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Nintendo’s first Android game Miitomo will launch in US & other countries on March 31

Miitomo

Update: The Miitomo app is now available on the Play Store.

The game is already available in Japan— that’s how Jeff managed to go hands-on in our first look video earlier this month— but today Nintendo confirmed that its first smartphone game, Miitomo, will officially arrive in the US on March 31st.

The game isn’t exactly bringing over any of Nintendo’s very popular first party franchises to Android devices, but it does feature known Mii characters and, as we noted in our review, the release feels very much like a Nintendo title:

When you first start Miitomo, it’s immediately recognizable as a Nintendo title. It feels like someone took my Nintendo Wii and shrunk it down to fit inside of my iPhone 6s. The music and sound effects, most notably, are of the characteristic Nintendo style. The Miis themselves look just like the Miis on the game-maker’s handheld and home consoles. The writing — witty, with just a hint of corniness thrown in for good measure — is classic Nintendo.

Nintendo noted in its press release today that Miitomo was downloaded over a million times in the first three days after launch in Japan and it also managed to become the #1 most downloaded free app in both the App Store and Google Play.

While Nintendo didn’t mention other countries by name today, it did say that “several other countries” will receive the title on the 31st alongside users in the US.

Check out our review of the game on our sister site 9to5Mac from earlier this month to get a first look before it officially arrives in the US and other countries on the 31st.

Software release schedule from Telus suggests Android M rollout to begin October 5th

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Google has an event scheduled for September 29th, at which the company is expected to launch its upcoming lineup of Nexus phones, new Chromecast hardware, and more. The two new Nexus devices are surely going to ship with Android Marshmallow, and that means that over-the-air rollout of Marshmallow to older devices is set to begin sometime soon as well.

According to leaked schedule from Canada’s second largest mobile carrier, Telus, the day that’s set to happen is October 5th…
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LG says that the G4 will begin rolling out ‘this week’ to certain markets

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In a pretty ambiguous press release, LG has come out this afternoon (or this morning for those in Seoul) to announce that its recently-announced G4 flagship will begin shipping this week to consumers in “key markets around the world.” The rollout will supposedly begin in Hong Kong, followed by introductions in Turkey, Russia, and Singapore…
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HTC reveals One M9 to be available in the US from April 10, more details

HTC One M9 4G with 32GB Memory Cell Phone Gray HTC ONE M9 GREY - Best Buy 2015-03-01 08-42-43

HTC has announced today during its Uh Oh protection plan livestream that the HTC One M9 will be available at retail from early April in the United States. The answer came in reference to when the Uh Oh plan itself will be launching, which will be the same day that the HTC One M9 hits stores. Notably, this date will likely vary by carrier, but the first availability of the device will be April 10th.

The company also answered several other questions via viewers on Twitter:

The Uh Oh protection plan was “born out of a conference room in the US offices,” and HTC Americas president Jason Mackenzie says that it will indeed be limited to the United States for the time being. The Uh Oh plan will likely make it to other countries with time, however, after the company makes sure to “get it right.”

When asked about the Lollipop update for the HTC One M8 and M7, Mackenzie said that the update is “in certification” now, and that approval should be happening sometime around the end of this month or the beginning of next month.

Finally, HTC confirmed today, unsurprisingly, that there will not be a Google Play Edition for the HTC One M9. When asked about a Windows Phone version, Mackenzie left things open ended saying to “stay tuned.”

You can watch the stream in full if you’re interested.

Google reportedly won’t release the next version of Glass until it’s ‘perfect’

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Google has said repeatedly since the company graduated the project out of Google[x] that new iterations of Glass will indeed be coming at some point in the future, and that the team behind the wearable display device is still “committed to Glass.” But how is Google going to approach the product going forward?

According to an adviser to Tony Fadell (the previous Apple product executive who now oversees the project), the device is not going to get the same public experimentation treatment that the first version did, and Fadell won’t be releasing the next version of Glass until it’s “perfect.”


