Motorola just brought the Moto X and Moto Maker to Germany, but now the company is facing some issues there. Due to a patent case filed by LPKF, Motorola is no longer allowed to sell the Moto X and Moto G in Germany. The patent in question covers Laser Direct Structuring for antennas, a process many companies use on their devices.

Laser Direct Structuring is a process used to place antennas on curved surfaces. It was used for the antennas on both the Moto G and the Moto X, so unfortunately, Motorola will not be able to sell the devices without modification. However, it seems that Motorola is already fixing the issue with infringement to continue selling the devices in Germany.

This doesn’t seem like a patent troll case, as LPKF is a German laser engineering firm, so don’t get all up in arms. However, Motorola should probably pay those licensing fees. Hopefully things will be worked out fast, bcause the real losers in such cases are the customers.

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Samsung has announced its latest mobile processor, the Exynos ModAP. It’s been a while (almost two years) since a Samsung Exynos processor has been relevant in the US because they’ve lacked LTE support. However, the Exynos ModAP might finally change that.

The ModAP is a quad-core chip based on a 28nm process, which claims to play back 4K video seamlessly (something many modern chips simply cannot do). But the chip itself doesn’t much matter, as the important bit is the integrated LTE-Advanced modem. Samsung has finally fixed the biggest issue in Exynos chips. There is also a built in image signal processor, which allows for faster image capturing.

It’s actually pretty exciting that we might just see another Exynos processor here in the US. Though it’s not confirmed (the loyalty to Qualcomm is strong here), I’m hoping for it. I loved Exynos processors back in the day, despite the issues they had. Would you buy an Exynos-powered device? Tell us in the comments!

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Samsung Apps has been around for quite a long time now. It’s Samsung’s proprietary app store, where many of its system apps reside for updating and where plenty of other apps are available. It’s a fairly solid app store, though I don’t know why anyone would use it if they have access to the obviously superior Play Store. However, it must be a good option for some.

Today Samsung Apps is getting a big change, getting renamed to GALAXY Apps because Samsung has both Android and Tizen devices. Since there will be separate app stores for both, Galaxy devices will now have GALAXY Apps and Tizen will have something else. The change definitely makes sense, as having one app store for both would not be possible.

If you enter Samsung Apps, it’ll ask you to update it and will become GALAXY Apps. There is a slightly updated user interface that gets rid of the menu button, which is a nice touch. But considering this may be the last time you open the app in another few months, it most likely won’t affect most of us. Have you ever used Samsung Apps for anything? Leave a comment!

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