Never forget your Android phone with Wear Aware for Android Wear

As shipments for the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live start to arrive this weak, new smartwatch owners are going to be chomping at the bit to get the most out of Android Wear. We’re going to add Wear Aware to our upcoming list of must have applications for your wrist.

Wear Aware acts as a smartphone leash, notifying you whenever your phone gets out of range and loses Bluetooth connectivity. When this occurs, your wrist will immediately begin vibrating, buzzing, and the display on your smartwatch will turn bright red letting you know that you forgot your precious phone. This is the very first release of the app, so expect bugs and there’s also bound to be room for improvement.

It’s worth mentioning that this functionality isn’t meant to replace Google’s Android Device Manager for finding lost phones. If you’re in the habit of walking away from your phone or leaving your phone behind as you go about your day, this app is for you.

Wear Aware – Phone Lost (Playboard) | Wear Aware – Phone Lost (Play Store)

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Top Android Homescreen July 6th Edition: Ormint

We’ere back with another awesome homescreen for your Android phone, so if you’re like me and you have a need to customize your device with some awesome style and a touch of originality, this weeks pick should suit your tastes. As always the homescreen we pick comes from a talented individual who has their work posted up at mycolorscreen. Ormint is the top homescreen this week and reminds us just a little bit of the fresh and clean look of Linux Mint builds for your computer, although that is probably not where this inspiration for the design came from. In any case, Ormint is a fantastic design and it deserves a little praise.

Ormint was created by an individual that goes by the name of 21MaRcO12, and we have actually featured at least one of their works before in an earlier post about the top homescreens of the month/week. For those of you that use Themer as your home launcher of choice, Ormint has been set up as a Themer theme just for you so installation couldn’t get any easier. For everyone else that wants to get this look but doesn’t paticularly care for Themer, or just prefers another home launcher more, the creator has the files available to download so you can set everything up yourself, using Zooper to do so. Just for clarification, all the file downloads are Zooper widget files which is why Zooper was mentioned. You’ll most likely need Zooper Pro to do this, so be prepared to drop a couple bucks on that to get this look if you don’t already have it. If you like the style of Ormint and want to set it up, all you have to do is head to the source link for the homescreen below, and make sure to “zoom” the image, as well as hit the love button after logging into mycolorscreen and then comment in the thread with your email so 21MaRcO12 can send you the required files.

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Nexus 4 Owners Get Their Chance At The Android L Preview Thanks To Successful Port

While the Android L Preview has thus far been limited to use on the Nexus 5 and the 2013 version of the Nexus 7 tablet, that limit has now been breached as some crafty individuals have gotten the preview of Android L to work successfully on the previous Nexus phone, the Nexus 4. If you own a Nexus 4 still and have been eager to try out the Android L Preview for yourself, now is your chance and there is even a handy little video that they uploaded to show just how everything works on the Nexus 4 so you can see that it’s in good working condition. Just like with the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 devices, it’s important to remember that this is a “preview” version of the software build so there are going to be some bugs, that is the point. If you notice anything that doesn’t work quite right don’t be surprised.

You may be in no rush load on Android L especially if you’d rather wait for an official launch of the update, and that’s completely OK as you’ll get your chance later in the year when it releases. Yes, the Nexus 4 will reportedly be on the list of supported devices, however when it comes to Nexus phones that is as far back as it goes, which also shouldn’t be a surprise since the Galaxy Nexus didn’t get Kit Kat officially either.

If you want you chance at the preview and don’t particularly care to wait for these kinds of things and are OK with the bugs that will undoubtedly show up as a result of loading on this software, than you can find all the instructions you need at the XDA link for the original thread below. We did post the video for you below so you can watch that as well which we absolutely recommended if you’re moving forward with this. As always with anything of this nature, make sure to do a nice little backup of anything you want saved just in case, and it would be a great idea to make sure you have a backup of the system image should something go wrong.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Huawei Utilizes WeChat App to Promote Their New Phone

The WeChat app has about 400 million monthly users, most of whom live in China. While the app is primarily used for texting and voice messages, users can also share pictures, play games and even hail taxis. Last month, online retailer JD.com, teamed up with Huawei for a promotion to win the new Honor 6 smartphone, utilizing the WeChat app to guess the retail price and available date of the phone. Last week JD said that over 550,000 customers either pre-ordered the Honor 6 or participated in the contest.

Tencent, the internet giant that developed the WeChat app, announced in March a deal to buy a 15% stake in JD.com, marking the first time the new JD-WeChat store has teamed up with a handset maker. The virtual store run by JD was integrated into WeChat in late May. Huawei had previously teamed mainly with telecom carriers to promote their phones and is now looking to broaden its customer base by dipping into the massive pool that makes up WeChat. This shift in marketing tactics likely comes from Huawei trying to gain market share after coming in sixth place with an 8% slice of the pie behind not only Samsung and Apple but also Chinese rivals such as Lenovo, Xiaomi and Yulong.

With more and more people gravitating towards chat apps and other forms of social media, retailers and manufacturers alike are looking to merge business practices to reach as wide an audience as possible, and wouldn’t the lure of nearly a half-billion users logging onto an app with the potential to see your product for sale be an enticing proposition? Also, companies usually spend tons of money promoting their products via commercials or print ads while a virtual store that relies on word of mouth and repostings by millions of users can be seen as a much cheaper alternative. Saving money on advertising could mean savings passed along to the customers. The virtual store has been running ads for the Honor 6 which features a 5 inch screen, a 13 megapixel camera and a mobile processor made in-house by Huawei. The phone went on sale last week in China for 1,999 yuan (about $322).

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Google Now Adds An 'Occasionally' Reminder Option, For When It's Only Kinda Important

There are some things that you don't need to do every day, yet are still important enough to warrant a reminder. You know, like vacuuming, or checking your stock portfolio, or reminding yourself to tweet about how incredibly important it is to bring Firefly back to television. Google's got your back: at some point they added an "occasionally" option to Google Now's built-in reminders, triggered when you tell Now to "remind me" to do something.

Google Now Adds An 'Occasionally' Reminder Option, For When It's Only Kinda Important was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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ODIN Android-Powered Portable Micro Projector Reaches Its $250,000 Kickstarter Goal

If you can put Android into a watch, or a car, or a stove, you can cram it in just about anywhere. And given that last option, placing it into a micro or "pico" projector seems like a pretty good idea. ODIN is a Kickstarter project aiming to do just that, expanding an already flexible gadget by throwing in a little extra electronics and Android for media-focused apps. The Kickstarter campaign passed its $250,000 goal this weekend, and it's got a day and a half left to go.

ODIN Android-Powered Portable Micro Projector Reaches Its $250,000 Kickstarter Goal was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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[New App] Commander Expands Google Now's Voice Control To Hardware Functions With A 'Note To Self' Work-Around

You probably know that you can use the "OK Google" command in Google Now (and just recently, anywhere else in Android) to do some cool things like set an alarm or check a flight number. But up to now, it hasn't been able to do much with the actual hardware on your phone. There's no easy way to expand Google Now functionality with third-party apps, but at least one developer found a work-around: meet Commandr, the new in-between service for flipping hardware switches in Google Now.

[New App] Commander Expands Google Now's Voice Control To Hardware Functions With A 'Note To Self' Work-Around was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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