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Microsoft's extensive presentation at the Build Developer Conference on Wednesday was packed with information, but the company was unwilling to share many firm release dates. Although the launch of Windows Phone 8.1 is expected within the next few weeks, an engineering email published on Neowin reveals that Microsoft plans to have the final software ready to roll out to developers on April 14th. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

One of the variants of the Samsung Galaxy S 5 that is making its way to market sometime this year is the “Zoom” version. Like the Galaxy S 4 Zoom, the Galaxy S 5 Zoom is targeted at buyers who are interested in a better camera and don’t mind having a big lens taking up much of the back of the device to get it. We’ve already seen some specs leak indicating the camera will be a 20MP unit. Now an image has leaked allegedly showing the back of the device. Like other recent Samsung devices, this unit appears to come with the same faux leather back. The image comes courtesy an anonymous SimpleSite web page. Besides posting an image of the device, the author also indicates …

New reports out today suggest Google is starting to make moves to become a mobile phone service carrier in locations where it has deployed Google Fiber service. Supposedly Google has been in contact with Verizon to discuss the possibility of becoming a mobile virtual network operator riding on the back of Verizon’s network. Some sources have pointed out that Verizon and Google are not exactly on the same page when it comes to issues like net neutrality, so a partnership of this magnitude may be questionable. It should be noted though that Google actively develops for the iOS platform, so the company clearly will not let some philosophical disagreements stand in the way of…

The Samsung Galaxy S 5 will be hitting consumers’ hands next week and when they do, buyers can go through a setup process to register their fingerprints using a fingerprint reader built into the device. In an example of competition pushing things along, where Apple was content to use fingerprints to unlock an iPhone 5 or pay for iTunes purchases, Samsung is making the use of fingerprints more widespread. With the help of PayPal, Samsung includes a new protocol on the Galaxy S 5 from the FIDO Alliance. This new protocol was designed so that fingerprint records stay on the device instead of being uploaded to central servers where they could be accessed. Instead, the new…

Yesterday we heard about a few things that Google is cooking up for the Gmail app, and today we are hearing that those changes are part an overhaul of many Google apps, both native and web, to get ready for wearables. 9to5 Google is reporting that the Gmail additions we saw yesterday will also hit the web app and iOS. The overall plan is to provide a full page of information with menus and other distractions getting pushed out of the way. Some of the stuff that gets removed could be replaced with voice actions. It seems as though this direction has been brought on by the upcoming wearables revolution, and internally, they are calling it Google 2.0. We are likel…

After yesterday’s move to match AT&T’s 10GB family plan, Verizon has one more trick up its sleeve. Customers who activate a tablet on the “More Everything” plan will get an additional 1GB of data. The 1GB of data is shareable across all your devices and the monthly fee of $10 per tablet will remain the same. This doesn’t appear to be a short term offer since no end date is listed. “We’re always looking at the market and our customers and creating compelling offers we think they will appreciate,” Verizon spokeswoman Debi Lewis told FierceWireless. “In this case, more and more people are using tablets (of all shapes and sizes) and adding 1 GB of shareable data to the…

http://androidforum.us/data/MetaMirrorCache/ff762e25a3c751615dcb6e1372129ea7.jpg BlackBerry's future remains as unclear as ever, but according to CEO John Chen, the one-time mobile giant will continue pumping out new devices as long as there are customers interested in buying them. One of those devices could be BlackBerry's Kopi, a purportedly cheaper alternative to the high-end smartphones Chen alluded to last month. We revealed the Kopi late last year, and after months of silence, a new batch of high-quality photos have surfaced on Techrum, showcasing the phone from every possible angle. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Microsoft on Wednesday announced two new updates for its mobile and desktop operating systems including Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update 1. Both updates bring quite a few new features — although some are more important than others — and they will be available soon. Meanwhile, users who want to know more details about the main features available in Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8.1 OS can check out three new Microsoft videos in which Joe Belfiore recaps everything there is to know about it, including useful tips and tricks. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Voice-enabled personal assistants are cool things to have but are they really an important enough feature to get people to change platforms? ZDNet's Matthew Miller, who was initially worried that Microsoft's new Cortana service would be another "me-too" product that copied Siri and Google Now, now says that after trying it out this week that it's the real deal and it could win over some iOS and Android coverts. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Battery life remains one of the most frustrating things about modern smartphones, which could do so much more if battery technology ever manages to progress as quickly as tech does in other areas. But alas, the battery barrier remains. Making matters significantly more frustrating is the fact that our smartphones are often plagued with bugs that cause excessive battery drain. One such bug was identified recently in Android, but luckily there's a simple, though annoying fix to improve your battery life with the press of a single button. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Want more evidence that T-Mobile has turned the wireless industry on its head over the last year? Look no further than a new survey published by YouGov's BrandIndex showing that T-Mobile has now surged into a tie with Verizon as the carrier that American consumers think delivers the most bang for their bucks. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Keep an eye out for an update to Google Keep soon, as the search giant has updated the note taking app in the Play Store with a handful of improvements. The interface looks slightly different in the update, with the default status bar changing to Keep’s signature yellow hue. The same status bar will update to match different colors depending on the color of the note you’re currently viewing. Google has also added in the functionality for searching specific images, and there’s a new trash menu where you can view your recently deleted notes. This one’s going to be a staged rollout, like always, so keep an eye out for the notification. Hit the link below for the …

