Chance Miller

It’s no secret that 2013 was the best year that Motorola has had for quite a while, even contending for the crown of the best OEM of the year. Much of the company’s success is thanks to its CEO, Dennis Woodside. Woodside has made headlines for his comments before, and just recently, he conducted an interview with Trusted Reviews, during which he made some very interesting comments regarding the pricing of phones, as well as customization. Motorola has revolutionized both of these categories already, with Moto Maker and the Moto X and the $179 Moto G (via Droid Life).

First, Woodside commented on how even the $179 price tag for the Moto G is considered a lot of money in many parts of the world. He adds that the company is looking for ways to further trim down the prices of devices.

“In much of the world $179 is a lot of money so there’s a big market at a price point of less than $179. We’re going to look at that and just delivering on that value promise is super important. I mean why can’t these devices be $50? There’s no reason that can’t happen so we’re going to push that.”

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Google today announced a new project designed to test the quality and connection speeds of internet service providers. The service, known as Google’s Video Quality Report, will be available in Canada  first, though it should expand to more countries as time progresses.

To perform the test, Google uses data related to how well the ISP can handle playing back a high definition YouTube video. The ISPs are graded based on the performance of other providers in a given area. If the ISP is able to load 90% of 720p YouTube videos, then it will be branded as “YouTube HD Verified” for the area and be at the top of the verification scale.

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Last week, Motorola finally announced the highly-anticpated wood-finsihed backs for its Moto X. The company announced Walnut, Ebony, And Teak finishes for the device, in addition to the Bamboo option that has been available since December. Today, the three new finishes are finally available on Motorola’s Moto Maker website for an additional $25. The options are applied like any other Moto Maker customizations, with the only difference being the $25 fee (via Droid Life).

Customizing your Moto X with wood finishing does not appear to affect the shipping times, with people who placed their order today receiving an arrival estimate of this Friday, January 24th.

The Moto X with Ebony, Teak, and Walnut finish is available now on Moto Maker, coming in at $425 for 16GB and $450 for 32GB.

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From 9to5toys.com

For a limited time only, Google is offering 25% off of select Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 accessories on the Play Store. Unfortunately not every accessory qualifies for the deal, but many of the most popular ones do. The Nexus 7 sleeve, case, and folio are all available for 25% percent off, while the Nexus 5 bumper and QuickCover qualify for the offer.

• Nexus 7 Sleeve – $22.49
• Nexus 7 Case – $37.49
• Nexus 7 Folio – $37.49
• LG QuickCover for Nexus 5 – $37.49
• Nexus 5 Bumper Case – $26.24

Of course, even with the 25% discount, all of these accessories are still considerably more expensive than they should be. You can find much better cases and folios, for both the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7, a lot cheaper on Amazon. If you want official, Google/LG made products, however, than this deal is certainly nothing to complain about.

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Google has been known to do some interesting things with the data it collects from users, and here is yet another example of that. The company has found a way to visualize the data collected from Play Music users and display it on a Google Music Timeline. This timeline offers a visual representation on the growth and decline of certain genres of music (via Google Operating System Blog).

The graph displays a colored stripe for each genre of music. The thickness of each stripe represents the popularity of that genre in a given year. The data is collected from the music uploaded to Play Music by users. For instance, the Jazz stripe is thickest in the 1950s because many users have Jazz content released in that time period in their library.

The Music Timeline shows genres of music waxing and waning, based on how many Google Play Music users have an artist or album in their music library, and other data (such as album release dates). Each stripe on the graph represents a genre; the thickness of the stripe tells you roughly the popularity of music released in a given year in that genre. (For example, the “jazz” stripe is thick in the 1950s since many users’ libraries contain jazz albums released in the ’50s.) Click on the stripes to zoom into more specialized genres.

Back in November, the CyanogenMod team announced an interesting new project that allowed users to flash the team’s custom ROM in just a few clicks.  The app came with a catch, though. It was only available on Windows machines, leaving Mac users in the dark. Today, however, the CyanogenMod team has released its Installer application on Mac OS X. 

CyanogenMod installer supports a long-list of devices, ranging from the HTC One and Galaxy S4 to the Nexus S and Galaxy S II. The process is very simple. First, simply join the CyanogenMod Installer for Mac beta group, download the actual app from Google+, connect a compatible Android device, and the Installer will handle most everything else. It’s important to note that the Installer will wipe all the data from your device, so be sure to back it up before beginning the process. 

The CyanogenMod team has had a very successful time over the past few months, as it raised $22 million in funding in December in addition to releasing more devices that run the CyanogenMod ROM out of the box.    

Check out CyanogenMod’s Google+ page for more.

