Tag Heuer sold more $1,500 smartwatches than it expected

I’m not much of a smartwatch guy, but I like my LG R Android Wear watch and its bright OLED screen. An acquaintance recently expressed admiration for it, and to my surprise, came back the next day with a $1,500 Tag Heuer Connected. (“Must be nice to have money,” I thought.) He wasn’t alone, though: In an interview with German site NZZ, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver said that over 56,000 people bought one, tripling expected sales. As a result, the Swiss company will release new smartwatch models in May and expects to sell 150,000 units.

As you’d expect for the priciest available Android Wear watch (at the time), we found that the Tag Heuer Connected was nice-looking, lightweight (thanks to a titanium housing) and very-well built. My first impression when I saw it, though, was the rather dim screen, which settles for a transflective LCD instead of LG’s much punchier (and more energy efficient) OLED.

However, Biver said the new watches would have “more powerful displays,” without specifying what type. They’ll also come with a payment function, he said, presumably via Android Pay, a feature that’s set to arrive with Android Wear 2.0. Other improvements include a better GPS that’s accurate to a yard, a stronger wireless receiver and, thankfully, better battery life.

Since the end of 2015, our sales have grown again, most recently by around 15 percent. The smartwatch and the publicity that it brought us have played a role [in that].

The company is addressing another complaint we had, namely, its lack of unisex appeal — the rather bulky Tag Heuer Connected seems mainly aimed at men. “The new series will feature a smaller watch for women and the Asian market, along with a bigger one than before,” Biver said. “We will also offer different colors and materials.”

Interestingly, Biver sees the device as not just a minor sales success, but a way to drive interest for all of its watches, following a 10 percent sales drop in 2014. “Since the end of 2015, our sales have grown again, most recently by around 15 percent. The smartwatch and the publicity that it brought us have played a role [in that].”

Via: Pocket Lint

Source: NZZ (translated)

Apple sues Qualcomm for $1 billion in royalty dispute

Apple has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Qualcomm, claiming that for many years, the chip manufacturer has “unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with,” CNBC reports.

This marks the end of a rough week for Qualcomm: The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sued the company for its alleged use of monopolistic and exclusionary tactics within the baseband processor market. Apple’s lawsuit piggybacks off of these claims. For reference, baseband processors are the chips that power network connectivity in mobile devices.

According to CNBC, Apple claims Qualcomm charges five times more for its patents than all of the other licensors it does business with combined. The company also argues that Qualcomm withheld nearly $1 billion in payments when Apple cooperated with South Korean authorities as it investigated the company’s unfair trade practices — precisely what the US and Apple are going to court over now. In December, South Korean regulators fined Qualcomm a record $854 million for abusing its power in the smartphone chip market and overcharging device makers.

“We are extremely disappointed in the way Qualcomm is conducting its business with us and unfortunately after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty we have no choice left but to turn to the courts,” Apple says in a statement to CNBC.

We’ve reached out to Qualcomm for comment and will update this story as we hear back.

Source: CNBC

Apple Sues Qualcomm for $1 Billion in Unpaid Royalty Rebates

Following an FTC complaint alleging Qualcomm engaged in anticompetitive patent licensing practices, Apple has filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm claiming the company has charged unfair royalties for “technologies they have nothing to do with.”

According to a statement Apple shared with several news sites, Qualcomm “reinforces its dominance” through exclusionary tactics and high patent licensing fees. Apple’s full statement is below:

“For many years Qualcomm has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with. The more Apple innovates with unique features such as TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras, to name just a few, the more money Qualcomm collects for no reason and the more expensive it becomes for Apple to fund these innovations. Qualcomm built its business on older, legacy, standards but reinforces its dominance through exclusionary tactics and excessive royalties. Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined.

To protect this business scheme Qualcomm has taken increasingly radical steps, most recently withholding nearly $1B in payments from Apple as retaliation for responding truthfully to law enforcement agencies investigating them.

Apple believes deeply in innovation and we have always been willing to pay fair and reasonable rates for patents we use. We are extremely disappointed in the way Qualcomm is conducting its business with us and unfortunately after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty we have no choice left but to turn to the courts.”

In the lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in the Southern District of California, Apple accuses Qualcomm of using its position as the supplier of a key iPhone component to drive up patent licensing fees.

Qualcomm supplies the LTE modems used in Apple’s line of iPhones, and up until 2016, the company was Apple’s sole supplier. The iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus use modems from both Qualcomm and Intel.

