Cortana and on Android

Microsoft's Cortana virtual assistant is getting a facelift on iOS and Android aimed at making it more useful for users, and also bringing a bit of brightness to what's currently a rather dour interface.
The app's biggest change is the launch of a button that lets users quickly choose between a suite of common actions, like viewing their calendar at a glance, checking reminders, or getting a weather forecast. The app itself looks friendlier, with a purple gradient background replacing a stark black, white, and blue color scheme.

On top of that, Microsoft also announced on Thursday that the iOS and Android versions of Cortana are coming to the U.K., so that Brits will be able to use the virtual assistant. Microsoft has been slow to expand Cortana's geographic reach until the assistant has been set up to work with local social norms and other expectations.
The Cortana app is a key part of Microsoft's strategy with its virtual assistant. Windows smartphones are an extreme minority compared to the iOS- and Android-powered devices that overwhelmingly dominate the market. If Microsoft wants its virtual assistant to be ubiquitous, it's important to invest in a mobile app that works on other platforms.

Android Marshmallow on PC Falls Flat

The Android-x86 Project eventually may become a viable operating system alternative for your desktop and laptops computers, but it's not there yet. You will have to wait a while for the developers to fix a number of failures with the latest release upgrading Android-x86 to Marshmallow 6.0.1.

The developers late this summer released the first stable version of Android-x86 6.0, codenamed "Marshmallow." Android-x86 lets you run the Android OS with the Google Chrome browser on your desktop and laptop computers, rather than buying one of the qualified Chromebooks with the Google Play Store features bolted on.

Nokia turns to Android

Back when the first Android smartphones rolled off the assembly line in 2009, they weren’t just competing against Apple. Feature-phone pioneer Nokia commanded a large chunk of the market, and it was hard at work on its own open-source touchscreen platform. We all know how that story ended. Android and Apple took over the market and Nokia floundered for years with half-baked handsets until Microsoft mercifully put Nokia’s smartphone segment out of its misery after acquiring the business last year.

But like a classic B movie, Nokia is back from the dead. Well, kind of. Earlier this year Microsoft sold the Nokia branding rights to Finland-based HMD Global, and the first fruits of that labor are due to appear in the first half of 2017. And like the Nokia N1—an iPad mini clone with handwriting-based search—they will run Android. It remains to be seen just how much Nokia is in these phones beyond the name on the rear, but it’s a good comeback story nonetheless.

Nextbit, Paranoid Android Partner on Android 7.0 for Robin Users

Even though Google started rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat in August to compatible Nexus devices, a large chunk of other Android smartphones are yet to receive the update. While many of the big players are yet to receive the Nougat treatment, Nextbit has now announced that it is rolling out a "solid beta" of the update for its Robin smartphone users.

The Nextbit team has worked in collaboration with members of Paranoid Android custom ROM team to get its NextbitOS to run smoothly on Android Nougat. The company claims that the result of this collaboration is a faster and less power-hungry OS.

In order to receive this update, users are required to be a part of company's beta programme. As per the company, the notification for the update should pop-up automatically on the devices that are registered with the beta programme. For those users who are not part of the beta programme but want to join, you can fill up the form and join from company's website.However, the collaboration with Paranoid Android didn't just result in speeding up the process of providing the Nougat update for NextbitOS, as the company also helped Paranoid Android to develop their custom ROM of Android Nougat for the Robin smartphone.

"They [Paranoid Android] are a talented group of developers and we're excited to be working with them to make sure Robin runs even better whether you're running NextbitOS, or Paranoid Android," Nextbit's CTO Mike Chan was quoted as saying in its blog post.

For a smartphone that was released more than a year ago, getting Android Nougat treatment this early does indicate a good customer support by the company and might end up making a good case for company's future smartphones.

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