Android Phone Fans

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• Motorola Shamu (Nexus 6) photographed alongside the LG G3
• “Stone Leather” Moto 360 quietly creeps into Best Buy
• Moto X available tomorrow at Verizon, shipping begins for Pure Edition pre-orders
• Report: Samsung Galaxy Note Edge to be produced in limited quantities
• Droidcon NYC 2014 Recap: A developers paradise
• Deal: get a factory refurbished Chromecast for $15 via Groupon
• Samsung moving 500 engineers out of their mobile division to work on Tizen
• iOS gets two-week exclusive on Angry Birds Transformers

Motorola Shamu (Nexus 6) photographed alongside the LG G3 Posted: 25 Sep 2014 02:10 PM PDT It was only yesterday we saw a few noteworthy specs from the upcoming Motorola-made Nexus 6 (Nexus X) outlined in a new report. To help illustrate what we could be looking at when the device is officially unveiled later this year (nothing has been confirmed, of course) a quick mockup was made showcasing a really stretched out Moto X.  Having seen a Motorola phablet ourselves, we confirmed that the mockup was, for the most part, accurate. Today, the rumored Motorola Shamu — aka Nexus 6, Nexus X — seems to have made a physical appearance next to an LG G3 in a quick size comparison. The photo, posted on XDA, lines up with what we’ve seen of the device (only the one we peeped was all silver) and with a rumored 5.92-inch display, will look like an extremely tall version of the Motorola Moto X (2nd Gen). We told you more leaks would begin coming out of the woodwork as we approach the anniversary of the Nexus 5. Expect more to be revealed in the coming weeks.

“Stone Leather” Moto 360 quietly creeps into Best Buy Posted: 25 Sep 2014 12:04 PM PDT A new color option for the Moto 360 seems to have found its way to Best Buy’s store shelves. You can now order the Stone Leather version of the watch, which is a few shades of grey lighter than the original grey model. Everything else should be just as it’s always been on the Moto 360 — a circular smart watch with some questionable hardware inside. But oh, does it look so good. You can buy one from Best Buy’s site for the standard going price of about $250, and don’t forget to read our review to see whether or not it’s worth the money.

Moto X available tomorrow at Verizon, shipping begins for Pure Edition pre-orders Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:06 AM PDT Looks like the Motorola Moto X is launching a lot sooner than expected. After we received evidence of a September 26th arrival, Verizon has officially announced that their version of Motorola’s 2014 flagship will be launching tomorrow. You’ll be able to snap up a 16GB Black XLTE model for just $99 on a new two-year contract, or — for a limited time — the white version with bamboo backing for the same price (that typically comes with a premium so it’s a pretty nice deal). Of course, you can always go through Moto Maker and customize your own 16GB or 32GB device for $99 or $149, respectively. Those prices all come with new two-year contracts, though you’re free to go the Verizon Edge or full off-contract route if you want. The Moto X is a very exciting device that Motorola hopes will get people excited about their name again. Yesteryear’s model of the same name was a bit lackluster in the specs department, though it provided a solid foundation for what you see today. We touched on all of that in our review, with Chris Chavez giving it a very nice 4.6/5 rating for keeping things simple, powerful, quick, easy and customizable. Be sure to give that a read and decide whether or not you want one when they become available tomorrow. Oh, and for those who pre-ordered the Pure Edition through Moto Maker? Those are beginning to ship out too, which is over two weeks ahead of Motorola’s original estimate. Be on the lookout for them starting as early as today. [via Verizon]

Report: Samsung Galaxy Note Edge to be produced in limited quantities Posted: 25 Sep 2014 09:55 AM PDT The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge is one of Samsung’s most innovative ideas this year, but the company doesn’t want to go all in on an idea that might not pan out. According to ZDNet Korea, Samsung is considering the Note Edge a “limited edition release,” and as such they won’t be producing nearly as many units as they would for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. We’d already had suspicion that Samsung wasn’t going to look to produce this thing at the same rate as their two big yearly flagships despite heading to all four major United States carriers. It’s understandable of Samsung to approach this new lineup with caution. Not only is it unclear how the market will respond to this new idea, they probably don’t want to take any of the limelight away from the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 on the eve of its release. The timing of the latter situation is especially important considering they have a lot to respond to with Apple’s stellar iPhone 6 and 6+ launch. The launch pressured them so much that they decided to move the Note 4′s release date to tomorrow in South Korea, and promised to be in over 140 countries by the end of October. We can’t imagine it’ll be terribly hard to get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy Note Edge once they finally make their way to retail, but you’d better not lollygag too long or you might miss out. [via Neowin]

