AT&T announced a new promotion today that will give new and existing customers a $100 bill credit when they activate a new line of service for a smartphone through the carrier’s Next purchase program. The offer is available from now until September 30th and the account must remain in good standing to receive the service credit within three billing cycles.
Verizon has quietly repackaged one of our favorite little smartphones as its latest prepaid offering. The RAZR M released almost two years ago as a budget-friendly LTE handset and it’s now being rebranded as the Motorola Luge, with a $200 off-contract price tag. Maybe Verizon is trying to clear out its old inventory while marketing its new prepaid LTE services, because other than a name and software change, this handset is pretty much what the carrier released two Septembers ago.
Google’s fairly new Opinion Rewards app is now available to Android users in the Netherlands. If you’re unfamiliar with this piece of software, it’s pretty much Mountain View’s take on quid pro quo, with users taking brief surveys in exchange for Google Play credit.
Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage mobile app received an update today across multiple platforms. The Android flavor of the new software push mixes work with play, giving users access to their personal and business files at the same time without having to switch accounts.
Today, Sprint announced a new international WiFi calling option that lets its customers place calls to the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands from over 100 countries at no additional charge. The new feature is now available to Samsung Galaxy S4 owners via an over-the-air software update, however Sprint says that support will come to other devices throughout the year.
Today, Google announced that it has integrated Google Analytics statistics into its Publisher Toolbar. This gives website administrators fast access to performance statistics, making it easier for them to gauge trends and other data related to their web properties. Available to download from the Chrome Web Store, the Publisher Toolbar also lets you quickly monitor individual ad stats and block inappropriate content from your website.
Huawei is set to unveil its new Ascend Mate 7 next week during IFA in Berlin, however the unreleased phone appears to have been spotted in the wild prior to its big showing. A device referred to as the Chinese phone maker’s next handset recently made a cameo appearance on the Asian microblogging site Weibo, revealing a phone that is somewhat reminiscent of the HTC One Max.
HTC is mostly known for its high-end devices that are built with premium materials, however the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer is starting to make a splash in the mid-range smartphone space. Today, the company announced the launch of the Desire 510, a new budget-friendly LTE-capable phone that’s coming to Sprint, Cricket, Virgin and Boost Mobile in the coming months.
Android 4.4.4 might be one of the final KitKat releases before Google moves its mobile operating system to version L, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is happily riding on the new software bandwagon. After waiting what probably felt like an eternity, the HTC One M8 on AT&T is finally getting a taste of Android 4.4.3. Sure, it’s not the latest and greatest software that Mountain View has to offer, but today’s update does manage to ship with its share of enhancements.
LG is going to announce a round smartwatch next week during IFA in Berlin and to keep its hype train chugging along, the company has shared a new teaser image of its next timepiece on its Facebook page. Captioned with the tagline “smart comes full circle,” the photo shows a shadowy image of what looks like a round watch face that almost looks metallic.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFl3duPPG0w]
People can now transfer videos from their Google+ profiles to their YouTube accounts. We recently saw that this was in the works, but Google has officially made it available to everyone. Imports can be saved as public or private just like any standard YouTube video, which this makes this a nifty way to create an extra backup of Google+ instant uploads from your smartphone or tablet.
ASUS recently teased its new smartwatch by showing off some renders and today the company is turning things up a notch by releasing a brief preview video of its new timepiece. At just over a half a minute long, the quickie trailer doesn’t show much, but it does reveal that the watch will be called the ZenWatch, completely removing our Transformer theory out of the equation.
Google announced today that it’s launching a Campus startup community hub in Seoul Korea. This will be the tech giant’s first location in Asia, which joins its growing global network of sites like Campus London, Campus Tel Aviv, and the soon to be available Campus Warsaw and Campus Sao Paulo.
Today, Google announced an update that improves Hangout’s integration in Gmail. In an effort to make your contacts more accessible, this new tab displays friends who are online first, followed by those who aren’t. You can still send messages to offline contacts, however they won’t get them until they sign into Hangouts from a desktop, smartphone or tablet.
Glass may be getting closer to being a full-blown consumer product, according to a few changes to the product’s terms of sale. Although the search giant recently made its high-tech eyewear available to the public, it’s widely referred to as still in beta. About a week ago, Google revamped its sales terms for Glass, adding an updated “Prices and Taxes” section.
Sony has yet to officially announce an Xperia Z3 smartphone, however that hasn’t stopped the leaks from coming. Expected to debut next week during IFA, alleged teardown pictures of the device have surfaced, giving a closer look at what we might be seeing in a few short days. Rumor has it that Sony’s next premium smartphone will feature a 5.3-inch 1080p HD display, a Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a 20.7-megapixel rear-facing camera.
Google rolled out a new update for its News & Weather Android app today that brings a much needed facelift for the aging software. Version 2.0 introduces a new Material Design inspired setup with a card layout akin to what you’d see with Google Now that lets users navigate the app’s menu by swiping through content.
Today, T-Mobile’s continued its aggressive marketing blitz, announcing a new promotion that doubles tablet data for its customers, along with an increase to the number of lines supported by its family plans. Starting on September 3rd for $10 extra per month, T-Mobile will match Simple Choice data allotments by up to 5GB, with the extra data bucket being available exclusively to your network-connected tablet.
YouTube subscribers will soon be able to import videos from their Google+ accounts. This features will be available as an additional option listed above YouTube’s “Create Videos” option. This new functionality was discovered by Google+ subscriber, Nedas Petravicius, but still doesn’t appear to be available to everyone.
Last week ASUS confirmed that it will unveil its new smartwatch on September 3rd at IFA in Berlin, and today the company shared a glimpse of what we can expect to see next week. Taking to its official Facebook page, the Taiwanese electronics maker posted sketches of of its forthcoming smartwatch. Accompanied by a quote from Khalil Gibran, that was used last week to announce the device’s IFA event, the image’s text reads: “Time has been transformed, and we have changed.”
The Moto X isn’t the only thing in Motorola Mobility’s catalog due for a replacement. A recently discovered FCC filing has revealed that the soon to be former Google company is working on a newer version of its Skip phone unlocking accessory. If you’re unfamiliar with Motorola’s companion hardware, it’s a small NFC-powered wearable clip that lets Moto X owners unlock their phone with a fast tap without having to use a password or screen pattern.
Almost a month ago, it seemed like Google’s reported $1 billion acquisition of the video game streaming website Twitch was a done deal. However, according to The Information, Amazon is in “late-stage” negotiations to purchase the company instead. The financial terms of this rumored deal have not been disclosed, so it’s unknown what would cause talks between Mountain View and Twitch to fall apart.
Motorola and LG aren’t the only ones working on a smartwatch with a round face, Samsung is also in the process of developing a next-gen timepiece with a more traditional appearance. According to the folks at SamMobile, the South Korean electronics manufacturer is gearing up for the release of a new round smartwatch with cellular connectivity.
HTC is working on a 64-bit smartphone with an eight-core processor, according to a post from the company on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo. The Taiwanese electronics manufacturer’s current flagship phone, the HTC One M8 features a quad-core 32-bit setup powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.3GHz.
