So many things happened in the tech world in 2016! Earlier this year, we saw HTC make its tenth comeback with the HTC 10, while Samsung continued on its Galaxy S success with the S7. At the same time LG tried to claim the "modularity King" title while Motorola gave them a run for their money with the Moto Z series. Few days ago we asked our readers to choose which brand released the best phones in 2016. Here's how the votes tallied up:
Best Smartphone brand of 2016
Also this is our last article of the year 2016. TechDroider Team Wishes you all a Happy New Year!
As OnePlus promised, Android 7.0 Nougat is now officially rolling out for the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T. After testing few Nougat Open beta builds for the OnePlus 3, the company is finally rolling out Android N stable OTA for the OnePlus 3. Along with the OnePlus 3, the OnePlus 3T is now also receiving Android Nougat stable OTA. OxygenOS 4.0 for OnePlus 3T costs 919MB and has already started rolling out! OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei says a gradual rollout for OnePlus 3 and 3T will commence from tonight.
2) Android N stable OTA for the OP3 and the OP3T. Gradual rollout will begin later tonight.
OnLeaks and Android Authority have just released a few renders of an upcoming phone. They are calling it Moto X (2017) but it's not. This is the same mid-range or even low-end XT1670 phone that passed through the FCC weeks ago.
UPDATE: HelloMotoHK has revealed it's not Moto X nor Moto C. But it's the phone that passed the FCC days ago, codenamed "CEDRIC".
See? Same round camera bump. Plus, if you look at the renders and the leaked pictures of that phone, do you really think it looks premium enough with those big bezels and rather-small size to be called Moto X 2017?
The truth is that when pictures of a phone leak in October and an upcoming phone is approved by the FCC on December, we are talking about the same phone.
Here are the renders OnLeaks made based on the leaked images:
[Update] OnePlus 3 gets Android 7.0 Nougat OxygenOS Open Beta 8, Here's How to Download and Install
Update: December 29, 2016
[Third Open beta build] Android 7.0 Nougat Open Beta 10 is out for OnePlus 3, Grab it from below Download link.
Update: December 15, 2016
[Second Open beta build] Android 7.0 Nougat Open Beta 9 is out for OnePlus 3, Grab it from below Download link. As promised by OnePlus, Android 7.0 Nougat Beta build is finally available for the OnePlus 3. OxygenOS Open Beta 8 for OnePlus 3 is Based on Android 7.0 Nougat. The OnePlus 3Twon't be part of the beta program, So OnePlus 3 users can enjoy the taste of Android Nougat via beta builds. OnePlus will continue to release Nougat beta builds for OnePlus 3, until the final build becomes available.
Here are some key features of OxygenOS Open Beta 8 based on Android 7.0 Nougat-
Here are some known Issues of the OxygenOS Nougat Beta build-
Android Pay may not work correctly
Some stability/performance issues
After upgrading to Android N, you will not be able to directly downgrade back to M builds.
Downloads-
[First Beta Build]Download the OxygenOS Beta 8 for OnePlus 3 right Here. [Second Beta Build]Download OxygenOS Beta 9 for OnePlus 3 right Here. [Third Beta Build]Download OxygenOS Beta 10 for OnePlus 3 right Here.
Here's How to Install:
Second Open Beta Build Installation: If you’ve already flashed a previous Open Beta build, you will receive this update via OTA. If you haven’t, you will need to flash this build by ADB sideload. First Open Beta Build Installation: Put .zip file to root of your internal storage and then Goto Settings>System update and choose Local upgrade from cogwheel options.
Via:- OnePlus | 1 | 2
After a bunch of Soak tests, Motorola has started rolling out Official Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Moto G4 Plus in India. The new update contains Google's latest Android 7.0 Nougat, New Moto Actions and much more. This update is rolling out in batches, So not everyone will get the update right-away but it should reach your Motorola phone in the coming days. Haven't received the notification yet? Just Go to Settings > About Phone and Software update!
It is probably the best New Year Gift from Motorola to Moto G4 owners, Comment below if you have or haven't received the update yet!
Motorola Homeand Motorola Accessories, owned by Binatone, are ready to launch and show at CES 2017 a whole new range of Motorola products.
Binatone bought Motorola Mobility's Accessories division back in 2015 and since then released many interesting products like the Pulse series, VerveLife and the ConnectCoin smart wearable. At the same time, Binatone owns the brand rights for home and pet monitors, and smart baby products, making Motorola the best selling baby monitor brand in the world. The following products will be announced and shown at CES:
Motorola ORBIT: this device will be a smart home monitor with the ability to store your recorded material on an SD card. The most interesting thing is its battery life, which will last three months.
VerveOnes True Wireless: the new VerveLife products will cost almost half the price of 2016's ones, will be splash-proof/water-proof (two variants) and will come in two different color setups: black and green, white and grey.
