Verizon: Samsung Pay support is coming in a software update
Last we heard, Verizon was still evaluating whether or not it would support Samsung Pay. But today the carrier shared some good news, revealing it will open its doors to the Korean company’s mobile payment solution. Unfortunately, Verizon decided to keep the announcement vague, only going as far as saying that support for Samsung Pay is set to be available “through a future software update.” Once it arrives, though, you’ll need to have a compatible device to take advantage of the feature — and this includes the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5. Hang tight, at least now you know it’s actually coming.
Samsung Pay will be supported on compatible Verizon smartphones (Galaxy S 6, S 6 edge, Note5, S6 edge +) through a future software update.
— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) October 6, 2015
[Image credits: Getty Images for Samsung]
Source: Verizon (Twitter)
Which Android devices are getting Marshmallow and when?
Google has started rolling out Android 6.0, aka Marshmallow, to a handful of Nexus devices. But, as great as that is, there are still millions of people who have to wait for third-party manufacturers or carriers to get the update. Thankfully, companies like HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony and T-Mobile are already outlining their plans to distribute the latest, tastiest version of Android. Not everyone will be happy, of course, but the list of smartphones set to receive Marshmallow isn’t bad — and chances are more will be added over the next few weeks. “So, am I getting it,” you ask? If so, when? Let’s find out.
- Nexus 5
- Nexus 6
- Nexus 7 (2013)
- Nexus 9
- Nexus Player
- Android One smartphones
The over-the-air update should be rolling out now, according to Google.
HTC
- HTC One M9
- HTC One M8
- HTC One M9+
- HTC One E9
- HTC One E9+
- HTC One ME
- HTC One E8
- HTC One M8 EYE
- HTC Butterfly 3
- HTC Desire 826
- HTC Desire 820
- HTC Desire 816
HTC says Marshmallow should be available on these handsets by the end of the year.
Motorola
- 2015 Moto X Pure Edition (third-generation)
- 2015 Moto X Style (third-generation)
- 2015 Moto X Play
- 2015 Moto G (third-generation)
- 2014 Moto X Pure Edition in the US (second-generation)
- 2014 Moto X in Latin America, Europe and Asia (second-generation)
- 2014 Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE (second-generation)
- 2014 Moto MAXX
- 2014 Moto Turbo
- Droid Turbo
- Nexus 6
The good news? Motorola’s taking care of a lot of devices. The bad news? There are no availability details.”We have high standards, so we’ll work fast but we won’t push the upgrades out until we know they’re ready,” the company said in a blog post.
Sony
- Xperia Z5
- Xperia Z5 Compact
- Xperia Z5 Premium
- Xperia Z4 Tablet
- Xperia Z3+
- Xperia Z3
- Xperia Z3 Compact
- Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
- Xperia Z2
- Xperia Z2 Tablet
- Xperia M5
- Xperia M4 Aqua
- Xperia C5 Ultra
- Xperia C4
Timing-wise, Sony says it’s working hard to deliver Marshmallow to you as quickly as it can, but it didn’t share any details beyond that.
T-Mobile
- HTC One M8
- HTC One M9
- LG G3
- LG G4
- LG G Stylo
- Nexus 5
- Nexus 6
- Nexus 7 (2013)
- Nexus 9
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4
- Samsung Galaxy Note 5
- Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S5
- Samsung Galaxy S6
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
Unlike its rivals in the US, T-Mobile was thoughtful enough to put together a list of devices that will get Android 6.0. There’s also a tool on the carrier’s site that lets you see what stage of the update process each device in, which is going to be greatly appreciated by users.
As we said earlier, though, more details from other networks and manufacturers are due to pop up throughout the coming weeks — so stay tuned to this article, as we’ll be updating it with any further details.
[Image credits: yamagiwa2000/Flickr]
The new Roku does 4K and finds the remote for you
It’s clearly video-streaming box season. Apple finally dropped an updated Apple TV, the Chromecast got all colorful and the Fire TV upped its resolution to 4K. Now it’s Roku’s turn with the new Roku 4. The flatter and wider set-top box sports 4K, has a remote locator (YES!), an updated OS and a redesigned app that makes it easier to travel with your favorite shows. The new device joins the rest of the Roku line instead of replacing anything. Priced at $129, it sits between the Apple TV and Fire but without all the recent drama. Slideshow-325524
Roku told Engadget that it continues to focus on discovery. Fortunately that also means helping you find the tiny remote when it disappears behind the couch. The box has a remote logo that when depressed makes the remote sound an alert. With most of these set-top boxes shipping with small remotes, it’s nice that a company finally realized how easy it is to lose those damn things. The remote also has the same voice search, headphone jack and motion control with buttons for video games like the Roku 3.
