Hasta La Gadget!

LG is an Android smartphone OEM that, like many others, finds itself in the shadow of Samsung. But it scored an impressive hit with the Nexus 4, the $300 unlocked Google-branded Android reference phone it released last year, and according to the Korea Times, it’s already working on a follow-up with the search giant.

The new report claims that LG is working on a new Nexus-branded smartphone, and that LG also wants to add to its existing partnership with Google for TV products, and would like to be closely involved in future developments like Google Glass. LG clearly sees the value of being closely associated with Google, as it managed to pull into third place in the global smartphone race in Q1 2013 according to IDC and Juniper.

LG’s Optimus G and the Nexus 4 helped it gain some ground in the smartphone war, although it still trails far behind Samsung and Apple, who hold 32.7 percent and 17.3 percent of the global market respectively, compared to LG’s 4.8 percent. Recent estimates have put sales of both the Optimus G and the Nexus 4 at somewhere north of 1 million, which, while once again trailing devices by Samsung and Apple, are impressive enough. Especially in the case of the Nexus 4, LG proved that it could make a strong seller out of a line that usually has more limited consumer appeal.

In the past, we’ve seen reports that an LG Nexus 5 was in the works, with the code name “Megalodon.” This isn’t just an upgraded version based on the LG Optimus G Pro, but a truly new device with a very powerful quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor on board. Recent rumors indicate we might see a Nexus 4 variant at Google I/O in two weeks, with a 32GB storage option and both LTE and CDMA cellular wireless bands on board. The current Nexus 4 maxes out at HSPA+, but it does have an LTE-capable radio, early hacks revealed.

There’s very little downside to LG building a new Nexus device, and Google might be more inclined to let them, given the success of the last one. It’s possible we’ll hear more about this at I/O, but given that the Nexus 4 only arrived late last year, we might have to wait a little longer, too.

This afternoon a device has been leaked from the likes of Motorola and AT&T, bringing with it a mixed vision of the future for the hardware manufacturer as it grows ever closer to a pure Google Android experience. Google has owned Motorola for some time now, and as the company gets closer to the end of its pre-set device lineup plans, it gets closer to Google’s heavy influence. What we’ve got here is a device that at first appears to be the fabled Motorola X-Phone, but then falls short with a few app appearances.

What’s being shown here is a leak from the notoriously accurate leakster Evleaks, a fellow who has seemed to bring more upstream pre-release images than the average source has. What we’re seeing here is a few images of what Android Community notes is the Motorola XT912a, a smartphone from Motorola that was also, mind you, rumored to be a Nexus device.

What it appears to be now is a near-Nexus release set for reveal in the near future with AT&T. This raises questions of how it will play in with the upcoming Google I/O 2013 developers convention set for late May. Last year’s event played host to a developer giveaway of a Google Galaxy Nexus, while this year it’s expected developers will see a new device altogether. Alternate rumors say the Google Nexus 4 will make a re-appearance with 4G LTE and a higher storage capacity under the hood.

The Motorola XT912a has been tipped to bring the a 4-inch display with 720p resolution with a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. From what we’re seeing in the images released today, all of this could very well check out. The first appearance of this device had carrier markings online inside the software as well, the device then reading VETTEL instead of AT&T.

The images you see here and the images leaked earlier of this device differ ever-so-slightly due to the protective cloak the device wears to shield the public from seeing its true form. Such covers have appeared in test devices of the Samsung Galaxy S III and various Nexus devices as well – stay tuned!

[via Evleaks]

Motorola mystery phone appears with non-Nexus fixings is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While the final outcome for Google is another massively successful quarter with $3.35 billion net income, Motorola has once again turned up as a sore spot. Motorola’s losses this quarter totaled a staggering $271 million, this comparing to a losses one year ago this same period set at $86 million. While it would, given just those results, appear that Motorola is a whole lot worse off with Google at the helm, the quarter immediately preceding the one just reported sits right up at the top with $353 million lost.

The situation is that Google is at a rather interesting place with Motorola, having made it clear that the company is still at a point where they’re running through products planned well before the big G began their ownership and promising big things in the near future. The quarter one year ago (shown above) was the last in which Motorola reported earnings as a stand-alone company. Now that Google owns them, they’ve entered a bit of a new age.

With Google continuing to bring the heat with their Nexus line of Android smartphones and tablet and the Motorola line of smartphones continuing to look more and more like Google-made products each new generation, we can expect big things from both companies in the near future. Once the Motorola lineup begins to be wholly Google-run, it’s quite likely that their combined forces will bring some new and exciting products to the market.

The biggest rumor to be floating about the Motorola mobile universe as of late is the fabled “X Phone”. This device is said to be much more of a Google-influenced device and will, if ever revealed, place Motorola in a prime position for Nexus-height success. Have a peek at our Motorola tag portal for more information on what’s come recently and what’ll be appearing soon!

[via Google]

Google Profits sag at Motorola losses is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

UPDATE: The leaked Facebook Home APK described below no longer works, as FB has cut off service since it isn’t fully complete. Luckily, you only have to wait another few days to get your hands on the official release.

