Sorry, Android users: Popular online food ordering service Eat24 has determined that you are less healthy on a nutritional basis than owners of Apple’s iPhone. That’s based on data it collected from its mobile app over a three month period, tracking information regarding how ordering habits differed across the rival platforms.
Verizon has recently started allowing customers to bring non-Verizon devices its network and will activate them. The program officially began this week and Verizon confirmed to 9to5Mac that it applies to the Nexus 6, as well as Apple’s iPhone. Verizon notes, however, that the devices must be unlocked prior to being activated on its network.
With HTC’s CEO Cher Wang having promised a new “hero product” in October, there have been a series of rumors about a new high-end smartphone variously labelled as the HTC Aero or HTC A9. Little is known at this stage, but a claimed photo of the device is currently doing the rounds – depicting a device bearing a marked resemblance to the iPhone 6.
It’s not impossible it’s genuine. While similar to the iPhone 6, the overall design is also not too dissimilar to the existing HTC One M9. As Tom Maxwell observed recently, the converged designs of modern smartphones is one of the reasons it can be difficult to tell fakes from the real thing.
But this photo does seem sketchier than most because it looks exactly like a fake image that appeared yesterday. That one was simply an iPhone 6 photo with the Apple logo replaced by an HTC one and a bit of tinkering with the camera. Given today’s photo appears to show exactly the same design, and is very low-quality, we’re taking it with a rather generous helping of salt.
Samsung has launched a new promotional offer aimed squarely at iPhone owners. In a bid to attract Apple’s users to the latest lineup of Galaxy smartphones, the South Korean competitor will now let iPhone users take one of three new models for the “ultimate test drive” for a full month.
New data from Gartner suggests that Samsung saw its worldwide sales fall by 5.3% year-on-year, its market share dropping from 26.2% in Q2 2014 to 21.9% in the same quarter this year. The company lost ground to both Apple and Chinese brands Huawei and Xiaomi.
Despite the launch of new S6 models, Samsung’s premium phones continued to be challenged by Apple’s large-screen iPhones. Samsung lost 4.3 percentage points in market share and declined 5.3 percent in unit sales in the second quarter of 2015.
Samsung was hit hardest by Huawei, which saw sales growth of 46.3%, followed by Apple, which increased its sales by 36% …
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In a move that’s no surprise to anyone who’s been following HTC news recently, the company just announced that it’s going to cut 15% of its workforce. Some 2,250 people will lose their jobs as part of the company’s aim to cut 35% of its expenses before 2016 rolls in.
LG cited “an extremely challenging environment” for premium smartphones as the reason for posting a net operating profit of just 200M won ($172k) for its mobile division – a number put into stark perspective by Engadget as a profit of just 1.2 cents per phone. LG specifically singled out competition from the iPhone as a factor.
While year-on-year smartphone shipments were down 3%, it did achieve a tiny 1% increase in revenue, but said that profitability was hit by weaker demand in the premium sector in its home market of Korea. There was better news in the U.S. and Canada, however …
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Microsoft’s new Universal Foldable Keyboard, first unveiled earlier this year, is now available to purchase online and through Microsoft stores. The super portable Bluetooth keyboard folds in half when not in use and allows users to connect to two mobile devices at once including Android, iPhones, iPads, and Windows devices.
Microsoft notes that the keyboard has full-size keys, a spill-resistant, water-repellent keyboard and outer material, and a built-in rechargeable battery that will get you around three months of use on a charge. There’s also an “OS” button for switching between connected devices. Here’s a closer look at the keyboard:
The Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard is available for $100 on Amazon, and it’s also available through Microsoft retail stores and online.
Microsoft made a new video for today’s launch to show off some of the keyboard’s features and its compact, 5mm thin design:
[youtube=https://youtu.be/zNrop5Mwv0g]
The existing Galaxy Note 4
Samsung is planning to bring forward the launch of the Galaxy Note 5 from September to August, according to the WSJ. It’s believed the change in schedule is designed to get the device on sale ahead of Apple’s anticipated September launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, which is likely to dominate tech media coverage that month.
Samsung has always previously launched its Note models on the eve of the IFA conference, which takes place in Berlin in September. The WSJ cites only a single source for the claim, but it’s not the first time we’ve heard suggestions that the company may bring forward the launch this year …
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Introducing smart devices made of gold isn’t exactly a new concept (and it’s gone mainstream to a new degree as of late), but now Taiwanese phone maker HTC is on board. Some think the phone is gorgeous in gold, and some think it’s absolutely disgusting. Either way, the company’s flagship smartphone, the One M9, isn’t going to make its way up to par with the Android flagships with a 24-karat gold body.
Oh, and it looks like HTC also managed to accidentally reveal that photos they took to unveil the phone… were taken with an iPhone.
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Samsung earlier this week officially introduced an Iron Man edition Galaxy S6 Edge, but also noted that it would be available only in South Korea, Hong Kong, and China, leaving fans everywhere else out to dry. Nevertheless, popular accessory company SlickWraps has introduced an aftermarket skin/wrap that gives any Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge the Iron Man design.
After adding support for a new cross-platform video chat service through its Facebook Messenger mobile apps, Facebook has now announced that the feature is rolling out to all worldwide.
The feature first launched back in April for users on iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay. Today, Facebook said the feature is now rolled out globally “with the exception of a few countries” that it’s still working on:
Quick update on video calling in Messenger: we’re happy to share we’ve now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we’re still working on improving quality for.
