Motorola, AT&T apologize for not bringing KitKat to the Atrix HD with special offers
We regret to inform the remaining Motorola Atrix HD owners in the United States that their handsets will not receive an update to KitKat. Motorola and AT&T announced on Tuesday that the software update would never arrive. Instead, the two companies are presenting special offers to Atrix HD owners.
Motorola will sell those effected by the disappointment a Moto X Pure Edition for $299 and a Whisper Bluetooth headset for $49. The savings, if purchasing both, reaches more than $200. Atrix HD owners must complete a form for Motorola with contact and device information by June 30 and use their promotional code by July 15.
Source: David Schuster (Google+), Motorola
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[Deal] Huawei’s online store has a valuable bundle to celebrate its anniversary
Huawei is celebrating the anniversary of its online store launching with a bundle deal that can save you over $200. What’s involved? Everything from phones and discounts to SIM cards and freebies.
Hit the break for details.
Complete registration at GetHuawei.com and you can do the following:
- Purchase the P8 Lite, Ascend Mate2, or SnapTo
- Take $50 off of your entire order
- Receive a free SIM card with thirty days of unlimited talk, text, and data from Net10 Wireless
- Receive a free Bluetooth dual stereo speaker
- Receive a free snap on cover when purchasing the P8 Lite
Source: Huawei
Come comment on this article: [Deal] Huawei’s online store has a valuable bundle to celebrate its anniversary
AT&T CEO says contracts will ultimately fade away
Two-year contracts have long been bundled with our smartphone purchases. It took quite a bold move from T-mobile, with their Uncarrier movement, to shake things up and question how things are done. One of these things was buying a phone with a contract or full price.
The realization did make an impact on the industry. Customers were realizing how much phones really cost and the disadvantages in contracts.
Re/code recently had a discussion with AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega about this shift. AT&T has begun embracing it, offering customers the option to pay full price for their smartphones through financing.
Regarding the contract practice, Ralph de la Vega told Re/code “I think it is one of those options that is going to go away slowly”. However, it seems like the change will be driven by the customers rather than the carriers’s push, as he says “not because we insist on it but because customers will choose it less often.”
This approach differs from T-mobile’s aggressive strategy dropping the subsidized-ways all together. We will have to wait and see what becomes of it.
“We need to give it a little more time“
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Lollipop rolling out to the Sony Xperia Z3 on T-Mobile
We have got some great news for owners of T-Mobile Sony Xperia Z3 today. Last evening, Des Smith, T-Mobile’s senior product manager, tweeted that Android 5.0 Lollipop is set to roll out to the Sony Xperia Z3 as of Jun 3 midnight PDT.
Software Update: @TMobile #Z3 – #Lollipop + Band 12 support! Should start after Midnight Pacific ✌Des pic.twitter.com/766pvQpKsq
— Des (@askdes) June 2, 2015
Lollipop update brings with it the goodness of Material Design, heads up notifications, better battery life, new security features and many other awesomeness. Des also highlighted that this update will enable support for LTE Band 12. The LTE Band 12, running on the 700Mhz spectrum should allow Sony Xperia Z3 users to achieve a stronger signal, even indoors where the band is supported.
OTA updates do take some time to roll out to everybody, so just be patient. Hitting the update button won’t bring it sooner.
Have you received the OTA update? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Tell us what you love and what you don’t.
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Amazon Fire TV adds over 600 channels, apps, and games in 3 months
The Amazon Fire TV was met with some mixed reactions. Some loved the thought of another streaming device on the market, while others were only lukewarm to the idea, in an already overflowing market. In addition to just having the ability to stream movies and TV shows, as well as your Amazon content, Amazon brought game-playing to the forefront with the Fire TV.
Just after the announcement earlier in the week that GameFly would be bringing a Netflix-like streaming service for games. Amazon has announced that over 600 channels, apps, and games have been added to Fire TV devices in the last 3 months.
Amazon Fire TV – now offering over 1,600 titles – has the fastest growing selection of any streaming media device
In order to play PC games such as Batman, Darksider II, and Dirt 3, through the new Gamefly service, owners will need to purchase the Amazon Fire TV Game Controller, for $39.99. This will open you to the possibilities of anything that GameFly has to offer, on top of the games that are already available for the Fire TV.
The team is working hard and moving incredibly fast to bring even more movies, TV shows, live TV, sports, music, channels, apps and games to the Amazon Fire TV platform every week—and it shows. Amazon Fire TV selection has grown 127% in just the last 6 months, and is continuing to accelerate. With the addition of new titles like Fox News, Popcornflix, Candy Crush Saga and GameFly, customers now have access to even more of their favorite TV shows, news content, top quality games and live TV.
These are some pretty impressive numbers for a device that didn’t have the greatest expectations coming out of the gates. With the addition of GameFly streaming services, I’m sure we will begin to see the sales numbers for the Fire TV, start to rise steadily, if not rapidly.
