OnePlus rumored to ditch CM, OneWatch plans leaked

It is only normal for OEMs to try to differentiate themselves in a very crowded mobile device market, but sometimes not all their "exclusive features" are well received (hello Samsung). OnePlus, a young Chinese startup when compared with other players in the industry, is rumored to be preparing to stir things up a bit again, not only by launching a smartwatch of its one, but also by moving away from its current CyanogenMod-based ROM.

The role of CyanogenMod to OnePlus One's success, or at least its popularity, is a bit debatable. As a device, the One is definitely something already desirable, mixing high-end specs with a price tag half of other leading brands in the market. But hardware is only half of the story. By picking CyanogenMod, practically a ready-made Android flavor, instead of developing their own homegrown solution, OnePlus was able to iterate faster and put out a finished product sooner.

But CyanogenMod isn't exactly as popular as, say, TouchWiz or Sense. And its bias towards a more AOSP-like experience might not tickle the taste buds of OnePlus' target Chinese market, who flock to heavily customized skins like Xiaomi's MIUI or OPPO's ColorOS. There are, undoubtedly, some benefits to keeping things in house: tighter control, even faster iterations, and a more customized and targeted user experience. The question is whether CyanogenMod, whose new Theme Engine was probably developed with OnePlus in mind, can't provide those. If this rumor turns out to be true, OnePlus should expect some negative and very vocal feedback from those who rooted for the company precisely because of its ties with the custom ROM. That, of course, depends too if OnePlus considers them its target market or even a sizable portion of the market.

The company is also rumored to be working on a smartwatch, with a leaked web page snapshot and design sketches to prove so. The OneWatch, as it is called, is shown to sport a similar circular face like the Moto 360, only smaller. There is also a note that it will be employing that coveted sapphire glass display for the smart timepeice. It will also use wireless charging and even have a curved battery hidden inside the wrist strap. Definitely sounds more like a wishlist, but OnePlus has proven that it is capable of making dreams come true. However, given the other rumor above, it might also be capable of striking out on its own, so the possibility of this smartwatch running Android Wear is still pretty much up in the air.

VIA: Talk Android, BGR

Story Timeline

• OnePlus One Bamboo cover is here and out of stock


• OnePlus unleashes an even bigger Blizzard of Invites


• OnePlus One gets its own Stock Android ROM

Runtastic Orbit tracks lifestyle 24/7 for a healthier you

With the advent of wearable gadgets, lifestyle trackers have become the new fitness craze among the health-conscious and the digitally-savvy. It may be hard to stand out of the competition with so many to choose from, but Runtastic Orbit makes a pretty good case for itself with its 24-hour tracking device and fitness monitor that may just integrate itself into your lifestyle.

Aside from the usual tracking of the steps, calories burned and distance, Runtastic Orbit’s three sensors can also look at other aspects of your daily activities like sleep tracking and even mood tracking. The information is shown on the device’s OLED display, which also shows you what time it is. You also need to sync it using Orbit Connect with your smartphone and the Runtastic web service so you can maximise all its features. The Runtastic Me app, which just received an update to run with this gadget, displays the information sent to it through low-power Bluetooth and it can also send back updates on your Orbit so it will stand as a second screen for the app. You can also view the information on the website so as to track your progress for your fitness goals.

Wearing the Orbit 24/7 may seem like it will easily drain the battery, but the fitness band boasts of a 7-day battery life so no fear that you’ll have to spend part of the day attached to the charger. And if you’re also style-conscious and aren’t crazy about the idea of just wearing basic black and blue bands, it also comes in camo green, gray, magenta, orange, white and yellow. If you don’t feel like wearing it as a band, you can take out the tracker and put it on a clip and stick it wherever you want.

Runtastic Orbit is available for purchase through its online shop for $119.99 and will ship out starting August 11. It will also soon be at retail stores, although there are no details yet as to where and when it will officially come out.

VIA: SlashGear

Wunderlist 3: faster sync,pro features,public lists

List apps are a gift from digital gods, that is, if you’re a highly-organised smartphone owner. One favourite of list makers is the simplistic but feature-packed Wunderlist. And now that the makers of this productivity app have just released the updated Wunderlist 3, you can just hear the sighs of productivity-obsessed users as they create even more lists with the app’s newest features.

