LG changed their mind, will launch the quirky LG AKA outside of South Korea starting next week

Originally designed exclusively for South Korea, LG has announced that they’ll soon be bringing their quirky AKA line to new markets, starting first in Hong Kong. The phones definitely have personality, something we never thought we’d say about a smartphone. Each LG AKA features a different character that peeks out from the top of their own accessories, showing off their own unique personas. There’s 4 characters total, which LG describes as:

• Eggy (yellow) who falls frequently in love


• Wooky (white) ever-so-impulsive


• Soul (navy) music lover with a soft-heart


• Yo-Yo (pink) who is always on a diet

It’s more than just cartoon eyes and cases, with the characters woven into the phone’s wallpapers, ringtones, and widgets. With soon to be global release of the device, LG has also added something they’re calling an “emotional UX element.” Essentially, users can further customize their AKA’s eyes with glasses or different eyebrows. They’ll even be including stickers and an “Art Toy” figurine which can be digitized by snapping a picture of it, then adding it to selfies or other photos taken by the phone.

The phone isn’t a high-end powerhouse, but it isn’t exactly low-end either, with the same laser auto focus found on the LG G3, as well as LG’s touch & shoot and gesture shot camera features. Here’s everything you’ll find in the LG AKA:

LG AKA specs

• 1.2GHz quad-core processor


• 5-inch HD IPS display


• 16GB internal / 1.5GB RAM / microSD slot


• 8MP rear camera with Laser Auto Focus / 2.1MP front facing


• 2,610mAh (removable)


• Android 4.4 KitKat


• 138.7 x 71.9 x 9.9mm


• 135.5g (without font slide cover) / 157g (with front slide cover)


• 4G LTE connectivity


• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 / NFC / A-GPS / USB 2.0

The LG AKA was first introduced in South Korea towards the end of 2014, where it would later receive an iF Design Award for it’s quirky design. Apparently, customer feedback and sales have been so good, that LG decided to bring launch it elsewhere. The LG AKA will be launching in Hong Kong next week, then soon China, Taiwan, Singapore, and eventually Turkey. LG said they’ll announce new markets once they’re ready.

Google’s driverless car might have airbags on the outside to protect pedestrians

While Google would contend that their driverless vehicles are more safe than a human controlling the wheel, the public likely won’t allow a car of its type to take to the road without some added safety precautions. One of those precautions could be the inclusion of external airbags in the event that the car unfortunately finds itself in an accident.

A patent filed by the company details a system where airbags would be deployed in the event of a crash or coming in contact with a pedestrian. While this wouldn’t eliminate the risk of damage or injury, it could lessen the sting a lot more than if it were a direct head-on collision.

Volvo has already tested vehicles with external airbags before, but this patent suggests Google could use some sort of memory foam-like foundation behind the airbags to lessen the chance that it sends a pedestrian flying to the pavement in the event of being hit.

Visualizing such an accident with a driverless car might bring up some brutal images in your head, but it’s worth remembering that Google’s driverless cars will drive at moderate speeds instead of pushing up against the speed limit every chance it gets. A crash might still do some damage, but we doubt it’d be going fast enough to completely crush you.

It’s worth noting that Google’s driverless cars have only been involved a couple of accidents to date. The first accident wasn’t its fault — it was rear-ended by a carelesss driver. The other accident happened in manual drive mode at the hands of one of the testers.

Couple that clean track record with the various sensors the car will have to come to a complete stop before inadvertently hitting a vehicle or person, and you’ll probably find you’re more safe inside or around one of Google’s cars than anything driven on the road by your average human being. Still, Google doesn’t want to take any chances so we’d be surprised if they don’t go ahead with this idea.

[via QZ]

Cyanogen CEO: OnePlus would have only sold one phone outside of China without CyanogenMod

You can officially close the books on the OnePlus and Cyanogen marriage. If Steve Kondik’s assertion that you likely won’t be seeing any more collaborations from the two didn’t cement it, perhaps CEO Kirt McMaster’s penchant for saying the wrong things at the wrong time will.

The heady CEO spoke at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing, and laid out this following juicy nugget:

Without Cyanogen, OnePlus would have sold like one device in international markets. Essentially they built their brand on the back of Cyanogen.

Whether McMasters’ comments are true remains to be determined, though we’re sure he could have made his point with a bit more class. It’s natural for the CEO to feel good about his company’s position, what with them securing a major partnership with Microsoft, and all. They’ve also gotten deals inked with major Chinese OEMs, Qualcomm and more to get Cyanogen loaded up on phones and development devices as soon as 2015.

There’s no doubt Cyanogen is great, but to suggest OnePlus would have been next to nothing without them is quite the boisterous stance. Luckily for OnePlus, there’s a chance to prove everyone wrong with a follow-up that runs software built by the folks who make what many consider to be the second best ROM in the land — Paranoid Android.

[via PCWorld]