Samsung will honor its freebie promise for super-early Note 7 pre-orders

Ah, time zones. They can make your life wonderful – like when you catch a nine hour sunset in flight – or they can suck, like when you pre-order a phone at the first available opportunity, only to be told your time zone meant you were too early for the promotional period that guaranteed you some cool freebie or other. So it was with Galaxy Note 7 pre-orders on the West Coast.

See also: Samsung Galaxy Note 7 – The Beginner's Guide3

T-Mobile users that pre-ordered the Galaxy Note 7 at the earliest possible moment – midnight on the East Coast – actually ended up pre-empting the free offer time frame, which started August 3. So while it may have been August 3 in New York it was still August 2 in the West. Thus, those early-bird pre-orderers got a pretty sucky email informing them their pre-order time fell outside the free gift period.

Fortunately for those affected, perennial good guy Samsung decided to honor the pre-emptive pre-orders and deliver on its stated promise. So if you pre-ordered from T-Mobile in the first three hours on the West Coast, you'll still get your free year of Netflix, 256 GB SD card or Gear Fit. Samsung's fulfilment agency will reach out to confirm in the next few days.

Did you pre-order the Note 7? What freebie did you go for?

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The new Whyd speaker combines voice commands with good sound

This post was originally published on our sister site, SoundGuys.com.

If wireless audio was the future of 10 years ago, smarter speakers are the future today. Amazon has already had some success with their Echo line of products, Bluetooth speaker with a voice-activated virtual assistant named Alexa built in. You can ask it questions, set timers, and of course play music. Even Google thought this was too good an idea to pass up on and UE also pushed an update to two of their speakers that let them piggyback off of the AI built into your smart phone. But now a company named Whyd is entering the fray with what could be the best sounding one yet.

The simply named Whyd speaker stands 11.5" tall and weighs 134 ounces. It isn't exactly an ultra portable speaker but then again, it isn't meant to be. It's designed to be left on a coffee table or entertainment system and forgotten about until you want to fill the room with music. Up top is a simple touch-sensitive interface that'll let you control what's playing with a few simple taps and swipes, assuming you don't want to just use your voice. Underneath the quality fabric that covers the speaker is a small RGB LCD display which lights up with different icons depending on what you're doing.

But on to the fun part.

But on to the fun part. The Whyd uses five omnidirectional microphones with an advanced noise cancellation processor. That means that it will pick up your voice up to 5 meters away even while you're playing music. Besides basic playback controls like pausing and playing music, skipping between tracks, and volume control, the Whyd will also play specific songs, artists, or playlists when commanded. It's like your own personal robot DJ.

It aims to give you all the functionality that comes along with a voice interface, but without skimping out on the audio quality in the way that other smart speakers do. It has a 100mm subwoofer designed for a deep and enjoyable low end and four 40mm full range drivers to cover everything. Each driver is pointed in a different direction, meaning that the speaker can play music in 360-degrees so you'll get great sound anywhere in the room.

You can still control it from anywhere in the house.

You can connect it to your devices using Bluetooth 4.0 if you choose, but you can also connect it to your home Wi-Fi network for a multi-room setup since it's Airplay and Google Cast compatible as well. For multi-room playback you'll need to have more than one Whyd speaker but if you only get one you can still control it from anywhere in the house. Simply download the free app and choose which speakers you want to control. The app is also where you'll go for new software updates as they come out. The speaker comes in a few different color options so you're sure to find one to match your preferred aesthetic.

The speaker isn't available just yet, but you can pre-order it now at the Whyd website if you want to be one of the first to get this speaker when it begins shipping in early 2017. It will retail for $499 when it's officially released but if you pre-order it now you can get one for only $299. On top of that if you enter the promo code "GETWHYD" at checkout you'll receive an extra $50 off. Welcome to the future, where we talk to our speakers.

