Motorola has hinted buyers will be able to customise the design and hardware specs of the still mysterious Moto X handset in a new advert scheduled to appear in U.S. newspapers over the 4th of July holiday.
In a new ad, revealed by AdAge, the company promises the device will be "the first smartphone you can design yourself" while boasting that the handset will be assembled on home soil in the United States.
Within the full-page ad, the company teases Moto X is "coming soon" and that "users should have the freedom to design the things in life to be as unique as you are."
What Google-owned Moto means by 'design yourself' isn't exactly clear yet, but earlier this year Google advisor Guy Kawasaki did (sort of) suggest the device could be personalised like a Porsche sports car.
Phones are like shoes
In real world terms, that may mean users could choose colour options, build materials, extra memory, processing power and a wealth of other variables usually determined for them by the manufacturer.
In an interview with AdAge, Moto's Motorola's Vice president of Global Brand and Product Marketing Brian Wallace said it was about time those decisions were put back into the hands of the consumer.
Without revealing which elements would be customisable, Wallace said: "Smartphones are very different than other tech products a consumer owns.
"They're closer to shoes or a watch. You carry it with you everywhere you go. Everyone sees what phone you're carrying and they judge you on it. Yet, it's the one thing you carry that's the least customisable."
USA! USA! USA!
The ad, which will appear in the July 3 edition of the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post is nothing if not patriotic.
"Imagine what it'll be like when you have the world's best design, engineering and manufacturing talent here in the U.S.," the company purred.
"Some people said it couldn't be done. But we're not just any company. And nothing this exciting ever comes easily."
The ad is also the first time we've seen Moto's new Googley logo in any form of public communications.
MediaTek's new chip could be some serious competition for Qualcomm
Samsung might not be the only manufacturer in the eight-core processor game for much longer if new reports are to be believed.
According to a leaked company roadmap uncovered by Sina Weibo, MediaTek is fast-tracking development of its own octa-core chip, which it hopes will be ready by November of this year.
Though Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa does indeed feature eight processor cores, only four are ever active at once.
Based on the reports about MediaTek's new Cortex-A7 MT6592, all eight of the processors will truly work in unison, and at a lower cost to boot.
Eight is enough
Taiwanese site UDN first picked up on the Cortex-A7 MT6592, which it reported will run at 2GHz, and has already been shown to several potential MediaTek clients in the past week.
The chip purportedly scored a 30,000 using AnTuTu's benchmarking, which puts it just behind Qualcomm's quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800, but MediaTek's chip is believed to cost quite a bit less.
MediaTek is supposedly planning to use TSMC's 28nm manufacturing process starting in November, with the first phones using the octa-core processor due to arrive in early 2014 around Chinese New Year.
The Taiwanese company is also believed to be ramping up its 4G LTE compatibility alongside its new chip, as a separate UDN report revealed more than a 100 new jobs had opened up at MediaTek last month.
Quad-core coming too?
The octa-core MT6592 might not be the only new processor coming from MediaTek this year either, as the company appears to be readying a quad-core version, too.
The leaked company documents uncovered named a 1.7GHz MT6588 quad-core processor as arriving in Q4 as well, though it sounds like more of a faster upgrade of the existing MT6589 chip than an off-shoot of the MT6592.
While more details on the MT6592 are sparse at this time, those same docs did reveal the octa-core processor would be able to decode 1080p video at 30fps.
What's more, both of the new chips are purportedly compatible with the upcoming quad-core 1.3GHz MT6582, which will help keep the costs down on the later-arriving chips.
MediaTek's MT6290 LTE modem will also be compatible with all three of the chips, which bodes well for the company's plans to finally delve into faster cellular space.
Even if MediaTek's new chips aren't quite as powerful as Qualcomm's offerings, the value incentive may be enough to sway some Chinese manufacturers to the cheaper processors.
With Sony already reportedly on board with MediaTek for its upcoming C3 smartphone, there's no telling which others will follow suit.
There are minis coming in all across the market, and a new report yesterday claimed that devices from Samsung, HTC, Huawei, and Lenovo are on their way to store shelves this year.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini - which already launched in the U.K. - will hit shelves elsewhere in the third quarter of 2013, Taiwanese manufacturers told DigiTimes.
Those sources confirmed that the HTC One mini, another highly anticipated device, will arrive at the same time, lending credence to previous rumors.
Also on the docket are previously unheard-of mini editions of existing Lenovo and Huawei smartphones that will arrive during the second half of the year, either Q3 or Q4, according to this report.
