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Huawei isn't a household name in the United States but in China it's one of the most popular smartphone vendors and it's been making a name for itself in recent years for producing phablets so giant-sized that they might even make Samsung blush. Nowhereelse.fr has snagged some leaked pictures that purportedly give us a fresh look at Huawei's soon-to-be-announced Ascend P7 flagship phone. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Apple's AirPlay is great, as long as you own plenty of compatible devices. The proprietary wireless streaming solution allows users to stream music and videos from an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer to another device with a simple tap or click. For Apple TV owners and users of various compatible third-party devices, AirPlay is awesome. But what happens if you have a Chromecast, Xbox, PlayStation or some other device that doesn't tout Apple compatibility? Say hello to AirMusic. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

While the iPhone 5s is widely available in China now that the world’s largest mobile operator is officially stocking it, the device may not be as interesting as expected to Chinese smartphone users. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White claimed in a note to investors on Friday that he sensed “disappointment” when talking to two carriers in the region about iPhone 5s demand. However, a bigger iPhone 6 model is apparently met with “great enthusiasm,” and could further help Apple improve its position in the competitive Chinese smartphone market. Even so, Apple has reportedly sold more than a million iPhone 5s through China Mobile in February. Continue reading... Vi…

HTC's new all-metal flagship HTC One (M8) Android phone looks and feels amazing, but does all that sturdy aluminum really stand up to a beating any better than plastic? Keaton Keller of TechSmartt took to the pavement this past week to find out. Armed with an HTC One (M8), an iPhone 5s and an unreleased Samsung Galaxy S5, Keller conducted a series of drop tests in an effort to determine which flagship smartphone is the sturdiest. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

LEGO has just announced six product proposals that passed its Winter 2014 Product Review. They include Legend of Zelda and UCS DeLorean Time Machine designs. Three times a year, LEGO reviews crowd-sourced design proposals and the best become official, commercially available sets. In order to get reviewed by LEGO, a project requires 10,000 supporters. Many of the spring proposals are incredibly detailed and thoughtful — including a Goonies 30 Year Anniversary Pirate Ship, Realistic Trees (which are more awesome than you might think) and a seemingly functional Labyrinth Marble Maze. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

It's not quite clear how well Sprint's "Framily" plans are working in terms of attracting subscribers away from rival carriers and slowing the bleeding — Sprint recently registered a $576 million fourth-quarter loss, making it the only major U.S. wireless carrier that's still in the red. What is clear, however, is the fact that Sprint is done sitting idly by while other carriers "uncarrier" each other with various promotions that look to steal business away from one another. And so starting Friday, the carrier is launching a big promotion that will offer people up to $650 to make the switch to Sprint. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Nest, the company recently acquired by Google for their home automation hardware – thermostats and alarms – announced the discovery of a problem with their Nest Protect: Smoke + CO Alarm product. The alarm unit has a feature called Wave that lets users wave a hand in front of the unit to silence the alarm should it go off. Not a bad feature when the alternative may involve climbing up on a chair or something to push a reset button or even pull a battery. During internal testing, the Nest team discovered the units could incorrectly interpret certain actions in a specific set of circumstances as a wave and silence the alarm even though the user may not have intended to do s…

With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!! Apps Outlook Web App (OWA) for Android to arrive soon FireChat is a bold new take on messaging as it does not require any internet connection KISSIFY your photos with the new KISS Photobomb app featuring the legendary rock band KISS Spotify launching a brand new look and new features with update Facebook Messenger gets free calling over WiFi and more in latest update Share Vines and chat away with th…

Amazon has updated their tablet-specific app with a few useful new features. Users will now be able to access Amazon’s Fresh grocery delivery service through the app, which is awesome if you live in an area where that’s supported. Unfortunately, a vast majority of users won’t be affected by that addition, but Amazon has added enough other new features to make the update worthwhile. You’ll now be able to pin items in search results to the bottom of the app, done by dragging and dropping an item in the search view, which makes comparison shopping extremely easy. Think something similar to YouTube’s pinned video functionality. There’s also a new pop-up filter in the se…

