Fitbit reportedly plans to acquire Pebble for $34-40 million

One of the first major companies to launch smartwatches may be about to be sold. New, but still unconfirmed, reports claim that the wearable fitness device company Fitbit is planning to acquire Pebble, which got its start by funding its first smartwatch on Kickstarter in 2012, raising over $7 million

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Pebble Time Round review

November 25, 2015

The Information was first to report on the possible Fitbit deal to buy Pebble, and VentureBeat added that it will pay between $34 to $40 million to acquire Pebble. The smartwatch company has actually raised a total of over $40 million in its many Kickstarter campaigns for the past few years. That includes money it received from its most recent effort to launch the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 smartwatches earlier this year.

However, it would appear that all that crowd sourced money, plus funds from venture capital financing rounds, was not enough to keep Pebble afloat. Indeed, in March the company laid off about 25 percent of its team members. with CEO Eric Migicovsky admitting in an interview that "money is pretty tight right now".  The Information claims that when and if the deal goes through, Fitbit will be acquiring Pebble's intellectual property and software, but sales of the smartwatches themselves will be phased out.

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TWRP arrives for the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV, Moto E (2016), and Wileyfox Swift 2 line

TWRP is an awesome tool for us Android enthusiasts; it allows users to make and restore backups, flash ROMs and other files, and is often the stepping stone to root access. Now, TWRP has become available for three smartphones and one Android TV device.

New recipients of TWRP include the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV box, the Motorola (or Lenovo?) Moto E 2016, the Wileyfox Swift 2, and the Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus.

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TWRP arrives for the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV, Moto E (2016), and Wileyfox Swift 2 line was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Fitbit may be preparing to purchase Pebble, existing Pebble products will be phased out

Pebble is one of the best Kickstarter success stories. Predating the original Samsung Gear and Android Wear, Pebble's first fundraising campaign raised over $10 million and spawned multiple generations and models of e-paper wearables. But as many tech startups eventually do, Pebble is being acquired by wearable competitor Fitbit.

Engadget's anonymous source claims the purchase is somewhere between $34 and $40 million, "barely enough to cover its debts to suppliers, which amount to at least $25 million." If you were hoping for more Pebble devices down the road, you won't be happy to hear that Fitbit plans to phase out the entire company's lineup.

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Fitbit may be preparing to purchase Pebble, existing Pebble products will be phased out was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Google Play Store rolling out new search result interface

While we haven't seen any changes yet, plenty of online reports claim the Google Play Store is rolling out a server-side update. This is said to bring forth a new card-based layout for your search results.

The new UI seems to focus more on each app that shows up in the results. Upon searching for any app, you will get large cards that you can swipe through (left and right). They include the option to install, uninstall, descriptions and more. It's pretty much a preview of the app's page.

There's not much evidence of these changes, but we do have plenty of user reports and a video created by user Rony Mishchuk, who claims to have the update and has a video of the new improvements.

We are liking the new changes, but so far we have no idea what's going on with this update and choose to treat it as a rumor. As always, don't hold your breath on it. We will definitely keep our eyes open for any more details that may show up.

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Google is rolling out 'OK Google' hotword support for Android Auto [APK Download]

Android Auto has existed for almost two years now, but it's improved only slightly in that time. One of the more vexing inadequacies in Android Auto thus far has been the lack of OK Google support. With the latest version, the hotword trigger is finally a thing.

Just like with your phone, Android Auto now supports saying OK Google to wake up the voice control interface. There's a toggle in the Google voice settings where you set how you want the hotword to work.

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Google is rolling out 'OK Google' hotword support for Android Auto [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) photos and video reportedly leaked

A few weeks ago, we posted some exclusive renders and information, in collaboration with @OnLeaks, for the upcoming 2017 version of the Samsung Galaxy A5. The company has not yet officially announced this phone but today some new photos, and a hands-on video, have made their way onto the Internet that allegedly show off the smartphone.