The photo leaked last month with a set of alleged specs including a 4.3-inch screen, Android 4.2.2 with HTC's Sense overlay and a 1.4GHz processor that may be Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400.
The only alleged picture of the HTC One mini to surface so far
The Galaxy S4 mini, on the other hand, is much less intangible; it launched already in the U.K. with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED 960 x 540 display, 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage.
TechRadar asked AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile whether and when the Galaxy S4 mini might be arriving on their networks, but all four carriers responded that they have nothing to share at this time.
As for those Huawei and Lenovo minis, the sources gave no indication or further details about what exactly they might be.
They also mentioned Apple's rumored iPhone mini, though they had nothing concrete to say about that either.
Oppo has upgraded the Find 5 flagship for China Mobile with a faster chipset. Previously the Oppo Find 5 was powered by the Snapdragon S4 Pro with a quad-core 1.5GHz Krait processor and Adreno 320 graphics with 64 ALUs (arithmetic logic units).
Now Oppo has replaced the S4 Pro chipset with Snapdragon 600. It has four cores of the upgraded Krait 300 architecture clocked at the higher 1.7GHz and the same Adreno 320 GPU but with 96 ALUs.
The rest of the specs remain the same - a 5" IPS 1080p display, 2GB of RAM, 13MP camera and 16GB non-expandable storage. The Android version has been updated to 4.2 Jelly Bean. Naturally Oppo's proprietary user interface is on top of it.
Despite the upgraded hardware, the Oppo Find 5 price remains unchanged.
HTC can't seem to stop showering the love on its flagship One, what with the whole Nexus version and all, but one phone is being pushed to the has-been bin.
The company confirmed today that its mid-range One S will stay stuck on Android 4.1, never seeing Android 4.2 and beyond.
"We can confirm that the HTC One S will not receive further Android OS updates and will remain on the current version of Android and HTC Sense," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We realize this news will be met with disappointment by some, but our customers should feel confident that we have designed the HTC One S to be optimized with our amazing camera and audio experiences."
For further quasi-consolation, HTC offered that the ROM community will be able to build out "their favorite ROMs for the One S," while the One X is still on track for updates.
More blips!
We're waiting on FDA approval, but we're pretty convinced a few blips a day keeps the doctor away.
Honami mod comes to Xperia (credit: XDA-Developers)
Sony fans may be salivating over new features coming with the company's next Android build, but enterprising hackers have already found a way to port some of its features to existing devices.
Xperia Blog reported Monday that Sony's next custom build of Android 4.2.2 is already being put through the paces thanks to a modification posted online for all to enjoy.
Currently available for the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL and Xperia Tablet Z, the hack ports the camera app from a leaked build of Sony's customized "Honami" ROM, which includes big changes for mobile shutterbugs.
New features include AR-effect (augmented reality mode), Info-eye (visual search) and Time shift, which allows users to choose the best photo out of a series of shots taken at the same time.
Modders only
The leaked Honami build also includes higher resolution image processing and a number of user interface improvements aimed at the next generation of Sony's flagship handset.
Full instructions on how to port the Honami camera app to current Xperia devices are available on the XDA-Developers forum, but as always, this mod isn't for the faint of heart.
However, forum member krabappel2548 has wrapped everything up with a tidy bow, so if you're already adept as flashing Android devices, this one should be a breeze.
Fair warning: The Honami mod replaces the built-in camera app from existing devices, so proceed at your own risk - or better yet, just sit tight and see if Sony releases these goodies in a future update instead.
Bad news, HTC One S users. Despite HTC never mentioning anything about it after the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update, it's now official the smartphone will stuck on this version of the OS forever.
Unfortunately, HTC is breaking its promise of delivering the Sense 5 UI to the mid-range smartphone.
HTC France has responded to a question from Facebook user that the HTC One S won't be getting any new Android and Sense UI updates. Currently the HTC One S is running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and HTC Sense 4+ user interface.
This means that the HTC One S will be left with just one major Android update in its lifecycle, which isn't too bad for a mid-range device, but certainly disappointing considering the capable hardware inside. We suspect the financial troubles that HTC is experiencing lately have contributed to this.
There is an outside chance that this is just a regional thing and other HTC One S units might get the Sense 5 update after all, but we wouldn't count on it
Lava has introduced its latest Android smartphone and has even made it available for pre-order. The quad-core Xolo Q600 is up for grabs now for the price of just INR8,999 INR or about $150.
