On the eve of the P9 event in London, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Huawei plans to launch a flagship phone in the US later this year. Entering the US market is a part of its broader plan to compete in the premium phone market and shed its image of making low-end devices.
Huawei recently announced the Mate 8 for intenernational markets and brought its low-end Honor 5X to the United States, but the company apparently isn’t stopping there. Today, the Chinese company began selling another smartphone in the United States. As per its Amazon listing the US version of the Huawei GX8 is available for $350…
360 degree video has taken off this year, and now yet another creation use of the technology is hitting YouTube. Just in time for the holidays, the White House has taken to YouTube to upload a 360 degree video tour of the decked out temporary residence and workplace of the President of the United States.
Beyond just being a 360 video that you can pan around, this video also offers 3D options for those that have a pair of classic 3D glasses laying around. Also, as with any 360 degree video on YouTube, you can also head over to your mobile device and pan around the video using your phone’s gyroscope. There’s also Google Cardboard support.
We told you a few days ago that Honor, a brand of primarily low-end smartphones owned by Huawei, sent out invites for an event early next year at CES. The wording in that invite was very vague, mentioning only new “creative and smart technology,” but now we have more of an idea what the company has planned. As we previously speculated, it appears Honor is planning to officially enter the United States market…
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We already heard about the ZenFone 2 Deluxe when it was announced for India a few months ago, but now the phone is available in the United States in the form of a “Special Edition” model. It’s not all too different from the standard ZenFone 2 (which is actually a pretty decent phone for the money), but it adds to the package a couple of fancified back covers and 128 GB of flash storage.
Its specs are pretty much identical to the ZenFone 2. There’s an HD IPS 5.5-inch display, 13-megapixel/5-megapixel rear and front cameras, respectively, and a 2.3GHz 64-bit Intel Atom processor with 4 GB RAM and 4G LTE. The Special Edition inherits dual-SIM capabilities, and sadly, you’ll probably be stuck with Android 5.0 Lollipop for a while with this phone.
We’ve found the phone for $399 at Amazon, Newegg, and B&H Photo Video, but it doesn’t seem to available quite yet at the time of this writing.
Xiaomi has reiterated what feels like a half dozen times that the United States is in its long-term view, so that shouldn’t come as much surprise to those who have payed close attention to the words of VP of International Hugo Barra, and more recently, reports from The Wall Street Journal. But interestingly, we now have tangible evidence that the company might be doing just a bit more than just “thinking” about coming to the US. If new documents (via Lilliputing) are to be believed, the company is already seeking FCC approval to bring one of its phones, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 Pro, to the United States…
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Google is always expanding the information it offers at the top of search results, with the goal being to keep users within Google itself — no longer needing to navigate to external websites. Today, the Mountain View company has announced that it is adding constitutions from 13 different countries to the top of your search results page…
According to Google’s Inside Search blog:
The Constitute Project helps people access, compare and analyze the world’s constitutions. Now we’re adding more of this content to our search results, so you can find the full text for the United States Constitution—or constitutions from 12 other countries—right at the top of your search results page. To try it out, type (or say) “constitution” into Google Search or the Google App and a box will pop up with the Preamble for the United States Constitution and a drop-down menu where you can see all of the accompanying articles and amendments.
The new feature comes in partnership with the Constitute Project, a group that hopes to give people more access to world constitutions. Of course, the United States constitutions is one of the many you’ll be able to access. Besides the US, there’s Afghanistan, Bhutan, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Micronesia, Norway and Ukraine.
Just head over to Google and search for “constitution of [your country]” and you’ll be given many drop down menus that let you get a full glimpse of these documents. Of course, Google says that it is looking into adding more countries in the future.
Google has its own enterprise-grade cloud storage offering which competes with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft for storing data from big Internet players like Snapchat and Netflix. Now you can send your data to their cloud in the most literal, or most lazy, way ever before possible.
