Official: This is the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

AndroidForums.com Discussion: Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge

From one big announcement to the next — Samsung has officially unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, their 2015 flagship smartphones. The devices are just as we’d imagined them (or just as we saw them in countless leaks, anyway).

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge specs

They’re quite similar under the hood with the following quick list of specs:

• 14nm 64-bit Exynos 7 Octa chipset


• 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM


• 32GB, 64GB or 128GB UFS 2.0 storage options


• 16 megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, 5 megapixel front camera with real-time HDR


• 5.1-inch Quad-HD Super AMOLED display (577 ppi)


• Dual-mode wireless charging with support for both WPC and PMA charging pads


• 10 minutes charging for 4 hours of use, 0% to 100% battery in half the time it takes an iPhone to charge


• NFC, heart-rate sensor and improved fingerprint scanner


• Depth: 6.8mm/7.0mm edge


• Weight: 138g/132g edge

The difference will obviously come with the Edge display of the latter. Through software, it’ll enable unique experiences that only an Edge display can provide.

Both devices look stunning, to boot. They’re built with a metal chassis that’s 50% stronger than the metal used in competing smartphones, and is slathered in the latest Gorilla Glass on both the front and rear. It looks and feels like Samsung, but it’s hard to say their devices have ever looked quite this good.

TouchWiz on the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

One new feature is the ability to set up your “fave 5″ contacts with their own designated color, and the S6 Edge’s display will glow in that color whenever they call or send you a message. You can drag that contact’s color from the Edge of the display to act on that message or missed call.

If it’s laying face down on a surface? You’ll be able to see the glow of that contact’s color, and a touch of the heart-rate sensor on the back and send off a quick message to dismiss the call or message in case you can’t respond right away.

The two share everything else in terms of features. TouchWiz is still TouchWiz — no Nexus-like debloat job here — but they’ve refined it to be less confusing and cluttered. They’ve done away with cryptic icons for text-based interface options to make it clear what you’re able to do. They make good use of white space just as Google has asked folks to for Android 5.0 and higher.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge camera

Megapixels alone aren’t impressive, and Samsung knows that. That’s why they weren’t insecure about not being able to match HTC’s 20.7 megapixel sensor or some other ridiculous spec.

What does matter is picture quality, and thanks to both the front and rear camera’s f/1.9 aperture the device is able to capture 60% more light. It should make for much better low light performance for both still shots and video, as well as an overall more versatile sensor for everyday use. Real-time HDR — an industry first — is also present for both the front and rear sensor, as well.

The camera software hasn’t gotten a million new selfie modes and other nonsense, but it has been cleaned up to make it easier to get to the options you need. That seems to be the theme here — nothing crazy, just much improved.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge availability

Samsung has already announced a release date for this thing — April 10th, worldwide. You can expect all major carriers in whichever country you live to offer the thing so you won’t have to worry about jumping from your network of choice. There will be 32GB, 64GB and 128GB options available, though pricing for each model has yet to be confirmed.

Google’s official YouTube app will cease to work on the earliest Google TV devices

Folks still rocking some of the original Google TV devices — such as the Logitech Revue and Sony’s Google TV box — will find themselves out of a YouTube app the next time they go to use their devices. Google has moved on to using their newest YouTube APIs, and only those who can update to certain recent versions of the YouTube app will be supported.

The problem is that many of the devices that haven’t moved on from Google TV software versions 1 and 2 have no way of getting a more recent version of the app. As such, they’ll either need to upgrade to newer devices or use the HTML5 version of YouTube from their web browser. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the sort of stuff you often have to deal with if you aren’t interested in upgrading.

You can check which version of Google TV your device has by heading to Settings > Customer Support > Android Version. If you have 3 or 4, great — head to Google Play and make sure you have the latest YouTube update. Otherwise you should probably start thinking about your options for upgrading to something more contemporary.

[via Google]

Verizon makes it official: Nexus 6 launches online March 12th, in-store March 19th

It took Verizon an obnoxious amount of time to join the Nexus 6 party, but the nation’s largest carrier has finally set an official date. It’s March 12th — a date we’ve given you before thanks to trusty insiders — and it’ll largely be the same Nexus 6 available everywhere else (with exception to that sore thumb of a logo, of course). Note that it will only be available through Verizon’s online store tomorrow. Those hoping to run into a store to grab one will have to wait until March 19th.

This is Verizon’s first officially supported Nexus phone since the Galaxy Nexus debacle of 2011. That particular handset was marred by a couple of big shortcomings: bad battery life (likely due to the infancy of LTE) and Verizon’s lengthy upgrade schedule. We’re hoping things have changed all these years later and that they’ll be able to deliver the same quality Nexus experience that everyone else currently is.

