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Incipio announces a (fairly standard) vent-mounted Moto Mod car-dock

Donovan Jeska
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EDIT: Thanks to a helpful email, I’ve been informed that the dock does include a 3.5mm jack on the dock itself – this definitely makes a difference. Noted within the article as well. In addition, we should be getting more details in the coming days – we’ll keep you updated.

Incipio’s new auto-dock mod for the Moto Z seems kinda interesting at first glance; it utilizes the magnetic connection integrated into the back of the Moto Z, rather than other similar docks that make you stick a magnetic pad to the back of your phone (or inside your case), and it touts the fact that it’s “fully compatible” with charging, Bluetooth and audio jacks.

incipio-moto-z-vehicle-dock-black-ab_v2_1
But hey, at least it looks exactly like every other vent dock out there.

But when you actually look at the device, you’ll see that it’s little more than a standard vent-dock with a Moto Mod compatible cover attached via ball-joint. That being said, there is a 3.5mm jack on the dock itself, so cars without Bluetooth will have an easier time hooking up to audio using the dock.

At a whoppin’ $64.99, the Incipio Auto-Dock is probably not worth your money – but you can get to the Incipio store to buy it (when it comes out) by clicking that link, if you feel so compelled.

Check out these fantastic deals on phones at Sprint

AndroidGuys
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Time to purchase a new smartphone? Is this an upgrade from an existing device? We want to help you out either way.

To save you money, we’ve gathered up all of the promotions we could find from Sprint. Regardless of where you’re thinking of going for service, or what phone you are looking to pick up, you owe it to yourself to check below.

What follows is a mix of phone, rate plan, and accessory promotions worth checking out. It might not be an exhaustive list, but it’s a good collection of what’s currently offered through Sprint.

Although we’ve listed known expiration dates, we have no idea how long some of these other deals will last.

Sprint Deals

Verizon Smartphone Buyer’s Guide December 2016

AndroidGuys
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With the year winding down, now is a great time to make the switch to a new phone. But, given there are so many models on the market, it can be confusing. What kind of user are you? Let us help you figure out which devices are right for you. Here’s a look at what we recommend from Verizon.

Chuwi HiBox MiniPC dual boots Android and Windows 10 and only costs $150

AndroidGuys
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Is it getting to be that time where you need to consider a new PC for the home or office? What are your needs? Do you spend a lot of time using a particular platform such as Windows or Android? What if you find that you need to work with both? Now what?

hibox_a1_05If you’re the type of user who doesn’t necessarily need to keep up with the latest in hardware and sofware, you might want to check out a Mini PC. This goes double if you’re hoping to avoid spending a ton of money on your next computer.

The Chuwi HiBox MiniPC, which goes on sale December 6, is a rather small, yet semi-powerful computer option. It runs both Windows 10 as well as Android 5.1, meaning it can blend work and play with the best of them.

chuwi_hibox_with_remote

In terms of hardware specifications, the HiBox MiniPC packs a 64-bit quad-core Intel X5 Z8350 processor with 4GB DDR3 RAM. Storage comes in at 64GB of eMMC capacity and the TF card slot allows for another 128GB of space.

As for ports and connectivity, you’ll find 802.11 ac 2.4Ghz/5Ghz dual band Wi-Fi, USB 2.0/3.0, HDMI, gigabit ethernet, 3.5m headphone jack, and Bluetooth. Indeed, you can pair a wireless keyboard and mouse to it and have a minimal home office computer setup. Or, put it in the living room and enjoy a lean-back experience by watching movies or playing games with a Bluetooth controller.

chuwi_hibox_01

Details

  • Intel X5 Z8350 64-bit quad core CPU and Intel Gen8 HD Graphics.
  • 4GB DDR3 RAM
  • 64GB eMMC Flash
  • TF card up to 128GB (not included)
  • Windows 10 + Android 5.1 Dual OS
  • Supports 2.4Ghz/5Ghz dual band Wi-Fi, 1000M Ethernet jack, Bluetooth V4.0 Streaming and 2.4GHz air mouse remote controller (need to purchase separately)

Where to Buy

You can learn more about the HiBox MiniPC at Chuwi’s website where there’s also a link to purchase via Gearbest for about $148. Looking ahead a few days we anticipate seeing more retailers offering the unit.