Qualcomm reportedly forced Apple to use its LTE chips exclusively in iOS devices and pay a percentage of the total average selling price of an iPhone for access to Qualcomm patents.

Qualcomm is supposed to provide Apple with quarterly rebates, but has failed to do so for the past year because of Apple’s participation in an antitrust investigation against Qualcomm in South Korea. That investigation led to an $850+ million fine against Qualcomm for anticompetitive licensing practices.

Apple is seeking $1 billion in rebate payments that have been withheld.

Earlier this week, the United States Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm that focused in part on Apple and Qualcomm’s licensing deals. According to the FTC, Qualcomm imposes “onerous and anticompetitive supply and licensing terms” on its smartphone partners by abusing its patent portfolio.

Qualcomm has said it has “grave concerns” about the lack of evidence supporting the FTC’s allegations and has promised to defend itself in federal court.

Tags: lawsuit, Qualcomm
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Facebook Messenger: A New Review (review)

There’s a cool app available on the Play Store. It was born as an off-shoot of another popular app, a data-based chat app that allows the user of the parent app to communicate privately, one-on-one.
It has since become its own standalone app, and quickly became one of the most popular apps of all-time. It has also become its own platform, capable of allowing other developers to create functions, capabilities, and bots (!).

That app is…………Facebook Messenger.

I know, I know; not exactly a new or emerging app the likes of which we usually review. But it’s also an app that has grown in it’s popularity and capabilities in such a short time, we feel that it deserves a new look at it.
Please note; I am not Facebook’s biggest fan, and I actually do have some issues with the way they operate sometimes. That said I do have an account, and do use Messenger quite often. Even with my qualms about the service, it does have some pretty nice features that do obviously make it quite attractive to users world-wide. Let’s take a quick spin through [what I consider] some of the most useful.

Setup

It’s likely you’ve at least tried Messenger before, so this step shouldn’t need much explanation. If you don’t use Facebook or just aren’t a fan, good news: you don’t need to even have a Facebook account to use Messenger. Just your mobile phone number will suffice. You download the app from the Play Store. Then either connect with your Facebook account or mobile number, and you’re in.

Features

Boy, where to start with this one. The list is long and rapidly growing longer, so let’s go through (what I consider) the biggest features one-by-one:

Integrated SMS

This feature made some pretty serious headlines earlier this year. Messenger can now be used as both your data-based messenging app and cellular SMS texting interface. No, it doesn’t physically take over cellular-based texting, but it reigns in all your incoming and outgoing texts into it’s interface, giving you a single app to open, no matter the message’s medium.
Conventional wisdom may object to this migration, knowing Facebook’s inherit desire to be know all the details of your web activity….Facebook itself has claimed that they pull no data regarding your texts back its servers; it’s only offering this feature [essentially] so you use or stay on the Messenger app that much longer. I guess it’s up to you whether you’re comfortable with that notion.

Integrated Photo & Video Capture

This one’s not a real novel feature, but it’s functionality it top-notch. While in the app, you can launch either your device’s front or rear camera to easily capture media for sharing purposes.

Video Chat

Nowadays not as much breaking-news, but again it works really, really smoothly (though note: this doesn’t work with SMS integration). Just by pressing the blue icon. I say ‘blue’, because it may be gray….this tells you that person isn’t available to take a video call at that time. Neat!

In-App Games

When in a conversation, just click on the little game controller icon and pick your battle. The list of games is pretty long, and Facebook states it will get longer in the short-term. While gaming has had a limited existence within Messenger in the past, Facebook has just this week released the hounds on the full-boat game offerings.
You can read more about this new feature here.

Contact Codes

Similar to Snapchat, Messenger offers a tile with a scan-able code along with your immediate & pertinent contact info.

Show Location

If you’re wandering around town and are trying to meet up with some friends, Messenger’s location-sharing feature may come in handy.

A Personalized Greeting (if you have a business/page).

If you have a commercial account or page, Messenger allows you include a greeting, to show up when someone opens the app to send you a message. This is a great feature to setting the tone a customer (or potential one) experiences when interfacing with your brand.

Send Audio Clips (eliminate voicemail!)

I’m pretty surprised this one isn’t more popular than it is. Instead of leaving a phone message (and making your friend go through the arduous task of navigating cellular voice mail), you can simply hit the microphone button and leave a voice message right in the app. So instead of having to “dial-in”, the receiver can get a notification and press “play”.  Ahhh…it works so damn well.

Well-Composed Group Chats.

