After all the pushback from customers, many companies have been outing details about just how much the government requests. In an attempt to ease the minds of their users. The discussion about FISA requests isn’t going anywhere, and this news will continue to be a trend until some policies see changes. At least that’s what many are hoping for.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has done a lot of good, but were not here to discuss or argue that. Instead, today Google has confirmed their new approach and request as to how they share these details, and are focusing on even more transparency. Google has petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts with a request to let them publish all these requests separately. Allowing for more transparency.

They confirmed the details with a quick statement over on Google+, and we’ll have to wait and see how things go. Google would like to publish the FISA requests all in aggregated numbers. National security requests, including FISA disclosures, and criminal requests should all be disclosed separately. Instead of lumping them together in one huge report where important aspects can get lost or overlooked.

I try not to stick my nose into all of this too much, especially given the heated nature of these debates, but figured an update was in order. This is certainly a step in the right direction from Google, and hopefully others follow suite and opt to be more transparent moving forward.

VIA: Google

From what we’re hearing, Verizon will be offering $100 off any Samsung 10-inch tablet with Verizon 4G LTE as a bundle deal for those purchasing the Galaxy S4, or the Galaxy S III. Instead of paying full price for the tablet, they’ll give you $100 towards the tablet of your choice if you’re also getting a new Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

And of course this requires a new 2-year contract, but that was expected. Samsung shared the details this evening over on Twitter, and Verizon’s also updated their tablet support page with the $100 off sticker for those interested. They only have two 10-inch tablets available, but this is a good deal for those in need of a good smartphone/tablet combo for summer, or starting College soon.

Currently Verizon offers the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet with 16GB of storage and that S-Pen stylus for $499, so you’d get $100 off that slate. Or they also still offer the new Galaxy Tab 10.1-inch 2 model, but I’d go with the Note 10 if it were me. This deal from Samsung and Verizon runs through the end of June, so you’d better hurry and decide what phone and slate are right for you. Reviews of all the above are available in the timeline of links below.

VIA: Verizon

When we say fan-made UI concepts, we mean these aren’t real, official from Google, or anything of that sort. Instead this is one designers “conceptual design” and dream of what Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie could and should look like. And it’s freaking amazing. Google needs to hire this guy immediately. Before Apple or someone else does.

A talented designer by the name of Jinesh Shah posted these over on Google+, and it has many wondering what exactly Google has planned for Android 5.0 KLP. Because something like this would be refreshing. He posted a few last week, but yesterday revealed his Android 5.0 Concept part 2, and we’re getting a deeper look at what he imagines Android 5 to look like.

click to enlarge

The design can only be described as beautiful, minimal, and exceptionally clean. He’s done a great job blending Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with the card-style we’ve been seeing from Google Now and other Mountain View apps. Everything is smooth, and detailed with enough to completely be a daily driver. The lockscreen has been overhauled with even more information than ever before, widgets have been improved, and the entire UI on the top is different too. With the clock and signal indicators coming from the top-down, which makes sense given how we usually interact with the pulldown bar.

Another idea that we’re a huge fan of is changing the contacts and People app, as that’s a mess currently. I’m really liking the simple and clean idea he’s came up with, as well as the groups. Lastly, the idea of having expandable widgets is genius. Just like how we enjoy expandable and more informative notifications in Jelly Bean, he’s making the widgets be expandable in a way you can gesture by sliding up to “hide” the widget. Why waste screen real-estate if you’re not using it. Genius! Someone bake this into a ROM like CyanogenMod ASAP please.

Again, this is just one graphic designers concept designs and dreams of what Android could be, and we figured you’d all love to take a look. While Jelly Bean should be getting updated soon, these give us even more hope and have us dreaming for the future with Android Key Lime Pie.

Today the Moto X (that’s what Moto’s CEO called it, so we’ll follow suite) has been spotted in FCC filings after already passing for Verizon, AT&T, and a few others. Now we’re getting a glimpse of it passing all regulations at the FCC for US Cellular. It’s ready to rock at this point, so lets have it Motorola!

The Moto X line could be 1 or 2 different devices available on all carriers, or one customizable flagship device, we’re not sure. We’ve recently seen FCC filings and leaks for the XT1055 as shown below today for US Cell, as well as the XT 1056, 1058, and XT1060 for Verizon. It appears the device has been given the green light, and now Motorola just needs to get their ducks in line and release it to the public.

Recently some additional details have leaked about the XFON, although we know basically everything already. From it being seen on video, spotted in leaked photos, and all these “insider sources” and more. It’s being reported as having a 1.7 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 720p display (not sure if 4.7 or 5.0) and of course the latest version of Android. We’re also hearing it will sport a 10 megapixel camera, and have awesome battery life.

