Even the world’s no.1 PC maker finds selling smartphones tough
Lenovo is the biggest PC maker in the world, but smartphones remain a challenge. The company’s mobile arm announced a pre-tax loss of $292 million for the three months ending in June: Motorola phones shipped stood at 5.9 million, down just less than a third from last year. The company now plans to cut 10 percent of its non-manufacturing jobs (roughly 3,200 people), aiming to save around $650 million in the second half of 2015. It’s also writing down $300 million in unsold phones. The company’s total net profit dropped 51 percent year-on-year, down to $105 million.
Lenovo’s chief exec, Yang Yuanqing, told Reuters that he stands by the acquisition of Motorola, which cost $2.91 billion in 2014. He added that restructuring Motorola and Lenovo’s smartphone divisions will take two to three quarters. This looks likely to cost $600 million, due to the “toughest market environment in recent years” — likely why the company is trying all sorts of gambits.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile, Lenovo
Source:
Lenovo
Tags: android, earnings, lenovo, mobilepostcross, motorola, sales, smartphones
Ingress creator Niantic Labs leaving Google to become an independent company
Surely, you have heard of Ingress, the Google-backed augmented reality game that has been downloaded over 12 million times and has all these players frantically hacking portals all over the city. This game, along with Field Trip, was created by Niantic Labs, a group that was incubated within Google. They have now grown large enough and are looking to expand… independently.
The developer has taken it to the Ingress Google+ page to tell us they are separating themselves from the Search Giant and becoming an independent company.
“Important Account Information: Niantic Labs is becoming an independent company. We’ll be taking our unique blend of exploration and fun to even bigger audiences with some amazing new partners joining Google as collaborators and backers.”
What does this mean for gamers? Not so much – you will be able to continue playing as you always have. Niantic Inc will take data you agreed to share with Google, including gameplay and contact information (email). You will get a notice about this transfer 30 days from today.
Regardless, there should be no direct changes for users (at least not right away), but you may notice the company will begin to delve into new ventures. The idea behind this move would be to allow Niantic to work more closely with investors and partners. It will help them explore and expand without having to ask big Google for permission.
More details are to come. For now all we can do is wish Niantic Inc a successful future outside of Google. What do you think? Will this help Niantic, or hurt them?
Android Experiments is Google’s attempt to increase creativity on the platform
The Android platform is a diverse one with a large variety of inventive apps and games, but Google would like to take this a step further. In order to further explore the creative possibilities of the platform, while also giving developers a new place to draw inspiration from, Google introduced “Android Experiments”.
Android Experiments is a site where developers are invited to showcase their most inventive Android and Android Wear apps. With apps like “Inkspace” which allows you to write and draw in 3D space and “Time Mesh”, an Android Wear watch face that changes shape based on motion, the site is already off to a great start. Android Experiments only accepts open-source and currently has 20 apps on the site. The site only posts the best apps, which unfortunately means that some developers will be let down, but they would “love to see [their] creations.”
If you’d like to check out the site, or to submit your own app, visit the site.
The post Android Experiments is Google’s attempt to increase creativity on the platform appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Verizon releasing the HTC Desire 526 tomorrow and 626 soon
HTC said they have plans to release new mid-range Desire phones across every major carrier all over North America. Verizon Wireless will be one of the first to get the Desire 526 tomorrow and the 626 soon after.
The phone on the left is the HTC 526 and is exclusive to Verizon. It features a 4.7-inch, 540p display, 8MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing cameras, a Snapdragon 210 processor, and 1.5GB of RAM. It will only cost $120 off contract and is available to prepaid or postpaid customers.
A slight spec bump is the HTC Desire 626 with a larger 5-inch, 720p display, 8MP rear-facing and 5MP front-facing cameras, and a quad-core Snapdragon processor. The battery is 2000mAh, 1.5GB of RAM, and you can expand the storage with a microSD card. Not sure on price yet, but Verizon says we will learn that when it’s available. It too will be available to both prepaid and postpaid customers.