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Pebble Time iOS App in Limbo, Pebble Asks Customers for Help
Pebble’s latest smart watch, the Pebble Time, has already begun shipping out to early Kickstarter backers, but customers receiving the device may not be able to use it with an iPhone because the accompanying Pebble Time Watch app has not yet been approved by Apple.
According to a Kickstarter update posted this afternoon, the Pebble Time app has been in limbo since May 22, spending more than two weeks going through Apple’s app review process without approval.
The unreleased Pebble Time Watch app was first submitted to the App Store in early May, and approved on May 18. Pebble went on to push a bug fix for the app on May 22, requesting an expedited review from Apple, which was not granted. Pebble has also been unable to add Pebble Time support to its existing iPhone app because that app has been stuck in the reviewing process since April.
The Pebble Time iPhone app, as we’ve all noticed, is not yet live on the iTunes AppStore. It remains “in review.” This unexpected circumstance pains us as much it does backers with watches ready to set up. We’re doing all we can to mitigate the delay and make Pebble Time Watch for iPhone available for download.
We appreciate you hanging in there with us while we navigate this obstacle.
It is not clear why Apple has delayed approval of the two Pebble iPhone apps, and Pebble has not shared details on conversations it may have had with the company regarding the review process. It’s possible Pebble has violated an App Store rule leading to the delay, but there’s also the possibility that Apple has opted not to approve the app as it competes with the Apple Watch.
In April, navigation app SeaNav US was rejected for mentioning Pebble support in its App Store description, a violation of an App Store guideline that prevents apps from highlighting competing platforms. Other apps that mention Pebble support have been approved, however, and there are many Pebble-focused apps in the App Store.
In order to motivate Apple to approve its app, Pebble is asking its customers to contact Apple on its behalf, reaching out to Apple through the company’s feedback system and through Twitter and Facebook. “Together, we can kindly express our desire to see the App Store #FreeOurPebbleTime with a speedy approval of Pebble Time Watch for iPhone, reads the blog post.
Rooting Android M preview: a quick guide
In my quest to continue diving into Android M, I decided to go ahead and root my device. While many of the folks that are still rocking Android M have probably already achieved root, I figured a quick guide wouldn’t hurt, especially for those newer to the world of running previews, rooting, and just general tinkering.
Warning: While getting root is actually extremely easy, things can still go wrong. Please proceed at your own risk!
Although the SuperSU root package doesn’t work out of the box with Android M, developer DespairFactor has created a set of Despair kernels that make root possible on Android M for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6. First things first, you’ll need to download the following:
- TWRP recovery
- SuperSU Beta 2.49
- Despair Kernel (Nexus 5) (Nexus 6)
Now that you have all the files you need, be sure to place SuperSU and Despair somewhere on your actual device. I put them in the Downloads folder, though you can pretty much place them anywhere.
For those that don’t have TWRP installed already, let’s start there. Considering those reading this had enough technical skill to install M in the first place, you probably won’t need help here, but just in case, we thought we’d include this section anyhow.
Navigate to wherever you have the TWRP.img on your PC. Right-click in the window and hit Open in Command prompt. A command prompt window will now open. Flashing TWRP is as easy as typing the following:
Flashing TWRP is as easy as typing the following: fastboot flash recovery TWRP.img (or whatever exact name/version you have of TWRP)
That’s it. Now we are ready to apply what’s needed for root.
Step 1: Boot phone into recovery mode. Start by pressing volume up, down, and power buttons together. You’ll then need to press the volume down button twice to navigate to the recovery option, press power and you’ll reboot in TWRP.
Step 2: Just to be on the safe side, we recommend doing a backup. You’ll want to head Backup, then swipe on the “Swipe to Back Up” button towards the bottom of the screen. From there it will run through the backup process.
Step 3: Now that you’ve backed up, we’ll flash the custom kernel. From main window, hit install and navigate to wherever you put the Despair kernel. Select it, and it will then ask you to swipe to confirm the flash. Once successful, return to the main window.
Step 4: We’ll be hitting install again, this time you’ll want to navigate to SuperSU. Select it, swipe to confirm, wait for it to finish. Now you just need to reboot your device.
And that’s it. Pretty simple for those who are familiar with this kind of thing, and even those new to tinkering should find the process pretty easy. Once you’ve device is rebooted, you should see SuperSU installed and your Android M installation is ready to use apps and other options that require root. For those interested, root also gives you the ability to install RRO layers, something we’ll be taking a look at in the near future.