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Amazon pre-orders at €599 suggest flagship-level price for LG G Flex 2

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LG G Flex 2 Amazon Price

LG announced several features of its new G Flex 2 smartphone at CES 2015 last week, including a full HD 5.5-inch dynamically curved P-OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with Octa-Core 64-bit capable CPUs, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash, 3,000 mAh battery and Android Lollipop. But one important piece of information that LG has withheld to this point is how much the G Flex 2 will cost…
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Android Lollipop for Google Play Edition HTC One (M8) and (M7) delayed until further notice

HTC One M8 GPE

If there is one area where iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can exercise their bragging rights, it is with the timely and consistent software updates received from Apple. Google’s rollout of Android Lollipop has been far less predictable, with only a portion of Nexus devices having received the update and owners of devices from other manufacturers like Samsung, LG and HTC still waiting.
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Sprint to begin selling the Nexus 6 on November 14th, starting at $0 down

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Sprint announced on Tuesday that it will begin selling the Nexus 6 on November 14th through both its retail and online stores across the United States. The carrier confirmed that the Nexus 6 qualifies for Sprint Easy Pay pricing, meaning that qualified buyers can purchase the smartphone for $0 down and 24 monthly payments of $29.
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LG G3 to receive Android Lollipop update starting next week

LG G3 Android Lollipop

LG announced this weekend that it will begin rolling out the highly-anticipated Android Lollipop update for its flagship LG G3 smartphone starting in Poland this upcoming week. The handset maker confirmed that other key markets will receive the update in the near future, with an upgrade schedule for other smartphones to follow at a later date.
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Samsung Gear Circle now available in United States at select T-Mobile stores

Samsung Gear Circle

Samsung on Wednesday announced that the Gear Circle is now available in the United States at select T-Mobile stores nationwide, with an expanded rollout of the device at AT&T, Amazon and Samsung’s online store to take place later this month. Samsung’s Gear Circle will also be available in white exclusively from Best Buy locations in the future.
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PSA: Motorola DROID Turbo now available on Verizon for $199.99

Verizon DROID Turbo

Verizon has officially made the Motorola DROID Turbo available on its website starting at $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement. The smartphone can also be purchased through the Verizon Edge program for 24 equal installments of $24.99 per month. The full retail price of the DROID Turbo starts at $599.99 without a contract.
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Samsung to launch 3G-connected Gear S smartwatch in United States next week

Samsung Gear SSamsung on Thursday announced that it will be launching the Gear S smartwatch in the United States on next Friday, November 7th. The first 3G-connected smartwatch was originally announced in August and features a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display, 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, network connectivity, 300 mAh battery and more.

The Gear S essentially doubles as a fitness tracker, with a myriad of sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, UV sensor and barometer. The smartwatch is based on Samsung’s own Tizen software platform, a clear differentiation over Samsung’s other smartwatches and Android Wear.
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Motorola DROID Turbo with up to 48-hour battery life leaked ahead of official unveiling

Motorola Droid Turbo Verizon

Motorola has been busy creating a new lineup of smartphones that go beyond the next-generation Moto X and Nexus 6 in partnership with Google. Verizon Wireless is set to host a press event in a few hours in which it unveils its all-new lineup of its iconic DROID devices, including the Motorola DROID Turbo that has been leaked ahead of time.
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Android Wear 2.0 could land on November 3rd

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Android Lollipop was finally unveiled in its full form yesterday, and that shifts attention to Google’s next big Android release: Android Wear 2.0. We don’t really have any factual idea when this software might or might not be landing, but a new post from Artem Russakovskii on Google+ says that one of his sources thinks the day will be November 3rd—which would push it to arrive right around the same time as Lollipop. No one really knows at this point what the update is going to be bringing, but being released alongside another Android release, we can assume that there will be at least a couple notable features.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha launching exclusively on AT&T this Friday, September 26th

AT&T took to its YouTube channel this morning, uploading a video that outlines all the great features of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Alpha handset. Sadly, this video came without any real information about when the handset will be coming to the carrier, much less how much it might cost. Not long after that happened, Samsung expectedly made its formal announcement, telling us that the phone will be available from September 26th, will come in three colors, and will start at the usual $199 on contract.


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Samsung Galaxy Tab S available on June 27th starting at $400

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After a few leaks, a lot of hype and a reasonable amount of fanfare, Samsung officially announced its new Galaxy Tab S product line last week during an event in New York City. Pre-orders are already live for the new high-res slate and today the company has announced a US release date of June 27th. The Galaxy Tab S will be sold directly from Samsung on its website, as well as at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Sears.


