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Here's something that is slightly Off Topic, but still tech related...

According to sources in the know, we have a few more details regarding the teased HBO streaming movie service confirmed previously. The new service will reportedly be called HBO Now and will use new technology to make sure that people don't experience hiccups and outages while binge watching Game of Thrones.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, the source also confirmed that HBO plans to launch the service at the same time that the new Game of Thrones season 5 hits. This simply confirms previous intel on the subject. Another confirmation of previous rumors suggests the stand-alone (no cable required) service will be $15 dollars per month.

The only other new thing to report is that Apple is supposedly heavily courting HBO to work out a deal where they can offer the HBO Now service on the Apple TV. Supposedly, HBO is keen on the idea, but they also want to offer the service on as many other TV boxes as possible including: Roku, Xbox, Amazon and PlayStation.

Ohhhh... so many ways to fire up Game of Thrones for a weekend!!! April 12th cannot come fast enough!

Source: Slashgear

Here's a fun bit of Off Topic news to share with you guys today!

For those of you who don't want any inkling of the next Avengers movie spoiled, you might want to avoid watching the third and newest trailer for the movie above. It doesn't give too much away, but it definitely does whet your appetite with a few more juicy details. In fact, it's as epic as you would expect it to be, and should do a great job of ramping up the excitement level to a fever pitch before the movie releases in May. Enjoy!

The list of Android smartphones that have received the Android 5.0.x Lollipop upgrade keeps ticking down. The latest to join it is the T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. For the T-Mo Note 3, the build version is N900TUVUFOB5.


Amongst the awesome new UI features inherently included in this update because of Lollipop, we are also treated to some bug fixes for the venerable device. For more info, hit up the source link below. In the mean-time you can either patiently wait for the update to hit, manually get it, or frantically keep pushing the system update button for hours on end. We don't actually recommend that last option...

Source: Which version of the Android platform does my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 use T-Mobile Cell Phones Samsung

Obviously this is just a marketing tease, but it still has us intrigued. LG made the bold claim that they plan to launch a new smartphone that will be even higher-end, and stand at a higher tier than their flagship G series.

According to Juno Cho, CEO of LG Mobile, at MWC 2015,

That is a little vague, and Cho didn't elaborate on any details, but he did share the following.

Cho made sure to share that LG wasn't planning on leaving the G4 out in the cold though. He added,

What do you guys think? Is this a realistic goal for LG?

Source: LG plans to use own processors in handsets

The above video is actually just another marketing ploy by Samsung, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth checking out. They basically did their own unboxing video which even has a brief hands-on with both devices.
Interestingly, they seem to focus more on the S6 rather than the S6 Edge, which seems a bit backwards, since the Edge is the higher-end device. Perhaps they want to focus on the device that they can reliably create more screens for...

While it's a bit cheesy for them to do their own unboxing video, we have to admit that having it professionally done is pretty nice. While most unboxing videos are pretty well done, some of them are cringe-worthy with bad video, bad audio, poor lighting or worse.

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

Motorola now has the LTE version of the super-affordable Moto E (2nd Gen) up for grabs on their website. The device will run you $149.99, which is a bit more than previous rumors, yet is still a healthy discount for a decent LTE device. There is also a 3G version for only $119.99.

Here are the different options you have for the device regarding which carrier (the GSM/GPRS/EDGE bands are identical on each handset):

4G LTE – US GSM (XT1527):
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 1700 (AWS), 1900 MHz)
4G LTE (2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 17)

3G US GSM (XT1511):
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 1700 (AWS), 1900 MHz)

3G Global GSM (XT1505):
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)

Here's a recap of the main specs for this budget-friendly smartphone:

• Dual-core SoC to a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410
• 8GB Storage
• 4.5-inches 960 x 540 (qHD) Display

The device comes in black or white. Here's the link to check out this offer: Moto E 2nd Gen. - Motorola

Here's our dedicated Moto E section in the forums: Motorola Moto E Android Forum at DroidForums.net

While static benchmarks obviously don't necessarily translate into a better experience, and most smartphones have excellent performance nowadays, it can still be useful to check out benchmarks to see how far the tech has evolved. A more recent Geekbench benchmark shows that the new Exynos 7420 from Samsung absolutely dominates its competitors in most of the multi-core benchmarks.

As you can see from the screen-cap above, the chipset found in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge scored over 500 points more than the newest competitor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 810. In fact, the chip is 50% faster than the Apple A8 chip found in the iPhone 6/6 Plus. Of course, multi-core doesn't tell the whole story, and if you check out the other benchmarks, and change them to single-core, you find the Apple A8 is a bit faster than the Exynos chip.

Also in the single-core benchmark, the NVIDIA Tegra K1(not the newer X1), scores higher than both. Either way, it just goes to show that Samsung is continually pushing the envelope. We would have been surprised if the Galaxy S6 wasn't a great performer considering it uses Sammy's new 14nm process for the chip along with 3GB of the faster LPDDR4 RAM.

Here is our dedicated Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge Section for further discussion: Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge General Discussions Android Forum at DroidForums.net

Source:...

Last night our "always on the ball" Staff Writer/Admin @pc747 posted the hot news regarding the NVIDIA Shield Android 4K TV Gaming Console. In the same thread, our other "digital sniper," @DroidModderX followed up by sharing that NVIDA was also going to be launching their GRID streaming gaming service at the same time in May. We thought this was big enough news to warrant its own follow up story. Here are the details on GRID:

• NVIDIA calls it the “Netflix of games” and the platform will launch with more than 50 games in its catalogue.
• A decent internet connection will be required so NVIDIA is targeting 150ms pings between users and servers.
• Already has some huge existing/upcoming A-List titles attached including: Batman: Arkham Knight, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Resident Evil: Revelations 2.
• GRID will have two different subscription options, a basic package and a “premium” tier.

Pricing has not been shared yet for either tier of subscription service. There are a ton more games than just the ones listed above, so to check those out, head over to the GRID website here: GRID Games SHIELD

We have one more night of Mobile World Congress and so far we have seen some impressive devices whether they be phones, tablets, watches, or even a gaming system. The other impressive thing is that this year some of the lower named companies such as ZTE and Huawei have stepped up with some nice looking devices.

Which device impressed you the most from MWC and if we had to give a prize to the manufacturer who stole the show who would you choose?

According to the latest mobile scuttlebutt, Huawei will be the next Google Nexus smartphone maker this year. Two pieces of intel lead to this rumor. One comes from an interview with Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer division at Mobile World Congress this year. In that interview, he made it clear that when Huawei enters the US market this year with Android smartphones they will be relying on Google by offering a stock version of Android on their phones.

This is obviously just a hint, and it would be a great example of "conclusion jumping" to assume that is why Huawei is the next Nexus maker. The second bit of evidence flat out claims to confirm that this is the case. Kevin Yang, the Director of China Research at iSuppli, confirmed on Weibo today that Google has definitely chosen Huawei as the next Nexus maker.

Supposedly, the reason why Google chose Huawei for their Nexus program was because it is the biggest competitor to Xiaomi at the moment in China.

What do you guys think? Is this intel a bit too thin, or right on the money? What do you think of a Nexus device from Huawei?

Source: GizmoChina & The Verge