This week, we do a follow up segment on Android Oreo. We also talk about the announcement of a brand new Android One phone. Cristian reviews another Oreo. We discuss tips and tricks for figuring out if a particular tech news/video is just marketing fluff or an actual informative piece of content.
Show Notes:
Follow-up - Android O
Ron Amadeo’s review
00:37 Emoji system
Cristian talks about the new emoji and the new Emoji Compat library in Android Oreo
04:15 Project Treble
Sadiq talks about the new Vendor Interface in Android Oreo (Hardware Abstraction Layer(s) and the potential benefits that this brings to the Android ecosystem
Project Treble is one of the biggest architectural changes to Android
Episode 75: Project Treble - for the HAL of it (if you want more in-depth on Treble)
10:20 New Xiaomi-built Android One phone to launch in 40 markets
Sadiq makes a really bad good DJ Khaled pun
Cristian proceeds to do the introduction to the Xiaomi Mi A1
This is the highest end Android One phone yet
We also talk about possibly importing this phone and whether it will work with carriers in the USA and Canada
17:00 Thin Lemon Oreo Reviews
Cristian reviews the Thin Lemon Oreo
Cristian apologises for his comments about Tim Hortons last week
20:25 Patreon of The Week: Crow Moore
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This weeks Patreon that you should support is Crow Moore's page. Crow is an artist. They do sketches and other types of art -- which you can find at their portfolio website thefishcrow.com. They also have a science fiction webcomic at crowblogs.com. Supporting their Patreon gets you access to their private sketches and abstract concept work. You can find their Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/thefishcrow, that's https://www.patreon.com/thefishcrow. Back to the show.
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21:05 Microsoft to hold Surface keynote in London next month
Cristian suggests hopefully that there might be a Surface Phone announced at the event
Snapdragon + Windows devices may be announced
Cristian talks about how Windows 10 is converging across devices
27:25 Picking out marketing copy in technology reviews
Exhibit A - Is this marketing or a proper review?
Nokia sponsored the reviewer's trip
Excessive praise and no negative points mentioned
Cristian suggests watching out for the tone of the video
Some YouTubers are not great actual critics
Cristian suggest checking out Erica Griffin as an example of a phone reviewer who is not ad-funded and is on Patreon
Sadiq suggests that some psychology may be at play
Trusting the reviewer and/or outlet
Cristian suggests visiting a site, turning off ad-block and seeing how many ads there are, which might suggest that the site is a content farm
Sadiq suggests watching out for posts that are glorified spec sheets vs. an actual critique
Cristian suggests watching out for excessive use of glowing adjectives
“Hands-on” vs. proper review
Sadiq explains game review embargoes
Cristian and Sadiq talk about the funding models of various tech news sites