One problem with the Wunderlist 2 that they released ten months ago was that the syncing between devices and platforms wasn’t always that smooth. And as we all know, digital people rarely just use one device now to do all their productivity activities so that is definitely an issue. Wunderlist 3, which they say is their biggest update yet, has solved this problem with its Real-Time Sync. Based on their demo video, the edits and changes now appear instantaneously if you’re using a smartphone, a tablet and even a desktop.

Another major feature of this new update is the introduction of Public Lists. Before, if you wanted to share a movies-to-see list or a task list with a lot of people, you need to choose which names you wanted to share it with. But for some lists like “Top 100 songs of all time” or “Places to visit in Europe”, you sometimes want to share it with everyone you know. Now you can do so with the publish button (optional of course) and share it on your social networks. You can even add to your own wunderlist those public lists that you want to save, add or collaborate on a list, and unpublish it if you want. There’s also now a Conversation and Activity Center where you can see all the comments and updates on the different lists you’ve shared.

Some Wunderlist Pro features are also now available on the free app, like sharing and collaborating on a list with friends and uploading a file for reference. But there are still limits to these features while the Pro users still get unlimited access to all of these, including unlimited collaboration. The developers promise that there will also be new Pro-only features in the near future. You can download Wunderlist 3 from the Google Play Store.

SOURCE: Wunderlist

Verizon G Pad 8.3 finally gets Android 4.4.2 KitKat

LG has launched a new batch of G Pad tablets so, for a time, it seemed that its first G Pad was left behind. Fortunately, Verizon is giving the LG G Pad 8.3 some much needed love and attention, finally bringing the tablet's core Android OS from the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean that it launched with to a relatively more recent Android 4.4.2.

When LG began its new premium "G" direction, the G Pad 8.3 was the first tablet that it launched to bear that name. Although a WiFi model of the tablet has been available in the US for some time now, the 4G LTE variant only landed on Verizon's shelves last March. Those who bought the latter might have been living in envy when the Google Play Edition of the tablet, which, by the way, is no longer available from Google Play Store, received its Android 4.4.2 update way back in December. Fortunately, now it's their turn.

Verizon's changelog for this update isn't exactly that long, but the changes are definitely huge, considering it skipped Android 4.3 and jumped right into KitKat. Most of the improvements have happened behind the scenes, but users will be greeted by a new monochromatic status bar and a fullscreen immersive mode. KitKat also brings multi-user support to Android, but LG does have its own implementation of this guest mode. Also making its G Pad 8.3 debut is LG's Knock Code, which upgrades the simple "knock knock" to unlock previously found on the tablet to a more personalized and customizable multi-tap gesture.

The update notification should arrive on users' devices shortly, though, as always, it won't happen at the same time. It will be delivered over the air as normal, so a stable WiFi connection is required. Considering massive changes to the OS are involved, it might be a good idea to back up important files and data in the meantime and ensure there is ample battery charge before performing the update.

SOURCE: Verizon (PDF)

VIA: Android Central

Story Timeline

• Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and LG G Pad 8.3 LTE arrive with Verizon


• Verizon LG G Pad 8.3 LTE review


• Android 4.4.4 update finally drops for LG G Pad 8.3 GPE

Verizon Galaxy S5 update could break root access

Verizon is rolling out a rather small update for the Samsung Galaxy S5. This maintenance update, which doesn't upgrade the Android 4.4.2 version to anything more recent, brings a mixed bag of useful fixes and improvements. However, for some power users, it might be more trouble than it's worth.

Software update KOT49H.G900VVRU1ANE9 pulls in a variety of new functionality and optimizations, but no new major features really. Apps like Caller Name ID and Message+ have been updated. Some apps have been fixed, like Memo no longer showing a Search icon when there's nothing to search for in the first place, or Visual Voicemail working even when the S-View cover is closed. Some minor new features like a Downloaded Apps section in My Files and Web Search functionality for S Finder have also been introduced.

