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Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans


Starting this week, you’ll need to install Messenger in order to send/receive messages on Facebook

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 05:43 PM PDT

Facebook Messenger UI update

Starting this week, sending messages over Facebook will now only be possible when using their stand-alone Messenger app. Facebook has been warning users of the move for several months now (as reported by us back in April) but before they officially pull the plug on the feature in the Facebook app, will notify users in-app and by email.

So why require a separate messaging app from its users looking to send messages to one another? That part is still a little unclear although Facebook says it benefits its users with friends generally responding to messages around 20% faster than using the Facebook app alone. Nobody likes waiting, right?

Facebook also mentions the mandatory Messenger install has received such high engagement in Europe where it’s already gone live, that they decided to go ahead and move forward with it for the rest of the world. You wont find a blog post, but here’s what Facebook told TechCrunch earlier today:

"In the next few days, we're continuing to notify more people that if they want to send and receive Facebook messages, they'll need to download the Messenger app. As we've said, our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences. Messenger is used by more than 200 million people every month, and we'll keep working to make it an even more engaging way to connect with people."

The move comes just after Facebook bought Whatsapp for $16 billion and will only affect users on Android and iPhone. Everyone else using Facebook mobile or another platform like Windows Phone will find themselves spared from Facebook’s forced migration. Thanks, Facebook.

Motorola’s Shamu, the first Nexus phone I do not want [Opinion]

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 05:24 PM PDT

Nexus-Shamu

When you own a Nexus device, you get a few perks for being backed by El Goog. Nexus means your device will be developer friendly with an unlockable bootloader, have supported AOSP code, precompiled binaries for certain pieces of hardware, and of course factory images in case you happen to tinker a bit too hard. You’ll also be privy to the latest and greatest versions of Android, with timely updates. Last and certainly not least, Nexus devices also set a standard for the entire Android ecosystem in not only software, but hardware too.

The Information apparently has three difference sources confirming the existence of Motorola “Shamu,” which is rumored to be the Nexus 6. Why Shamu? Well, besides aligning with Google’s fishy device codenames, it’s apparently a whale of a phone, literally. 5.9 inches to be exact.

That’s just insane. I might be a self proclaimed Android fanboy, but holy hell. I do not want something that big. I might live and breathe Nexus and Android, however I’m saddened to say that this might be the first Nexus phone that I won’t salivate over or end up buying. It’s just too damn big to comfortably use.

For example, the Oppo Find 7 and OnePlus One are just great phones when it comes to hardware specs and software like CyanogenMod. But, no matter how great the hardware and software combinations are for these phones, the sheer size of these devices with their 5.5 inch displays are one of their downfalls. Having to move the phone up and down in your hand like some one handed kung-fu move just to reach the top and bottom of the phone is something I just do not want to experience day in and day out.

Sure, you can argue that Nexus isn’t for everyone, but that doesn’t mean that Google should further alienate the brand. While large screened phones also known as phablets (I hate that word) are becoming more and more prevalent, that does’t mean the reference device for Android should embrace their size as a standard, setting the stage for devices to continually grow larger and larger.

Who knows? Maybe Android Silver isn’t dead and this is Google’s way to ween people away from the Nexus program by launching a less than desirable device? Maybe Android L will launch with even more hands-free actions allowing smartphone users to accomplish more without even having to touch their massive screened device. At this point until we hear the good word from Google, anything is possible.

Google could be scrapping Android Silver in favor of a Motorola-made Nexus phablet [RUMOR]

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 03:59 PM PDT

Nexus 5 front

After being sold to Lenovo back in January for $2.91 billion, it appears the once Google-owned Motorola still has some unfinished business to attend to. According to sources out of The Information, Motorola could be collaborating with Google on an upcoming Nexus phablet.

For those wondering what the hell happened to Android Silver, well, it appears that the recent departure of Google’s Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora — the man spearheading the project — may have caused the Android Silver initiative to be scrapped altogether, defaulting back to what Google does best: Nexus.

Rumors of a new Nexus codenamed Shamu, which makes a lot more sense now given the device’s reported size, have been floating around for weeks and because the device is in AOSP, a Nexus moniker is sure to follow. A 5.9-inch phone-tablet could be big enough to warrant a Nexus 6 title, fitting perfectly with the Nexus program’s yearly upgrade cycle and incremental display size increases.

