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The trend towards integrated, non-removable batteries has caused much weeping and gnashing of teeth among the Android faithful, and nowhere is it more passionate than from the Nexus crowd. If you've been lamenting the Nexus 4's lack of a removable battery, ZeroLemon (purveyors of ridiculously huge extended batteries for major phones) has something they'd like you to see.
It was only a matter of time. Samsung just sent out invitations to the their latest Unpacked press event, this time labeled "Episode 2." It's scheduled for 1PM EST on September 4th, just under one month from today, before the annual IFA show in Berlin. Android newshounds will recall that the original Galaxy Note got its debut at the same venue back in 2011.
The Chromecast is a nice and easy way to send videos to a local TV, and you can't argue with the price. But right now it's limited to just a few apps streaming directly from existing video and music services. Bubblesoft, makers of the BubbleUPnP media server, are showing off features of an upcoming version that would make Chromecast a lot more useful: streaming nearly any file on your smartphone or cloud drive.
Update: Clove has posted the full details on the HTC Fetch to its blog, and it's a lot less interesting than they previously thought. Turns out it's just a Bluetooth-enabled tracker device, with no on-board GPS function. When it's paired to an HTC phone (presumably through an app) it will beep on command, helping you find your keys and whatnot.
It was only a matter of time until HTC stepped up to Samsung and offered a "phablet" of its own, and it looks like that time is drawing close. Chinese site ePrice, source of numerous reliable leaks in the past, has posted a photo of a 5.9-inch HTC device set to take on the Galaxy Note series, Xperia Z Ultra, and the like. According to the post, it's called the HTC One Max, codenamed the T6.
Hey, NFL Mobile developers. We need to talk. I'm glad you decided to drop the yearly re-title from your app - that's one less thing you'll have to do every summer. But the number after three is four. Four. The one right before five. Now I know decimals can be tricky, but I honestly have no idea what caused you to jump from app version 3.7 to 8.0.26 - next time, show your work.
PSA: YouTube Live Streams, Private Videos, And Mobile-Disabled Videos Don't Work With The Chromecast
Were you hoping to gather 'round the flatscreen and Chromecast with your local Android Users Group for the live stream of Google's next Nexus event? Too bad: at the moment, YouTube live stream videos just won't work with Chromecast, as demonstrated by our tipster Nathan. We tried it using the Lollapalooza 2013 live stream, and sure enough, it just won't display.
Imagine, if you will, that you've just checked in to a hotel in Tokyo for an extended vacation. Weary from the long train and cab rides from the airport, you make use of the bathroom, noting the famously futuristic facilities adorning the electronic toilet. As you take care of business, you hear a laughing, sniggering sound from the other side of the wall - clearly someone in the next room is having a good time. All of a sudden, you are having a very bad time indeed, as a jet of water unexpectedly invades your nether regions. A peal of laughter erupts from the other room, just as the eruption in the toilet ceases.
The folks on the CyanogenMod team are always adding new devices to their ever-increasing list, and over the last few days they've added no less than eleven more. According to a pair of Google+ posts, there are new officially-supported phones and tablets including two Barnes & Noble Nooks, a ton of Motorola devices, and a few Samsungs thrown in for good measure. Here's the full list:
For the couple of years, Samsung's cheaper, smaller handsets have been sold mostly on America's small regional carriers. It looks like Verizon is bucking that trend by bringing the Galaxy S4 Mini, a phone that's related to is big brother in name only, to US consumers. Engadget was tipped with some photos and screenshots of the phone "in the wild," with a pretty convincing set of Verizon logos and a boot-up sequence.
In preparation for reporting on the general state of the Moto X bootloader, we reached out to AT&T for an official statement on the matter. We know that many potential buyers want to know whether they can fully modify their phones, especially after the HTC One X and Galaxy S4 were denied unlockable bootloaders on the carrier. Here's what they said in reply:
A lot of you have been waiting to hear about the status of the bootloader in the Moto X - after all, if this is Motorola's new standard, how do they intend to go forward? The answer is a bit anti-climactic: according to this developer-focused page on the Motorola website, the Moto X for Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Rogers in Canada will be unlockable, along with "two models just for developers."
It was just six weeks ago that we featured Rockmelt, an Android app with a bit of an identity crisis. It didn't know whether it wanted to be an RSS reader or a browser (but it did know it wanted to look like Pinterest). Well, the eponymous company that makes Rockmelt is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Yahoo. And they've killed the Android app deader than a dove at an NRA convention.
The latest trend in Android user interface modifications is the gesture-based meta-launcher, a way of quickly launching and switching between huge numbers of apps. My personal favorite is still SwipePad, but the current fashion is for Holo-style, scrollable sidebars. Appsi is the latest among these, but differentiates itself with a ton of customization and plugins.
It's that time of the month: get your paycheck, pay your bills, and gather round the Android Developers page for a new look at the distributed versions of the world's most-used mobile operating system. For the two-week period ending on August 1st, Jelly Bean 4.1 rose 1.7% to 34% of the total Android population, becoming the most popular single version of Android for the first time.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got an RPG-puzzle mix, two, count 'em, two helicopter games, a stylish retro platformer, and another puzzle game from Noodlecake. Without further ado:
Much has been made of the fact that Motorola's shiny new flagship is made (or at least assembled) in America. But there's a downside to this: it looks as though aspiring Motorola customers in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the rest of the world will have to do without. Motorola has made it clear that the Moto X is only for the US, Canada, and Latin American markets.
The Chromecast runs a modified version of Android, so of course modders are all over it like white on rice. The folks at GTVHacker already gave us a working bootloader hack and root access, not that there's much you can do with it at the moment except switch to the beta or dev channel. Unfortunately, a quick over-the-air update for the Chromecast seems to have closed this modding avenue already. One XDA-Developers member has discovered this firsthand. We're currently waiting to hear back from GTV Hacker with a confirmation.
One of the coolest features for the Moto X is Motorola's Moto Maker system, a website that allows buyers to customize the color of the front, back, and accents for the phone. At launch it will only be available for the AT&T model, but Motorola is planning to expand availability to other carriers later in the year. Check out the video for the system below.
Well, it's finally here, folks: the Moto X just broke cover from a press embargo, and we can get down to the nitty-gritty of the real device. As heavily leaked, it's not the showstopping device that you might expect as Motorola's flagship: with a 4.7-inch, 720p screen and Moto's custom X8 chip (1.7Ghz dual-core CPU, quad-core GPU) it falls on the high end of the mid-range. But that's what the company is aiming for: a phone with as wide a release as possible.