Recent reports suggest it will have more sensors than anything currently available today, and will usher a new era of how smart our phones really are when interacting with us daily. Motorola and Google have been hard at work, and I’m just hoping we see it sometime this summer. Oh and we can’t forget, the Moto X will be made AND manufactured right here in the good ol USA.

SOURCE: Blog of Mobile

Now as you all know, benchmarks aren’t everything. However, many manufacturers and teams like Qualcomm work hard to make sure their chipsets are as efficient as possible, while optimizing for specific hardware. We’re not sure what exactly goes on behind the scenes at Huawei, but this device rocks their very own in-house quad-core chip.

As we’ve seen before with a few of their past devices, the Ascend P6 is rocking the Huawei K3V2+ quad-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. They have a V3 in the works, but here we’re working with the V2+ on a 4.7-inch 720p display and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Sadly while the phone is beautiful, and ran amazing in our hands-on time, the benchmarks paint a different picture.

Above is a quick run of Quadrant, since that’s one of the most popular tests, and it clearly isn’t doing too well in the quad-core category. We say this because it’s being beat by dual-core devices running Qualcomm’s S4 and other older chipsets. So while Huawei has been making strides, their quad-core still can’t quite compete with many powerful dual-core options from last year. Scoring only 4300 when devices like the HTC One blow past 12,000 with ease.

This doesn’t mean the phone won’t be butter smooth, as we can already tell you it is. Gaming will also be a joy with a nice quad-core processor, but this just shows the level of optimization that some others offer really does improve performance. We can’t speak to battery life at this time, but have a feeling we’ll get a mixed bag of results in that aspect too. It’s worth nothing this is not final production software, so performance should improve by release date.

Huawei and their new Ascend P6 offers a stunning and compelling smartphone, but that small 2,000 mAh battery and lackluster overall performance makes it not quite as “flagship” as we’d like. Overall the device is still excellent, and we can’t wait to give it a thorough test in a full Android Community review.

With the HTC Desire 200, the hardware team responsible for the HTC One have clearly done their job well. What you’ve got is the top front of the HTC One with a front-facing speaker that’ll note quite be as powerful as the HTC One’s Boomsound, while the bottom looks more like the past generation of HTC One devices – speakerless, that is.

A 3.5-inch display at HVGA resolution sits up front of this device with Android (of unknown generation type) and HTC Sense runs inside. This device looks like it’s running the same software that the HTC One X and HTC One V ran last year – perfectly fine for those looking for the baseline Android experience with HTC.

Inside you’ve got 4GB of internal storage, the processor on this device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 single-core SoC with 1GHz clock-speed, and you’ll be working with a regular SIM-card size – that’s rare these days!

RAM on this device is a surprising 512MB DDR1 while a 5 megapixel (not ultrapixel) camera rests on the back, and no camera sits up front, which is a bummer. You will, on the other hand, be working with some next-generation technology with Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled, ready for Bluetooth SMART when the next update to Android rolls around.

If you had any doubts as to whether or not T-Mobile would be offering the Sony Xperia Z flagship smartphone, you can now rest easy. While we’re still awaiting final confirmation and all of the details, T-Mobile has launched the official sign-up page while saying “Xperia Z is almost here.”

Since seeing this at CES, and reviewing the smaller brother in the Xperia XL we’ve been patiently waiting for it to arrive on a US carrier. Initial leaks suggested T-Mobile and AT&T, but it looks like T-Mobile, at least for now, will be getting the exclusive on this fine piece of electronics.

As a refresher. The Xperia Z comes with a 5-inch 1080p HD display, quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, and is IP57 certified. So it’s water-proof, shock-proof, dust-resistant and more. Add in a 13 megapixel camera, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, on screen navigation keys and more and this is quite the smartphone.

The sign-up page means we can expect more details soon enough, but we’re still hopeful for a late June or early July release date. This phone should come in at a decent price with T-Mobile’s UNCarrier plans, so stay tuned as we’ll report all the details once T-Mo shares the info.

VIA: T-Mobile

What you’re seeing here is a demonstration of the Beauty Face effect at zero and at 10. This means that the image you’re seeing that’s a bit more rough – and real – is how a normal camera would take the photo. The other smoothed-out face oddity is what happens when Huawei’s Beauty Face is allowed to run wild.