The Lava Xolo Q600
The Xolo Q600 has dual-SIM support with dual stand-by and sports a 4.5" FWVGA (854 x 480) display resulting in around 217 ppi. A quad-core Mediatek 6589M chipset with four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz and a PowerVR SGX544 graphics chip do the heavy lifting inside. There's a puzzlingly low 512 MB of RAM, a 5 MP back camera with a single LED flash and a 0.3 MP (VGA) front-facing one. On-board storage is limited to 4GB but there's a microSD card slot for expanding it.
Nicely surprising for a device with such low price tag, the OS of choice is Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and the Xolo Q600 comes with a built-in security app for tracking the device remotely and a Swype-ready keyboard. An FM radio receiver, Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi b/g/n complete the tally. The whole package is powered by a 2000 mAh battery.
Lava has begun taking pre-orders but there's no word on when the device will be shipping to customers.
Former head of Nokia's sales department, Colic Giles has now a new employer in the face of Huawei. The Chinese company has appointed Giles as the Executive Vice President of its Consumer Business Group division.
This means the former Nokia exec will be in charge of Huawei's consumer sales and marketing. Giles has 20 years of experience, and was lastly responsible for growing Nokia's presence in the Asian market.
"I am delighted to join Huawei at such an exciting time in the development of Huawei's consumer brand," Giles said. "Over the last couple of years, the company has already made big strides in the global marketplace with the introduction of flagship products that quickly became the talk of the town, like the world's slimmest smartphone Ascend P6 launched just weeks ago. I look forward to working closely with everyone in the Consumer Business Group to continue to 'Make it Possible' for smartphone users worldwide."
Only time will tell if Giles is a good fit for the Chinese company and how his influence will have a positive effect on the company.
Some code spotted in the Windows Phone developer kit suggests that the next generation of devices will come rocking full 1080p HD.
One plucky dev eked the files out of some newly-released updates to the Windows Phone 8 Visual Studio 8 emulator beta.
Windows Phone 8 currently supports up to 720p HD, but these developer files speak of 1080 x 1920 resolutions alongside the existing pixel counts.
Building blocks
Considering Microsoft just held a big event last week (take a bow, Build 2013), the timing of this find is a little odd - but as luck would have it, the 'soft's BFF Nokia has a phone-based event on the cards for next week.
Will we see the first full HD Windows Phone launch then? Given that the word on the street is that the Nokia EOS (or should that be Nokia Lumia 1020?) handset will feature a 41MP camera, a full HD display option would come in fairly handy too.
Either way, the question of a full HD Windows Phone handset isn't so much an if as a when.
Thought phone tech was reaching its apex? It hasn't even started.
A newly discovered research paper by Microsoft Research in Asia shows that the company has been playing around with the idea of a smartphone that can detect your mood - and has even built a prototype with a 66 per cent accuracy rating.
No, we have no idea either. Microsoft refers to the technology as MoodScope, and the feature - should it ever get off the ground - would share your mood with friends via social networks.
We can't see too many useful applications of this feature, though it would no doubt be a big win for companies who could target products perfectly. Feeling hungry? Bored? Like a holiday? You see where we're going with this.
More blips!
We're trying to sense how you're feeling right now...you're feeling like you want to read some more blips.
The latest version of Visual Studio 2013, which, among other things, allows developers to emulate Windows Phone in order to test applications, had been found to contain files that enable fullHD 1080p emulation. The discovery comes courtesy of Justin Angel, a former Microsoft and Nokia employee.
Good news everybody! WP8 emulator files in Visual Studio 2013 reveal 1080p emulator! Resolution 1080x1920. #bldwin @ pic.twitter.com/CJJYfMMNUn
The findings in Visual Studio 2013, which was previewed by Microsoft at their Build developer conference last week, all but confirms the previous rumors that fullHD support will be added to the upcoming GDR3 OS refresh for OEMs.
There's even rumors floating around that the upcoming 41MP Nokia EOS may have such a screen, or get a separate 1080p variant down the road - we'll find out for sure come July 11.
Motorola has been silent for quite a while – the most action we've had on that front is leaks of the Moto X phone. Now we get another leak about the Droid Ultra phone (which may or may not be the X) straight from Motorola's own site.
"THINK THIN" is the tagline of the phone, which will be available in "a bunch of glossy colors" and feature a Kevlar body. We've seen Moto do thin phones with Kevlar and the results were pretty awesome, so the Ultra sounds good.