Unlike traditional SMS (where my experience has shown it to be a total mess), Messenger handles group chats with relative aplomb. The main way they accomplish this is giving group chats their own tab, sorting them together instead of mixed amongst all your other conversations (particularly with individuals who also show up in the group chats).

Stand-Alone Desktop App

OK, this isn’t mobile-based, but I personally use it and it works well. Messenger.com will bring up a streamlined interface that works just like the mobile app; so you don’t have to keep going to your phone while at your desk during the work day (provided your employer is generally cool with this, of course).

Call an Uber. Or a Lyft.

Right in the app is a menu option to “request a ride”. From here you can choose Uber or Lyft as your service of choice, and off you go….without leaving Messenger.

Pin a Conversation

Within group chats, you can pin a specific thread to the top of your list, so it’s easy to find!

Mute notifications

If you’re trying to get some work done, or have another obligation & don’t want to get sidetracked with a Messenger conversation, you can choose to ‘mute’ notifications from a particular thread for your choice of time (15 minutes, 1 hour, etc.).

Send & receive money

…and Facebook doesn’t even charge for the service. While in a conversation, click on the “$” icon, select the amount you want to send to the person you’re chatting with, and enter your credit card info. Done.

Send your location (though not using Google Maps)

While you may not need this very often, if you do find your and your friends having trouble finding each other while out & about it may come in pretty handy. Simply click on your location, and your friend(s) will be able to view a click-able map to see exactly where you are.

Conclusion

Love it or hate it, Facebook has built a great feature set into a very well-performing app in Messenger. And combined with the crazy-big user base, it’s getting harder every day to justify not using it (or at least having it installed).
Hopefully you found some previously-unknown feature that will come in useful for you. Or, maybe, you may have found your threshold reason to give it a try. Let us know if you have any other must-try features in Messenger!

New Sonos CEO wants integrations with Google Assistant, Alexa

Ok, Google, crank up the tunes on Sonos.

Patrick Spence took the reins at Sonos weeks ago, and a memo obtained by The Verge he sent out to the company when he did makes it no secret where he wants Sonos to expand in the face of increased competition: digital assistant integration.

Many digital assistants like Google Home and Amazon Alexa directly compete with Sonos, and it’s not hard to see them chipping away at the company’s market share. But rather than try to fight them head-on, Sonos wants to play nice with digital assistants in the hope that users will buy Sonos for better home speakers that will integrate easily with their chosen assistant.

Sonos doesn’t want to play favorites.

Even better, Spence doesn’t want to choose sides in the digital assistant dogfight: he wants Sonos to get along with all of the major assistants, “partnering and competing with global leaders like Amazon, Google and (likely) Apple.” It’s worth noting that Sonos is already in the process of integrating Alexa support for Sonos, and they public beta should open up sometime this year.

The letter goes on to encourage more action and innovation from Sonos employees, reminding them of the innovation that got the company to where it is today, but the commitment to finding a new place alongside the digital assistants that blindsided Sonos the last two years is a good start. Whether or not they can accomplishment remains to be be seen.

We have a free NVIDIA Shield Android TV for an Android Central reader!

The new NVIDIA Shield Android TV is awesome, so why not enter to win one to satisfy all of your entertainment needs?

The second iteration of the Shield Android TV is a proper successor that shows NVIDIA knows just how to iterate on this platform. In an Android TV space that still lacks a robust number of choices — and even fewer good choices — the Shield Android TV stands as the box to get if you want a no-compromise complete experience. When you buy a new Shield Android TV you’re not just getting a simple little box that you’ll plug in and then forget about a couple months in — you’re getting as close to a full entertainment system in a single box as you can reasonably expect. Awesome! So now that you want one, let’s give one away! Keep reading for the details!

THE PRIZE: One Android Central reader will be taking home a brand new updated NVIDIA Shield Android TV!

THE GIVEAWAY: Head down to the widget at the bottom of this page. There are multiple ways to enter, each with varying point values. Complete all of the tasks for maximum entries and your best shot at winning! Keep in mind that all winning entries are verified and if the task was not completed or cannot be verified, a new winner will be chosen. The giveaway is open until February 8th, and the winner will be announced right here shortly after the close date. Good luck!

We’re giving away the new NVIDIA Shield Android TV!

The Galaxy Note 7 had two separate battery defects 🔥

Samsung will reveal that the Note 7 went through two separate battery problems on its way to the dustbin.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which reportedly obtained the report Samsung will reveal and elaborate on at a press conference in Seoul this Monday (Sunday evening in North America), the Korean giant suffered two major yet separate issues with the batteries in the Galaxy Note 7.