The Comet Smartphone Kickstarter campaign is so bad, it’s good
Crowdfunding campaigns can prove helpful in certain situations by offering legitimate businesses and startups get off the ground. There are actually quite a few awesome products to come out of Kickstarter and Indiegogo, such as the Pebble smartwatch, the Ouya game console and many others. But every once in a while, a new, completely ridiculous campaign shows up, offering users a “revolutionary” new product that’s completely out of reach in hopes to score the campaign’s creators some cash in the process. For instance, let’s take a look at Comet – the world’s first buoyant, water-resistant smartphone.
“Buoyant and water-resistant, you say? How is that possible?” Believe it or not, Comet Core, the company behind this gem, has implemented three fins into the phone’s chassis that supposedly pop out the second your Comet smartphone hits the water. Surprisingly, Comet Core doesn’t really explain how this tech works, only that its engineers have put in “lots of time and effort” to design this wonder-phone.
Okay, so even if you can get past the three buoyant fins, the ridiculousness doesn’t stop there. The Comet offers up top-of-the-line specifications that would put many of today’s flagships to shame. It comes with a 4.7-inch Quad HD display, a 4000mAh battery, a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 810 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 16MP rear and front-facing cameras. It also has mood-recognizing LED lights on the side of the device, as well as its very own “Bubble Messenger” platform that’s exclusive to Comet phone users. Bubble Messenger “reflects you with every bubble, and also reflects your gender.” Whatever that means.
If you’re hooked, you can take advantage of the company’s early bird special and grab your very own Comet for just $230, completely unlocked. If the phone ever makes its way into production, which it definitely will, you can expect the phone to ship sometime around May 2016. Either Comet Core is infinitely idealistic and actually thinks it can bring this smartphone to market, or this is a scam. Now I don’t know anything for sure, but I’m pretty sure it’s the latter. Luckily this isn’t a flex funding campaign, so if the company doesn’t reach its $100,000 goal by July 6th, no money will be rewarded.
If you’re interested in checking out the rest of this absurd crowdfunding campaign, head to the source link below. With all of that said, is anybody out there planning to pledge their hard-earned cash on this completely legitimate product?
Diving into Android M: RRO layers in Android M
Earlier today we reported that Google’s Android M preview supports theming — sort of. While certainly not a marquee feature of M, it is technically possible to install Runtime Resource Overlay (RRO) themes in stock Android M with the aid of root and an app like Layers Manager. While we are still playing around with RRO themes and Android M, we wanted to post a few screenshots that show it is very much working.
For those wanting to try this out for themselves, we did put together a quick root guide for those that need a little help.
Want to dive even deeper? Check out our full “Diving into M” series by clicking here.
As you can see in the screenshots above, themes do work and can add a little extra something to the look and feel of stock Android. That said, I did run into a few issues. First, I can’t seem to get the RRO layers to delete through the Layers app. Now I’ll admit I am sort of a newbie to RRO themes so it might just be me. Second, after all my messing around I ran into an issue where some of the text in settings and a few other places no longer show up.
Again, both problems could just be caused by my inexperience with RRO layers and fixing the issue probably won’t be too hard. I’ll be sure to update if/when I figure out what mistake I made along the way or why I can’t get layers to delete.
Regardless, the big story here is that Google appears to be making it easier to take the blank slate that is stock Android and transform it into an experience that is exactly how we want it. While not everyone loves stock, that’s one of the reasons I am a fan (though I often run devices with OEM skinned builds too): it is clean, unbloated and I can then add the apps, customizations, launchers and other tweaks needed to make my phone uniquely mine.
It remains unseen whether or not the final Android M still contains the ability to install RRO themes through root, though we certainly hope so. Going beyond this, perhaps Google may eventually bill theming as an actual feature (no root needed), though we don’t expect this anytime soon.
What do you think of the new RRO layer support in stock Android? For those that prefer skinned Android or custom ROMs, does the ability to do more customization with root in M make stock any more appealing to you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Square Enix’s Hitman: Sniper will launch in the Google Play Store tomorrow
Video game developer and publisher Square Enix has just announced that Hitman: Sniper, the followup to the popular Hitman GO game, will make its way to the Google Play Store on Thursday, June 4th. This new game will be a stark departure from the popular turn-based puzzler Hitman GO, which has been available on Android for some time now.
Hitman: Sniper will still feature Agent 47, but this time it’s your job to make your way through various assignments that will require you to use your sniper/assassination skills. The game takes place in the beautiful Montenegro on one giant map, that will allow you to take down targets from different vantage points scattered around the area. Much like Hitman GO, you’ll be able to repeat as many levels as you’d like to improve your score and reach the top of the leaderboards. Take a look at the teaser trailer below to get a better look at the new game:
Hitman: Sniper will launch tomorrow in the Play Store as a premium title, so you can expect to pay a few bucks for the new game. If you’re a fan of Hitman GO, odds are you’ll enjoy Square Enix’s newest title. We’ll be sure to let you know when the game becomes available.
AIVAnet 