The page has a full specs sheet, but unfortunately it seems like the specs are for the wrong phone, the Motorola RAZR M (itself a thin, Kevlar-backed phone, but available only in black, white and purple).
The phone will clearly run Android (it's Droid Ultra), but beyond that it's hard to tell. "Ultra" is a flagship name though, so we expect only the best from Google-owned Motorola. In May we saw a Snapdragon 600-based Motorola X run some benchmarks and there might be some connection between the two leaks. Only time will tell, we guess.
Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed in July of 2012 by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7.
But, forward-looking, update-obsessed people that we are, we can't help but imagine how Google's going to maintain the pace of innovation in its next major release of its mobile OS, Android 5.0.
All we know so far is that Google's working away on the K release of Android, which it's developing under the dessert-related codename of Key Lime Pie. Regarding the version number, it's likely that the Key Lime Pie moniker will be given to Android 5.0. We thought we might find out on 29 October 2012 but as yet there is no official word from Google.
So now as we wait on official news of the Android 5.0 release date and features, we can start to pull together the Key Lime Pie rumours from around the web, with the first sighting of Android 5.0 on a benchmarking website, apparently running on a Sony smartphone. There has previously been speculation that Sony is in line to produce the next Nexus phone, which may lend some credence to this rumour.
On 31 January, a Google IO showing of Android 5.0 looked more likely when screengrabs of a Qualcomm roadmap were leaked, showing Android 5.0 as breaking cover between April and June 2013.
But on 24 April 2013, we read that Key Lime Pie may not make its debut at Google IO after all. Apparently, "trusty internal sources" told a site called Gadgetronica that Google decided to delay Android 5.0 for two to four months to give hardware makers the chance to properly roll out Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
The notion of Key Lime Pie being off the menu at Google IO raised itself again on 26 April when Android 4.3 surfaced in server logs over at Android Police. Those log entries supposedly came from Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices running an updated version of Jelly Bean - Android 4.3 - and apparently the IP addresses of those devices trace back to Google HQ. So might that point to a delayed Android 5.0 arrival?
And on 13 May, we got our (almost certain) confirmation that there would be no serving of Key Lime Pie at Google IO from Sundar Pichai, Google's new head of Android. Pichai told Wired that this year's IO is "not a time when we have much in the way of launches of new products or a new operating system". Boo! "Both on Android and Chrome, we're going to focus this IO on all the kinds of things we're doing for developers so that they can write better things," he added.
Google wasn't entirely quiet on Android 5 at its IO conference, though. As Android Authority spotted, during a session entitled 'Android Protips 3: Making Apps Work Like Magic' Android developer relations tech lead Reto Meier teased attendees with a slide showing an Android eating a piece of Key Lime Pie and later with a game where the options included Jelly Bean and Key Lime Pie.
LOOK THE ROBOT IS EATING KEY LIME PIE IT IS A SIGN!
Word on the street, or at least on the streets of VR-Zone as of 13 June, is that Android 5 is now going to land in October 2013, along with the Nexus 5 phone.
In the meantime, we do have the minor Android 4.3 update to look forward to.
Android 5.0 phones
Rumours of a new Nexus handset started trickling in during the third quarter of 2012, as we reported on 1 October 2012. There was speculation that this phone would be sporting Key Lime Pie, but sources who spoke to AndroidAndMe correctly claimed that the handset, which turned out to be the Google Nexus 4, would be running Android Jelly Bean.
While the Nexus 4 didn't appear with a helping of Key Lime Pie, speculation that we reported on 21 January 2013 suggested that the Motorola X Phone was the Android 5.0-toting handset that would be revealed at Google IO. According to a post on the DroidForums website, the phone will also feature a virtually bezel-free, edge-to-edge, 5-inch display. The Motorola X wasn't on show at IO but we're still expecting to see it break cover this year.
The same leaked Qualcomm documents cited above also made mention of a two new Snapdragon devices, one of which will be, unsurprisingly, a new Nexus phone.
That Nexus phone is most likely the Google Nexus 5. We weren't surprised that it was absent from Google IO, given that the Nexus 4 only went on sale at the end of 2012.
On Monday 18 March, supposed images of the Nexus 5 surfaced, with the handset apparently being manufactured by LG. If the accompanying specs, leaked along with the photo by the anonymous source, are true, then the Nexus 5 will feature a 5.2-inch, 1920 x 1080 OLED display, 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 3GB of RAM.
