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Facebook has constantly added new features to Messenger since it became a standalone chat app, and Live Location is the latest to join the list. Live Location lets Messenger users temporarily share an up-to-date location with friends and family.

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Facebook has officially announced its new Messenger Day feature for Android and iOS after previously testing the Snapchat Stories clone with a limited number of users. Messenger Day is rolling out globally to Facebook’s Messenger app beginning today.

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We told you yesterday about the latest update to Google’s “Messenger” app, and at first glance the biggest changes looked to be visual. But now that we’ve had a chance to tear down the new APK and look at internal revisions over the last version, it’s pretty clear that the big change with this version isn’t aesthetic. It’s the beginnings of support for RCS…

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Facebook Messenger is increasingly a good citizen of the Play Store by adopting the latest Android features and having a Material design. Now, after a few weeks of testing, Facebook has officially announced that Messenger can now send and receive texts as your default SMS client.

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Update: LlabTooFeR has posted 10 new wallpapers from HTC’s upcoming device. Grab them in the new gallery below.

HTC said a few days ago that its upcoming flagship HTC 10 (HTC M10?) handset will be announced by way of an online-only event set to take place on April 12th, but why wait until the 12th to start getting the HTC 10 experience? If the phone’s wallpapers are what you’re after, you can grab them now below thanks to some leaks on Twitter from the well-known LlabTooFeR…

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After many months of A/B testing, Facebook is finally releasing an update for Messenger featuring Material Design to all users today. The final version that is coming out to phones today features a blue top bar and a floating action button, along with other visual tweaks.

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Update: It looks as though Steve Hemmerstoffer received a tip also seemingly showing ‘HTC 10’ in a device’s ‘Phone Identity’ settings menu. On its own, it’s hardly definitive, but when two of the most reliable leaksters online agree on something, it’s definitely worth taking note.

HTC’s next flagship is coming, and the Taiwanese company hasn’t been holding back the teasers. Instead, it’s ramping up its social media campaign to hype the #powerof10, first showing off the shiny chamfered edges, then telling us how much it was obsessing over the design. We all assumed this meant the HTC One M10 was coming. But if a tweet from the oft-reliable leakster Evan Blass is accurate, HTC might be about to ditch the ‘One’ moniker as well as the ‘M’ prefix on the model number.

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Our previous glimpses at the rumored HTC One M10 confirmed that the device takes heavy visual cues from the One A9. However, a new leaked image reveals that the rear of device will be in line with previous HTC One phones.

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Wired has an excellent profile on Andy Rubin and his latest ventures post-Google. As creator of the original Android operating system that Google would eventually acquire and later a long-time Google employee on various Internet efforts at the company, a lot of people are waiting to see what Rubin does next since leaving Google over a year ago. 

In 2013, Rubin discussed his restlessness with Larry Page, and—as Rubin recounts it—the two men agreed it was time for a change. That March, Rubin stepped down from Android… For a year, Rubin spun up Google’s new robotics division, but he quickly realized that Google’s goals, which reportedly involve creating humanoid assistants, would take a decade of basic research.

We already knew that Rubin’s new company, Playground Global, would provide support and hands-on engineering assistance to hardware tech startups it’s investing in, but Rubin elaborated on the company’s plans, including describing what he hopes will eventually become an open platform for all companies building AI into their products:

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Back in early 2013, HTC surprised the smartphone world when the original One (codenamed M7) was revealed in all its shiny aluminum unibody glory. It wasn’t just a well-built and incredibly nicely designed phone: it had the invaluable pro of coming at the right time.

Save for Sony, whose Xperia Z lineup was maturing into an interesting — albeit already a tad repetitive — concept, all the major Android manufacturers were struggling to deliver a compelling product that ticked the aesthetics box as well as those regarding functionality.