Steal This Look – Give your Android a makeover in five minutes or less (Retro Gaming)

AndroidGuys
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You like video games, right? Of course you do. If you’re a fan of the classic games of the 8-bit era, then this look is for you. Turn your phone into the perfect representation of the golden age of gaming, or fill your home screen with your favorite characters. Whatever way you want to do it, here is what you need to make it happen.

Why pay for some of these apps?

You might put in a few bucks to get things rolling but you’ll be glad you did in the long run. The sheer level of configuration and customization behind a few of these titles means endless designs. If you’ve been doing the custom home screen stuff for a while, you may have already purchased some of these apps already.

What you’ll need:

Settings:

  • Desktop grid is set to 5×5 with subgrid positioning enabled in Nova Launcher’s ‘Desktop’ settings
  • The Dock is set at 5 icons in Nova Launcher’s ‘Dock’ settings
  • The notification bar has been hidden in Nova Launcher’s ‘Look & feel’ settings
  • A custom app drawer icon is used, which is found in the respective icon pack’s list of alternative icons.
  • Wallpaper settings are set to “Scroll left” and all effects are on.

Of course, you are not limited to what is shown here, as the icon pack contains dozens of awesome retro-gaming and sprite art to use. Also, you can use whatever wallpaper suits your fancy if you don’t like the live wallpaper.

About Steal This Look

Here at Android Guys, we’re huge fans of changing the home screen around a bit and creating a new user experience for our Android device. In fact, we love it so much that we have an ongoing series of Steal This Look posts. In a nutshell we show you a new layout, app, widget, or icon set for your Android device and tell you which apps you’ll need to mimic the feel.

Some of these are a little easier to create than others and many of them can be tweaked to no end. The above details are but the ingredients to which you can create your own delicious Android dish; your results will vary. Which is awesome! If nothing else, this is a great way to discover new apps, widgets, icons, and more!

Cyanogen cutting ties with Kondik, moving to sunny California

Donovan Jeska
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In a blog post by CEO Lior Tal, Cyanogen Inc. has announced that its Seattle office will relocate to Palo Alto, California – and in the process, leave Co-Founder Steve Kondik behind.

While I’m not one for lengthy goodbyes, I feel like this little one-line, dismissive tidbit – not even a thank you for bringing CM to the world, mind you – is a disservice to Kondik. I remember back when he ran a (more-or-less) one-man show building CyanogenMod from stock Android, up. In the early days of Cupcake and Donut, Kondik and his band of merry men integrated features that actually made Android usable. Many of these features eventually made their way to Google’s OS in an official capacity without a word of credit to Kondik or CyanogenMod.

mt3g
Yeah. This guy. Remember that adorable li’l trackball?

Personal anecdote – back in the day, I had myself a T-Mobile MyTouch; not even the MyTouch 4G, mind you, but the old-school MyTouch 3G – you know, the successor to the G1. In short order, it was outdated. Before long, it couldn’t even open the keyboard without crashing. CyanogenMod changed that. Long after the MyTouch had overstayed its welcome, I changed it out for a T-Mobile G2 – with that sweet, sweet flip keyboard. I installed CyanogenMod on that, too. Without CyanogenMod, my G2 and MyTouch phones would have crapped out long before they did. CyanogenMod cut much of the fat from Android at the time and optimized memory usage, so such phones could get Gingerbread and even Froyo long after they’d been dropped from official support.

 

Lately, though Cyanogen has pivoted in a different direction – but it’s hard to fault Kondik for moving on. The Cyanogen of today is barely recognizable as the innovative, device saving CyanogenMod of yesteryear.

On a personal level this is a sad moment, but I hope Kondik gets back to his roots of pushing the limits of what Android is capable. So, let me take this opportunity to finally say goodbye to the old CM, as the departure of Kondik is the last remnant of what used to be a dominant third-party ROM.

RIP CyanogenMod

cmlogo

/tears

8 simple steps to building a website that will be mobile friendly (PROMOTED)

Guest Blogger
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Small screen or “mobile” devices have finally overtaken traditional laptops and desktops as the most popular way to browse the Internet.

This not only explains Google’s algorithm shifts to re-rank mobile-friendly websites higher in search engine results, but also reinforces why it is in every blogger’s, business owner’s and entrepreneur’s best interests to ensure the most mobile-friendly website.

In this article, learn 8 simple steps to follow for building a mobile-friendly website.