Verizon finally started pre-orders for the Galaxy S 5. If you’re buying on contract, you will pay $249 and you will get a $50 mail-in-rebate, which is a Visa Debit card. The other plus to buying on contract is they are running a Buy One Get One free deal, which means your total cost for two phones is $199. What’s also interesting is that if you want an HTC One (M8) or a Samsung ATIV SE for your free phone, they give you that option as well. For those of you buying off contract, your price is $599, and of course, there is no BOGO deal with that option. Verizon is only offering the 16GB version, which will only yield about 9GB of usable storage. The good news is that …

Google is updating the Play Store with a new option called “People.” This section will give you recommendations based on what your Google+ friends are using. This includes apps, books, music, movies, etc. The higher they rate them, the more likely you will see them. The good news is that it’s not in your face. You will only see these recommendations if you open the section. You find it by tapping on the hamburger menu at the top left, which reveals the main slide-out menu. Just choose “People” under “My Wishlist.” What is strange is that this new option appears in the current version of the Play Store app (version 4.6.17), but it’s being rolled out slowly. I have ch…

Last week, HTC launched the HTC One (M8), its successor to the first-generation HTC One, and we called it “the best Android phone the world has ever seen.” Similarly, we called the HTC One the previous year’s best all-around phone. Despite the great design on HTC’s flagship phones, they never do as well on the market as flagship offerings from the company's top rivals, Apple and Samsung. Unfortunately for HTC, yet another study suggests HTC’s latest phone is off to a comparatively slow start. In fact, after a week of sales, the HTC One (M8) appears to be selling even more poorly than its predecessor. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Microsoft finally got around to releasing its rival to Siri and Google Now this week and early impressions have been pretty strong. However, TechCrunch reports that Apple isn't taking Cortana's challenge lying down and has acquired speech recognition technology company Novauris Technologies to help make Siri better than ever. TechCrunch notes that while "Novauris may not have been a household name... its founders were internationally known speech researchers, and key members while at Dragon Systems, a company known for products like 'DragonDictate' and 'Dragon NaturallySpeaking.'" This connection with Nuance and its Dragon NaturallySpeaking software isn't at all surprisin…

Three years ago, Apple was slammed by Greenpeace for being one of the dirtiest tech companies in the industry, due in part to its decision to locate its data center in North Carolina. In 2014, Apple appears to have made a complete recovery as Greenpeace now lists Apple as one of the leaders of "green internet" innovation. The latest report from Greenpeace awards Apple straight A ratings in transparency, policy and advocacy, and a B in efficiency. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

The European Parliament has backed new telecom legislation reform in Europe that aims to enforce net neutrality rules and end roaming charges starting in late 2015 in the 28 countries that are members of the European Union, Reuters reports. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

iOS and Android users who share a lot of images and videos with their friends and would like to see the actual expression on their faces when they receive the photos and clips can try out Reactr. The application, which was launched on iOS last fall, is now also available in the Google Play Store as a free download. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

These days, people will do anything to get into the messaging arena. Vine is ready to step forward and throw on some gloves to start fighting. Soon, the social network famous for its six second video clips will be adding a messaging component to combine its core feature with regular messaging. The exact name for the feature will be ‘Vine message’ or ‘VM’ for short. Rather than requiring people to have a Vine account, Vine messages can be sent to non-Vine users as a video message to anyone in your contacts. For now, though, group messaging is not possible. If you choose to send a Vine to multiple people at once, the amount of recipients is the amount of conversations th…

