Samsung is pretty good about giving out freebies for those early adopters who pre-order their latest flagship devices. I have gotten all sorts of free stuff over the years including 2 free years of Netflix, a set of Samsung OnLive headphones, two GearVR headsets, Samsung fast charging battery bank, Samsung fast wireless charging pad, cases and more! That list doesn't even include the free apps and in app purchases that have come with some of the phones.

The details regarding Note 8 pre-order freebies have leaked. Apparently Samsung will begin taking pre-orders for the Note 8 on August 24. In the US you can choose between a 256GB microSD card, convertible wireless charger, or Samsung Gear 360 camera. In Europe you will apparently get a DEX when you preorder. I am glad that Samsung does include the freebies, but sometimes it feels like you are paying a premium and they are just trying to ease the blow by giving away free stuff when they could just reduce the price a bit.

via SamMobile

There is one word that has been synonymous with Android for the past several years and that word my friends is fragmentation. Apple fan boys love to utter the word. While Apple has to work to get a handful of devices running the latest version of iOS there happen to be thousands of Android devices made by hundreds of OEMs. Getting all the Android devices on a singular version of Android is impossible. That being said Google is currently working on a project to make the process easier for OEMs to get their phones on the latest version of Android. The project is called "Project Treble".

Google has already done the work make the Pixel and Pixel XL compatible with the project but says they can't force other OEMs to do the same. The project will be in place for any device shipping with Android O. Treble makes it easier and less expensive for OEMs to update their flagships and other devices but won't guarantee that everyone will be on board or do their part. Google says they are currently working with "some companies" to get their flagships upgraded to Android O and are even helping to "treble-ize" some devices. Hopefully companies like Samsung will jump on board. My Galaxy S8 is still running Android 7.0 even though 7.1.1 has been around for a while and Google will be announcing Android 8.0 Monday!

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There will be no secrets on August 23rd when Samsung officially announces the Galaxy Note 8! We have seen leak after leak of renders as well as a dummy unit that leaked earlier in the week. We even know the phone will have an Exynos and Snapdragon variant both with 6GB of RAM thanks to some benchmarks that showed up on Geekbench last week. Last night some official press renders of the device landed on Samsung's official page. The photos were quickly removed but not before the web could grab them. In the photos we see the same rectangular design we have seen in previous leaks. You can also clearly see the fingerprint scanner placed just to the right of the dual lens camera. We are almost there folks!

It is incredibly dangerous to look directly at the sun. That didn't stop us from having sun staring contests with friends as kids. I believe my personal best was 5 seconds. All jokes aside their are safe ways to view a solar eclipse. You can wear a special pair of solar eclipse viewing glasses that are too dark to actually see out of. However the safety of these glasses has been called into question as Amazon has put a recall on them. I suppose it's just not worth the liability for the retail giant.

Alternatively you can cut a pin hole in a cardboard box and then hold a piece of paper under the hole. You can witness the light hitting the paper go black. That is neat an all but you aren't actually looking at the event as you are staring at a sheet of paper. NASA will actually be live streaming the event! You can watch it as it happens from the link below straight from your phone. This is great because you will be able to see it from a perfect angle no matter where you are in the world and without having to put on those ridiculous glasses. This is also the only 100% safe way to stare at the sun!

via NASA

It looks like Google may have just outed the official name of Android O a few days before the intended announcement on August 21st. The Google+ video they posted was titled "GoogleOreo_Teaser_0817_noDroids (1).mp4". Of course this doesn't officially confirm anything and you know Google could just be trolling us with that seemingly accidental flub. The new version of Android could be named after the easter egg hidden within the developer preview builds "Octopus". That seems unlikely. We will find out for sure on Monday!

via AndroidPolice

One of the major gripes with the OnePlus 5 was the fact that it included EIS, but only for 1080p video. This meant that while the phone was capable of shooting 4K video the video shot would be wobbly and unusable. OnePlus has just sent out a software update which fixes this. The update includes EIS for 4K video. The difference here is major. OnePlus also uploaded a side by side test shot to their twitter and you can see how much better 4K recording is on the OnePlus 5.

You can see a similar comparison in the video above which starts at 1:36

Andy Rubin's Essential phone announcement was met with enthusiasm and hope. However the device launch became a mess and fast. The phone company faced set back after set back requiring them to push back the launch week after week. A few days ago the company sent out emails to those who made reservations letting them know the devices were finally available for purchase. The email went on to confirm that those who made a purchase would have the phone within 7 days. For now it appears the only version available for purchase is the Black Moon and the price tag is $699. Apparently if you reserved the pure white model you can still purchase the Black Moon variant or chose to wait an additional 2 weeks. Only those who reserved a phone will be able to purchase one at this time. As more and better devices are just around the corner I am curious as to how many of you are putting down the money on your reserved Essential phone.

via DroidLife

We are mere days from the official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 yet we know pretty much everything there is to know about the device at this point. You could say that the design of the much anticipated device has been confirmed once and for all by some photos that hit the web earlier today. Someone got their hands on a dummy unit which shows the rectangular design we expect to see. The dual lens camera and poorly placed fingerprint scanner is quite clear here as well. With the announcement closing in this is certainly not the last we will hear about the Note 8 leading up to the event. Keep it locked in right here for the latest Note 8 news.

via SlashLeaks

Yesterday Evan Blass took to twitter with some snazzy press renders of the upcoming LG V30. These renders show us the complete and final design of the LG V30. The renders match up to earlier leaks that we saw in the Joseph Gordon Levitt campaign. This pretty much looks like a larger LG G6. We are missing key features from the V series like a secondary display and removable battery. LG is finally joining everyone else in sealing their batteries. Other than that we see that LG has stuck with the power button/ fingerprint scanner placement in the center of the back of the phone which is the best placement if you ask me. We still have a dual lens camera setup as well. Overall I would say the new V30 is looking rather stunning.

via @evleaks

According to research from financial firm Bernstein Google will be paying up to $3Billion this year to remain the default search engine on the iPhone and iPad. These numbers come factors reported to the media by Apple and Google. Apple has retained as much as 34 percent of traffic revenue. Google paid Apple $1Billion in 2014. According to High Street firms Google will make $50 Billion this year which is up from $16 Billion in 2014 which is roughly three times as much. This means that Google may be paying Apple $3 Billion. In the end it is probably worth it. Most people end up using what comes up first. Somehow chrome on my Dell defaults to Yahoo?! I generally end up just using Yahoo unless I need Google for something specific. Of course it would be easy enough to go change the default in settings. Apple is looking to double their 2016 service revenue by 2020, and can probably achieve this with licensing default apps. In case you were wondering companies are paying big for that prime real estate which is your phone.

via Pocketnow