Samsung’s weird Galaxy S6 unboxing videos continue, this time showing off Fast Charging feature [VIDEO]

As you may have seen last week, Samsung is celebrating the (very successful) launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with a handful of “unboxing” videos. These aren’t your typical (read: boring) unboxings and are essentially action shorts shot in first-person. The unboxers finds themselves chased by someone and using a variety of fancy parkour moves, is able to allude them with his brand new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Kinda cool, but whatevs. Check ’em out below.

Running with that same idea, Samsung is continuing their unboxing series with a new video uploaded to YouTube today. The video shows off the fast charging capabilities of the Galaxy S6 and all the things you can get done during that time. Samsung claims you can get 4 hours of battery life while fast charging the device for only 10 minutes, something we more or less saw in our own testing (check out our full review here). The point of the video was kind of lost on us but you can check it out the full 90-second version below if you’re interested.

Google starts showing auto insurance comparisons in search results

At its core Google has always been about putting people in touch with information. It started with searching the web, and has since ballooned to many other things. The latest is a handy tool for comparing auto insurance. If you live in California you should start seeing comparison tools when searching for auto insurance. They’ve also made the tools accessible on a new website.

All you have to do is enter your zip code, car details, and some other information to get results. You’ll see a list of quotes from a variety of insurance companies. From there you can head to the provider’s website and finish your purchase. Right now the service is only available in California, but it will be rolling out to other states soon. With all the different commercials and ads from auto insurance companies it’s nice to have a place to compare them all.

[via Google]

Android 5.1.1 references start showing up on Google’s site

It wasn’t long ago we’d told you that Android 5.1.1 was a thing0,. If our server logs weren’t believable enough, you could actually head into the Android Studio’s SDK manager and download it. And now the new software is showing up on Google’s Android developers site.

The goods exist on the page concerning audio latency, where Google lists the Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 as having “Android 5.1.1″ as their latest builds. The former shows a build of LMY47W, while Nexus 9 is showing as LMY47S.

Does this mean we’re nearing some sort of rollout? Its hard to say, though public flaunting of this new version would suggest Google is deep within testing and is working hard to get it out of the door.

It shouldn’t be hard for you to contain excitement for its arrival. Incremental updates like these rarely bring any exciting new features and changes. Expect a lot of bug busting to go on under-the-hood, and not much more (though, depending on how you and your Lollipop devices have gotten along since its arrival, a bug fixing update might be as exciting as anything else).

[Thanks Juno!]

Google+ Photo “Stories” are now showing in Google Now

A cool feature from Google+ is now making its way to Google Now. “Stories,” which is a feature that automatically creates a story from photos based on location, has begun showing up in users’ Google Now feeds. The card shows a preview of the story, which you can then tap to go to Google+ and publish for your followers to see or just enjoy for yourself.

The notification for a new Story used to show up in Google+, but with the news of Google+ Auto Backup moving to Google Drive it would make sense that this notification also moves. If you want to use Google+ Stories there are a few things you need to do.

1. Turn on Google Location History


2. If you store photos on Google Drive, show your Drive photos & videos in your photo library


3. Use Auto Backup on your mobile device or computer


4. Make sure Auto Awesome is on


5. Add your home & work addresses in Google Maps


6. Take a lot of pictures

If you don’t like the Stories feature you can disable it by turning off Auto Awesome. Do you use Google+ Stories? Have you seen the notifications in Google Now?

[via Google+]