Would You Purchase an Updated Variant of Your Current Phone?

Sometimes we just love our devices too much, and do not wish to trade their design or form factor as much as we feel they are running out of life. Iconic devices like the Nexus 5 have endured for years on software prowess alone, but many of us would love to see our favorite phones come back to the market with updated specs.

Would you purchase an updated-spec variant of your current phone? Are you more likely to purchase the phone if there was a trade-in deal with your current phone? At what point in the release cycle (minimum) would you be alright with the OEM releasing an updated spec variant of a flagship? What differences should exist between the specs to make you consider buying the new phone when you already have the older variant?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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ZTE Invites User Opinions on Why They Use Stock Android

ZTE recently held a unique competition where they invited ideas for a phone that would then be produced commercially. The crowdsourced phone that would be the result of Project CSX saw a lot of unique entries, with the finalists being:

1. Eye Tracking, Self Adhesive Phone: Phone with a self-adhesive back that would allow the phone to stick to a wall, and the user can scroll through eye movement.
2. Intelligent Smartphone Covers: Functional cases that expand use-cases of phones, such as a gamepad or an e-ink flip cover.
   [Note: the original idea included stock Android software as part of the whole pitch. However, ZTE's press release does not note anything related to this aspect.]
3. Powerglove: Exo-glove that controls fingers for helping in rehabilitation or learning scenarios, all powered by the Android device.
4. VR-Interactive Diving Mask: Waterproof VR mask for emulating an ocean experience inside controlled water bodies.
5. Stock Android Flagship Phone: A flagship Axon device that runs on stock Android

Some of these ideas might sound simply too niche or unfeasible for commercial production and sale, so it was quite surprising to see that the final winner was the Eye Tracking, Self Adhesive Phone with 36% of votes, while the stock Android phone (Option 5) came in third with just 19% voting for it.

ZTE did see that there is significant demand for flagship grade hardware that runs on software close to stock Android, and this week, they are inviting more users to expand on their opinions and tell them why they prefer using pure stock or a near-stock Android experience. There is a single-choice poll attached, but you are invited to expand upon or choose your top few reasons in the comments. Choices include:

• Quicker updates
• Longer support period
• Cleaner interface and skin
• Better overall performance
• Less bloatware
• Lower defects
• Greater dev support for custom ROMs

ZTE does not immediately promise any fruits out of this opinion poll. However, the findings would be presented to their R&D team, which indicates that they are inclined to consider options beyond what they have stuck to in the past.

The release of the premium Pixels has created a void for affordable flagships with stock-like Android in the Nexus space, and current options for top-notch hardware with such software is restricted to the likes of the OnePlus 3. The entry of a ZTE Axon flagship with stock Android, if it comes to fruition, would certainly help the consumer by giving him more choice, and forcing other OEMs to react to the new competition.

Head on over to ZTE's forums to voice your opinion and let the OEM know!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below too!

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Prototype for the Canceled Project ARA Modular Smartphone Revealed

Modular smartphones have long been regarded as the pinnacle of futuristic smartphone technology. A video simply titled 'Phonebloks' was published towards the end of 2013 that illustrated one man's vision for the future of smartphones. That video currently has over 21 million views and at the time caught the attention of the entire tech industry. Not long after the video was released, Motorola (at the time under Google's ownership) officially announced plans for a modular smartphone of their own, dubbed Project ARA.

We've covered a lot of the milestones that Project ARA has passed over the years, and it seems like Google was initially making major progress with the project. One of the biggest milestones was the announcement they would be launching a pilot program in Puerto Rico – for what seemed to be the first real-world launch of a modular smartphone. Since then, unfortunately, it seems that the project was starting to hit major roadblocks until finally the project was shelved a few months back.

It seemed that the modular smartphone dream was dead, at least for now. But despite the fact that Google never got around to officially launching a Project ARA smartphone, Phandroid was able to get their hands on what they believe to be a prototype developer device from the first half of this year. This device has the model number A8A01 and was never disclosed to the public. Within this prototype smartphone lies the Snapdragon 810 SoC, 3GBs of RAM, a 5.5″ 1080p display, 32GBs of internal storage, and a 3,450mAh capacity battery. Those specifications seem fairly standard considering the time period the device was being tested in, but keep in mind that the entire premise of the phone is to provide modularity so users can swap out parts in the future.

Phandroid also uploaded 40 photos to present all sides and all angles of the prototype developer device. Thanks to this, we get a look at how the modules were designed, how they were held into place, and how the phone even came with a module release button on the side of the device. Phandroid promises to reveal more details about the phone as well as answer some questions from readers in the weeks to come.

Source: Phandroid

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OnePlus 3 to Receive a Nougat Community Build Update This Month

With all of the crazy OnePlus 3T rumors that have been flying around lately, it's nice to see some new information for the regular OnePlus 3 that many feel is the best smartphone of 2016. The OnePlus 3 has received a number of software updates that have improved performance, squashed bugs, and lately have been introducing a new design to a number of stock apps and the UI itself. This new design started as the company decided to merge the Oxygen OS and Hydrogen OS platforms together.

