News

OnePlus wants to cover everything in a sandstone finish

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Posted by Harish Jonnalagadda on 1 Apr 2016 4:12 am

OnePlus has identified four objects as being especially slippery — cups, sneakers, soap, and the iPhone 6s — and the vendor has come up with a novel solution to fix the problem. It involves covering the aforementioned devices with the sandstone finish found on the back of the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2:

Gmail's 'mic drop' pulled as minion GIFs infiltrate work emails

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Posted by Alex Dobie on 1 Apr 2016 4:08 am

It's all fun and games until a GIF loses you your job. Perhaps Google should've seen this one coming. For April Fools Day, that annual celebration of brand desperation, Google's Gmail team debuted the "Mic Drop" feature. A bright orange button next to the regular send button would let you send your message and attach a little GIF of a minion dropping the mic.

Huawei's revenues increase by 37 percent in 2015

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Posted by Harish Jonnalagadda on 1 Apr 2016 12:51 am

Huawei has recorded revenue of ¥395 billion ($61.10 billion) in 2015, an increase of 37 percent from last year. Net profit increased 32 percent to ¥36.9 billion ($5.7 billion), with operating margins at 11.6 percent. The revenue increase represents Huawei's strongest growth since 2008, aided by the uptake of 4G in China and the vendor's momentum in the global smartphone segment.

Catch all of the Android April Fools' Day jokes right here

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Posted by Andrew Martonik on 31 Mar 2016 11:25 pm

Catch all of the Android April Fools' Day jokes right here

From hilarious to cringe-worthy, we have 'em all here. Despite the general public displeasure with all things on the Internet come April 1, the big companies in the tech space just can't help themselves. Year after year we get tons of April Fools' Day jokes, gags and pranks. Most are flops and some are worth a chuckle, and no matter how well they go over we're rounding them all up right here.

Gmail now lets you 'drop the mic' on any conversation

11 Comments

Posted by Dan Thorp-Lancaster on 31 Mar 2016 8:20 pm

If you've ever just wanted to put a stop to an email thread, but with a little added emphasis, Google has your back.

Google to drop support for physical Google Wallet card on June 30

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Posted by Dan Thorp-Lancaster on 31 Mar 2016 4:03 pm

Google to drop support for physical Google Wallet card on June 30

Google has now confirmed that it will be ending support for the physical Google Wallet card on June 30.

Android Central Podcast Live!

Posted by Phil Nickinson on 31 Mar 2016 4:31 pm

Watch the Android Central Podcast live at 3 p.m. EDT March 31! The Android Central Podcast is recorded live in front of a live studio audience, so you can catch us in the act. To take part in the live Q&A, hit up this link. Or watch us live from your phone with the official Android Central app!

TuneIn to offer live audio of Final Four, MLB Opening Day, and the Masters Tournament

1 Comment

Posted by Joseph Keller on 31 Mar 2016 3:42 pm

TuneIn to offer live audio of Final Four, MLB Opening Day, and the Masters Tournament

TuneIn has some exciting news for sports fans, with the streaming service announcing that it will provide live streaming audio coverage of upcoming MLB, PGA and NCAA events. It all kicks off on Saturday, April 2, with the final games in the NCAA basketball championship tournament.

Microsoft's new Skype bot Project Murphy can merge two things into one

1 Comment

Posted by John Callaham on 31 Mar 2016 3:39 pm

Microsoft launched support for text chat bots in Skype earlier this week and now a new bot made by the company is showing off what these AI creations can do. "Project Murphy" adds a new bot to your Skype contacts and then you can ask it "What if..." questions. The end result is a merging of two images that attempts to answer that question.

Verizon set to add new $20 charge to smartphone upgrades [Update]

70 Comments

Posted by Joseph Keller on 31 Mar 2016 1:32 pm

Verizon set to add new $20 charge to smartphone upgrades

Update: In a statement to Droid Life, Verizon confirmed the move, saying: "The upgrade fee helps cover our increased support costs associated with customers switching devices. Customers can pay the charge when they upgrade, bill it to their account or trade in an old device to offset the cost. The fee for upgrading on device payment is still half of the two-year contract upgrade fee."...

