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Moto X gets a back-to-school discount

You are probably tired of reading about it, but there might still be some souls out there waiting for the perfect time to grab a Moto X. Well, Motorola is giving those another chance with yet another seasonal discount promo, just in time for school, at least for some in the US.



The price changes are as follows: The 16 GB model now costs only $299.99, a $100 savings. The 32 GB variants, both the regular kind and the special Developer Edition, had their prices slashed by $125 down to $324.99. And the shiny new 64 GB version also gets a $125 discount and can be yours for only $374.99. These are all available via Moto Maker, meaning all the styling options are available, but at their regular price. Want wood back covers to go with your new school phone? Add $25 into your cart.


Motorola has been doing these price cuts and promos for its still one and only flagship, so it's no longer surprising to see such things. The question shifts from "when's the next promo" to "until when will they be giving out promos?". That said if you're still looking for a decent almost mid-range smartphone with an almost vanilla Android experience and lots of context-aware features, then the Moto X remains an interesting, and now cheaper, option.


If you do decide to set your heart on the Moto X, better move fast. While the promo is available until July 31, 11:59 ET, it only runs while there are supplies, And if previous sales are any indication, those supplies run out fast. And it's only available in the US, so no dice for the new Moto Maker in Germany.


SOURCE: Motorola





LG G3 with Verizon lets you remove carrier “bloatware”

Here’s a neat idea — carrier “bloatware” that can be removed. If that sounds like a dream come true, you may want to snap up an LG G3 via Verizon. The carrier is going to allow their proprietary apps to be removed on the flagship smartphone from LG.




LG has confirmed to us that the G3 is on a trial program with Verizon, wherein those Verizon apps you might not be using can be taken off. They’ll load up normally during the boot process, and manifest in the app drawer. If you don’t find them useful, though, you can take them off your device using the unistall method you’re used to — nothing tricky about it.


Before you get too excited, we would suggest you at least give those apps the once-over. Some carrier apps can be a bit redundant, but others might prove more useful than you know. It’s a great idea for those times you know you won’t be using an app, but really — give them a chance first.


This program is also a trial, and LG tells us you won’t incur any data charges for the download or installation process. We hope this comes to more Verizon devices, and is something other carriers who put “bloatware” on their devices look into. Whether or not you take advantage, it’s nice the option is now available.





OnePlus One gets its own Stock Android ROM

OnePlus promised to be different and, to some extent, they are. That desire to be unique and to never settle shows up once again today as OnePlus revealed a gift for lovers of a 100 percent, pure, vanilla Android experience: A stock Android ROM just for the OnePlus One, complete with a gapps download, and instructions for flashing, all without voiding your warranty.



This stock Android image is somewhat amusing. OnePlus One already has the distinction of being the only commercial product that actually runs a custom ROM, although modified, out of the box. Sure, the OPPO N1 could have had that honor, except for the fact that the CM-toting N1 was only a limited edition and the regular versions only allowed dual booting at the very least. Given how CyanogenMod is itself already quite close to an AOSP-based vanilla Android setup, it might seem that this stock Android ROM is a bit redundant.


CyanogenMod, however, does add quite a bit on top of plain Android, which is evident when you compare it to the version running on a Nexus, which itself is also modified by Google. Most of the CM bits are there mostly for convenience primarily and, in the case of very specific CM features like CM Account, to add value. What this stock ROM provides, then, is a jumping board for other OnePlus One compatible ROMs, features, and development that could come out in the near future. One interesting note that OnePlus makes is that flashing this stock ROM does not void your device warranty, definitely an unconventional arrangement. Bricked devices, however, are not covered by that warranty.


A smartphone with flagship specs at half the price, CyanogenMod 11 out of the box, stylized back covers starting with bamboo, support of two of the largest custom ROM communities, and, now, its very own stock ROM. OnePlus One is turning out to be quite a dream come true, except that it is slowly becoming a nightmare for some. With yet another wave of invites raffled off, there doesn't seem to be any sign that OnePlus will be making this One available to the general public, which makes trying to get a OnePlus One feel like trying to win a lottery. Considering how they are handing out invites anyway, it technically is.


SOURCE: OnePlus





LG ships 14.5 million smartphones in record-high performance

Sometimes, all it takes is just one brilliant product and several popular ones (and for your archrival to have a slump) to pull up your net profits. Korean OEM LG Electronics announced a 165% increase in net profit earnings, with their mobile electronics company contributing largely to the numbers. They have shipped a record number of 14.5 million smartphones for this second quarter, ending three straight quarters of losses for the mobile division.



LG Mobile’s record number of shipped phones has been due to the excellent reviews and popularity of their LG G3 in the local Korean market as well as strong sales of their L series. They are hopeful that the continued global rollout of the G3 will boost sales even more, particularly in the US market, as early reviews of their latest smartphone have been mostly positive. They will also be introducing different variants of the G3, including the LG G3 Beat. They are also planning to launch more L Series models that will be on the mass tier level.


The 14.5 million shipped smartphones also represent a 20% increase from the same period last year while sales increased 16% as well at $3.51 billion. This has been their highest figure since the first quarter of 2010 and stopped three quarters where the mobile company had reported losses.


All in all, the whole company had a second-quarter net profit of $399.8 million, operating profit of $588.5 million and a 26.5% increase on year-on-year profits. TV and mobile operations earnings contributed a huge part in these figures, taking advantage of a recent slump from fellow Korean company Samsung.