HTC may be in financial difficulty, but it’s still churning out decent phones. One of the most recent to hit the market is the Desire 626. It’s a competitively priced, attractive mid-range device. But with the new 3rd-generation Moto G on the market, is it worth buying?
Is it happening again? It might be happening again. Verizon Wireless is still evaluating whether or not to support Samsung’s soon-to-be-launched mobile payments service, Samsung Pay, on its devices, according to a representative we spoke with from the company.
Google is testing its Project Wing unmanned aircrafts, otherwise known as drones, over United States soil with quiet approval by NASA, according to a new report by the Guardian. The technology giant would otherwise have to receive a 333 exemption by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a waiver issued to commercial companies testing the use of UASs (unmanned aircrafts), as the commercial operation of these aircrafts is banned in the United States.
Update: Google posted to Google+ shortly after we published this to announce that Play Movies is actually now available in three new countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Our report below doesn’t mention Singapore as a new supported country.
Google Play and Play Movies are both getting some international love today. Play is Google’s store for apps and games, while Play Movies contains movie and television content.
First up, developers in India can now price their Play Store apps lower than ever before: Rs. 10, which comes out to approximately 10 cents in US dollars. This is major because while India is a rapidly developing country with many starting to rise to the middle class, its per capita GDP is still much smaller than that of the United States. Also, and this is just my opinion, 10 cents is much more of a impulse buy area. This new minimum pricing only applies to India. Google recently began selling Play Store gift cards in the country as well – India is very reliant on cash over plastic (credit, debit cards), so by making gift cards available that can be purchased with cash, the company has ostensibly increased its potential customer base in that country.
Also new today, or at least very recently, is the launching of Play Movies in Indonesia and Malaysia. Several people have reached out to Android Police as of late with tips and screenshots of its availability in the two countries, so it’s pretty assured to be real. Play Movies is, as mentioned, Google’s movie and television entertainment store for Android devices. The company also rents out video content through YouTube, although the availability of both of these varies widely by region and country.
HTC has confirmed that its HTC One M9+ (the boosted version of the regular M9) will be heading to Europe soon. Initially, the smartphone was only available to buy in China.
For now, that’s all the detail we have. HTC is yet to confirm which specific countries it’ll be available in, or which carriers will be selling the M9+.
To say that initial reaction to the HTC One M9 was muted would be something of an overstatement. In many ways, the One M9+ is the phone we all hoped the regular M9 would be. It features a 5.2-inch QHD (2560×1440) display, a fingerprint scanner and 20MP Duo Camera covered with sapphire crystal glass. Unlike the M9, it doesn’t use the Snapdragon 810 chip, instead opting to go with the 2.2GHz MediaTek helio X10 with 3GB RAM. It also offers expandable storage via MicroSD on top of the internal 32GB flash drive. It’s got everything any spec-hungry consumer could possibly want.
Sadly, there’s still no mention of when (or if) the phone might make it across to the States. HTC has recently announced that it is partnering with multiple U.S. carriers to launch a handful of mid-range, budget-friendly smartphones. Although that helps the manufacturer boost its presence in the American market, it’ll do little to comfort those who really wanted to buy the M9+.
T-Mobile’s Uncarrier Amped moves are still going strong. Just days after announcing its cross-border ‘Mobile Without Borders’ plan, the magenta carrier has unveiled a brand new family plan.
With the new plan, two customers can get 10GB per line for $100 per month. Each additional line is then $20 per person, each with 10GB data allowance. As a special offer, T-Mobile is also giving customers a fourth line for free. Between now and Labor day, customers will be able to sign up to four lines with 10GB data on each, for $120 per month.
It was ruled as part of the ‘right to be forgotten‘ case in Europe last year that individuals could request to have links removed from Google search results, and now another group is calling for that right to be expanded to the United States. An activist group on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission that Google needs to expand the ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling to the United States, arguing that users should have the right to have inaccurate links removed from search results (via The Hill).
After research firm comScore released data last month indicating that Android’s share of the US smartphone OS market dropped 1 percent during the three months ending in April, Kantar Worldpanel has its own research out which says the OS is gaining momentum stateside again.
