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Would you spend $400 on a portable Bluetooth speaker? That's the question Jabra's hoping to answer with its new flagship product, the Solemate Max. If you can believe it, Jabra does make a somewhat compelling case at times. The Max falls into the larger end of the portable speaker spectrum, competing with current market favorites like the Logitech Boombox and the Jambox Big, perhaps even the Bose SoundLink III. Compared to those speakers, though, the Max's $400 MSRP is almost stratospheric. So what exactly are you paying for?The Solemate Max isn't your average portable speaker. Inside its ruggedized housing are 4 speaker drivers - 2 woofers, 2 tweeters - and a proprietary bass reflex design means it puts out powerful low frequency sound. Compared to any other portable speaker I've heard, the Max really does bring the boom.
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 99: Some Snot In Your Sflute
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 99: Some Snot In Your Sflute
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here.
This weekend's poll is a pretty simple one, but one that I'm curious to see the results of given our worldwide audience: how did you pay for your current phone?
As part of a Reddit AMA earlier this afternoon, HTC announced that it would support all "flagship" devices with Android OS updates 2 years from their release date - though the promise was specifically conditioned as being to North America only. The bit about North America was added after the original statement was made, so it looks like HTC might have initially overpromised just a bit. Here's the whole quote:
According to TmoNews, Americas magenta-est carrier (and don't you forget it!) will unveil some changes to the company's JUMP! device installment plans on February 23rd, and while they're heavy on "unlimited" language, the plans are actually getting a bit more restrictive for customers.
Say what you will about BlackBerry's viability as a company, but the Canadian smartphone firm's messaging app is quickly shaping up into a powerful client. Today, BB announced that BBM 2.0 for Android is out now, and it adds a whole lotta stuff to the app's growing feature resume.
The CEO of Lenovo claimed in a phone interview with Bloomberg that the company plans to turn Motorola profitable "in a few quarters" - primarily by shifting one of the brand's regional focal points back to China. Yang claims that Motorola will allow Lenovo to expand its already strong Chinese smartphone market presence at both the high and low end of the market, though it's unclear what this means for Lenovo's existing smartphone brand and, perhaps of more importance to you, Motorola's product strategy.
King.com isn't doing a lot to win positive publicity lately. The company's aggressive strategy toward establishing IP dominance in the industry has won the ire of most of the web, and for good reason: it's kind of super asshole-ish.
Looking to kill a few more hours on your phone this afternoon? Porters / remasterers of all things classic DotEmu have released the follow-up to R-Type, R-Type 2, on the Play Store for just a buck ninety-nine today, and it's got all the 256-color sidescrolling space shooter action you could possibly want.
On the official Google... Google+ page, Google announced today that the newest version of Search for Android will now allow you to call or text contacts merely by uttering their relationship to you.
Every so often, something shows up in the Android Police tip box that seems just a little too wild to be true. Such was the case with the information that led us to publish this story. After all, if someone simply claimed that Google was forcing device OEMs to use up-to-date software in order to get access to Google Mobile Services, you'd probably find such an allegation dubious at best. Even if they included moderately convincing evidence that this was the case.
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 98: A Horse, A Goat, And A Car On Blocks
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 98: A Horse, A Goat, And A Car On Blocks
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here.https://soundcloud.com/androidpolice/androidpolice-podcast-ep98
Nokia just issued a press release announcing that the company had settled all ongoing patent litigation with Taiwanese handset-maker HTC today, and it looks like the Finnish firm came out on top. Nokia says HTC will make payments to Nokia and that HTC will license its LTE patent portfolio to the company under a cross-licensing "technology collaboration agreement." Sounds pleasant.
While it may not be within the 90 days HTC originally promised, executive director of product management Mo Versi announced on Twitter this morning that the Verizon edition of the HTC One has had its 4.4 OTA update approved by Verizon, and that it will begin rolling out shortly.
Update: Here's the official changelog.
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 97: The Slammer Pog Of Palm Patents
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 97: The Slammer Pog Of Palm Patents
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here.
There comes a time in every major tech corporation's life when it has to let its previously-acquired but only tangentially-related asset go as part of a complex transaction with a multinational electronics firm. For Google, that time came today, when it announced that it would sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion.
AllThingsD spinoff Re/code is reporting this morning that Google and Samsung have reached a series of "broad agreements" regarding the latter's modifications to the Android OS, and it may be music to the ears of Android enthusiasts everywhere.