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Of the most notable things Motorola has accomplished over the past year is arguably its contextually aware services, found on devices like the Moto X. Today, the company’s Assist app on the Play Store has been updated with a few new features. For those unaware, Assist can determine your actions, such as driving and sleeping, and perform a pre-specificed command.

Up until today, the app could only read you the text messages you got while driving. With this newest update, however, you can now reply to texts while driving by speaking to the phone. So once the text is read to you, you will have the ability to read a response to the app. In addition to that, Assist can also now launch your music player of choice when it notices you are driving.

The update is available on the Play Store, although Motorola Assist is only compatible with the most recent Droid line of devices, as well as the Moto X.

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Google last updated its Play Services app back in October when KitKat and the Nexus 5 launched with a plethora of improvements. Today via the official Android Developers Blog, the company has announced another rather significant update to the app, brining it to version 4.1.

First off, the update will allow for developers to start implementing turn-based multiplayer capabilities into games entirely with Play Services. This will allow for improved asynchronous games with friends and opponents. The update also adds a developer preview of a new Google Drive API that lets users read and write Google Drive files from any device, with or without a data connection, and have their changes synced across other devices and platforms.

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Although Google TV has not been the company’s most successful venture by any means, that hasn’t stopped several other companies from trying-out the concept. At CES 2014, Hisense is showing off its new set top box, the Pulse Pro. From the outside, it looks very similar to any other set-top box, but what’s interesting is that it’s running what Hisense calls “Android TV v4.” It’s not technically Google TV, although it’s built off of the same foundation. It is capable of running Google TV apps and also features the same PrimeTime Guide (via CNET).

One noticeable difference between the Pulse Pro and other Google TV devices is the home screen design. Everything is laid out in a very image-focused design, with the ability to quickly access Netflix, Vudu, Amazon Video, and more.

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After the Cyber Monday madness surrounding the $349 Moto X, Motorola officially dropped the device’s off-contract price to just $399 last week, looking to get the device into even more consumer’s hands. Today, the company has announced another special offer for the Moto X. Starting today, January 8th, and running through January 14th, anyone who purchases an off-contract Moto X from Motorola’s website will also get a free Google Chromecast. The Chromecast costs $35 normally, so this is a great deal for anyone looking for the two devices.

The deal is live now on Motorola’s site. Simply use the promo “STREAM” to obtain the offer. The Moto X runs $399 for 16GB and $449 for 32GB.

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Yesterday when Samsung introduced its new Galaxy Pro lineup of tablets, it also showed a redesigned TouchWiz tablet interface. This morning, notorious leaker @evleaks has post some images of a redesigned TouchWiz interface for smartphones. Given that Samsung just redesigned its tablet UI, it only seems logical that it would now change up the smartphone interface, although we can’t confirm if this is the exact interface that the company plans to go with.

It’s unclear what version of Android this skin is meant to run on top of, but presumably it’s running over the latest version, which would be Android 4.4 KitKat. TouchWiz, as usual, doesn’t look a whole lot like stock Android in these images. There’s no transparent notification bar, no stock lock screen, and no stock launcher. One thing you will notice, however, is that many of the icons are flat, much like with iOS 7.

There appear to be a few new widgets, as well, including support for widgets on the lock screen. One new widget looks to be a Google Now-like feature for telling you how long it will take to get to a certain place.

More than likely, we’ll see this interface debut on the Galaxy S5 or Note 4 rather soon.

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Earlier tonight during its CES 2014 press conference, Sony took the wraps off of two new Xperia smartphones for the United States market. First off, the company introduced the Xperia Z1 Compact. Sony pointed out that this is no the “mini” version of its Xperia Z flagship, as it thinks that mini phones are just “watered down.” According to the company, this device has “no compromises.”

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Since the initial release of Google Glass at Google I/O last May, people have been calling for the ability to attach prescription lenses to the product. Over the last month, talk of this has heated up with images of Glass with prescription lenses being leaked and much more. Today, however, Glasses company Wetley has released its prescription frames and lenses for Google Glass and they are available for ordering now, dubbed GGRX.

• Easily mounted, no tools required – takes seconds to mount/dismount
• Frame is stainless steel – 30% lighter than typical frame materials – extremely durable
• Lens are polycarbonate – highly impact resistant and durabl
• Comes with Crizal Premium Anti-Reflective coating at no additional cost – reduces eye fatigue and strain
• Made decision early to eschew cheaper materials (plastic frame, CR-39 lenses.)
• Can accommodate almost any prescription
• Also offer lens upgrades, tinting options, and anti-fog coating (some units, not all)

The frames are made of stainless steel and the company touts that the mounting process is incredibly simply and requires no tools whatsoever. There are a variety of options available for purchase and they start at $99. The first option is the frame only. In order to get lenses, you would have to take the frame to your local optometrist. The next option are single vision prescription lenses, which start at $149.99. Next up are progressive prescription lenses at $249.99. Sunglasses with a gray tint and no prescription are available for $139.99, while sunglasses with prescription capabilities are also available.  

