The LG G6 needs to be about way more than its choice of Snapdragon chips to win 2017

The LG G6 needs to do a lot of things really well. Not having the latest Snapdragon chip is not a great start.

We were so excited. Well, we’re still excited, but less so. See, a Forbes contributor, Ben Sin, splashed water on the idea that the LG G6, which is expected to be announced at MWC in February and debut in March, will not have the newer Snapdragon 835 chip, but rather the older-yet-still-excellent-but-not-quite-ideal Snapdragon 821. Yes, the Snapdragon 821 inside the Pixel phones and OnePlus 3T, all of which are excellent performers.

The question, though, is whether, by duffing its G5 flagship as much as it did, it’s too far behind Samsung in the ways that matter.

After this week’s leak, which shows LG’s flagship at its sleekest and most forward-thinking, it’s unfortunate that the hardcore user base is probably not going to be able to see past this decision, if it was a decision at all. With LG (mostly) eschewing gimmickry in favor of a phone that just works, it seems 2017 is off to a better start than last year for the South Korean giant.

The question, though, is whether, by duffing its G5 flagship as much as it did, it’s too far behind Samsung in the ways that matter. Ignoring for a moment the fact that Samsung had its own troubles last year, the company still managed to sell upwards of 40 million Galaxy S7s, and dozens more millions more of its low-to-midrange devices in the Galaxy A and Galaxy J series. While LG has never really been competitive against Samsung in units sold and market share, there’s always been a perception that the two companies were at least technologically well-matched. Beautiful LCD vs. stunning SuperAMOLED. Smart camera vs. smart camera. Sleek design vs. sleek design.

The G4 may not have been as aesthetically significant as the metal-and-glass overhaul of the Galaxy S6 back in 2015, but it had its fans, me among them. The G5 was supposed to be that radical reinvention to take on the more sedate, mature pivot of the Galaxy S7, but it failed. Hard. That’s OK, there’s always next year, and LG appears to be well on its way to correcting course. The V20 was already showing what it’s capable of doing with a legacy form factor and a bit of focus, but it looks like LG is positioning the V series as the performance-heavy entrant in the series.

Building the equivalent of the Galaxy S7 in 2017 is not a bad idea for LG.

So now we have the G6, and we know a few things: it will have a tall 5.7-inch screen with an unusual 2:1 aspect ratio. It will have teeny tiny bezels that will certainly attract the minimalists out there. And it will be made of metal and glass, much like the Galaxy S7, while retaining the G5’s dual-camera-and-fingerprint-sensor on the back. It’s probably going to be waterproof, too, because all flagships need to be waterproof in 2017.

Building the equivalent of the Galaxy S7 in 2017 is not a bad idea for LG, but Samsung is now a year ahead, about to release the Galaxy S8 with what appears to be the fastest SoC on the market and a reinvigorated commitment to safety and security. And AI. The good news is that LG has typically been able to eke better day-to-day performance from its flagships than Samsung, mainly by optimizing software and incorporating fewer gimmicks. But Samsung is doing the same thing, so this year should be very interesting for flagship smartphones.

Can LG keep up? Let us know in the comments!

Best Cases for Honor 6X

Even cheap smartphones deserve protection.

You may have dropped only a few Benjamins on the Honor 6X, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw it around and scratch it up! Before you hit the purchase button on Amazon, here are a few cases to consider placing in your shopping cart to protect your new purchase.

OMOTON Dual-Layer Case

The first thing you want to do with the Honor 6X after you take it out of its box is place it inside a protective case. Be sure to add this one to your cart if you plan to purchase the budget device. The OMOTON Honor 6X case is the bare minimum in terms of style and functionality, but it’s affordable enough that you’d be a fool not to buy one to protect your new purchase. It also comes in a very attractive rose gold color, which pairs particularly nicely with the gold Honor 6X.

See at Amazon

TUDIA Slim-Fit Heavy Duty Rugged Case

This is another one of those Really Cheap Cases that’s actually really effective. The TUDIA heavy duty case features a polycarbonate outer layer in addition to a rubberized gel skin that protects the device from major impact. The layers of the case have been molded together so that all you have to do to install it on the Honor 6X is snap it on.

