TAG Heuer teams up with Intel and Google to build their first real smartwatch [UPDATE]

High-end watchmaker TAG Heuer is building a smartwatch, but they can’t do it on their own. The watch is said to be officially revealed tomorrow, with CEO Jean-Claude Biver telling Bloomberg in an interview that the Swiss company had to rely on key partnerships inside Silicon Valley to help build the smartwatch, as Switzerland was lacking the necessary tech know-how.

Exactly who are these partners? According to Reuters, Intel has already signed on to supply the processor, while Pocketlint is reporting that Google is also onboard, who we guess will likely provide the OS. That means, we could be looking at a luxury Android Wear smartwatch to compete with the Apple Watch.

Biver notes that while the internal components and OS will be American, the rest of the watch (casing, dial, crown, and design) is all Swiss. The watch will be a near replica of their current black Carrera watch, which retails for around ,000 depending on the exact model. Needless to say, we don’t expect this new smartwatch will come cheap.

We expect to learn more tomorrow when the new smartwatch is officially unveiled.

 UPDATE: Annnnnnnd… it’s official.

It costs more to build a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge than an iPhone 6

In your years as an Android user, have you ever heard the notion that Android phones are the poor man’s iPhone? That may be true for those on the low-mid range of the spectrum, though anyone with a brain would wretch at the statement as it pertains to top-shelf offerings. Android phones in today’s age are built with components just as high of a quality as those found inside the iPhone, and in some cases even more so.

It comes as no surprise the same holds true for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. According to a yet-to-be-released IHS report seen by Re/Code, the 64GB Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge on Verizon Wireless comes with a bill of materials clocking in at roughly 0. To compare, the 128GB iPhone 6 comes with a cost of 3. It may seem an insignificant difference, but when it comes to maximizing profit margins it adds up (even mere cents on the dollar can affect your bottom line in a big way).

It’s even more interesting to think about the fact that even with increased cost in materials, Samsung sells the Galaxy S6 Edge a bit cheaper than Apple does the iPhone 6. Of course, cost of materials doesn’t factor in the money that goes into paying for labor, research and development and marketing, but it’d be hard for anyone to maintain a straight face and make the argument that Samsung’s phones don’t use quality materials.

Much of Samsung’s increased costs come from the curved display, a component said to add to the total. Samsung’s use of 3GB of DDR4 RAM and a UFS 2.0 storage unit (this is near-bleeding edge stuff for mobile phones) also add a pretty significant amount.

Couple that with a metal frame, reinforced glass on the front and rear, a quality camera and a pretty nice kit of silicon in the Exynos 7 chipset, and you have your recipe for a phone that’s filled to the brim with expensive components and the lofty bill of materials to show for it. If nothing else, you can put your mind at ease knowing Samsung didn’t cut a single corner with their latest smartphones, and that you can trump those iPhone-owning friends of yours the next time they try to dismiss your phone as a cheap ripoff.

Download: Android 5.1 build LMY47I factory images now available for Nexus 6 and Nexus 5

Another minor firmware upgrade for those on Android 5.1 has been released by Google, and it’s headed to both the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6. It’s build LMY47I, and there doesn’t appear to be much new compared to the base release of Android 5.1. It’s our understanding that this release deals with a couple of bugs pertaining to dual-SIM support, but that’s about it.

If you’re in a rush to get it and don’t want to wait for the OTA you’ll be happy to know that the factory images for both are now available for download directly from Google.

As always, you’ll need fastboot (available in the SDK tools) to flash the system image to your Nexus device. Google has instructions laid out at the aforementioned link so be sure to reference it if your flashing skills are a bit rusty. Let us know how it’s treating your device once you’ve gotten it loaded up!

Nexus 6 on T-Mobile now receiving Android 5.1 (build LMY47M)

Nexus 6 owners on T-Mobile are now receiving their update to Android 5.1 Lollipop. The build number for the update — LMY47M — is actually different from builds we’ve seen rolling out previously, so hopefully nobody flashed those in an effort to get a jump on 5.1. The update weighs in at about 409MB and should hit your Nexus 6 any minute/day now.

Android 5.1 brings lots of smaller tweaks to Lollipop, with new “anti-theft” security features that prevent unauthorized use after a factory reset, new quick toggles, animations, a heap ton of bug fixes and VoLTE (WiFi calling is expected in a later update). If you haven’t received a prompt yet, you can manually check for the update by heading to Settings > About phone > System Updates > Check now. Good luck!

[T-Mobile]

Report: Google in talks with LG to build this year’s Nexus smartphone, not Huawei

Details about how the Nexus 6 was conceived is still shrouded in mystery. With rumors last year that Google would effectively be killing off the Nexus line in favor of multiple high-end devices — all running stock Android — sold in carrier stores, Google seemingly made a U-turn. This was after the Android Silver project head made his sudden departure from the company altogether.

Now, as we look ahead to the next Nexus, early rumors began swirling that Chinese smartphone maker Huawei would take up the mantle, something we’ll admit we never saw coming. But before you got your hopes up (or down), a new report has emerged, suggesting that it could be none other than LG.

Apparently, Google engineers were spotted visiting LG headquarters in South Korea, where they took a tour of a few LG facilities responsible for building LG’s displays, OIS cameras, wireless charging parts, as well as LG’s own R&D facilities. Carrying the codename “N000,” (those are zeroes, by the way, not the letter “o”) the device — said to be a smartphone — could launch as the “ Nexus 7.” Um… what?

