Plan V is a truly portable emergency charger for your smartphone

Battery problem solutions are very much needed when smartphones are always running out of juice since we're playing games, working, social networking, etc when mobile. More and more crowd-funded products are showing up in the market, all with the aim of becoming the next big thing in battery solutions. Our nominee for today is Plan V, a portable charger for emergency cases when your battery case or your power bank just won't work.

Plan V is just small enough to put on your keyring so it's literally handy. And you don't need to constantly charge it as it is powered by 9 volt batteries, which you can buy at any convenience store. That also means you will not run out of juice to charge your smartphone, as long as you have spare batteries in your bag.

This product came out of the developers' personal experience when their back up batteries failed them when they were in a remote area in Bogota, Colombia and they were hopelessly lost when trying to find their hostel. They had to go through a few close calls, but when they eventually survived, they decided to create a "failsafe charging device" that will not just keep you in contact but can also keep you safe in emergency situations.

The developers of the device are trying to raise $30,000 to be able to create and distribute the charger. If you believe in a product like Plan V, then head on over to their Kickstarter page to be able to support them and you have 25 days to do so.

SOURCE: Kickstarter

How to Control Both Moto G and Moto E LEDs

Notification LEDs offer a great way to check for notification at a glance on the Moto G (2013) and Moto E. That being said, you may want greater control over them to check on charging status as well or even your eMMC (internal or external storage) activity. All of this is possible, assuming your device is already rooted.

XDA Recognized Contributor matmutant has written two detailed tutorials on how to control your device’s LEDs for various uses. As it turns out, both the Moto G and Moto E have two white LEDs each (note that both LEDs occupy the same hole; you can check matmutant’s blog post for detailed information on how he found this out). You can control them by writing to the files in the following directories:

• /sys/class/leds/white/: first LED, usually lights up when notifications are received. On the Moto G, this LED can be dimmed (by writing to the brightness file, as explained below).


• /sys/class/leds/charging/: second LED, available but never used by default by the system. Cannot be dimmed (at least not without modifying the HAL).

You’ll find two files of interest there:

• brightness: this file can be used to control the LED’s brightness and state (0 means “off”, anything higher (up to 255) indicates the brightness or simply means “on” if the LED can’t be dimmed).


• trigger: you can use several triggers to control the behavior of the LED. These depend on the device, but some interesting examples include mmc* to monitor the eMMC activity and battery-* to indicate the charging status.

LEDs for the Moto E

A useful example for this would be to use one LED to indicate the charging status, and the other for notifications. You can go even further by using an automation utility (e.g. Tasker) to change the LEDs’ state or triggers based on your own events.

It’s worth noting at this point that /sys/ is exported by the kernel on startup, in order to expose information about the hardware using sysfs; it can also be used to control devices via their attributes, as is the case here. (/sys/class/ offers symlinks to different classes of devices, using human readable names.) Because this is done at startup, the values you set will not persist after a reboot. Fortunately, you can use an init.d script so that your changes are automatically applied on startup. A short tutorial on how to do that is also provided. If your ROM doesn’t support init.d, then you’ll have to use an automation tool instead to run the necessary commands after startup.

For more detailed information on this, make sure to check the Moto G LEDs Custom Controls and Moto E LEDs Custom Controls threads, as well as matmutant’s blog posts about Controlling the Moto G LEDs

The post How to Control Both Moto G and Moto E LEDs appeared first on xda-developers.

Desire 620 rumored to be HTC’s newest mid-level smartphone

If the leaks and reports are correct, the HTC Desire 620 might just be the OEM's newest mid-range offering that has a lot of promise and possibilities. While the original post in the Bulgarian website where it was first spotted has now been pulled down, it was too late and people were able to get a preview of the newest smartphone (if you can actually trust the source).

The Desire 620 has an all plastic build and is run by an interchangeable 2100 mAh battery. It will supposedly have a 5-inch 720 display that will run on a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, which may very well be the Snapdragon 410. It has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, with the option to expand it through an SD card. Camera-wise, it reportedly has an 8MP main camera, while for selfies, a 5PM camera is a more than adequate for your front-facing camera needs. It also has dual front-facing speakers, if you look really closely at the leaked images.

Compared to the Desire 610 launched earlier this year, this supposed new model seems slightly better only. And compared to HTC's flagship device, the One (M8), this one of course seems sorely lacking, but since it looks like it's going to be positioned as a mid-level smartphone, then that is totally understandable. We would also like to see how this can stack up against the more lower-end HTC Desire 510, which is already pretty good for its price range.

There is no word yet on when the HTC Desire 620 will be available in the market and what its pricing range will be. But since the leaked pictures show it is retail-ready, we can expect the announcement in the next few days or so.