The case is available in four different colors, including black, mint, and rose gold.

See at Amazon

Wellci Ultra Slim Folio Flip Cover

It’s slim pickings for cases for the Honor 6X for its U.S. launch, but this off-brand case should suffice until more come down the pipeline.

The Wellci Ultra Slim Folio Cover case does not snap on, nor does it boast the ultimate in protective covering. It is merely a folio case, made to shield both the Honor 6X’s aluminum backside and its 1080p display, while doing so stylishly. There is a cutout on the back of the case to make room for the fingerprint scanner and rear-facing camera sensor and the case also folds so that you can easily prop it up to watch a video.

As is the norm with some Amazon listings, this particular one features the option to purchase several others cases that are not the wallet case. Do ensure that you’ve chosen the right option before purchasing!

See at Amazon

We’ll be adding more cases here as they become available.

Do you have a different option?

Are you using a case that we didn’t mention? Love it? Hate it? Let us know in the comments below!

The first builds of CyanogenMod successor LineageOS are out

The open-source CyanogenMod project has been formally reborn as LineageOS, with the first experimental and nightly ROMs of the custom Android build now available to download. Only a handful of smartphones are officially supported at the moment, including the Nexus 5X and 6P, OnePlus One, Nextbit Robin and a few Samsung, Motorola and Xiaomi devices. Anyone up to speed with the latest CyanogenMod releases won’t find anything surprising here — LineageOS grabs the baton at version 14.1 (based on Android 7.1 Nougat), with the only real changes being the new name, logo and some behind the scenes stuff to support the transition.

Last year was a tempestuous one for Cyanogen Inc., as it decided to abandon the development of Cyanogen OS to focus on add-ons for Android, rather than maintaining its own custom version. Cyanogen OS, a commercial build sold to phone makers to preinstall on their devices, hadn’t taken off as first hoped — due, in part, to questionable behavior among the executive ranks. The community-driven, open-source CyanogenMod project lives on despite the forsaken commercial efforts, though, albeit with the new name of LineageOS to avoid any confusion.

Via: Liliputing, Android Police

Source: LineageOS

Adobe’s Creative Cloud Android apps are coming to Chromebooks

There has been a lot of chatter over Chromebooks running Android apps in recent months and creative types are about to get a handful of new tools. Adobe announced today that as part of a beta for Chrome OS devices that launches this month, it will release a collection of six free Android Creative Cloud apps that are optimized for the machines. However, if you have one of the three Chromebooks that are already capable of running Android software, you can use these Adobe apps immediately.

Adobe has already been working with Google on a version of full-on Photoshop that you stream from the cloud for Chromebooks. That beta test began in 2014 and it was only open to Creative Cloud education users. Now that all new Chromebooks, in addition to a few existing options, are slated to run Android apps this year, Adobe can offer versions of its creative suite to anyone who owns one of the computers. Of course, Chromebooks are a big hit in the classroom, so this puts Adobe’s free software in the hands of students, too.

In terms of Android apps, expect Adobe’s Photoshop Mix, Lightroom mobile, Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Sketch, Comp CC and Creative Cloud Mobile to be available later this month. Sure, these are mobile apps, but Adobe has been adding some powerful features to the software for a while now. What’s more, some of those tools include handy tasks from the desktop versions of the creative apps. If you’re using an ASUS Flip, Acer R11/C738T or Google Pixel (2015), that collection of software will be available for you to use today. All you have to to do is head over to the Play Store to nab it.

Google for Education intros two Chromebooks with stylus capability

Schools love Chromebooks, so Google for Education has launched two new models they can choose from: the Acer Chromebook Spin 11 and the Asus Chromebook C213. Both devices have touchscreen displays and come with a low-cost stylus that resembles #2 pencils kids can use to take notes. The stylus has an eraser just like a real pencil does, though its version obviously deals with digital mistakes. Plus, kids can easily share and replace it, since it doesn’t need to be charged or paired. The feature sounds especially useful for science and math subjects that require students to write out formulas and equations. As Roger Nixon, Director of ICT at Wheatley Park School, Oxford said: “Stylus on Chromebooks will be a massive help for mathematics.”