Android users will get the chance to try out the official public release of Facebook Home later this week, but if anyone is really impatient a beta version has leaked and is available to try now (via Verge). MoDaCo has published the beta (which is actually made up of three separate APKs covering the Facebook app itself, a new Messenger app and the Home/launcher app.

Another benefit of the pre-release version of Home, besides getting to try it out early, is that it works on a wide variety of devices beyond the five specified by Facebook as being compatible in the event it held last week to officially announce Facebook Home. The only requirement seems to be that the device has a maximum resolution of 1280×768, and that a user is able to completely uninstall their existing Facebook app. The Nexus 4 is therefore a viable candidate.

Functionality is somewhat limited, however. Chat heads doesn’t work as of yet, for instance. But Cover feed appears to function as intended, and all the settings appear to be there. The settings reveal that in choosing where your Home content comes from, you can both enable and disable updates from Pages and status updates from users in your network. You can also enable or disable the notification/status bar at the top of the screen for a more edge-to-edge Facebook experience.

The leak shows that there doesn’t really appear to be any huge technical barrier to putting Facebook Home on a wide variety of handsets, which is good news for users who don’t own one of the five devices initially set to receive it. If you’re interested, you can head over to MoDaCo to download the APKs and try this our yourself, but as with any side-loaded software, remember you do so at your own risk. Friday might just be a little too far off for some curious folks, however.

To install the Facebook Home beta, first make sure you’ve uninstalled both Facebook and Facebook Messenger. Then navigate to your device’s security settings and then tick the box that allows you to install apps from unknown sources. Then download the APK files above to your computer. Plug in your Android device and make sure that it has USB mode enable, or download Android File Transfer if you’re on a Mac. Drag and drop the three APK files to your device, preferably in the “Downloads” folder.

On your Android device, if you don’t already have one, download and install a free file manager application from Google Play. The free and aptly named “File Manager” does the job. Within that app, navigate to where you copied the Facebook Home APK files from your computer, and tap on each to install them.

Once they’re installed, sign in to Facebook with your credentials, and then activate Facebook Home. It’ll take a few seconds to load, but should quickly go from a gray screen to photos from your FB feed and a home circle with your face at the bottom. You can choose to have pressing the home button on your device activate FB Home by default, or your default launcher, and you can change these settings at any time in Android Settings.

As we draw ever nearer the developer conference known as Google I/O 2013, tips and rumors (and today a 3D rendering) of a Motorola-made “X Phone” have made their way to the public. What we’re seeing here is an illustrated version of what a tipster has suggested will be what the upcoming Google Nexus device will bring to the market this spring, with a possible reveal hitting in early May as Google’s convention takes place. Along with the rendering from GSMArena has come a set of specifications that are sometimes fabulous, sometimes bafflingly low-grade.

Qualcomm Processor

Along with the one ZTE device we’ve seen in Barcelona this past month, this device will – if these tipped specifications hold true – be amongst the first to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. This is a step above the Snapdragon 600 processor you’ll be seeing in the HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S 4, mind you.

What’s odd here is that this device’s tipped specifications also include a display that’s not quite as impressive as those attached to the HTC One and GALAXY S 4. This would only make sense if Google wanted to show the power of the newest version of Android (whatever that may be) or the power of the Snapdragon chipset – but developing for higher definition displays should, by all means, be more important than those bits.

Massive 4000mAh battery

Inside it’s said that you’ll be seeing a battery that’ll bust up the rest of the market, 4000mAh large so you’ll be working all day and night long without need for a charge. That’s rather similar to what we’ve seen in several of the most recent Motorola smartphone releases, and right on top of the device we brought to Mobile World Congress 2013 for its excellent battery capacity and long-lasting life: the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD.

Android 4.2

Wait a second – wasn’t this device supposed to be a Nexus phone? Wasn’t the rumor that this Motorola release was supposed to be the first vanilla Google phone, complete with the next-generation operating system build? Perhaps here we see how the Motorola smartphone at hand is not going to be all it’s cracked up to be tipped.

Or we see another massive flaw in the tipster. Between this device running with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, nothing newer, and the fact that they’ve reported just 768 x 1280 as the resolution of the display, it’s going to be really difficult to convince anyone that this tipster is one to be trusted.

IP57 certified with Gorilla Glass III

Back in the much more realistic realm of specifications comes a tip that this device will be water resistant up to a meter and will be somewhat damage resistant in a variety of other ways. Up front it’s said that the third generation of Gorilla Glass, made great enough to resist even the toughest of scratches.

Unique New Industrial Design

With the rendering you’re seeing above, you’ll notice that this device looks quite different from the rest of the Motorola smartphones we’ve seen released over the past several years. It looks a lot more like an Xperia phone, when it comes down to it. Whether you’re all about this new design or you’d rather stick with the RAZR family, it’s nice to see Motorola change things up a bit – if, in fact, they really are making this device.

Motorola X Phone render “leaked”: 5 specifications to make you freak is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.