HTC To Introduce New Protection Plan For Replacing Broken Phones Called “Uh-Oh”

If you own and use an HTC device, you might already be familiar with HTC Advantage, the protection plan from HTC that is currently available allowing users to replace their damaged phone in the event of broken glass on the front of the device. It’s a feature that quite honestly more manufacturers should be offering, although HTC isn’t the only OEM to throw something like this at consumers. HTC wants to improve on their Advantage offering by replacing it with a new plan called Uh-Oh, which essentially is the same as Advantage but revamped with just a few changes.

The first and most notable difference is the time. HTC will be allowing users who have HTC Uh-Oh plans to swap out a damaged device within the first year and not just within the first six months, literally doubling up on the timing for customers. A whole entire year is plenty of time to square away any business with HTC in the event a screen’s glass gets broken. That year-long window is made all the more beneficial now that HTC is also adding broken displays(not just the outer glass), as well as water or moisture damage to the list of reasons a user could have for getting their devices swapped out.

In addition to the new damage types, HTC Uh-Oh will include buyback elements geared towards users who are looking to grab some extra cash (anywhere up to $100) for trading in an old device to put towards a new HTC product, although currently HTC hasn’t detailed which devices they’ll be accepting as part of the program and the amount given will depend on what device is traded in. HTC will likely highlight those details during their Uh-Oh live stream on March 18th happening at 9 am PST. HTC is also reportedly adding support for switching between carriers within the first year to Uh-Oh, which again, they should end up highlighting during tomorrow’s live stream event. HTC can also be expected to show off the HTC One M9 some more, and they could end up talking about other services, products, or features they have coming up in the near future, although it seems much of the event will be dedicated to the HTC Uh-Oh plan.

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Amazon and Best Buy Offering $50 off of the Google Nexus 9

Right now, Amazon and Best Buy are offering $50 off the Google Nexus 9. Best Buy is only offer the discount on the white 16GB Nexus 9 – making it $349. While Amazon is offering it on both black and white as well as both the 16GB and 32GB models. You can find the links to them all down below.

The Google Nexus 9 launched last fall alongside the Nexus 6 as well as Android 5.0 Lollipop. It’s one of the few tablets powered by the NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor. It’s also the first 64-bit tablet to run on Android 5.0. It’s built by HTC, so it has that premium look and feel that you expect from HTC, and with the Tegra K1 inside, it’s perfect for gaming. You can grab the 16GB now for $349 and the 32GB for $429.

Best Buy

Google Nexus 9 – 16GB

Amazon

Google Nexus 9 16GB Black

Google Nexus 9 16GB White

Google Nexus 9 32GB White

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Acer Aiming to compete with the Chromebook Pixel, Offering Chromebook 15 with an Intel Core i5

At this point, there’s a Chromebook in just about every price range right now. Especially between the $200 and $500 price points. Earlier this month, Google introduced the new Chromebook Pixel, which came down in price over it’s predecessor, but it’s still quite expensive at $999 as an entry price. Acer announced the Chromebook 15 back in January at CES in Las Vegas. It’s the first 15-inch Chromebook that’s been announced – it’s not quite available just yet – and likely will be the first one available. Now it appears that Acer might be looking to offer another model. This one with an Intel Core i5 inside powering the device.

The Acer C910-54M1 is a variant of the Chromebook 15, that is said to feature the Core i5-5200U processor, that’s a Broadwell processor, and come in at a $500 price tag. About half the price of the Chromebook Pixel. It’ll also feature 4GB of RAM, along with 32GB of SSD storage. However, it will only have a 1366×768 resolution display. However, according to +Brent Sullivan , he’s seen the updated spec sheet which shows the Chromebook 15 coming with an i5 and a 1080p display.

The Google Chromebook Pixel does have a nicer display, at 2560×1700 resolution, as well as those fancy new USB Type-C ports. While the Chromebook 15 from Acer does not. However it does weigh in at about 4.85 pounds as well as WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, USB 3.0 and 2.0, as well as upward-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard. We got hands on with the Acer Chromebook 15 back at CES, and it’s obviously a larger Chromebook than we are used too. But it is definitely a great piece of hardware.

Currently, the Acer Chromebook 15 is available for pre-order in some regions. We should be getting our hands on the Chromebook 15 soon for a review, and as we always do, we’ll be sure to let you know how the Chromebook performs during day-to-day tasks. Acer has a slew of Chromebooks available at all kinds of price points, in all kinds of form factors and in all kinds of spec bumps. Many of they are already available on Amazon, and we’d highly recommend them as well.

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OnePlus announces its release date for Lollipop

Since launching its first handset in early 2014, OnePlus has had its ups and downs. Among the downs has been the slow release of software updates. Today, the company announced release dates for the OnePlus One, running CyanogenMod 12S, to receive Lollipop as well as the handsets in India with OxygenOS.

