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Alcatel will join One Plus with putting out a Cyanogenmod phone to the market. The Alcatel Here 2+ phablet will pack a 2.0 octa-core processor, a 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front camera, 1080P full HD 6 inch screen, 2 gigs of Ram, and come in both 16 and 32 g Gb versions. This will cost you $299 and be available in Qtr 2 of this year via Amazon for North American market. Be interesting to see if Alcatel handle things differently than what One Plus did.

Sources: Alcatel s Hero 2 phablet is the latest phone to launch with CyanogenMod
ALCATEL ONETOUCH Smartphone Cell Phones Unlocked Phones Phone Accessories

Last week @dgstorm posted an article on net neutrality that got strong arguments from both sides of the board. Even better was we had a staff member (@grenefroggie ) who works in the industry who provided some great insight against net neutrality. I can't help but feel like this battle for Net Neutrality was a battle between Comcast and the cable companies vs Netflix. After reading an article from the Verge where Netflix just pulled a 180 it made me wonder if Netflix was not the face of this argument would people still feel as passionate? So I ask this to those who were in favor of net neutrality and Title II, how much did Netflix influence your decision?

Source: Is Netflix s commitment to net neutrality a lie The Verge

Besides being aesthetically pleasing, it turns out the dual-edges on the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge are more than just a sleek and beautiful new design hook. Apparently, Samsung found several handy features to make them useful as well. Here's a breakdown:

1. Color-coded glowing caller ID notification - The edges of the Galaxy S6 Edge can actually be set to glow in various colors that you can customize for the person calling. You simply have to turn the edge light feature on and then assign colors using the People edge setting.
2. Night Clock - The sidebar includes a Night Clock feature. With one glance at the side, you will know exactly how much more time you have left to sleep.
3. Pin your contacts - here's something very handy for the social butterflies, and/or active team players. You can pin your contacts to the sidebar and color-code them too. This could be handy if there are some folks who you contact often.
4. Customize which notifications will display on the side screens - Yes. With the edges of the S6 Edge, you can allow specific and customized notifications, (like email, texts, calls, etc.) to show up on the side edges. You can even color-code those as well. You can also pull on those tabs to activate them if you need to see more details or act on them.
5. Information & News stream - you can set up an information and news stream to show up along the edge of the Galaxy S6 Edge.
6. Locked phone...

We have a couple of new Android tablets to share with you guys today from Mobile World Congress 2015. These were actually revealed a couple of days ago at the event in Barcelona, Spain, but we didn't get a chance to get to them until today. Lenovo revealed two products for us. Here are some press renders above and below, as well as their spec-lists along with release dates and pricing info.


Lenovo Tab 2 A10 - available in April - Wifi models will start at $199 and LTE models at $279.

• 10.1-inch Full HD IPS LCD display with 1920×1200 resolution
• Wifi model: 1.5GHz quad core 64-bit MediaTek MT8165 processor, LTE model: 1.5GHz quad core 64-bit MediaTek MT8732 processor
• 2GB of RAM
• 16GB of internal storage, MicroSD expansion up to 32GB
• 171 x 247 x 8.9mm, 509g
• 8MP rear-facing camera
• 5MP front-facing camera
• Non-removable 7200mAh battery
• Android 4.4 KitKat (Lollipop update coming in June)
• Dolby ATMOS 3D Surrond Sound
• Available in Pearl White and Midnight Blue

Lenovo Tab 2 A8 - available in June - Wifi models will start at $129 and LTE models at $179.

• 8-inch IPS LCD display with 1280×800 resolution
• Wifi model: 1.3GHz quad core MediaTek MT8161 processor, LTE model: 1.3GHz...

For a few weeks we have heard rumors and even quotes from Sony executives that Sony is considering merging or selling off their mobile division. These rumors came from reputable sources, and Sony's own CEO even hinted at it by saying, “Without drastic reforms such as joint ventures or alliances, [Sony’s mobile and TV businesses] will be in the red three years from now.”

Apparently, his statements were blown out of proportion or there are some dissenting opinions from within the company. Sony's Mobile Division president, Hiroki Totoki, recently flatly refuted that Sony intends to sell their mobile division. He said,

Totoki added that the mobile divisions product portfolio was simply too diverse and needs to be refocused. What do you guys think? Could Sony turn things around? HTC seems to have done a good job of climbing out of the pit they were in in 2012 and 2013.

Source: Reuters

NetherRealm, the developers of the next Mortal Kombat game recently announced a new mobile version of Mortal Kombat X. The game will be coming to Android in April (around the same time the non-mobile version will release). We have a teaser video and a full press release below,

Some of the first shots using the new Samsung Galaxy S6 camera have been shared online, and they are truly amazing to behold. The image quality is stunning to say the least. With vibrant, yet realistic color, and silky smooth texturing, you would be forgiven for thinking these shots came from a professional camera.

We included one above, but there are several more (full resolution images) in the thread below. The source of these images also shared a 1080p video sample taken with the Galaxy S6 camera. They even included several images taken using the 5MP front-facing camera. We included the video and these "selfies" as well.

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

Source: GSMArena

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: