Facial Recognition is Back with Honor Magic

The Honor Magic is one of the most exciting phones coming from Huawei right now. This phone was out on display at CES 2017 and TK did a hands on video. This video demos some of the many sensors that are used in the facial recognition system on this phone.

Facial recognition has been in a primitive state on Android for a while and it never took off as a security feature. The Honor Magic hopes to change this by actually having a fast and useful recognition system. This phone will be able to change your notification information based on who's looking at your device. A stranger picks up the Honor Magic and will see that you have a new text. The owner picks up the Honor Magic and will see the new text notification, who it's from and a preview of the content.

Watch the video to see it in action.

Thanks to Honor for sponsoring our CES coverage. Be sure to check out the new Honor 6X.

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LG Releases Tentative Earnings for Q4 2016, with an Estimated $29.5 Million Operating Loss

LG Electronics has announced preliminary earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2016. The revenue table below showcases consolidated revenues for Q4 2016, but still offers us insight into what to expect on the year-end balance sheet.

	Estimated Q4 2016 (in kRw Bn)	Estimated Q4 2016 (in USD Mn)	Q3 2016 (in kRw Bn)	Q3 2016 (in USD Mn)	QoQ	Q4 2015 (in kRw Bn)	Q4 2015 (in USD Mn)	YoY
Sales	14,781.9	12,356.1	13,224.3	11,054.1	11.8%	14,560.1	12,170.7	1.5%
Operating Profit / (Loss)	(35.3)	(29.5)	283.2	236	–	349.0	291	–

(South Korean Won to USD conversion at current exchange rates)

Revenue for Q4 2016 is estimated to be higher not only month-on-month, but year-on-year as well. The sales for LG Electronics for Q4 2016 is estimated at $12.3 Billion, which is an increase from the $11 Billion in sales from the previous quarter, and the $12.2 Billion from the previous year.

The catch here is that the figures indicated are consolidated revenues, including all sales from all divisions within LG Electronics. This does not immediately put the smartphone division in the red, but the Operating Loss of $29.5 Million despite the increase in sales indicates that there has been sizeable expenditure by the company.

From previous earning reports, like the report from Q3 2016, we know that most of the profits of that quarter originated from the Home Appliances and Air Solution division. The mobile division had an operating loss of $389.4 Million despite the $2.3 Billion contribution to revenue. So even though the division could bring in sales, they were not sizeable enough to set off the expenditure incurred in product development and marketing and advertisement.

With the LG V20 released in September, it will be interesting to see how the figures play out. Will the V20 have sizeable sales to cover the R&D and promotional expenditure? Or will it managed to disappointment despite the monumental failure of the competing Note 7 in the phablet segment? Only time and Q4 reports will tell.

What are your thoughts on LG's tentative earnings for Q4 2016? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: LG Newsroom

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Report: Samsung to Produce an Initial Output of 10 Million Galaxy S8 Units

Samsung may have stumbled during the second half of 2016 with the battery issues that plagued the Galaxy Note 7. Interestingly enough though, it didn't seem to have much of an effect on the company's profits for the last quarter of the year.

Naturally, they could have made more if the Note 7 didn't have its issues, but Samsung's recent earnings guidance said they were able to bring in $7.8 billion in operating profit for the quarter (which is up by around 50% YoY).

Samsung was able to keep things going thanks to their other divisions, on top of a refreshed focus on the Galaxy S7. We saw the Galaxy S7 take part in multiple promotions throughout the year, and Samsung even released the device in new colors as well. So to help keep the momentum going, Samsung is going to be betting heavy on the upcoming Galaxy S8. A recent report claims they're going to start with an initial output of 10 million units.

The report says 5 million units will be produced in March, followed by another 5 million units in April. They believe that once Samsung has finished with this second batch, the company will launch both of them simultaneously around the world. This might sound like a lot for some companies, but etnews says that Samsung's initial output of the Galaxy S7 was also 10 million units, so it shouldn't be hard for the South Korean tech giant to produce, distribute and sell this many.

The big question is whether or not Samsung will be able to win back customers they lost thanks to the Note 7 issues. The company tells us that the majority of the devices they recalled were simply swapped out with another Samsung device, but there has to be a segment of the community that is worried about safety with the Galaxy S8. Another report said Samsung SDI will be producing batteries for the S8, and that the company has put a bigger emphasis on safety this year.

