • They bought a smart watch company for $192 million
  • Earnings were under however
• Starting next year, all phones sold in India will require a panic button for women
• Google invented a new clasp system to make swapping out watch bands easy
• Apple now makes more money from services than Macs
• German city puts traffic lights on sidewalk so people can text and walk
• LG G5 numbers:
  • “LG expects to ship three million units of the G5 in the second quarter. Executives say the phone is on track to outpace the G3 model, released two years ago, which has been one of the company’s best-sellers. LG has shipped 1.6 million units of the G5, compared with 900,000 units during the first month of the G3’s release.”
  • LG also showed off the technology to put fingerprint scanners behind phone screens
• Remember Nintendo’s Miitomo? It now has 10 million users.
• Twitter changes its category in Apple’s App Store from social network to news
• Remember when Lenovo bought Motorola and kicked out its CEO? Well he’s back, at Google, as head of hardware.
• New Google keyboard. Try it out, James?
  • Here’s a video demo.
• India rejects Apple’s request to import and sell refurbished iPhones in the country
• Netflix now lets you pick your quality when streaming on cellular
• There’s going to be an active version of the Galaxy S7, though not sure if it’s only for AT&T or for multiple markets
• Motorola will announce two flagship phones at Lenovo World on June 9th
• America’s FCC and FTC want to know why phones don’t get updated
• WhatsApp launches desktop apps (Windows, Mac OS X)
• European Commission blocks O2 and Three merger
• New Instagram logo
• Google to launch a dedicated VR headset next week
• Evleaks says the Galaxy Note 6 will come out in the US in the week of August 15th
• Google to clone the Amazon Echo. It’ll come out this year. Called Chirp.

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 168, 37 minutes and 29 seconds, 25.8 MB]

Episode 167

On this week’s episode, James and Stefan discuss:

• The PC market is shrinking, which means Intel is firing thousands of its employees
• HTC announced a flagship phone, and the reviews say it’s meh
  • For some strange reason, India’s getting an HTC 10 with lower end specs
• Logitech bought another audio company: Jaybird
• Amazon’s new $300 Kindle is polarizing
• Sony is making a movie about emoji
  • Android N Beta 2 has new emoji
  • If you use emoji, you’re probably saying the wrong thing to people
  • Snapchat adds motion tracking to emoji
• Facebook steals Google’s head of research, puts her in charge of hardware projects
• Fake Steve Jobs wrote about his life working at a start-up, here’s an excerpt
• Microsoft’s iOS keyboard is official
• Huawei literally copy/pasted Samsung’s Gear VR headset
• Google wants to design an entire city
• Apple is thinking about adding paid search results to the App Store
• Amazon Prime has several new tiers for people who don’t want to spend $99/year
• Google Play Podcasts is now live, but only in the US and Canada
• Samsung stole rose gold from Apple and rebranded it to pink gold
• Google got smacked in the face in Europe over their Android business practices
• And finally, James wrote about his views on Twitter

Note: You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

[Episode 167, 53 minutes and 31 seconds, 38.5 MB]