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We've had a drought of Android tablet news for the past several months. Today we have a slight trickle that probably won't prove to be more than that, but is a welcome respite despite. Sony announced their Xperia Z4 Android tablet at Mobile World Congress 2015. The device is slim and sexy and holds a surprising amount of power and features. Here's a breakdown:

• 6.1mm thin & weighs up to 393g (the LTE version)
• 10.1-inch display with 2K resolution
• Octa-core 64-bit 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor
• Includes PS4 Remote Play support that lets you continue your gaming sessions on mobile devices
• 32GB of storage
• A microSD support
• 8.1-megapixel camera rear
• 5.1-megapixel front-facing camera
• 6,000 mAh battery - includes “industry leading battery life” for 17 hours of battery life on a single charge
• Android 5.0 Lollipop
• Special BKB50 Bluetooth Keyboard accessory
• Xperia Lounge Gold preloaded out of the box - offers quick access to movies, TV shows, music and new apps
• Crafted “with premium stainless steel metal corners and mineral glass”
• Waterproof and dust-proof (IP68 certification) - so you can take it with you to the tub or pool

Sadly, pricing has not been revealed yet, nor has a retail launch date. We will keep you informed.

Source: BGR

Many continue to question why Google keep the Nexus program around even to the point of making zero profit to even taking a slight loss. Simple, if people are willing to pay money and beg to be a guinea pig why deny them. Companies need real world testing for their software and most of the time they have to hire people to do that. Since lollipop hit the nexus 6 one of the first things people changed about the software was forced encryption because, for some, it was not worth the performance hit. Google obviously keep enough tabs on the nexus community to separate the goods from the bad with their software and there was obviously enough bad buzz with forced encryption that they are willing to budge on allowing OEMS not to encrypt their devices. Out of the box I can see manufacturers encrypting phones but allowing users to remove encryption with out having to flash a custom boot. Be interesting to see if companies like Samsung will use this out to just build their own encryption on top of lollipop.
For those running lollipop is your device force encrypted or did you remove encryption?

Source: Google Will Not Require OEMs To Encrypt New Devices With Lollipop After All But Does Very Strongly Recommend It

[Editor's Note: @DrumsOfGrohl posted something pretty cool in the Galaxy S6 section, so I am promoting it to the front page to share with you guys.]

Because we all love comparison videos, how about we let the Samsung Galaxy S6 take on Apple's über popular iPhone 6.

I have to say these two smart devices almost look identical. Unless you were familiar with either of them, I would bet you wouldn't easily be able to guess which one was which on first glance. It appears that the biggest difference is with the cameras, but even the UI seems surprisingly similar.

This video does a great job of showing the similarities between the phones while highlighting their differences as well.

Take a look at Pocketnow's video from MWC 2015 in Barcelona, Spain, and form your own opinions:

Samsung held their Unpacked Press Event to launch the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge on a strange date this year. It was Sunday at 9AM CT. As has become the MO lately, this was just before the Mobile World Congress 2015 event started today. If you didn't get a chance to watch it yesterday, Samsung graciously offered up a video of it, which we conveniently linked above.

It's a full 43+ minutes long, so block out a bit of time if you plan to watch it all. Alternatively, Samsung also shared a "packed" version of their Unpacked Event, by distilling the whole presentation down to 60 seconds. You can check out that in the thread below. Enjoy!

For those who missed HTC's livestream of their press event for the HTC One M9, which kicked off early Sunday (9am CT) morning, we have the YouTube link to the recording above. It clocks in at about 50 minutes, so you'w have to pretend you are doing some work while you watch it.

Here's a cool image comparison series between the HTC One M8 and a gold colored version of the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. While we would rather see the HTC One M9 compares to the new Galaxy S6 Edge, the HTC One M8 is still a fair comparison, considering that the HTC One M8 is actually owned by users currently.

Here at HQ we are pretty smitten on the gold colored version of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. While it will obviously be prone to fingerprint smudging, it might be worth needing to wipe it occasionally to have such an impressive looking smartphone.

Along with the shot above, there are several more in the thread below taken by the folks at PhoneArena. Which one do you like better?

Source: PhoneArena

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:...