Android

Many expected Larry Page to talk about the upcoming Motorola Moto X smartphone at today’s earnings call, but unfortunately Page didn’t have much to say about the project. Other than saying he’s very excited about what unit has in store, Page didn’t spend long talking Motorola, possibly because it reported a $342 million operating loss and got rid of around 10K employees during the quarter.

Page did talk numbers– most of which we already knew– such as 900M Android activations (1.5M a day) and 750M Chrome users. He also confirmed that Google Play has surpassed 50B app downloads, a milestone that we knew the service was about to hit. Page said the company paid more to app devs in 2013 than in all of 2012, although he failed to mention any specific numbers.

As for Chromebooks, Page said the product line is growing fast and generally avoiding the general PC trend, but again didn’t provide a lot of specifics.

Head below the break to read Page’s full comments from the earnings call:
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Last month, three days before Apple, Google and other technology companies were scheduled to meet government officials for a summit on increasing smartphone crime, Apple announced at its developer conference that iOS 7 would include a brand new theft deterrent feature. At the meeting in June, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced the “Our Smartphones Initiative” to bring together police and other government agencies to help tackle the problem. Now, Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman are hosting the first meeting of the group and attempting to crack not only Apple’s new “Activation Lock” feature, but also LoJack running on a Samsung Galaxy S4 (via Cnet):
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Virgin Mobile has announced that it is now carrying the LG Optimus F3 for $179.99 when purchased with its “Beyond Talk” plan, which runs $35 a month and includes unlimited data and messaging. 

The Optimus F3 is packing a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 4G LTE capabilities and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. It has a 4-inch IPS display that helps it keep a “user-friendly form factor.” The home button can also light up in various colors depending on any missed notifications you have, such as texts, calls, and more. Finally, LG is touting that the 2,460mAh battery will last for 16 hours of talk time. 

For $180, the LTE capable Optimus F3 seems like a solid choice for budget minded customers. 
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A link has been posted in the XDAdevelopers forum of an Android 4.3 build for the Nexus 4. This follows an earlier leaked version for the Google Edition of the Samsung S4 and likely more before google’s July 24th unveiling.

While the dropbox link posted to the forum soon stopped working, MoDaCo has mirrored the file on MEGA.

Posted just this morning on the XDA-Developers website, the build is currently in TWRP backup format so you’ll need to ensure you have the custom recovery installed, push the files to your TWRP backup directory on /sdcard and then restore … 
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The usually-reliable evleaks (via Engadget) has leaked low-resolution photos of the Motorola Droid Ultra, which appear consistent with Motorola’s teaser campaign promising “a bunch of glossy colors” and a “high-grade DuPont Kevlar body.” Kevlar has five times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel … 
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We have a ‘little’ bit of news tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/UKXV59wXbs

— HTC UK (@HTC_UK) July 17, 2013

On Twitter, HTC’s UK division has just posted a teaser for an announcement it has coming tomorrow. The company says that it will have a “little bit of news tomorrow.” This seems like a not-so subtle hint that the HTC One mini will be the center of attention, especially when given the image, which shows an HTC One variant just barely sticking out of someone’s pocket.

We’ve heard a lot about the smaller HTC One. The phone will supposedly feature a 4.3-inch display (versus the 4.7-inch panel on the original device), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 4MP UltraPixel camera. Several reports have already pegged the device for a launch sometime this month, and with this tweet, that appears to be coming to fruition.

We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for an official HTC One Mini announcement tomorrow. 
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In what has been a crazy day for Nexus 7 successor leaks, Android Central has just posted a gallery of images of what it believes is the next Nexus tablet. The report claims that the device will again be manufactured by ASUS and come in 16GB and 32GB models.

The tablet features two cameras, a 1.2MP shooter on the front and a 5MP rear facer, made by Chicony.

As far as specs go, the Nexus 7 v2 is listed as having a Qualcomm APQ8064 motherboard with a Snapdragon S4 pro processor. The device is also said to have a whopping 4GB of DDR3L RAM, though Android Central notes that these specs may not be final. The tablet will also supposedly feature stereo speakers. These specs are exactly the same as what KGI analyst Mingchi Kuo predicted way back in May of this year.

Design wise, the device features a look similar to the original model. The volume rocker and power button are on the left hand side, while the microUSB port is on the bottom. It appears to be relatively thick for a 7-inch tablet and is made out of what looks like a rubber material….
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Hot on the heels of Google sending press invites for a July 24th event this morning, Engadget has obtained internal documents from OfficeMax showing that the retail giant is expecting to receive stock of the next generation Nexus 7 sometime next week. The documents indicate that the stores will receive units as early as July 20th, though we wouldn’t expect them to go up for sale until the 24th at the earliest.

