Mysterious GG1 Google Device Stops by FCC. Glass v2?

As the year progresses, we draw further away from Google’s annual I/O conference, and closer to the time when the latest hardware from Mountain View is made available to the public. While I/O itself remains one of the most popular tech conferences, the hardware unveiling is a contrastively low-key post across social media, but nonetheless, remains an exciting and much awaited event.

In the months leading up to the unveiling, a host of leaks take place, revealing various info about the expected hardware, and this year is no exception. Rumors of LG and Huawei making Nexus devices, the angler codename for a Nexus, and more have been floating around, but today brought an unexpected twist in the form of an FCC filing. Contrary to being filed as either a smartphone or a wearable, a mysterious device originating at Google made an appearance under the “BLUETOOTH & DTS/UNII a/b/g/n/ac” category, carrying the model name “GG1.” The filing includes a number of tests carried out on the device, which go on to reveal that it supports  802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi in 2.4GHz and 5GHz, has Bluetooth Low Energy and sports a non-removable battery. Additionally,  the device FCC label is an e-label, which is rather unusual. All the evidence, the screenshot of the e-label looking like a Glass screen, and the rather telling model number, invariably point towards an upcoming Google Glass which lines up with Wall Street Journal’s prediction earlier this year.

Does the prospect of a new Google Glass excite you? Do you think it will be better received this time around? Given a reasonable price point, would you jump on board? Let us know in the comments below!

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Material and Material Dark Hit Samsung’s Theme Store

The latest version of Touchwiz, launched alongside the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, was aimed at providing a vastly improved software experience in lieu of the bad reputation its predecessors had gained. While this iteration turned out to be a vast improvement in terms of lack of bloatware, fluidity and user experience, Samsung’s OEM skin fell short in the aesthetics department by a long shot, abandoning a plethora of Material Design principles and leaving users wanting more.

However, Theme Store was one of the numerous extra additions that this version of Touchwiz brought with it, and what seemed to be just a ray of hope has blossomed into an impressive repository of a multitude of styles aimed at satisfying a wide variety of users. Among the designers creating themes for the store, a few were working hard on bringing Google’s paper and ink world to Touchwiz, and the first complete Material Design theme was released a while ago, with the second one hitting the Theme Store earlier today. Crafted with an extraordinary level of precision and attention to detail by Cambunch, the theme comes in two styles called Material Design and Material Dark, that allow users to choose between light and dark styles.

Users sporting a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge can head over to Settings > Themes to get started with downloading themes from the Store. Which Material Design theme do you prefer? Does this affect your view of Samsung’s 2015 flagships? Let us know in the comments below!

Image Source: Sammobile

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[CM12/PA] Lobit V1.0.0 Theme

XDA user tibols has posted the theme Lobit for download. It’s a bright clean theme with over 60 icons. Included in Lobit is theming for: Navbar, Play Store, Dialer, Whatsapp, and more.

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Swappa’s New App Helps You Value Your Device

There comes a sad time in everyone’s life where you must part ways with your gadgets. Perhaps they are dropped from a height, carelessly hardbricked, or simply stashed in a drawer in favor of a shinier upgrade. Alternatively they might enter the world of the second-hand market, and become someone else’s daily driver. Swappa is especially popular for this purpose here at XDA, where thousands of users trust the site enough to buy and sell their devices through it. In fact, we made it our official marketplace replacement two years ago, and still recommend it due to its lack of selling fees and good safety record.

 

Now to make things a little easier, Swappa have released a new app called Swappa Price, which does exactly what it sounds like it should, and little else. The app serves as a simple way of estimating a value for your phone or tablet in a couple of taps. On launch it attempts to work out what model it’s running on, and then gives you a quick estimated value based on data from Swappa’s recent transactions. Also present is a nifty graph which tracks the device’s worth over the time since its release, helping you spot any trends of its popularity along the way. This is useful for those who aren’t desperate to be rid of their gadgets, and are instead waiting for the optimum time to sell. You can also search for other devices or use brand/carrier filtering options if you’re looking to buy something. Having found the device you’re after you’re given a couple of options to either buy or sell it, both of which boot you out of the app an into your browser to continue with the listing. There’s also a useful sharing option, allowing you to send a link to the same kind of information hosted on the Swappa website to the app/person of your choice.