We’ll continue holding out hope for a more reasonable sized Nexus phone that wont stretch out our expensive denim, but just because a 5.9-inch Nexus is rumored doesn’t mean Google can’t update last year’s Nexus 5 with a new and improved Nexus 5 2014 model (although we’d have a hard time figuring out exactly how to upgrade the current model). Any thoughts?

Android 4.4.4 is now rolling out for the Verizon Moto X, here’s what’s new

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 02:56 PM PDT

Motorola Moto X DSC00701

After a soak test began last week for Android 4.4.4 on the Motorola Moto X, it seems Verizon is now comfortable enough to begin pushing it out to the masses. The 210.12.41 update has been officially approved by Verizon and besides the SSL security fixes addressed in Android 4.4.4, manages to bring a few smaller surprises to the mix. Here’s what Moto X users on Verizon can expect from the update:

CAMERA
• Improved camera picture quality
- Improved photos in fluorescent lighting
- Enhanced dynamic range
• Ability to pause video recording
- Offers pause/resume button on the finder
PHONE DIALER
• New graphical layout and colors
- Improves consistency and usability

For those that don’t want to wait around for Verizon to prompt them about the update, it can be pulled manually by jumping into your Settings app and selecting > About phone > System updates. If there’s nothing currently available, just check back the following days where it will continue rolling out in stages. Cheers.

[Verizon]

The Facebook Phone is alive and kicking

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:54 PM PDT

The mythical Facebook Phone was first rumored in 2010 but the most we’ve seen thus far are gimmicky devices like the HTC Status with dedicated Facebook buttons. The idea isn’t far fetched: Facebook has doubled down on mobile by investing billions in companies like WhatsApp while showing a desire to enter uncharted territory with acquisitions like Oculus. With their latest patent, Facebook is showing that Amazon isn’t the only company trying to cash in on building their own Android ecosystem.

facebook-phone-patent

The patent, titled “co-molding display with body of mobile device,” fits well with the previous Facebook and HTC mobile partnerships. HTC First pioneered their unibody frame in 2010 with the HTC Legend, at the time only rivaled in craftsmanship by Apple’s iPhone, and the company continues to make some of the best devices (see HTC One M8).

But this isn’t HTC’s patent – it’s Facebook’s – and the manufacturing process detailed makes us wonder exactly what they’ve got up their sleeves. In some ways it appears to offer a removal sleeve that would suggest Project Ara-type functionality, but the patent description homes in on manufacturing, so it’s unclear if the final product would act as such for the consumer.

We’ve continued to hear rumors that Facebook is still pursuing mobile hardware so this isn’t surprising, but launching their own self-made device hasn’t been forecasted by industry analysts- this is a step in a new direction.

facebook_phone

Facebook-phone-concept-image-002

facebook-phone-patent2

Facebook is currently one of the predominant players in mobile, so leveraging this presence may seem like a logical move, but what would a Facebook phone accomplish that a Facebook app on Android can’t?

Driving revenue for one, but it seems an unlikely motivation given that Facebook’s strength is in software. Facebook could package premium, subscription services for products like WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus, and anything else their working on much like (Amazon is doing with the Fire Phone and Prime), but that seems like a fringe benefit rather than a primary motive, unless Facebook has more to announce than the phone itself.

Unless the above question can yield a definitive answer, I’m not confident any “Facebook Phone” will make a dent in Samsung’s Android stranglehold. In the meantime, I’ll start praying that Zuck goes on another buying spree, snatches up Nokia from Microsoft, and starts making the premium Nokia Android Phones we’ve craved for the past several years.

Did Google just post an image of the rumored Nexus 9? [UPDATE]

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:30 PM PDT

TwG_SummerTrends_Google Nexus 9

When it comes to an upcoming product launch, it’s not too uncommon for big companies to slip up and let the cat out of the bag ahead of time. Tales of a rumored Nexus 9 (or Nexus 8) tablet have been floating around the net for many months now, building up hype with every passing “leak.”

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise then to find a newly published photo by the folks at Think with Google — Google’s own site for tracking current trends — is causing some stir around the net. The image, posted in Think with Google’s latest blog post (and on Google+), shows a rather nondescript tablet sporting a very un-Android aspect ratio. Given rumors that the upcoming Nexus 9 would have a similar form factor, it’s entirely possible the photo of the slab could indeed be legit.

So what do we learn from the photo? Well, not anything. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise us to find this is merely a quick mockup of an iPad Mini with the entire display/bezel blacked out. Latest Nexus 9 rumors pointed to a device manufactured by HTC that would feature front facing speakers — none of which are pictured here. We think renders of a tablet with front facing speakers on the Google Design site probably hold more weight than this leak.

