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Monday, January 25, 2016

Marshmallow Updates for Galaxy S6 Variants, Galaxy Note 5 Reportedly Pushed Until February or March

According to latest leak of information, Marshmallow updates for a string of Samsung Galaxy devices have been delayed, pushed back about a month to even two months. It was first reported in November that Android 6.0 updates would hit devices such as the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ in late December, but as we stroll into late January, updates in the US have yet to take place.

As seen in a portion of the leaked document, all devices have been pushed back rather significantly, with the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ now listed as receiving the updates some time in February. The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have also been delayed, now listed as February/March. As for the Galaxy S5, that device is now listed to receive Marshmallow in March/April, instead of “awaiting approval” as it did in November, which is a good thing. 

Now, while all of this may sound sad, Samsung has never been one to open up on its update process. If anything, they are the least transparent Android OEM on the planet in this department. But you know, we can’t blame Samsung for this. They make a ton of phones that are available on hundreds of carriers around the globe, making the update situation rather complex.

And when we say a Samsung software update has been “delayed,” we can’t exactly expect an apology from Samsung, as the company has never promised or guaranteed any type of update timeline. All we as consumers can go on are leaks such as this one.

If you are awaiting your Marshmallow update, it appears you will have to hold on a bit longer.

android-6-0-marshmallow-roadmap-for-samsung-smartphones-leaks-again-499374-2

Via: MobiPicker

Marshmallow Updates for Galaxy S6 Variants, Galaxy Note 5 Reportedly Pushed Until February or March is a post from: Droid Life



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DEAL: Nexus 5X 16GB for $299, 32GB for $349 (Plus $20 Visa Gift Card, Free Shipping Included)

If you took advantage of Friday’s Nexus 5X deal that featured Google’s littler Nexus for $312, I apologize, because today, we have an even better deal. BuyDig (via eBay) is currently selling the Nexus 5X with 16GB of storage for $299 and the 32GB model for $349. Those are the lowest prices we have seen to date.

Hold on, though, it gets even better. By purchasing either of the versions, you will also receive a $20 VISA gift card, just because. The VISA gift cards will take 6-8 weeks to arrive, but I can’t imagine you’ll have a problem with that.

BuyDig is selling each as brand new phones. This is model LG-H790, which is the US or North American version and will work on all of our carriers. You can read our review of it here.

Free shipping is included.

eBay Links:  Nexus 5X 16GB ($299) | Nexus 5X 32GB ($349) 

Cheers Scott!

DEAL: Nexus 5X 16GB for $299, 32GB for $349 (Plus $20 Visa Gift Card, Free Shipping Included) is a post from: Droid Life



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These USB Type-C Adapters are Benson Leung Approved

If you own one of the new Nexus devices, the Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P, you are probably slowly settling into the idea of USB Type-C. Many of you may have picked up an additional charger or cable here or there through a variety of deals featured on this site, but if you have yet to because you still own a whole bunch of microUSB chargers from old phones that are still in working order, maybe it’s time to put those back to work. Maybe it’s time to pick-up some USB Type-C adapters.

Thanks to Googler Benson Leung, who has been fighting the spec compliant USB Type-C fight for us all, we have a pretty healthy list of adapters that are the safe to use with your older microUSB chargers. It’s probably safe to say that these are the best USB Type-C adapters around. 

What is a USB Type-C adapter? It’s a little nub or tip that attaches to a microUSB cable to, for the most part, turn it into a USB Type-C cable. The idea here is to buy an adapter that can be placed over the top of the microUSB tip of your old cables to turn them into working USB Type-C chargers for your new Nexus phones or future phones that will likely support USB Type-C. With a simple adapter attached, you no longer have to buy a full-blown Type-C charger.

If you haven’t been following Benson’s growing list of USB Type-C reviews on Amazon, then hopefully the list below will help you out.

Amazon Links:

These USB Type-C Adapters are Benson Leung Approved is a post from: Droid Life



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Gear S2 Classic in 18K Rose Gold and Platinum Availability Begins Today in China, Not Yet for US

Samsung announced that the Gear S2 Classic in 18K Rose Gold and Platinum are available starting today, although, buyers in the US will have to wait a little bit longer to get hands-on with the new colors. For now, these two models of the Tizen-powered smartwatch are only available in China, with additional regions getting them a little later in 2016.

We spent a bit of hands-on time with the latest models of the Gear S2 Classic at CES in January, concluding that besides a shell made out of either 18K Rose Gold or Platinum, it’s the same Gear S2 Classic watch that is already available to buyers in the US. 

In addition to the changes made to the exterior of the Gear S2 Classic, Samsung has also loaded these units up with Peanuts watch faces, as well as additional app support from services such as ESPN, CNN, eBay, and Uber. For more information on the Gear S2 Classic, check out our hands-on with the smartwatch at CES.

