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Tuesday, December 22, 2015

A Look at the Leather on the Moto X Pure Edition After 1 Month

Almost a year ago, we showed you what the Moto X (2nd Gen) with Natural Leather looked like after 3 months of usage. With a new Moto X available, the Moto X Pure Edition, we decided to do the same thing. Again, we went with the Natural Leather option through Moto Maker, as the last device with this option turned out looking fantastic, at least in our opinion. 

While the germaphobes among us argued that it was dirty or gross looking, we enjoyed the aged, semi-distressed look that only genuine leather can offer. A leather option on a cellphone, something that is highly used throughout a day, begins to build character after only a few days, showing marks, scratches, and scuffs. It’s very unique, and for anyone who can appreciate that, leather is a great choice on the Moto X Pure Edition.

Take a look at the picture below of the “natural” backed Moto X Pure Edition fresh out of the box. Once you have stared long enough, jump below to see how the phone looks now.

Moto X Pure Edition Leather

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-7

Not too shabby, right? Much like we saw on last year’s Moto X (2nd Gen), the leather is certainly starting to darken, soaking up all of those skin oils and elements from daily usage. At least to me eyes, I don’t exactly care for the texture Motorola decided to add on this year’s leather. If you look close enough to the grooves, it appears as if they are just dirty, not aging like fine leather.

Another observation, while the portion of the backside where my hand rests is becoming flat due to usage, parts of the sides, top, and bottom are not wearing at the same rate. This leaves me with a mix of smooth and textured feels when running my finger along the back. This is not a gripe, but something to note, given the phone’s size. If it was smaller, like last year’s Moto X, then we would probably see a similar rate of wear along the entire backside.

These photos are from only one month’s usage, and I don’t plan on dropping this device anytime too soon, at least until next year’s lineup starts rolling through. This phone just received Marshmallow after all, so I will continue to update you all a few months down the road.

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-11

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-13Moto X Pure Edition Leather-20

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-9

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-6

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-5Moto X Pure Edition Leather-19

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-10

Moto X Pure Edition Leather-16

A Look at the Leather on the Moto X Pure Edition After 1 Month is a post from: Droid Life



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Report: Google Working on Messaging Service to Rival Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp

Reported by the Wall Street JournalGoogle is working on a brand new messaging service, one to rival Facebook Messenger, Skype, and WhatsApp. If true, it would appear Google is not completely satisfied with its Hangouts offering, but what would differentiate Mountain View’s newly rumored messaging service from the already existing Hangouts?

Stated by sources familiar with the matter, Google is looking incorporate its artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbot technology into it, allowing users to ask questions from within the app, receiving answers from the web. This reminds me heavily of AIM’s SmarterChild bot, which utilized AI-esque technology to return answers based on questions you would ask. 

As written in the report, Google will rely on its AI technology to help separate its offering from the competitors at Facebook and Skype.

For its new service, Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., plans to integrate chatbots, software programs that answer questions inside a messaging app, the people familiar with the matter said. Users will be able to text friends or a chatbot, which will scour the Web and other sources for information to answer a question, those people said.

At this time, there is no known launch timeframe for the service, or possible name. This leaves us with the perfect opportunity to name it ourselves. So, what shall we call this service? Google Convo? Google Chitty Chat? Google Comm? Google Majel?

Via: Wall Street Journal [Subscription]

Report: Google Working on Messaging Service to Rival Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp is a post from: Droid Life



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Own a SHIELD Tablet K1? NVIDIA Gifting 5 Lunchboxes for Fallout Shelter

To the first 50,000 people who redeem the offer, NVIDIA is gifting 5 free lunchboxes to owners of the SHIELD Tablet K1 for Fallout Shelter. For those who are somehow unaware of Fallout Shelter, the game is created by Bethesda for mobile devices, turning you into a Vault overseer, tasked with creating jobs for dwellers, sending folks to explore the Wasteland, and protecting your citizens from Raider attacks and Deathclaws.

The lunchboxes that NVIDIA are gifting contain in-game items, such as weapons, characters and coins, all of which can help you create a better vault for your dwellers. 

To redeem this offer, all you must do is enter your SHIELD Tablet K1’s serial number here, then await a promo code via email that you will enter into Google Play. Once complete, open up Fallout Shelter on your device and open up your free lunchboxes.

Have at it, folks.

Redeem Here

Via: @NVIDIASHIELD

Own a SHIELD Tablet K1? NVIDIA Gifting 5 Lunchboxes for Fallout Shelter is a post from: Droid Life



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Now Casting for the Holidays: Angry Birds, Monopoly, and Yahtzee

A large list of newly Chromecast-enabled games are available on Google Play, just in time for the holiday season, where you will likely be spending time with family and friends. Being “enabled” for Chromecast means a game can be casted to your HDTV via the HDMI dongle, with smartphones acting as your game controllers. Games now supported for this functionality are Yahtzee, Angry Birds, Monopoly, Scrabble, and plenty more. 

As an example, Monopoly Here & Now allows multiple players to connect via their smartphone to the game board, which is displayed on the big screen TV. Players interact with the game and make all of their moves via the smartphone, meaning no more Monopoly money and game pieces to pick up after the game comes to a conclusion after 6 hours of playing with grandma, who for some reason refuses to sell B&O Railroad. Let it go, grandma, for the love of Jesus.