The report, which was generated by three independent analysis firms, states that the problems with the initial batch of batteries, built by Samsung SDI, were physically too big for the Note 7 chassis, causing a small number of them to overheat and catch fire.

The real absurdity in the story comes from the findings with the second batch, which were built by Amperex, another supplier of Samsung’s batteries. Those cells were found to have an unspecified manufacturing defect caused by ramping up a production line that wasn’t ready to scale. In other words, different cause, same problem.

In all, Samsung reportedly lost about $5 billion from the Note 7 recall, which didn’t hinder its ability to earn record profits in the fourth quarter. But the question of the company’s long-term reputation is still very much in the air, especially since it will come to light through this report that corners were cut in expediting the first recall.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall and cancellation: Everything you need to know
• Survey results: Samsung users stay loyal after Note 7 recall
• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

These completely wireless Bluetooth headphones are just $36 right now!

If you want to ditch all the wires and go completely wireless with your headphones, you’re going to want to check this deal on Axgio’s Bluetooth headphones. Right now you can pick up a pair for just $36 with coupon code 4UEOAIDP, a savings of $14 from their regular price. For a fraction of Apple’s AirPods you can still ditch the wires and have a great sound quality. You can use them both together as a pair, or individually if you prefer. You’ll need to charge them separately as well, and the included cable splits into to for easy charging.

They should last for around 8 hours of usage time per charge, and come with three different silicon tips to help them fit comfortably in your ears. If you’re ready to completely ditch all the wires, you won’t want to miss this offer. Remember, you need coupon code 4UEOAIDP for the full savings.

See at Amazon

Common Galaxy S7 problems and how to fix them

The Galaxy S7 is an awesome phone, but it’s not without its problems. Here are some of the most common issues and how to fix them.

Back in March of last year (has it been that long already?!), the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge launched to outstanding reviews and plenty of plaudits for both its hardware and software. But given that the phone is approaching its one-year anniversary, it’s not surprising that some issues — both hardware and software — have arisen in that time.

Samsung has been generally good about correcting the major ones through software updates, but there are some big issues that users can address on their own.

Battery life problems

The Galaxy S7 suffers from battery issues more so than the larger Galaxy S7 edge — the former has a 3000mAh batter to the edge’s 3600mAh cell — but they’re both prone to getting beaten by the daily grind.

• The first thing you’re going to want to do is eliminate any errant battery-sucking apps that you’ve downloaded from the play store. Facebook and Facebook Messenger continue to be two that are repeatedly brought up by members of the AC community as being the worst battery offenders. Facebook can be accessed from the mobile web, and Facebook Messenger, well — just get WhatsApp and call it a day.

• To check whether an app is using an unreasonable amount of battery, dive into Settings –> Battery –> Battery usage to isolate the misbehaving entity.

• These potentially problematic apps extend to bloatware installed by your carrier. If you use a Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T model, in particular, you’ll benefit from deleting or disabling some or all of the pre-installed apps on the phone.

• You can also disable the always-on display by going to Settings –> Display –> Always-on display and turning everything off. The feature was added to the Galaxy S7 for its convenience, and because the phone uses an efficient SuperAMOLED panel, but just because it’s efficient doesn’t mean it doesn’t help to disable it.

How to fix Galaxy S7 battery life problems

• Finally, if you’re running Nougat — and you soon should be, if you’re not already — you’ll notice that battery should improve just by doing the upgrade. Why? Because Samsung has made a change to the default resolution of the Galaxy S7 that uses less energy. It’s not magic, but you’ll probably benefit from a couple extra hours of uptime as a result. Win!

Slow performance

This is a big category, and pretty hard to pin down, but we’ll go through some of the most common solutions. Obviously, slow performance can be indicative of an errant app that may also be sucking up battery life, so dealing with this may help the other. Phones are known to slow down over time as people add more and do more with them.

Free up internal storage

The Galaxy S7 has 32GB of internal storage, and once you fill that up, the phone may begin to chug. The system will alert you when you get really close to the edge, but even before then, deleting some of those larger apps and games may do the trick.

It may also be a good idea to upload your photos to Google Photos so you can delete them locally. Google Photos offers unlimited free high-quality backups, along with at least 15GB of full-quality backups, on any phone, including the Galaxy S7. It’s also likely pre-installed on your device — just look for it in the Google folder on your home screen, or in the app drawer.

