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Growing pains? Motorola VP Punit Soni is leaving

You can tell that a company is undergoing a significant transition phase when its top brass start dropping off, which might be the case here for Motorola. The latest exec to leave its ranks is, quite sadly, Punit Soni, Motorola's Vice President for Product Management.

Beyond that formal executive title, Punit Soni is more known as the public face of Motorola's software efforts. Originally a Google employee, he was promoted to his current (now former) position in 2012 after search giant acquired Motorola Mobility. And he has been there to assure Motorola fans of the company's commitment to a pure Android experience for its flagship devices. Whether that will still hold under Lenovo's administration and without Soni to push for it still remains to be seen.

This news couldn't have come at a worse time, though is there really a good time to announce leaving a company you've helped grow (aside from trying to jump from a sinking ship)? Soni isn't the first Moto exec to leave the fold either. CEO Dennis Woodside was, in fact, the first to depart in February this year. This followed the Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google and Soni's departure might spark some questions and maybe even anxiety about the company's future direction. The timing is also a bit difficult considering that new Motorola mobile devices, including its first smartwatch, just got announced. Although the new Moto X, the new Moto G, and the Moto 360 have so far garnered positive initial feedback, their actual performance still has to be validated in the wild. And that will be a period when Soni's familiar presence might be needed the most.

The Motorola exec hasn't yet revealed where he is going, if he's going anywhere. This leaves the door open for many possibilities, including perhaps going back to the Google mothership. In his Google+ post announcing his departure, Punit Soni shared his most memorable Motorola experience to date, and that was when he announced to a captivated audience in Brazil the first Moto G, a remarkable smartphone that Motorola and Soni rightly deserves to be proud of.

SOURCE: +Punit Soni

Moto Maker now available in France, Germany, UK

When Motorola unveiled the new Moto X earlier this month, the mostly positive reviews have fuelled the anticipation for when it will actually be available for purchase. Some folks over in Europe who are looking forward to having it should be even more excited with this new announcement from Motorola. The Moto Maker is now live for France, Germany and the UK, even though their new flagship will not be available yet for the said region.

Almost at the same time that the Moto Maker for the new Moto X became live in the US, the OEM has also made the site available for those living in France, Germany and the UK. They can now build their own new Moto X by choosing their own colors, materials, memory size (16GB or 32GB) and adding a custom engraving if they want to. However, the buy button is still conspicuously absent since the new device is still not available for European countries. In the UK, the design you make will be emailed to you and when the time comes that it will be available, you can just retrieve it and finally order it for yourself.

The new Moto X has been making waves for Motorola, as it is a better upgrade on the already good enough previous model. It has a 5.2-inch screen with a 1080p resolution and runs on a 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 with a 2GB RAM. Software wise, it is also pretty neat, with its Moto Voice (formerly known as Touchless Control) allowing users to set your own personalised voice prompts. It can also post messages and statuses on most apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, without you having to touch your phone.

Prices for the new Moto X may vary per country. In the UK, it’s £419.99 (around $682), which already includes taxes and shipping. For Germany, it starts at around €529 which is roughly $679. If you live in any of the three countries mentioned, you can access Moto Maker through the following links:

France

Germany

UK

Beach Buggy Racing has 12 tracks and multiple karts to choose

A new racing game has launched for Android gamers to check out and it's called Beach Buggy Racing. The game is a follow-up to the popular kart racing game Beach Buggy Blitz and comes from developer Vector Unit. Players of the game will race karts in different off-road environments.

While driving the courses, gamers get the chance to pick up over 25 different powerups to improve their karts and help them win the race. The developers say that more powerups are coming to the game in the future.

There are a number of different karts to choose from ranging from monster trucks and muscle cars to lunar rovers that players can drive. In all, there are 12 different tracks with hidden shortcuts to take advantage of.

Split screen multiplayer action is supported allowing for racing shoulder to shoulder with friends on Android TV or tablets/phones connected to a TV. Google Play Game Services are supported and multiple control methods are available. Beach Buggy Racing is a free download supported by in-app purchases.

SOURCE: Google Play

FacebookView app makes news feed photos into live wallpapers

There is no shortage of live wallpaper apps for Android smartphones and tablets. A new LWP app has turned up on Google Play that lets you use photos from your News Feed on Facebook as LWP. The app is called FacebookView.

FacebookView is an app designed to use any of the most recent images that are in your Facebook feed and uses those images to create a collage. The collage of images is placed on your home screen of your Android device.

Images in the collage are updated automatically on predetermined intervals without you having to do anything. The app is on version 2.0.0 right now and is 2.7MB in size. Android 2.1 or higher is required for the app to work.

If your Facebook Friends are anything like mine, you know at times you may end up with images on your home screen that aren’t exactly "nice." I also wonder if this app will significantly increase battery usage. The app is a free download on Google Play now.

SOURCE: XDA-Developers

SanDisk unveils new microSD card for 4K video recording

SanDisk has rolled out a new memory card that it claims to be the world's fastest, high-capacity microSD UHS-I memory card. The tiny memory card is aimed at smartphones and other devices that are able to record 4K resolution video. Along with that microSD card, SanDisk has also rolled out similar speed SD cards with up to 512GB of storage.

Higher performance is important when recording 4K video with smartphones or tablets because of the larger file sizes. The new UHS-I memory cards can reach speeds of up to 95 MB/s for transfers.

SanDisk says that the microSD card also has Class 10 and UHS Speed Class 3 ratings, which are recommended by the SD Association for 4K video recording. The microSD cards are available in several capacities around the world.

Consumers can choose microSDHC or SDXC with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities. Those memory cards range in price from $79.99 to $299.99 depending on capacity.

SOURCE: SanDisk

Dropcam app update integrates with Nest hardware

Dropcam has been around for a while now and works with an app available for Android devices. Dropcam is a small camera that uses wireless networks and has the ability to shoot live video feeds out to the internet for remote viewing. The Android Dropcam app has been updated this week and has gained some new features.

The updated app adds in enhanced camera setup and various improvements to the usability of the camera. The big feature in the new update is that a new setting has been added to allow Dropcam to work with Nest devices.

With a new setting Dropcam users can use the camera with Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. The new tie up between Nest and Dropcam will allow the Dropcam to begin to record video and save a clip when carbon monoxide is detected.

Those clips can be saved whether or not users subscribe to Cloud Recording. With the Nest thermostat integration, Dropcam will be able to automatically turn on motion alerts when you leave the house. When you return home, motion alerts will automatically turn off. The updated app is on Google Play right now.

SOURCE: Google

XDA Xposed Tuesday: DonkeyGuard, Don’t Be a Donkey, Control Your Device – XDA Developer TV

Some applications ask for the world when it comes to permissions. I have spoken to developers who say it’s better to ask for permissions you don’t need, than you have to ask for more permissions in an update. However at some point, you may want to tweak information for certain apps.

In this episode of XDA Xposed Tuesday, XDA Developer TV Producer TK reviews an Xposed Module that lets you take full control over your device. XDA Senior Member CollegeDev created the DonkeyGuard module. TK shows off the modules and gives his thoughts, so check out this Xposed Tuesday video.

Be sure to check out other great XDA Developer TV Videos