People in Europe eagerly awaiting the upcoming OnePlus One have some pricing information to think about. The One, which will have rather premium specifications, will cost no more than 350 euros. When converted to U.S. dollars, that is roughly $480; however, currency conversations are never accurate as pricing differs by each market. The great news for European consumers is that the device may not even cost 350 euros, it could in fact be much less. Source: +OnePlus (Google+) Come comment on this article: OnePlus One will cost no more than 350 euros in Europe Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! News via TalkAndroid

Samsung’s messaging app, ChatOn, is getting a pretty large update today with a few new features. One of the most prominent features is the addition of the ability to delete a message after it has been sent, even if the recipient has already read it. This is a nice privacy feature, but it can also be useful if you accidentally text a wrong number, too. That’s not the only feature new to ChatOn, though. The service will now allow file transfers up to 1 GB in size (up to 5 times a day), enhanced location sharing with contacts thanks to Glympse integration, group chats that can hold up to 1000 participants, and some translation improvements. Keep an eye out for th…

The folks at ABI Research have conducted a study involving Chromebooks running Google’s Chrome OS. To date, there have been about 2.1 million Chromebooks that shipped all of last year. An incredible 89% of that number was in the United States alone. The research company does forecast an astounding 11 million Chromebooks to be shipped in 2019. That is an increase of about 28%. The average selling price is $338 despite Chromebooks being priced very competitively. In 2014, ABI Research senior practice director Jeff Orr says anything can happen due to “the EOL of Windows XP, the adoption of Chromebooks, and a stronger focus on web and cloud services.” Orr adds that the res…

Back in December, Google announced the ability to find content in Android apps from Google Search results in the U.S. So when searching for a movie or a book on your mobile device, search results allow you to open the content in an installed app. Google just announced they are taking it worldwide for english content and are adding 24 new apps. We are proud to announce that the TalkAndroid app made the list, as well as 500px, AOL, BigOven, Bleacher Report, Booking.com, Eventbrite, Glassdoor, Goodreads, Huffington Post, Merriam-Webster, Pinterest, Realtor.com, Seeking Alpha, TheFreeDictionary, The Journal, TripAdvisor, Tumblr, Urbanspoon, Wattpad, YP, Zagat, Zappos and Z…

It's been a tumultuous few weeks for the best new movie streaming app on the Internet. Popcorn Time surprised everyone when it launched last month, attracting the attention of thousands of pirates in search of a convenient alternative to torrents. With Popcorn Time, a single download gives you access to hundreds of high-quality streams from the genre of your choosing -- the catch: it's all very illegal. That didn't stop every tech blog online from covering the app, eventually resulting in the untimely resignation of its developers. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Gee, do you think there was a bit of pent-up demand for Microsoft's Office software on the Apple iPad? Microsoft announced on Thursday that its assorted Office apps for the iPad had been downloaded 12 million times in just the last week alone. While everyone expected Office for iPad would be a hit, this is still an impressive number, especially when you consider that Microsoft's Office apps have also regularly been among the top grossing apps on the App Store as well. This is obviously good news for Microsoft, whose Office software has long been a major cash cow that only figures to become even more profitable now that it's on the world's most popular tablet. Via B…

One of the most anticipated smartphone launches of the year, the Galaxy S5, is just over a week away, but it's sure to be only the first of many devices in the S5 lineup. We haven't heard much about this generation's spin-offs so far, but an admittedly sketchy leak from a SimpleSite page purportedly reveals the Galaxy S5 Zoom in a grainy image. According to the leak, the S5 Zoom will be called the "K Zoom" when it releases, it will be much thinner and lighter than its predecessor and will feature a 20-megapixel camera with 10x zoom. Previous leaks have stated that the phone will also feature a 720p display, 1.3GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Via…

In addition to posting several comparison videos showing the differences between Siri and Cortana, Microsoft has published several other short clips to reveal the distinct “personality” of its voice-based virtual assistant. The company is showing several of Cortana’s features, including its built-in sense of humor, with short videos that have the potential of going viral on YouTube in an obvious attempt to make this future Windows Phone 8.1 feature popular with consumers. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report