OnePlus sparked conversation, controversy and frustration last year when its sought-after debut smartphone launched. Its invite system meant you could only get hold of a OnePlus One if you received an invitation to buy one. With the OnePlus 2 — due to be announced in 11 days — the company will still have an invite system in place, but promises that it is “new and improved”.
Late last week, Google updated its Maps Android app to version 9.11.0. Although its user interface remains the same, it has one new, awesome feature: you can now send locations, navigation instructions and directions straight to your Android phone.
We put together a short video to guide you through the very quick and painless method. This feature competes directly with that built in to the Mac Maps app included in OS X Mavericks which allows iPhone users to send directions direct from Mac to their phones.
Despite the fact that smartphone and hardware manufacturers are pushing towards a wire-free utopia, we’re still no closer to ridding ourselves of pesky accessories, pens, earphones and other paraphernalia our smartphones seem to crave. Let’s face it, you don’t always want to carry around a huge backpack or messenger bag. And even when you do, you don’t want to have all your loose gear rattling around inside.
Waterfield Designs is a brand well known by bag aficionados, and one which has earned my attention and affection over the years. The Gear Pouch does nothing but make my appreciation for their wares stronger.
Google and Facebook have each been slapped with a R$50,000 fine ($16k USD) in Brazil for not removing or blocking morbid images. The move comes after pictures of a Brazilian musician in a mortuary made their way online. Christian Araujo, the artist in question, died alongside his girlfriend in a car crash last month.
The Guardian reports that Judge Denise Gondim de Mendonca declared both companies had acted in “bad faith” after ignoring an earlier ruling. In response to today’s news, Google had the following statement prepared:
The Marco Cilvil of the Internet (local law which regulates removals) requires that any court order for content removal specify the URLs to be removed. In parallel, we have already taken down many of the videos which have been flagged by users due to YouTube’s policies regarding offensive content.
Facebook is yet to comment officially on the ruling, but Google has stated that it will be appealing the decision. In an age where it’s so easy to share any kinds of images online, it brings in to question how much of this can be blamed on Google and how much is down to those who took the photographs or shot the videos to begin with.
Not to be too crude or disrespectful, but I couldn’t think of much worse than someone pulling out their smartphone to snap a picture of my dead body lying in a morgue. The fact the picture is posted online afterwards is more of a side effect, surely?
That’s not to downgrade the severity of the companies supposedly not taking action. As huge corporations, they too have a responsibility to ensure these kinds of images aren’t seen by anyone. It certainly brings in to question where the line should be drawn.
Until recently, Google’s Play Music streaming feature was one of the company’s few markets where it didn’t face strong, direct competition from Apple. But just like everything the Cupertino-company does, it has taken its own sweet time to finally launch a product we always knew was coming. And as always, the company claims it has done things differently, with a more human element.
Android 5.1 is available to download over-the-air on to the unlocked original Moto G LTE smartphone for the first time. Motorola started rolling out the update for the 1st gen Moto G over the past 24 hours or so. As with almost every modern Motorola device, the software is essentially stock Android.
Motorola states in the release notes that you can’t downgrade to a previous version after installing and that it contains a number of improvements and fixes. Along with some of the user interface changes in 5.1, the new software also includes a bunch of bug fixes including:
If the update doesn’t show up for you right away, be sure to check your settings menu and search for updates manually. It appears that only unlocked Moto G LTE models in the U.S. are receiving the update right now. If you’re in another country, be sure to let us know when it lands for you.
BlackBerry has snapped up a couple of Android-y domain names very recently. Logs show that BlackBerry Limited bought AndroidSecured.com and AndroidSecured.net on July 7th. This move, of course, adds more fuel to the rumors that the company is planning to launch a Google-powered smartphone in the near future.
In a blog post this morning, Sony announced that it has partnered with Twitch to let select Xperia smartphones broadcast live gameplay to the popular game broadcasting service. While Twitch has offered Android users the ability to watch live broadcasts for some time, this will be the first time you’ll be able to broadcast your mobile gameplay live to Twitch watchers.
Reports online indicate that Google’s Play Music app isn’t playing nice with downloaded/stored music. Specifically, music stored or cached on a Micro SD card is vanishing or being wiped from memory every time a phone is rebooted, or the memory card is removed and reinserted …
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Towards the end of June, Adobe launched brand new versions of its Creative Cloud apps for Android. There were four main ones in total, each offering unique features and purposes for existence. This is our first look and walkthrough of those apps.
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Evidence is mounting to suggest that Samsung’s next great phablet is going to take heavy design cues from the latest Galaxy S smartphone. NoWhereElse has published a bunch of CAD drawings which claim to be an accurate representation for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. If genuine, it shows a device which essentially looks like a big version of the Galaxy S6 with a space to store a stylus.
We’ve seen several concept renders in the past, and even schematic leaks from case makers. This is one of the first which claims to be an official CAD 3D drawing. Like the S6 it features a central micro USB port on the bottom edge in between a 3.5mm headphone jack and a loudspeaker grille. Traditionally, Samsung’s Note series’ phones have the loudspeaker on the back.
Although we don’t get a good look at the materials used, it’s more than likely that — if this is a giant S6 — we’ll see heavy use of both glass and metal for the chassis and body of the device. We could also see a non-removable battery with Sammy opting to use a solid glass back which curves towards the metal edges.
Once interesting factoid to note: The 3D model points to a screen measuring 5.7-inches diagonally, suggesting that Samsung might not opt to enlarge its display real estate when the Note 5 is eventually announced and released later this year.
Check out NWE’s video of the 3D CAD drawing below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnPohJWPIJo]
At long last, action is being taken against bloatware on Android devices. Samsung and Oppo are facing lawsuits over their use of pre-installed apps. Both companies are being sued by the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission, as revealed in a report by the Shanghai Daily. In a study of 20 phones, multiple devices were found to have apps which were not only pre-installed but also unremovable.
Turing Robotic Industries recently took the wraps off a phone which — if it lives up to its promises — could be essentially indestructible and ridiculously secure. The Turing Phone is built from a “revolutionary liquid-metal” called Liquidmorphium which is stronger than steel and titanium. If that sounds familiar to you, there’s good reason for that. Apple has been in partnership with a company which manufactures a very similar material for some time now.
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