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Samsung is creating a Bixby speaker

Dan Bartram
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Samsung are clearly putting a lot of effort into creating its own virtual assistant with Bixby. However, it’s not been smooth sailing and saw a significant delay despite being included with the Galaxy S8.

Despite the various delays, Samsung still seem to be pushing on with its strategy to compete with the likes of Google Home and Amazon Echo by launching its own speaker. Amazon’s Echo line occupies more than 70% of the US market so Samsung clearly seem to be looking to go after this share of the market. Presumably the speaker would function in a similar way to its competitors and offer access to Bixby via an integrated speaker and microphone to provide virtual assistance.

There’s no timeframe currently defined as to when a Bixby speaker would launch but presumably Samsung’s efforts are focused on getting the virtual assistant working as advertised.

Check out this PlayStation Vita-like smartphone headed for the Western market soon

Alexandra Arici
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Gaming and smartphones have gone hand-in-hand for years now, but there has never been a phone that’s been designed with gamers in mind. Not if you live in the West anyway.

Chinese handset maker, Snail Mobile has been making smartphones that look like handheld gaming consoles for years. But so far it has been selling them on its home turf only. Although the company has big plans.

According to Engadget, Snail Mobile’s latest phone – awkwardly called Snail Mobile i7 – will soon make a debut on the global market, first in Hong Kong and then in the Western world.

The phone bundles pretty great specs coming with a 6-inch display with fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080), 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It relies on a MediaTek Helio X20 processor and includes a 16-megapixel camera alongside a 5-megapixel selfie snapper. The i7 also offers stereo speakers, USB Type-C port, and a super-large 6,000 mAh battery.

The phone’s body – reminiscent of the Sony PlayStation Vita – distinguishes it from the rest, while the presence of two analog sticks, D-pad and A,B,Y,X buttons lets gamers play without actually touching the display. Looking at it we can assume it provides a great experience for users who love to play older games through emulators.

However, given its odd shape, the i7 might not be the best choice for people looking to use the phone on a daily basis to perform regular tasks despite its large battery.

Anyway, Snail Mobile also plans to launch a premium version of the i7 which will offer 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

What do you think of the Snail Mobile i7? Would you be interested in acquiring one?

Bixby gets delayed in the US once more, don’t expect it until fall

Alexandra Arici
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Unveiled with a lot of pomp back in May, Samsung’s own virtual assistant called Bixby has failed to take off so far. Actually Bixby Voice – its most important part – wasn’t even available at the time of launch of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ – which were first phones to integrate the virtual helper.

Last month, Samsung introduced an Early Access program for Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users in the US which allows them to try Bixby voice features ahead of the public release. But according to a recent report coming out of the Korean Herald, Samsung has been getting mixed responses from US testers who are mainly complaining about unsatisfactory results in terms of responding to requests and questions.

Which is why industry insiders are now predicting the English version of Bixby will be delayed until this fall (at the latest). Back in April, Samsung’s mobile chief, Koh Don-jin said that the Bixby English version will be unveiled in May. But the Korean tech giant couldn’t come through on its Bixby deadline.

The chief reason for that? Samsung apparently lacks the accumulation of big data – the key to deep learning technology – which would enable Bixby to learn and evolve based on the accumulation of data or “knowledge”.

The report at hand also cites geographical and language barriers between US and Korean engineers as a second major impediment in the development of the English version of Bixby.

Tech giants like Google, Apple and Amazon have been dabbling in the big data business for a while now, so they hold an advantage over Samsung. Will the Korean tech giant ever manage to catch up? Unfortunately, at this point, things don’t look too promising.

Interestingly enough, Samsung is taking steps to push Bixby to other devices. The Galaxy Note7 Fan Edition that launched in South Korea a few days ago comes with Bixby support and according to recent rumors the company is also working on a Bixby-powered speaker dubbed Vega.

Moto X4 in gold smiles for the camera

Alexandra Arici
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Recently it was revealed that the upcoming Moto X4 will land at Project Fi in the fourth quarter of the year. Well if you were curious of how the phone will look like, @evleaks just posted a press render showcasing the handset in all its glory.

From the image, it appears the phone will come with a full glass construction and gold paint job. But unlike what we saw in an earlier leaked presentation video, it seems the Moto X4 will feature the LED below the camera and not above.

Older Moto X4 leak

As for specs, the Moto X4 should make a debut into the world with a 5.2-inch display with fullHD (1920 x 1080) and a Snapdragon 630 processor running the show (made of eight cores all clocked at 2.2GHz).

Motorola will offer the product with 4GB of RAM onboard and 64GB of internal storage (with microSD card slot for memory expansion). The phone will include a dual camera setup that’s said to consist of one 8-megapixel sensor and a 12-megapixel one. A 16-megapixel snapper will sit on the front.