I mean, you guys remember what happened with that Nexus 8 leak from a few months back, right?

UPDATE: Yup, look like the image is nothing more than a Shutterstock photo. You can find this, and many just like it, right here on their site.

Thanks, Greenbot!

[RootzWiki]

The Walking Dead Season 3 confirmed

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:12 PM PDT

TWD-game-the-walking-dead-game-telltale-games

We all figured it’d be happening, but in case you were unsure Telltale Games made the news official at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend: The Walking Dead Season 3 is coming. If you’re not sure what The Walking Dead is, it’s an episodic game series based on a comic book that follows the story of a group of rugged survivors trying to make their way through a horrific zombie outbreak. There’s also a live action television show loosely based on the comic books.

Much of the game is told from the perspective of Clementine, the little girl whom one of the main characters encounters in the first season. I won’t say much more, because if you know Walking Dead games you know it hinges on story more than anything else.

I’ll just say it’s an absolutely riveting series of games that throw some very tough choices and decisions your way. Be sure to check out Season 1 on Android, as well as all of the episodes of Season 2 that have dropped so far. Considering we aren’t finished with Season 2 just yet (we’re on episode 4 and there are usually 5 episodes per season) and that episodes usually drop 6-8 weeks apart, we wouldn’t expect Season 3 to land until sometime next year.

[via IGN]

Another Samsung Galaxy S4 catches fire, can we stop putting cheap 3rd party accessories in these things?

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 10:50 AM PDT

Samsung Galaxy S4 toasty

Samsung is making local headlines again, not because of record breaking sales or some fancy new hardware feature. It seems another one of Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones spontaneously combusted, leaving behind a puddle of ash and soot that nobody would guess was ever a smartphone. A Denton County news station tells the story of exactly what went wrong, pointing to — what else — but a faulty 3rd party accessory as the likely culprit.

While charging her Samsung Galaxy S4, a 13 year old Texas teen woke to the smell of smoke after her phone began to catch fire while charging under her pillow — a popular place for youngsters to stash away their cellphone after late night texting sessions and one of the worst places to store a smartphone while electricity is pumping through its circuitry. Where that alone isn’t likely to cause just any household smartphone to explode (although it could cause a device to reach dangerously high temperatures), the combination of heat and a 3rd party battery in the phone caused the nearly all-plastic phone to light on fire.

As Samsung, or any other manufacturer will tell you, cheap 3rd party accessories like chargers or batteries are never guaranteed to work properly with a device and in some cases, can malfunction. We’ve seen countless headlines of exploding phones, some even resulting in death, simply because consumers were looking for a deal or are ignorant to the safety concerns.

While the teen’s father is subtly placing the blame on Samsung who he feels — despite warning users in the user manual about restricting airflow on charging devices — should put bigger warnings labels on devices if they have the potential to catch fire, likening it to warnings found on cigarettes.

Of course, Samsung assures us their products are safe, but admits greater education on the subject is probably needed to avoid further instances like this in the future. Still, despite the hardware failure not appearing to be any fault of their own, Good-Guy Samsung will be replacing both the teen’s smartphone and bedding (pillow, mattress and all) while they investigate the matter.

All that being said, isn’t it about we, as a people, can finally move past this? How many countless smartphones have to die before we learn cheap 3rd party accessories are the last thing we need to be sticking inside our $700 smartphones? Of course, for those times when it does appear to be actual hardware failure, HTC will be more than happy to help steal another customers for Team HTC.

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

[FOX 4]

LG launches new Android tablet/netbook hybrid with 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and an Intel Core i5

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 09:30 AM PDT

lg tab book android

Add one more to the list of ridiculous Android tablets. LG has revealed a variant of their Tab Book, a netbook/tablet hybrid that folds down into a tablet while you’re on the go and slides up to be a netbook when you need some hardcore typing action. This variant has the model number 11TA740, and shares the same specs as the Windows 8.1 version that came before it. Here’s what’s under the hood:

  • Size: 11.6 inches
  • Resolution: Full HD (1920 × 1080)
  • Size / Thickness: (mm) 286 x 192 / 16.7
  • Weight: (kg) 1.05
  • CPU: 4th generation Core i5 4200U (Turbo 2.6GHz, Cache 3MB)
  • Memory: 4GB (1 slot)
  • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400
  • Storage: SSD 128GB
  • USB / HDMI: USB 3.0 (2 pc) / standard HDMI
  • Card slot: MicroSD
  • Color: Snow White
  • OS: Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)

Ridiculous, no? The only thing concerning on that list is Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean — you ought to get with the times, LG. Everything else looks absolutely nice, though, and we imagine you won’t find a device as powerful as this coming out of many other OEMs’ research and development offices.

