Cam Bunton, Editor at NewGeekGuide – Cam has been passionate about tech since his dad bought the family’s first Commodore AMIGA back in the late 80’s. He’s been in the tech industry (writing and making videos) since 2010, and joined NewGeekGuide as the resident video producer and product reviewer in 2015. He sometimes writes news and reviews for 9to5Mac too.
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A short while ago a hands on video and promotional poster leaked indicating that Samsung will be launching a bigger version of its Galaxy A-series smartphone for 2016. It shared the same design language and some of the same specifications of the recently launched Galaxy A3, A5 and A7, albeit in a larger package. Although it’s yet to be officially announced by Samsung, the A9 has appeared on TENAA, suggesting a launch is right around the corner…
Of all the Chromebooks that were announced this year, it was the new Dell Chromebook 13 range that caught our eye. Unlike most Chromebooks, it’s not really low-end and cheap, but’s also not quite as extraordinarily priced as the Chromebook Pixel. It sits somewhere in between, right in no-man’s land. The cheapest model will set you back $429, while the most expensive is around $650 currently. In the UK, prices range from £484 to £856…
Google’s Search Doodles can often be fun, especially when they’re interactive. Today’s is one of my own personal favorites. In remembrance of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 245th year, the Google Doodle team created an interactive game in which you help Beethoven rescue sheet music so that he can make it to the concert venue. If you’re not into classical music, or don’t know how to read sheet music, this may not be your ‘cup of tea’.
There are four ‘levels’ in the game, each of which involves arranging sections of a famous piece of music in the correct order. Even if you’re not a Beethoven nut, you should recognize all four of them. The game takes apart the most well-known phrases from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata and Ode To Joy. Chances are, even if you didn’t know they were Beethoven’s music, you’ll have at least heard them before.
If you’ve never read sheet music, don’t worry, each section has a little sound icon which you can press to preview the phrase, before you decide where it needs to go.
To help poor old Beethoven retrieve and rescue his precious music, head on over to the Google homepage and enjoy (make sure you have your speakers turned up too).
HTC hasn’t officially announced the One X9 yet and already it’s seen its fair share of press coverage. An official TENAA listing gave away the important information a few weeks ago, while a more recent leak showed the handset in more detail. Over on Chinese tech site, iMobile, there is what appears to be an insanely in-depth article, multiple pages long, going over everything from hardware to software, benchmarks and everything in between…
Google’s new Nexus phones are only a few weeks old, and yet you can already buy them at less than their full retail value. The Nexus 5X has been discounted since Black Friday weekend. Now, the flagship Nexus 6P has also seen a price drop. You can now snag the smartphone with $50 discount in the US or Japan, direct from Google’s online store.
Smartphones aren’t the only products to see a price drop. Google has also discounted the Huawei Watch, Chromebooks and is offering deals on the new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio…
OnePlus has announced that it will be bringing its alternative white/champagne gold version of the OnePlus X to western markets from next week. Anyone with an invite can purchase the champagne gold edition direct from the company’s online store from December 22nd. Up until now, this option has only been available in China.
Specification-wise, the phone is exactly the same as the Onyx (black) model. Like the black model, it will also come with the option to have a glass back, or the more limited (and more expensive) ceramic back. You won’t need a special invite to get this new color, and if you have an existing, valid invite when the gold models become available, you can use it for either black/grey or white/gold versions of the company’s budget smartphone.
The OnePlus X is one of this year’s most brilliant budget smartphones. It received virtually unanimous praise from reviewers, and made its way on to our list of 2015’s best affordable Android phones. If you’re looking for a great handset with premium build, brilliant display and responsive performance, you can do a lot worse than spend $250 on the OnePlus X (now in a more classy white and gold). Personally, I’d love for it to be bigger, but it’s undoubtedly one of the best small smartphones out there.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Google’s engineers are already working on baked-in split-screen multitasking support for Android. This was after the Pixel C team opened an AMA on Reddit to offer potential and existing customers the opportunity to pick their brains. Unsurprisingly, the topic of split-screen came up more than once. While some OEMs, like Samsung and LG, have built the feature in to their Android skins, Google is yet to bake it in to the core Android software.