Step 1: Study current site analytics thoroughly

Any site design or redesign should build on the strengths of a previous site. Here, analysis of analytics will offer critical insight into the following:

  • What type of information users are seeking when they access the site.
  • What the most common tasks are (for example, signing up for an email list group, making a purchase, clipping coupons, reading blog posts, et al).
  • Which pages generate the most hits and in what order (this analytic speaks directly to site navigation).

Step 2: Emphasize simplicity of function

A mobile user doesn’t want to sift through a mountain of information to find what they are seeking. Mobile users typically have both less time and less patience when accessing the web from a small screen device.

This makes simplicity the win-win of the mobile marketing world. A mobile website that uses its own analytics to streamline and simplify mobile users’ experiences will move up ever higher in the search engine rankings.

Step 3: Focus on thematic consistency

A successful mobile-friendly website will not appear to be fundamentally different from its full site counterpart. This is often referred to as “responsive web design,” which basically translates to mean that the site template itself is smart enough to sense the screen size of the device it is being accessed from and adjust its display accordingly.

Many templates today have inbuilt thematic responsiveness. Be sure to verify that the selected template offers this functionality before beginning to create a website.

Step 4: Don’t forget about loading speed

If a website doesn’t load on a small screen mobile device in two seconds or less, you will get at best one more second before 40 percent of site visitors will depart. Most will never return again.

Page loading speed is a function of several components:

  • Web-optimized site graphics and images
  • Selection of a web host with generous bandwidth per client
  • Clean, clear, simple CSS
  • Nonresponsive Javascripts
  • Poor cache management
  • Too many 301 redirects

Step 5: Choose the right web host

If there is one fact that can be counted in the world of all things web, it is this: there will always be plenty of web hosting providers to choose from. However, it is important to know what to look for to choose a host that will provide maximum performance, uptime and loading speed.

These elements can signal a high quality web hosting provider:

  • 99.99 percent uptime
  • Providing up-time and reliability guarantees
  • Easy integration with third-party tools and apps
  • Posted minimum/maximum traffic per hosting (shared, dedicated, et al) options
  • Generous bandwidth (20 MB or higher) per site options
  • Highly responsive technical and customer service support.

Also be sure to do independent research to read what other users with similar sites say about any given web host before selecting the host. This will offer insight into whether the testimonials and claims on a host’s own website are accurate.

Step 6: Be sure font and button sizes and styles are optimized for mobile viewing

Viewing a site on a smaller screen tablet or phone can make for an uncomfortable experience if font or button sizes are too small. And zoom screen options, while helpful to magnify small text, then reduce some of the functionality of the web page itself.

Ideally, each page of a mobile website should be simple enough to allow for highly viewable font and button sizes on each page. Pages that become too cluttered with images or text or interaction options are pages that are no longer mobile-friendly.

Testing should include users with a variety of finger sizes (to test button size) and users with vision impairment (to test for font size) as well as tests for overall small screen visibility and usability.

Step 7: Forego complicating factors like pop-ups and Flash animation

While these types of tools may be useful when installed on full-screen websites, they are reliably problematic when used for smaller screen site experiences.

Flash may not even work on some mobile device operating systems, and pop-ups can obscure the page on a small screen device to such an extent that the visitor just gives up and leaves.

As well, selecting the simplest and most concise page titles, meta-descriptions and URLs will all help to optimize the new mobile website for higher browser search engine rankings (regardless of the specific browser selected for use on that device).

Step 8: Be sure to run Google’s mobile-friendly web test and speed test

Google’s development team has made two essential tools available for free to website developers: a mobile-friendly test tool and a page speed test tool. Before signing off on a new mobile-friendly website, be sure to run both tools to determine if all objectives have been successfully met.

By following these eight steps to create a website, the end result will be a site that is faster, friendlier and more useful to mobile visitors and desktop/laptop visitors. While it will take more planning and preparation work on the front end, the actual design and implementation process will then proceed faster because the major design details have been worked out in advance.

Testing will also proceed more smoothly because most of the major mobile obstacles and bugs will have been identified and solved for in advance. The reward will be a lovely, responsive site visitors love.

Disclaimer: This article is a guest contributed or sponsored post; AndroidGuys does not claim any responsibility for it beyond the pre-approved links and content.