GGRX frames are available now at OpticsPlanet.com. Full press release after the jump:

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Just as we reported on this morning, Samsung has just officially announced a new Galaxy Pro line of tablets. The line-up includes four models, coming in at 8.4-inches, 10.1-inches and 12.2-inches. All of the models include the same specifications. The WiFi-only models are powered by an octa-core processor, while the LTE models will have a Snapdragon quad-core chip under the hood. The WiFi models will have 2GB of RAM, with the LTE models coming in with 3GB, presumably to make up for the processor difference. The 8.4 and 10.1-inch models come with either 16 or 32GB of storage, and the 12.2-inch model comes in a 32 or 64GB flavor.

Samsung has also unveiled the Galaxy Note Pro, which features the same 12.2-inch display and processor and RAM configuration as the other models. Of course, the only difference is that the Note Pro includes the famous S Pen. All four of these devices include a high-resolution 2560×1600 display.

Samsung has also refreshed the software on the device, which if you’ve used a Samsung tablet recently, is definitely not a bad thing. The company has also added multi-window support, and will also give users a “content gift package” with paid content from apps like Evernote and Dropbox.

The Galaxy Pro line of tablets will be available “globally” starting from Q1 2014.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ztsmusDQ9jU

Samsung’s CES 2014 keynote kicks off in just a few minutes at 2PM PT/5PM ET. Check out the live stream up above and stay tuned for more info as it hits.

Just a few minutes after announcing the hybrid Transformer Book Duet, Asus has unveiled an entirely new line of Android devices dubbed ZenFone. Asus hasn’t had much luck in the Android phone market, due in large part to its odd choice to only release phones that dock in tablets. The company hopes that these ZenFone devices will bring it some commercial success, though.

The ZenFone devices will come in three sizes, 4-inches, 5-inches, and 6-inches. All models will be powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor and be available in a wide-variety of colors. The devices will ship with Android 4.3 on board, but don’t get too excited, as Asus has decided to overlay its ZenUI on top of the operating system. Asus promises that ZenUI will be simply, beautiful, and easy to use. One feature Asus is heavily promoting is a What’s Next feature that keeps track of your daily schedules.

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Hybrid devices that dual-boot both Android and Windows have become all too common over the past year or so, and as the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show kicks into full force, it only seems fitting that we’d see just a few more. Asus has just announced the Transformer Book Duet TD300. As the Duet name implies, the device is a convertible laptop and tablet hybrid that dual boots Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Windows 8.1.

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AT&T has just announced that it will be the exclusive United States carrier of the ASUS PadFone X, although the carrier has no detailed information on pricing or availability at this point. The PadFone X is a 5-inch Android device, running 4.4 KitKat, that that you can dock to turn into a full 9-inch tablet. ASUS touts that the integration between the tablet and phone interface is seamless and that the docking process will automatically resize all apps to fit the larger display.

The PadFone X is a 5-inch full HD smartphone that activates a 9-inch full HD tablet when the phone is docked. It runs Android KitKat 4.4. and features a thin and light design with a brushed metal frame, a soft-touch back cover and dual front speakers that deliver captivating audio.

At this point, we don’t know all that much about the PadFone X, including specific specs, such as what sort of processor is powering the device. Rumors suggest that it’s a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chip with 2GB RAM, although that has not been confirmed.

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Just a few minutes ago during its CES 2014 press event, LG announced that its highly-anticipated G Flex device will be making its way to the United States in Q1 and is destined for Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. We’d heard rumors of United States G Flex availability for a while, but this is the first time LG has confirmed its plans.

Early reviews of the self-healing G Flex were rather mixed. The main issue most reviewers had, however, was the price tag for the device. Presumably, when it hits United States carriers, it will be subsidized, which will reduce the initial up-front cost. Reviewers also remarked that the curved design made the device’s size more manageable and ergonomic. They also had positive things to say about the G Flex’s performance, and camera, though they were somewhat skeptical of the “self-healing” back.

The big question surrounding the device now is its subsidized price on T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint. We should hear more about that as we progress further into the first quarter.

Hot on the heels of Acer announcing a pair of Android-powered all-in-one desktop computers, HP has just taken the wraps off of its own model. Dubbed the Slate 21 Pro, the device is an all-in-one targeted at business users. HP’s biggest selling point with the device is the fact that it comes pre-loaded with a variety of services and apps, including Kingsoft Office, Evernote, Skype, HP Classroom Manager, 50GB of lifetime Box storage and Citrix Receiver for remote Windows access. Of course, you also have access to the full Google Play Store for apps, as well.

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