Unfortunately LG’s press release (translated from Korea to English using the not-so-perfect Google Translate) doesn’t mention anything about pricing and availability, though we’ll certainly be hitting up our folks at LG to see if they have anything more to share. In the meantime grab a towel to catch all that saliva drooling out of your mouth and let us know if you’d be in for one should it ever make its way to your territory.

T-Mobile announces new value-packed family plan, but only for a limited time

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 07:53 AM PDT

If T-Mobile didn’t already show the other guys they know sheer value, perhaps today’s move will make it hard to miss. Magenta has announced a new Simple Choice family plan that gives considerable savings over the competition. A family of four can get unlimited talk, text and data (10GB of which are 4G LTE) for just $100 per month. To give an idea of how that stacks up to similar offerings from the other guys T-Mobile put together a handy little chart:

t-mobile-family-vs-others

Not too bad, right? Now for the catch: the offer is only available between July 30th and September 30th 2014, and the plan will only afford you 10GB of data until January 2nd 2016. After that, the plan reverts to 4GB of 4G LTE data (1GB per line) at the same $100 per month, but you’re obviously free to add more where needed.

We’re not sure whether to be happy that T-Mobile is continuing to shake things up with huge moves like this or sad that other carriers can’t follow suit. Either way, this is the type of stuff that breeds limitless competition, and it only results in what’s best for consumers.

[via T-Mobile]

Samsung’s Tizen plans suffer another setback with delayed smartphone

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:54 AM PDT

samsung-z1

We have no doubt that Samsung hopes to eventually free themselves from the chains binding them to Android (the chains being money, because they make a crap ton as the top OEM by far), but it seems to have been a lot more difficult than they anticipated. Samsung has announced the delay of the launch of the Samsung Z, their first Tizen smartphone, in Russia. The delay is seemingly indefinite as Samsung had no new release date details to provide.

Samsung didn’t give any reasons for the delay, but their indefinite holdout leads us to believe either one of two things happened:

  • Presales weren’t as strong as they’d hoped. It wouldn’t be the first time Samsung has pulled out on a Tizen launch due to sales — the company was originally forced to ix-nay on the Izen-tay last year when Japanese carrier partners decided they didn’t want anything to do with the phone.
  • They encountered some production issues or experience-breaking bugs. It’s still a relatively new platform and we’re sure if has its fair share of growing pains to deal with. It wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest Samsung delayed the phone to address some things that could harm their brand.

Tizen is a smartphone operating system based on Meego (which was once being developed by Nokia and Intel), but it didn’t quite catch on in its early going and Android took a considerable lead for open source Linux-based operating systems. With much of the world leaving it for dead, Samsung seemed determine to turn one man’s trash into another’s treasure.

They’ve taken a few key steps to introducing Tizen to the market, the biggest of which being the shift from Android to Tizen on their Gear lineup of smart watches (the Android Wear-based Samsung Gear Live not included, mind you). Despite resistance from hardcore Android fans, the smartwatch experience with Tizen seems to provide considerable benefits compared to Android — better battery life and performance are two areas where Tizen is said to outshine Samsung’s bite-sized customization of Android.

The issue with Tizen comes from a lack of a real ecosystem and a platform unfamiliar to developers. This means apps and custom ROMs become more difficult to load up. That said, the out-of-box experience Samsung intended for you to have works just as well with Tizen, if not better, if that’s the route you prefer to go.

That could be just one of many reasons why Samsung has found it so difficult to get their phone onto the market. Whether that’s the cause of today’s delay is for them to know and for us to find out, but either way it isn’t looking too good if they hope to ween off the Android and move all their business over to Tizen in the near future.

[via GigaOM]

Unlucky Samsung Galaxy S4 user whose phone burned up gets free One M8 from HTC

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 06:05 AM PDT

galaxy s4 burnt 1

Too often have we heard stories of users from Samsung’s camp experiencing phones that spontaneously combust or overheat to the point where it looks like someone took a match to it. Here, here and here are just a handful of stories that we’ve covered in the past. But one particular case seems to have caught the interest of an HTC product manager who wants to help convert the user to #TeamHTC (their words).  User JetLeigh on Reddit responded to one poster’s story with the following comment:

galaxy s4 burnt 2

Looks like you’re in luck, buddy. I happen to be the HTC Product Manager on the AT&T account. I appreciate the feedback and civil discussion you’ve generated on reddit while avoiding the ‘bashing’. I think any OEM or company would appreciate that!