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Deal: OnePlus 2 on sale for $239.99

The OnePlus 2 may have never quite lived up to the hype (fancy that), but if you ignore the hype the phone is a still a great device. With a solid community and various ROM support options, OnePlus' less-than-stellar update track record doesn't have to make this phone a non-option. Right now you can even pick one up on eBay for $239.99.

See also: The OnePlus 2… now26

Now, this isn't the biggest discount we've ever seen, but phones with rock bottom prices can't really afford those massive price cuts we see the big boys flaunting every so often. Of course, for $399you can splash out on the all-round fantastic OnePlus 3, but if you've got some budget constraints but still want that onePlus flavor, the OP2 is a solid bet.

The eBay offer is valid for the next three days so you've got time to ponder or look around for other deals. The purchase price will snag you a 5.5-inch Full HD LCD, octa-core Snapdragon 810 (clocked at 1.82 GHz and 1.56 GHz), 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB ROM, a 13 MP f/2.0 main camera with OIS and laser auto-focus, 5 MP f/2.4 selfie cam and a solid 3,300 mAh battery with USB Type-C. The OP2 also got the Marshmallow update recently.

BUY ONEPLUS 2

Think the OP2 has held up well? What's the best phone for $240 right now?

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Samsung taps out: Milk Music to be discontinued on September 22

If you've invested emotionally in Samsung's Galaxy-only music streaming service Milk Music, you had better start saying your goodbyes. Samsung is unplugging the service on September 22 and replacing it with existing streaming services instead. Slacker, which powered Milk, is Samsung's preferred service for any Milk users that are feeling out in the cold.

See also: Best music streaming apps for Android38

Milk Music never quite took off in the way Samsung had hoped it would, despite being able to push it on a bazillion Galaxy devices. It also launched with no ads and no fees. But against stiff competition from the likes of Pandora, Spotify, and solid offerings from Google and Apple, even Samsung had an uphill battle on its hands.

Milk Music was rumored be be shutting down back in March, following several unsuccessful attempts to spice things up. Milk Video shuffled off this mortal coil in November last year and attempts to convince free users to upgrade to the paid service never quite worked. Then, massive job cuts in July essentially gutted the workforce. Even Milk VR was rebranded to Samsung VR in June.

While Samsung's milk may have already turned, what will replace it? According to a statement, Samsung has made "the strategic decision to invest in a partner model focused on seamlessly integrating the best music services available today into our family of Galaxy devices." So if you're feeling nostalgic for the good old days, you've got just over a month before the milk sun sets.

Did you use Milk Music? What is your preferred streaming service?

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New teardown reveals upcoming Google Assistant features

 

Teardowns are an interesting practice, providing insights, false leads and sprinkles of the future. On the hardware front we get to see the changes made to the interior workings of a smartphone, like the new Galaxy Note 7 teardown that shows how the design has changed since the Note 5 to add water-resistance. But app teardowns tend to point more to the future than hardware and the latest Google app teardown is no different, revealing a few details about the new Google Assistant coming in Android 7.0 Nougat.

See also: Android 7.0 Nougat update: when will you get it?110

The team at Android Police did the teardown formalities on Google App v6.3 beta, which in itself, didn't reveal anything too earth shattering in terms of new features. The translate feature has been prioritized from a temperamental Google Now on Tap card to a permanent fixture of the overflow menu. The Google Now card still appears and does the same thing, but the overflow menu location is much more convenient (and consistent).

Google Assistant

But on to the Google Assistant. Other than finally adding the logo for Google Assistant (which we saw at Google I/O), there are also hints that Google Assistant will only be available at launch in English and German, and may be geographically restricted to these locations as well, at least initially.

The U.S. will obviously be covered and if Germany is too, then we can only hope our friends in the UK will also be able to use Google Assistant at launch. Other regions and languages may well be added prior to launch but even if they're not, they will likely follow soon after, just as they did with Google Now language support.

The teardown also revealed some further settings screen details, including two new toggles and a voice command action. The toggles refer to turning the Assistant on or off (so if it creeps you out you can simply disable it) and another that allows you to control whether or not the Assistant can read the contents of your screen in order to provide relevant information.

