Jordan Kahn

Following yesterday’s launch of the Moto X and pricing and availability details for US carriers, Motorola today confirmed (via Pocket-Lint) that the device will not be available to consumers in the UK.  It’s not all bad news, however, as Motorola is hinting at a whole family of devices that will follow the branding of its new flagship Moto X and become available in additional markets.

A spokesperson for Motorola reassured Pocket-lint that Europe is still a key priority for the company, and that “Moto X is the first device in a new product portfolio, basically a new family of devices.”

“Because it is the first one, the Moto X has had a real buzz around it, but the US launch is not about the US being Motorola’s priority at all, there are devices coming to Europe. We can’t share what they are as of yet, but they are from the same family. They are cool and they are exciting and there is a lot in Europe coming up.”

Cnet dug up a little more on the upcoming devices, noting that one of them will be a lower-cost Moto X for US prepaid customers and other emerging markets:
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You might remember back in July when we first reported that T-Mobile was actually not yet signed up to carry the Moto X. Yesterday Motorola officially announced the device and, while it said that it will be available through all carriers (including T-Mobile), today T-Mobile backed up our original report by confirming that it will indeed not be selling the Moto X in its stores (via AllThingsD):
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpU1mW0Mjm8

Motorola just posted a couple new videos showing off some of the unique software features that its including the Moto X. The first, above, shows the Quick Draw, or Quick Capture, feature that allows users to twist their wrist twice to quickly launch the camera app and snap a photo. The second, below, shows the always-on voice commands included with the device that will let users control their device without ever touching it. You can get all the details on specs and availability for the Moto X here. 
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Motorola is about to show off its brand new Moto X smartphone at its event this afternoon, but the company just released details regarding specs and availability in a blog post on its website. We noted earlier that it would be arriving on AT&T starting at $199 with some exclusive customization options, but the Moto X will also be coming to handful of other carriers including Sprint, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless (and through BestBuy) later this month and next.

Motorola confirmed specs for the device, which will be assemble in the USA, on a newly launched sign up page.  A few of the notable specs a 4.7-inch HD AMOLED 720 display, 10MP rear camera, 2200 mAh battery with up to 24 hours battery life, 2GB of RAM, and two years of free 50GB storage on Google Drive. A full list of specs is below:

Rear Camera 10MP CLEAR PIXEL (RGBC) / LED Flash / 1080p video (30 fps)
Front Camera 2MP 1080p HD video
Operating system Android 4.2.2
Architecture Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System
RAM 2 GB
Storage 16 GB standard, 32 GB version available online. 2 years 50GB storage free on Google Drive
Bluetooth 4.0 LE + EDR
WiFi 802.11a/g/b/n/ac (dual band capable), mobile hotspot
Bands GSM/GPRS/EDGE
UMTS/HSPA + up to 42 Mbps
CDMA/EVDO Rev. A (CDMA model only)
4G – LTE

There’s no word on what specific date the device will be hitting each carrier, but Motorola said it will arrive through all of its partners around the end of August, and in Canada and Latin America by early next month.

The over 2,000 customization options for the device will be available through Moto Maker, an online tool that will let customers “choose the colors, and decide on the details: front, back, accents, memory, wallpapers, even add a name or a short message,” although it appears many of them will be available only to AT&T customers for the time being (and soon through BestBuy). On top of the 32 color options and other customization features we’ve heard about, Motorola has plans for additional options later in the year:
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Right as Motorola’s event to unveil the much rumored Moto X smartphone is about to kick off, AT&T has just made details official for the device announcing pricing and exclusive color and customization options. Motorola has also posted a sign up page detailing some of the unique features and specs for the device.

The Moto X will be available for $199 for the 16GB model and $249 for the 32GB model, both on AT&T’s usual two-year contract, and include a few features and unique colors available only when ordering through the carrier.

The carrier will also have unique color options for the device including 2 color options for the front and 16 for the back of the device, as well as 7 accent color choices for the power key, volume key and camera ring. We knew that customization would be a big focus for the new Moto X, and it appears that will extend to exclusive customization options for carriers.

AT&T will also be the only carrier to offer the ability to add your name, a wake-up message, or short message on the phone when ordering and a Wake-up message. In addition, AT&T said it will be offering unique wallpapers on its version of the device.

In the video below, the carrier shows off much of what we’ve already seen for the device including the customization options noted above. Specs mentioned in the video include the 4.7-inch 720 HD AMOLED display and the 10mp rear facing camera. You’ll also see some of the software features we saw in the leaked Rogers video including the twist to activate camera feature and the always listening voice commands. 
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Google is testing a new “card” for its Google Now service that would display local news that’s contextually relevant to the user. It’s not something that users have been able to try out just yet, but Quartz reports that vice president of search and assist at Google Johanna Wright tells them that Google is currently testing the feature internally.

