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Fossil announces ‘major expansion’ into Android Wear

AndroidGuys
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Fossil Group today confirmed that it will have a “massive expansion” into Android Wear over the coming year. The announcement, which comes on the eve of IFA 2017, indicates that it will add new brands to its touchscreen wearables running Android Wear.

See: Diesel’s first Android Wear smartwatch available for $325

Fossil already has five brands (Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, Michael Kors and Misfit) which will have new, full-round smartwatches later this year. It is not immediately clear which brands will be joining the portfolio. Others under the Fossil umbrella include Armani Exchange, Chaps, DKNY, kate spade new york, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, MICHELE, Relic, Skagen and Tory Burch.

Here’s a quick breakdown as to what we should expect among the five current brands over the next few months.

  • Diesel – The first Diesel On Full Guard touchscreen smartwatch will be available for presale August 29, with the entire collection globally available September 25.
  • Emporio Armani – The first Emporio Armani Connected touchscreen smartwatch is the epitome of sophistication, combining classic watch design with innovative technology. The smartwatch  – available September 14 – features 11 interchangeable straps and a Saved Faces watch app, which allows you to take your watch from day to night with leather, silicone and stainless steel straps.
  • Fossil – Fossil launches its first full-round touchscreen smartwatches, Fossil Q Venture and Fossil Q Explorist. These sleeker smartwatches feature stunning OLED displays and exclusive new watch apps. New styles are now available in select Fossil stores and on Fossil.com.
  • Michael Kors – The Michael Kors Access Sofie touchscreen smartwatches were developed with women in mind and feature a dazzling, sleek casebody and screen. The Michael Kors Access Grayson touchscreen smartwatch is designed for the sophisticated man on the go with a stainless steel casebody and oversized screen. All new Michael Kors Access touchscreen smartwatches will be available globally September 25.
  • Misfit – Misfit Vapor, which includes heart rate monitoring, standalone music functionality, and is swim proof to 5ATM, will be available in October.

According to Fossil, there will be more than 300 connected watch styles spread over more than one dozen brands by the end of this year. Aside from the Android Wear 2.0 models, Fossil also offers hybrid designs and, of course, traditional watches.

Destroy your boredom and battle cars with CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars (Review)

AndroidGuys
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Overview:

CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars is an action packed fun game where you have to use the skills of the engineer and the designer in you to build the perfect battle machine to defeat the world’s most evil creatures, cats. Both the player and the opponent are cats which might sound cute but is actually savage.

CATS is a physics based classic battle game developed by ZeptoLab which is known for the popular physics based game, Cut the Rope. The game is set in a backyard where cats with powerful vehicles clash with each other and gravity plays a major role here. Even though there is a lot of destruction and violence involved, the game is still ideal for everyone in the family to play because your enemy, is a cat.

Developer: ZeptoLab

Cost: Free (With in app purchases for gems)

Setup:

Before you can start destroying the battle cars of your enemy cats, you have to do the basic setup. This includes giving a nick name for your cat, (mine is Caty) and then connecting your Google Play account to record your scores and achievements. After this initial setup you can dive right into the game. You can also compete against your friends and share your best scores and achievements with them.

CATS : Crash Arena Turbo StarsCATS has a very simple and a straightforward gameplay much like other robot battle games out there, destroy your opponent. But, unlike those games, you don’t have to keep tapping on your screen to throw away your punches and kicks. Instead, you have to spend some of your time or maybe even some money to build your battle car.

The game requires you to have a basic knowledge about which parts should be used and which of them should be fused together. There are three main parts that make the battle car which include, the body, the wheels and the weapons of mass destruction. You can drag and drop parts to fuse together to upgrade their strength.

Impressions:

CATS is a downright destruction game and once you spend some of your time to create a perfect war machine or battle vehicle you can easily work your way to the top of the champions list. There is a cat which would guide you throughout the game and instructs you what to do on every stage.

CATS : Crash Arena Turbo StarsThe initial stages are somewhat difficult to pass through as your opponent cats would have massive weapons while you only have a basic saw which fails to destroy the battle cars of your enemies 90% of the time. But as you progress through the levels, you will be gaining more gems using which you can either buy new weapons or upgrade the old ones.

Since the game has no manual controls to attack your enemy and it is purely based on gravity, the only way you could defeat your cat opponent is by designing the perfect vehicle. The key to climb up the leader board is to make sure that you fuse together the most powerful weapons and use the right kind of wheels to your body. Small wheels might prevent you from pushing your opponent while large wheels might put you in the danger of getting flipped and ultimately destroyed. So, choose wisely, because the gems are limited.

