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Samsung shared a new video which teases the design of their new flagship, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. They don't go into any detail, but after doing some digging we found out some interesting facts. For ecample, the Galaxy S6 products use a higher premium grade 6013 aluminum alloy than the iPhone 6 products.

Also, the display uses "3D Thermoforming," which is a fancy technique to create the display on the Galaxy S6 Edge. It basically puts glass in between two molds, and then heats it to 800 degrees Celsius. After that the cover glass gets pressed into the shape folds around the sides of the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Samsung also uses a "nano-thin multi-coating process" on the back of the device to create that gorgeous sheen. Impressive!

Here's our dedicated Galaxy S6 and S6 Section for more discussion: Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge General Discussions Android Forum at DroidForums.net

The folks at BGR were able to get a hands-on preview of the LG Watch Urbane LTE version at Mobile World Congress 2015. They shared their thoughts and some detailed images of the device. They called it "gorgeous but bulky." They elaborated that it looks good and feels good on the wrist, despite its bulkiness.

They confirmed that the device is able to make phone calls send/receive text messages without a smartphone attached to it, but you will need to invest in a second SIM card and wireless account. It also has push-to-talk walkie-talkie features, which is pretty cool if you have a friend who has one. Here's a quote with a few more details,

One of the best reasons to use CyanogenMod 12 is so that you can apply custom themes to give your device a whole new look. With the CyanogenMod 12 theme engine you can actually theme every aspect of your phone's UI which is better than the slight themeing you get from a custom launcher and Icon pack. One of the latest CM12 themes from theme dev "blazze11" is the "Euphoria Dark" theme. This theme brings a light blue and black color scheme. There are also some grey elements to this theme.

Themed elements include Notifications, Quick Settings, Light and Dark Styles, Framework and SystemUI, Theme.devicedefault from light and dark. There is also a long list of apps that have been themed here including AudioFX, Browser, Calculator, Contacts CM File Manager, CMUpdater, Dialer/Incall, Deskclock, Documents, Eleven, Euphoria OTA Center, Gallery, Google Keyboard, Google Now + Launcher, Google +, Hangouts, Launcher3, Settings, Theme Chooser, TouchControl, Trebuchet Launcher, and WhisperPush. There is also a custom lockscreen wallpaper, custom wallpaper, custom bootanimation, and custom font. Grab this theme from the play link below.

via PlayStore

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge was one of the big mobile tech announcements yesterday. It may have been a pre-MWC press event show, but not all of the juicy details were shared. For example, pricing on the Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge were not revealed. A new leak will supposedly rectify that.

Here's what the intel revealed,

• 32GB Galaxy S6 — €699 ($784 USD)
• 64GB Galaxy S6 — €799 ($897 USD)
• 128GB Galaxy S6 — €899 ($1010 USD)
• 32GB Galaxy S6 Edge — €849 ($950 USD)
• 64GB Galaxy S6 Edge — €949 ($1065 USD)
• 128GB Galaxy S6 Edge — €1,049 ($1175 USD)

These prices translate to a great deal more US dollars than previous generation Galaxy S products, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we will see prices that high in the US. Samsung is infamous for charging Europeans more money for their devices, so these direct conversions will probably not be accurate.

Of course, we wouldn't be surprised if they were more expensive than the previous generation everywhere, but we would be surprised if they were this much more. We suspect the Galaxy S6 will be about $50 more than its previous generation, and the S6 Edge will be quite a bit more than the Galaxy S6... perhaps $100 to $150 more.

We'll let you know when we get something official, or some form of corroboration for these prices (and our speculation).

Check out our dedicated Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge section for more discussions:...

Sundar Pichai, (Google's Lord of Androids and Chrome), had something else to share besides their new carrier service, Nova. He confirmed that Google is creating the API for their own improved mobile payment system and it will be called Android Pay.

Pichai described Android Pay as more of a framework for mobile payments than a specific app. Google's intention is that it will become a full service on which other companies will be able to build their own payment system. Initially it will utilize NFC technology, but Google plans to introduce other options in the future. More than likely this service (and Google's carrier service) will be officially unveiled during Google I/O later this year.