For young fans of Angry Birds, they can start blasting into Piggy towers using the smartphone as the launchpad, bringing a more interactive and fun experience to the game.

All of the latest apps and games for Chromecast can be found by following the Google Play link below.

Play Link

Via: Google

Now Casting for the Holidays: Angry Birds, Monopoly, and Yahtzee is a post from: Droid Life



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Google Testing Ways to Sign-In to Accounts Using Your Phone

Last night, a member of reddit posted a new setting that he saw within his Google account settings, asking him if he would like to sign-in with his phone. It seems that Google is testing a feature that would allow for easily two-factor authentication for compatible phones. Security!

Redditor rp1226 agreed to Google’s test and added his email under the account that was linked with his Nexus 6PThen, when signing in to his Google account on a desktop or laptop, his phone would light up and ask to be unlocked. The same would be said on the screen, and once unlocked through PIN, password, pattern, or fingerprint, all he had to do was tap and agree that it was indeed him trying to log-in to his account.

It seems that Google has built-in a few failsafes into this system, like if the phone is out of battery or out of data coverage. Users can just opt to log-in with their password instead. Google mandates that this feature will only be functional with a screen lock so people cannot steal your Google account if you lose your phone.

Are you saving a lot of time this way? Probably not. Is it the most secure form of two-factor authentication? Nope. But, this could be an easy way to encourage people to password protect their phones, as well as giving them a bit of that behind-the-scenes Google magic. No clue when or if we will see this roll out to more smartphones, but we will be keeping our eyes open if it opens widely to the public.

Via: Reddit, Engadget

Google Testing Ways to Sign-In to Accounts Using Your Phone is a post from: Droid Life



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The First Chapter of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode is on Sale for $0.10

Telltale Games has quite a history of bringing a unique story-driven experience to games for a few years now. The release of Minecraft: Story Mode on Android was met with some mixed reviews from our readers, but the first episode of the game series is currently on sale for just a dime.

For those who haven’t played a Telltale version of their favorite franchise, this game is not solely built around building the world around you. Telltale decided to delve into the story behind Minecraft of how this world came to be, why zombies come out at night, and how you can just teleport to the Nether whenever you want. It’s a different take on the series, but after receiving praise for similar versions of The Walking Dead, Borderlands, and Game of Thrones, this was the next jump.

The first chapter of this episodic game launched at $4.99 a few months ago, but is now on sale for the incredibly low price of $0.10 right now.

For fans of Minecraft who were intrigued by this launch, but not sure if they would enjoy it, this is the perfect price. Ensuing chapters are still priced at $4.99 through in-app purchases, but give it a shot if Minecraft is your thing.

Play Link

The First Chapter of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode is on Sale for $0.10 is a post from: Droid Life



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Google Giving Everyone 50% Off an Album From Play Music

The holidays are here and Google is in the giving mood. What does that mean for us? If you head on over to Google’s Play Music page, you’ll be greeted with a voucher that will get you any album from their collection for half off of the list price.

When you are on Google Play, you will need to request a voucher for the Google account that you are currently on. This will qualify your account for the half-off sale, since Google is only giving us one redemption per account. The discount will be applied at checkout, so don’t worry if you select 1989 and it’s not the price you were expecting right away.

The sale starts today and runs all the way into next year, also known as January 4.

Hit up the Google Play link below and start looking through the selection.

Play Link

Google Giving Everyone 50% Off an Album From Play Music is a post from: Droid Life



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“Hey Cortana” Feature Removed From US Market for Android Users

Over on Google Play, the Windows team has removed the “Hey Cortana” feature from within the Cortana app, as it is reported it was causing issues for Android users who also utilized the “Hey Google” feature from Google Now. Instead of releasing a quick fix for this issue, the team behind the Cortana app for Android decided that removing the feature altogether was the only remedy available, as it is possible it could take a bit of time before a fix can be implemented and rolled out to users. 

According to users who reviewed the app, when the Hey Cortana feature was in use, it essentially killed ties to Google’s voice command options, such as commands for making calls.

For anyone who enjoyed using Cortana for Android alongside their Windows PC, it is likely we will see this feature’s return once the team has had a chance to fix any incompatibilities it has with Google Now. And speaking as an Android user, that would certainly be a top priority.

Were you using Cortana at all? If so, did you run across this issue?

Play Link

Via: WinBeta

“Hey Cortana” Feature Removed From US Market for Android Users is a post from: Droid Life



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OnePlus X Champagne Available in Europe and Hong Kong, US Release Set for January

While anyone interested in the OnePlus X Champagne edition in Europe and Honk Kong can enjoy the Tuesday open sale that OnePlus announced previously, folks in the US will have to wait a bit longer.

According to a post in OnePlus’ forum this morning, the Champagne edition OnePlus X won’t be available until early next year in January. However, if you are interested in the OnePlus X Onyx, you should have no problem buying that phone today with no invite, starting at 4pm local time. 

We have gone over the OnePlus X in-depth, concluding that while it is probably the best built device from OnePlus yet, and it only costs $249, the fact that it may struggle on the US LTE network has us a bit worried. For me personally, when attempting to use the phone on AT&T’s network, I ran into many signal issues.

Do note, if you plan on purchasing the OnePlus X through the company’s open sale, you may want to keep your eyes locked here for availability.

Via: OnePlus

OnePlus X Champagne Available in Europe and Hong Kong, US Release Set for January is a post from: Droid Life



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