It’ll be months before the general public will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow installed on their phones, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait around to enjoy the new wallpapers that Google will include with the update. We’ve pulled together the new wallpapers from the latest Android M Developer Preview build into the image gallery below so that you can download and use them on your phone.

TIP: The best way to get the wallpapers onto your phone is to tap an image, wait for the image to load, long-press the image and select Save image.

Enjoy!

Gallery

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Today, Android One is expanding even further. Google is bringing its affordable smartphone program to six different African countries with the launch of the Infinix HOT 2. The Hot 2 features a 5-inch quad-core MediaTek processor, 1/2GB RAM, 16GB storage, 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 2200mAh battery, dual-SIM support and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. All of those features can come in a body with color options of black, white, red, blue and gold.

The Infinix Hot 2 will be available in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco, with availability in Nigeria beginning today through retail stores as well as online through Jumia. Pricing is set at N17,500 or about $88 USD. Other countries will gain availability within the coming weeks.

Google has also announced some software changes. The biggest one is that a new streamlined version of Google Search is rolling out around the globe that increases faster performance, particularly on phones with low RAM. It also has the ability to reduce the amount of data used on the results page by up to 90 percent, saving you some megabytes. In addition, YouTube offline access will expand through Android One to Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt within the next few months, allowing users to pre-download videos in order to use less data.

It’s good to see Android One continuing to expand, particularly after it hit a rough patch a little while ago. And with the added software changes from Google, things just keep looking up for the program.

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Finding a decent Bluetooth speaker is pretty easy these days. Walk into Best Buy, Target or any large retailer and you’re presented with dozens of options that range from $15 to $300. The problem is that most Bluetooth speakers, even the good ones, don’t offer a fully immersive audio experience due to the left and right channels being so close together. We wouldn’t call this a flaw in design, but rather a limitation based on the need for these Bluetooth speakers to be portable. If you’re looking for superior audio quality and don’t have the urge to move the speakers, the Thonet & Vander Kürbis Bluetooth speaker should be right up your alley.

Specs

Price: $199.99
Power output: 60W RMS (30W + 30W)
Frequency Response: 50Hz – 20kHz
Acoustic box: Wooden box HDAA 276 x 181 x 222 mm
Driver size/material: Woofer 5.25-inch, Aramid Fiber
Impedence/power: 6 Ω 30W
Tweeter size/material: 1-inch, Silk
Impedence/power: 4 Ω 20W
Antimegnetic shield: Yes
Controls: Volume, treble, bass
Inputs: Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5 / RCA stereo
Color options: Black, white

The Good

Build Quality: Weight isn’t always a great measure of quality, but the 12.3 pound weight of the two speakers is a direct reflection to the attention to detail that Thonet & Vander put into the Kürbis. As you can tell from the pictures, the Thonet & Vander Kürbis isn’t your traditional Bluetooth speaker. The Kürbis is styled like traditional studio monitors with two speaker boxes built with HDAA (High Density Acoustic Absorber) wood, which helps reduce distortion for a more authentic sound. Each box sports a 5.25-inch woofer made of bright yellow aramid fabric that resonates smooth, low bass. The tweeters are built with silk, allowing the treble to resonate perfectly.

Design: The Thonet & Vander Kürbis was designed to stand out. While most Bluetooth speakers fit neatly on a shelf and blend right in with your home decor, the Thonet & Vander Kürbis has a bit of a hard time not sticking out like a sore thumb. The black speaker boxes look great when flanking a computer monitor on your desk, but they would draw too much attention away from your TV if placed in your entertainment center.

Sound Quality: Like it or not, the size of a Bluetooth plays a huge role in the quality of the sound that it produces. The Thonet & Vander Kürbis’ unabashed 276 x 181 x 222 mm boxes allow for a  5.25-inch aramid fabric and 1-inch silk tweeters. Portable speakers like the Jawbone Big Jambox and Grain Audio Packable Wireless Speaker offer a rich audio experience, but they both come up short when compared with the Thonet & Vander Kürbis. The highs, mids and lows are breathtaking.

When the volume is turned up, the bass is distortion-free yet powerful enough to vibrate every object on my desk besides my monitor. Fortunately, Thonet & Vander built the Kürbis with volume, treble and bass knobs into the side of the left speaker, giving you full control of the audio with a few simple twists. Adjusting the audio profile on a phone or computer can be a hassle, but I found myself adjusting the treble and bass settings based on the type of music I was listening to. Not because the speakers needed to be adjusted, but because a quick turn of a knob would allow me to tailor the audio more to my liking.

The Not so Good

Connectivity: For the everyday consumer, the Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5mm and RCA stereo connections should be more than adequate, but the lack of XLR or 1/4-inch input options may hold a few pro users at bay. Another item that’s missing is a built-in microphone, which means you will not be able to use the Thonet & Vander Kürbis as the world’s most powerful speakerphone in your home office.