How to use Google Photos on Android and the web

Change launchers

On the surface, changing launchers may not seem like it will do anything, but it does: Samsung’s TouchWIZ launcher is notoriously slow, especially with all the features enabled (like Flipboard Briefing, which you should probably turn off).

To fix that, you may want to change launchers to something a bit more lightweight and performant. May we suggest one of the following?

The best Android launchers

Factory reset your phone

There are myriad reasons your phone may be bogged down, and merely deleting apps, changing launchers or disabling some features may not do enough.

If you’re running into a virtual brick wall, back up everything in Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, or wherever else you tend to store your virtual goods, and start over.

How do you do that on your Galaxy S7 or S7 edge?

Open Settings.
Scroll down to Backup and reset.
Scroll down and top on Factory data reset.
Tap on Reset Device.

Once you reset, you’ll have to log in again to your various accounts and apps, but your apps should download automatically once you log into your Google account.

Wi-Fi & Bluetooth issues

Among the most common problems on a smartphone today, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth problems can be caused by a number of factors, many of which are outside of your control.

When troubleshooting these wireless connections, it’s important to establish whether the issue is indeed your phone or the object(s) you’re connecting to, and the fastest way to determine that is to use another phone or tablet to connect. If that other product has no connectivity issues, then it’s worth pursuing a fix on the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge itself.

Make sure you turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, wait a few seconds and turn it back on. If that doesn’t fix the problem, head to the next step.
Restart your phone. Sometimes all that’s needed a quick kick to the reset button and you’re good to go.
If Wi-Fi problems persist, try forgetting the network by holding down on the SSID (name) and tapping Forget network. Then re-enter the password.
If Bluetooth problems persist, try unpairing the object from your phone and re-pairing. To do that, tap on the little cog icon next to the product’s name and hit Unpair. Put the speaker or whatever you’re connecting to in pairing mode and connect again.

How to fix Wi-Fi problems on the Galaxy S7

Random restarts and boot loops

A common occurrence, especially in more recent months, has been Galaxy S7 units randomly freezing while in use, restarting, or what’s known as boot looping, which finds the phone stuck in a cycle where it attempts to boot into Android but somehow gets stuck and performs the process all over again.

Like with all the above issues, there are a number of potential issues causing this, from errant apps causing overheating to problems with an Android update to a corroded or damaged mainboard.

To troubleshoot, work from easiest solution to most difficult.

If your phone boots into Android but is randomly restarting, it may be overheating or have a problematic app. Follow the instructions above to isolate the malefactor.
If deleting all potentially problematic apps doesn’t work, reboot into the recovery and clear the cache partition.
If that doesn’t work, it may be time to reset the phone completely. If you can’t get into the phone, follow the instructions to factory reset the phone from the recovery menu.

Other issues

What are your main issues with the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge? We’ll keep this article updated as new information becomes available!

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

• Galaxy S7 review
• Galaxy S7 edge review
• U.S. unlocked Galaxy S7
• Should you upgrade to the Galaxy S7?
• Best SD cards for Galaxy S7
• Join our Galaxy S7 forums

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Maybe don’t pose like this at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Disrespectful? Tasteless? Clueless? It’s hard to find the right adjective for folks who take frivolous photos at The Berlin Holocaust Memorial, a monument to the suffering of millions of people. That’s why Jewish artist Shahak Shapira decided to use a sharper tool: satire. His Yolocaust project superimposes selfie images gleaned from Facebook, Instagram, Tinder and other sites against sobering historical images of the Holocaust.

The Berlin Holocaust Memorial, also known as “The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe,” consists of 2,711 concrete blocks of varying heights laid out over nearly 5 acres. Nearly 10,000 people pass through it each day, most of whom (you’d hope) take the time to reflect on the unimaginable horrors visited on Jews and others by Germany’s Nazi regime.

However, some folks pose for selfies there like they’re at Coney Island, which clearly grated Shapira. In the site’s equally satirical FAQ, he says “no historical event compares to the Holocaust. It’s up to you how to behave at a site that marks the death of six million people.” The subtext, however, is that if you take a tacky photo, then compound your ignorance by posting it on a social network, you may become part of his project.

The site isn’t the first to mock inappropriate selfies — “Selfies at Serious Places” and others have also done it — but it’s the first to add a highly effective Photoshop twist. Shapira does give subjects a way out, though, in a final flourish of wit: “Just send an email to undouche.me@yolocaust.de.”

Via: Engadget Spanish (translated)

Source: Yolocaust