When exact availability for the US is announced, we will update you if you are interested in this timepiece.

Via: Samsung

Gear S2 Classic in 18K Rose Gold and Platinum Availability Begins Today in China, Not Yet for US is a post from: Droid Life



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Spotify Brings Videos and Podcasts to Android App This Week

Back in May, Spotify announced that it would soon introduce videos and podcasts to its streaming service line-up, though they weren’t exactly willing to provide a proper launch date at that time. Today, their VP of product, Shiva Rajaraman, told the Wall Street Journal that an update for Android would include these new features this week.

At least one reddit user is already seeing new the Shows and Podcasts sections, though the rollout for them could happen slowly. I, for one, am not seeing these new sections quite yet, even though Google Play is showing that a new update arrive on Android today. 

Spotify has teamed up with companies like ESPN, Comedy Central, BBC, and Vice for content. On their newly updated website, they envision a world where you catch up on news video during your commute, get some “giggles” in during lunch, and checkout a story before going off to bed. They also hope that podcasts will be a much welcomed addition to your daily tune line-up.

Spotify hasn’t exactly announced timing for the update outside of a mention to the WSJ, so if you aren’t seeing these new sections quite yet, it shouldn’t be much longer. The iOS version with videos and podcasts should be here next week.

Tell us, though – were you looking for another video platform outside of YouTube and the variety of other services? Does having a music service that doubles as a video service sound promising to you?

Play Link

Via:  Wall Street Journal

Spotify Brings Videos and Podcasts to Android App This Week is a post from: Droid Life



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Google Play Games Permissions are Changing, Here are the Details

If you play games on your smartphone or tablet that utilize syncing with Play Games, you should note upcoming changes that are taking place. Thankfully for users, these changes are the kind that greatly benefit players, and should positively change your experience when you first start up a gaming application.

As announced today, Google is switching up the Play Games permissions, hoping to limit the amount of time gamers have to spend granting permissions and syncing their Google profile. Once these changes take place, here’s what you should expect to see, or rather, not see. 

Upon rollout of these changes, players will be prompted to sign-in only once per Google account, instead of being prompted once per game. So, instead of opening a new game and going through the permissions screen, your new games will automatically sign in, as long as you have already signed into your account on that device. Even better, Google will no longer require your account to be “upgraded” to Google+ to use Play Games services, and will allow any Google user to take advantage of Play Games’ leaderboards and achievements.

If you would rather sign into each game individually, instead of automatically, you can disable this feature in the Play Game app’s settings.

Google notes that developers won’t likely need to change anything on their end, and in the long run, this will be a much easier process for anyone who enjoys downloading new games and quickly get to the playing. However, if the developer uses specific Google+ features to make something work in their game, a few changes will be needed, but it’s nothing major. If you are a developer, be sure to read the Android team’s complete writeup of the changes.

Via: Android Developers

Google Play Games Permissions are Changing, Here are the Details is a post from: Droid Life



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GIVEAWAY: Win 1 of 30 Tronsmart Titan 5-Port Quick Charge 2.0 Hubs! (Discount Code Too!)

At the end of last week, we wrote up a quick review on Tronsmart’s Titan 5-Port Quick Charge 2.0 Hub. It’s one of those products that doesn’t really have any major flaws to talk about because all it wants to do is simultaneously charge five of your devices really, really fast. And it does that at a pretty affordable price.

To follow-up the review, we have a bunch to give away to you, thanks to the folks over at Tronsmart. In fact, we have 30 of them to hand out internationally. Typically, our giveaways are US-only because it’s just easier. However, Tronsmart insists on doing it internationally by also picking up the shipping tab. Pretty sweet, right? 

If you don’t want to deal with the contest, we also have a new coupon code for the Titan from Tronsmart for you to use today. The code is “5USBPORT” and it will save you $14 off the normal price, if you choose GeekBuying as the vendor over at Amazon. [Amazon Link]

Ready?

Giveaway


Prizes: 30 (thirty) Tronsmart Titan

How to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners:

This Sunday, January 31, at 12:00PM Pacific, we’ll choose our 30 winners and forward them on to Tronsmart for prize dispensing.

GIVEAWAY: Win 1 of 30 Tronsmart Titan 5-Port Quick Charge 2.0 Hubs! (Discount Code Too!) is a post from: Droid Life



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OxygenOS 2.2.0 Rolling Out to OnePlus X Starting Today

An update is headed out to the OnePlus X, labeled as OxygenOS 2.2.0. Inside, folks will find a Manual Mode for the camera application, Save to SD Card option for the camera app, in addition to security patches and general bug fixes. 

Also listed in the changelog is a USSD bug fix for owners in India, OTA app upgrade, and dual SIM preferences have been added back into the system settings.

OnePlus states that the update is headed out right now, but if you don’t see it immediately, “be patient.”