Verizon’s Nexus 6 will cost you 9.99 with a new two-year activation or .08 per month for 24 months with Verizon Edge. It’ll come with support for Advanced Calling 1.0 out of the box thanks to it shipping with Android 5.1 Lollipop — perhaps the update’s arrival was Verizon’s sole reason for delaying their launch.

Oh, and if you buy one before the month is over you’ll even get 6 free months of Google Play Music service. Not bad at all. Take the plunge online starting tomorrow.

[via Verizon]

The HTC One M9+ is official, has a bigger display and new processor

After countless leaks and rumors the HTC One M9 Plus is finally official. We expected to see this device alongside the announcement of the HTC One M9 (our review), but instead HTC saved it for an event in China. The M9+ takes most of what HTC did with the M9 and improves it very subtly.

The display has been increased from 5-inches to 5.2-inches, and resolutions has been improved from 1080p to 2K. This will make people wonder even more why HTC stuck with 1080p on the M9. The other big change is the processor. There was a lot of controversy around overheating issues with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, but the M9+ switches that out for an octa-core processor from MediaTek.

The M9+ gets the DuoCamera back, but it’s still 20MP, and the 4 UltraPixel front camera is the same. You’ll also notice HTC has also thrown in a fingerprint scanner on the front to round out the new features. Other specs include 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and 2840 mAh battery. We really like the subtle improvements HTC has made, but we can’t help but wish this was the real One M9. The M9+ will likely never be sold here in the U.S.

[via HTC]

Official: Cyanogen has raised $80 million in Series C funding

We’d heard Cyanogen recently secured a massive wad of cash in Series C funding, and now that news has been made official. The company reportedly raked in million of fresh investments from a sizable and noteworthy group of ventures and companies, making it 0 million that they’ve raised to date and should put the company’s valuation at just around billion.

On the list were Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm Incorporated, Telefónica Ventures, Smartfren Telecom, Index Ventures, Access Industries, Rupert Murdoch, Vivi Nevo. They were joined by existing investors Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, and Tencent Holdings Ltd. There were more, though Cyanogen is opting not to disclose who at this time.

There were rumors rampant early on that Microsoft would be billed as a minority investor in this round of funding, though that rumor was later debunked. That doesn’t mean the two didn’t at least talk about it, though, so there’s nothing that stops it from happening at any point in the future.

The growing interest in Cyanogen likely stems from a long-term vision the company has set forth to create a new Android-based ecosystem to make it more approachable for budding device makers than going the Google route. We’ve already seen the tangible results of the partnership in phones like the OnePlus One and Micromax’s Yureka phone, and even Qualcomm has decided to team up with them to make Cyanogen OS available on Snapdragon development prototype devices.

The exact plan for the future is still unclear to the public, but to be able to generate million from a group of money-flooded companies and individuals they have to be onto something big. Let’s hope it won’t take long to find out.

HTC One M9’s first official release date is March 16th

HTC’s mid-March release window for the HTC One M9 is about as accurate as you can get. The company has just announced the first official availability date for the device. It’ll go on sale beginning March 16th in their home turf of Taiwan in conjunction with 5 of the nation’s largest carriers.

According to local press, HTC held the initial launch in Taiwan so as to instill some Taiwanese pride among the hometown people excited to buy their phone. They drove that point home with traditional festivities such as drum performances and a performance by a local orchestra. This is in contrast to last year’s strategy of making United States’ Verizon Wireless the very first carrier to call dibs on the HTC One M8.

HTC mentioned that while the M9’s officially recognized launch date is March 16th, it wouldn’t start showing up on store shelves of local carriers until March 23rd. Whether an international or global launch will happen at that point remains to be seen (B&H once let loose a March 25th date for those of us in the States), but if the phone is primed for one market then it should be good to go in many more.

We’ll try to get a more pointed release date as it pertains to everyone not in Taiwan, so sit tight (unless, of course, you’ll be fortunate enough to be in the nation next week and buy one for yourself). In the meantime get a good look at what to expect from our hands-on time with the device from Mobile World Congress last week.

[via Digitimes]

It’s official: Google+ photos have merged into Google Drive

Ladies and gentleman, it’s official: starting today, all the photos you store in Google+ can now finally be accessed in Google Drive. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve been using the same cloud storage this whole time. This really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. We’ve seen Google toy around with this idea a few weeks back, even mention the move more recently. But only today has it become officially available.

