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iHome unveils a slew of versatile Bluetooth headphones

AndroidGuys
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iHome, the popular smart home and audio company, has revealed its new line of Bluetooth headphones at CES 2017. The models iHome has at the show this year are focused on long battery life and durability for use anywhere. They are also aggressively priced at sub-$50 for most models, which should make them a compelling option for headphone shoppers in the coming year.

There are four different models, all of which feature Bluetooth wireless, built-in push-button access to smartphone assistants like Google Now and Siri, and voice control also will be available on select SKUs.

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iB71 ($39.99) Bluetooth Water-resistant Sport Clip Earbuds – The iB71 sports earbuds offer rich, detailed sound with enhanced bass response. They are Bluetooth wireless for up to 30 feet and feature a slim cable between the two buds. IPX5 water resistance ensures they are sweatproof and protected from the elements, while custom fit ear cushions make extended listening a pleasure. The headphones feature in-line controls and come packaged with a travel pouch and charging cable.

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iB76 ($49.99) Weather Tough Bluetooth Sport Earbuds with Melody Voice Assistant – iP65-rated splashproof, sweatproof, shockproof and dustproof, great for outdoor use and protection from the elements. Rechargeable battery provides up to eight hours of continuous use. Built-in echo-cancelling mic allows you to have crystal clear wireless phone calls and a remote control on the cable puts music, call and volume controls within easy reach. Voice prompts enhance user experience with Bluetooth pairing and interface confirmations. Voice activation lets you access Siri and Okay Google over the earbuds.

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iB88 ($69.99) Weather Tough Foldable Bluetooth Headphones with Melody Voice Assistant – iP65-rated splashproof, sweatproof, dustproof rugged design, great for offering extreme protection from the elements. Foldable construction for easy portability. The iB88 also claim to provide up to 18 hours of continuous use per charge. Also, they feature in-line mic/remote and voice control.

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iB90V2 ($49.99) Bluetooth Headphones with Extra Long Life Battery – Boasting impressive battery life, the iB90V2 features an extra-long life rechargeable battery that provides up to 43 hours of continuous listening. These headphones feature padded, cushioned pads and headband for comfort during long listening sessions. Also, the iB90V2 features remote and microphone on the earcup and supports voice controls.

All of these headphones are feature-packed and super affordable, so if you’re in the market for headphones in 2017 be sure to keep an eye out for these.

Keep checking back with us for more coverage of CES 2017!

T-Mobile flattens phone bills, kicks back money for unused data, and streamlines to one rate plan

Scott Webster
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Today’s a big day in the land of T-Mobile. The carrier, err, Un-carrier, rather, today announced a number of changes as part of its latest initiative. Speaking in Las Vegas today, T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere and COO Mike Sievert announced that it will do away with “crazy monthly fees and added taxes”. Well, at least in a consumer-facing manner, that is.

Going forward, the T-Mobile One rate plan will be flattened; a $50 plan is going to appear as $50 on the bill. In other words, the taxes and other charges will be folded into the price. You might still see oddball charges for upgrades or equipment installation costs, but the rate plan is getting cleaned up.

Now, the price you see advertised is actually the price you pay. When you sign up for T-Mobile ONE and AutoPay for $40 a line for a family of four, your bill at the end of the month is EXACTLY $40 per line for your wireless service. And not a penny more.

Additionally, T-Mobile is going to start kicking back money to customers who don’t use very much data. Effective January 22nd, any subscribers on a Simple Choice or One plan who doe not use at least 2GB of data in a month will receive a “KickBack” worth up to $10 per line. Available for phones and tablets, the options can be enabled via the T-Mobile app, or via customer service.

But, wait, there’s more

In a move some saw coming a mile away, T-Mobile will now ONLY offer T-Mobile One plans later this month. Current customers will be able to keep their current data packages, but all new customers and current customers changing to a new data allotment will only be able to pick a T-Mobile One plan.

Here’s the problem with that: a lot of customers don’t want their streaming video capped at 480P. Sure, some, maybe most, don’t care, but that T-Mobile is locking customers into this unless they pay an additional charge for HD access every month is troubling from a company who claims to be all about the consumer and removing pain points.

Nevertheless, subscribers will be able to get HD Day passes if they sign up for the T-Mobile ONE Plus option which runs an extra $15 per month. Also included in the bundle is Gogo Full Flight Unlimited Wi-Fi, 2x the data speed when traveling, Voicemail to Text, and Name ID.

A ONE Plus International add-on can also be purchased for $25 per month, per line which also offers Unlimited international calling to landlines in 70+ countries and mobile numbers in 30+ countries,  and Unlimited 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot.