Although Marshmallow doesn’t come with any major user interface changes, it does come with a bunch of useful under-the-hood features that made the platform a little more versatile and customizable. One of those changes includes the ability to use an external MicroSD card as internal storage. Adoptable storage gives users the potential to use a memory card as internal memory, which comes as a huge bonus to anyone without enough built-in storage. If you have an 8GB or 16GB phone, or you’re using a Samsung device (jokes, sort-of) with Marshmallow you can follow a simple process to adopt external storage and use it for installing apps, or storing app data…
Motorola has something of an advantage over other Android OEMs when it comes to pushing out software updates. Because its phones run a virtually stock version of Android, there’s very little to test and optimize before the update can be made available to users. Android Marshmallow has already started its rollout for users of this year’s Moto X Pure/Style, Play and Force, and now the software is being pushed to users of last year’s Moto X in India.
According to Android Central, the update weighs in at just under 885MB in size and comes with all of Marshmallow’s software features like Now on Tap, Doze Mode, granular app permissions and better volume/media controls.
With it now being available in India, we can expect it to be pushed to customers in other regions soon. Motorola’s software update list states that Moto x (2014) users in Latin America, Canada, Europe and Asia will all receive the update, while only Pure Edition users will get the software in the US. Of course, plans can be (and have) changed depending on customer demand when it comes to software rollouts, but as things stand, only Pure Edition models of the Moto X 2014 will get Android 6.0 in the States.
A German court recently granted an injunction against HTC, and could lead to the Taiwanese manufacturer’s smartphones being taken off shelves in Germany. It’s not exactly the good news HTC was hoping for following a troubled year of slipping market share, dropping revenue and the lukewarm market response to its devices.
Wall Street Journal reports that a patent licensing firm named Acacia Research Group LLC won a lawsuit on November 27 which granted it an injunction against HTC smartphone sales through the country’s biggest telecommunications provider. HTC smartphones sold by Deutsche Telekom are expected to be pulled by the end of this month, although the manufacturer will be appealing to try to overturn the decision. HTC is understandably disappointed by the ruling, and is working with DT to ‘minimize disruption’ to its customers …
As we know, Google has gone all out Star Wars this year; theming Chrome, Gmail, YouTube and other services with the movie’s imagery as well as launching custom Star Wars Cardboard headsets. With the Star Wars showings now kicking off around the globe, Google has saved the best until last. ‘Lightsaber Escape’ is the company’s latest Chrome Experiment, and ties in a number of modern browser-based technologies to make your smartphone and Chrome desktop browser work together.
Simply head on over to g.co/lightsaber and follow the instructions on screen. It’ll ask you to visit a specific web address on your smartphone. Once you’ve done that, the phone and desktop browsers talk to each other, and ask you to hold your phone vertically to calibrate it. Once calibrated, your phone is the handle of the lightsaber, while the ‘blade’ appears on screen and responds to your movements. The aim: Get out of the Star Destroyer and kill lots of Stormtroopers. It’s pretty awesome.
Google’s team developed the game in collaboration with Disney, Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic, and was built using WebGL for high resolution 3D graphics, while using WebRTC and WebSockets for fast, accurate and responsive communication between the mobile and desktop browsers. This is one of just many Star Wars experiences launched by Google. If you have a Cardboard set of any kind, you can also head on over to Google.com/starwars and explore Jakku Spy using your headset.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPd0w3pVQVI]
This year’s Moto X has only been out for a couple of months, and already we’re seeing rumors and leaks for next year’s models. While that’s not exactly surprising, it’s always worth taking any early leaks and images with a suitable amount of skepticism. What appears to be an early machined prototype dummy has leaked online and suggests Motorola might go with a new design for next year’s Moto X, switching from a metal pill-shaped panel to a glass, circular enclosure. Unlike last year’s model, the dual LED flash is placed in a segment at the bottom of this panel, rather than in a translucent ring around the camera module.
Back when it first launched, the LG Watch Urbane drew a lot of attention to itself thanks to its striking appearance. The round-faced chunky metal smartwatch didn’t look like anything else on the Android Wear market. If you’re still looking for a good value smartwatch, this could be the way to go. If you’re quick you snag the LG Watch Urbane for just $199 (down from $349) in one of today’s Lightning Deals. The deal ends in less than two hours (from time of typing). If you don’t manage to grab it, you can head on over to Rakuten where you can get the same deal on the silver model.