You can check out the new Facebook Messenger video calling feature through the latest versions of the iOS and Android apps.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HlJSTVX7KA]
With the North American release of the new Avengers: Age of Ultron movie hitting theaters tomorrow, Korean developer Netmarble has perfectly timed the release of its anticipated “Marvel Future Fight” action RPG for Android.
Available on the App Store now for free, the game features 36 officially licensed Marvel characters, including The Avengers, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Loki, Doctor Octopus and Ultron.
The game includes a single player campaign, 3 vs. 3 battles, one-finger gesture control or a virtual gamepad, and a familiar RPG leveling system.
With a storyline penned by best-selling Marvel comics writer Peter David, players can experience the world of Marvel firsthand across four action-packed modes. In addition to the PVE Mission Mode, Marvel Future Fight also includes a PVP three-on-three Timeline Battle that will see teams of players fighting heroes from other dimensions. For players looking to take it to the next level, the Villain Siege mode taps on players’ knowledge of the Marvel Universe to uncover evil plots of the most infamous villains, while Dimension Rift Missions will offer a true test of skill for players seeking the ultimate challenge.
To celebrate the launch of the title, Netmarble and Marvel are offering players the ability to unlock Iron Man armor as an in-game item during the first week.
Marvel Future Fight is available for free on Google Play now.
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JBL SoundFly Air wireless speaker (Refurb.): $29 shipped (Reg. $140)
This Tiko 3D Printer has a unibody design and direct drive titanium setup, costs only $179
The iPhone 6 Plus launch was riddled with endless #bendgate drama, but it looks like the latest flagship from Samsung doesn’t fare much better than Apple’s flagship—at least according to this test. Dozens of YouTube videos have given the latest iPhone line the beating, but now it looks like it’s time for the 2015 round of Android flagships to get tested as well…
Last month developer Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh managed to get an Android Wear-based smartwatch to display notifications from an iPhone, even though Google’s wearable OS doesn’t support Apple’s mobile devices (at least, not yet).
A new video posted by the software dev today shows an Android Wear watch working with the iPhone’s calling function. In the video, an incoming call on the iPhone is answered using the Android watch. Abu-Garbeyyeh says he simulated the gesture to answer to phone call on the watch in software to avoid filling the video frame with his hand, but the functionality works perfectly just as it would with an Android device.
Last month a developer managed to hack together a solution that enabled iPhone users to see their notifications on Google’s Android-powered wearable operating system, but at the moment there is no official way to use the two competing platforms together. That could change at Google’s annual I/O conference later this year, if new rumors are to be believed.
According to French tech blog 01Net, Google is developing an update to Android Wear that would enable it work with Apple’s iOS devices…
Gartner is out with its latest report tracking smartphone movement during the previous year and more specifically the holiday quarter.
Headlining the report is news that over 1 billion smartphones were sold in 2014, a data point IDC first said was hit in the previous year, adding that two out of three phones sold last year qualified as smartphones.
Gartner’s data shows Apple topped Samsung in worldwide smartphone sales with 74,832,000 units shipped during the holiday quarter, just 1.8 million units more than Samsung, giving Apple 20.4% market share for the quarter, a virtual tie with Samsung’s 19.9%.
Coming up behind Apple and Samsung is Lenovo (which includes sales of Motorola-branded phones), Huawei, and Xiaomi with single digit market share. The collective group of others which amount to 42.4% of the holiday quarter sales.
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Android Wear is great, but if you’re an iOS user, it looks like the Apple Watch is going to be your only option for a while. Google has yet to make any of Android Wear’s functionality compatible with Apple’s operating system, and it doesn’t look like they plan to do so any time soon. But that’s not stopping one developer, Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh, from hacking Android Wear to at least support notifications from iOS devices.
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Now at Amazon! Brother Wi-Fi Duplex Laser Printer w/ AirPrint $70 shipped (orig. $140) http://t.co/2edr7sRNwA pic.twitter.com/aSVDBZy46q
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) February 20, 2015
Bloomberg is reporting that the Samsung Galaxy S6 will be released in two versions, one of them with a wraparound screen similar to the Note Edge but curving around both left and right sides of the display.
Samsung Electronics Co. plans to release two new versions of its top-tier Galaxy smartphone next month, including a model with a display covering three sides, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter […] The second model to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Spain will only have a front-facing display.
Earlier claimed renders had also suggested a curved screen, though with some confusion about whether the wraparound would be on only one side, like the Edge, or both sides as now claimed by Bloomberg …
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If you were thinking about buying a fitness band, a university study suggests you probably shouldn’t bother: it found that the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s measure activity more reliably than most current fitness bands.
The study by the University of Pennsylvania (via EurekAlert!) tested the ability of the phones to measure steps on a treadmill and compared the results to six dedicated fitness bands. The two smartphones had a margin of error of 12.9%, while the error rates of the fitness bands ranged up to 22.7%.
The study tested the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s against the Nike Fuelband, Jawbone UP24, Digi-Walker SW-200, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip. Only the FitBit One and Zip performed significantly better than the two smartphones.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvjDtaCkacQ]
I’m a bit speechless on this one. It makes Samsung’s sustainability report rap seem…still horrible. Huge tech companies, can we please not do this anymore?
It’s also probably not the smartest idea in the world to start a rap battle with the two companies affiliated with two biggest names in rap: Jay-Z (Samsung) and Dr. Dre (Apple). But we’re guessing Dre won’t be releasing a response any time soon. HTC also continues the cringeworthy in a full sit-down interview with the broke rapper from the 80’s that it hired for the video (below).
Lyrics provided via Engadget below:
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Google is today rolling out Chrome 40 for iOS and with it bringing Material Design to Chrome users on iDevices, OS X Handoff support, and optimizations for iOS 8 and the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
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