Last month, OnePlus came out and explained how they will be handling their Oxygen OS Community Beta program. Essentially, there will be three tiers: Closed Beta, Open Beta (aka Community Builds), and finally the Official OTA releases. They are aiming to push out ~4 closed beta updates per month, ~2 open beta updates per month, and then one official OTA update every 1 to 2 months.

It was at the start of October that we also learned OnePlus had started to work on Android 7.0 Nougat for the OnePlus 3. Since then, OnePlus has received a ton of questions asking exactly when their first Nougat update would be available to the public. Yesterday, we learned that this first update is scheduled to be released as a Community Build sometime this month. This was reported as confirmed by Engadget from Brian Yoon, the head of OnePlus' software team.

The company hopes to squash all of the bugs and polish the entire Nougat update so that it will be available as an official OTA update by the end of the year. These are just estimated schedules though, so if the team ends up hitting a roadblock or two, it could push the delay back a bit. In the report from Engadget, we also learn that "older devices like the OnePlus 2" will also be receiving the Nougat update. However, they are unable to give us an estimated time frame for when that update might be released.

Source: Engadget

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XDA Forums Added for the Upcoming OnePlus 3T!

The OnePlus 3T with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC is expected to arrive on November 15th, but why wait to gossip about it? Head on over to the forums to interact with fellow community members and voice your views!

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RhinoShield CrashGaurd Pixel XL Drop Test – 11 Feet Onto Cement

In this video, Miles takes the CrashGuard bumper out for a drop text after showing us the impressive engineering that goes into every bumper. RhinoShield claims their cases can protect your phone from a fall from up to 11 feet.  Let's put that to the test with a new Pixel XL. Here are the results below from each drop position. For the full-length video, scroll down the page.

Drop from pocket height

From a pocket height drop, no damage is done to the case or the phone. No smudges or scratches to be seen.

Drop from chest height

This drop for chest height landed hard. The bumper absorbed the shock and took a little bit of scratch damage on the corner. The phone was still left in perfect condition.

Drop from overhead

Similar to the last test, only minor scratches can be found on the bumper. The integrity of the phone is left unchanged.

11 foot drop

Miles finishes up his drop test with a giant 11 foot  drop. Still nothing more than minor scratches on the case. The phone is left without any flaws.

Full video

CrashGuard is superior to the bumpers of the past because it has been engineered to absorb impact. This is done by utilizing a proprietary polymer material that is far more shock-absorbent than plastic, and it also has a protective honeycomb structure within the bumper to disperse impact properly. In fact, within the honeycombs are compartments of pressurized air that act as airbags and deflect impact energy. If that sounds really elaborate, it is, and the net result is that you can drop your phone from a variety of heights (up to 11 feet) and if you have a CrashGuard bumper on the phone, you're going to have a completely unmarked phone.

Not only are CrashGuard bumpers durable, but they're lightweight (with most of their bumpers coming in under 14 grams). They're also pretty grippy thanks to the matte finish, and they come in a variety of colors. Another thing we really like about the CrashGuard line is the pricing: the Pixel XL is priced at $24.99, and you can grab one from CrashGuard for the Pixel/Pixel XL.

If you have one of the many other phones that are supported by RhinoShield, you can check out their Amazon page to see all of their available options.

Thanks to RhinoShield for sponsoring this post.

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OpenSignal’s State of LTE Report Highlights the Best Countries for 4G Accessibility

OpenSignal has released their State of LTE report for 2016, which gives us a good look at the accessibility of 4G LTE all over the world. The report is a culmination of efforts and analysis of 17 billion measurements collected from half million OpenSignal users.

Starting off with the availability of 4G (time users remain connected to a 4G connection), South Korea leads the pack with 95.7% connectivity to an LTE network, making 4G as geographically ubiquitous as 3G in the country. Seeing that both Samsung and LG are based off of South Korea and are frequently chosen to test drive the latest mobile technology, the high proliferation of 4G services does not surprise us.

While South Korea has the highest prevalence of 4G, the crown for best speeds goes to Singapore (albeit South Korea did compete closely for it). Average download speeds over 4G connections came out to be 45.9 Mbps, the highest average speed in the world. It is very likely that countries in the near future will be able to breach the 50 Mbps average due to continued investment and advancement in the mobile network sector.

Global 4G speeds averaged 17.4 Mbps despite several countries going over 20 Mbps. As this is an average, it is heavily affected by the population numbers of the country. So countries with high speeds but small population are unable to properly offset countries with low speeds and large population, thus bringing down the global average. Further, speeds also do not always equate with consistency and availability, meaning that you can have high 4G speeds but poor proliferation of the network overall.

The surprising number is the speed average for USA, which comes in at 14 Mbps, well below the global speed average. Although speeds in urban areas with high coverage might be well above this number, there are large swatches of land which may not have access to such high speed connections. Similarly, India's speed average is a measly 6.4 Mbps, which surprises me personally as an optimistic figure.

To take a better look at the interactive charts and more data, do check out OpenSignal's Full Report.

What are your thoughts on the LTE Report? Do you think it represents the situation fairly? Are the figures practically relatable to what you experience? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: OpenSignal

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