The number of railroad crossing accidents that occur in the United States has declined 80 percent since 1970, but last year that number inexplicably rose 9 percent to approximately 1,100, 270 of which resulted in deaths. Today Google and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced a partnership in which Maps users will receive audio and visual alerts when they’re coming close to a railroad crossing in their route, according to a report in the New York Times. The FRA has a vast database of every rail crossing in the country.
The United States Supreme Court ruled today in favor of the union of same-sex couples, effectively giving new civil rights to LGBT couples by declaring that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, and Google is going all-out in its celebration.
Hugo Barra, perhaps best known for his involvement with the Android team in its earlier days at Google, is now based over in China working at a company late last year named as the most valuable startup in the world. Known for its high-quality budget Android phones, TV sets, smart device accessories, wearables, and more, Xiaomi hasn’t yet officially launched any of these products in the US. Barra spoke to this at Re/code‘s Code Conference recently, mentioning the company’s long-term plan to eventually make it to United States shores despite many challenges…
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As expected, the Huawei P8 Lite has now landed in the United States. The phone isn’t exactly the first of its kind—the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 and the ZenFone 2 fall into the same category—but it’s a notable addition to the available mid-range offerings in the US. It’s a stripped down version of the company’s P8, as you might expect…
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Xiaomi is going to very slowly start its entry into Europe and the United States next week, according to a post from the company’s Facebook page. Starting on the 19th of May, the company will offer a small selection of accessories—including power banks and headphones—to buyers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany…
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comScore today released a new U.S. smartphone manufacturer and platform market share report for the three month period ending in March. The data suggests that while the continued strength of iPhone 6 adoption has resulted in market share gains for Apple, Android is still the most popular smartphone platform in the United States.
During the measured period, comScore reports that 187.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones, which equates to 77 percent of the total population. Of that, Apple was the most popular OEM (original equipment manufacturer) with 42.6 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 1% from December), followed by Samsung with 28.3 percent market share (down 1% from December), and LG taking third place with 8.4 percent (up 0.4% from December).
LG would like you to get social with its upcoming G4 smartphone launch.
SEOUL, April 8, 2015 — As part of its most ambitious smartphone introduction yet, LG Electronics (LG) will select 4,000 consumers in 15 countries who will “test drive” the all new LG G4 smartphone weeks before its official launch. Kicking off today in Korea, the program will target consumers in the following 14 other markets in the days ahead: Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, United States, China, India, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan and Hong Kong.
Participants will be selected from applicants based on their entry responses (selection criteria may vary in each market). Individuals can increase their chances of being selected by sharing their application experience on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Weibo. Once selected, participants in each country will be given an LG G4 for up to 30 days to experience its unique design and features, including its personalized UX, high performance camera and impressive display for sharing online. Participants will be given various assignments to carry out over the course of their experience with prizes awarded.
“Customers are our best fans and we think this would be an exciting and unique way to get our most important mobile product of the year close to the public,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We’re putting the success of LG G4 in the hands of consumers before the launch because we believe they are the best judge of a great user experience, beyond just benchmarks and speed tests.”
Interested consumers in participating markets are encouraged to check the local LG web page and social media sites in the coming days for more details on how to participate.
“Customers are our best fans” indeed.
If Google’s recent job listings for Google Glass has tempted you to consider a move to the US, data from the Office of Foreign Labor Certification may provide a guide to your chances. Applications for H-1B visas–those allowing overseas workers to accept job offers in the US–reveal that top tech companies like Google mostly sponsor the visas for five main roles, reports TechCrunch.
By examining the most common professions among H-1B applicants for Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, five consistent career paths emerged across each company. Software engineers, systems software engineers, financial analysts, computer systems analysts and marketing managers make up a large part of H-1B visa applications.
The salary data shows that the average salary paid to foreign workers employed in the USA by the five tech companies is highest at Facebook, at $135k, with Google second-placed at around $127k.