SOURCE: LG


Paranoid Android adds OPPO and OnePlus to supported devices

Paranoid Android's development has been interesting and fast-paced, but its list of officially supported devices hasn't been impressive, limited to a handful of Nexus devices. That changes today, however so slightly, as the popular custom ROM announces the induction of smartphones from OPPO and OnePlus into the fold.



Not all of OPPO's devices made it to the cut though, only the older Find 5, the Find 7, and the dual-booting N1. There are two variants of the Find 7, and, like CyanogenMod early this month, the same build supports both the low-end Find 7a and the Find 7 itself. For OnePlus, well, there is really only the One after all. Starting today, these devices will be getting builds at the same time as the Nexus ones.


Now owners of these devices, more the OPPO ones than the very few OnePlus ones, pun unintended, can get a taste of a more AOSP-based Android experience, plus some of the very interesting features that Paranoid Android has cooked up, like Peek and Hover notifications. And since there are also alpha builds available, these owners can also test out the redesigned Recent Apps utility that PA is currently working on. The OnePlus One is an interesting case though, since it is practically running on a slightly modified version of CyanogenMod 11, so users will practically be switching from one custom ROM to another.


At the moment, both stable 4.44 builds and the 4.5 alpha 2 builds are available for all devices, including this new batch. Paranoid Android notes, however, that unlike the stable updates, alpha builds do not get delivered over the air and must be downloaded, and hence flashed, separately and manually.


SOURCE: +Paranoid Android





AnTuTu Q2 surprises: Snapdragon 800, Nexus 5 at the top

It seems to be that time when companies are showing their report cards for the 2nd quarter of 2014. In line with that, popular benchmarking site AnTuTu is showing a few figures of its own, with rather surprising, and probably questionable, revelations. According to its data, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, as it can be found inside the Galaxy Note 3, trumps almost all other more recent processors, and that, at least in the US, the Nexus 5 is still the most popular smartphone around.



Let's dissect these almost unbelievable numbers a bit. AnTuTu implemented certain safeguards to ensure that the performance test results of the top 10 smartphones are, to some extent, reliable. It should be noted that these figures only apply from the period of April to June this year, which explains the absence of the LG G3. Based on the scores, the Galaxy Note 3 blew everything else out of the water, including those that ran on the more recent Snapdragon 801 running on the same clock 2.3 GHz clockspeed. There might be other factors affecting the Galaxy Note 3's impressive scores, like RAM, for example. But the OnePlus One, which both runs on a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 and has 3 GB of RAM still scored lower. In fact, even lower than the HTC One M8, which ran at a slower 2.3 GHz, also Snapdragon 801, and had a smaller 2 GB RAM.


antutu-q2-performance


The next two spots on AnTuTu's list are also quite interesting. At second place is the Huawei Honor 6, which ran on a brand new Kirin920 chip, an octa-core processor running at a combo of 1.7 GHz and 1.3 GHz cores, and had 3 GB of RAM. Its numbers, however, might be a bit questionable since the Honor 6 was just announced late June, but considering AnTuTu's proximity to the source, they might have been able to get their hands on an early unit. At third is the HTC One M8, which outranked even the Galaxy S5. This is definitely a surprising upstart, though AnTuTu scores probably won't be enough to bolster HTC's popularity and sales.


Of course, the air of uncertainty and doubt around the very nature and purpose of benchmarks might make some very dubious of the results of these tests, much less their practical implications in real-world usage or even market performance. Nonetheless, it's still interesting to see how last quarter's top devices fared when pitted against each other in more or less controlled environments. And speaking of market performance, AnTuTu also revealed its numbers when it came to device popularity, but these are even more contentious since they rely on people running the benchmarking app in the first place. In the US, it appears that the Nexus 5 is by far the most popular, which might not be that surprising since those buying this device would be the ones most likely to run AnTuTu. However, is is followed by, HTC One M8 and, surprisingly, the Galaxy Note 3 and not Samsung's more recent flagship. All in all, Samsung seems to have a strong hold in the regions covered by AnTuTu's database, except in China and Taiwan, of course, where Xiaomi reigns uncontested.


antutu-q2-popular


SOURCE: AnTuTu (1), (2)


Digital Tattoo can now officially unlock your Moto X

We told you a few weeks ago about the digital tattoo that can soon be used to unlock the Moto X through NFC sticker technology. Now the wait is over as Motorola announced that they, together with Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group and VivaLnk Inc. are officially launching the Digital Tattoo but of course, only the privileged Moto X users can enjoy this state-of-the-art method of bypassing your phone’s security code.



Using NFC technology that is embedded in a flexible and skin-safe hardware (based on VivaLink’s eSkinTM technology), all you need to do is stick the tattoo wherever you want on your body (as long as you can possibly and comfortably reach it of course) and then use it to unlock your Moto X through the Moto Skip app. Just tap your device on to the tattoo and voila, your Moto X is unlocked.


They came up with this artful and quick way of unlocking your phone based on the study that it takes users an average of 2.3 seconds to set free their locked devices, and on average, users do this 39 times a day. So all in all, you waste around 2 minutes just unlocking your device (wow, what a waste!). So with the Digital Tattoo, you theoretically take back those wasted seconds.


The tattoos are sold in packs of 10 at $9.99. Each tattoo will last for around 5 days, depending on your skin type and what you do the whole day. But it’s supposedly water-proof so you can still go swimming, sweat profusely and even take a bath even while wearing the sticker and it won’t get damaged. So would you be willing to wear this temporary tattoo just to make your life a tiny bit easier and make you seem cooler?


Screen-Shot-2014-07-23-at-10.01.48-AM-600x466 digitaltattooooo-820x420




VIA: SlashGear

SOURCE: Motorola





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