Samsung, perhaps too focussed on cramming the latest and greatest specs into its devices, was often heavily dispraised for its poor use of plastic, a criticism that would endure for another two years, while LG’s G line of flagship smartphones certainly couldn’t raise a flag of uniqueness either, more or less tumbling in the same mud…

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While HTC won’t be announcing anything at this year’s Mobile World Congress, there have already been leaks about their upcoming successor to the One M9, codenamed the HTC Perfume. Confirming a previous rumor that the phone will look similar to the One A9 is the first leaked picture of it via Evleaks.

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Not much about the HTC One M10 has leaked yet, which is an oddity for the Taiwanese company. HTC’s handsets—including most recently the HTC One M9 and A9—have a track record of being some of the first to leak in the Spring Android phone refresh cycle, making their way out via Evleaks, Upleaks, TENAA, and other sources. Unsurprisingly, it looks like Evleaks has his hands on some information. For now, though, all he’s saying is that those that like the HTC One A9 will love the HTC One M10…

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According to relatively well-known HTC leaker, @LlabTooFeR on Twitter, the Taiwanese manufacture won’t use MWC as its platform to launch its next flagship device this year. The usually reliable leaker corroborates a previous rumor, suggesting that the it’s more likely the phone will get its own separate event after MWC. An earlier rumor had suggested we won’t see it announced until March, with a retail launch due in April…

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Facebook is testing a minor Material Design-inspired refresh for its messaging app, Messenger. The addition of the floating action button (FAB) is the biggest and most notable change, but there are some other minor design tweaks and a new feature that allows multiple user sign-ins.

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Yahoo Messenger has long taken a back seat to other Yahoo products on mobile devices, but today the company is finally unveiling a revamped app that brings its messaging platform into this decade with a completely redesigned user experience and new features.
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I’ve had the HTC One A9 in my hands for a few days but didn’t want to give my initial thoughts until the Taiwanese smartphone maker pushed an update fix to the Android 6.0 phones yesterday.

I’ll get the obvious out of the way right off the bat: Yes, for better or worse, it looks like an iPhone 6. Sure, HTC invented the antenna strips with the M7 a few years ago and there are significant differences like the size (5-inches, halfway between the iPhone  and iPhone Plus models) camera placement at the center top as opposed to corner and oval fingerprint reader instead of Apple’s circle. But the rounded edges speaker grill, colors and other design tweaks look way too much like the iPhone.

In fact, I’ve mistaken the A9 for my iPhone on a few occasions over the past few days and the A9 is black and my iPhone is white/silver! The iPhone resemblance is a big bummer because HTC has long taken pride in their distinctive, if not overly-heavy, phone designs.

Now that that’s out of the way, there are plenty of things to like about the new One A9, including the size as I mentioned before being right in between the two iPhone models. For me, 5 inch screens is the sweet spot, no question. HTC has removed most of everything else around the screen so this is really a svelte phone. The curves feel great in the hand, the buttons are placed perfectly. The power button has a distinct feel so you won’t mistakenly hit it when you are trying to turn up the volume.

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Yesterday afternoon, HTC finally unveiled its long-rumored ‘Aero’ smartphone, officially named the HTC One A9. While it retains the unibody metal design that made the One series so popular, it’s a far cry from previous models in overall styling and form factor.

To get the obvious comparison out of the way early, it looks like an iPhone 6/6s, and sits somewhere between iPhone 6/6s and 6/6s Plus in size. Obvious comparisons aside, we wanted to see how the spec sheet measured up against HTC’s current crop of flagship phones, and to see whether or not this new design comes with a compromise…

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After months of rumor and speculation, the HTC One A9 is finally official. The phone which the company’s chief said can replace an iPhone is a reality. It’s much slimmer and much flatter than its previous all-metal One phones, and comes with a host of impressive specifications…

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According to recent reports from both Re/code and The Wall Street Journal, Google is in the later stages of talks to invest in Symphony, a startup building a secure messaging platform. While the exact terms of the investment, including its value, have not been determined, WSJ’s report said that the deal will value Symphony at $650 million…
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