What’s New

  • Manual mode for Camera App
  • Save to SD card option in Camera App
  • USSD bug fix for India
  • Added dual SIM preferences back in system settings
  • OTA App upgrade
  • Security patches
  • General bug fixes and optimizations
Via: OnePlus

OxygenOS 2.2.0 Rolling Out to OnePlus X Starting Today is a post from: Droid Life



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Years After 3D Phones and the HTC One M8 Failed, Samsung and LG Think the World is Ready for Dual Cameras

I can’t say that I have read a single comment on Droid Life within the past couple of years asking for the return of dual cameras on the backs of phones, but they are coming, at least according to a report out of ETnews. Apparently, wide-angle, focus-adjusting, and 3D photography, along with a future full of iris scanning, are the next hotness in mobile tech and suppliers of smartphone parts are beginning to prepare for a competition. 

According to ETnews, the LG G5 will be one of the first flagship phones to ship with a dual camera setup. That idea certainly matches up to an exclusive set of photos we received over the weekend that shows the G5 locked inside of a dummy box. Our pictures show the rear side of the phone with dual camera lenses on each side of a flash. Other reports have also claimed that the G5 will have dual cameras as well, plus we have case manufacturers showing imagery that supports this idea.

LG won’t be the only company to get into dual cameras, though. This report suggests that Samsung will begin to mass produce dual camera modules this year as well,  in hopes of selling them to a number of smartphone manufacturers because manufacturers are “choosing dual cameras one after the other.” ETnews isn’t suggesting that a Galaxy phone will have dual cameras at any point in the near future, just that Samsung will produce modules for other phone makers, many of which will be in China.

This report makes the claim that because smartphone cameras have peaked in terms of quality, smartphone makers will look to introduce new features, like being able to measure depth with two cameras. Two cameras also could help with wide-angle photography, more 3D fun, and eventually, iris scanner.

That sound familiar? The same thing happened years ago with 3D phones, but more recently, with HTC and the One M8. HTC introduced gimmicky dual cameras to the One M8, one of which was used to measure depth and allow users to refocus photos after the fact and do some other really dodgy effects. The idea was somewhat interesting, except for the fact that HTC still thought 4MP photos were good enough at the time. It also didn’t help that companies like Samsung and Sony were able to reproduce post-focusing with software.

With LG gearing up for dual cameras in the G5, I can’t imagine the effect will be much different than what HTC did. All we’ll get this time around, unless LG has a really useful trick up its sleeve that we aren’t yet realizing, is higher resolution photos of the same old gimmick. Does anyone really want that? Honestly, I’d rather LG spend time cleaning up its poorly executed software interface.

Who wants dual cameras? Maybe that shouldn’t be a question, since it sounds like we may not have a choice in the near future.

Via:  ETnews

Years After 3D Phones and the HTC One M8 Failed, Samsung and LG Think the World is Ready for Dual Cameras is a post from: Droid Life



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Alleged Photos Show Off Upcoming Galaxy S7 From Samsung

In the latest development in the Galaxy saga, alleged photos of the Galaxy S7 have hit the web, detailing what we might expect from Samsung in the year 2016. As far as we know, these are the first reported images of the phone, taken straight from what appear to be a cleanroom in one of Samsung’s testing facilities.

Upon inspection of the photo, we see a device, inside of a grey protective box. On the top and bottom portion of the phone, we see plenty of bezel, and there appears to be quite a bit of black surrounding the display itself. There is a white sticker covering up what is likely a Samsung logo on top, and on the bottom, we have capacitive buttons and a physical home button. 

Speaking on the design, the phone appears to be rather rectangular, not as bubbly and curved as last year’s Galaxy S6. However, this could simply be the grey case playing a trick on the eyes. We won’t know exactly what to expect in the shape department until a few more photos are made available.

The last photo is a run of camera modules for the phone, labeled as SM-G930F. That model number matches up with what is reported to be assigned to the Galaxy S7.

Beyond the device, the best part of this photo is what device was used to shoot it. As we can clearly view in the reflection, someone working in a Samsung cleanroom owns a HTC One, which is classic.

Share your thoughts below.

Galaxy S7

Galaxy S7 2

Via: GSM Arena

Alleged Photos Show Off Upcoming Galaxy S7 From Samsung is a post from: Droid Life



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Report: Galaxy S7 Coming to US on March 11

Would you be OK with Samsung releasing the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge on March 11, here in the US? According to @evleaks, that’s what we’re looking at.

March 11 means we could see an incredibly quick turn-around from the time Samsung announces each phone until they hit stores. MWC, the conference that Samsung is expected to make each of the new phones official, starts February 22. Samsung, assuming they do use the event to announce the new Galaxy devices, will likely do so on February 21. So if March 11 is correct, that’s a 3 week window for pre-orders to open and then stock to arrive in stores. 

How exciting.

Report: Galaxy S7 Coming to US on March 11 is a post from: Droid Life



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