CATS : Crash Arena Turbo StarsCATS needs you to complete a specific number of battles to move on to the next level. You can upgrade your components and add new ones at the end of every stage. If you feel like you are losing a lot of gems, you can either make in app purchases or consider betting on live battle games happening in the game arena. You have to bet on a player using a weapon you have and if the player of your choice wins, then you would get bonus points in terms of weapon upgrades.

The graphics of CATS is too good that sometimes it feels like you are watching a trailer of an animated movie when the bet match is being played. The visual effects are also cool with wrappers popping up when you win a bet and cats escaping with the help of parachutes when their vehicles are destroyed. The game developer has kept things as cute as possible and also makes sure that they are quite savage at the same time.

Conclusion:

The final thoughts on CATS is that it aims at keeping the audience engaged and entertained at all times and after destroying a ton of vehicles in the game, I have to say that they have successfully achieved their aim.

CATS : Crash Arena Turbo StarsIf you have some time to spare and would like to spend it by destroying some vehicles of cute little cats, then you can definetly give CATS : Crash Arena Turbo Stars a go. But keep in mind, everything in this game is fictional and you don’t have to hate cats in real life just because they destroyed your vehicle consecutively for the 10th time in the game.

Download CATS : Crash Arena Turbo Stars from the Google Play Store.

Diesel’s first Android Wear smartwatch now available for $325

Alexandra Arici
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Clothing brand, Diesel announced its first Android Wear smartwatch back at Beselworld in March. Now, the product called the Diesel On Full Guard is available for purchase in Macy’s department stores for the price of $325. Customers can also pre-order it online.

Diesel also has other Android Wear models in the pipeline from the same On family which are expected to land on September 25.

Like a lot of smartwatches out there, the Diesel On Full Guard comes packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 processor and a circular AMOLED display. It also includes IP67 certification, so it will continue to work just fine if you get caught in the rain, but you won’t be able to take it for a swim.

Diesel’s new wearable can be used to track steps, sleep cycles or calories burned and has custom wireless charging (estimated battery life up to 24h).

The watch is available with a 48mm case and is currently available with a black case and black/brown leather strap or steel bracelet.

But does the watch have any standout features that might make it worth paying $325 for? Yes, the software enhancements offered through the Diesel T-ON-I smartwatch app will most likely makes you look at this watch twice.

T-ON-I stands for Time, Organizing, Notification and Intelligence and can add things like watch face overlays that add extra functionality to Android Wear. For example, one can darken the display once you set the device to Do Not Disturb, but will show you notifications through cracks. Another one fogs the display once the smartwatch detects you went from active to inactive.

Naturally, the hardware sitting inside the Diesel On Full Guard has been produced by Fossil, which also provides its services to other fashion houses including Michael Kors, Emporio Armani, and Marc Jacobs.

Gear Up: Cut the cord with these Anker wireless charging pads

AG Deals Team
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Wireless charging has been around for quite a few years, but has come and gone depending on how the smartphone market is shaped each year. It seems that we’re in a current state of flux as many devices are launching with the ability to wirelessly charge (even the iPhone 8 could have it).

However, part of the problem with wireless charging is that OEM’s hope that you buy the one they released, which is usually priced at more than $50. Thankfully, there are a plethora of different options on the market that will save you a few bucks while making sure you can cut the cables.

If you’ve been following AndroidGuys for awhile, then you’ve likely heard of Anker and its array of reliable accessories for all of your devices. The company was gracious enough to send out not one, but two wireless charging pads so that everyone can get a better idea of what to expect.

Anker Wireless Charger with micro USB

Starting us off today is the standard micro USB wireless charging pad from Anker. The pad features a non-slip grip on the bottom, making it easy for you to stick it on your desk, and use it without worrying about the pad moving all over the place.

Around the edges, you’ll notice a plastic edge, which holds a pretty awesome feature – LED indicators. These LED indicators allow you to know when your device is charging, and they pulsate every 10 seconds just to keep you up-to-date on what’s going on with your phone.

Other than the LED indicators, the best feature of this charging pad may just be how slim and sleek it is. I’ve already packed this in my bag with my on the go so that I can charge my phone at the coffee shop by simply plugging in the charging pad to my laptop.

Now, there is a 10W fast charge mode, but you must be using a Quick Charge wall adapter, which is not included in the box. If you aren’t using Quick Charge, you’ll charge at the standard rate, which is to be expected.

As for pricing, the standard Anker Wireless Charging Pad, you won’t be charged an arm and a leg. Instead, you can hit the button below to snag this for just $19.99 with One-Day Prime shipping!

Buy the Anker Wireless Charging Pad!