It appears as if OfficeMax will continue to sell both the new Nexus 7 and the original, though it’s unclear how long that will last. Some retailers, such as Staples, are already heavily slashing the price of the original model, likely to clear shelf space for the new tablet. 
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Evernote for Android has just been updated with a handful of new features and general stability improvements. The update adds the ability to edit documents with the OfficeSuite app, as well as the ability to mark up PDFs with Skitch, though the latter requires a premium subscription. You can also now add a new reminder, introduced earlier this summer, right from the Reminders list.

The Evernote widget has also received several improvements, including support for Reminders and lists of notes, as well as lock screen support for Jelly Bean.

New in Evernote

Check out the update on the Play Store now.

Google has updated its Chrome Beta Android app today with several small new features. First, the update adds support for WebRTC, which is a web feature that allows for real-time voice and video communications. WebRTC is useful for things like voice calling, video chatting, and peer-to-peer file sharing. The update also improves page loading performance and offers up a handful of bug fixes and general stability improvements.

Full changelog:

• Support for WebRTC, a web platform feature to enable real-time voice and video communications
• Faster page loads
• Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance

Download it on the Play Store now.

DROID MAXX

Verizon just started sending out invites to the press for an event taking place later this month in New York City (via TheVerge). While the carrier isn’t specifically mentioning what we’ll be seeing at the event, it did say to expect the next generation of its most popular family of devices, which leads us to believe it will likely be an announcement for new Droid devices.

If Verizon is unveiling new Droid devices, it’s likely we’ll see one or all of the much rumored Droid MAXX, Droid Mini, and Droid Ultra. Motorola’s already started talking about the Droid Ultra, and the Droid MAXX was already tipped for Verizon in the latest round of leaked press shots.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about these devices, but the latest leaks for the Droid MAXX advertised the device with 48 hours of battery life and availability exclusively through Verizon starting August 8th.

We’ll have to wait until later this month on July 23rd to find out for sure, but we’re expecting one of these new Droid device to make an appearance and replace the current aging lineup of Droid devices at Verizon.

Update: HP has officially denied the rumor

A claimed render of HP’s promised smartphone sent anonymously to phoneArena apparently shows it running stock Android.

The render is pretty crude, and the hardware appears rather generic, so there’s no guarantee it’s genuine – but the company did opt for near-stock Android for its Slate tablet. If the leak is real, we’d applaud a decision to go with a pure Android experience but add that HP will need to pull something out of the hat with either specs or apps to meet its promise of “a differentiated experience.”

We suggested earlier that HP’s credentials as the world’s largest PC manufacturer might make a business-orientated phone a smart move now that the market share of the former business smartphone leader, Blackberry, has fallen to less than 5 percent. Something special in the hardware – perhaps a fingerprint sensor for security (assuming Apple doesn’t do it first) – would one possibility.

Enterprise-orientated apps would perhaps be a more likely one, especially given the company’s partnership with Google to offer Google Apps to small businesses. A similar approach with a smartphone might enable the company to meet that new-and-different promise despite a rather ordinary-looking box running stock Android.

Xperia i1 shown in the centre, between a Z variant and Z Ultra

The trend for ‘mini’ versions of flagship handsets appears set to continue as leaked specs emerge for a 5-inch Sony Xperia i1, expected to follow the launch of the 6.4-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra, according to Taiwanese site ePrice (via Engadget).

Like the Z Ultra, the i1 – codenamed ‘Honami’ – is said to be powered by a meaty 2.2Gh Snapdragon 800 processor and to have a full HD display … 
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AT&T <a href="http://www.wap.org/journal/iphoneeverywhere/">Line</a>

Following major announcements from T-Mobile and Sprint (and rumors about big device upgrade changes at Verizon Wireless), AT&T has made its “network related” announcement that it teased last week. The company has introduced a new program named “AT&T Next.” Similar to T-Mobile’s new “Un-carrier” offering, AT&T Next allows users to upgrade their smartphone or tablet device each year (T-Mobile, though, allows this two happen twice a year).

“With AT&T Next, customers can get the newest smartphone or tablet every year with no down payment. That’s hard to beat, and it’s an incredible value for customers who want the latest and greatest every year,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility.

In a change from the typical ways of purchasing a phone upfront with no contract or at a subsidy with a contract, AT&T Next allows a customer to purchase a smartphone or tablet with $0 down payment and pay for the device with a monthly cost. For example, according to AT&T, a customer who wants a Samsung Galaxy S4 can purchase the device with no down payment and pay an extra $32 per month (on top of their standard monthly service bill). More details below:

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