 

Polaroid is still around and announced a camera/printer combo that is a thing for some reason

Matt Adams
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Remember Polaroids? The memories of taking a picture, ejecting a film and waving it around until a picture formed will be burned into my memory until the end of time. Polaroid is trying to capitalize on that nostalgia by announcing the Polaroid Pop, a new digital camera that will allow you to print your pictures on the spot in the same format as Polaroid pictures of old.

First, the nuts and bolts. The Pop is a digital camera with a 20MP CMOS sensor and dual-LED flash. The camera features Bluetooth, WiFi, a 3.97″ LCD touchscreen, and a microSD card slot that can take cards up to 128GB. The camera can also shoot 1080P but no word on if it can do 60 frames per second or will be capped at 30FPS.

At the heart of the camera is the Polaroid Zip Instant Printer. The onboard printer will allow you to print out a 3×3 picture onto the classic Polaroid frame, and thus end up with a 3×3 image on a 3×4 picture. The camera can also connect to other devices via WiFi or Bluetooth to allow them to use the printer function. A photo editor with a number of picture enhancements, stickers, filters, and the like will also be available.

These a frames in a photo editing application now. Not something you go to the store to buy.
These are frames in a photo editing application now. Not something you go to the store to buy.

Now, I hate to doubt Polaroid because they have a ton of experience in the photography world and have exactly none, but I just don’t see who is going to buy this. Younger kids don’t care about printing pictures, hell they would rather them disappear on Snapchat. Maybe Polaroid is banking on nostalgia to be enough for the 30+ crowd to pick one up… but with pricing and availability details not released yet, it’s hard to say if it would even be worth the cost. I loved Polaroids growing up, but this isn’t anything I’d be remotely interested in. My pictures live on my phone now and I’m happy with that.

We’d love to give you more pictures of this thing or pricing, but those aren’t available to us right now because Polaroid hasn’t released them. There’s a vague Q4 2017 release date for this thing if it ever actually sees the light of day. Polaroid went on for several sentences about the company it teamed up with to design this thing (Ammunition) how it had won awards for its work with brands like Beats By Dre., Adobe, Square, Lyft, and Williams-Sonoma, but I’m not seeing it. It doesn’t look great and the functionality feels redundant and unneeded.

Polaroid has been putting out variations of the same thing for years now and I honestly have no idea how the company is still afloat. Please, Polaroid, heed these words: Innovate or Die.

Acoustic Research unveils two indoor/outdoor wireless speakers at CES

Scott Webster
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Acoustic Research, makers of wireless audio solutions, and a subsidiary brand of VOXX International, has unveiled a pair of wireless speakers at the annual CES trade show. The new speakers are actually an update of an existing one plus an actual new model.

“Acoustic Research continuously adds to its speaker family while never faltering on the side of both style and functionality,” said Ian Geise, President of Acoustic Research. “Whether you’re indoors or out, these speakers blend into any home environment perfectly, while constantly producing high-quality, dependable sound.”

First up is the Hatteras Bluetooth Wireless Speaker, a tower that sits about two feet tall. Priced at $199.99, it delivers sound via a pair of 20-watt amplifiers and a large, enhanced bass radiator.

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Hatteras

In addition to the Bluetooth connection, listeners can also play music via the 3.5mm auxiliary input. Designed to withstand different types of weather, the Hatteras works both indoors and outdoors. Thanks to a 360-degree multi-color LED strip, the speaker can put on a light show in a variety of modes.

The Heartland Wireless Speaker comes in with a more affordable $49.99 price tag and promises “sound quality and clean design”.  With up to 12 hours of music playback, the speaker includes a 360-degree LED candlelight feature. So, while you’re chilling out to a down tempo playlist, the speaker is setting the mood, too. Pair it together with a second Heartland and you’ll have a true Bluetooth stereo sound that reaches even further.

The Hatteras Bluetooth Wireless Speaker will be available later this spring; however, the Heartland Wireless Speaker is available now.

Use Google Home to control your lights with Hue [How-To]

AndroidGuys
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In our quest for making your home the smartest of all the smart homes, we have brought you things like controlling your thermostat with Alexa and controlling your home with WeMo. Today we bring you a simple way to set the mood with custom lighting controls with the Phillips Hue. In case you don’t know, Hue is a wireless lighting kit that is controllable by a mobile app, or in this case by Google Home (or Alexa).

Prerequisites:

Of course, there are things we assume are completed prior to this setup.