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Report: Samsung Electronics considering splitting into two companies

3 days ago

The video and renders come from a person named Neil Potgieter, who in the clip says he is doing a "review" of the 2017 Samsung Galaxy A5. However, since the phone hasn't even been announced yet, let alone released, this "review" is likely of a pre-production prototype for the phone.  For example, the video shows the phone running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but it's more than possible the final 2017 Galaxy A5 could have Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

The video does seem to jibe with what we have learned about the phone, including that it will be nearly identical to the current Galaxy S7 in terms of its design, complete with rounded corners. It also seems to show that it will indeed have 3GB of RAM and an octa-core processor. The video shows that this model has 32GB of storage, but again it's possible that Samsung could release models with even more onboard storage.

In any case, Samsung is expected to officially announce and launch the new Galaxy A5 sometime in December. Are you interested in getting the new version of this mid-range smartphone?

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The Moto Z Hasselblad camera mod is used to create SI magazine cover

While smartphone cameras have come a long way in the past few years, they still lag behind professional stand alone cameras for serious work. That gap may be getting smaller, however, thanks in part to Motorola's support of Moto Mods for its Moto Z family of smartphones. Indeed, the Moto Z was used with its Hasselblad True Zoom camera mod to take the cover photograph for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated's print magazine.

See also:

Moto Mods Review: Blast, Power and Project in a snap

July 27, 2016

The subject of the latest SI cover just happens to be Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who started as a college football player and pro wrestler and is now arguably the most famous movie star in the world right now, not to mention People magazine's latest "Sexiest Man Alive"

The photo shoot itself was taken on Nov. 14 in Beverly Hills by photographer Mike LeBrecht. Motorola says that he was able to use the Hasselblad Mod's professional settings with the Moto Z to create an image that looks as good as one made with a high-end camera. Of course, LeBrecht already knows his way around a photo shoot, and there are also other factors in this image such as lighting that the normal smartphone owner would not have. However, it does show that Motorola's support of Mods to add extra functions to smartphones may be getting some traction.

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DIRECTV NOW gets a dedicated Android app, right on schedule

Eager to get a slice of the growing cord-cutter pie, AT&T and DirecTV announced their own web-based premium TV service earlier this week. DIRECTV NOW officially launches today, so it's good to see that the service gets Android support immediately. The app is free and works with phones and tablets running Android 4.4 or higher. Sadly it's not compatible with Android TV, though Chromecast streaming is available on all videos.

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DIRECTV NOW gets a dedicated Android app, right on schedule was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Hatch, a spinoff of Rovio, will bring free streaming games to Android in 2017

A new company that has been spun off from Rovio, the creators of the Angry Birds franchise, wants to offer a way for Android device owners to stream and play games without downloading them onto their phones. The new company, Hatch, says the service will also include some unique social features.

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Best free Android games

3 weeks ago

Hatch says that the service will allow anyone to play games for free, with no updates or in-app purchases. Instead, the service, and game developers, will get revenues from "integrated, unobtrusive advertising and brand storytelling". Hatch also plans to launch a paid subscription option that will offer unnamed additional features for gamers.

In addition, the service will allow players to compete, or even help, in online gaming, along with support for sharing and broadcasting gameplay footage. Even single-player games can be altered so that players can receive online assistance from others. The service will use cloud-based servers in a partnership with Huawei Technologies.

When Hatch does launch to the public, it will have over 100 games to play such as Badland, Leo's Fortune, Monument Valley, Pac-Man CE DX, République and many more. It will also release games that will be exclusive to the service, such as IslaBomba: Ready To Boom, that will be able to use the service's multiplayer and social features. The company plans to launch via an invite-only beta sometime in the first half of 2017.

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Play Store has new layout and transitions for search results, may be rolling out via server-side update

Google iterates a lot on the Play Store - the new shade of green, darker and richer than the previous one - is currently rolling out globally, along with the big uninstall button and tweaked list view for apps. We've now had wind of another test, using big cards for apps that can be horizontally swiped through in search results.

 

When searching for an app, tapping a result will take you to this new view, where you see the current content but instead of in fullscreen, it is contained in a card.

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Play Store has new layout and transitions for search results, may be rolling out via server-side update was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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