Going by Google’s current naming convention, the number following a Nexus name has always denoted screen size — not generation. It’d be odd if Google suddenly switched gears confusing consumers in the process. So, that either means Google is looking to LG for a 7-inch tablet followup, or they’re launching a 7-inch smartphone (or not using the 7 name at all). If LG is making another tablet (and not a smartphone), then it’s still entirely possible for Huawei could be working on the actual smartphone. Confused yet? So are we.

As you can already tell, we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here. In any case, LG is a major Android partner and has released quite a few Nexus devices to date, even more if you count their Google Play tablet. If rumors of an LG-made Nexus 2015 smartphone are true, would you guys be disappointed or overjoyed?

[eToday]

G900FXXU1BOA3 Galaxy S5 Android 5.0 Lollipop Update Arrived in UK, First firmware build in 2015

The Android 5.0 Lollipop update has finally reaches in UK Samsung  Galaxy S5 users.  A unique software build number G900FXXU1BOA3, indicating a fresher build this year. The three last digits letters “OA3″, the  “O” basically emphasized as a date of a year “2015”, while letter “A” holds the first month of the year which is “January”  and the number “3” shows how many revisions has its made.

In addition,  if one might have to ask why Samsung had to released another firmware build version in UK whilst the rest of European countries has the same build version. Well, maybe it just happens that UK’s Galaxy S5 just got delayed a bit and there is nothing to argue with that. If we take a closer look to the firmware build G900FXXU1BOA3 itself, it has a similar changes-value to the previous Android 5.0 G900FXXU1BNL9. It is simply means that nothing more any special added features to it. But noting that the G900FXXU1BOA3 is the newer build and had been into several revisions, then there is a possibility that it might be something a lot better than the previously rolled out.

However, the United States version of Samsung Galaxy S5, including  AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and  Sprint has no signs of any official Android 5.0 Lollipop update yet. And so does in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Middle East and Latin America at this time being. But let’s hope that it will going to arrive very soon!

Here are the firmware build details of G900FXXU1BOA3 Android 5.0:

•  Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F


• Android version 5.0 (Lollipop OS)


• Baseband version G900FXXU1BOA3


• Kernel version 3.4.0-3624618
  dpi@SWDD6114 #1
  Wed Jan 7 20:14:27 KST 2015


• Build number LRX21T.G900FOXA1BOA3


• SE for Android status Enforcing
  SEF_SM-G900F_5.0_0002


• AP: G900FXXU1BOA3


• CSC: G900FOXA1BOA4


• CP: G900FXXU1BOA3

Again, the G900FXXU1BOA3 is only available for UK’s unbranded Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F users. Those who got a carrier branded one might as well see an update like the ones used to officially rolled out to the rest of European countries such as the G900FXXU1BNL9. You might wanna see the updated list of countries and network providers here. Those who have not seen the update yet, might better manually check it via Over-the-air (OTA) update or using Kies. Below are the guides that shows the basic  method on how to perform a software update on Samsung Galaxy S5.

How to Update the Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F to Official Android 5.0 Lollipop build G900FXXU1BOA3

Samsung always urge us to prepare the following important notes to consider before performing the software update.  I have also added some useful insights why you should follow this procedures to keep your  phone in safe.

Recharge the phone’s battery – You should make sure your device is fully recharged before performing the software update. Do not also remove the battery during the software update is in progress. A power failures may cause damaged to your device that might results as we so-called “soft-bricks”. If this happens your device may just stuck on Samsung logo or welcome screen and can’t reboot normally.

Backup important data – You should back-up your important files, including contacts, emails, messages, photos, videos, apps and other stuff. Like I said while during software update process is interrupted there is a possibility that your data stored from your device internal SD card may lose or deleted when a sudden unexpected failure happened and it forces you to perform a factory data reset which basically wipes your phone’s memory.

Galaxy S5 should no “Root” installed – Your device should not be modified or rooted, there is a certain circumstances that a modified and rooted Galaxy S5 SM-G900F may not accept any official software update anymore or it can accept an update but it might harm your device once the update has made. Learn about the new Samsung KNOX security suite. Most known error that says ‘firmware upgrade encountered an issue, please select recovery mode in Kies and try again‘ or “Your device has been modified Software update are not available” you should try to avoid that from happening.

How to Update Galaxy S5 G900F to  Android 5.0 G900FXXU1BOA3 via Over-The-Air (OTA)

 This is usually how the carrier branded or locked Samsung Galaxy S5, performs a software update.  This method is Firmware Update through over the air or called as OTA update, which most often  a notification message will directly sent to you from your network provider or Samsung and notifies you that there is a new update available for download.  If you did not receive any notification messages you can manually check for the update instead.  Doing this you may only tap on your Galaxy S5 SM-G900F Settings>>About Device, tap Software Update.

• Find “Software update”


• Slide your finger down the display starting from the top edge of your mobile phone.


• Tap the settings icon.


• Tap About device.


• Tap Software update.

It will automatically tells you that a new update is available or your software is up to date when there is none yet. You can simply tap install now when you want to perform an update or install later. The G900FXXU1BOA3 Android 5.0 update is around 300+ MB in file size while updating via OTA.

How to Update the Galaxy S5 G900F to Android 5.0  Lollipop G900FXXU1ABOA3 Thru Kies

The second method is a firmware update through Samsung Kies. You may head-over to your  local Samsung support page from where you can download Samsung Kies from there, and install it in your Windows or Mac computer. Choose the new Kies 3 which supports the Galaxy S5 SM-G900F and other Samsung devices running with Android 4.4.2 and up OS .  Once you installed Kies 3, all you need is connect your Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F to the computer using the USB cable, then simply run and follow Kies on-screen software update instructions.

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