Androids out in force at Google IO 2012
While we warned that a sighting of the Nexus 5 at Google IO was unlikely, rumours that we wrote up on 19 April reckoned that there would be an Android 5.0-powered Nexus 4 launched at the event. Apparently, the revised handset would feature 4G capability and improved storage of 32GB. That rumour turned out to be incorrect as the only handset launched at IO was Google's take on the Galaxy S4, which is running Android 4.2.
If rumours that we covered on 30 May are correct, then HTC will be bringing us an Android 5.0-powered 'phablet' in the form of the HTC T6.
Featuring a 5.9-inch full-HD screen, the HTC T6 would be squaring up against the also-rumoured Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which is likely to break cover at IFA 2013. According to tipster evleaks, the T6 will feature a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
Android 5.0 tablets
The original Nexus 7 tablet was unveiled at Google IO 2012, so we thought it possible that we'd see a refreshed Nexus 7 2 at Google IO 2013. The speculation earlier in the year was that Google would team up with Asus for this, as it did with the original Nexus 7. We expect an upgraded display on the new Nexus 7 tablet, while Digitimes is reporting that the 2nd generation Nexus 7 will have 3G service and and range in price from $149 to $199.
We're still waiting to see the Nexus 7 2 as, like the upgraded Nexus phone, this tablet was a now-show at IO.
Samsung's Android 5.0 upgrades
Although Samsung is yet to officially confirm its Android 5.0 schedule, a SamMobile source is claiming to know which phones and tablets will be getting the Key Lime Pie upgrade. According to the source, the devices set to receive the upgrade are the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1.
As you'd expect, the S4 will be getting an Android 5.0 update
Android 5.0 features
For 24 hours, it seemed as though the first kinda, sorta confirmed feature for Android 5.0 was a Google Now widget, which briefly appeared in a screenshot on the company's support forum before being taken down. As it was so hurriedly pulled, many people assumed it was slated for the big five-o and accidentally revealed early.
On 28 February 2013, we learned from Android Central that Google is working with the Linux 3.8 kernel, which gives rise to the notion that this kernel might make it into Android 5. One improvement that the 3.8 kernel brings is lowered RAM usage, which would mean a snappier phone with better multitasking.
On 13 June 2013, in posting its story that Android 5.0 would be seeing a November release, VR-Zone also claimed that the new OS will be optimised to run on devices with as little as 512MB of RAM.
Android Geeks reported that Google Babble would debut on Key Lime Pie. Babble was the code name for Google's cross-platform service and app with the aim of unifying its various chat services which include Talk, Hangout, Voice, Messenger, Chat for Google Drive and Chat on Google+.
Android Geeks' source also (correctly) said that Google Babble will be supported by devices running Android 2.3 and above, which makes sense given that Google will want as many people as possible on the platform.
A screenshot that we were sent from a Google employee on 8 April confirmed that not only was this unified chat service on the way, but that it was called Google Babel not Babble. The service was to come with a bunch of new emoticons and Google+ built-in so you can jump from Babel chat to hangout. A leaked Google memo on 10 April provided a few more juicy details including talk of a new UI and synced conversations between mobile and desktop.
Android Police found references in the code to functionality that doesn't exist in Glass, which suggested that developers accidentally shipped the full suite of Google Play Services with the Android application package.
The files in the package contained references to real-time and turn-based multiplayer, in-game chat, achievements, leaderboards, invitations and game lobbies.
While this is pure speculation, we're wondering whether Android 5.0 might bring with it a brighter interface, moving away from the Holo Dark theme that came with Android 4.0.
Google Now brought with it a clearer look with cleaner fonts, and screenshots of Google Play 4.0 show Google's app market taking on similar design cues. Is this a hint at a brighter, airier look for Key Lime Pie?
Google Play is lightening up [image credit: DroidLife]
Our Android 5.0 wishlist
While we wait on more Key Lime Pie features to be revealed and scour the web for more Android 5.0 news, TechRadar writer Gary Cutlack has been thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...
1. Performance Profiles
It's bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and therefore power use, automatically.
We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.
Something like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.
Some hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.
Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.
Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE
2. Better multiple device support
Google already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage that are rather frustrating.
Take the Videos app which manages your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet mid-film.
You can switch between phone and web site players to resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key Lime Pie?
3. Enhanced social network support
Android doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware makers through their own custom skins.
Sony integrates Facebook brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?
Yes, Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better "baked in" to Android.
4. Line-drawing keyboard options
Another area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards. HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.
UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2.
P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0
5. A video chat app
How odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet most ship without any form of common video chat app?
You have to download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what you're saying, Google?