Anker Wireless Charger with USB-C

The next wireless charging option we’re going to look at is the Anker Fast Wireless Charger with USB-C. This wireless charging pad includes many of the features of the aforementioned wireless charger, with some slight improvements. First and foremost, this version comes equipped with USB Type-C, which may make some of you out there pretty happy.

Additionally, this wireless charger also includes a LED indicator ring, but thanks to the button located on the bottom, you can easily turn it on or off. Plus, you don’t have to flip it over every time, as you can just push on the edge of the charging pad to activate/deactivate the LEDs.

This option would be better suited for your desk at home or the office, versus being taken on the go. This is due to the fact that it’s a tad bit thicker than the standard wireless charger, measuring in at 0.5 inches, versus the 0.3 inches of its brethren.

By no means is that a knock on this product, it’s just something to make note of if you’re comparing the two head-to-head. But if you do end up using this at your home or office, there is a non-slip ring on the bottom which makes sure that it doesn’t move around while you’re putting your phone on the charger or taking it off.

Now, considering that this charger comes with USB Type-C, the price is a little bit higher than the other option. This wireless charger comes in at $25.99, but also is available with Amazon’s One-Day Prime shipping. So if you’re interested, hit the button below to check it out!

Buy the Anker Wireless Charger with USB Type-C!

Conclusion

Both of these wireless chargers are great options if you happened to be in the market for one, and neither will break the bank. If you are looking to travel, I would recommend the standard Anker wireless charger, but if you’re looking for an option for your home or office, the USB Type-C option would probably be the better choice.

Let us know what you think about these and if you’ll be looking to pick one up for yourself!

Official LineageOS 14.1 nightlies now available for OnePlus 5, more LG G6 versions

Alexandra Arici
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LineageOS official builds are now available to download and install on more devices. The smartphones that are getting LineageOS 14.1 nightlies treatment are the OnePlus 5 (cheeseburger), Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (mido), European LG G6 (h870), US unlocked LG G6 (us997) and Sony Xperia L (taoshan).

LineageOS 14.1 which is based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat is already available for an impressive number of devices, but the developer team plans to bring it to even more models.

At the same time, Lineage has already started working on LineageOS 15 which is based on the recently released Android 8.0 Oreo.

Lineage is what rose from the ashes following Cyanogen Inc.’s demise back in December 2016. It’s basically a continuation of CyanogenMod OS and even retains the same build number system.

Earlier this month, LineageOS published a changelog detailing all major changes since July 3rd. It includes improvements such as updated Chromium Webview (to version 60), merged of July patches for both LineageOS 14.1 and 13.0. merged August Security Patches for LineageOS 14.1, as well as a host of Jelly browser upgrades. You can check out the full changelog by clicking here.

Anyway if you’re holding on to a OnePlus 5 you can go ahead and try LineageOS 14.1 right now!

The first water-resistant BlackBerry phone is coming this October, sans keyboard

Alexandra Arici
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Fans of BlackBerry handsets, listen to this! TCL – the company in charge of manufacturing BlackBerry phones now – recently confirmed to Engadget that a new all-touch BlackBerry handset is coming soon (that means no QWERTY keyboard included).

The upcoming phone will mark a first for the company – as it is going to sport IP67 certification for dust- and water-resistance. TCL’s Global General Manager, François Mahieu says the idea behind the new handset, which should land in October is to allow users to use it in all weather conditions.

Furthermore, the handset will include a pretty hefty battery which should be able to last at least 26 hours with “mixed use”. Will be able to compete with Motorola’s battery champs? We’ll just have to wait and see, but it sounds promising.

TCL has high hopes for its upcoming product and Mahieu says he expects some iPhone and Samsung Galaxy users to switch to the new BlackBerry once it becomes available. Does this mean we can expect the phone to have flagship-level specs? It might as well be possible.

Recently an unknown BlackBerry device popped up. Going by model number BBD100-1 it boasts a 1080p display, Snapdragon 626 and 4GB of RAM. But hopefully, BlackBerry’s first water-resistant device will bring better specs to the table, like a Snapdragon 835 processor.

With IFA 2017 coming up this week, we might hear more about BlackBerry’s handset during the event. Who knows we might even get a sneak peek at it.

OnePlus Student Program is now live, shaves 10% off the OnePlus 5

Alexandra Arici
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OnePlus is bringing out the big guns this back to school season. The Chinese company just announced a Student Program which will allow students (obviously) to get 10% off its products including the new and shiny OnePlus 5.

The Student Program is available for all students in a select number of regions including the USA, Canada, and the UK.

