Android

A new rumor originating from AndroidPolice that seems to have some pretty solid evidence backing it up shows that Google might be working a slick new redesign for Android’s stock icons. The site posted the image above showing what appears to be redesigned icons for most of the core preloaded Android apps including Play Music, Books, Movies, and Games, alongside Google+, Calendar, People, Chrome, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Hangouts, Camera, and the Play Store. As noted in the report, the icons to seem to more closely resemble the icons Google uses on the web for these services, which would make sense if Google aims to have a familiar look and feel across devices.
Expand
Expanding
Close

The HTC One M8’s build quality is quite an accomplishment, but such a snazzy design comes with a high price tag. However, if rumors are true, HTC could soon offer an affordable plastic version of its new flagship phone. Perhaps in an effort to compete with Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 or maybe taking its cues from Apple’s iPhone 5c, the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer is reportedly planning to release a plastic version of the M8 as early as next month.

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’ve got our hands on another one of Samsung’s latest smartwatch offerings. After taking a closer look at the Gear Fit, we’re checking out Samsung’s mid-range smartwatch option. The Gear 2 Neo is a slightly scaled back version of the Gear 2, but overall there aren’t many differences between the two.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The biggest differentiator for the Moto X was the ability to customize it to your liking via Motorola’s Moto Maker website. With its next flagship, it looks as if Motorola is planning to further expand the customization options available. According to information obtained by @evleaks, Motorola plans to keep many of the original backplate options with the Moto X+1, but also introduce a new leather option, as teased before.

The company will reportedly offer 25 back panel options, including a new leather option in grey, blue, red, and black.

• Leather: Black, Red, Grey, Blue
• Cool: Navy, Turquoise, Olive, Royal Blue, Dark Teal
• Wood: Teak, Bamboo, Rosewood, Ebony
• Neutral: Slate, Purple, Smoke, Black, Chalk
• Warm: Red, Orange, Lemon Lime, Violet, Crimson, Raspberry, Cabernet
• Wood: Teak, Bamboo, Rosewood, Ebony

Motorola itself has said that itself that a Moto X successor is planned for this summer. The device is rumored to be called the Moto X+1, but other details are sparse at this point. But a new leather backing option would certainly be a differentiator.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung’s Gear Fit smartwatch/fitness band is finally available online and in stores, but unfortunately, its Android compatibility is still very limited. According to Samsung, the Gear Fit will only work with 17 different Galaxy devices including the new Galaxy S5. Once again, Samsung is keeping its Gear line within the family, but luckily we’ve found a way around this small problem.
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXYhQZ5H5Q]

Samsung’s Gear Fit smartwatch is a very unique take on wearable devices. It acts as a fitness band, but functions like a smartwatch in many ways. With the Gear Fit you’ll be able to monitor your exercise habits, steps, heart rate, sleep, and more. Along with that, the device will push notifications for calls, emails, texts and updates from various social networking apps. Check out the video above for an in-depth look at the Samsung Gear Fit. Real world:
Expand
Expanding
Close

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is planning to announce its first entry to the smartphone market in June. The possibility of an Amazon phone has been a long-running rumor, but recently sources claimed that the company had partnered with HTC to finally produce the device.

Following the launch of the Fire TV earlier this month, the Amazon phone will mark the second major product category the online retailer hopes to invade in 2014. The phone will presumably run Google’s Android OS, which Amazon has relied on in the past to power its Kindle Fire tablets.

The Amazon device will reportedly feature a display capable of creating 3D images without the need for glasses, according to the WSJ report:

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DfrPAAaSLU]

Amazon’s new Fire TV set-top box may seem like every other solution on the market, but there’s one big difference. Fire TV has built-in gaming features that will allow you to play compatible Android games that are available within Amazon’s app store. The bad news is, if you’ve previously purchased any of the compatible titles from the Google Play Store, you’ll need to repurchase them from Amazon. Check out the video overview above for an overview and demo of Fire TV gaming.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Training materials leaked from both HTC and Samsung identify the arguments each manufacturer hopes will persuade you to buy its new flagship handset.

HTCSource posted a flyer showing that HTC has five main arguments, and seven secondary ones, for the HTC One M8. The primary features highlighted are the metal casing, two front speakers, tap & swipe features to facilitate one-handed use, the duo camera and the HTC Advantage program … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung has announced that the Samsung Galaxy S5 goes on sale today in 125 countries, along with the new Gear smartwatches. It was already known that it would be launched today in the USA.

The new Galaxy S5 and the Samsung Gear devices – Samsung Gear 2, Samsung Gear 2 Neo, and Samsung Gear Fit – are ready to hit the market in 125 countries in Europe, Middle East, North America, Latin America, and most of Asia.