This is essentially what our model Chris Davies would look like if given an acid bath chemical peel, essentially. Now we’ll be wanting to make sure we take lots of photos with this effect to see what the software things the most beauteous version of everything is. What if we turn Beauty Face on a dog? How about if we aim it at an international super-model (other than Chris, of course)?

This machine is working with an 8 megapixel camera on its back, by the way, while the front-facing shooter rings in at a hefty 5 megapixels. That’s what Huawei is right to claim as “industry leading” – a 5 megapixel camera facing forward! In fact the photos in this post of Chris’ face were taken with said camera, which – aside from Beauty Shot – should be impressive as anything. Stick around for more, and be sure to check out our full Huawei Ascend P6 hands-on experience as well!

The Huawei Ascend P6 works with a 4.7-inch display up front and a quad-core processor inside and seems – even here with what very well might be an early software build – to be relatively speedy and responsive. Android 4.2.2 works here with the Ascend P6 with a custom Huawei “Emotion” user interface up on top.

This machine weighs in at “just about 120g” and is, indeed, surprisingly tiny. That’s not to say that it feels cheap – not at all – in fact, this machine feels relatively robust and ready to be Huawei’s top-name machine for the remainder of this year at least. This device is primarily metal – with aluminum sides and a full metal back, with a reinforced glass front for full protection against scratches and dings.

Huawei’s Ascend P6 will be delivered in black, white, and pink. This isn’t just the color of the back plate, as some brands are want to do – nay – instead you’re getting front, back, and sides included. The pink edition especially shows a unique vision while most major brands just stick with standard color schemes.

We’ll be jumping in on additional details with this machine in the near future when we get our hands on it for a full review. The rest of the world will have to wait until June (in China) and July (for Europe) while the USA’s release date has not been made official – if there is a release date at all, that is.

NOTE: We’ve also got hands-on video coming up soon. Let us know if there’s anything specific you’d like to know about this device in the meantime!

This machine is extremely light as it is thin – just 120g while its body is made so small you’ll have more of a chance of loosing it in your billfold than you will having trouble finding a place to keep it. Inside and under Huawei’s customized user interface you’ve also got Android 4.2.2 right out of the box, too.

This device works with in-cell LCD screen technology as well as MagicTouch sensitivity. This MagicTouch brand name sticks with Huawei devices and means you’ll be working with “enhanced screen responsiveness” – even while wearing gloves in the winter.

This device also works with Automated Discontinuous Reception (ADRX) and Quick Power Control (QPC) battery optimization for what Huawei says will be power saving technology enhancements of 30% over similar sized batteries in other devices.

The Huawei Ascend P6 is the company’s new hero device, ready to take on everywhere outside of the USA, it seems, with no current plans for coming in to the states. It’s a shame though: with an 8 megapixel camera on its back and IMAGESmart software enhancing its camera abilities on the inside, we’d love to see such an oddity hit the major carriers for some competition for the bigger US-heavy brands.

You’ll see this machine appearing in China starting in June and in Western Europe from July – with “other markets” to follow as well. Soon we shall see it!

With Canada currently up in arms over the monopoly that the previously mentioned wireless networks have (The three companies currently have almost 79% of the market cornered, leaving the other little guys living off the scraps), the government has decided to open the doors to other International wireless providers, and Verizon could very well be the first.

Canadian’s complain of extremely high prices for their phone bills (I personally pay over $100 monthly for 2GB of Data, 200 minutes of anytime calling, unlimited texting, and the payment of a Samsung S2 on a three year contract – a contract which will have me pay a grand total of $1440 for the Samsung S2 as of November 2014). Up in the Great White North, we also have very rare access to 4G LTE, as well as incredibly poor reception due to lackluster tower placement.

Verizon is hoping to fix this problem by preferably joining the other three aforementioned companies in the war on Wireless, which in turn will hopefully (fingers crossed) reduce the prices and help Canadian’s pay less for phones.

Rumors have also floated about that AT&T may head in after Verizon, should all things work out according to plan for them, and with that, Canadian’s could see an influx of hyper-competitive wireless companies flood into the scene, which in turn could save us hundreds or even thousands on bills per year. As it stands right now, the last time Verizon was on Canadian ice, it barely held steady with Telus in 2004, as a major shareholder.

SOURCE: CNet

For myself, QWERTY has never been an issue. I remember personally, long before the introduction of Android to the masses, having to manually type in stuff via a QWERTY keypad on my old Blackberry, in 2007. It feels like so long ago, but it certainly was never a hassle to type everything out, and my transition from touchpad to touchscreen certainly didn’t make it anymore difficult.