While the name is unoriginal, it actually makes sense to keep it simple. If consumers hear Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Android Pay, they will automatically know you are talking about mobile electronic payments. It keeps it brand specific, yet indirectly standardizes the naming convention. It's very clever, and is much better than Isis, Softcard, or LoopPay.

Yesterday Samsung officially unpacked the new Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge. They announced a few new features, but overall it seemed as if there wasn't really much to see. One feature that stood out was the Edge notification colors on the Galaxy S6 Edge. This feature was just built into an app and released by developer "forgin". This app brings the edge notifications to calls, and will soon bring the notification to contacts as well. This brings colors to the edges of your screen with incoming calls. You have the ability to set a custom width and color with the app as well. Head to the link below for the download.

via XDA

Xiaomi has come a long way from their MIUI Rom humble beginnings back in 2010. They are now worth $46 Billion, and now outsells Samsung in China. They have also been developing many other products like TVs, headphones, and even a smarthome ecosystem. They operate on a Low-Cost Model aiming to acquire as many users whom they can sell services to in the future. This means they can offer a higher specd camera at a lower price. The Yi Action takes 16mp stills and 1080p video at 60fps. That is compared to the GoPro entry level camera which sells for $130 which takes 5mp stills and 1080p video at 30fps. The camera is waterproof up to 40meters just like the GoPro. While this is an awesome sounding camera it isn't likely that we will actually be able to get our hands on one. This will be sold in China only in the ordinary flash sale style that we have seen from Xiaomi in the past.

Via WSJ

Google's Android & Chrome boss, Sundar Pichai held a talk at Mobile World Congress today. During his discussion he shared that Google will indeed become a mobile carrier. The service is tentatively called "Nova" that will be an MVNO (mobile virtual network operation).

He shared that Google's intention isn't to be a big competitor to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. Instead, he likened the Nova service to Google's Nexus line. The intention is to help guide the industry by establishing some benchmarks that Google would like to see the other carriers adopt. He included the example of carriers adapting the ability for Wi-Fi signals to automatically pick up phone calls when the carriers' own networks drop them.

He explained, “We want to experiment along those lines. We don’t intend to be a network operator at scale. We are actually working with carrier partners. Will announce something in the coming months.” He also added that Google wants to bridge the gap between mobile networks and Wi-Fi perhaps by leveraging their own Fiber network.

It will be interesting to see what kind of example Google can set in this arena. It's a tough hill to climb, but if they can execute the way they are with Google Fiber, it could be a great thing for the whole industry.

Today was a pretty big day for CyanogenMod at Mobile World Congress. CM has been a corporation now for the past couple of years. In this short time they have seen all kinds of growth and also all kinds of changes. Today they have announced a few pretty big changes. Firstly they announced that they will be embracing a more current style based on the openness of Android. There will be a new logo, new font, and new geometric shapes. It looks like we will see a total design overhaul here.

Secondly and more importantly CyanogenMod has announced a new partnership with Qualcomm. This will mean that CM Os features will be present in a new Qualcomm Reference Design. This means that OEMs will be easily able to implement CM OS features on their devices. This agreement paves the way for CyanogenMod to make their way to a handful of Mid tier and entry level devices. CM still plans to make their own flagship devices with OEMs.

via XDA

I won't bore you with useless commentary on the state of Root for the Note 4. We will get right to it. The big news here is that there are still a handful of developers and security experts that are hacking away at this. While they are still a few steps off they have made a bit of progress. In order to root the AT&T and Verizon Note 4 both a kernel exploit and an Android OS exploit will be needed. We now have a confirmed kernel exploit. We also have a method to apply the same exploit. Currently the developers for this root method are working on an Android exploit that will grant us System UID in order to apply the kernel exploit and write root. Their is not a confirmed Android exploit, but there is a current target. The focus now is to create an apk that can deploy the root method simply for everyone. This is exciting, but we may still be waiting a while.

Via XDA