Google says you’ll see the new Google Photos option in Drive’s slide-out menu for everything you upload from here on out. For your older albums, well, those will take a few more weeks before they’ll be available in Drive. No word on when/if we’ll see a separate Google Photos app arrive in the Play Store in the near future, but we’ll keep an eye out.

[Google Drive Blog]

HTC One M8s official, basically a One M8 repackaged with a mid-range Snapdragon 615

You thought HTC was done duplicating the HTC One M8? Here’s another — it’s the HTC One M8s. It’s identical to the HTC One M8, save for the chipset inside: it’s sporting a Snapdragon 615 compared to the Snapdragon 801 found in the original.

Going with a mid-range chipset is an odd choice for a refresh of yesteryear’s flagship, but we imagine HTC did it for the 64-bit compatibility it brings. It’s also not a terrible chipset performance wise, though it’s our understanding that it’s weaker in benchmarks compared to the Snapdragon 801.

Nearly everything else about the HTC One M8s remains the same, though HTC is now using a 13 megapixel rear sensor to go along with the secondary duo camera on the rear, while the front enjoys a 5 megapixel sensor. Here are the rest of its specs:

• 5-inch 1080p display


• 2GB of RAM


• 16GB of internal storage w/ microSD card slot


• 2,840mAh battery


• GPS w/ GLONASS, WiFi AC  2.4GHz + 5GHz, Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC


• BoomSound Speakers


• 146.41 x 70.61 x 9.55mm


• 160 grams

The HTC One M8s will see a launch in Europe, though there’s no indication it’ll make its way anywhere else. We’re not sure what compelled HTC to make this handset over simply offering a discounted HTC One M8, but there it is anyway.

Between us, we’re just about ready for something that doesn’t look identical to what the company has made for the past 3 years and we hope this is the last device on that long train.

Sony gives developers an official path to bootloader access on select phones

In Sony’s ongoing quest to make their phones more developer friendly, the company has opened up bootloader access for a handful of their current Android smartphones. FXP has found that Sony’s official Mobile Flash tool now offers up an “Open Devices” bootloader option alongside the standard consumer-shipped bootloader.

What will this enable? It’ll allow developers to install custom recoveries right to the devices’ recovery partition. This enables the use of custom ROMs and operating systems without the need to use tricky and clunky bootstrap solutions. In fact, it’s so open that it would be possible to flash recoveries and ROMs for non-Android operating systems such as Ubuntu and Firefox OS (if one has the wherewithal to figure that out, of course).

Sony has only rolled out support for devices with chipsets based on ARM Cortex-A7, so that effectively limits it to the Sony Xperia T3, Sony Xperia M2, Sony Xperia T2 Ultra and the Sony Xperia E3.

That’s not to say more won’t come down the line, though, and we hope to hear something official from Sony soon. In the meantime, you can find the mobile flash tool right here. We wouldn’t recommend using it to do anything immediately, but you’ll likely want it on-hand once the development community takes proper advantage of this new level of access.

It’s official: Windows 10 can run Android apps… sort of

Yesterday, we heard about Microsoft’s plans to get Android apps to run on Windows 10. We likened the idea to Blackberry’s Android runtime used on their latest devices that allows Android developers to easily port their apps over.

Well, the news was true, but only to a degree. Microsoft has equipped developers with tools to easily port their Android and iOS apps to Windows 10, only this is no mere emulation or runtime. Instead, it’s a custom platform called Astoria that opens up Windows 10 development to a number of new languages.

For Android, developers can now code directly in C++ and Java to make sure they don’t have to write entirely new code bases from scratch. iOS developers will also be treated to support for Objective-C. Microsoft will make it extremely easy for developers to get comfortable developing for Windows using this SDK.

There are a couple of hurdles to consider, though you can be sure Microsoft was mindful about them. Namely, they recognize that not all developers can fully port their code base to Windows 10 without the help of some of Google’s proprietary services and APIs.

Microsoft says it’s their goal to build many of these types of services and tools themselves to fill in some of those gaps. It’s not all that dissimilar to Amazon and their Kindle Fire devices. While apps can be ported over to those devices in native fashion, Amazon still had to create their own APIs and platforms to fill in for the missing Google bits.

Whether this is going to be enough to fix Microsoft’s apps problem is still up in the air, but at least they’ve gone about trying to fix it it in a very creative, sensible and — honestly — exciting way. We hope to learn more soon.

[via The Verge]

Iron Man Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has been fully revealed — here’s the official unboxing video

Samsung has been teasing the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man edition for quite some time, but the goods have finally been fully revealed. It’s everything we imagined it would be, with a very nice red chassis accented with some elegant-looking gold (including Iron Man’s logo plastered on the back looking as mean as ever).