It may all sound fine and dandy except for the fact that some users are reporting problems with root after installing the update. It seems that some now have broken root access, with no way of getting it back, even via the famed Towelroot. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it though, as some rooted users are reporting that everything is fine on their end.

So if you're an owner of a rooted Galaxy S5 on Verizon, it might be a good idea to hold off on tapping that update button. Verizon is unlikely to comment on such an issue, considering rooting isn't an authorized process, so most of the work in figuring this out will have to be done by the Android community. On the other hand, if you have a rather vanilla Galaxy S5 instead, feel free to wait for the update notification or mash that System update option and enjoy.

VIA: Android Authority

SOURCE: Verizon (PDF)

Story Timeline

• AT&T, Verizon Galaxy S5, S4 active rooted with Towelroot


• Galaxy S5's Ultra Power Saving put to test in road trip


• Galaxy S5 ad mocks Apple's rumoured bigger iPhone screen

Amazon Appstore offers 30 free self-improvement apps

There’s always room for change and improvement in our lives, and never has this been more encouraged than in the age of smartphones and apps. Things you’ve never thought of learning or doing before can now be discovered and understood at the click (or swipe) of your finger. The Amazon Appstore believes you can add a few more new things to your life as it’s offering 30 free Android apps in its “Summer Self-Improvement Bundle.”

If your quest for self-improvement this year is all about developing a beach body to be proud of, you can start with Daily Workouts. Now if you want to be able to prepare meals worthy of five-star restaurants, your best bet should be the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner Pro. The DrawingPad app aims to bring out the inner artist in you as you digitally create that masterpiece right on your Android phone. If you don’t have a piano at home but would want to flex those music muscles, why not play one on your smartphone since you can have the Little Piano app?

Productivity apps are key to a more improved and more organised you, so you have apps like List Master Pro, Bills Reminder, Home Budget Manager and CalenGoo among others. You’re never too old to learn something new and so educational apps like Essential Anatomy 3, Language Coach and Oxford Advanced Learning Dictionary are good deals to get for free. But of course, you need a little entertainment after all that learning, so you also have free games available, like Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Carcassonne.

All these 30 apps, worth around $100, are available for download for free in the next two days at the Amazon Appstore for any Android device. The Appstore has also now expanded to 41 more countries, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. However, local restrictions still apply of course, so don’t expect all apps to be available in all these countries. The new countries included are: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

VIA: Engadget

SOURCE: Amazon

Android platform dominates market; Samsung slips in 2Q 2014

They’re still the top smartphone in the market in terms of device shipment, but OEM Samsung has suffered a minor slip in numbers, according to data released by the IDC for the second quarter of 2014. Meanwhile,when it comes to platform, Android has dominated the market with an 85% share in the second quarter, leaving Apple, Blackberry and Microsoft Windows Phone in the dust.

Figures from the IDC shows that Samsung is still number one when it comes to shipment volume and market share in the second quarter of 2014, but compared to the same period last year, the numbers are a bit lower. Shipment volume this year is at 74.3 million while last year, they were at 77.3M. In terms of market share, in 2013, Samsung was at 32.3%, but this time around, it’s just at 25.2%.

The good news for them is that archival Apple’s market share also slipped, although their shipment volume improved this year compared to last year. The biggest mover in terms of both shipment and market share is Chinese brand Huawei, who had a 95.1% increase this year and whose market share improved from 4.3% to 6.9% this year. Lenovo and LG round up the top 5 smartphone vendors from IDC, with both slightly improving their numbers.

Meanwhile, figures from the WSS (Smartphones) service show that Android had a record global market share of 85% as 295 million units were shipped in the second quarter of this year alone. Their closest rivals lost numbers in terms of share, as Google’s OS continues to dominate the smartphone market. This trend is not expected to change anytime soon, as Android’s platform is unmatched in terms of ease of use and low-cost services. Unless one of their competitors does something revolutionary soon, Android is expected to continually dominate, just like what happened in the PC market a few years back when Windows was a force to reckon with.

VIA: SlashGear, Strategy Analytics