Android is on a lot of different types of devices these days, and it might be confusing for even an experience developer to efficiently target all of them with a single app. Thankfully Google has come up with a great new code example to show you exactly how it’s done.
This example uses a standard music player app that has a full-fledged user interface on your phone or tablet, but simple pause, play, and skip features for those using the app through Android Auto, Android TV or on their Android Wear smart watch. The app itself is very basic, but the point isn’t to show you how to make the holy grail of music players.
LG has finally set a date for their first big event since CES 2015. The company has announced an April 28th shindig where they want us “see the great” and “feel the great.” We imagine this event will serve as the launching pad for the LG G4, especially since it’s being simultaneously held in 6 different cities (New York, London, Paris, Seoul, Singapore and Istanbul) and because LG has yet to bring us their flagship contender for 2015.
We still don’t know what, exactly, to expect out of LG for the G4. Recent leaks have shown that the device will adopt a design similar to that of the LG G3 of yesteryear and the LG G Flex 2 revealed at CES a few months ago. That said, leaks aren’t always reliable — ask @evleaks — and we could end up seeing something totally different.
One thing to note about the invitation being sent to press is that it looks like a leather book cover, such as one you’d find on a premium notebook. Does this mean the LG G4 will have that same faux leather with stiching we loved (or hated) on Samsung’s 2013 phones? That’s a slim possibility, but our bet is that — if this invite is indeed showing a notebook in its background — it’s teasing the Note variant of the LG G4 that will come with a stylus.
Or it could just be that LG’s PR team wanted to use a nice looking background, and we’re talking a whole lot of something about a whole lot of nothing. Either way we’ll know what the company is planning for sure once April 28th rolls around. Mark your calendars!
You might have heard that the Nexus 6 (in America, at least) is now starting to receive Android 5.1 Lollipop. You can even grab the OTA file right now and begin flashing it if it hasn’t already hit your phone. Most users will immediately notice a nice performance boost thanks to a large heap of bugs squashed by Google and co.
But those who dig even deeper might find something a bit unsettling: there’s a Verizon Backup app pre-installed. It can’t be uninstalled. It can’t even be disabled. And it’s there no matter which carrier you bought your Nexus through or who you have it activated with. It wasn’t on any of the firmware versions prior to Android 5.1, which makes sense considering Verizon’s Nexus 6 has just gone up for sale and it comes with Android 5.1 out of the box.
“The horror,” you might exclaim. “Big Red is evil,” you’ll shout. Before you grab those pitchforks and torches, though, there are a few things to note:
As Google mentioned when the Nexus 6 was announced, every single North American unit is the exact same hardware and share the exact same firmware in order to allow people to use it on whichever carrier they wish.
The Verizon Backup app can’t be disabled or uninstalled, sure, but it’s a mere 32KB in size, doesn’t exist in your app drawer and — as far as we know — does nothing to adversely affect your user experience. You’ll find that you can now add a “Verizon Backup” account under the standard accounts menu in settings, but it’s just as easy to ignore as anything else in that menu.
So we know this behavior isn’t new, but what we’re still trying to figure out is why Verizon’s Backup has to be included as a system app in the first place. SprintDM’s presence makes sense because it’s a necessary component to get the Nexus 6 automatically activated on the company’s network (which, in turn, is necessary since it’s possible to use any Nexus 6 on any network).
The only plausible explanation that comes to mind is that Verizon Backup requires some sort of low-level system access to work properly for those who need to use it, and Verizon doesn’t want to chance someone either not having the proper background service or accidentally uninstalling/disabling the app.
That’s just a guess, though — we won’t truly know until we can hear it from the horse’s mouth. We’ve reached out to some of our contacts to see if we can get an answer to all this, but in the meantime be sure not to freak out if you notice the app taunting you in your list of installed apps. It’s harmless, and you’ll probably forget it’s even there by the time the day is over.
Much like the HTC One M9+ will be to the HTC One M9, HTC is apparently planning on making a Plus variant of the HTC One E9. Upleaks revealed new renders of that device today, and gave us a look at three of its expected color variants in the process.
As we’ve seen before, the device will have a plastic-based backplate rather than the full unibody metal design of the M9, though it should still have a fair bit of metal in its chassis. Specs for the base model of the HTC One E9 are rumored to be a 5.5-inch Quad HD display (2560 x 1440), a 20 megapixel camera, 3GB of RAM and a MediaTek chipset, though we aren’t yet sure which areas the two will differ.
HTC is expected to announce one or both of these devices at an upcoming “More Than One” event in Beijing that was recently scheduled. It’s possible we’ll also see the HTC One M9+ debuted at that same event, which is said to come with a slightly bigger display 5.2-inch display, a fingerprint scanner and dual cameras on the rear compared to the HTC One M9’s 5-inch display, lack of a fingerprint scanner and a lone 20 megapixel camera sensor.
HTC has taken a lot of flak for the HTC One M9. It’s not a bad phone on its own, but the company did next to nothing different compared to yesteryear’s HTC One M8. Well, it wasn’t enough to get M8 owners to consider upgrading, anyway.
But the company says the iterative updates are about to go away. CEO Cher Wang confirmed to Focus Taiwan that HTC is planning to bring a fresh, innovative device for the next flagship M device ( HTC One M10, anyone?). We’ll see new goods in areas of both design and technology. It will have been the biggest departure from HTC’s tried and true engineering since the original HTC One (M7).
Beyond that, the company is also planning to launch another hero device later this year, which seems to indicate that they’ve ditched their strategy of releasing just one sole flagship device each year. Then again, they’ve already shown us that they have no problems releasing multiple high-end smartphones, even when their launches come weeks apart.
One of the latest trends in smartphones is to create a case that can do more than simply protect your phone. HTC has DotView, Samsung has S View, and LG has Quick Circle. There are two versions of the Quick Circle case for the LG G4. One acts as a replacement back and adds wireless charging, while the other simply snaps over the top like a typical case. Let’s take a look at both styles.
What does a Quick Circle case do?
Before we get into the two types of cases you might be wondering what a Quick Circle case actually does. The large circle cut-out is used to display information at a glance without requiring you to completely unlock your phone. It’s sort of like having a smartwatch display on the front of your phone. You can check the time, see notifications, use widgets, make calls, send messages, and more.
LG also allows developers to create their own apps for the Quick Circle case. This opens up the cases to do a lot of cool stuff. Some of the best apps include Quick Circle Apps, Quickfy (a Spotify player), Circle Remote, and Circle Pong. The Quick Circle might be the most useful smartphone case out there.
Quick Circle Qi Replacement Back
The LG G4 does not come with support for wireless charging out of the box from any carrier. In order to get this functionality you’ll need a Qi or PMA charging cover. Currently, we’ve only been able to find Qi covers, but AT&T will eventually sell PMA covers. The good news is the Qi covers seem to work on all models of the G4, including the AT&T model.
The wireless charging Quick Circle case replaces the original back that comes on the G4. This is ideal if you want the features of the Quick Circle case, but don’t necessarily want the bulk of a case. The only downside is you can’t get a leather Quick Circle case, but they are available in Silver, Gold, White, Blue, and Pink .
Quick Circle Snap On Case
The Quick Circle Snap On case is more like a traditional phone case. It doesn’t replace the original back cover, and it doesn’t add wireless charging. It simply snaps over the phone. Still, the Snap On case is very thin, and it has the same texture as the original plastic LG G4 back covers. The Snap On cases also don’t come in leather, but they are available in Silver, Gold, White, Blue, and Pink. If you don’t care about wireless charging you can save a few bucks with the Snap On case.