Source: Verizon
Come comment on this article: Verizon releasing the HTC Desire 526 tomorrow and 626 soon
Google adds its replacement for addresses to Google Maps
Sure exact coordinates are useful if you’re treasure hunting, but if you’re just trying to find something in a part of the world where addresses are uncommon or nonexistent, they’re way too long. Google proposed a fix earlier this year with the rollout of free to use Open Location Codes, aka Plus+Codes. Now, those short codes (six or seven letters and numbers) are searchable on Google Maps. If you’re further away from a particular area, you may need to include the town, city name or region code for them to work, but codes already exist for every location, and you can find them on the web at plus.codes. The codes specify an area instead of a point, and for more accuracy, you can add more digits. The way the system is setup, they can be encoded or decoded offline, so there’s no problem even if you’re in an area with little or no internet connection. Of course, someone other than Google will need to use them for this system to catch on (others like What3words are trying to do the same), but at least now you can see how it works right in Google Maps.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Google Maps (86JR7782+):
Source:
Plus.codes, Open Location Code
Tags: addresses, coordinates, google, GoogleMaps, maps, OpenLocationCodes, PlusCodes
Dimensions of the Huawei Nexus and LG Nexus leak out, suggest interesting specs
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
We’re eagerly waiting to see whether Google is going to release any Nexus smartphones this year, and the evidence is mounting that it will indeed launch two devices this year – one made by Huawei, the other by LG. Thanks to @onleaks, we now have alleged dimensions of the Huawei Nexus and LG Nexus, along with a list of suggested specs. According to the leak the Huawei Nexus will be 159.4×78.3×6.6/8.5mm whereas the LG Nexus is going to be 146.9×72.9×8/9.8mm – we’re assuming the 6.6/8.5mm and the 8/9.8mm are the thicknesses of the device at the edge and at the middle of the device.
Alone, those dimensions don’t mean a whole lot, so let’s compare these new Nexus dimensions to the devices that they’ll be replacing: the Motorola Nexus 6 and LG Nexus 5. The Nexus 6 measured 159.3 x 83 x 10.1 mm and the Nexus 5 137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6 mm. As you can see, the Huawei Nexus is going to be a very similar size to the Nexus 6, despite having a 5.7-inch display as opposed to a 5.96-inch one. If these dimensions are true, the new LG Nexus 5 is going to be around 10mm taller than the original Nexus 5, which isn’t insignificant – though previous leaks of the LG Nexus do agree that it quite a stocky device.
Dimensions aren’t all that these leaks had to offer: @onleaks suggests that both devices are going to have front-facing speakers, a fingerprint scanner on the back and a USB Type-C port right where we like it. That’s a hell of a package, and we can’t wait to see if this all true sometime in October or November.
What do you think about the dimensions of the Huawei Nexus and LG Nexus? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: @onleaks (1), (2) via Phones Review
The post Dimensions of the Huawei Nexus and LG Nexus leak out, suggest interesting specs appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
OnePlus rolls out first batch of invites but good luck getting one
We here at AndroidGuys, along with everyone else in the Android world, have covered quite a bit of news about the OnePlus 2. We’ve covered the information leading up to the announcement, the specs, some of our feelings on it, as well as some ways to get the 2015 “flagship killer” without an invite. The OnePlus 2 has made such a splash, in both positive and negative ways.
Today, though, for those of you who are un-phased by all of the coverage, we have some good news. According to the OnePlus Goolge+ page, the first batch of OnePlus 2 invites have started to roll out. Even the folks over at Android Central have gotten 50 invites to giveaway, so I would imagine that OnePlus is gearing into over drive.
Personally, I’m sitting in the 300,000’s so I can definitely say that I have yet to receive an invite. But that’s okay, we signed up for the invite system, and know what happened with the OnePlus One, so it’s just a waiting game.
If you haven’t tossed your name in the hat for an invite, just head over to the OnePlus page, and sign up. You’ll receive an email confirming your participation, and you’ll be able to follow your way up the list as time progresses. Just know, it still may be awhile before you can get your hands on just the invite. Oh and one more thing, OnePlus has announced a 2 to 3 week delay in the release for those of us in North America. So even if you are lucky enough to get your hands on an invite from the first batch, you still may have to wait a bit longer.