It’s expected the phone will carry a 3,000 mAh battery, as well as an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance and a front-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Now after putting a face on the Moto X4, all we need to find out is how much Motorola plans to ask for the phone. Hopefully, it won’t be more than $400.

Jolla to start offering Sailfish OS for Sony Xperia X later this month

Alexandra Arici
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Remember that back in March, Jolla announced its intention of porting its Sailfish OS to some of Sony’s Xperia devices.

Initially, we were told to expect a community release from Jolla for Xperia X by the end of June 2017. Obviously, the launch did not happen, but the Jolla has updated the blog with some fresh info on the matter.

We’re told company has been facing some challenges including getting Sailfish OS to run on a 64-bit ARM device, making the installation process easy and adding support for Android apps. But the good news is that Jolla swill starts serving Sailfish OS 2.1.2 to a select number of Xperia X owners who are part of the Cbeta group, in the upcoming weeks.

For the time being, the team has completed work on the Xperia X single SIM version. Jolla has plans of adding compatibility to more devices like the Xperia X Compact, but it’s focusing on the Xperia X for now.

Back in 2012, Jolla went public with the intention of bringing its Linux-based Sailfish OS to manufacturers as an alternative to Google’s Android.

In 2015, fueled by the success of two Indiegogo campaigns, the Finnish company tried crowdfunding the Jolla Tablet, but failed miserably. Two years later, Jolla has had time to regroup and has made a comeback by announcing a few new projects and endeavors like the Sony partnership and a plan to make a Sailfish OS variant for the Chinese market.

HTC is prepping a mid-range phone with Edge Sense onboard

Alexandra Arici
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The HTC U11 was the first smartphone to introduce an interactive frame which users can squeeze in order to trigger certain (pre-configured) actions. Dubbed Edge Sense, the feature will not remain a U11 exclusive for long.

According to industry insider @LlabTooFeR, the Taiwanese company is gearing up to release a middle-range product codenamed Ocean Life which will also take advantage of Edge Sense.

The leakster also revealed the phone should make a debut with a 5.2-inch display with fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). A Snapdragon 660 will be in charge of pumping life into the device.

We’re also told Ocean Life will include a 16-megapixel/16-megapixel camera duo on back and front just like the OnePlus 3T. Other specs include a pretty small 2,600 mAh battery, Android 7.1.1 Nougat with HTC’s Sense 9.0 on top and Bluetooth 5.0. Users will be able to pair the new middle-ranger with a pair of HTC USonic earbuds. It sounds pretty good so far, doesn’t it?

Given that the HTC U11’s high $649 price tag has probably deterred a lot of curious customers from taking the new Edge Sense for a spin, news of a mid-range phone with the technology onboard is bound to get a lot of people excited.

Nokia 6 in Copper arrives in the US on August 18

Alexandra Arici
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Last week Amazon announced it will start offering the Nokia 6 in the US. The online retail giant will be selling the phone in a standard Silver model or as a Prime Exclusive model in Black (lockscreen offers and ads from Amazon included).

Customers will be able to purchase one of this version come July 10, but according to Amazon’s website, a third color option will also become available later this year.

For those of you who like to have a distinctive colored phone, the Nokia 6 in Copper will certainly seem like a worthy buy. The device – which will be available in both standard and Prime versions – will become available on August 18. You can place a pre-order for this model now, but keep in mind you’ll have to wait more than one month to get your hands on it.

The Nokia 6 includes a 5.5-inch display with fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080) and an octa-core Snapdragon 430 processor working in concert with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

The product also includes a pretty worthy 16-megapixel main camera, as well as an 8-megapixel front facing snapper. It bundles a 3,000 mAh battery and runs Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box.

We should also remind you the Nokia 6 is available for $229 in its standard form or for $179.99 for Prime members.

Moto Z2 Force for AT&T surfaces in new render

Alexandra Arici
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Remember that over the past few months we’ve seen the Moto Z2 Force leak a number of times? The phone hasn’t been officially announced yet, but as previous rumors have indicated, we expect it to be sold by all the major carriers, not just Verizon.

Case in point, this week a render revealed by reliable leakster @evleaks show us the Moto Z2 Force for AT&T. You can spot the carrier’s logo plastered on the back of the phone.

Older render of the Moto Z2 Force

Previously we heard the Moto Z2 Force might arrive with a 5.5-inch ShatterShield display with QHD resolution (2560 x 1440) and a Snapdragon 835 processor under the hood. The phone will also carry 4GB of RAM and a main dual camera setup.

Unlike last year’s model, the Moto Z2 Force is poised to take advantage of a 3.5mm headphone jack. The phone is also going to be compatible with Motorola’s family of Moto Mods.