Portability: Let’s be honest: if you buy the Thonet & Vander Kürbis, you will not be taking it to the beach or packing it it up for this weekend’s picnic in the park. Not only is the Kürbis extremely heavy, but it doesn’t have an internal battery. If you want music to come out of the Kürbis, you will need a standard wall plug at all times. Then again, the two speakers are large and sturdy enough to be used as a small stool. So Thonet & Vander Kürbis may be the perfect picnic companion after all.

Gallery

The Thonet & Vander Kürbis Bluetooth speakers are available online for $199. That’s a bit higher than most of the speakers we have reviewed in the past, but well worth the money if you’re looking for studio-quality audio with wired and wireless connectivity for your home office.

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It looks like Motorola may be catering to a bigger market with the next generation Moto 360. If these Anatel documents are accurate, there will be two different models of the smartwatch, one with the model number 360S and one with the number 360L.

Anatel is the Brazilian agency that approves electronics containing radios, much like the United States FCC, and these two devices passed through. The model numbers may be referring to size, like Apple’s two different size of watch. The battery capacities add to that theory, as they are 270 mAh and 375 mAh respectively. We might be seeing a small and a large watch coming soon.

This is definitely a great course of action, as some people with smaller wrists may want a less bulky smartwatch to wear on a daily basis. Others may want a larger display, like I do. Which size would you end up buying?

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After both T-Mobile and Verizon ditched contracts, Sprint is joining the group and eliminating the option to get a two-year contract. The company began offering leasing options last year and it’s going to stick with them, as 51% of customers chose a lease in the last quarter. The leasing option works well and although customers are still semi-tied in (you have to pay off the remaining balance of the phone before you leave), it does mark a shift in the US wireless market.

Sprint introduced a new iPhone-based lease in addition to the news which allows a customer to pay $22/month to get a new iPhone each time it’s available. Similar options and other deals will likely become available as the company transitions fully to the leasing option. All in all, you’ll likely be able to snag some good deals if you play it right.

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As you guys probably know, I’ve been a fan of Inateck speakers for a while now. Ranging from the extreme budget to the $60 range with unusually long battery life, the company offers some high-quality speakers that make few sacrifices to achieve a low price tag. So when I was offered to review a full aluminum speaker like this, one that’s also water resistant, I was excited.

Overview

Price: $48.99
Battery: 15 hours, 1,800mAh
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5mm aux
Extras: IPX5 splash-proof, speakerphone
Dimensions: 162.8 mm x 62.8 mm x 28.6 mm, 250g
What’s in the box: Speaker, 3.5mm aux cable, micro USB charging cable, lanyard, carrying case
Where to buy: Inateck

The front is a beautiful aluminum grille with holes drilled in a fairly random but mirrored pattern. There are no logos to distract from the design.

The top is rubber, like the sides and unlike the rest of the body, and it has a microphone hole and five buttons. There’s a power button, a play/pause button, a Bluetooth/call button, and two volume buttons. These last two are odd, as they act as volume buttons only when held down. A short press will skip tracks forward or back, which isn’t ideal but not a big deal.

The right side has a rubber flap that houses a microUSB port and a 3.5mm aux jack. The flap is there for keeping water out, so keep it securely sealed.

On the left is a hole for the lanyard that’s included in the box.

On the rear is a small grill and an Inateck logo breaking up the slab of aluminum.

Build quality

This speaker feels as premium as it looks. The body is a single piece of aluminum, which makes it feel absolutely fantastic. The rubber parts feel high quality as well; it’s a soft touch rubber that’s smooth and not too grippy.

Since it uses aluminum, the speaker itself is light and really portable. But it has a solid heft to it that just makes it feel great.

Strangely enough, all five buttons feel somewhat different. You’ll never notice it during normal use, but it was interesting to find.

Sound quality

So it’s a $50 speaker that’s made out of aluminum, has some awesome accessories (including a carrying case made of faux leather!), and is designed exquisitely. How does it sound? Unfortunately, it seems that most of the budget went into the looks and build. The speaker just doesn’t sound natural. It’s almost muffled.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not distorted or bad sounding. It just sounds like it’s playing through something thick. That’s likely the effect of the water resistant coating, as I’ve heard of such issues before when coating speakers to prevent water damage. Many companies manage to get around it, but it seems Inateck didn’t.

To be fair, the sound is decently clear and it doesn’t sound so bad that you can’t get past it sounding somewhat wrong. It’s clear enough, with all the details and instruments heard just fine. I just don’t enjoy listening to it (as someone who highly values audio quality).

Battery life

This speaker has a beefy 1,800mAh battery that lasts up to 15 hours. This is far above the average in the Bluetooth speaker market, especially at this price point. I always love long-lasting speakers because you never have to worry about being stuck without music during your activities.

In my use, the speaker lasted ages without needing a charge. The 10-15 hour battery life estimate is spot on.

Extras

You’ll notice the first neat extra when you’re taking the speaker out of the box. It comes with some awesome accessories that aren’t typical at this price range. The microUSB and 3.5mm cables are long and braided. The ends of the USB cable are smooth and shaped well, with Inateck’s logo on them. The 3.5mm cable has slim chrome plastic ends. These cables are awesome.

