Latest Articles
Two months ago (after no small amount of leaking) HTC announced the One X9, a variant phone with elements of its One line, exclusively for the vast Chinese market. Today in Barcelona the company has announced that it will expand the availability of said phone, bringing it to "North Asia" and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) zone later this month. Specific countries and prices haven't been released, but in China it launched for 2399 yuan, about $370 USD.
It's that time of the announcement cycle: as everyone fawns over Samsung's newest toys, carriers are tripping over themselves to tell you when you can buy them. The "big five" US carriers have all confirmed their support for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, to greater or lesser degrees, which are expected to land in various markets sometime in March. Let's break it down, shall we?
In addition to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung also announced an extra-special accessory at its Unpacked event. The Gear 360 is Samsung's first action camera, and not content to compete with GoPro and other conventional models, the company designed a camera that records video in 360 degrees at once. This is achieved with a ball-like body design and two sensors, each paired to a fish eye lens that captures 180 degrees of action. The camera and Samsung's software then stitches the video together for easy 360-degree presentations and VR playback.
Samsung's flagship announcements have become cornerstones of the Android upgrade cycle. Just like last year, the company has announced two new Galaxy-branded phones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. Both phones are modest bumps over their previous designs, both in terms of hardware and style, but there are some notably improved features that power users and practical consumers will both appreciate.
Mobile World Congress has become the premiere stage for new phones and tablet introductions, and since Lenovo saves its Motorola portfolio for the latter half of the year, it's time for the first-party devices to shine. Well, shimmer. Perhaps "gleam" would be a better word. Out of five new phones and tablets introduced on the show floor, none of them are particularly mind-blowing, and the phones are unlikely to make it to stores in the US or Europe. Anyway, let's take it from the top:
"Connected cars" are all well and good, but you need a pricey new model or a mobile hotspot to see the benefit. Samsung thinks it has a solution for everyone with an older car: a gadget that plugs into a standard On-Board Diagnostic port (OBD) and rebroadcasts mobile Internet on local Wi-Fi. It's a simple idea, but one that's easy and unobtrusive. The company calls it the Samsung Connect Auto.
The HTC Vive has been making waves in the PC and gaming worlds, quickly emerging as a serious competitor to the more well-known Oculus Rift VR headset. The Vive has been in development for over a year with input from developers and other users, not to mention HTC's corporate partner Valve. The headset is nearing completion, and the company has announced that the final consumer model will ship in early April for the disappointing price of $799. For that price you get two motion-sensing controllers, two room scale sensors, and VR games Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives and Fantastic Contraption. Pre-orders begin next week on February 29th.
I'm still wondering who was really asking for a remake of the original Footloose, but if you enjoyed the 2011 version, the soundtrack probably had a lot to do with it. The movie's licensed music, most of which isn't available in single tracks, is now free on the Google Play Store. As with most of these free albums, your mileage may vary - it's a free download in the United States, but may not be available elsewhere. The 2014 album Kuntry Livin' from rap/country fusion group Big Smo (cringe) is also free today.
Gameloft has been one of the most consistent (if not one of the most respected) game developers since the beginning of the mobile gaming boom, though the company began on consoles. Vivendi, an enormous French media empire with interests in music, movies, video games, and pretty much every other entertainment industry, is attempting a hostile stock takeover of Gameloft, according to Bloomberg. The larger company has already purchased over 30% of Gameloft's stock, and is now offering 6 euros a share for the remaining amount.
Remember when Motorola promised that its 2013 phone lineup would be getting over-the-air updates to Android 5.0, almost a year and a half ago? Pepperidge Farm DROID Ultra, DROID Maxx, and DROID Mini owners remember: they've been waiting that long to get their much-needed upgrade, watching with envy while the Verizon-specific phones were passed over and Moto's more general X and G lines got their updates. Not that any of those neglected customers are particularly surprised at this point, but Motorola has finally recanted on its promise: there will be no Lollipop for the Ultra, Maxx, or Mini.
NVIDIA tends to be very diligent when it comes to upgrading its first-party Android hardware. Earlier this month the company sent out an over-the-air update for the SHIELD Tablet, bumping the mostly-stock software up to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. A day later it halted the update, because early users were reporting that the new software made the tablet's Wi-Fi inoperable... which is kind of a big deal, especially when most of your tablets are Wi-Fi only. Today the problem has apparently been fixed, and the update is being resumed.
Nintendo's first mobile game won't really be a game - Miitomo is an extension of the Mii system that the company has been building ever since the launch of the original Wii. In anticipation of launching the app next month, Nintendo has already opened up a Miitomo website that allows users to pre-register for the app. In addition to drumming up a little press (guilty), this gives users the opportunity to reserve their preferred username.
Archos has kind of fallen off the radar in terms of tablet sales. Maybe it's different in Europe (Archos is a French company), but these days you won't see any of its products on American shelves. And considering the relative paucity of Android tablets in general as of late, that's a shame. Especially when you hear that Archos is making three new tablets at a variety of sizes and, miracle of miracles, they're all running the latest version of Android at launch.
Phone manufacturers are having a harder and harder time getting our attention when it comes to drumming up interest for new releases. LG decided that cheeky marketing would be best when announcing cases and covers for phones that don't officially exist yet. In contrast, Samsung has decided to be just plain baffling. In the "Seven Days of Unboxing" promotion, Samsung lets someone see the new phone (which is almost certainly a Galaxy S7 and/or S7 Edge) for 30 seconds, after which they get to make an artist's interpretation for the audience.
Sony is becoming less and less of a factor in the smartphone world, but their camera sensor modules are second to none. You can find Sony's Exmor camera sensors in more or less every high-end phone on the market these days, including Samsung's Galaxy line and the iPhone. So when the company announces a new high-end sensor, it's kind of a big deal. That's the case today: Sony's camera division has revealed the IMX318, a new sensor with more megapixels, tiny dimensions, and a host of built-in features.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
It's Valentine's Day. We at Android Police won't belabor that particular point, but the family-focused social network provider Life360 will, because they've made a serendipitous purchase that just happens to coincide with this weekend. The company has purchased Couple, another targeted social app that goes after, well, couples. The announcement was made on Friday, but it's surprisingly lacking in any mention of a price, because huge denominations of money that aren't attached to large vehicles or small carbon concentrations aren't very romantic.
It's been a little over a month since Motorola began seeding a much-appreciated Android 6.0 software update to its mid-range model for 2015, the Moto X Play (codenamed Lux), at least in Brazil and India. And you know what that means: the required open source kernel files aren't far behind. Those files are now available on GitHub for anyone who wants a crack at them.
As far as US airports go, Dallas-Fort Worth isn't terrible. DFW is enormous, the third-busiest on the planet in terms of aircraft movements (behind O'Hare in Chicago and Hartsfield in Atlanta), largely due to being the central hub of American Airlines and an ideal mid-continental stopover for the United States and North America as a whole. Considering all of that, it's not all that bad... assuming you can get through the maze of city-wide construction in Fort Worth and actually make it to the damned place. Today getting out of the airport will be a little easier if you're using the US Customs and Border Patrol's Mobile Passport app.
You may have heard: YouTube is getting into music in a big way. The Google-owned service has been a hotbed of music videos and independent artists almost since its inception, and lately pushes like YouTube Music and YouTube Red are formalizing that relationship. The latest progression comes out of left field: YouTube (and by extension, Google/Alphabet) has purchased BandPage, a service that helps artists and groups create website profiles specifically for music.