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Android Auto: everything you need to know

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Android Auto is essentially a smartphone projection system for your car, with users required to tether an Android smartphone, running Android 5.0 Lollipop or above, to the built-in infotainment system that the vehicle has available.  Android Auto has slowly been gaining traction over the last year or so, with more and more car manufacturers coming into the fold every day.  Android Auto has been expanding to quite a few new markets as well . Below is everything you need to know about Android Auto, including what it has to offer, the various markets it is, or soon will be, available in, vehicles and car manufacturers that support Android Auto, and finally, the options to add Android Auto to your existing vehicle. Functionality and features As mentioned, Android Auto isn’t an independent system, but rather extends the functionality of your Android smartphone to the car’s dashboard head unit, using a car-friendly user interface. The phone, running Android 5.0 Lollipop or above, is tet

IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker: Q1 2016 sees 14.7% decrease in shipments YoY

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  Three Apples a day still can’t seem to save the OEM’s sluggish shipment results. While the tech community may love to discuss what phone is the best or which tablet is terrible, most of the time it’s all a matter of opinion. Thanks to companies like the International Data Corporation (IDC), however, the collective community – and indeed the world-at-large – can be privy to data that explains just what everyone is actually doing . A few days ago, IDC published the latest entry in its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker results, and the numbers are (1) bad in general, (2) bad for the established major players, and (3) good for some unlikely ones. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty. For starters, citing both “first quarter seasonality” and “an overall disinterested customer base” IDC is reporting an “annual decline of 14.7% in worldwide tablet shipments” during Q1 2016. Worldwide shipments for all tablet variants, including slates and detachables, reached 39.6 million units. Slate

(Not so) gr8: AT&T HTC One M8 & M9 suffer Marshmallow roll-out delay

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When Android Marshmallow was formally released last October, it brought with it numerous changes to the way Google’s mobile OS functions. Power management on standby was improved with Doze, and even the way in which Apps can access user’s personal information and device components was modified with granular permissions. These days the industry is all about Android N, the yet-to-be-named OS preview build of the next major update. Despite this, there are  still devices which are running on Android Lollipop. One such example is AT&T’s variants of the HTC One M8 and HTC One M9 . While customers on the other major competing networks in the USA have already received their Marshmallow update, it now seems that Ma Bell users will need to wait even longer: HTC One M8 & M9 AT&T owners – there's been a slight delay on M OS. We're in lab but looking at approval within the next couple weeks. — Mo Versi (@moversi) April 29, 2016 As seen above, HTC’s Vice President o

Double vision: Motorola has 2 new commercials for the Droid Turbo 2

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Does anyone else see an emoji on the bottom bezel of the phone? Motorola may be having a hard time these days thanks to a lawsuit that was just filed against it .  Thankfully, it can at relish in the fact that its Moto X Force/Droid Turbo 2 is virtually indestructible . Thanks to ShatterShield technology , the product is basically impervious to whatever kind of assault you might put it through or, as the case may be, life does itself – accidents  do happen after all. In a pair of quick new videos to promote its Verizon Droid Turbo 2, Motorola has taken a not-so-subtle slight at the fact that its competitors’ products are not built to last in quite the same way. A certain curved creation by Samsung can be seen in the first one, and a not-so-anonymous Apple offering in the second. Have  a look, first at the glass Galaxy: And now the Cupertino creation: Both videos feature an ambulance saving a character of sorts, then the key phrase “Save your world with a shatterproof scr

Fairphone just released their open source OS

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At the beginning of this year, Fairphone launched code.fairphone.com and began publishing sourcecode for their in-development operating system. Tech-savvy users were able to run this code on their Fairphone 2 devices, but more casual users were kind of left out of the loop. Now the company has put together a version of their Android-based operating system that anyone can download and install . See also: Fairphone 2 impressions: an environmentally friendly, modular smartphone 12 For those not in the know, Fairphone is a company that is attempting to create socially responsible smartphones . The idea is to create products built entirely by people earning a fair and livable wage. They are careful to avoid any involvement with child labor and never purchase materials from entities that would use the proceeds to fund illegal armies. One of the ways the company aims to stay competitive is by making their devices completely modular. That way, instead of upgrading to a new device e

LeEco opens North American HQ in San Jose

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Photo by Tony Avelar/Invision for LeEco/AP Images LeEco has been in the news quite a bit recently. Once known as LeTV, the company has taken to the road , announced new phones , and even  called Apple “outdated” . For those loving outside the company’s native country, the name may not ring a bell, even though it’s often referred to as the “Netflix of China”. Things are about to change however, in a very big way. See also: LeEco CEO Jia Yueting: “Apple is outdated” 87 Today LeEco announced the opening of its North American headquarters, making it a bold step into a new market. The facility, located in San Jose, California, is 80,000 square feet and can hold up to 800 employees. According to BusinessWire, in the future, it will also become the “home of LeEco’s autonomous driving research center, the LeFuture AI Institute.” The company’s outspoken CEO, Yueting Jia, had the following statement to make: Silicon Valley is critically important to our global growth strategy. Silicon

Deal: Best Buy selling Huawei GX8 for $229.99 (normally $300)

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The Huawei GX8 is currently going for $229.99 at Best Buy , and that’s the lowest we’ve ever seen this unlocked device go. Normally you’d end up forking over $300 for this Huawei offering, which is a curious price considering it’s essentially the same as the Honor 5X , which is also made by Huawei. At launch, the GX8 sold for $350, making it $150 more expensive than its nearly-identical Honor sibling. This current sale brings the device down to the price that we feel like it should have had in the first place. See also: honor 5X review 51 If you’re looking for a handy metal mid-ranger, you can’t really go wrong with the GX8. Our only real gripe with the device was its strangely elevated price tag, but you’ll be getting a lot of bang for just over two hundred bucks. The GX8 has a pretty gorgeous 5.5-inch 1080p TFT display and runs Lollipop out of the box. Under the hood is a Snapdragon 615 fueled by 2GB of RAM. 16 gigs of storage space come standard, but if you need more, the