6. Multi-select in the contacts
The Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this much easier.
Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list
7. Cross-device SMS sync
If you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go, chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point. Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and consistent access across multiple devices.
8. A "Never Update" option
This would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.
Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a year.
Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change
9. App preview/freebie codes
Something Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there no similar scheme for Android?
It might encourage developers to stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code system.
10. Final whinges and requests...
It's be nice to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through and pick out what you need.
Plus could we have a percentage count for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.
Size zero phones are going nowhere if the latest Motorola leak is anything to go by; the company's website promises a device called the Motorola Droid Ultra and tells us to "think thin".
It's not clear if this is part of a well-planned whisper campaign on Motorola's part, or simply that fat fingers have accidentally set a web page live early by accident. Either way, the page is not giving much away.
Above a spec list that PocketNow posits is a copy'n'paste of the Razr M's facts and figures, a grey boxout heralds the arrival of the Droid Ultra.
Feel fat
It tells us that we should Think Thin - which sounds a bit like something that sleazy agents tell aspiring models - before teasing "a bunch of glossy colours" and a DuPont Kevlar body. No photos to speak of, unfortunately.
While the Motorola X Phone leaks have come thick and fast, we've not heard tell of the Droid Ultra before.
The Droid brand is a US-only Verizon-friendly affair although differently-monikered handsets with similar spec sheets do make it out to the rest of the world.
So if you like the sound of something thin, strong, multi-coloured and Motorola branded but you aren't in the US then don't despair just yet. Check out the page for yourself here.
AT&T launched its LTE network over 8 new markets on June 26. Those include Hot Springs, Arkansas; Visalia, California; Brainerd Lakes, Minnesota; Jackson County, Georgia; Mount Vernon, Ohio; Minot, North Dakota and Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Today AT&T's LTE network expansion continues in 20 new markets - Sherman-Denison, Texas; Corpus Christi, Texas; Searcy, Arkansas; West Point, Mississippi; Greenwood-Cleveland, Mississippi; Lawton, Oklahoma; Bay Minette, Alabama; Bremerton, Washington; Moses Lake, Washington; Yakima, Washington; New Ulm, Minnesota; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Lafayette, Louisiana; Dunn, North Carolina; Valdosta, Georgia; Dillon, South Carolina; Beckley and Oak Kill, West Virginia; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Chico-Oroville, California and Homosassa Springs, Florida.
AT&T launched its LTE network back in 2011. Since then the carrier is constantly extending the coverage. If everything goes according to plan AT&T is hoping to complete its LTE network deployment until the end of 2013.
The budget iPhone (or perhaps not-so-budget) is expected to touch down alongside the iPhone 5S later this year, and a trio of colourful cases have just surfaced that could be the biggest indicator of what the cheaper handset will look like.
The similarities don't stop there either, as both the new and previous leaked pictures show an identical layout on the inside part of the casing, which also doubles up as proof that these aren't simply a bunch of accessory cases.
Check out everything TechRadar knows about the budget iPhone so far
Fake plastic iPhone case?
If all indicators so far are to be believed, the cheap iPhone will be the first to sport a plastic shell since the 3GS.
The picture's came from China are were picked up by French site Nowhereelse, and are apparently of different dimensions to the upcoming iPhone 5S, suggesting they're very much their own thing.
So either someone's fake plastic mockup is getting a lot of exposure, or this is in fact what we'll be getting our hands on in a few months.
It arrived a bit later than initially promised, but the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update for the international HTC One has finally been launched over-the-air travel to happy owners in Taiwan.
The update is quite beefy, at 465 MB, and updates the software to version 2.24.709.1, as well as bumps the API level to that of Android 4.2.2.
HTC has been quite busy with this update as it includes several UI changes and a load of new features. There's a new lock screen style widget as well as some launcher bar and Home button enhancements. The latter includes the option to make the navigation bar removable, in order to provide more homescreen estate.
Moreover, the update information screen that pops up before downloading the update shows that HTC has made "launcher bar enhancements", but no further details have been disclosed. The widget panel has been rearranged, while the battery level is now displayed in the status bar. The black bar on the bottom that provides a menu button has also hit the road for good, but we don't yet know what alternative HTC has provided.
Lastly, the quick settings panel can now display 12 settings by default. As far as the camera app is concerned, the auto exposure and focus can now be locked on the viewfinder screen.
HTC hasn't yet announced the exact time frame the update will hit HTC One smartphones outside Taiwan. We guess it'll be sooner rather than later.