There is also a carrying case and a lanyard. The lanyard is typical, but with a nice clip to make the loop shorter or longer. The carrying case is faux leather and is plain awesome. It’s soft and expensive-looking, has soft felt inside, and is the perfect size for the speaker. It also has a nice tan faux leather Inateck tag on it.

The speaker is also IPX5 water resistant, which is a great touch for speakers to have. This makes it shower and poolside safe, making it a lot more useful (as long as you’re using Bluetooth and the flap is closed). Don’t dunk it in water, though, because it’s not waterproof.

As an audio enthusiast, I just can’t get behind this speaker. No matter how nice it is (and it really is nice), the sound quality being “poor” just ruins it for me. And I use “poor” loosely, as it’s not awful, it  just sounds…strange. And yes, I’m being harsh on it, but that’s just how I judge speakers.

If you’re someone who loves fancy looking things and doesn’t necessarily care about good audio quality as long as you can hear the song and it’s not distorted, then you might enjoy this speaker. It’s well-built, beautiful, and the aluminum construction is great. And at $50, it’s not a large amount of money to drop for a speaker, especially one with such excellent battery life. But if you really value audio, there are plenty of better options at this price tag, including Inateck’s other better sounding speakers.

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Samsung’s latest two phones, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+, are hot topics and carriers are prepping for the launch. T-Mobile is taking a different route from some of the others and is skipping pre-orders altogether. Instead, the company is opting to open online and phone orders at 6:00 AM PST tomorrow, August 18. While the official launch isn’t until Friday, T-Mobile will begin shipping units to customers who order beforehand as soon as they become available.

For those who prefer a more traditional route, T-Mobile will still offer the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ within its stores on Friday, August 21. As for pricing, the 32GB Galaxy Note 5 will run you $699.99 and the 32GB Galaxy S6 Edge+ will come in at a slightly steeper $779.99. Both devices also have the option of upping it to 64GB of storage for some extra cash.

Let us know if you’re planning to pick one up!

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Google’s Project Ara is one of the company’s more interesting creations. It’s a push by Google to create a modular phone that can be customized by customers, allowing them to swap out nearly all of the components including the camera, display and more. Not only would it allow a customer to create their perfect phone, but it can also save money for customers by allowing them to simply replace one broken component rather than the entire device.

Project Ara was scheduled for a pilot in Puerto Rico beginning later this year. Those plans have now been tossed and the pilot will occur in 2016 and this time, it’ll be within the US, though a specific location hasn’t yet been announced. The delay is reportedly due to a lot more iterations than the team planned for, which has led to a slowdown in development. The team also noted that the news doesn’t mean that Project Ara won’t come to Puerto Rico in the future, it just won’t be home to the pilot.

We’ll keep you posted on further updates regarding Project Ara.

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While the “brick” style of smartphones has taken the world by storm as of late, there are still flip phones out there. And now Samsung is shoving some powerful specs into their latest model.

The new device is called the G9198 (you miss these phone names, right?) and it’s a flip phone with a 3.9-inch AMOLED touch screen on the outside of the handset, as well as another similarly-sized screen on the inside, with the resolution of both being 1280×768. The camera on the back is of the 16-megapixel variety, and features an aperture of f/1.9, and there’s a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for good measure.

Inside, the G9198 offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor with 2GB of RAM, and the battery is measured in at 2020mAh. There’s 16GB of built-in storage, with a microSD card slot for expandable storage, Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and 4G LTE connectivity.

It’s probably not likely that we’ll ever see the G9198 out of China, unfortunately.

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Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 App Updates on Friday. When Monday rolls around, we look back to see which apps were the most appealing to our audience. Read on for the five most popular Android apps from last week. These apps are ones that are most likely new and haven’t appeared in the top five list more than three times.

1. Landmarker

App info: Landmarker is an experimental compass that reveals key destinations around you. Click each result to locate it in Google Maps.

2. Dreamify

App info: Dreamify transforms your photos into otherworldly masterpieces. Using Google’s Deep Dream, Dreamify puts you in control: select from a dozen presets, or toggle the algorithm parameters to innovate on your own.

3. Sniper Who Forgot To Open Eyes

App info:  If you are looking for a serious sniper game, then run and hide and never come back! …are you still here?! We would unlock an achievement for you but there is no such functionality implemented in Google Play! Get that achievement in the game!

4. QKSMS

App info: QKSMS brings a refreshingly beautiful and responsive Material Design touch to the stale state of text messaging. In a world with clunky SMS and MMS apps cluttered with bloat and ads, QKSMS is something to get excited about.

5. Fallout Shelter

App info: Create a brighter future…underground! Select from a variety of modern-day rooms to turn an excavation beneath 2,000 feet of bedrock into the very picture of Vault Life.

Note:  To ensure that all apps receive a fair chance to make the list, we will retire any app that has made the list for three consecutive weeks.

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