In addition to stylus compatibility, both Chromebook Spin 11 and Chromebook C213 have a rear camera. It’s apparently one of the most requested features from schools, since it’ll give students a way to film videos and take photos from all angles. Finally, the Chromebooks will have USB-C ports for faster charging and compatibility with USB-C devices that will surely crop up in the future.

Google has also revealed that Adobe has released a suite of Android apps optimized for Chromebooks, including Photoshop Mix, Lightroom Mobile, Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Sketch, Adobe Comp CC and Creative Cloud Mobile. Chromebook administrators will soon be able to create a curated list of Android apps for all models released in 2017 and a select list of older ones, as well. The tech titan is showcasing the devices at Bett (one of the largest education technology conferences) in London this week, but they’ll be available sometime in late spring.

Source: Google for Education

Online learning improves when you feel like you belong

Completing online courses can be daunting, but that’s particularly true if you’re in a developing part of the world. It’s too easy to feel like you don’t belong. Researchers may have a solution, though: giving you activities that help you fit in. An MIT and Stanford study has shown that brief psychological “interventions” can dramatically increase the completion rates for online courses in less developed regions. One of these boosts involved reading testimonials from earlier students who overcame that lack of belonging, while another involved writing a short explanation of how the course reflects and serves their values.

The improvements were enough to close the gap in completion rates between developed and less-developed corners of the globe. And in the case of the explanation test, it actually reversed the gap — at a 41 percent completion rate, the people in developing areas were more likely to stick through to the very end.

The findings suggest there are problems. In one of the classes, people in developed areas were actually less likely to finish after participating in the writing activity. The suspicion is that people who already feel like they fit in may be turned off by that intervention (think of it like the forced team-building activities you might do at work), but more research needs to be done to reach a definitive answer. Even so, the study is promising — it suggests that online courses are powerful educational tools so long as you feel included and motivated.

Source: Stanford, Science

Why is Sprint throwing money at Tidal?

Following reports last week that Tidal hasn’t been honest about its subscriber numbers, Sprint kicked off the week by announcing that it’s buying a third of the streaming service. It’s no secret that Tidal has struggled to gain any ground on Apple Music and Spotify, even with a portfolio of artist exclusives. The company reportedly has financial issues to contend with as well, so a big influx of cash likely made the decision easy for Jay Z. However, there are no obvious benefits for Sprint.

Sprint didn’t reveal any terms in its announcement this morning, but Billboard’s sources say the deal is worth $200 million. Some easy math will tell you that puts Tidal’s overall value at $600 million. That’s quite the increase from Jay Z’s $56 million investment back in 2015. What’s more, Mr. Carter and his fellow artist owners will retain stakes in the company. If all the reports about Tidal’s debts and subscriber woes are indeed true, $200 million is a nice return on investment. It also adds 45 million Sprint customers as potential subscribers, depending on how the two companies bundle their services.

Billboard also reports that the deal includes a “dedicated marketing fund” of $75 million just for exclusive content. Sprint announced this morning that exclusives for its customers would be a by-product of its buying a stake in Tidal, but stopped short of offering any details. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the months to come as artists like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Kanye West won’t likely limit a new album to the nation’s fourth-largest carrier. A new single or video? Maybe. A timed exclusive on an entire album? Doubtful.

Tidal’s relaunch in March 2015. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images For Roc Nation

If Sprint probably won’t see the full benefit of Tidal’s exclusive releases, what is it getting out of the deal? For now, it looks like the answer is: not much. The carrier said today that more details on “exclusive offers and upcoming promotions” are on the way. That could include a discount off Tidal’s monthly subscription price for Sprint customers and perhaps some type of free access to the service. It also likely means that Tidal streaming won’t count against your monthly data allowance, if you don’t already have an unlimited data plan. However, that type of partnership could’ve been possible without a financial investment. Others, including Sprint, have already done it.

Back in November, Sprint and Napster announced a deal where customers could have their monthly streaming fees tacked onto their phone bill. There wasn’t any discount, just the benefit of combined billing. It did the same with Spotify in 2012, before adding free six-month trials of that streaming service to customers on Framily plans in April 2014. Sprint also began selling Amazon Prime monthly subscriptions to its customers last March. At $11 a month, it’s actually more than the $99 annual fee you can pay directly to the online retailer, but you avoid having to commit to a full 12 months up front.