Feature highlights:
We only have about one week to go before your holiday shopping is officially too late. And although Black Friday weekend and Cyber Week have all come and gone, that doesn’t mean retailers have given up on trying to persuade you to part with your hard-earned cash…
LG has unveiled a new range of audio products for both home entertainment and for parties. As Google fans, it’s the home entertainment range we’re most interested in, and that’s because the company’s new sound bar systems include baked-in support for Google Cast. The SH8, SH7 and SH6 sound bars will be shown off in more depth at CES next month, and come with a boatload of wireless connectivity options…
The first screenings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will take place from tomorrow night in certain parts of the world. If, like me, you can’t go to see it this week you’re going to have a task on your hands trying to avoid spoilers. Once screenings have taken place, the internet will be full of comments and reviews of the most exciting movie to hit theaters this millennium. Thankfully, there’s a Chrome browser extension to which should make it easier to avoid reading them.
Star Wars Spoiler Blocker helps you avoid spoilers by detecting content on page and blurring it out with a full-screen graphic. It’s currently in version 1.0, and was originally released at the end of last month. But with this week being Star Wars week, we felt it right to bring it to your attention before it’s too late.
If you have any burning questions like ‘Does Luke Skywalker turn evil?’, ‘Will the Ewoks make an appearance?’ or ‘Does Princess Leia still have the gold bikini?’, you’ll be able to wait until you see the movie for yourself to find out. As with virtually every extension, the Star Wars Spoiler Blocker is free to install on your browser.
HTC has taken something of a new direction recently — following the likes of Huawei and OnePlus — in delivering premium-looking smartphones with mid-range prices. Its latest phone, the One A9 aims to deliver a flagship experience at a lower price. Its upcoming One X9 is likely to be a slight step down from that, but more importantly, it’s a step up and possibly step away from its plastic-body Desire range…
With Android Marshmallow having been announced more than two months ago, and released on new devices last month, now’s the time when Android owners start getting anxious about when they might see the latest version on their devices.
Most manufacturers have already announced that they will be rolling out Android 6.0. Some, like Motorola, have already started pushing it to customers while HTC was the first to launch a non-Nexus device with Android Marshmallow pre-loaded out of the box. For those with existing HTC phones, that won’t come as any comfort at all, but what might is a roadmap leaked by LlabTooFeR which shows which HTC phones are getting a taste of Marshmallow, and when the manufacturer has planned to push the updates…
Google regularly celebrates holiday seasons by launching special little easter eggs, games and decorations across its services. This year, if it wasn’t for the Santa Tracker and Spin the Dreidel game, you’d think Google was under the impression it was Star Wars season. Turns out, that’s not the case.
Barry Schwartz spotted that Google has indeed decorated its search results in time for the holidays. Simply head to Google.com and search for ‘Christmas’, ‘Chanukah’ or ‘Kwanzaa’ and you’ll see the following imagery along with the relevant search results. All three holidays are celebrated with traditional imagery like the Menorah, Christmas Tree and the aforementioned Dreidel. (As a side note: Searching for ‘Dreidel’ or ‘Menorah’ also brings up the Chanukah decorations in Search).
While the holidays get a brief hat-tip, Star Wars has undoubtedly been the biggest focus for Google’s design team this year. With its movie franchise tie-in, Google themed virtually all of its services and launched some Star Wars editions of the Cardboard VR sets, while Motorola and Verizon teamed up to launch Star Wars DROID Turbo 2 handsets.
Google’s Maps app for iPhone and iPad got a small but useful update on the App Store today. The latest version of the Google Maps iOS app now includes a couple of handy features.
First up, and undoubtedly the most useful for drivers is the up-to-date gas prices in the US and Canada. The feature was included in the Android version of Google’s app a couple of months ago and lets users check nearby gas stations to see which has the most affordable prices. You can find prices simply be searching for ‘gas’ or ‘gas stations’ in the search field and Google Maps will automatically bring up the nearest options and list pricing for those locations.
Business hours have been included in the app for some time, but today’s update also lets you check when is best to avoid/visit particular businesses. Like its online search and maps tools, the updated iPhone app brings the ability check popular visiting hours for local stores and outlets. Now you can see what you always knew about any business or retail location: It starts getting busy after lunch.