What’s even better is that this thing will also ship with an Iron Man-themed wireless charger. It’ll also obviously have Samsung’s Iron Man TouchWiz theme pre-installed (though that’s just as easy to change as any theme).

Everything else is the Galaxy S6 Edge as you know it, with this particular variant coming with a standard storage count of 64GB.

Unfortunately availability for this thing won’t be widespread for now, with Samsung  only confirming launches for China, Hong Kong and their home turf of South Korea. The earliest landing date will be May 27th — that’s tomorrow — so if you’re keen on importing one you’ll want to look into it as soon as possible because we’re sure this limited run won’t last.

[via Samsung]

LG G4 could launch on June 2nd according to an official (now deleted) tweet

LG and T-Mobile are teaming up to take the recently announced — but still unavailable stateside — LG G4 on a tour bus, hitting up multiple cities across the good ‘ol US of A. This cross country tour even has its own dedicated Twitter account run by T-Mobile (@G4Preview) which basically announces where they’re headed next, and tweets out photos of lucky G4 winners.

While neither LG or T-Mobile are willing to provide a launch date, the aforementioned G4 Preview Tour Twitter account may have revealed its expected launch date. In response to an inquiry from one Twitter user, the T-Mobile account said that the LG G4 will be in stores Tuesday, June 2nd.

The tweet has since been deleted, and it’s interesting that the response was to someone asking about AT&T availability — not T-Mobile. Although all major US carriers have committed to offering the LG G4 on the network when it does launch, nobody is offering up any details outside of preregistering for the device.

[9to5Google]

Official: Sprint gets the LG G4 June 5th, pre-sale starts today with 3 free goodies

Sprint has announced that they will be getting the LG G4 June 5th. The carrier is among the first to offer up solid availability. They’ll have a few different options for upgrading depending on what works best for you:

• Sprint Lease: LG G4 will be available through Sprint Lease for down at signing and per month. (Note that Sprint will always own the device and there will be no option to keep it if you end service).


• At the conclusion of the lease period, customers in good standing have several options, including returning the LG G4 and leasing another device or purchasing it.


• Sprint Easy Pay^SM: Well-qualified buyers can purchase LG G4 with down (plus tax), no finance fees and 24 easy monthly payments of (SRP: 0; excluding taxes; service plan required).


• Purchase LG G4 for $ 9.99 with a two-year agreement.


• Purchase LG G4 for 9.99 without a contract.

You can pre-order as soon as today, and doing so will net you some goodies, including a 32GB microSD card, a spare 3,000mAh battery and a charging cradle. You should also check out our LG G4 review if you’re still on the fence, but here’s a quick spoiler: you definitely couldn’t go wrong making this your smartphone of choice for 2015.

[via Sprint]

Samsung’s official Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge Clear View cases scratch your screen more than they protect it

Doesn’t matter if your smartphone’s screen is made of Gorilla Glass 1 or 4 — they’re still prone to scratches. Now, we’re not going to attach a “gate” at the end of this one (we know how much you guys hate it), but it seems Samsung’s own official Clear View case could actually do more damage to your Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge than if you left your display completely bare.

Some users on XDA are reporting tiny little scratches or pits on their glass screens caused by tiny dirt or dust particles that fall in between the display and the plastic clear case. This isn’t exactly an uncommon issue. Ask anyone that’s used a hard plastic case — the ones that only cover the back — on any previous phone and they’ll give you all kinds of horror stories about how the metal or plastic ended up with the exact same blemishes. How Samsung thought this would be a good idea on a flip case that covers the phone’s display with hard plastic is anyone’s guess. It’s just ironic how the very thing someone bought to protect their device, was its own undoing.

Might wanna think twice before buying one of these, or just double up with a screen protector as well.

Android Lollipop running on 12.4% of devices according to official numbers for June 2015

With Android M becoming official last week — and available now as a Developer Preview — you may have lost sight of the most recent Android firmware version yet to hit your device: Android 5.0 Lollipop. It’s been more than 7 months since Lollipop was released, and you’d think with that with that length of time under OEM’s belts a modest number of Android devices are running the most recent firmware. Well, not so much. Anyone curious to chart Lollipop’s progress across the Android globe need look no further than Google’s newly updated Platform Version numbers for the month of June.

According to the updated numbers, only 11.6% of active Android devices (those that have recently accessed the Google Play Store) are running Android 5.0, followed by Android 5.1 at .8%. That brings the grand total of devices running Lollipop up to 12.4% (up from last month’s 9.7%). It’s not a terrible number, especially considering all of this year’s flagships are running Lollipop in some capacity. Of course, it’s 5.1 — which significantly polished up Lollipop from a usability standpoint — that Android fans are really looking forward to (at least until Android M launches at the end of the year).

