A small number of people are now testing Android Marshmallow on the Moto X Pure Edition
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A few weeks back, Motorola announced what devices would be getting the update to Android Marshmallow, however the question that most Motorola owners have been wondering is when the update is going to start rolling out. Well, if a post on Google+ by Motorola’s David Schuster is anything to go by, it would appear that a small number of people are already testing Android Marshmallow on the Moto X Pure Edition. However, Schuster was careful to clarify that this is not a soak test and that this testing would go for a few weeks before a soak test was started.
“There have been a couple reports of a Marshmallow “soak test” that has started for Moto X 2015 Pure Edition. Just want to make it clear that we have NOT started a formal “soak test”. We have started a small TestDrive for the Marshmallow upgrade on Moto X 2015 Pure Edition. We will be conducting these tests for the next couple of weeks. Pending the feedback during this test cycle will determine the timing of a full soak test.”
While it’s good to have visibility on Motorola’s update strategy, we can’t help but notice that Motorola is a sizeable step behind LG now in terms of update speed with LG announcing that its LG G4 would start being updated to Android Marshmallow by next week. Of course, the Moto X Pure Edition will still complete its update faster than the LG G4 thanks to a lack of carrier versions, but it’s a far cry from the days when Motorola would release its updates a mere few days after Google.
What do you think about Motorola’s update strategy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Google+ via Droid-life
The post A small number of people are now testing Android Marshmallow on the Moto X Pure Edition appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Report: YouTube to show off originals for its subscription service
YouTube’s gearing up to reveal some of the programming it’s funding on October 21st during an event in Los Angeles, according to Recode. These new programs will reportedly feature a handful of its biggest stars, and Recode’s sources said that at least some of the content will only be accessible to future subscription customers. A new report published by The Wall Street Journal indicates that the service has just welcomed much bigger players, though. If it’s true, then YouTube has been able to convince Time Warner Inc.’s Turner cable unit, 21st Century Fox’s Fox Sports, A+E Networks Inc. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal to add some of their shows to the $10-per-month service. It’s also currently negotiating with Walt Disney Co.
Some of the companies apparently weren’t thrilled to sign the deal, as they believe they should get a bigger cut than ordinary YouTubers due to being bigger brands. (The WSJ noted that the creators that signed up to be part of the subscription offering will collectively get 55 percent of the revenue it generates.) However, YouTube allegedly threatened to cut them off entirely, even from the free version of the website, if they don’t participate. A previous Recode report claimed the 2-in-1 subscription option could be launched as soon as late October. That lines up with the upcoming event in LA, though YouTube hasn’t confirmed anything yet.
[Image credit: Rego – d4u.hu/Flickr]
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Recode
Motorola Droid Turbo 2 marketed with shatterproof screen, Moto Maker; MAXX 2 with 48 hour battery
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Yesterday, we allegedly got a look at the yet-to-be-announced Motorola Droid Turbo 2 thanks to case manufacturer Qmadix, and today we’re adding more to the puzzle that will hopefully be unveiled on October 27th. Thanks to some leaked marketing material, we get a look at not only the Droid Turbo 2 again, but also the Droid Maxx 2 and a few of the features that Verizon is going to be marketing for their exclusive handsets. The major feature for the Droid Maxx 2 appears to be 48 hour battery life, whereas for the Droid Turbo 2 it’s being marketed with a shatterproof screen and Moto Maker customization, the same as with Motorola‘s other recently announced handsets, the Moto X Style and Moto X Play.
There’s a note in the material that says that you can trade-in a phone – even if it has a cracked screen – towards the Droid Turbo 2 or Droid Maxx 2 for an amount up to $300. Presumably the newer the device you’re trading in, the more you’ll get for it. There’s also something about being allowed “one design refresh” if you buy the 64GB Droid Turbo 2 – we’re not sure about the logistics of this, but presumably you’ll be allowed to replace the coloured parts of your Droid Turbo 2 if you get tired of how it looks. All-in-all, it sounds like Verizon is working pretty hard to get you to get the Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2 with them – of course, we’ll have to wait till October 27th before all this is confirmed.
What do you think about these marketing materials? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Droid-life
The post Motorola Droid Turbo 2 marketed with shatterproof screen, Moto Maker; MAXX 2 with 48 hour battery appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Google buys a panorama startup to bolster Street View
Think that Google Street View could use a fresh coat of paint? Google does, too. The search firm has just snapped up Digisfera, a Portugese startup whose specialty is making the most out of panoramic photos. The newly-acquired company isn’t saying exactly what it’ll do within the Street View team, but its work on some more ambitious projects may be a clue. It produced a giant tagged panorama at the 2014 World Cup, for example, and captured a sweeping view of President Obama’s inauguration.
As with many buyouts, some of Digisfera’s work is going away. Its tagging system (PanoTag) is shutting down on October 31st, and its panorama viewer (Marizpano) is going open source to preserve the underlying technology. However, you might not miss them too much if this deal leads to far more interactive Street View shots.