Google Maps version 4.13.0 is available to download from the App Store for free and requires users to be running iOS 7.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Samsung officially unveiled its A-series lineup for the next year. The Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 feature respectable specifications and will be sold at prices well below those of the more high end Galaxy S series while retaining the premium metal chassis. But the A-series doesn’t end there. Samsung’s official Weibo account revealed details of yet another Alpha device: The Galaxy A9.
As you’d expect, the A9 is bigger than any of the others. With its 6-inch, full HD AMOLED display, the A9 is easily the biggest of the bunch, perhaps bordering on ‘too big’. The leak also reveals a 13MP camera on the back and 8MP front snapper, as well as a huge 4,000mAh battery. While not in the same territoriy as the behemoth 10,000mAh battery in the Oukitel K10000, it should still be easily enough to get most users through two days on a full charge.
SamMobile also pointed in the direction of another leak featuring more of the internal specifications. Those include a Snapdragon 620 processor clocked at 1.8GHz and paired with 3GB, alongside 32GB internal storage. Like the the other A-series phones, it also has a fingerprint sensor and Samsung Pay support. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, although an update to Marshmallow is expected. Samsung is likely to announce the new Galaxy A9 a little later this month. If all that pre-release info wasn’t enough, there’s a video showing off the A9 and A7 side-by-side.
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Samsung is widely expected to announce its next series of flagships at some point during the first quarter of next year. Early rumors have suggested that it’ll launch early, before the usual MWC launch cycle, while others expect it will be the big announcement at MWC. Either way, the Galaxy S7 will be announced before the end of February. If information obtained by the Wall Street Journal is anything to go by, we could have a device which, once again, leads the market in terms of features and performance…
Following the recent major Google Plus update and renewed focus on Communities and Collections, the social network’s web view recently updated with a few much-needed tweaks. Googler, Luke Wroblewski posted to his profile with details of the new changes being made to the online version.
As you’d expect, many of these new changes are being released to strengthen the Communities and Collections experiences. Within Community pages, the sidebar now has links taking you directly to individual categories specific to that Community. What’s more, you can now pin posts within Collections, and there’s a clearer notification indicator on the home stream to inform you how many notifications you have to read through. Google has also built in a new pop-up window to make sure you don’t lose new posts when you switch to a different page.
Perhaps of most relief is the new toggle which lets you switch auto-playing GIFs on or off. Apparently opinion was divided on whether they should auto-play, or not. Some loved it, others hated it, so Google gave users the option to choose. Details and images of the new features are below:
G+ Web Preview Update 12/11
Today we’re rolling out several updates to our G+ preview on the Web including:* Visible links to categories on Community pages
* Auto-play of animated GIFs (with a setting to turn on/off)
* Ability to pin posts within Collections
* Clearer indication of notifications on the home stream
* Warning to ensure you don’t lose new posts when changing pagesSome of these changes were unanimously requested (people want community categories visible!). Others required us to strike an appropriate balance between opposing feedback (some people love animated GIFs, others don’t!). In all cases, we really appreciate your thoughts so please keep them coming using the Send Feedback menu item.
With Mailbox now decommissioned, the third party Android email app scene is a little more bleak than it was before. One company hoping to bring us a little joy is Yahoo. It recently updated its Yahoo Mail app to version 5.1.0 which (among other things) now includes support for Gmail. With it being an Android app, you’d assume that it should have Gmail compatibility from the outset. But apparently, Yahoo didn’t see it that way.
Gmail support is added to the pre-existing list of providers, including Outlook, AOL and Yahoo mail accounts. What’s more, you can search your inbox and archive messages just as you would with any good Google-supporting email client. Along with the ability to connect with Gmail accounts, version 5.1.0 also brings the option to select all messages in any individual folder for mass-deleting and moving. They’ve also made it easier to access different accounts and settings.
Here’s the change log posted to the Yahoo Mail Play Store page:
5.1.0:– Connect Gmail mailboxes to read, organize, search and respond to your Gmail messages within the Yahoo Mail app– Select all messages in a specific folder on your device – just tap on the select all icon in the upper-left corner when moving or deleting multiple messagesInterface improvements for account switching, settings, touch targets, and message list readability– TalkBack accessibility improvements– Performance enhancements