  1. You have purchased and set up the Phillips Hue system
  2. You have the Hue App installed on your phone
  3. Have a Google Home with an associated Google account
  4. Have the Google Home App installed

Setup:

Now that we have all of the boring stuff out of the way, lets get into how to make your life just a little bit easier.

  1. Launch the Google Home application
  2. Tap the menu button in the upper left corner
  3. Tap on “Home Control”
  4. Select the “Philips Hue” option
  5. Google Home will find your lights (You may have to press the button on your Hue bridge again for Google Home to find them)
  6. Scroll through your lights and assign nicknames to more simply voice control your home

BAM, you are all done! In no time you can have your thermostat, outlets, light switches and bulbs all controlled by voice. What other Smart Home devices do you have? What devices would you like to see us cover? Leave us a comment below to let us know.

Alcatel A3 XL with 6-inch display offers Android 7.0 Nougat on the cheap

Alexandra Arici
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Yesterday, Chinese company TCL talked a bit about its future business model and publicized the fact that its portfolio includes the BlackBerry and Alcatel brands.

Alcatel is mostly known for its affordable devices and at CES 2017, the company also had a new product to show us – the ginormous Alcatel A3 XL phablet.

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If you love talking on huge phones, then you’re going to love the new Alcatel A3 XL and it’s 6-inch display. However, spec wise the device isn’t too interesting. It’s biggest selling point might be that it’s running Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Apart from that, expect really low-end specifications.

We have to give it to Alcatel, the A3 XL’s promo shots are quite gorgeous but misleading. So instead of turning out to be an awesome phablet, the A3 XL proves to be quite a boring device.

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The phone has a 6-inch IPS LCD display with 720 x 1280-pixel resolution and 5-point multi-touch. Meh.

On the inside sits a MediaTek MT8735B quad-core chip clocked at 1.1GHz working hand in hand with a flimsy 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. In the photography department, we have a boring 8MP main camera capable of shooting 720p video at 30fps. As for the selfie snapper it’s of 5MP variety.  The phablet also has a fingerprint sensor located on the back.

The battery sustaining the huge device is a 3,000 mAh one, which might seem insufficient. However, keep in mind that the A3 XL features a low resolution and not a very demanding processor. Android 7.0 Nougat should also help preserve battery life.

Now the Alcatel A3 XL might have been announced in the States, but it will not be sold in the country. The phablet is aimed at developing markets such as Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It will make it out in Q1 2017 with an unspecified price-tag attached to it.

NUU Mobile’s latest unlocked X5 flagship has a pretty interesting feature

Alexandra Arici
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NUU Mobile isn’t a name very well-known by smartphone enthusiasts, which is a shame really. We found that the company’s Z8 flagship was a pretty great device coming with capable specs and a low price-tag.

Well NUU Mobile was also present at CES 2017 this week and unveiled a brand new unlocked smartphone called the NUU X5. The flagship comes with a 5.5-inch display with FHD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) and Smart Gestures technologies, encased in a sleek all-metal body.

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On the inside, the NUU X5 takes advantage of a MediaTek octa-core MT6750 chipset clocked at 1.5GHz working in concert with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (expandable via 128GB).

NUU Mobile says the device has 13MPx camera features (both cameras have 13MP sensors?), a fingerprint ID, G-Sensor and a 2,950 mAh battery. A big selling point is that the NUU X5 ships out with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box unlike other affordable handsets.

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The phone is also the recipient of Konnect i7 – which NUU Mobile calls “Your Travelmate”. The technology gives international travelers access to services everywhere in the world by enabling PSTN voice calling service with effective cost and customized access and data consumption control, no contract needed or sign-up fees.

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The NUU X5 will become available in March for an undisclosed price tag (it’s bound to be affordable) and will be offered by the company’s official website and select retailers.

Coolpad Conjr touches down in US as $180 unlocked phone for T-Mobile, AT&T

Scott Webster
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You don’t have to watch the industry all that close to understand that the unlocked smartphone space is getting increasingly more competitive. More and more we’re hearing of brands and handsets that were unfamiliar to us only one or two years ago. Over the next few months and years consumers are going to purchase from phone makers they’ve never heard of – and they’ll be just as good as anything else they’ve owned.

One brand hoping to make a bigger splash in the US is Coolpad. Although they’ve produced phones since 2012, it’s had a tough time making much headway. Things will likely change, though, as it was recently purchased by a much bigger company in LeEco.

Coolpad’s latest phone, announced this week and already available, is the Conjr. Priced $179.99, it competes with the likes of Motorola’s Moto G series, a number Blu models, and a few entry-level devices from other international brands.