The only obvious benefit for Sprint right now is that its CEO, Marcelo Claure, will take a seat on Tidal’s board of directors. Shortly after Jay Z bought Tidal and its parent company, Aspiro, the New York Post reported that the wireless carrier and its owner, SoftBank, had purchased a minority stake in the streaming service. SoftBank later denied that was true, but it looks like it’s had its eye on the music subscription for a while now. The Japanese company also reportedly tried to purchase Universal Music Group, one of three major record labels, for a cool $8.5 billion back in 2013. That offer was said to have been rejected. Sprint and Tidal are promising “a first-of-its-kind experience for music fans,” but they will need to really wow us for the deal to make sense for the carrier.

Amazon gets six Oscar nominations for ‘Manchester by the Sea’

As awards watchers expected, Manchester by the Sea ended up being a major Oscar magnet for its co-distributor Amazon. The film, which was also Amazon’s first Golden Globe winner, nabbed six Academy Award nominations this morning: best picture, actor (Casey Affleck), actress (Michelle Williams), supporting actor (Lucas Hedges), director (Kenneth Lonargan) and original screenplay. It was a big bet for the online retail giant, which paid $10 million just for distribution rights when Manchester by the Sea debuted at Sundance last year. Of course, the real test for the film will be the amount of Oscars it actually earns, but the nominations alone will give Amazon more clout in Hollywood.

If you’re an indie film lover, you’ve probably noticed Amazon Studio’s (the company’s production and distribution arm) name attached to plenty of titles over the past few years. Last year alone, it distributed notable movies like Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship (which was sadly snubbed by the Academy this year), The Neon Demon, Woody Allen’s Cafe Society, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden and Paterson. While Amazon didn’t produce those films, it can still take a certain amount of credit for critical and box office success.

In comparison, Netflix scored just one Academy Award nomination today for Ava Duvernay’s excellent documentary 13th. Amazon, to its credit, has been quick about snapping up distribution rights for smaller films at festivals like Sundance, and it also ensures they get full theatrical runs. Netflix, meanwhile, still focuses more on getting films onto its streaming service. The lack of a lengthy theatrical run was likely one reason Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation was completely ignored by the Academy Awards a few years ago.

Source: Academy Awards

Ford Hires Apple Marketing Director Musa Tariq as Brand Leader

Ford today announced it has hired Musa Tariq as a Vice President and its Chief Brand Officer starting January 30. Tariq will work with Ford’s marketing and communication departments to “define, build, and communicate” the carmaker’s brand across the world as it further pushes into connected technologies.

Tariq has served as Global Marketing and Communication Director of Apple Retail since August 2014, working on Apple Store initiatives. Prior to Apple, he was a social media director at Nike. He held the same position at Burberry, where he worked for Angela Ahrendts, who is now Apple’s retail chief.

Tariq started his career in marketing and advertising, serving in leadership roles at ad agencies JWT and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Tag: Ford
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Motorola VerveOnes Music Edition offer an affordable way to go completely wire-free

Motorola has announced a cheaper, whiter pair of its VerveLife VerveOnes totally wireless earphones. Called the VerveOnes Music Edition, the latest addition to Motorola’s VerveLife range of lifestyle products are aimed at those who are constantly on the move and don’t want wires of any sort to get in the way.

• VerveLife by Motorola: Ones, Loop or Rider headphones have all your sports covered

Just like the original VerveOnes and VerveOnes+, the Music Edition come with a case that doubles up as a charger when the earphones are placed inside. A full charge promises up to eight hours of playback time and an IPX4-rating ensures they’re protected against the odd splash of water, just don’t go swimming in them.

They’ll respond to Siri and Google Now voice commands – note that isn’t Google Assistant – and can be used with Motorola’s accompanying Hubble for VerveLife app on iOS and Android. The app lets you change the EQ settings of the headphones and show you the last known location of them in case you lose them. You can also use it to activate a pass-through function that lets you hear more of what’s going around you, useful if you’re out cycling for example.

• Apple AirPods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?

The Motorola VerveOnes Music Edition will be available later this month from the Verve Life website in white for £149.99. Other retailers will have them from February.