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LG G3 announcement: Specifications, features, and release date

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LG has finally unveiled the upcoming G3. It’s possible that this will be the most leaked smartphone of 2014, but at least all of the specifications and features are official now. This device is definitely a big step up from the G2 and will be a strong contender against the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8. So what can you expect from the LG G3? Take a look at the full overview below.


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Samsung Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, & Gear Fit preorders hit Amazon w/ April 11 release date

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Samsung’s new Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit wearables unveiled back in February recently went up for preorder through carrier partners and today have finally hit Amazon. The Tizen-based Samsung Gear 2 ($299) and Gear 2 Neo ($199), as well as the less expensive Gear Fit wearable ($199) recently went up for preorder through AT&T and other carrier partners alongside the Galaxy S5 with shipments expected sometime this month, but Amazon is currently listing a specific release date of April 11.

Both of the new Gear 2 devices take cues from Samsung’s previous Galaxy Gear smartwatch, with the big difference a switch to a Tizen-based OS rather than Android. Both of the new watches include a 1.63-inch touchscreen, 4Gb of internal storage, a 1GHz dual-core processor, a 300mAh battery and 512MB of RAM. The Gear 2 also features a 2MP camera with 720p video capabilities, while the Neo doesn’t include a camera at all. Gear Fit is a less expensive fitness tracker that doesn’t run Tizen or Android and offers limited functionality compared to the other smart watches.

Samsung Gear 2 ($299) and Gear 2 Neo ($199), and Gear Fit ($199) on Amazon. 
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Philips announces first 4K TV lineup running Android will arrive in Q2

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Philips has just revealed some details of an upcoming 8000 series lineup of TVs for 2014, which will likely be the first lineup of Ultra HD TVs that hit the market running Android. Philips has three models running Android- Full-HD 8100 and 8200 Philips TVs and the Ultra HD 4K 8800 series— all of which come packed with Google Play store access and Google services like Chrome, YouTube, Google Play music and movies, and search.
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T-Mobile’s HTC One (M8) arrives April 11, $0 down/$26.50 per month

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We already got launch details from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, and now the last of the major US carriers, T-Mobile, has confirmed pricing and availability for HTC’s new One (M8) smartphone.

Unlike the three other carriers which are all already selling the HTC One M8 for $199 on contract, T-Mobile’s version of the device arrives on April 11 through online and brick and mortar locations. It will sell for $0 down and $26.50 per month on instalment plans (a similar financing plan is also offered by AT&T’s and Verizon), which brings the total cost of the device up to $636, slightly less than the unlocked $700 asking price for the Google Play Edition selling through Google.


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Asus Chromebox preorders now available for $179, shipping March 14

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After first announcing last month that its smallest-ever Chromebox would be arriving sometime in March for $179, Asus today started accepting preorders for the device through a number of online retailers. Amazon is currently accepting orders and listing an expected release date of March 17th for the new Chromebox.

The new Chromebox from Asus will actually arrive in three CPU configurations. Preorders today start for the dual-core 1.4GHz Celeron 2955U model, while an Intel Core i3 will also arrive March 14 as will an i7 model for outside of North America. Other specs include 2GB RAM, a 16GB SSD, 4 USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader, HDMI, DisplayPort, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n. That’s all inside a case that measures 4.88″ x 4.88″ x 1.65” and comes in at 2.2 pounds. 
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Google officially unveils Android 4.4 KitKat, available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, Galaxy S4 & HTC One GPE in coming weeks

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Update: Google has released a full list of what’s new in Android 4.4 KitKat. We’re digging in and we’ll bring you more details as we discover them.

Alongside the official release of its new flagship Nexus 5 on Google Play today, Google is also of course officially taking the wraps of 4.4 KitKat, the latest version of Android that will ship on the new Nexus 5. When will you be able to get your hands on the new OS? Google said KitKat 4.4 updates will arrive for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and the Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play Editions in the coming weeks.

Google confirmed that the update will not be coming to the Galaxy Nexus. Since it’s two years old, it now “falls outside of the 18-month update window when Google and others traditionally update devices.”

In the YouTub playlist above, Google walks through some of the new features of KitKat for developers and also highlights a number of user-facing features such as a new “immersive mode” that allows users to automatically hide onscreen controls for a truly full-screen experience. In a blog post, Google took sometime to explain the performance improvements it’s made in KitKat, noting that Android can now “run comfortably on the 512MB of RAM devices”:
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