Via: VentureBeat
Source: Digisfera
Here are the videos you don’t want to miss this week – October 17, 2015
As we patiently wait for our new Nexus handsets to arrive, we managed to bring you a number of great reviews, hands-on and unboxing videos this week.
This week, Lanh brought you a detailed comparison of the Moto X Style vs the iPhone 6S Plus, while Josh published his reviews of the Moto 360 (2nd Gen.), Huawei Watch and his impressions on the Moto X Style. Gary also unboxed the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact on Periscope, and you don’t want to miss it! Here are the videos you don’t want to miss this week.
Flagships going head to head
Motorola Moto X Style (Pure Edition) vs iPhone 6s Plus
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Motorola’s Moto X Style (or Pure Edition) is one hell of an Android smartphone. Just how does it compare to the latest large-screened handset from Apple? We find out, in this detailed comparison between the Moto X Style and the iPhone 6s Plus.
Android Wear reviews
Motorola Moto 360 (2nd Gen.) review
Last year when the first-generation Moto 360 launched, it didn’t really have a whole lot of competition in the round smartwatch space. And a year later, we’re taking a look at the brand new Moto 360 (2nd Gen). Does it still stand out from the crowd? Josh finds out.
Huawei Watch review
Huawei’s long-awaited Android Wear smartwatch is finally here! Wondering how it fares against the competition? Take a look at Josh’s full review for more info.
A second opinion
Motorola Moto X Style (Pure Edition) – second opinion
Lanh has already brought you his full review of the Moto X Style (Pure Edition), but what about a second opinion? Josh gives us his thoughts on Motorola’s latest flagship.
Meet our newest team member!
One of the newest members of our video team is Krystal Lora, and she’s here to tell you a little bit about herself.
Live on Periscope
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A few weeks ago we brought you a live unboxing of the Xperia Z5 from Periscope, and now it’s time to take the wraps off the smaller Z5 device. Check out Gary’s detailed unboxing and first impressions of the Xperia Z5 Compact.
Android Apps Weekly
Minion’s Paradise, Waze rates driving, Kanye hates IAPs – you don’t want to miss Joe’s newest episode of Android Apps Weekly!
OnePlus’ upcoming smartphone
OnePlus X – What to expect?
We’ve known about it for some time, and it’s finally starting to leak out. What can we expect from OnePlus’ upcoming smartphone? Jayce speculates.
Motorola Droid Turbo 2 and Maxx 2 features and promotions confirmed in leak
Verizon is gearing up for an October 27th Droid event, but you can bet we won’t have to wait until then to read all the details. Today we are taking a look at a leak of an official Verizon pamphlet. It tells us quite a bit about the new Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2 from Motorola, as well as some promotions Big Red will be holding. Shall we dig right in?
Motorola Droid Maxx 2
The carrier is quick to advertise the stunning 48 hours of battery life the Motorola Droid Maxx 2 is supposed to tout. Though that is a hard promise to keep, the Droid Maxx 2 is said to come with a 3630 mAh battery, which is pretty hefty, in and of itself. Now factor in the that this is to be pretty much another version of the Moto X Play with mid-end specs, such as a Snapdragon 615, 2 GB of RAM and a 5.5-inch 1080p display. This resource-friendly device will definitely last a while!
Not convinced by the killer battery life? Verizon is trying to lure customers by offering some sweet deals. In the case of the Droid Maxx 2, you will be able to get up to $300 of credit for trading in your old smartphone.
Also read:
Motorola Droid Turbo 2
Want something a bit stronger? The Motorola Droid Turbo 2 is not only said to come with more powerful specs, it will literally be stronger than your average phone. Motorola claims this phone has the “world’s first shatterproof screen”. Now, that promise will be hard to keep! And it’s still unsure what, exactly, Motorola is doing to accomplish this. For now we will just say we won’t believe it until we see it.
Rumored specs include a powerful Snapdragon 810 SoC, a 5.43-inch QHD display, 3 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB of internal storage and a massive 3760 mAh battery. Sounds familiar, right? Yes, it’s pretty much another version of the Moto X Pure (Style).
And while we are on the topic of shattering screens, Verizon is tying this theme into its promotion. In similar fashion, you can turn in any smartphone to get up to $300 in credit; even one with a cracked screen! To make the deal even sweeter, Motorola and Verizon are offering one design refresh with the purchase of a 64 GB Droid Turbo 2.
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Wrapping up
Pretty sweet stuff, right? Hang tight. The announcement is right around the corner and we will soon know all about this phone due. Meanwhile, hit the comments and let us know which of these two you are going for. Are you liking what you see?