Amazon Dash Buttons can now ship more than 100 products to your door

23 Comments

Posted by Rich Edmonds on 31 Mar 2016 10:10 am

Amazon has tripled the number of brands available on the retail giant's Amazon Dash Button program, enabling Prime customers to choose from more than 100 consumables to order through the push of a button. Quite literally. With these handy little devices installed throughout the home, you'll be able to conveniently have products delivered straight to your door without even firing up your web...

Amazon Prime now available to Sprint customers for $11 a month

31 Comments

Posted by John Callaham on 31 Mar 2016 9:31 am

If you wanted to try out Amazon Prime but don't have the $99 on hands for its normal annual fee, you might want to switch over to Sprint. The carrier has announced that new or current customers have the option to access Amazon Prime as an option on their bills for $10.99 a month.

Nintendo's Miitomo is now rolling out in select markets

13 Comments

Posted by Rich Edmonds on 31 Mar 2016 9:26 am

Miitomo is now rolling out in select markets, namely those in Europe as well as the U.S. While the process has kicked off, it may take the store sometime to propagate and make the app available for your device. It's a big deal though since this is Nintendo's first smartphone app. And note that we call it an app, because this is a messaging client utilizing Nintendo Mii characters.

An April update will bring faster Marshmallow and camera improvements to Nextbit Robin

13 Comments

Posted by Jerry Hildenbrand on 31 Mar 2016 9:00 am

Nextbit, the people who brought us the Robin and some pretty fancy methods to manage your storage space, announced some news about a pending update today on their community forums. The update, coming sometime in April, will bring Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow to the Robin, along with some much needed improvements to the camera software. As mentioned in our review of the Robin, the camera app took...

Huawei teases 'exciting new innovation' next week with #OO campaign in the UK

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Posted by Rich Edmonds on 31 Mar 2016 8:02 am

Huawei has kicked off a global marketing campaign in the UK to tease next week's announcement. The company will be rolling out on a global scale across print, digital and social channels with things commencing in the UK. Huawei promises an "exciting new innovation" will be unveiled in a week's time on April 6, which we expect to be the already leaked P9.

LG Innotek unveils new super-fast wireless charger to get you off cables for good

29 Comments

Posted by Rich Edmonds on 31 Mar 2016 7:16 am

LG subsidiary Innotek has unveiled a 15-watt wireless charging transmitter for smartphones. Boasted as being able to provide just as much charge as regular wired chargers, this module will enable consumers to charge their smartphones without having to plug their handset into the wall, all without sacrificing on charge speed.

Nest reportedly falling short of expectations, could be in trouble at Alphabet

36 Comments

Posted by Rich Edmonds on 31 Mar 2016 6:57 am

Nest could be in trouble under the Alphabet umbrella, according to a Recode report. The publication notes that while Nest pocketed $340 million last year, it's below expectations Google had set for its acquisition, now spun off as a subsidiary of Alphabet. According to multiple sources familiar with the deal that took place, funding for Nest also runs out this year unless extended by Alphabet.

April's free PlayStation Plus games include Zombi, Dead Star and more

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Posted by Dan Thorp-Lancaster on 30 Mar 2016 7:59 pm

April's free PlayStation Plus games include Zombi and Dead Star

Sony has unveiled the batch of free games that PlayStation Plus members can look forward to in the month of April.

Check out how the Google app's latest voice was created

20 Comments

Posted by Dan Thorp-Lancaster on 30 Mar 2016 5:06 pm

Check out how the Google app's latest voice was created

Recently, you may have noticed that the Google app received an updated, slightly clearer text-to-speech (TTS) voice.

New Cortana features include tracking notifications across Android phones

12 Comments

Posted by John Callaham on 30 Mar 2016 1:32 pm

During today's Build 2016 keynote address, Microsoft showed off some upcoming features coming to the Cortana digital assistant. One of them will allow it to track notifications across devices, including from Android phones.