Essential Phone 'Sold Out'... New Device In the Works

Essential Products confirmed that its first mobile device the Essential Phone, is no longer available. "We are sold out of Essential Phone on essential.com and won’t be adding any new inventory," said Essential in a statement provided to Droid-Life. 

"We are now hard at work on our next mobile product and will continue to sell accessories and provide speedy software updates and customer support to our existing community." The Essential Phone went on sale in the summer months of 2017. The high end Android device failed to resonate with consumers. 

In recent months the phone has been offered at a deep discount across the web and various sellers. Essential had a tough year... Executive Andy Rubin was forced to step aside for a short time after he was said to have received a $90 million severance package from Google despite claims of sexual harassment made against him. Rubin later rejoined Essential, but the company shifted gears and laid off staff amid the changes. Essential has not elaborated on what its "next mobile product" will be.


Source: Essential 

Meet The Google Home Mini, The Smaller $49 Google Home

According to our friends over at Droid Life, who got their hands on images and info from an unnamed source. The Google Home Mini will only have a powered connection and will come in Chalk, Charcoal, and Coral colors. 

The design itself makes the speaker looking more like a hockey puck, there also appears to be LED lights on top. The report claims that it will support the Google Assistant digital companion like the first Google Home. It also looks like the Google Home Mini won’t have interchangeable bases like its bigger brother version of the Google Home. 

Its cheaper price of $49 is the same price as the Amazon Echo Dot, and could lead to some new competition for Amazon’s Alexa powered Echo smart speakers.


Source: Droid Life

Samsung Rolls Out Bixby Voice Preview, For Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+

Droid Life posted earlier today the Bixby Voice preview was live to those who had signed up for the Early Access Program last week.

Sure enough, Bixby Voice Preview appeared in the settings after updating a few apps through the Galaxy Apps Store, as Droid Life originally reported. I went through the setup process and all seems to be working well after setting up Bixby Voice wake-up.

If you've signed up for the Bixby Voice Preview, let us know what you think so far. Is Bixby a compelling alternative to Google's new assistant?


Source: Droid Life

Facebook Holding Android Related Event April 4th

Facebook appears to be ready to take Android seriously, as they just sent out invites to a press event that is happening on April 4. All the invite says, as you can see, is “Come see our new home on Android.

Source: Droid Life