FreedomPop is about to step in to the hardware game thanks to some cash and processor, provided by Intel and its investment arm, Intel Capital. So far, the FreedomPop brand has been used purely to launch incredibly affordable smartphone data plans in the US, and recently launched in the UK in partnership with Three. This would mark the first time the company has launched its very own hardware…
There are plenty of different comparison points between this year’s Nexus phones, and in most of them the Nexus 6P is simply superior. The Nexus 6P has a larger screen, a more premium build, a better camera, and more powerful internals. But there’s one area that we now know that the Nexus 6P is clearly the loser. When it comes to repairability, the Nexus 6P is one of the worst phones ever, getting a score of just 2 out of 10 from iFixit…
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BlackBerry’s PRIV handset is getting a lot of attention, and there’s many reasons for that. The most obvious is that it’s a slider phone — something that we haven’t seen on Android for quite a while. BlackBerry was known for their sliders and holding onto the physical keyboard when the rest of the industry moved on, and now they’re bringing that back in a secure package that seems to be more than decent. Many won’t bat an eye, but there are others who might notice some of its unique features.
To highlight those features and hopefully catch those potential customers, BlackBerry has uploaded a video demonstrating what the PRIV has to offer: it’s physical keyboard, BlackBerry Hub, Pop-up widgets, its curved 5.4-inch screen, and more:
The PRIV is also bringing a lot to the table for those more interested in getting great specifications. The phone has a 5.4-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution AMOLED display at 540ppi, a Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor, 3 GB RAM, and 32 GB of expandable storage. You’ll find an 18-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, dual-LED flash, and a 3,410 mAh battery. Sadly, though, it looks like the phone is going to launch with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.
You can pre-order the BlackBerry PRIV from the company’s website.
Meet the OnePlus X. This may not be called a “flagship killer,” but it’ll easy kill the competition in its price range…
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Right before Verizon and Motorola took the stage earlier today to show off its new Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2 smartphones, a red version of the former showed up on the red carrier’s website. And while we now have a clear look at everything the phone offers, it’s interesting to note nonetheless that Verizon seemingly intends to carry on with the “Employee Edition” tradition…
As is the case with the regular Droid Turbo 2, the device’s listing that popped up earlier today showed that it has a lightweight design with a Snapdragon 810 system-on-a-chip from Qualcomm, a 5.4-inch QHD display, and a couple of great 21-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras (although those are pretty standard for 2015). This particular phone seems to only be available in 64 GB.
While Verizon has already pulled the page detailing the phone, we can assume that it’s not going to be available to consumers — at least for now — anyway. It is the “Employee Edition,” after all. Be sure to read up on the regular Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2, and if you’re really pining for some red on your Droid, you’ll be happy to learn that you can now use Moto Maker on the Turbo 2.
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LG said earlier this month that Android Marshmallow is coming to the G4 soon (possibly quicker than pretty much every other non-Nexus smartphone), but a new post by the Korean company on its Poland Facebook page says that the update have been “temporarily suspended” due to technical issues (via AndroidBeat):
Nicolas, update is temporarily suspended due to technical reasons. We will keep you informed about the changes!
If you ordered a Nexus 6P, this one’s for you. According to various reports across Twitter, Google+, and Reddit, many Nexus 6P orders are shipping this afternoon. From the looks of it (and that includes at least two different Reddit threads), those who ordered the 32 GB aluminum model are getting first dibs…
If you’re one of the lucky few who have a phone shipping this afternoon and you ordered with overnight shipping, you’ll probably see your phone at your doorstep on Monday. The rest of of the Nexus 6P variants — assuming you ordered on launch day — will likely begin shipping out sometime next week.
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Last year we didn’t get a smaller-sized Nexus phone. Since the Nexus 5 came out, if you wanted a Nexus phone any smaller than the Nexus 6, well, you bought a Nexus 5. And since the Nexus 5 is over 2 years old at this point, it makes sense that Google would make 2015 the year that it introduced two handsets — one for those that still want or need a smaller phone in the form of the Nexus 5X, and one for the rest of us in the metal-bodied Nexus 6P.