Customizable voice commands

If all of this sounds a lot like Google Now on Tap, that's likely because Google Assistant is largely an expanded Now on Tap/voice search. But we can already see how Assistant takes things further. There are deeper integrations with Google Home and most interestingly, further details on the "personal voice actions" or customizable voice commands.

User-defined actions are an awesome idea, kind of bringing IFTTT functionality to Google Now voice commands. You will be able to define your own phrases and add specific actions, so you can talk to Google Assistant in ways that are more natural to you and teach it exactly what outcomes you prefer. There's a lot of educated guesswork going on in these extrapolations of the code, so feel free to hit the source link and draw your own conclusions.

What would you like to see in Google Assistant? Do you think Now on Tap will be retired?

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YouTube finalizes massive London Space filled with ‘firsts’

Feeling a bit cramped in its initial quarters, YouTube Space London is about to sprawl out its new 20,000 square-foot facility that will be filled with "firsts" in new King Cross location. Already having the distinction of hosting YouTube's first production facility, the London location is also about to be the first to host a Creator's store.

It's been two years in the making. And while the new state-of-the-art facility still need to be furnished and finalized, YouTube spokesperson Theo O'Hear says it'll be ready soon. But it's already been inaugurated by a red carpet event, populated with press and YouTube personalities alike.

The new Space London, accessible from the ground floor, will include a trio of double-height studios with sound stages. And Google's YouTube division is kitting the studios out with 360 camera rigs and 4K capture devices and VR equipment, which includes YouTube's and GoPro's baby "Jump," along with HTC and Valve progeny the HTC Vive.

Another first for YouTube's global family of Spaces is 4K over IP — and that's a first for any production studio in the UK. That bandwidth intensive video will be complimented by Dolby Atmos sound.

And yet another "first" will control that sound. The London Space will include the first SSL Dante Audio Console. The system will include a 64 fader console and a desk with 16 faders.

And rounding out the first for what will be the flagship of YouTube presence in London and its Spaces worldwide, Space London will include a Creator's Store where fans can pickup gear from popular YouTube personalities.

O'Hear said there are no plans to open Creator's Stores at other Spaces, but indicated the performance of the London location would likely drive the decision to expand or hold the idea.

If you've secured more than 10,000 followers on YouTube and you happen to be in London, YouTube is encouraging you to stop by the studio to learn and produce content.

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NSFW: Google Allo will feature some scandalous stickers

Just kidding about the NSFW part. But, judging from the screenshots obtained by Android Police, it seems like Google Allo will feature some very sexually-suggestive stickers and (more importantly) it'll let you delete individual messages.

Google announced Allo and Duo a few months ago, and Duo – the video calling app – has been pretty successful since its launch. Allo is Google's new messaging app that is expected to launch very soon, and the folks at Android Police got to play around with it. And it seems like Google has some very cheeky stickers in store for us. To see all the screenshots, click here.

As you can see, you probably won't have trouble expressing yourself with Google Allo's stickers. On the one hand, we have all the familiar cute animal stickers. On the other hand, we have Julio the Bull, a "suave seducer," who seems to love touching his nipples and showing off his bubble-butt. He asks, "Who's your daddy?" LOL.

We also have a yellow bean with a condom over its head that urges you to "Rubber up!" While it's good to see Google promoting safe sex, we'd be curious to see if Google implements a parental control option to restrict some of the more suggestive stickers from showing up.

More importantly though, Google Allo will let you delete individual messages, a feature that is absent on Google Hangouts. This simply means that you will have an option to delete individual messages in a chat thread on your end only. Once the message is sent, you cannot unsend it.

Left: Allo. Right: Hangouts.

I'm not sure why Google Hangouts doesn't have the option, but it's definitely good to see that it's available on Allo, at least for now. Of course, things could change until the final release, but it's a sign that Google is at least considering including the option.

What are your thoughts on the Allo stickers? Cheeky or inappropriate? Let us know in the comments below!

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