Android - page 28

Sorry Samsung, the Galaxy S6 may have a major hardware fault

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The Samsung Galaxy S6 may borrow its physical form factor, software design, and, yes, even EarPods from the iPhone 6, but there’s one thing Samsung forgot to pilfer: quality.

According to new reports coming out of Asia, the newly-unveiled Samsung Galaxy S6 and SGS6 edge handsets both suffer from a pretty grievous fault — in the form of a display error that stops them properly reading touch inputs around the bezel.

Check out the photos and video after the jump.

Apple Watch is ‘definitely lacking’ says Pebble founder

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Becoming the most funded Kickstarter in history is certainly enough to boost confidence — and if you’re Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky it’s enough to get you to take some potshots at giant-sized rival, Apple.

With Cupertino’s March 9 Apple Watch event just one week away, Migicovsky has thrown out a few barbed comments about Apple’s eagerly-anticipated debut wearable. Describing the device as “definitely lacking,” Pebble’s founder noted how he’s just not that into smartwatches that are “relegated to being an accessory to your mobile phones.”

Oh, snap!

Pebble’s Apple Watch competitor is the most-funded Kickstarter ever

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Pebble gave its latest smartwatch project an extra bump this morning with the new Pebble Time Steel model, which pushed the project over the mark to become the most-funded Kickstarter project ever.

Pebble Time has raked in $13,617,054 so far, pushing it past the Coolest Cooler for the top spot. Pebble also has the third-most-successful Kickstarter project with its original Pebble Watch in 2012. The Pebble Time project still has 24 days left, so it will likely push far past the $15 million mark.

Here are the top 10 most-funded Kickstarters of all time:

Pebble Time Steel is the more attractive sibling to Pebble’s new smartwatch

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This time last week, Pebble announced Pebble Time, its brand new smartwatch for 2015. And if you’ve already backed that thinking it would keep you going until a more extravagant successor to the Pebble Steel came along, you’re going to be pretty disappointed with today’s Pebble news.

Just one week after the company announced Pebble Time and raked in more than $12 million (and counting) in funding, it today revealed Pebble Time Steel, a high-end version of the device that’s made of metal, and boasts better battery life.

Game of phones: 2014 was the year Apple dethroned Samsung

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Of the smartphone stories which played out in 2014, two of the biggest were the triumph of Apple’s iPhone 6, which sold a massive 10 million+ units in its opening weekend alone, and the faltering of Samsung, which fell from the dominant position it had enjoyed since 2011.

Today, a new report from Gartner (paywall) breaks down both the 1.2 billion smartphone sales that took place worldwide last year, and also the sales from Q4 2014 — revealing how Apple leaped ahead in the smartphone category, while the South Korean tech giant Samsung started to lose its footing.

Make no mistake about it: this was the year everything changed.

Qualcomm’s answer to Touch ID scans your fingerprint through metal

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Apple’s Touch ID sensor has been the best and most reliable fingerprint scanner since it made its debut in the iPhone 5s, but competing products announced at Mobile World Congress this week could give the Cupertino company some concern.

Not only has Samsung made huge improvements to its own fingerprint sensor for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, but Qualcomm has delivered an even more impressive alternative called Sense ID that works through aluminum, stainless steel, and more.

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are here to take on the iPhone

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Samsung’s love affair with cheap, tacky plastic is on hold for its stunning new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

Unveiled today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the new handsets pull out all the stops in an effort to reverse Samsung’s declining smartphone sales and mount a new challenge against Apple’s most popular iPhones to date.

They sport all-new designs made out of premium materials, and vastly improved software that promises a better user experience. But they aren’t without their own compromises.

Monohm’s circular smartphone is designed to look like a pocket watch

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Samsung’s three-sided display may make the Galaxy S6 Edge a little different, but it won’t be the most unique smartphone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Monohm, a company based in Berkeley, California, that makes “heirloom electronics,” will announce a perfectly round smartphone called the Runcible that’s designed to look like a pocket watch.

Samsung is ripping off Apple’s EarPods for the Galaxy S6

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When Apple’s Greg Joswiak first introduced the EarPods on stage at the iPhone 5 event in 2012, he said they “look unlike any headphone you’ve ever seen before.” Samsung won’t be able to say the same for its new earphones, however, because they are essentially EarPods clones.

It has taken a lot longer than we anticipated, but the South Korean company has finally gotten around to launching an EarPods ripoff of its own, and it’s expected to come bundled with the upcoming Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

BlackBerry is losing 56,000 users a month in the U.K.

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BlackBerry’s smartphone business is imploding in a big way in the U.K., where the company is currently losing around 56,000 users every month to Android, iOS, and Windows Phone, new research shows.

Just two years ago, the Canadian company had around 8 million non-business users in the U.K., but that figure is expected to fall below 1 million by the end of this year.

Carriers think the Galaxy S6 Edge is prettier than the iPhone 6

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For the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung is ditching all of its tacky plastic in favor of an all-new design made entirely from premium materials — and already its efforts are paying off.

According to carrier partners that have been given a sneak peek at the next-generation devices ahead of their official debuts on March 1, the Galaxy S6 beats the iPhone 6 in terms of design.

Google Wallet will be baked into future Android phones

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Google is stepping up its game in the mobile payments space this year by striking a deal with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to pre-install Google Wallet on all Android phones.

The move comes after Apple Pay has started to take over the mobile payments space, despite launching less than six months ago. With the new pre-installed Google Wallet deal, Google will hopefully add more consumers to the feature that’s been around since 2011 but hasn’t grown as quickly as the company hoped.

New Kids apps make YouTube safe for little ones

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YouTube Kids, the brand new app designed to make YouTube a safer and more enjoyable place for our little ones, is now available on Android and iOS.

In addition to a selection of curated videos ideal for young viewers, the apps make it easier for kids to find and navigate their way around suitable content, and they block out anything that’s not fit for small eyes.

Coming soon to an Android Wear near you: iOS notifications?

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Coming soon to an Android Wear smartwatch near you: iOS notifications? Photo: Motorola
Coming soon to an Android Wear smartwatch near you: iOS notifications? Photo: Motorola

As an iPhone owner, I’ve been curious about Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, from the get-go. The problem is Android Wear requires an Android smartphone to work, leaving everyone out to dry.

That might be changing though. An independent developer has just released a tantalizing video, showing iOS sending notifications to an Android Wear smart watch.