In order to be given access to the program, you will need to provide proof that you are a student. Login to Student Beans in order to verify your account and gain access to the Student Program.

Once you become a member, you’ll be able to claim your discount coupon which is valid for a whole month. Use it to grab the OnePlus 5 with 6GB of RAM + 64GB storage with $47.90 off or 8GB of RAM + 128GB storage version with $53.90 off. However, keep in mind that you can purchase only 1 discounted OnePlus 5 per account.

The good news is that there’s no limit when it comes to accessories purchases, so at least you can go wild with cases and dash chargers.

OnePlus also partnered up with iconic drone maker DJI to offer a bunch of exclusive bundles. Read more about it here.

Google rebrands Tango as ARCore

Alexandra Arici
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Back in 2014, Google introduced Project Tango – a mobile AR platform destined to enhance everyday life. Then finally in June 2016, Project Tango dropped the “Project” part of its name as it exited beta in its final form.

But unfortunately, the initiative never took off. After three years since its launch, there are only two Tango-enabled smartphones available on the market – the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and ASUS Zenfone AR, which launched last month.

Google found it harder than anticipated to convince OEMs to build Tango devices, so merely a few weeks after the ASUS Zenfone AR made an official debut, the tech giant made the decision to shutter the Tango brand.

The company launched ARCore – a new SDK which will allow developers to bring augmented reality capabilities to Android devices, no additional sensors needed. Part of the device manufacturers’ unwillingness to jump on board with Tango had to do with building complicated devices riddled with sensors and cameras, something which Google is trying to fix now with ARCore.

At the same time, Google announced it will be retiring the Tango brand and that going forward phones equipped with Tango depth-sensing capabilities will be branded as ARCore devices.

With Apple preparing to roll out its own ARKit to millions of iPhones with iOS 11 in a few weeks, Google definitely had to step its game up if it wants its AR ambitions to evolve into the right direction.

ARCore will certainly help more Android users get a taste of what AR has to offer because up until now not many have ventured to try it out (mainly due to the lack of supported devices). Actually, only a handful of Tango applications have managed to breach 1,000 downloads, while the majority only have a few hundred downloads each.

Anyway, during the SDK preview ARCore will support a handful of devise including the Google Pixel, Pixel XL and Samsung Galaxy S8. Google notes ARCore is designed to work on a variety of qualified Android devices running Android Nougat or later.

Fill out forms automatically with Chrome for Android [How-to]

Alexandra Arici
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Every time you purchase something online you will need to go through a standard set of steps: you’re required to fill in your personal info, address, as well as credit cards details. But this ritual can get annoying fast, especially if you shop online frequently.

Fortunately, if you use Chrome as your mobile Android browser, you can bypass all that by simply turning on the app’s Autofill option. Here’s how to do it:

1.    Open up the Chrome app on your Android device (phone or tablet)
2.    In the top right, tap More (the three dots)
3.    Choose Settings


4.    Tap Autofill and Payments
5.    Enable Autofill forms
6.    Proceed to add Addresses and Credit Cards

You can easily delete or edit address or credit card info.

Add: Tap on Addresses or Credit Cards, then tap on the Add button
Edit: Tap on the entry to change any information. Once you’re done tap Done
Delete: Tap the entry. Tap the Delete button in the right top corner.

Galaxy S8 and S8+ get Verzion update to speed up facial recognition

Dan Bartram
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Customers on Big Red should be seeing a rather sizeable update hit their Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ devices over the next few days.

Before you get too excited, it’s not Android Oreo. Rather a large update that targets quite a lot of bug fixes. In addition to fixing a huge list of bugs related to VPNs, alarms, and car bluetooth audio, the update also targets a navigation bar tweak and speeding up the facial recognition process.

The changelog is listed below that highlights the key updates:

  • Faster face recognition
  • Navigation bar “Show and hide button” updated to interact with a double tap
  • Alarm notifications on the AOD (Always On Display) fix
  • Briefing card update notification fix
  • Car Bluetooth® music browser issue fix
  • Caller Name ID app update
  • Smart Switch app update
  • For B2B enterprise customers: VPN and Knox improvements

The navigation tweak takes the single tap for unlocking or locking the bar hiding is now a double-tap, while the facial recognition change speeds up the process but naturally, makes it less secure.

The update should be hitting devices via an OTA update but if it’s not rolled out to your device just yet, you can try manually triggering it. You can check manually for the update in Settings -> About phone -> Software updates -> Check for Updates where you’ll be prompted to download one if it’s available.

The bluetooth audio bug was a bit hitter for a lot of Galaxy S8 owners so drop us a comment if all your problems have been fixed with this update.

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