Minuum however, aims to change the way we’ve all been doing it, by putting the traditional QWERTY keyboard into a horizontal row at the bottom of the screen. By doing this, they say it will intuitively learn how you type, and also reformat itself to avoid any future spelling mistakes you may make.

Minuum promises a full version if the BETA goes as well as they hope. Although Minuum might come off as difficult to use for the first little bit, the company promises that you’ll get the hang of it in no time at all. Their Indiegogo campaign (like kickstarter) gained steam in March, and the beta will be arriving tomorrow for backers. This means we’ll finally be getting our hands on the actual APK. If you’re able to give it a try, leave us your thoughts in the comments below.

SOURCE: Droid-Life

Skype Video Message is essentially, according to Skype, the ability to send a video message up to three minutes long through a secure internet connection, that the recipient can receive and see, even if you yourself are not online. By doing this, Skype taps into a sort of “Video Voicemail” niche that was previously unheard of. Where as we have Skype and Google Hangouts, we now also have the ability to leave a quick Hello to an old friend, or to make a quick tutorial on how to prepare for an exam.

Video Messaging works on all platforms, and available on every device besides the Windows Phones, which we feel is rather ironic since Microsoft… owns Skype. No word yet on when it will be available on Windows phones, but probably soon. Check out this video for a good idea of what it looks like.

Skype Video Messaging is out now. Previously it was available on a limited number of devices as a BETA test, but now is finally available for all consumers. It’s also free with Skype, so a premium membership is not required.

SOURCE: Skype

According to Michael Coombes, former sales head director at HTC, and James Atkins, former U.K. marketing head director at the UK Venture of HTC, “Kazam” aims to bring very user friendly and supportive phones to market, with prototypes expected to be shown by the end of this year. When they are introduced, the phones will be in a very tough marketplace. Samsung and Apple currently dominate, and Sony, HTC, LG, Huawei, and ZTE all fight to get what little market share they can.

What with the current landscape, Kazam is going to be under a lot of pressure to come up with something user-friendly and easily affordable, so it’s highly expected that the phones themselves will run a version of Android. Luckily for Kazam, it seems that in today’s marketplace, consumers are open to new ideas.

Kazam’s dynamic structure and focus on local markets means we can react quickly to the ever-evolving and diverging needs of today’s consumer”. — Coombes

What that means, we’re not too sure. We know one thing for sure, it’s all uphill from here for Kazam, but if they can pull off the hard task of even being in the same company as their rivals, they’ll be considered successful. With HTC hiring a new Global PR director though, and bringing out the One Mini, this might prove to be harder than even they thought. Chances are however, that they knew well ahead of time what they were in for.

For Kazam though, only time will tell.

SOURCE: CNET

The creative artist behind the actual backgrounds for Google Now, Brent Couchman, has uploaded his artwork in full-size to his Flickr account. Which will allow users to see all of his artwork, not just Google Now backgrounds, and get a much larger version for those HD smartphones we all have these days.

Obviously being on Flickr these are his official works of art, and are pretty awesome to say the least. Being on Flickr they are Copyrighted and such, but you can get full-sized 1680 x 1050 versions and more to use as you desire. The account has more than just a few Google Now wallpapers too, so give them all a look.

For more details and to get them yourself you’ll want to head to the flickr link below. Google Now has been improving steadily and I’ve always loved these wallpapers. It appears that not everything we see came from Brent, otherwise he just hasn’t uploaded them all to his Flickr account. Good stuff, this is one more way to rock your Android in style. Let us know if you like them in the comments below.

SOURCE: Flickr
VIA: Google+

It’s inescapable. Your battery will die at some point, when you least want it to. That Ferrari will drive by, that you’ve never seen before. You’ll see the most amazing recipe in a book store. And then, when you reach for your phone, your battery will be dead. It’s happened to all of us, and although Samsung‘s S4 does offer a great battery life, not all of us can afford the time out of our busy schedules to charge up.

The new Samsung battery charger and spare battery should help quell your worst fears, by way of always having an extra battery or your charger on hand. It’s currently available in a variety of online networks, including Amazon, and Samsung themselves. It comes with an original replacement 2600mAh battery, charger and micro-USB cable. Samsung has it for 49.99 from their own shop.

Although it seems a little old fashioned in the modern age for a phone company to include a separate batter and charger combo, it’s actually quite refreshing. With the portability of a spare battery brings less hassle on long trips. We just wish more companies had the mindset to do what Samsung does, because in the end, we don’t want to be the only one missing out on capturing that moment that Jessica Alba walked into the Android Community offices…

Ah, who are we kidding? We don’t have any offices.