Motorola Signature Series: to celebrate the rich Motorola history, new Bluetooth headsets and Wi-Fi speakers will be inspired by iconic Motorola designs.
ConnectCoin: the Coin will finally be released outside India. In fact, it was recently approved by the FCC so it's coming to the US very soon. This smart tag can send SOS alerts to your family if you are in danger, it's got a GPS inside and its smart button lets you take selfies.
Google is all set to release latest Android Security update for Google Pixel and Pixel XL next week. Support pages on Verizon Wireless show that the upcoming Android Update for Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones could go live on Tuesday, January 3.
According to Verizon Wireless Support pages shows that the build no. of new software update will be NMF26U and the same will contain latest January Security patch.
Via:- AndroidAuthority | Source: Verizon
Google Pixel is probably one of the best Android Smartphone of the year 2016. The smartphone received a ton of praise and at the same time some criticize due to its software and hardware issues. It seems that after Google's latest Android Software update, Some Nexus 6P and Pixel users are facing an early battery shutdowns at 30% or so.
As reported by VentureBeat, both Google and Huawei are investigating Nexus 6P premature shutdown issues. Well, it looks like the issue isn’t unique to those Nexus 6P users. A few Reddit users are reporting that their Pixel Smartphone are also suffering from the same shutdown bug.
My Google Pixel (32 GB), less than a month old is facing worrisome battery issues. Twice in last 5 days, has the phone shutdown abruptly while I am in middle of something. In both instances, battery was between 25-35%, and the phone under normal conditions should have lasted for at least next 3-4 hours.
It seems that this issue mainly occurs when battery levels are around 30% remaining.
We have yet to know what is the actual cause of this issue. It seems that this issue is'nt hardware related, but rather something in Android Nougat Update since both the Pixel and Nexus 6P have been recently affected.
No one can deny this year started like crap for Motorola fans. In fact, the first half of 2016 might go down as the worst months we went through. However, the second half of the year makes it up for all those horrible feelings we had. In a series of editorials, I will cover everything 2016 brought and left behind for Motorola.
Last January at CES, Rick Osterloh said they were "facing out Motorola". Those three damn words caused a mess inside Motorola, Lenovo, the fans, and the tech sites. Lenovo did not have any statement to cover that and neither did Motorola. In fact, they quickly had to release two statements, but none of them were effective. The truth is that it was never meant to be an announcement. If Osterloh hadn't opened his mouth then the transition would have felt natural. It wouldn't have been different from what we saw last year (the Moto brand has been around since 2002), except for a couple Lenovo logos on boot animations and a little corner of the phone's packaging. The problem was that everything Motorola did in 2016 would be under the magnifying glass of the fans and many tech sites because of this.
The situation was a mess. Tech sites would milk the drama, regular customers would jump to social media to criticize Lenovo and mourn about the loss of their beloved brand, while the fans were stuck in the middle, without knowing if we could hold onto something or if we had to believe everything.
Knowing how big of a fan I am, Motorola immediately sent me the press statement before everyone else got it, but I was still very doubtful and sad. I wanted these sites to stop talking about it. In the following weeks I started doing lots of research about it. I read Motorola, Inc.'s separation papers (took 3 hours to read), I got to know the brand licensees, and I also spent hours trying to convince tech sites that Motorola wasn't dead.
My Motorola Fans social media communities were on fire too. Those communities increased like crazy throughout the year. Maybe we all needed to be together in one place, as one big family sharing this tough moment we were going through. (Follow us on Twitter and Facebook)
I also started bombarding Motorola and Lenovo employees with questions. Most answers were elusive. That was until David Roman, Lenovo's CMO, replied. His answer was short but helped me understand things. He talked about the strength of the Moto brand and how they never meant Motorola was going to be killed off. His reply meant a lot to me, because it came from a top position and it showed they really cared about this and wanted to clarify things.
Then we got to see this year's Moto portfolio. All the phones were solid, and they didn't differ much from last year's products in terms of branding. Plus, the products did show the full Motorola brand name in many parts.
I was quite upset with the visual identity from early 2016, though. I was never too keen on the approach to the new "Moto" logo and how the batwing logo was attached to the "(M)Moto" word earlier this year. It felt like people were forced to call it Moto, as if the Motorola logo was just a decoration item. These visuals didn't ease the fans' concerns at all, and it was even worse when we found out the Moto G4 and the Moto Z didn't come with the iconic batwing on power-on animations.
Then Jan Huckfeldt became Motorola's CMO and this was changed. Both Lenovo and Motorola logos are now shown everywhere, while the batwing takes a central role (no longer attached to the "Moto" word), allowing users to call it Motorola, Moto, Lenovo Moto or Lenorola.