Droidcon NYC 2014 Recap: A developers paradise Posted: 25 Sep 2014 09:53 AM PDT So why the hell am I, Phandroid's Lead Android Developer, writing an article?  Some of you may not know this but I have a hidden talent writing technical documentation and spreading my passions through words.  In the future when I have something awesome to share with you; expect some erotic love novels featuring Android. Droidcon Droidcon is a global developer conference series and a network focusing on the best of Android.  Since 2009 I have been envious about Droidcon events taking place in other countries, which are just not practical for me to attend.  I love reading about the events and I am sure that this Phandroid Army — yes; that is a thing and you're enlisted — does as well.  So let's talk about this years phenomenal event, Droidcon NYC 2014 which was organized by Kevin Galligan and his company Touch Lab. This year was not only the first Droidcon NYC conference, but also the first major Android event that was able to take place in New York City.  To afford a venue that is located in the center of Manhattan, it requires a lot of money along with some "Platinum" sponsors.  Of course you can probably guess that Google is indeed a platinum sponsor but something that may take a lot of you by surprise, is the fact that Microsoft is as well.  If you visit Droidcon NYC, you will also see Gold, Silver, and bronze sponsors of familiar names such as Yahoo!, Sony, Etsy, along with some other big names. So many great speakers, company booths and free swag at this event; you could almost say it's like a mini Google I/O.  I gained more knowledge about Android Development this year by attending Droidcon NYC than when I attended Google I/O.  What???  Yes, it's true! Let me break it out for you… Google I/O has become /r/androidcirclejerk as to Droidcon is /r/androiddev.  I won’t include /r/Android since I managed to get banned for submitting too many Phandroid articles — sigh — but that could be another article that I will not even entertain the idea of writing. Inspiration The Keynote on the first day was a pretty awesome pep talk to start off the conference. Chris Haseman and Kevin Grant from Tumblr expressed some of their experiences with the development of the Tumbler app and how to create software with soul.  Creating software with soul is important for Android's future.  If you scratching your heads, let me explain a little what this means.  Rather than developers creating Android apps that provide a function, we also need to create apps that are polished.  It's those small features and unexpected UX pleasures that will make your apps stand out from the rest. Soul goes hand and hand with one of the most talked about topics right now; Material Design.  Material Design plays a huge role in the future of Android.  We all love to hear about Google’s new design language and I took advantage of sitting in on two different talks covering this topic alone. One of the Material Design talks was presented by Roman Nurik, a well known Android Developer Advocate at Google and recently my new buddy.  You can find most of what he covered at Google Design but I believe he provided a few more exciting details for us developers as well as answered some one on one questions.  Keep your eyes out for his slides as he told me he is currently working on getting them released.  I also believe TouchLab will be providing videos for some of the talks and I am confident this would be one of them. As I mentioned earlier, Yahoo was a sponsor this year and even provided a talk with the one and only Jean-Baptiste "JBQ" Quéru.  His talk was excellent as I learned a lot about Yahoo's inside decisions on how their products got to the point of where they are at today. JBQ also gave the hint that over the next few months we can expect to see a lot more getting published from Yahoo, which has me a little excited to check out.  I talked quite a bit with JBQ and he is an all around stellar dude.  I can’t even begin to express the inspiration you get from just a few hours hanging around these Android all stars.  I’m glowing, aren’t I?  Well, JBQ and I hit up the club at the after party; having an amazing time as you can see below. Photo Credit: Patrick Hill One company that stands out and I feel that I need to give a shout out to, is Square.  You won’t find Square listed on the sponsor list but you should in my opinion because they had a total of four different Android developers giving talks.  This included Jesse Wilson, Ray Ryan, Dimitris Koutsogiorgas and the amazing Jake Wharton.  Jake gets amazing because this guy is probably the most important contributor to open source libraries for Android. His claim to fame before Square was ActionBarSherlock, which you can still find in dozens of apps on Google Play.  If you are a developer or an Android Fanboy, you may already know Square from their superb contribution to open source.  The beauty of all their talks is the fact that they all complimented each other and lead right back to sharing everything with you as open source libraries.  They honestly have solutions for almost every needed angle that developers spend countless hours banging their heads trying to support. Summary In summary each and every speaker this year had great and resourceful information to share.  Keep in mind these events are not just for developers, but also designers. Designers play an important role in the finalized product that the developer creates. Google I/O I feel has too much non developer drama these days and I can’t thank Kevin Galligan and Touch Lab enough for organizing this amazing NYC event. If you missed the event you can find some of these presentation slides over at Speaker Deck and stay tuned to DroidCon NYC to find more pictures and videos of the events.