There’s no word on whether or not the Google Now card would some how be integrated with Google’s current News service, but Wright provides an example of how the “hyper-local news card” might function:
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There are a lot of third-party clients for Android that let users access their AdSense accounts, but today an official app from Google has made its way onto Google Play.

Google says that version 1 of the app provides ” key earnings information, top custom and URL channels, ad units and sites reports, payment alerts,” hinting that a future version will implement some of the other detailed reporting features offered in third-party apps and through AdSense on the desktop.

Unfortunately the app doesn’t appear to be compatible with all devices,  including Google’s own Nexus 7 and many newer devices like the HTC One.
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According to data from App Annie’s latest download and revenue report, Google Play for the first time surpassed the App Store in app downloads during the second quarter of 2013. While Google was able to move past Apple with about 10 percent more downloads during the three month period, the report notes the App Store brought in nearly 2.3x the amount of revenue.

App Annie says that Google Play’s growth was driven by emerging markets including Brazil, India, and Russia, and while the App Store still leads by revenue, Google Play closed the gap slightly compared to last quarter and years past.

Google Play saw Brazil climb two spots to join India and Russia as another emerging market in the top 5 countries by downloads for Q2 2013…The United States, Japan and United Kingdom remained the leaders in the iOS App Store when looking at revenue generation, and Australia climbed to #4 after a strong Q2. iOS App Store revenue was driven primarily by the United States and Japan, which combined to account for about half of the total iOS App Store revenue in Q2.

App Annie’s report also includes its Games Index tracking mobile games on iOS and Android, which now account for around 40 percent of all downloads on both platforms. During Q2, Gameloft’s Despicable Me: Minion Rush grabbed the top spot for most downloaded iOS game, while publisher Tiny Piece took the honor on Google Play.

As for non-gaming apps, Vine increased by three positions to become the most downloaded app during the quarter on iOS, followed closely by YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram.
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After a brief announcement back in June that it had partnered with Starbucks to offer free, unlimited music through its new Google Play All Access streaming service, Google today announced that it will soon be supplying WiFi to all Starbucks locations in the US. That also includes its new gigabit Google Fiber internet service where available:

When your local Starbucks WiFi network goes Google, you’ll be able to surf the web at speeds up to 10x faster than before. If you’re in a Google Fiber city, we’re hoping to get you a connection that’s up to 100x faster.

Up until now, AT&T provided free Wifi access to Starbucks customers in the US (and T-Mobile before that), but it appears that will no longer be the case following the roll out of Google’s networks in the coming weeks.

Google plans to start rolling out its new Starbucks networks next month and hopes to have all 7,000 US locations up and running on its networks within 18 months. Google noted, “You’ll know your new network is ready to go when you can log in to the “Google Starbucks” SSID.”
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Microsoft is today launching a native Android app for its ‘Office 365’ subscription based productivity suite following the launch of the app on iOS devices earlier this year. The free app, which allows users to view & edit Office files stored in their SkyDrive account, requires users to sign into their paid Office 365 subscription.

The app is already starting to roll out on Google Play, but Microsoft doesn’t appear to be making a tablet version of the app available just yet. Much like on iPhone, perhaps Microsoft is going to stick with recommending users take advantage of the web apps on tablets. It would certainly help it continue its Windows 8 tablet campaigns mocking other tablets for not having Office.

KEY FEATURES:
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As noted by several posts on the Google+ Glass community page (via SearchEngineLand), Google has begun sending emails to Google Glass owners allowing them to invite a friend to the Explorer program. Google has been distributing Glass on an invite only basis up until now (on top of its #IfIhadglass contests), but this marks the first time it is allowing users to invite others into the beta program. You might remember Google used the same invite-a-friend strategy when Gmail first launched.
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Google today announced a new community-based website called “Google Maps Views” that will allow users to submit and browse 360 degree photo spheres created on Android devices supporting the feature. It will also feature a collection of panoramas from its Street View Gallery.

Once a users signs in and uploads photo spheres from Google+ or directly from their device, they will have a profile on the Views website that displays all of their content:

To upload 360º photo spheres, just sign into the Views site with your Google+ profile and click the blue camera button on the top right of the page. This will enable you to import your existing photo spheres from your Google+ photos. You can also upload 360º photo spheres to Views from the Gallery in Android by tapping “Share” and then selecting Google Maps.

