The Chromecast Audio comes with a 3.5mm cable to connect to your speakers, but some speakers require an RCA or an optical cable. The Chromecast Audio doesn’t come with such connections, but universal adapters are available to make it work. In fact, those adapters are quite cheap.

Google decided to release official cables for the Chromecast audio so you can use the device with RCA and optical speaker systems. This is great, as first party cables are often quite nice. Unfortunately, the problem is in price. These short adapter cables run $15 a piece, which is quite pricey considering you can find the RCA adapter for as little as $5. Not to mention the yellow color, which doesn’t matter if it’s hidden away.

If you’re intent on using first party cables, hit the source links to buy the cables from the Google Store. Otherwise, I’m sure most of you can find a far better deal.

Source: Google Store: RCA Cable for Chromecast Audio, Google Store: Optical Cable for Chromecast Audio

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We’re hot off the heels of flagship announcements at Mobile World Congress, but it’s already time for rumors and reports to come in about the next flagships. This latest one is an official report, rather than just a rumor. In an interview with CNET, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei broke the news that the OnePlus 3 is set to launch “at the end of the second quarter.”

In addition to the phone coming before the end of June, Pei also mentioned that the OnePlus 3 will feature a “new design” that will “captivate”. The OnePlus 2 followed much of the same design language as its predecessor, not wanting to step outside of the comfort zone that the company had created with the OnePlus One. Unfortunately, the lack of risk-taking with the OnePlus 2 led to disappointment among some users and reviewers.

With the OnePlus 3, the company hopes to spark that same magic that it did with the OnePlus One, tapping into a large user base that’s tired of the traditional smartphone manufacturers. Utilizing a new design will aid in that endeavor, as it shows that the company is still willing to take risks to attract users.

OnePlus will also continue to evolve its marketing and selling strategies. This year, the company will begin to utilize traditional media for the first time, rather than relying solely on its invite-only system that built hype through exclusivity and word-of-mouth. Additionally, the company is also planning to accept payments directly through customer’s credit cards, rather than only accepting payment through PayPal, as it has in the past.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on rumors and news regarding the OnePlus 3.

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The Nexus 5X is a great device (though a bit overshadowed by the more expensive Nexus 6P at launch), but it seems LG wants to take a break from making Nexus devices to focus on its own brand. We heard similar news two years ago, halfway through the two-year gap between the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 5X.

With the LG G5 officially announced, LG wants to use its resources to promote the new device and other upcoming hardware instead of diverting resources to a Nexus device that does very little for them. We don’t know how well the Nexus 5X has sold, and it’s said manufacturers don’t earn much from Nexus sales. Plus, the brand gets less recognition for a Nexus device than its own.

The G5 seems like a genuinely good competitor to the Galaxy S7, including interesting features that may actually attract more buyers than the previous LG flagships. It makes sense for LG to use its time to push the G5 and further the brand and the company. We may see another LG Nexus device next year, if previous patterns hold up. Thankfully, LG says it is “totally happy” with its relationship with Google’s Nexus program.

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Battery drain has plagued many Android devices for years. While it is certainly getting better with each version of the OS, even today tons of users champion devices with removable (and therefore swap out-able) batteries or fast charging technologies that help us get through the day.

It’s possible to monitor your battery usage, optimize your settings and shut down power hungry apps, but for the majority of users, this tweaking and managing is a hassle. Battery Time, from developers Liquidum, hopes to make battery life optimization as easy as pressing one button.

Battery Time Saver & Optimizer — as it is so called in Google Play, where it is available for free — is an incredibly simple utility to use. When you open the app, you are first presented with the battery time remaining on your device. An arrow below this opens up a summary view that shows you approximately how much call time, Wi-Fi use, video, audio and gaming time this will get you.

In the center of the screen lies a large ‘Extend Time’ button. Hit this and the app closes down any power zapping apps, optimizes your display settings, toggles bluetooth and wifi off if you want it to and turns off auto-sync. The beauty of Battery Time is this one-tap functionality that makes it really easy to gain extra minutes of use — and in some cases hours. This makes it really easy for anyone to quickly see how much battery they have left, and squeeze out some extra time.

Below the main Extend Time button lie a number of icons for manually managing the above settings to your liking, and you’ll see the impact on your battery life reflected immediately on the reading at the top of the screen as you make changes.

Should Battery Time’s optimization not be enough for you, you can find further tips in the app’s Message Center. There are some handy tips — especially for the layman — in here that could help to maintain a longer battery life each day.

Key to the usefulness of an app of this kind is how accurate the remaining battery life indicator actually is. If I’m going to rely on the app to let me know roughly how much juice I have left, I need to know it going to be reliably correct. From my testing, I found Battery Time’s readings to be correct within a margin of error of about 30 mins. For a third-party app, I think this is admirable.

Battery Time is certainly focused on the general consumer and would perhaps be lacking feature-wise for the power user. While you can tweak some of the settings manually, overall control is sacrificed for ease of use. The User Interface is straightforward, plain and modern

If you find your battery drains quicker than expected and want a simple way to get more out of your device, Battery Time is worth taking a look at. It’s simplicity makes it easy to download and use immediately, and it can help your device last longer if you allow it to manage your settings for you.

Check out Battery Time on Google Play where it is available to download for free.

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Sony announced its new Xperia X series of devices at this year’s Mobile World Congress, but today we find out that it is meant to replace the Z line of devices we’ve known for so long. Yes, the Xperia Z series of devices is dead.

Sony Mobile released an official statement on what will happen to the Z series:

The Xperia Z line has reached its culmination – Xperia X series represents a new chapter and evolution of our product strategy. Whilst the Xperia Z series was all about bringing the best of Sony’s advanced technologies to smartphones, Xperia X series is based on bringing smart, adaptive Sony user experiences across camera, battery performance and hardware / software design.Sony

While it’s good to see Sony changing things up (let’s be fair, the Z series has never been that successful) and we hope the company will see new success with the new Xperia X series, it’s a bit sad to see the Z series go. They have historically been solid phones that just didn’t sell that well. What do you think of Sony’s change to a new line of phones?

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