 

 

As far as functionality goes, that’s about as far as it goes for Swappa Price. It really is basic, but there’s something to be said of its streamlined, no-nonsense experience. It’s free of course, and it is the first version available, so hopefully it becomes a little more fully-featured down the road. This will no doubt be pretty popular with us in the forums, purely for the essential purpose it serves, and our existing reliance on the service. Developers are continually picking up cheap phones to test apps on, and for those enthusiasts that buy a lot of devices this app should remove a fair portion of Google searching. If you like what you see, head over to Google Play and check it out.

What do you think of Swappa Price?

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Xiaomi Sold 34.7 Million Phones In 6 Months

2015 has been a phenomenal year for Xiaomi so far. With a stellar rise in 2014, 2015 saw increased success outside of China for Xiaomi along with tremendous consumer interest in the company’s smartphone offerings. The company also increased its ventures outside of smartphones touching everything from routers to selfie sticks.

The company took to twitter to announce their recent success. Xiaomi’s smartphones sales increased 33% year-on-year, with the company having sold 34.7 Million smartphones in the first half of 2015 itself.

We sold 34.7 million smartphones in 1H 2015 alone, a 33% year-on-year increase! Big thanks to Mi fans. RT the news! http://pic.twitter.com/5EGzJBDlDc

— Mi (@xiaomi) July 2, 2015

Xiaomi has been absolutely killing it, and these numbers just put more weight to the statement. With their recent expansion into Brazil, along with price drops in India as well as release of kernel source code for their popular devices, it’s just a case of wait and watch as we see the rise of the next Samsung.

What do you think about Xiaomi’s recent success? Is it a case of accidental success or are they on to something big with their strategies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Read on for related coverage:

• Xiaomi Releases Kernel Source Code For Mi4i
• Discuss: Would You Ever Buy a Phone from Xiaomi?
• Xiaomi Announces Mi4i in India for Just Rs. 12,999
• Xiaomi To Launch In US and Europe June 1st
• Xiaomi’s 2015 Roadmap

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Sprint Reacts To Jab From T-Mobile

America’s cellular network space has always been a battle of the big four: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. Together, they serve around 370 million subscribers while the 5th place U.S. Cellular serves 4.7 million subscribers. The battle for the top spot has always been between Verizon (133.5 million) and AT&T (121.8 million), while Sprint and T-Mobile battle it out for the 3rd place with 57.1 million and 56.8 million subscribers respectively.

Needless to say, in such a neck-to-neck competition scenario, swords have to be drawn out. Amongst the top 4, T-Mobile and its CEO John Legere are arguably the most vocal of the lot, frequently running campaigns on social media as well marketing campaigns such as “Never Settle For Verizon” and “Uncarrier” in order to sway customers over to their service.

While most of these campaigns aim a jab directly at the competition, the competition seldom responds back in kind. Unsurprisingly, it was only a matter of time before someone snapped back at T-Mobile. This is exactly what happened with Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, who had enough of the mudslinging from T-Mobile.

In a series of tweets, Marcelo called out T-Mobile’s Uncarrier and iPhone lease program, saying that the company is misleading customers as the plans offered contain hidden costs.

While we do not entirely support the notion of an Internet duel, we’re all in for it if it eventually leads to increased transparency for the customers. Marcelo’s tweets highlight how companies still aim for the quick buck by exploiting the fine print. What customers are sold in this day and age often does not equate to what they end up buying thanks to clever use of marketing buzzwords and loopholes in laws and regulations.

As a cellphone technology site aimed towards the informed users, we urge readers to pay close attention to their contracts and inquire about the fine print and hidden fees if they wish to avoid a nasty surprise and a lighter wallet.

Let us know your thoughts on this incident in the comments below!

Read on for related coverage:

• T-Mobile Steps Up The War Against Verizon
• T-Mobile Steps Up The Competiton
• AT&T Charged $100 Million For Throttling Data Plans

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LG G4 Stylus To Launch In India For Rs. 24,990 ($395)

Mumbai based retailer Mahesh Telecom has tipped the LG G4 Stylus for a launch with stock arriving soon. The phone will also come along with freebies like a 16GB memory card and Quickcircle case, along with some more software freebies like Rs. 2,000 worth free downloading on the Hungama app.

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