Users can create the 360 degree photo spheres on many Android devices running Android 4.2 and up as well as, of course, Google’s own Nexus devices and others running stock Android. The Views website will also allow users to submit panoramas shot on DSLRs.
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Remember that new addition to Samsung’s NX camera family running Android that the company announced back in June? Today it finally becomes available, at least in the UK, with several UK retailers beginning orders for the device at £1299. That means the camera, which offers a full Android experience on a 4.8-inch display and 13 interchangeable lenses, will likely land in North America somewhere in the $1700 – $1900 range. It’s not cheap compared to other mirrorless competitors, but there simply isn’t a comparable experience that offers the power of a quality DSLR combined with a full Android environment, LTE and 1.6GHz quad core processor. The price tag will also get you the 18-55mm kit lens to start out. Wex and Jessops are currently accepting orders for the device, and Jessops lists it as being available for next-day delivery.

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Research firm Strategy Analytics has released a report today on worldwide tablet market share for Q2 2013 highlighting how Android has seen a significant increase in market share during the quarter. Not only did it manage to capture 67% of the 51.7 million units shipped (up from 51% of the market last year), its increased market share came at the expense of a decline in tablet sales year over year for Apple.

Android is now making steady progress due to hardware partners like Samsung, Amazon, Google and White-Box tablets which, despite the fact that branded OEMs are lowering price-points and putting pressure on the White-Box manufacturers, are still performing well,” King added, “Apple iOS shipments were 14.6 million iPads in Q2 2013 which declined 14 percent annually.  In the same quarter a year ago the first Retina display iPads were launched which could partly explain the decline as there were no new models in this quarter.  However, to compensate that, iPad Mini which was not available a year ago, now freely available was expected to take the figure higher than 14.6 million”

Compared to Android’s 67% of total shipments, the report puts Apple at 28.3% of the market during the quarter, down from 47.2% a year ago, and Windows at 4.5%.

As always with these reports, there are a few things to keep in mind. Stratgey Analytics tracks shipments to retailers, not sales. Its numbers above also factor in White-Box tablets– those usually inexpensive, unbranded products that we never really get real sales figures for. Remove White-Box tablets and you get around 36.2 million total units in Q2 2013, up around 47 percent since last year. That would put Apple’s 14.6 million tablets sold during the quarter at a much higher market share in Q2, around 38%.
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We already got a brief look inside Google’s new Chromecast device that revealed 4GB of flash memory and a Marvell DE3005 system-on-a-chip, but today iFixit performed its ritual tear down of the device giving us specifics on everything packed into the HDMI streaming solution.

The tear down confirmed the Marvell system-on-a-chip and 4GB of flash memory, but also found 512 MB DDR3L SDRAM, and an AzureWave AW-NH387 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth and FM Combo chip. It’s isn’t, however, assigning a repairability score to the Chromecast, as there isn’t much inside to repair. Here’s the break down of internal components: 
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While the new Nexus 7 has already been arriving in some retail stores and online ahead of its expected July 30 release, Google just announced that the device is now available to purchase through Google Play. It’s still only available to customers in the US, as an official date for the rollout to Canada, UK, Germany, France and a handful of other locations has not yet been confirmed.

We already reported that retailers were planning on receiving the new Nexus 7 in and around July 30, but others have reportedly already been able to get their hands on the device through several channels.  Staples is already offering $30 off the device through a discount on tablets that it’s currently running. Reviews of the device have been strong, with most pegging it as a serious iPad mini competitor, but we’ll see in the coming hours and days if demand for the device is just as strong.

The new Nexus 7 is 50 grams lighter and 2mm thinner than the previous version, and comes with a 1920×1200 display with 323 pixels per inch, 2GB of RAM, and a 1.5GHz Snapdragon chipset.

Both the 16GB model ($229) and the 32GB model ($269) are available to order through Google Play now with an estimated shipping date of July 30. A 32GB LTE version of the device will be arriving on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the coming weeks for $349.

Surprise! The next generation @GoogleNexus 7 is now available. Order yours on Google Play: US- http://t.co/nLhy0emsaB

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) July 26, 2013

According to a report from the LA Times, Google has confirmed today that it is ending the three months of free Netflix service that it launched as a promotion with its new $35 Chromecast streaming device yesterday. Reports of the device selling out at various retailers and shipping times being pushed back on Google Play started circling this morning, and Google says the promotion has ended due to the overwhelming demand:

“Due to overwhelming demand for Chromecast devices since launch, the 3-month Netflix promotion (which was available in limited quantities) is no longer available,” Google told The Times in a statement.

Reviews for the Chromecast have been fairly positive, with most agreeing the price point will be its biggest differentiator. However, the free Netflix promotion, almost a $30 value, was certainly helping to drive a lot of the early demand for the $35 device. A selection of reviews, good and bad, are below:

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