It was a clever way to strengthen brand image and make the fans happy once again. They understood that the Motorola logo can be -if it isn't already- like the Apple logo. Apple doesn't write "Apple" all over their products. They just place their logo everywhere. That's what Motorola is doing now. The new visuals quickly evolved to get the batwing playful, colorful and fun. They listened to some fan complaints and some weeks later the batwing was brought back to boot animations! All these awesome changes helped me understand that my biggest concerns throughout the year weren't because of what was announced back in January. It was due to the way the brand was being shown, and after these changes and resurrection of some iconic brand items (Hellomoto), I know Moto is at a great place.
With the new visuals, Lenovo listened to the fans and proved everyone wrong. They aren't killing Motorola Mobility or the Motorola brand. We already know Motorola Mobility is still here, but they are giving us the power to call it whatever we want, so it doesn't matter what was said or announced back then. YOU have the power to choose how to call Moto from now on. I can certainly say that the second half of the year was one of the best times to be a fan since becoming a fan ten years ago.
Leaked Image shows 2017 Sony's Xperia XZ 2017 phone with no side bezels
Sony Concept Phone by Babaksoren
Leaked Blurred and Cropped Image, giving us a glimpse of a 2017 Sony-branded phone that featured virtually no side bezels. The Below Image shows front panel with camera, proximity sensor and speaker of 2017 Sony-branded Smartphone. According Slashleaks, the device is probably Xperia XZ 2017.
Motorola has started rolling out a new update to the Moto E3 Power, The new update contains few bug fixes and October Security Patch.
The Moto E3 Power was launched back in September and comes with a Mediatek processor. Motorola hasn't listed Moto E3 Power to the Official list of devices getting Android 7.0 Nougat. However Sooner or later, Motorola will probably update it's 3rd Generation Moto E device to Nougat. Also Read: Motorola Moto E3 Power hands-on: Decent phone, but priced high
This new update costs 22MB and is rolling out via OTA. Here are some screenshots of the same-
2017 is going to be a great year for Nokia lovers, As the Finnish Company is finally going to make a comeback in Smartphone industry with two new Android Smartphones. Rumors says that the Nokia-branded Android Smartphones could have 5-inch and 5.5-inch variants,The same will be named as Nokia D1C or D1 and Nokia E1.
According to latest rumors by Nokiapoweruser, the Nokia D1 will feature a front facing rectangular fingerprint sensor which will also act as a home button.
While the Nokia E1 is the one without fingerprint sensor!
Previously leaked Nokia D1C AnTuTu benchmark also reveals device specification. According to the AnTuTu Screenshot, The Nokia D1C features a 1920 x 1080 resolution display, 8 MP front and 13 MP rear camera. As leaked earlier, the device will be powered with Snapdragon 430, Adreno 505 GPU paired with 3GB of RAM. There is going to be a 32GB Internal storage, which may or may not be expendable.
Update: December 26, 2016 Update: CyanogenMod website is no longer reachable, Cyanogenmod.org goes down forever! However CyanogenMod download page is still online!
As of this morning we have lost DNS and Gerrit is now offline - with little doubt as a reaction to our blog post yesterday. Goodbye
Article: December 25, 2016 In a press release issued by Cyanogen, the Company has announced the shut down of all the services including the support of CyanogenMod nightly builds.
As part of the ongoing consolidation of Cyanogen, all services and Cyanogen-supported nightly builds will be discontinued no later than 12/31/16. The open source project and source code will remain available for anyone who wants to build CyanogenMod personally.
The Company launched its first CyanogenMod build (which is an open-source operating system based on Android OS) release, version 3.1 based on Android Cupcake, back on July 1st 2009.
CyanogenMod grew in popularity, and a community of developers, called the CyanogenMod Team made contributions. Over 50 million people run CyanogenMod on their handset. R.I.P. Cyanogen: Company's plan to 'put a bullet through Google's head' backfires!
The company will work on a new project named "Lineage" that will be used to define the custom Android releases.
The new Moto M is Motorola's first all-metal smartphone. This new device is priced between the Moto G4 Plus and the Moto Z Play.
The Moto M shares quite similar specs with the Moto G4 Plus, with few upgrades, In this article we will talk about Key differences that you will find in the Moto M and the Moto G4 Plus-
The Moto M comes with a Mediatek Helio P15 Processor paired with 3/4GB RAM while the Moto G4 Plus features a Snapdragon 617 Processor paired with 2/3GB RAM. The Gaming and Overall performance of the Moto M is not so great while the Moto G4 Plus handles high-end Games just fine.
The Moto G4 Plus sports a 16-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.0 aperture, hybrid autofocus (phase detection plus laser autofocus) and dual-LED (dual tone) flash, the Moto M comes with a 16-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus and LED flash. The Moto M finds it difficult to focus quickly, but the Images taken by Moto M are more sharp and vibrant than the Moto G4 Plus.
