I have to admit that I don't flash roms as often as I used to. The main reason for this is because I get new phones just about semi monthly. Stock software has become "good enough" for me for the most part. That along with the fact that it can become pesky to keep up with so many roms on so many devices. The benefits often no longer outweigh the inconveniences. Phones no longer require overclocking to run without lag, most phones have custom theming options, and things like tethering, battery percentage and other mods come stock without even the need to root. The main reason to run a Rom these days is to keep your phone updated to the latest versions of Android even after they have been end of lifed by the OEM.

The Nextbit Robin is a phone that just keeps on ticking thanks to its openess, and developer friendliness. The XOSP rom brings a whole new user experience to the Nextbit Robin. The Rom brings an Xperia like experience. It is also full of custom options that the stock rom does not already include. For a list of all the features and download links head to the link below.

via...

When the Moto X Force came out last year it was instantly put through all sorts of durability tests including being stood on by a Clydesdale horse. The selling point of the force series is that the screens don't shatter. Lenovo actually guarantees that your Moto Z Force shattershield screen won't crack or shatter.

Grant Thompson known for mad hatteriish experiments on youtube decided to strap the Z Force Droid to a rocket to see if it would survive the flight. The rocket reached Moch speeds and the phone actually survived. There was even some epic in flight video taken by the phone.

In unrelated but awesome news Patrick Shoenmaker has released a short 1 minute and a half intro to what would be an incredible Indian Jones animated series. He has spent the past 5 years perfecting this very piece and it looks like his work has payed off. The Indiana Jones franchise as we know it isn't going away anytime soon. Harrison Ford will be staring in an upcoming fifth installment of the series directed by Steven Speilberg. One day Harrison won't be up to filming these though and that would be the perfect opportunity for Disney to launch an animated series. What are your thoughts? Would this series peak your interest?

HTC is celebrating customers this week with a "Green is Good" campaign. At first I thought this was a tree hugging campaign, but it seems to be more of the everyone loves money variety. Between October 1 and October 8 you will have the chance to win a prize that will have you "rolling in green". Top Prizes include an HTC Vive, HTC 10, RE cameras and more. That is not all HTC is also offering their best deal yet on the HTC 10. You can save $150 on the device if you purchase it during the Green is Good week. Head to the link below for the savings and the contest.

via HTC

I have always been an Android fanboy and I have to admit that my attempts with iOS have been annoying and futile. There has been more than one occasion where I wanted to throw an iPhone across the room shattering it into a million pieces, but like most normal people I found within myself enough restraint to keep myself from going bananas. One French man was not able to find the same restraint.

In the video above the man is seen smashing iPhone screen after iPhone screen with a steel ball. He then proceeds to damage some MacBooks that get in his way. He says in the video that Apple did not reimburse him under some European Law "So this happens". The damage is estimated to be in the tens of thousands of dolllars. The man tried to run away but security was able to catch up with him and hold him until authorities arrived. No doubt he will have to answer for his actions and likely pay for the damages.

I have had my own battles with poor customer service, but there are other ways to deal with it. You could simply vote with your dollar and not support companies that don't treat you well. Bad word of mouth can also do more damage to a company than you would think. Going into a store and destroying things really proves nothing, and your audience is more lookiing at you the freak show than the company which caused you harm.

We are all looking forward to Google's upcoming October 4th event. We fully expect two new Google phone's to be released there. The Pixel and Pixel XL will most likely be unveiled their. We have already seen plenty of leaked images and even a 3D render of the PIxel XL. We pretty much know what to expect when it comes to the new handsets. This will not be the only thing that Google announces at the event however.

We also expect to see a new version of the Chromecast. This time the Chromecast will be able to support UHD! We should also see a demo of the new Daydream VR Headset, and Google Home. Google Home will compete with the Amazon Echo. You will be able to play songs and playlists, manage tasks like setting reminders, making reservations, and controlling household items like your lights and AC.

Google has also apparently been speaking with OEMs in hopes they will integrate Google Home into their own products. This would be similar to what OEMs do with Google cast. It has also been reported that Google has told OEMs that they would need to also incorporate Google Home if they want to their devices to be able to use Google Cast. I for one am looking forward to seeing what exactly it...

Twitch is the Youtube of gaming. It is where all the hardcore gamers go to watch other gamers game! If you aren't familiar with the service you can stream your own gameplay and others are able to subscribe to your channel to watch these streams, much like with youtube. The only catch is that subscriptions cost a monthly $5 donation which goes to support further content creation by the channel owner.

Amazon has now owned Twitch since 2014, but until now we have not seen much Twitch integration with Amazon's current products. Amazon will now offer a free monthly subscription to one Twitch channel with your Prime account. This means you will get the $5 to go towards any streamer you like. With Twitch Prime you will also get free game content, and discounts on new games sold by Amazon during the pre-order period and first few weeks of launch. If you already subscribe to Amazon Prime this ends up being one extra great feature. Use the link below to connect your Twitch account with Amazon Prime.

Twitchprime.com

If you are multilingual then you already know how annoying it is to have to switch back and forth between languages in your keyboard settings. Swiftkey is one of my go to keyboards because it offers one of the best swiping keyboards and does pretty well with predictions and corrections. They have also had the ability to type with two languages at once for a while, but have just added the ability to type with up to 5 languages simultaneously. If you need to communicate using multiple languages on a daily basis you will probably want to give this a try. Another big update to the app includes some updates to the neural network for improved suggestions. Grab this update from the link below.

via Play Store

Samsung has been steadily broadening the reach of Samsung Pay. The latest country to join in on the fun is Russia. The mobile platform was just released their today. Samsung Pay currently works with five major banks there including Alfa-Bank Banking Group, VTB24, MTS Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, and Standard Bank. I always felt that Samsung had the mobile payment technology that would finally take root and have the most success since it works at pretty much any kiosk.

Samsung has now rolled out Samsung Pay to 9 countries since its debut. These countries include South Korea, Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, and the US. It will also be coming soon to Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thialand, and the UK before the end of the year.

via SamMobile

It is always nice to see a company take risks to bring something new and revolutionary to consumers. Unfortunately these risks often don't go as planned. This is exactly what happened to LG with the G5. Modularity seemed to be a feature that consumers were interested in as Google seemingly moved closer to a final version of Project Ara (which has now been canceled). LG decided to bring a modular design to consumers. While the design was revolutionary it didn't quite resonate with consumers. The product felt Beta and was plagued with build quality issues. The phone never really caught fire especially after Lenovo launched a much more refined and polished magnetic modular design (which has not done as well as it could have thanks to a Verizon exclusive deal).

LG's blunder can now be your gain. Of course you can find lightly used G5's all over the web for $300, but you can actually own a brand new top of the line flagship for a mere $479. B&H currently has the device on sale. This price also includes quite a few extras like the LG charging cradle, Standard battery and your choice of either a black or white garmin vivofit 3 activity tracker. This is an incredible deal when you consider...