The Google Play Movies & TV application is currently getting the version 3.1.22 update pushed out to users. On the user interface side, Google has finally added a slide-out menu. It is very similar to the one found when using the Play Store itself. The slide-out menu includes Watch Now, My Movies, My TV Shows, On Device, and Shop with the usual Settings and Help & Feedback. On the playback side of things, the app now has Info Cards. These cards will automatically be displayed as soon as a video is paused. So instead of pausing the video and having to cue the content, it will pop-up right away. Info Cards display information regarding the actors and actresses on…

Google Play Newsstand is one of the Google apps to get an update today, bringing it up to version 3.2.0. The update changes the interface around a bit, adding in separate tabs for different topics such as business, entertainment, and sports in the Read Now section and merging My News and My Magazines into a single My Library section. Having the different labels in the Read Now section of the app makes it much easier to quickly jump to exactly what you want to read, and creating a single My Library destination will trim the app up and make it easier to navigate. Keep an eye out for the update on your device. Play Store Download Link Come comment on …

VIVO’s Xplay 3S is a monster of a phone, featuring a 2k resolution screen and a Snapdragon 801 processor. It can easily compete with all of the other high-end devices being released this year, but that’s not stopping VIVO from working on something even better. They’ve released some teaser images onto Chinese social media site Weibo, hinting at a device with an even faster Snapdragon 801 CPU, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory, and the tagline “discover, record, change,” which seems to hint at the camera being a point of focus for the device. They didn’t mention anything about display resolution, but since VIVO is obviously able to pack a 2k display into their dev…

Yesterday, T-Mobile announced they were cutting off employee discounts for all consumers, including customers that were grandfathered into the discounts. To put it bluntly, that announcement sucked. Today, John Legere has partially changed the decision about employee discounts through the Un-carrier that will benefit some consumers, but not all. If you had an employee discount on your plan prior to April 1st, you will be able to keep it as long as you stay with T-Mobile and stay with the employer. T-Mobile is wisely not forcing older customers off of the plans. However, any new customers after today aren’t going to be able to get any type of employee discount, but t…

I didn't expect to get excited about anything Microsoft announced at its Build conference on Wednesday, but the company more than exceeded my expectations with several announcements that show it's going in the right direction. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Samsung's phones may be plastic, but a new Galaxy S5 drop test video shows plastic can be plenty tough. The new video, which was produced by TechSmartt, dropped both the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy S5 from several different heights to see which one held up better under torture. Both the S4 and S5 did very well at standard drops of up to 7 feet, although the S4's display finally cracked when the TechSmartt team dropped it from 10 feet. The S5, in contrast, passed the 10-foot drop test with flying colors, which led the TechSmartt team to put it through the ultimate challenge by placing it face-up on the ground and then running it over with an SUV. Amazingly, the S5 survived th…

As we've mentioned in the past, Samsung's marketing team can be absolutely brilliant when it's on its game and on Tuesday the company scored one of its most successful coups yet: It got World Series MVP David Ortiz to snag President Barack Obama in a seemingly spontaneous selfie that was actually a planned marketing stunt. The Boston Globe reports that Samsung recently signed a contract with Ortiz to make him one of the company's "social media insiders," which basically means he'll take pictures with his Samsung phone that will help promote the brand. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Of all the announcements at the Microsoft Build Developer Conference, Cortana certainly stands out as one of the most intriguing. With the addition of a worthwhile personal assistant, Windows Phone will finally begin to reach parity with iOS and Android, at least from a feature perspective. At first glance, it's difficult not to compare Cortana to its iOS predecessor, so Microsoft has decided to approach the issue head on with a series of short videos comparing the two assistants. Microsoft argues that Cortana is a more personal companion, one which will learn about you and treat you as an individual, whereas Siri was built for everyone. Check out the videos below. Con…

The Galaxy S5 launch is less than 10 days away and now prospective buyers can get a head start on learning all its key features because Samsung has just released the device's official user manual as a downloadable PDF. In addition to giving you all the basic information that you get with any smartphone — i.e., how to make calls, connect to Wi-Fi, etc. — the manual also has a whole section dedicated to Samsung's new S Health fitness tracker software that will incorporate the Galaxy S5's built-in heart-rate monitor, among other new features. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Watch out, Google: Microsoft is really coming after you. Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will make Windows free to use for any manufacturers who are making devices that are 9 inches or smaller. This means that Windows smartphones, small tablets and wearable computers will have free-to-use software, just like with Google's Android platform. This has the potential to significantly grow Windows' market share on mobile devices, particularly in emerging markets where manufacturers have been churning out dirt-cheap Android phones. Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Verizon Wireless on Wednesday made a key strategic change to its service plan pricing that shows the nation's biggest wireless carrier isn't quite big enough to ignore the ongoing price war taking place in the U.S. mobile market. AT&T has been actively promoting its new Mobile Share price plans with a series of commercials explaining that with these new plans, a family can have four smartphones with unlimited voice minutes, unlimited messaging and 10GB of shared data for $160 per month. Well guess what — Verizon Wireless just slashed its pricing and matched AT&T's offer to the penny. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Nokia on Wednesday announced new smartphones during Microsoft’s Build 2014 keynote, the Lumia 930 and Lumia 630, with both devices expected to run Windows Phone 8.1 and to launch later this year. Additionally, the company said that its existing Lumia lineup will also be updated to Windows Phone 8.1 later this year via an over-the-air update. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report

Samsung has a reputation for being a copycat. Heck, Apple is currently suing Samsung yet again for infringing five of its patents. But according to a report from Bloomberg, Samsung is looking to shed its “fast follower” image and become recognized as an innovator instead. Continue reading... Via BRG - Boy Genius Report