For the time being, if you’d like to grab yourself a new Moto you should know the Moto Z2 Play is available at Verizon $408 outright.

Older render of the Moto Z2 Force (2)

Unlike the Moto Z2 Force, the Moto Z2 Play is a middle-range affair coming with a 5.5-inch display with fullHD (1920 x 1080) resolution, a Snapdragon 626 processor, as well as 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

So those craving a Motorola handset with premium specs will have to wait for Moto Z2 Force to land. But for the time being, we don’t know when the phone is scheduled to launch at AT&T (or at any other carrier for that matter).

OnePlus 3/3T gain new launcher, optimizations in latest Open Beta

Alexandra Arici
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Even if everyone’s eyes are on the newly released OnePlus 5, OnePlus is not neglecting its older flagships.

The company has started rolling out the next OxygenOS Open Beta update for OnePlus 3/3T which bumps the software version to number 19 and 10 respectively.

The two changelogs are quite similar, which means both phones are basically getting the same new features and upgrades. The most significant novelty is the new OnePlus Launcher 2.1 which includes support for dynamic icons for the Weather and Calendar apps.

Users can also customize the grid of the homescreen which remains the same regardless of whether the display size changes or not. Locating apps has been made easier in the latest beta – new apps will get a blue dot and recently search apps show up in the app drawer history.

Bluetooth compatibility has been improved, as well and the phone can now display the battery status of connected Bluetooth devices. The new beta also brings the option of adjusting the size of the clock widget, as well as an update UI style for the Clock app.

Below you’ll find the complete changelog:

All new OnePlus Launcher v2.1:

  • Supports dynamic icons for Weather and Calendar
  • Added ‘Home screen layout’ under launcher settings for grid and icon customizations
  • Grid layout will be kept irrespective of display size changes
  • Added search history records in app drawer, displaying the 5 most recent apps on the first row
  • Newly installed apps will now be tagged with a blue dot for easier recognition
  • You can access icon pack resources on the Play store directly under launcher settings
  • User interface improvements during widget selection
  • Launcher version information is now visible under launcher settings

Other additions:

  • Added an option to display battery status of connected Bluetooth devices
  • Added OnePlus widget (Not usable on Shelf)
  • Email address recognition within the text message contents
  • Size of clock widget is now adjustable
  • Updated UI style for Clock

Optimizations:

  • Smart Callback works even better now
  • Incoming call animations are more dazzling than ever
  • OnePlus font optimizations for select languages
  • Compatibility optimizations for various Bluetooth devices

Anyway, if you are not part of the open beta program, but would still like to try the new features you can do so by downloading the beta files and flashing them on your OnePlus 3 or OnePlus 3T.

Most popular Android apps this week: Bandicoot Adventure In Jungle, XDA Feed, Tiles, and more!

Dan Bartram
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The Google Play Store is filled with many apps, which is great for consumer selection, but can often make app discovery difficult. Some apps just never make it to our homescreen. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of this weeks hottest Android apps that have most likely gone under the radar or are so new that they haven’t had enough downloads to be featured or make it onto a top list.

 Tiles
App Info: Tiles makes use of the new Quick Settings Tile API (https://developer.android.com/about/versions/nougat/android-7.0.html#tile_api) to provide new tiles that can be added to Quick Settings to change system settings and take quick actions without leaving the context of the current app.

$1.49

Bandicoot Adventure in Jungle

  
App Info: Help this hero Bandicoot jump over the jungle and up to collect the magic apples and avoid enemies throughout an adventure journey through the levels.
Help this fox jump happy again the anger of the cortex while filling his chest full of magic apples.

Free

XDA Feed

  
App Info: XDA Feed is a “feed” of the best of the best from the XDA forums, updated several times per day. Whether it’s a new ROM, kernel, or mod to keep your phone customized, or a theme, wallpaper, or icon pack, to keep things fresh, XDA Feed will keep you apprised of the best stuff from the XDA forums, with granular notifications to filter content type and push interval selection — or disable them altogether.

Free

Video Downloader Mate
App Info: Video Downloader Mate help you to share video with your friends very easy, Video Downloader Mate also allow you to download your favorite videos.
This mate video app allows you to download videos from the Internet directly on your device.

Free

Race Kings
App Info: Experience thrilling new racing gameplay, and compete against 100% live real-time opponents.

Free

Adobe Scan
App Info: Experience thrilling new racing gameplay, and compete against 100% live real-time opponents.

Free

If you like these apps then drop us a comment below with your thoughts. Also if you have spotted a new app that you think is worth a mention, leave a comment below with your suggestion and we’ll be sure to check it out.

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