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Powered by Android 6.0 Marshmallow and a custom Cool UI 8.0, the Coolpad Conjr offers up a 5-inch display at 1280×720 pixel resolution. Running the show are a quad-core Mediatek (1GHz) processor with 3GB RAM; storage is pegged at 16GB internally with an microSD expansion card slot for more.

As for cameras, the Conjr comes with an 8-megapixel front-facing shooter and 13-megapixel rear unit. Both include LED flash and an f/2.2 aperture and the rear includes auto-focus and optical image stabilization.

The battery, which is non-removable, is listed at 2500mAh and should be sufficient for more basic users over the span of a day or more. Other specs include 4G LTE support for T-Mobile and AT&T, dual-SIM slots, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a fingerprint sensor.

Given the smartphone space is crowded at the $200 price point, the Coolpad Conjr might have a tough time making a go at things. On the other hand, it already has relationships in place with T-Mobile. And, when you have a company as big as LeEco backing you, the pockets and potential influence are rather deep.

Verizon intros Kyocera DuraForce Pro with Sapphire Shield display for extra strength

Alexandra Arici
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For professionals working in dangerous environments or just those who are prone to accidents, Verizon just introduced the Kyocera DuraForce Pro smartphone. The device takes advantage of the Verizon-exclusive scratch-resistant Sapphire Shield display to add even more durability.

But that’s not all, the Kyorcera DuraForce Pro boasts a rugged shell that is MIL-STD 810G certified for dust, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, blowing rain, low pressure solar radiation, salt fog, humidity, immersion, temperature shock and freezing rain – basically anything you can think about.

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To make the phone even more impenetrable, Kyocera has bestowed water resistance capabilities on the phone, meaning the device can survive being immersed in 6.5 feet of water up to 30 minutes.

Nothing can get past the DuraForce Pro, as the device can detect when things get damp and immediately switch to Underwater Mode, while moving the camera controls from the touchscreen to the physical buttons. Speaking of which, the phone can be controlled using gloves as well.

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As for specs, the DuraForce Pro features a 5-inch display with 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution and relies on a Snapdragon 617 to keep the lights on. There’s also 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 13MP/5MP camera combo and a 135-degree wide-view action camera. The phone relies on a solid 3,240 mAh battery and runs Android 6.0.1 out of the box.

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Verizon says that the Kyocera DuraForce Pro is aimed at professionals, so with this in mind customers will find Android for Work onboard. The service will allow to keep personal and work files separate, among other things.

If the Kyocera DuraForce Pro sounds good to you, you should know you can get it from Verizon for $0 down and $17/month for the 24 months. Or you can choose to pay $408 in full.

FYI AT&T was already offering a version of the Kyocera DuraForce Pro.

Fossil debuts a trio of hybrid watches that pair with Android phones

Scott Webster
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Watch maker Fossil today announced three new “hybrid” watches as part of its growing Q line of wearables. Falling somewhere between the full-on touch experience of Android Wear and activity trackers, the threesome of new models pair to your smartphone and offer tracking and notifications.

The trio, the Q Accomplice, Q Modern Pursuit, and Q Grant, will arrive in spring of 2017 and will carry prices that range from $175 to $215. Like other models in the Fossil Q family, the slim hybrid range blend fashion, craftsmanship, and functionality. And, in looking at others in the hybrid series, the new watches look right at home and every bit Fossil.

All models in the Fossil Q wearable line are compatible with Android 4.4+ and iPhone 5+ (running iOS 8.2+) and connect via Bluetooth. All hybrid watches from Fossil include activity tracking, date, alarm, and notifications (calendar, calls, text, and email).

Here’s a quick look at the different models being released in the coming months.

Q Accomplice

Designed to be your daily companion, the Q Accomplice is the slimmest wearable in the Fossil Q hybrid line. Details include a “slim case body, unassuming updated face details, and delicate design details highlight our watch designers’ goal to create the most functionally beautiful and elevated hybrid smartwatch”. With support for up to three customized pushers (Fossil Q app), offers up an always-on gauge that’s tailored to the wearer.

Q Modern Pursuit

The Q Modern Pursuit delivers bold colors and graphic iconography that make it easy to glance at your watch for reminders and notifications. The analog sports hands with slim tips and silicon straps ensure the watch is comfortable to those with more active lives.

Q Grant

The Q Grant draws inspiration from more traditional and vintage watches but still manages to include the functionality we expect today. A simple analog design, it includes highlighted red pointers on the watch hands and easy readability. This one is aimed at the everyday activity and lifestyle.

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