There’s a bunch of other numbers you’re likely not to give a hoot about. Not unless you’re a developer looking to support older versions of Android in your apps. We always look at these Platform Distribution numbers as more of an Android report card which really isn’t so bad considering all the varying amount of hardware and carrier meddling that goes into issuing software updates on our smartphones. With the LG G4 and Samsung Galaxy S6 picking up steam, we should see these numbers jump drastically in the coming months.

Official: Nexus 6 on T-Mobile will start receiving Android 5.1.1 with WiFi Calling this weekend

Yesterday, T-Mobile’s Des Smith hinted at the possibility of the Nexus 6 finally receiving its WiFi Calling update this weekend but today, he’s finally confirming it. The Nexus 6 will officially receive Android 5.1.1 — build number LYZ28E — on T-Mobile this weekend, and after a fairly long wait (and a few hiccups on the way), WiFi Calling is officially on board.

The update will be a gradual rollout, hitting a small number of T-Mobile customers in stages. If all goes well, expect a more broad rollout in the coming weeks. Keep in mind you’ll need to already be on Android 5.1 (build LMY47M) in order to update to 5.1.1 and if you’d like, you can grab the factory images from Google’s Nexus Factory Images site here.

Motorola says Lollipop for the original Moto X is being test driven, official rollout in a few weeks

Lollipop has got to be one of the more frustrating Android releases we’ve seen in quite sometime. Motorola knows your pain, and it’s the reason Motorola’s Senior Director of Software Product Management David Schuster took to Google+ to update us on the status of the Moto X 1st Gen and its planned update to Lollipop.

Instead of blaming buggy code, Schuster mentions that a lack of support from “some of our hardware partners” as the cause of the delay, but didn’t offer any more details outside of that. He did note that Lollipop is already being test driven here in the US and in Latin American regions, with the official over-the-air update not more than a few weeks off. That’s great news.

Exactly what the means for carrier versions of the Motorola Moto X is anyone’s guess. Just take solace in the fact that Lollipop is, in fact, coming and people are actively working to ensure it’s a smooth — and more importantly bug free — transition to Google’s latest.

[Google+]

Official: Nexus 9 gets Android 5.1 Lollipop update today

Google’s been trolling Nexus 9 owners for quite some time by bringing out maintenance upgrades while others were long enjoying Android 5.1. Well, the trolling stops here — Google has announced that the upgrade is officially rolling out to the big tablet from today onward.

Android 5.1 didn’t bring any amazing changes, though it did squash a great deal of bugs that fell under Google’s radar when Android 5.0 Lollipop was first released. These changes should contribute to better battery life and an overall smoother device.

We’re not sure when the rollout will begin or if it’ll be staggered, but we’re sure there will be flashable OTA files to get you going on the latest and greatest before too long. For now, keep smashing that update button in the Settings menu!

[via Twitter]

Official: HBO Now is coming to Google Play with Chromecast support

When HBO announced its online streaming service that doesn’t require a cable subscription — dubbed HBO Now — it was exclusive to iOS, but we quickly learned that wouldn’t be the case for very long. Thankfully that was accurate: Google has announced that HBO Now will soon be headed to Google Play.

The app should be nearly identical to HBO Go, giving you on-demand access to all of HBO’s shows and currently showing movies (and you’ll pay .99 per month for the privilege of doing so). One other thing that the Android version will get is Chromecast support, so you can beam the content to your TV with ease.

Unfortunately Google didn’t have any specifics to dish out for availability aside from the usual “later this summer,” spiel, so we’ll have to wait for further word before we know all the details. Be sure to stick with Phandroid and you’ll know the moment we do!

Official: OnePlus 2 will be one of the first smartphones to feature a USB Type-C port

OnePlus is officially getting the hype train rolling for their upcoming OnePlus 2, the followup to last year’s (frustrating) OnePlus One flagship. Today they announced on social media that the phone will be the first Android flagship to feature USB Type C, a reversible port that doesn’t care which way you insert the cable in (similar to Apple’s Lightning port on the iPhone).

The connection does more than just charge devices (which tops out at 5A/20V/100W vs USB 2.0’s 2.5V), allowing video output as well thanks to higher 10Gbps speeds. Google committed to the new connector back when they unveiled the Chromebook Pixel 2 in March, so we expect it will also arrive in this year’s Nexus launching at the end of this year. OnePlus seems confident their flagship will be the first to use the new spec, so we expect a OnePlus 2 launch is right around the corner.

[Twitter]