The Roku itself has a quicker quad-core processor for 60 fps 4K streaming and supports 802.11ac WiFI. A new 4K channel has been added so you can find media for that fancy UHD TV. An optical audio port has been added along with the usual HDMI port and microSD port for playing your own videos.
In addition to new hardware the company announced Roku OS 7 with an upgraded way to follow movies, TV shows and actors. Now when something that’s been tracked is available in a channel, the My Feed section displays a notification. Want to know when The Martian is available on Netflix? Follow it and you’ll know as soon as it appears on the service.
The app also got a redesign with quicker access to commonly used features. More importantly, for folks that travel with a Roku, the app and new OS now work with WiFi networks that require a browser-based login like hotel rooms.
The Roku 4 is available for pre-order now and will ship in October for $129. The updated OS will be available to current Roku players starting in mid-October with the roll out lasting until November.
Source: Roku
Twitter’s curated Moments slows down the newsfeed for new users
Twitter moves at the speed of human consciousness. With our attention span more and more resembling that of a gnat, that’s pretty quick. That’s partially the reason that the social network is finding it difficult for new users grasp. Breaking news on the service has a life cycle of about an hour or two before the collective moves on to another topic. Meanwhile Facebook will keep a topic in a person’s newsfeed for days with its algorithm. While Twitter’s not going to start controlling your feed (at least not yet) what it has done is add Moments, a new feature at makes keeping up with the trending topics and news items easier. Slideshow-325522
“We started by saying, ‘what would it take for folks who want Twitter to work for them to see great content immediately with no work?’” said Madhu Muthukumar, Twitter product manager. The internal answer ended up being Moments (a venture formerly known as Project Lightning), a feature that curates the day’s trending topics and news items into slideshows of image and video tweets with the occasional text posting. “It’s a way to explore content on the platform and not feel like you have to commit to following these people,” said Muthukumar.
Beginning today a new tab with a lightning bolt will start rolling out to the latest iOS, Android clients and on Twitter.com in the United States. Tapping that bolt will drop you into today’s biggest news or topic. The lead topic is usually highlighted with a video or animated GIF. Taping on it drops you into a timeline of multimedia and text tweets about the topic from trusted sources. Swipe left to see additional posts with a while line at the bottom that can scrub back and forth within an story. When you’re down you can share the Moment, close it, or select another story.
Like Vine, you can double tap on a tweet within a moment to fav it. Or you can single tap to bring up the retweet and fav options. In addition to sharing individual posts, an entire Moment can be shared and embedded.
Users can also tap a follow button in a tweet based on a news event that drops relevant tweets from accounts you may or may not follow into their timeline. It’s like you’ve followed a curated list for a limited time. When the event ends, the accounts are unfollowed. It’s a good way to keep track of the information coming out of a sporting event or news item without delving into hashtags that can be hijacked or having to follow accounts that are only useful to you for a limited time.
At launch the feature is curated by a small team at Twitter and select partners including MLB, Buzzfeed, Getty Images and NASA. But, the company also plans on giving everyone the ability to build Moments. They can be shared on your feed or on your site or Facebook page. It’ll be Twitter’s version of tiny blog posts with users curating their own feeds with politics, cute animals and news. Mostly, it’ll be cute animals. But curating and sharing is easier than writing and that could appeal to folks that just want to show the a bunch of cool stuff with very little effort.
New Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made a point during a recent quarterly earnings call to talk about how confusing the service could be for new users. This included talk of questioning the reverse chronological order of stream. Moments doesn’t upend how Twitter works, but it does offer an alternative way to interact with service. A way that doesn’t intimidate new folks and gives long-time users the option to step back from the noise and see what’s happening in the world.
Twitter hasn’t created a less-than-stellar algorithm the way Facebook did. Instead its trying to create a Flipboard-like experience in its official apps. Moments is a set of training wheels that keeps new accounts from bailing once they realize that Twitter is the Tour de France of information. It’ll be up to those new folks if they want to graduate to the real race or if they’ll stick with leisurely pace of curated posts. Either way, if they stay, Twitter wins.
Source: Twitter
Here’s how to watch Microsoft’s Windows 10 devices event
First was Apple, then Google and now it is Microsoft’s turn to show us fresh devices ahead of the holiday season. As for what we can expect from today’s event, Microsoft is rumored to have a few Windows 10 phones on tap, along with details about the Windows 10 Mobile rollout and, most importantly, a new Surface Pro — the fourth generation of its top-of-the-line hybrid laptop/tablet series. That said, there might be a surprise or two during the keynote, so you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled. You can watch the stream here at 7AM PT/10AM ET, and we’ll also be liveblogging the festivities from New York City this morning.