Deal: get a factory refurbished Chromecast for $15 via Groupon Posted: 25 Sep 2014 07:56 AM PDT Chromecast is already an incredibly cheap accessory that helps you watch content from your mobile phone or tablet on the big screen, and today you can have it for about as cheap as you’re ever going to find it. Groupon is selling refurbished Chromecast units for $25, and you can take an extra $10 off using the coupon code HAPPY10. The price is likely to come out to about $16 after taxes and all that jazz have been figured in, but it’s still a pretty nice deal for such a useful device. The “refurbished” tag might put some of you off, but there is a fair return policy and a standard one year warranty. And if all that fails? Well, it’s $15 — pretty much water under the bridge. Head to Groupon now to take advantage.

Samsung moving 500 engineers out of their mobile division to work on Tizen Posted: 25 Sep 2014 06:53 AM PDT Looks like Samsung is getting serious about the Internet of Things — that is, engineering consumer electronics that can work and communicate with each other through the glorious use of internet. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has made the decision to move over 500 engineers out of their mobile division and into other areas of the company, including consumer electronics,  TVs, network, printers and enterprise software. What does this mean for their mobile software? We’re not entirely sure, but the move is being made to bolster their “competitive edge in the Internet of Things (IoT) industry and increase synergies for the Tizen platform.” That line initially makes it sound like they want to focus on Tizen more than Android, but what it really means is that they want to help grow Tizen into a central operating system that they can use on all their smart products going forward. We’ve seen them make the transition to the operating system for most of their smart watches so we’re not surprised they want to explore other areas for its use. As for the implications this move may have on their smartphone business? There might be none — Samsung’s Tizen efforts on smartphones simply aren’t going well. The Samsung Z, Samsung’s first Tizen phone, was delayed indefinitely after lack of consumer and developer interest, and there’s no telling if Samsung will ever look to explore the platform’s viability on smartphones down the line. We wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Samsung isn’t willing to make a drastic move and drift away from using the world’s most popular operating system for their flagship phones and tablets. That said, there’s no reason not to continue to build Tizen up by using it on products where the operating system used doesn’t make a clear difference.

iOS gets two-week exclusive on Angry Birds Transformers Posted: 25 Sep 2014 05:32 AM PDT We’re not surprised by now, but Rovio has announced that the Android version of Angry Birds Transformers won’t be hitting Google Play until October 30th. Why’s that bad news? Because the iOS version will be made available October 15th, a full 2 weeks in advance. Rovio would have you believe that this is due to them needing to optimize the game for tons of different Android devices compared to a few iOS devices, and while it may be true that Android games need more tender love and care due to the vast array of hardware, no other company of Rovio’s size seems to have any issues with simultaneous launches. I find it odd that Android has stormed in to become the most dominant mobile operating system over the last few years, yet it continues to be treated like a second-rate afterthought. Of course, if money (read: exclusivity deals) was the motive behind it then Rovio’s just being Rovio and Apple’s just being Apple: two big companies with the desire to make money and the willingness to do anything to make said money. If that’s not the case, well, Rovio needs to step into the current times and start treating Android like the leading OS it is. You can find the newly launched gameplay trailer up above as we await the game’s arrival. [via Rovio]

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