I would like to offer you a brand new HTC One M8. What do you say?

The deal is if Samsung does eventually figure out how to get you a new device or offers that you please donate that to charity or sell it and please donate the funds to an organization of your choice. Honors system here, and no way I can really know but just leaving that simple request here as these devices don’t grow on trees and are worth a good chunk of money even to the OEM who makes them!

Bottom line we want to move you over to #TeamHTC

It’s important to know the fully story. The original Reddit post from a month ago can be read here, but here’s the gist of it: the phone burned up, and Samsung said they’d be sending the user a new smartphone in a box. He would then ship the damaged smartphone back to them.

The issue is they never sent the phone in the first place and instead shipped him an empty box (according to his claims, anyway), and countless attempts to get in contact with Samsung about the lack of a replacement have gone largely ignored. Surely Samsung would have sent a replacement had he shipped his off, but for some people it’s not easy finding a replacement smartphone at a moment’s notice, and going without a smartphone for who knows how long could be pretty miserable (note: the smartphone still functioned fine so long as he could find a way to fit a USB cable into the deformed charging port).

And that nightmare of an experience is probably what moved this sympathetic HTC representative to reach out and offer a route of recourse. It’s a pretty noble move, though no doubt a play for positive press without having to spend much more than a dime. Also worth noting is the suggestion to donate a possible replacement phone from Samsung to charity. That ought to satisfy the army of folks who don’t fancy throwing away a perfectly good smartphone.

PS: Yes, claims of burnt smartphones have seen an uptick on Reddit since this episode. Whether they’re legit or not is up to you to decide, but we’d advise our lovely readership to steer clear of using false claims and reports or intentional damage to try and get a free smartphone. It’s not just dishonest, it’s stupid — there’s a good chance no one will give an owl’s hoot.

Rumor: Motorola, Google working on 5.9-inch Nexus

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 05:27 AM PDT

Motorola Logo

Lots of breakups tend to go pretty bad, but Google and Motorola’s relationship has stayed strong following their brief period of engagement. Ties could become even tighter if this latest rumor is to be believed: the pair are working on a Nexus phone that could come clocked in at 5.9 inches, with the target month for launching it being November.

There’s no real concrete information to be had outside of that, though murmurings of a fingerprint scanner being featured on the device raises ears. The device is said to be codenamed “shamu,” the name of SeaWorld’s charming killer whale show that brings people from all over to their water park. Fitting name, that, considering a 5.9-inch phone is quite the “whale” of a form factor compared to previous Nexus phones, a line that has yet to extend beyond the 5-inch mark (excluding tablets, obviously).

The device’s codename has shown up in Google Code bug reports before, with this particular report from three days ago referencing the device in the build number. For what it’s worth, the bug report comes from a testing firm that specializes in testing hardware and software in the cellular world — sounds exactly like the type of firm who’d be able to get their hands on a prototype well ahead of it seeing the light of day.

motorola-logo-building

And that’s about the length of all the known information. Without much else to go on, it does give us an opportunity to ponder a few things. Here are just a few thoughts that immediately come to mind (should the rumor turn out to be true):

  • The Nexus line might not be dead after all. If you don’t remember, early rumors suggested Google would be dropping their Nexus program in favor of Android Silver. Android Silver is rumored to be a new device initiative for OEMs and carriers to provide high quality smartphones, but without carrier or OEM customization, and with a commitment to timely updates. We thought we’d be hearing something about Android Silver at Google IO, but alas nothing came of the rumor (and at this point, we’re not sure if anything ever will).
  • Motorola didn’t stick to its guns. Remember when Moto said they didn’t care for big phones? Could be that they’ve had a change of heart, or it could be that Google wants to introduce the first phablet in the Nexus series. Either way, it certainly doesn’t fit Motorola’s original vision.
  • Who better to use a fingerprint scanner than Motorola? Because whether you want to give them credit or not, they were the first company to use a fingerprint scanner in a mainstream smartphone. It’s only fitting that they reclaim their throne and let people know who the true originator is.

But I digress, because it could be just as likely that none of this is true or that the smartphone will never see the light of day. Rumors are always to be taken with grains of salt, so don’t go making major purchase decisions based on this particular one because you could end up waiting for nothing at all. Knowing that, though, let us know in the comments if you’ve been waiting for an oversized Nexus phone like this one.