[Image credits: Robert Scoble/Flickr]
Source: Microsoft
Windows 10 is now installed on 110 million devices
With Windows 10 being a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users, it’s no surprise that many have jumped at the chance to see what Microsoft’s latest OS has to offer. In fact, only a day after its release, the company counted 14 million installs, which sky-rocketed to 75 million less than a month after that. At the “Windows 10 devices” event today, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson provided a brief update, announcing that figure has now reached a whopping 110 million. That’s quite the number, especially considering Windows 10 has only been out for around 10 weeks. The overwhelming majority of installs are coming from regular consumers, too, with just over 8 million attributed to business PCs.
Get all the news from today’s Microsoft event right here.
HTC’s Jason Mackenzie says that pushing out monthly Android security updates is “unrealistic”
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There are things that people want to hear, and then there are things that people don’t – we have a feeling that this falls in the latter category. When asked whether or not HTC will be committing to monthly Android security updates as Google, LG and Samsung have, president of HTC America, Jason Mackenzie, had this to say about the matter:
@bkerensa @htc 1. Because commitment to this is not realistic. In order to push an update you have to get carrier approval.
— Jason Mackenzie (@JasonMacHTC) October 3, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Now, before you grab your pitchforks, let’s just take a step back here. It’s a well-known fact that when software updates are released by Google, the manufacturer has to take time to incorporate the fixes into their software, then it goes to the carrier who adds their own stuff, before it actually reaches all of you. Now, there are varying degrees of waiting depending on what carrier you’re with and such, but all said and told, the whole ordeal is several weeks, if not months. We definitely understand where Mackenzie is coming from, though we’re yet to see exactly how this all turns out once Samsung and LG start churning out the updates.
On the flip side, we have to question – just because it will take awhile to get through to the user, why then delay the security updates even further just so you don’t have to get as many through at once? And that’s without mentioning unlocked devices which wouldn’t have carrier bureaucracy to worry about. It would seem careless to delay presumably crucial security updates, but of course, we have to give all the manufacturers the benefit of the doubt at this point.
What do you think about Jason Mackenzie’s comments on monthly Android security updates? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The post HTC’s Jason Mackenzie says that pushing out monthly Android security updates is “unrealistic” appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Binge watching gets easier with latest Google Play Movies & TV update
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Netflix has the lock on binge watching. Well, almost. One thing I think it is missing when casting from a device is the ability to know I am still watching because my phone is still moving. I am sure the developers could get that put into place at some point. The latest update to Google Play Movies & TV is bringing in some binge watching abilities in the latest update, version 3.9. Now as a show ends in the closing credits you will get the same sort of binge ability Netflix offers with a thumb nail of the next episode, a countdown timer and relevant info about it.
Of course binge watching your favorite series counts on you owning the next set of episodes. For those of you curious, yes, the app updated on Android TV as well to let you binge watch from you NVIDIA Shield or what have you.
Other updates for the app include support for Android Marshmallow, very important since Google is pushing out the update to Nexus devices. Users of Roku will find themselves with an easier setup method to get Play Movies & TV up and running and there are also the usual number of bug fixes and stability improvements.
Be sure to snag the latest update via the Play Store through the link below.
http://playboard.me/widgets/pb-app-box/1/pb_load_app_box.js
The post Binge watching gets easier with latest Google Play Movies & TV update appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Apple buys an AI startup with eye on better photo management
Apple’s acquired a startup with a keen focus on developing artificial intelligence systems that run locally on your device rather than at an offsite server farm. In Perceptio’s case (why does every start-up sound like Aviato now?), it’s using deep learning for photo classification rather than other mundane tasks, according to both Bloomberg and ReCode. The latter notes that Facebook and the like do this with cloud processing but Apple is incredibly big on not storing user-data offsite. So it makes sense that the company would be interested in bringing this sort of imaging tech to its handsets and computers — especially considering that new camera the iPhone 6s series is sporting.
This purchase could point toward a smarter Photos app, or it could be nothing at all. Giant tech companies buy smaller ones all the time and Apple’s no stranger to that. But if Tim Cook and Co. can make using the imaging program less frustrating as a whole, we’ll really be in business.
[Image credit: Shutterstock]
Source: Bloomberg
Factory images for Android Marshmallow have been released
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It was announced last week that Android Marshmallow for the Nexus devices would be released “next week”, and right on cue, the factory images for Android Marshmallow have been released today for your flashing convenience. Specifically, the images that are available today are for the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9 and Nexus Player, just as we expected. If you’re looking for where to download them, you’ll be able to find all the images on the Google Developers website.
Just remember that if you’re going to be flashing a factory image to your device, you’ll need to back up all your essentials as it will wipe clean. If that sounds like too much effort, then you’re likely better off waiting for the OTA (over-the-air) updates that should be rolling out as we speak.
If you do take the plunge, we’d love to hear about how you’re finding it in the comments below.
Source: Google Developers via Droid-life
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