Google Begins Rolling out Android P for Beta Users

It's here! Google's next iteration of their mobile operating system has started rolling out through their Beta Program. What does this mean exactly? Well, typically it means the update itself is just around the corner. For us, the devoted Android users, they're bringing in major features such as notch support for the beautiful bezelless phones that companies have been producing this past year.  There are other major UI features such as  narrow top menus, design overhauls and in general a cleaner looking environment. Other big additions were the inclusion of neural network API's (which Google is big on), and other major security updates.

But wait. This Android update brings some bad news with it too. As of this revision, Google has announced that the Nexus series of devices will no longer be getting updates, marking the end of that series. This means it's time for Android users to seriously consider upgrading now.  If you're an Apple user, well, you just need to sit back, relax, and hope Apple doesn't slow your phone down.

-Warrick Rodgers, Student Web Developer (and Android user)

Yes, these phones really are that good

2017 was a big year for phones. The iPhone X came out, the Google Pixel 2 came out, and the Galaxy Note 8 came out. And for those of us that are relatively behind on the big tech crunch and are out of the loop with all the big tech details, that just means the major phone companies released some pretty great technology. Last year there was heavy pressure from companies to produce better-than-ever cameras and that is exactly what they did. IT has access to a Pixel 2XL that we have been using for some of our media and we've been loving the photos that it's producing. We won't really go into too much of the technical details on how these camera's are doing well, but it has a lot to do with some pretty cool software processing. These photos are turning out so good that IT is using them on their website projects, and we can't tell the difference on our high resolution monitors.

For those of you on campus who love photography and don't want to drop ten thousand dollars on a good camera, maybe consider one of these phones for your next upgrade. You'd be amazed at what type of photos you'll take with something that fits into your back pocket. Below are a few samples taken by myself on campus and on road trips, and you might have seen several others taken with the Pixel 2XL on some of our websites. Enjoy the photos!

-Warrick Rodgers
IT Student Web Developer