The S5 has a 5.1-inch full HD display which was declared “the best smartphone display ever tested” by DisplayMate. Other key features include a fingerprint sensor and heartrate monitor. Reviewers considered it an excellent phone, albeit lacking in excitement … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2cPyfYldtA]

Finding the perfect case to protect your shiny new smartphone can be tough. Many cases offer either a bulky design or added functionality. The problem is, it can be hard to find a good balance between the two. With the arrival of the HTC One (M8), the company also launched a new Dot View case that adds additional features, while keeping your device thin and protected. The Dot View Case will set you back $49.99 and is currently available in five different colors, but is it worth the money? Read the full review or check out the above video to find out.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Nike announced today that it is opening a Nike+ Fuel Lab in San Francisco that will help it grow what has become one of the leading fitness tracking platform among mobile device users. Nike is hoping the new facility will help the Nike+ Fuel platform remain a leader as fitness tracking becomes more popular on wearables and mobile devices. It will use the facility to team up with app developers and integrate the platform into other products in the fitness tracking space. Last year Nike hosted a Nike+ Accelerator program that saw startups pitching ideas and demo products for the platform, and the success of the program inspired the more permanent Fuel Lab for similar efforts.

“We are excited about evolving NikeFuel to deliver richer experiences that make it easier for all athletes to reach their potential,” said Stefan Olander, Nike’s Vice President of Digital Sport. “The demand for simpler data-powered experiences is soaring, and all-day sensing is more available on mobile and wearable devices than ever before. Nike is committed to broadening the use of NikeFuel through collaborations with industry leaders to create smarter products and services.”

The new Nike+ Fuel Lab will see the company working with app developers and other companies to integrate the NikeFuel platform into their products. That means Nike’s hardware— like the FuelBand fitness tracker and SportWatch— will then work with the partner apps and syncing data between the apps will become seamless. That’s a feature request you might have noticed in the majority of reviews for Nike’s FuelBand hardware in the past. Nike announced a few of the companies it’s teaming up with initially at the new Nike+ Fuel Lab and they include popular fitness tracking apps for mobile and web including RunKeeper, MyFitnessPal, and Strava. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

The folks over at iFixit showed off just how repairable Samsung’s Galaxy Gear 2 smart watch is earlier this week, and today the site has shared its teardown of Samsung’s Galaxy S5 smartphone. The verdict? Smart watches are easier to repair, but so was Samsung’s Galaxy S4. For comparison, the site rated both the Galaxy Gear 2 and the Galaxy S4 with an 8 out of 10 for ease of repairability. Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone was rated at 5 out of 10 by iFixit (which is more in line with Apple’s latest smartphone as the iPhone 5s was rated at 6 out of 10 by the site)…
Expand
Expanding
Close

For a long time, owners of Sonos hardware have been disgruntled with the inability to access their music collection from Google’s Play Music service. Sonos provides slick hardware that pulls in music collections from various services, and starting today the two companies have announced that Google Play Music is now officially supported. That means that you’ll be able to play music to Sonos directly through an updated Google Play Music app as well as through the Sonos controller app (as pictured above). The announcement was made today in a brief tweet by Google and a blog post on the Sonos website.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Just a couple of weeks ago we reported that Google Now would soon add the ability to remind you when to pay your bills. Now, Android Police has discovered hints at yet another new feature potentially on its way to Google Now. According to the report, Google Now will soon be able to remember where you parked your car and help you locate it. The feature will recognize when you stop your car and get out, save the location, and present you with a Card showing you exactly where your car is.

The Card will be able to navigate you back to the location of your car, and should Google give you an incorrect location, there is a button below the map that offers the ability to correct Google. Based on the information available Android Police created the above mock-up, which shows how far away your car is, when you parked it, and of course, where you parked. In addition to information obtained from other sources, there are several hints that corroborate this report in the code of the most recent Google Search.

The report gives this rumor an 8/10 as a confidence rating, with it losing points due to “the unpredictable nature of pre-release features, and the fact that while there is teardown-based evidence for this, it is rather scant.” Nevertheless, it does seem likely that this feature is currently being developed by Google and does exist.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After screenshots landed on Geek.com of a redesigned Gmail app that was reportedly in testing, we felt confident enough to report on additional details we received from sources about a “Google 2.0” redesign in the works. We also noted that Google was planning similar redesigns for some of its other apps that would make them more scalable for wearables and introduce additional gesture and voice features. Backing up our report, today,Geek posted another set of screenshots showing what is is apparently a similar redesign for Google’s Calendar app. 
Expand
Expanding
Close