SOURCE: Samsung

With BestBuy and Amazon already racking in tons of sales for Chromebook, Google wants a piece of an even bigger pie, so it’s with that they’re introducing Chromebook to Walmart and Staples, not to mention some other big name outlets (Office Depot, Office Max, Fry’s, TigerDirect and more). For Staples, they’ll be stocking up their shelves with Acer, Samsung, and HP Chromebooks. Walmart specifically, will be offering their $199 Acer Chromebook with a 16GB SSD, and it’ll be available in over 2800 Walmart outlets nationwide.

In Europe, the emphasis will be on getting the Chromebook established, as it’s only had a small stab at the marketplace up to this point. To do that, you can expect to see Chromebooks at Tesco UK stores, and Mediamarket and Saturn stores in the Netherlands. In Australia, France and Sweden, you’ll see Chomebooks popping up in FNAC stores, Elgiganten stores, JB Hi-Fi, and Harvey Norman outlets.

With Google Chromebooks being as new to the market as they are, as well as cheap to purchase, we’ll be eyeing to see if the market snaps them up in droves as they already have done. When the Chromebook came out it seemed quite different than the other laptops already available. The biggest question will be whether or not it will be embraced as wholeheartedly the world over as it was here.

SOURCE: GoogleBlog

However, it’s already seen nearly 2 million reservations before we’ve learned all the details. Well, before we’ve learned all of the details officially that is. Full press images have leaked, as well as another full breakdown of the specs and super thin 6.5mm design last week.

Before officially unveiling everything at their “beauty event” set for tomorrow, June 18th, they’ve already opened up a sign-up page over in China for users to learn more, and it’s seeing plenty of traffic. Reports suggesting over 2 million users already reserving their spot, and they’re expecting similar or better pre-order numbers in the region.

The smartphone is impressive all around, although not quite as flagship as some. With a 4.7-inch 720p HD display, quad-core power, and an elegant design all coming in at 6.4mm thick. The idea is a well-rounded device that’s super thin, lightweight, and good looking. Not just a top-tier device with anything and everything.

We’ll be learning more about this phone soon, and hopefully a price. Although sadly it’ll likely never come to the US through any official channels. Stay tuned for more details.

VIA: GSM Insider

For more details on their recently released Oppo Find 5 you can see our hands-on coverage. Everything we loved about this device is getting improved with the Find 7, and it is rumored to be arriving in late September this year to take on the competition.

So what makes the Oppo 7 so impressive? Not only will it rock the same 5-inch 1920 x 1080p full HD display, Android 4.2 (or newer) latest Android OS, and a 13 megapixel camera, but it’s what’s under the hood we love. They’ll be improving the processor to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core, probably 2.3 GHz, adding 2GB of RAM, increasing the front camera to 5-8 megapixels, and capping this all off with a massive 4,000 mAh battery.

For comparison the Galaxy S4 has a 2600 mAh battery, the Note II is 3,100. So adding a 4,000 mAh battery to something like the Find 7 would be impressive. Especially if they keep the size down, and price friendly. You’ll also enjoy WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and all the usual sensors here with the Oppo. Now all we need is Oppo to bring their handsets to the U.S.A and we’ll be happy. More details on this device should arrive soon enough.

VIA: AndroidAuthority

This watch is overall just an impressive sounding (and looking) device. While the general edges look a bit too iPhone-like, it’s the specs and features that has me excited and interested. The folks from Engadget Chinese found all the details on the GEAK, and the list is a long one. This is no Pebble watch guys. They aim to do a little of everything and even offer WiFi, voice-to-text, and more.

Of course we’re running Android with the GEAK, but then we also will enjoy WiFi 802.11b/g/n so we won’t have to tether or use Bluetooth only like most. This also allows direct downloading of apps and such using Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and it will automatically update too. No more wiring up to a PC with micro-USB.

Apparently we’ll have a 1 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, a 1.55-inch multitouch display and more all tucked into a thin 8mm design. So basically as thin as most smartphones, or thinner. Sounds impressive right? That isn’t all either.

The GEAK also has NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 support, GPS, a 3.5mm headphone jack for streaming audio, and even an FM radio transmitter. Oh and did we mention voice-to-text input as well. Somehow that will work and you can send messages without ever removing your phone from your pocket. Engadget also mentions a wide array of sensors that will make this a smartwatch, then a fitness companion and more at the same time.

Working with sensors for motion like calorie and step counters, sleeping patterns, blood pressure, temperature, and much more. Take my money now! Apparently this is the real deal, will run you about $330, and will be hitting China early next month. We’ll keep our eyes out on this one.