Drop us a line below, and let us know where you sit in the over 3 million folks in the waiting line. What feature(s) from the OnePlus 2 have you the most excited, and OTHER THAN NFC, what disappoints you the most?
Source: Phandroid via: OnePlus Google+
The post OnePlus rolls out first batch of invites but good luck getting one appeared first on AndroidGuys.
HTC brings two new low to mid-range devices to Verizon
Even though their shareholders think that the company is worth just about nothing, HTC is still churning out new devices. This time, we find ourselves looking at two new mid-range devices that are making their way to Verizon.
The HTC Desire 526 features a 4.7-inch QHD display, a quad-core Qualcomm MSM8909 clocked at 1.1 GHz, 1.5GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. As with most devices nowadays, 8GB of storage is hardly anything, even with the cloud. HTC kept that in mind and included support for a microSD card up to 200GB.
As for the camera, you won’t find any UltraPixels, as the Desire 526 is sporting an 8MP rear-facing camera, and a 2MP “selfie” camera. Finally, the Desire 526 is running all of this with Android 5.1 Lollipop with HTC’s Sense overlay.
The Desire 526 will be available tomorrow, August 13th, through Verizon. You will either be able to purchase this device for $120 for prepaid usage, or on contract for $5 a month for 24 months.
The second device that HTC is bringing to Verizon, will be the HTC Desire 626. This device is the more “fun” one, as there are multiple color options, to try and stay hip. Under the hood, the specs are a bit more impressive compared to the little brother of the Desire 526.
If you pick up the Desire 626, you’ll be getting a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdrafon 210 clocked at 1.1GHz with 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of memory, and microSD card support for up to 200GB. Also running under the hood is a 2000mAh battery, 8MP rear camera, and a 5MP front facing camera. Both of which record HD video in 720p. The display is a 5″ 720p Super LCD with 293ppi.
There isn’t a specific date for when the HTC Desire 626 is to be released, other than “in the coming weeks.” Neither Verizon nor HTC make mention of how much the Desire 626 will cost, but we’d put a guess of around $200 or $250 due to the fact that this will also be available via both contract and Verizon prepaid.
What do you think about these new devices coming out HTC? Are you interested in throwing these names in the hat to compete for best low to mid-range smart phones?
Source: Verizon Wireless
The post HTC brings two new low to mid-range devices to Verizon appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google Map Maker is back for some with new changes
Google Map Maker was taken offline a little while ago after some users managed to post pictures of an Android character peeing on the Apple logo. Google said they would look into a new system to help make sure that won’t happen again. Now Map Maker is back online with brand new moderation techniques in place.
It isn’t back just yet for everyone, but is back in Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, the Philippines and Ukraine. The listed countries have access to Map Maker editing, with more areas being included “over the coming weeks”.
The key to the new system is a small group of users known as the “Regional Leads”. These people will be able to moderate any changes in their area. However, any edits may take longer to go live because of this. Google also says they have a few employees that will change things from time to time.
The final way Google is making sure nothing crazy happens in the future is by disabling the ability to add or edit geometric figures or polygons in Maps.
If you would like to be part of the Regional Lead, all you have to do is fill out this form.
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google Map Maker is back for some with new changes
Google’s Niantic Labs will become it’s own company
With Google being newly owned by Alphabet, many previously Google owned companies are being broken up and becoming their own company. One of those divisions that will now be it’s own independent company is Niantic Labs.
Niantic Labs is responsible for the very popular game Ingress.
“Niantic Labs is becoming an independent company. We’ll be taking our unique blend of exploration and fun to even bigger audiences with some amazing new partners joining Google as collaborators and backers. Niantic will be building on the success of +Ingress, which has been downloaded more than 12M times, has attracted more than 250,000 people to live events around the world, and has inspired users to collectively walk the distance from the earth to the sun while playing, exploring and discovering.”
You would assume Niantic Labs would become the “N” in the new Alphabet company, but Google will still remain a backer, along with upcoming partners. Niantic Labs sent an email to users stating that Google will start to send users data over to Niantic Labs on September 11, but users can opt out if they want to.
Source: Ingress (Google+)
Come comment on this article: Google’s Niantic Labs will become it’s own company
AIVAnet 