Here’s how ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ multiplayer rankings work
Halo 5: Guardians is almost upon us, and once the campaign credits roll (or the game itself finishes installing on your Xbox One, depending on your style) you might be curious how multiplayer ranking works. Wonder no more because it’s similar to League of Legends according to a post on Halo Waypoint. Your starting placement in matchmade Arena games is determined by how you fare in your first ten games. That “Competitive Skill Rating” breaks down into seven categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Onyx and Champion. The post stresses that the only way to increase your rank after those initial ten matches are set is by winning.
“Whether you drop 30 kills in a game of Slayer or single-handedly capture every flag in a CTF match, wins are the only way to improve your CSR,” it says. “If you are skilled enough to continue winning at tier 6 [the highest per rank], you will advance to the next rank.”
And doing the opposite? It’ll cause your progress to drop, but not at the expense of your current rank. League of Legends isn’t quite so kind in that regard. So, say you have a bad night and you’re losing matches left and right in the Diamond rank. That won’t drop you back to Gold. In theory, this’ll help you keep in that sweet spot of consistently grouping with folks of your skill level regardless of a nasty cold streak.
Oh, and in ranked Arena matches you don’t have to worry about joining a game that’s already in progress and getting dumped onto the losing team, hurting your CSR. How’s that? Every match starts from the beginning and there isn’t such a thing as joining one halfway through. That feature still lives in Warzone and Custom Games, though. You’ll be penalized for dropping out of matches too. What’s more, Arena plays out in “seasons” now. They’ll debut sometime later this year and from the sounds of it, only live within specific playlists. Seasons last a month each, and your CSR resets with each successive season. Should you earn some of those points in the playlist, you’ll be rewarded with cosmetic items like an in-game banner for your Gamertag.
Sounds good, yeah? Well, I don’t know about you folks, but I’m pretty sure that I’m gonna be stuck in Bronze for quite awhile come October 27th — no eSports stardom for this guy.
Source: Halo Waypoint
Some Sony devices will skip Android 5.1.1 and upgrade directly to Marshmallow
A good amount of H1 2015 Sony devices still have yet to get an update to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, and it looks like that will remain the case for some time. According to Sony’s support pages, the Xperia Z3+, Z4 Tablet and a handful of mid-range devices such as the C4, C5 Ultra, M4 Aqua and M5 won’t receive another software update until Android 6.0 Marshmallow rolls out to these devices. All of these devices are currently running Android 5.0 Lollipop.
On one hand, this is bad news for owners of these smartphones and tablets. Android 5.0 has a notoriously irritating memory leak that can wreak havoc on non-beast-mode devices. Which is to say, exactly the kind of devices we’re talking about. Android 5.1.1 fixes these issues for the most part, so it would be nice for Sony to push out the updates as soon as possible.
On the other hand, this means Sony will begin working on the update to 6.0 Marshmallow much sooner. Owners of these Sony devices will be able to run one of the latest versions of Android much sooner than they would previously.
See also: Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates roundup – October 15, 2015
For a while, it looked like Sony was holding off on rolling out the 5.1.1 update until after the Xperia Z5 came out. Owners of seemingly abandoned devices clung to the hope that 5.1.1 would arrive in the night shortly after the Z5’s release, but that date passed without a word from Sony. Although Sony has made no official announcement regarding this issue, their Mobile Support pages indicate that a large number of devices will move directly to Marshmallow.
Are you affected by this update skip? Tell us about it in the comments.
Sony in video
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Google Calendar gains new illustrations and support for more languages
Illustrations have long been a staple of Google products dating back to the the first Google Doodle in 1998. Now, with last year’s introduction of Material Design in Android 5.0 Lollipop, illustrations are used everywhere by the company. It’s no surprise that Calendar really takes thrives from illustrations as people like to see a graphics represent what they’re doing. And now over twelve new illustrations are being added to Calendar.
Stella Schieffer, a product manager at Google, explains the use of illustrations in Calendar:
“Your calendar is more than just a list of dates and times — it’s your life! That’s why Calendar adds illustrations to many of your favorite events automatically.”
In addition to having illustrations for new events like weddings and Halloween parties, Google announced that illustrations now appear in thirty languages. Dutch, Finnish, Catalan, and Korean are among the languages supporting illustrations.
Click GIF to enlarge/play
Google is also encouraging people to send them suggestions for new illustrations. To do so, take a picture and tweet the photo with the hashtag #makethemost attached. Who knows, Google might choose it when the next set of Calendar illustrations is released.
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google Calendar gains new illustrations and support for more languages
PSA: Samsung Pay finally works with select phones on Verizon
The long wait for Verizon to allow customers with select Samsung phones to use the company’s mobile payments service is finally over. Owners of the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 5, and Galaxy S6 Edge+ can start using Samsung Pay right now.
Upon downloading a software update that is currently rolling out, the Samsung Pay app will be available to install from Google Play. Then you can start using your phone to pay for goods and services from your phone at more locations than any other mobile payments service.
It’s time to celebrate!
The software update also includes security patches, likely fixing the recent Stagefright issues.
Via: /r/Android
Come comment on this article: PSA: Samsung Pay finally works with select phones on Verizon
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