We told you about the latter, higher-specification brother earlier today, but here’s what people think of the former…
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Before today, signing up for Project Fi meant waiting several weeks in most cases before being about to sign up for the Mountain View company’s MVNO. At least for today, you can sign up without a waiting period. To celebrate the shipment of the Nexus 5X, Google says it is today giving out instant Project Fi invites to those that sign up for one…
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BlackBerry already made the PRIV official last month, and then followed up with some of the first official images of the device posted to its blog. Not much of what the company has said up to this point though has been new, though. Even the official images it published a couple weeks ago were pretty much the same as the ones we saw four months ago.
And this new video follows in the same vein as that theme. We’ve already seen an in-depth hands-on video with the phone, we’ve seen its specs leaked what feels like a dozen times, pre-registration for the phone opened up a couple of days ago, and just earlier today pre-orders for the phone went live in the UK. I guess it’s just a pretty marketing clip…
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Update: Never mind. Qualcomm says that this is no longer a thing. It looks like the software on the phones being demoed at the India launch event are running old software.
Both the Nexus 5X and 6P are getting some special camera features thanks to improved hardware, and now we’ve learned about one more. Thanks to the device’s launch in India (and one hands-on video in particular), we’re getting another look at the device’s Settings app, and within there’s something interesting: Nexus 6P (and the Nexus 5X) will support “Double twist for camera”…
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When OnePlus released its first smartphone, it also launched a bamboo StyleSwap Cover, giving you the option to go with a wooden back to replace the standard plastic one. To say it was tricky to install would be something of an understatement. This year, the company’s learned its lesson and released a cover which is much easier to install and comes in four different flavors. I unboxed them all, applied them and compared them…
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The OnePlus One
OnePlus has a budget handset on the way, and just this morning, Pete Lau, the company’s co-founder, came out on Weibo to tease the device. We don’t know much about the phone yet, but we do know that OnePlus has an announcement to make in India on October 12th. We’ll probably see the company’s third phone announced at this event, and if these FCC images are to be believed as credible, we might now have our first look at the device in the flesh…
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Google isn’t just building Android for mainstream consumers — the company also wants to tackle the business sector. And to educate business owners on why they might want to take advantage of what Google has to offer, the Mountain View company is holding its first Android for Work online conference, dubbed Android for Work Live, on November 4th.
At Android for Work Live, you’ll:
- Hear from Andrew Toy, product management director for Android for Work, who’ll discuss the broad vision of Android in the workplace and how businesses can mobilize every worker and workflow.
- Learn how Android’s vast selection of devices – from affordable phones to locked-down hardware and customized devices – creates choice and agility for BYOD, corporate deployments and single-purpose scenarios.
- Get an in-depth look at how companies can rely on Android’s built-in multi-layered protections to keep business data secure and managed across all devices in an overview from Adrian Ludwig, technical lead for Android security.
- Hear insights from Android customers, including Guardian Life Insurance Company.
If this sounds interesting to you, Google says you can register for the event over at the Google for Work website.
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USB Power Deals: KMASHI 15,000mAh USB $14 (Reg. $20), Aukey 2A Wall Charger $8 (Reg. $16), more[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/651126504156368896 align=’center’]
There’s good news and bad news for Samsung today. The good news: the company has forecast a reversal of its seven-quarter decline in profits, suggesting an impressive year-on-year hike of almost 80%.
The bad news is that, while the company itself hasn’t released any details on where the profit is coming from, analysts cited by the WSJ and elsewhere put it down to strong growth in sales of chips and displays – not phone sales. This suggests that Samsung is making its money by helping other manufacturers, like Apple, sell their phones …
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Google yesterday announced that Android Marshmallow is coming over-the-air to Nexus devices in the coming days and weeks, but now we have confirmation that Google is also pushing the update to Android One devices. Google promised when it launched the Android One program that these phones would get update priority and offer the latest and greatest much like Nexus phones, and it looks like the company is delivering on that promise…
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Update: It’s gone.
It’s not really a matter that’s up in the air, but now the confirmation is coming straight from Google. At the time of this writing, the “Optimized devices for Android Screen casting” Chromecast support page lists the “Droid Maxx 2,” a phone that hasn’t yet been announced in any official capacity…
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