VIA: Phone Arena

Moto X tempts you to get it with Moto Maker in new ad

While Motorola's Moto X seems like a more than decent smartphone, sales haven't been something to write home about. And since this whole holiday weekend is one big opportunity for OEMs to sell even more units, they have come up with a pretty nifty ad that would like to entice those window shopping for a new smartphone to consider the flagship device for their new purchase.

The ad features Ben, a somehow very indecisive young man, who keeps making changes on his Moto X through the Moto Maker, much to the chagrin of his doppleganger, who is working on a (hopefully) fictional version of the Motorola factory. He is in charge of making all the changes to the Moto X, and since Ben seems to be quite a weird person, then the alterations become more and more absurd. We end up with an inscription to "The Panda King" and as ridiculous as it is, yes, the Moto Maker will still do it for you.

The ad isn't as funny as it thinks it is, but it does get its point across, that you can make your Moto X on the Moto Maker as personal as possible. The first generation of the Moto X actually only allowed this personalization if you bought your smartphone through AT&T. But the 2014 edition seems to be making up for it, and the marketing campaign for it is much better, as evidenced by this ad.

This coming Cyber Monday from 11AM to 5PM CST, those who are interested in getting the new Moto X should register to receive a discount coupon. They'll be able to get the 16GB model for $359, a $140 discount from its original price of $499. However, offer is good only until supplies last.

Call of Duty: Heroes game hits Google Play

Fans of the Call of Duty franchise who would like to take the game on the go with them have a new video game that can be downloaded now for Android devices. The app is called Call of Duty: Heroes and it allows you to command an army of elite soldiers and drones right out of the Call of Duty franchise.

In the game, players get to customize their base and train their forces to dominate the enemy. Controllable heroes and kill streaks are part of the game as well as a first person chopper gunner view. Players start with a small outpost and can then build it into a larger and heavily fortified base.

Players can attack enemies and control heroes for the game like Price, Soap, and Harper. Each of the controllable heroes in the game has their own progression system and unique killstreaks. Players can train and deploy units from the game franchise including Juggernauts, Dragonfires, and CLAWs.

Bases can be upgraded with sentry guns, guardians, SAM turrets, howitzers, mines, and 30 upgradable structures. This game does require an internet connection to play. The game is a free download supported by in app purchases up to $99.99 per item.

SOURCE: Google Play

Samsung working on a new smartwatch with rotating bezel?

Samsung is cooking up something. Of course, that is always the case but any news or clues of an upcoming smartwatch can be exciting. A patent has recently surfaced about a round smartwatch with rotating bezel. It’s still a concept/patent application but the idea is actually interesting.

The design shows a rotating bezel—in this case, a ring that can be controlled by simple rotation. Tasks and To-Do’s are shown in a pie which makes it more fun to look at. It could just be one view though but we’re not sure.

Samsung is not new to the smartwatch market but it will only gain more competitors. Right now, it’s one of the forerunners in the industry. Apple might rival Samsung in this area but the Cupertino company has yet to release the Apple Watch and prove to the market that theirs is better.

A rotating bezel on a smartwatch is definitely new but some sports watches already have this kind of feature. The patent application was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this week. The document showed that this was submitted last February.

A new round smartwatch with a rotating bezel from Samsung , actually, from any manufacturer is nice. We’re not sure if Samsung will release such smartwatch but I don’t see any reason why not. We hope this one will arrive with the Galaxy S6 or as one of the new Gear watches. We’ll see.

VIA: Galaxy Club

Story Timeline

• Samsung Gear S coming to American mobile carriers


• Samsung Gear Circle headphone heads to the US


• Samsung Gear VR date, price dropped, 360-degree cam revealed

Google shows off Black Friday/Cyber Monday Play Store deals

Black Friday is here again, the day when people all across the country lose their minds and have brawls in stores over items that are on sale. Google is participating in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shenanigans this year and you won't get punched in the mouth trying to take advantage of these deals.

Today through Monday Google is offering a $50 Play Store credit with the purchase of some devices. That means you buy the device and get a bunch of apps for free. The $50 credit comes with the purchase of a Nexus 6, Nexus 9, LG G Watch, LG G Watch R, Sony Smartwatch 3, Moto 360, Samsun Gear Live, and Asus ZenWatch.

That LG G Watch is on sale along with that $50 Goggle Play credit at a price of $99, it used to be $299. Chromecast is also on sale for $25, which saves you $10 off the normal price of the device.

If you have been eyeing a Nest Thermostat, this is the time to buy with the Nest gadget on sale for $199, it was $249 before. The Nexus 9 WiFi models are also on sale for $50 off. Sadly, some reports indicate that if you can order the Nexus 6, it isn’t shipping for 2-3 weeks.

SOURCE: Google Play