On or before March 30, owners of the OnePlus One should expect to receive Lollipop in the form of a software update. Handsets with OxygenOS are told to wait for March 27 at the latest. So owners of either devices should see Lollipop arrive in about two weeks.

The company explained the software update’s delay:

We never intended to keep you waiting. Unfortunately, we ran into some unexpected roadblocks. First, there was an unforeseen OS signing issue, which has recently been resolved. Our camera module had stability issues on Lollipop, and we had to rebuild it for compatibility. Several other crucial drivers, including our Wi-Fi drivers, also needed to be updated to work flawlessly with the upgrade. Admittedly, it took a little more time than we had planned, but we only release updates that we are proud of; that means refusing to take shortcuts or deliver sub-par experiences.

Because nothing ever seems to go smoothly for OnePlus, people should be prepared for the aforementioned dates to be missed. The company does have a plan to redeem itself in the event that the deadlines are missed. Forgoing either one of those deadlines will launch a contest for consumers to win one of five OnePlus One devices. To enter, merely comment in the announcement post below.

Source: OnePlus

Come comment on this article: OnePlus announces its release date for Lollipop

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British Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Reported To Have Begun Receiving Android 5.0 Lollipop Today

Today, reports are suggesting that Samsung released the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in the United Kingdom. This update, which weighs in at a little over 700 MB, brings the newer version of Android to the Note 4 plus a number of bug fixes. These include the expected stability and performance improvements. The update is being made available to devices of all carriers plus the unlocked version.

Android 5.0 Lollipop on the Note 4 brings with it a number of improvements to the core Android system, including a new network scheduler. The network scheduler is a system-wide function that’s designed to conserve battery power by helping the device stay asleep when idle. It works when co-operating applications requesting a window in order to connect up to the Internet in order to perform activities, such as synchronizing the data. Older versions of Android allow an application to connect to the Internet as and when it wants to, which means the device may be woken at any time The network scheduler can in theory greatly reduce the number of times a device the device is woken.

Another improvement is the adoption of a new application runtime, switching away from Dalvik to the Android RunTime. The Dalvik runtime is a “just in time” application compiler system, which means that when an application is launched, the operating system must first complete compiling the application and subsequently run it. This reduces the amount of space that applications occupy on the device but increases the processor load. Conversely, the Android RunTime has pre-compiled applications on the device, which require more space but are faster to launch. The performance difference is welcome, even on a device based around the powerful 2.7 GHz, 32-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor with 3 GB of RAM, but applications and animations are noticeably smoother on Android 5.0 Lollipop compared with Android 4.4 KitKat and older.

If you have a British Samsung Galaxy Note 4, you can check for the update by first connecting to a WiFi network and second, going into the Software Update option in About Device, which is in the Settings menu. And if your device does receive the update, let us know how you get on in the comments below.

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Samsung Reserves Galaxy H1 And H7 Names In South Korea

Samsung have received much praise and positive comment in the last fortnight because of the announcement of their next flagship device, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. However, the S6 and S6 Edge represent the very high end of the Samsung portfolio. They are likely to sell in very high numbers, but this does not mean Samsung are ignoring the lower models in a given range. In the last few months, Samsung have claimed that they are reducing the number of handsets that they are selling as part of a consolidation exercise. We’ve still seen Samsung introducing new models, such as the Samsung Galaxy J1, an entry level, dual core, 3G only device, which is set to have a 4G quad core brother. And we have today seen that Samsung have trademarked two new names, the Galaxy H1 and Galaxy H7. We may be seeing yet another family of devices, joining the A-range (mid range, metal design), S-range (flagship and now metal design), J-range (budget models, plastic design), E-range (similar to the A-range but plastic design).

The opening paragraph assumes that the new Galaxy H1 and H7 are destined for first and foremost a consumer model and second, an Android-powered smartphone. It’s possible that the H1 and H7 are tablets (perhaps a 10-inch and 7-inch tablet, with Samsung dropping the “0” from the 10-inch model) fashioned in a similar way to the J-range? It’s difficult to see where Samsung can fit a new model range into the portfolio; entry level hardware and premium metal design doesn’t make sense! Perhaps Samsung are planning on releasing a range of smaller models? Or perhaps the H-range is reserved for a new family of wearable devices running Android Wear? We can be confident that these model designations are destined for Android-powered devices as Samsung use the “Galaxy” moniker exclusively for Android devices. The applications were both made for the Korean Intellectual Property Office and may be for Samsung’s local market, only.

What do you think to Samsung potentially introducing another family of devices? What else would you like to see being introduced into the market? Let us know in the comments below.

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