The Moto G4 Plus comes with more software features including "Moto Actions" and "Moto Display" which are quite handy, while one can't use these Actions on the Moto M.
The Moto M comes with a hybrid card slot in which one can insert either two Sims, or a MicroSD card and a Sim, While the Moto G4 Plus allows you to insert a MicroSD card and two Sims at the same time.
The Moto M is an all-metal smartphone, which looks more premium than the Moto G4 Plus, which has a plastic build.
Article:- November 10, 2016 As rumored earlier, Samsung Galaxy S8 might sport a Bezel-Less display with integrated fingerprint sensor at the Touch panel. According to new reports out of South Korea, The new Samsung Galaxy S8 might come in two models i.e. with 5.7-inch 5 inch and 6.2-inch 6 inch screens. The 6" variant could be named "Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus" and will surely attract potential Note customers who prefer a bigger-screen phone.
Samsung will go full bezel-less with both the Galaxy S8 variants, The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus is expected to launch in February of 2017.
Few days ago the Lenovo-Motorola Moto M went on sale in India and If you have ordered the Device, Your order will have already arrived. We Got a Moto M, Lets Do its unboxing. In this YouTube Video, we’ll take you around the packaging of the phone, share some initial thoughts on the in-hand feel. Following the below video, there are some Unboxing Images of the Moto M . Let's unbox the Moto M!
Asus has announced the ZenWatch 3 in India, which is a stylish and customizable wearable device powered by Android Wear.
Crafted with premium materials, the ZenWatch 3 comes in two strap variants i.e. Leather and Rubber. The Leather variant is priced at ₹18,999, while the Rubber variant costs ₹17,599. The device will go on sale exclusively on Flipkart from 23rd December.
“The launch of ZenWatch 3 is the perfect culmination of a successful year for ASUS in India. Consumers are increasingly adopting wearables to help simplify their lives and boost productivity. The powerful ZenWatch 3 combines luxury and functionality to provide users with a device that allows them to manage their lives comfortably. We are sure that the combination of specs and design in this smartwatch will be appreciated by our users.” - Peter Chang, Region Head – South Asia & Country Manager for ASUS India
The ZenWatch 3 comes with latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 and is compatible with Android 4.3+ or iOS 8.2+ devices. The Smartwatch feature 512MB RAM and 4GB on-board storage.
It has a 1.39in Amoled round display, 340mAh with quick-charge support and comes in Silver and Gunmetal color.
In an exclusive interview hosted by The Verge, Jeff Chang, product manager of Android Wear states that Google will launch two new flagship smartwatches in the first quarter of 2017 with Android Wear 2.0 OS. Chang also says that "The new devices will not be branded by Google." i.e. It will be branded by a manufacturer who has yet to be named.
Mr. Chang also reports that Google collaborated with the manufacturer on both the hardware design and software integration for the upcoming Android Wear smartwatches. After the release of these two Smartwatches, the Android Wear 2.0 update will be released to all other supported Android wear devices.
Source:- The Verge
A month ago, Motorola announced that Android 7.0 Nougat is rolling out globally for Moto Z and Z Force with Daydream support. As promised, Motorola has now officially started rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat update for Moto Z Smartphone in India.
Android 7.0 Nougat comes out with many new features including Over 1500 emoji support, Multi-Window feature, New Doze, Custom Quick Settings, Direct Boot and More Security!
After Moto Z, the G4 family will get Nougat before December 31st while the Moto X line will get it earlier next year and the new Z Play will get it in January. Moto has kept its solid track at updating devices, with 15 devices from their portfolio getting the next Android update. Cheers Suresh N
Today, a Samsung user posted on reddit that his Galaxy S6 edge mobile device exploded. A reddit user by the name of ReturnThroughAether said the incident occurred when he was getting ready for work.
Woke up this morning (yesterday technically. 12/20) just in time to get ready for work and looked over to find my phone has exploded. Luckily I don't keep it on my bed, as you can see it scorched my night stand. I've talked to Samsung and my carrier. The phone had no problems before, no overheating. I think I'm done with Samsung for a while, really gonna miss the photos I had from Africa in the fall. Dammit Samsung, I was still in your corner after the Note 7 stuff too. -ReturnThroughAether
Take a look at what appears to be the reddit user's device below and then let us know your thoughts.
As reported earlier, Cyanogen Team has finally started developing Cyanogenmod 14.1 which is based on latest Android 7.1 for supported Android Devices. The nightly builds of CM14.1 are already available for many devices.
Motorola has already started rolling out Official Android 7.0 Nougat for Moto G4 Plus (Soak test users). But If you are a Pro user and want to get Latest Android 7.1 Nougat taste then Grab the first Cyanogenmod 14.1 nightly build from the Cyanogenmod Download Section for Moto G4/G4 Plus.