Verizon’s GizmoTab tablet could be an excellent Christmas gift for your kid

Alexandra Arici
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Christmas is approaching quickly and if you haven’t purchased a gift for your kid yet, Verizon might have what you need. The carrier has just released a new child friendly tablet dubbed the GizmoTab, designed for children aged 3 to 8.

The GizmoTab features an 8-inch HD display (720p resolution) and a Snapdragon 617 processor breathing life into the device from under the hood. The slate has 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory (expandable via microSD cardslot up to 128GB).

verizon-kids-tablet

Children can use the slate to take photos as well thanks to the 8MP main camera and a 5MP selfie snapper. A big plus of the GizmoTab is the hefty 5,100 mAh battery which will keep the tablet going for a long time.

The tablet comes encased in a (removable) bumper, which protects against accidental drops and bumps.

As you can see the tablet is quite decent spec-wise. What we’re not told is whether the device allows parents to limit accessibility to certain apps or overall usage of the tablet.

gizmotab-with-case

We do know that GizmoTab arrives with a series of 300 premium learning apps including approved by educational experts. Kids will be able to find titles like Crayola, DreamWorks Animation, Hasbro, National Geographic, Toca Boca, Sesame Workship, HiT Entertainment or The Jim Henson Company on board. Learn more about what Fingerprint brings to the table as it pertains to curating content.

The GizmoTab runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box and won’t probably see any Nougat during its life time.

verizon transparent logo

The GizmoTab is available from Verizon online and in brick and mortar locations starting December 1 and can be yours for $249.99 outright or for $79.99 with the usual two year activation affair.

For a limited time, Verizon also offers an additional offer. Parents who purchase the GizmoTab will also receive a gift card for one of the following: Toys R Us, Barnes & Noble or the Gap.

The best promos and discounts on phones, tablets, and accessories through T-Mobile

AndroidGuys
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0

Time to purchase a new smartphone? Is this an upgrade from an existing device? We want to help you out either way.

To save you money, we’ve gathered up all of the promotions we could find from T-Mobile. Regardless of where you’re thinking of going for service, or what phone you are looking to pick up, you owe it to yourself to check below.

What follows is a mix of phone, rate plan, and accessory promotions worth checking out. It might not be an exhaustive list, but it’s a good collection of what’s currently offered through T-Mobile.

Although we’ve listed known expiration dates, we have no idea how long some of these other deals will last.

T-Mobile Deals

Prepaid

chargers_holiday

Accessories

Don’t expect a new Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch anytime soon

Alexandra Arici
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I haven’t seen many wearables launch in the last few months have you? Apart from Samsung’s Gear S3 and ASUS’ ZenWatch 3 going on sale, there hasn’t been much action in this particular niche.

Actually interest for smartwatches and related seems to be going downwards. And don’t think that smartwatch makers like Motorola haven’t noticed it. Actually if you were hoping to see a next-gen Moto 360 smartwatch arrive on the market any time soon, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

no-more-motorola-wearables

Launched in 2014, the original Moto 360 captured the attention of wearable fans with its sleek curvaceous design. Many reviewers said the Moto 360 proved to be a success because it resembled so a traditional watch so much. Motorola even released a next-gen Moto 360 in 2015, but it seems the smartwatch’s momentum has faded.

more-moto-360-2nd-gen

Talking to The Verge, Moto’s Head of Global Product development Shakil Barkat said that the company doesn’t “see enough full in the market” to be considering a new smartwatch in the near future. Motorola recognizes wearables do not have enough appeal, so refreshing its smartwatch lineup every year does not make sense.

Android Wear 2.0 will be unveiled in early 2017, but Motorola may not be listed as a partner anymore. Although LG is rumored to be working on a series of new intelligent timepieces dubbed Watch Style, Watch Pro, Watch Force and Watch Solo.

lg-watch-urbane

After the Pixel, Google might also decide it’s time to unveil an Android Wear smartwatch of its own. And HTC’s elusive Halfbeak prototype has been spotted around the web a few months ago, indicating HTC might also launch a new wearable in the near future.

A recent report released by IDC wearables, revealed that sales in the wearable market declined with 52% in Q3 compared to the same time period in 2015.

 

Furthermore, we’ve heard that Fibit might be interested in acquiring Pebble – a smartwatch startup that used to be quite popular. But recent developments indicate that both wearable makers are striving to survive.

It will be interesting to see what happens in 2017 and if the smartwatch will be able to make a comeback.

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