Android

Thanks to various leaks over the past few weeks, HTC’s Nexus 9 tablet has been all but confirmed. This morning, though, HTC’s president of North Asia Jack Tong reportedly told members of the press that the Nexus 9 is the company’s “commitment” to returning to the tablet market. This is significant because, despite all of the leaks, HTC has yet to formally acknowledge the existence of the tablet.

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According to a new report from The Information, Google is considering a feature that would allow users to trial Android apps without having to commit to a full download. The idea is the feature could save users time, battery and data-usage and as a result encourage them to try and ultimately download more apps from Google Play:
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If you recently purchased an Android Wear-powered device and you’re not exactly sure where to start, Google has launched an official forum where people can discuss the platform freely and answers to a variety of questions. While the internet is loaded with a vast number of resources, the idea behind Mountain View’s new Android Wear Help Forum is to keep the focus on wearables, so there’s no need to sift pages through unrelated content.

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Samsung announced today that its recently unveiled Galaxy Note Edge smartphone will launch first in Japan by the end of this month. Samsung kicked off preorders for the device today through carrier partners KDDI and NTT DoCoMo and said the limited edition Note variant will ship by the end of October. It’s hasn’t yet, however, confirmed availability for other markets. 
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If you abstained from trying the recent leak of Nokia’s HERE Maps for Android, you can now download an official release — as long as you’re using a compatible Samsung device. Available from the Galaxy app store, this Google Maps alternative packs some nifty features like turn-by-turn directions, public transit routes and its standout offline navigation support.

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HTC is hosting a media event tomorrow in New York and while we’re pretty sure it’s related to cameras, we’re now positive that it won’t have anything to do with the company’s rumored smartwatch. The outfit has decided to put its wearable plans on ice and target a launch for next year instead of rushing an unprepared device to market.

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AndroidPolice has posted renders that it says are based on a split-screen multitasking mode that Google has been experimenting with for Android. It’s a feature Samsung has implemented into its own version of Android and used as a selling point in marketing over the competition. It’s also something that Apple is experimenting with for iPad.
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When Samsung announced the Galaxy Alpha, I was a bit shocked at first. It was very clear that Samsung was making an attempt to step up its design game a bit. Well, here we are beyond its release and today we’re going to find out what the Galaxy Alpha is all about. It may not be a life changing device, but for Samsung it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Let me start out by saying that the Galaxy Alpha is bit hard to understand initially. It seems that Samsung didn’t want to put the pedal to the metal, so instead we’re left with what may be considered the best of both worlds, having metal and plastic as main parts of the Alpha’s design. All that aside, one this is very clear: If you know the Samsung Galaxy S5, you already know the Galaxy Alpha, but I don’t think this device was ever meant to shake the industry…

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We already know that Motorola is working on Google’s next Nexus smartphone under the codename Shamu and now it looks like the device just hit the FCC. Outlined as a 6-inch phone with support for AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE bands, this whale of a handset is a little bit closer to breaching. Our sources have told us that the next Nexus phone will feature a 2,560 x 1,440, a Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 3,200mAh battery and Android L.

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Following earlier reports detailing Samsung’s plans for a new “Galaxy A” series of three smartphones, the often reliable SamMobile today offered more details on two of the devices. According to the report, the Galaxy A5 (a 5-inch device that just leaked in renders the other day) will arrive as soon as November with an announcement taking place later this month. The device will reportedly cost $400-$500.
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ZTE’s ZMAX recently made a big splash at T-Mobile and the Chinese manufacturer is looking to go even bigger with the release of its Grand XMAX on Cricket Wireless. Towering over most of its prepaid competition, ZTE’s new massive smartphone features a 6-inch HD display, a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1-megapixel front-facing selfie shooter, a 3,200mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat.

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Samsung on Monday night issued a statement warning that its third-quarter earnings would be considerably weaker than it initially expected. The South Korean company stated that it expects a third quarter operating profit of 4.1 trillion won, or $3.8 billion, and sales of 47 trillion won. Both of these numbers are below Reuters’ forecasts of 5.6 trillion won in operating profit and 50.9 trillion in sales (via CNBC).

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Since its inception, one of the biggest pitfalls of Google Voice has been its lack of MMS support. In an era of time when nearly everyone has a smartphone, not being able to share videos and pictures with counterparts was a huge feature gap. This evening, however, Google employee Alex Wiesen announced on Google+ that Voice now supports MMS on more than a 100 North American carriers.

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Last week, we got a glimpse at an unannounced HTC handset referred to as the Desire Eye. Today, we’re taking a closer look at alleged renders for HTC’s selfie-themed smartphone, courtesy of Russian language blog HTCFamily. With rumors of a new Nexus tablet, smartwatch and mobile camera accessory, HTC appears to have a lot on its plate.

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We’re getting very close to HTC’s upcoming October 8th event, but that doesn’t mean the company will stop posting teasers for the products it plans to announce. We’re already well aware of the GoPro-like REcamera the company plans to unveil, and we’ve also heard whispers of a new One (M8) variant with improved camera capabilities. This afternoon, HTC posted a teaser GIF on Twitter, saying “Don’t adjust your screen. Just focus on the date.”

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Elliptic Labs is showing off a new “Multi Layer Interaction” feature for its touchless gesturing tech allowing devices to display different content depending on the location and distance of the user’s hand.
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There are plenty of big smartphones on the market now, but Samsung wants to remind you what makes its Note product line unique. Today, the company released a new promo video outlining some the special features that can be performed with the Galaxy Note 4’s S Pen. Features like Capture and Share, Link to Related apps and Phone Note are among some of the highlights of this new promo piece.

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Along with a number of announcements landing today during Adobe’s MAX conference, the company has quietly released an Adobe Creative Cloud app for Android in preview mode. The app, which works with the free 2GB Creative Cloud membership in addition to paid subscriptions, allows users to manage their Creative Cloud accounts by browsing and previewing files stored in the cloud service. The app was previously available for iOS users and sports a similar design.
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