Source: etnews

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ZTE Says They’re Releasing an Android Wear Smartwatch in 2017

There's been a number of companies going back and forth with Android Wear lately, and it has had many people worried about the future of the platform… Especially since Google has been very slow to release the highly anticipated Android Wear 2.0 update.

This led to people assuming OEMs would be preparing to release a new smartwatch to coincide with the new update, but it seemed like Google will be the only company doing that.

The Android Wear platform is still being used by a number of companies though. Motorola and Huawei are saying they might not be releasing new devices every year, but still say that they will refresh their hardware when they feel the time is right. Swarovski says they'll be releasing an Android Wear smartwatch in March, Casio just announced a new WSD-F series watch, and New Balance just revealed some details about the device they've been working with Intel on too.

Then at CES this week, ZTE has confirmed they are working on an Android Wear smartwatch as well, and says it should be released sometime in 2017. ZTE's chief executive officer, Lixin Cheng, spoke with CNET this week and told them the company has already partnered with a wireless carrier in the United States, and that the wearable will have its own LTE connectivity so it doesn't have to be paired with a phone all the time.

Cheng didn't reveal any additional details about the device though, other than saying they appreciate the work previous Android Wear OEMs have done for the market. Cheng feels that they've done the experimenting for them, and that this will help them not make the same mistakes others made. ZTE is known for manufacturing budget-friendly smartphones, so it will be interesting to see if they follow in the footsteps of companies like ASUS, and produce a device that offers a lot of value for the consumer.

Source: CNET

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How to Convert the Chinese Xiaomi Amazfit into the English Xiaomi Amazfit PACE

In the middle of last year, Xiaomi launched the affordable Amazfit GPS smartwatch for the Chinese market under its Huami sub-brand. The smartwatch was later made available in the U.S. as the Amazfit PACE starting November 22nd, 2016, but for those early adopters of the Amazfit, they were still left with the Chinese branded version. However, it is now possible to effectively convert the Chinese model into the English one by flashing the appropriate images. Be sure to read the instructions and disclaimer in their entirety before you start, though!

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Google Releases Separate ADB and Fastboot Binary Downloads

It's about time. After years of bundling ADB and Fastboot binaries with the Android SDK, Google is finally allowing users to download the binaries without having to download the entirety of Android Studio. Previously, users would have to download several hundred megabytes worth of data if they simply wanted access to ADB and Fastboot. Now, you will only have to stomach a few megabytes to acquire these binaries.

If you're an Android developer, you would have no problem downloading Android Studio or the Android SDK as these are requisite for Android application development. However, there are plenty of valid reasons for Android enthusiasts to download ADB and Fastboot. Unlocking the bootloader or flashing factory images are some of the more common uses, for instance.

While there were third-party sources you could use to grab just the ADB and Fastboot binaries, such as the popular Minimal ADB and Fastboot tool from our forums, some users would prefer downloading executables only from official sources. Furthermore, these third-parties could be hosting out of date packages, since they rely on individuals downloading and extracting the binaries from the official source. Now you can cut out the middle man and grab them straight from Google.

You can download the latest ADB and Fastboot binaries using these links. These download links will remain static, but Google will periodically update the referenced file with the latest binaries as they go live.

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux

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Source: +ElliottHughes

Via: AndroidPolice

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Google Nexus 6 finally receives official Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Last month, Google promised to release an official build of Android 7.1 Nougat for all supported devices, save for one: the Nexus 6. We learned that Android 7.1 would be delayed for this phone due to some unspecified bugs the company needed to hammer out at the last minute, but we should expect to see the Nexus 6 receive the update during early January.

True to their word, Google has finally released Android 7.1.1 Nougat to Nexus 6 owners. This update comes with the latest January security patches and can be grabbed as a full factory image or as an OTA update from the Google Developer webpage.

• Factory Image: N4F26I (7.1.1 with Jan. 2017 security patches)
• OTA Update: N6F26Q (7.1.1 with Jan. 2017 security patches)

Remember, in order to install these updates, you will need to have the appropriate USB drivers for your device. Then, you will need to also grab the ADB and Fastboot binaries, depending on which installation method you chose. Once you're acquired all of that, then simply follow the instructions provided on the Factory Image page or OTA page to apply the update.

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