At Twitter, the team is constantly looking for new ways to keep users engaged. The company recently rolled out Highlights and While You Were Away features that help bring users up to speed with relevant content that they may have missed while not using Twitter for longer periods of time. Now the company has rolled out a new feature that will help users see “the best of Twitter in an instant.”

Moments is a new addition to Twitter that brings the most popular and important content and topics of Twitter to one place that’s updated all day long. Moments isn’t based on who you follow, but rather what’s happening and developing on Twitter. A Moment will bring in tweets, vines, GIFs and more to one hub that can be swiped through to keep up with major situations and events. For those situations that develop quickly, such as a sports game, there will be an option to follow the Moment, which will blend the latest tweets from the Moment right into your timeline for the duration of the Moment.

As far as new features go, Moments is a surprisingly great one. One of the common complaints of Twitter is that there’s too much going on and that it’s impossible to keep up. Twitter says that it spoke with users who didn’t regularly use the service and used their feedback to create Moments. What came of that strategy is a useful feature that will appeal to both old and new Twitter users alike, creating a better social network for all.

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Google Creative Labs has released a few weird apps in the past, though I don’t think I could call them truly useful. But the latest app the team has released is a live wallpaper, and surprisingly, it’s pretty useful.

Meter is just that: a live wallpaper that shows a meter that you select. The ball is battery life, and as your battery dies, the ball inside shrinks. The triangle is signal strength, which moves up and down with, you guessed it, signal strength. The third is notifications, which has rectangles representing how many notifications you currently have.

Not only does it show pretty useful information, but it also features gyroscope support, so moving your device around moves the wallpaper around. It’s quite cool and it’s free, so hit the source link to check it out!

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Every month, Google releases Android distribution numbers that give us an idea of which versions of Android are rising and falling. For October, a rise came in Android Lollipop, with versions 5.0 and 5.1 scooping up nearly a quarter of the Android market at 23.5%, up from 21% in September. Android 4.4 KitKat remains as the largest version at 38.9%, though this number is slightly down from September’s number of 39.2%.

Jelly Bean takes second place at 30.2%, down from September. All other version of Android continued to fall, even if only slightly, with the exception of Android 2.2 Froyo, which is hanging steady at 0.2%. It’s good to see that Lollipop covers nearly a quarter of all Android devices and continues to take some of the share from older versions. Stay tuned for November’s Android distribution numbers, which should bring in the first inclusion of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, as it begins rolling out this week.

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Samsung Pay launched not long ago, supported by a few new Samsung phones and AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile here in the United States. Missing, of course was Verizon, which didn’t come as much of a surprise to most people.

But Verizon has finally announced support for Samsung Pay, though it isn’t immediate. The Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, and Note 5 will support the mobile payment service after a software update that Verizon will launch in the future, though no time was given.

Samsung Pay will be supported on compatible Verizon smartphones (Galaxy S 6, S 6 edge, Note5, S6 edge +) through a future software update.

— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) October 6, 2015

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It’s good to see Verizon supporting the mobile payment service, even if it is a little bit late. How many of you Verizon customers were planning to use Samsung Pay?

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The Inateck MercuryBox didn’t leave me particularly impressed in the audio department, though every other aspect was pretty fantastic. With brilliant battery life and build quality, I was sad to dislike the audio performance. But the MarsBox is supposed to sound far better, so I was looking forward to checking it out.

Overview

Price: $49.99
Battery: 10-15 hours, 2,200mAh
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5mm aux
Extras: Speakerphone/mic
Dimensions: 185.4 mm x 61.5 mm x 77 mm, 710g
What’s in the box: Speaker, 3.5mm aux cable, microUSB charging cable
Where to buy: Inateck

The device has an interesting shape, like two rectangles merged together. Both the red grille area and the rest of the black body are constructed of a soft touch plastic, with an LED under the grille.

The top of the device features four buttons. The volume up and down buttons function as expected (long pressing changes tracks, short pressing changes volume), unlike the MercuryBox. There is also a play/pause button and a multifunction button.

On the rear is the power button along with the microUSB charging port, an aux jack, and a reset button.

Build quality

Build quality on Inateck speakers has traditionally been fantastic, and the MarsBox is no different. It’s built extremely well, with no creaks or rattles whatsoever. The materials are high-end as well, being mostly soft touch plastic with some rubber for the buttons and feet.

The buttons require a firm press, but they work every time. The unit is surprisingly heavy, giving it a reassuring feel. And best of all, it feels absolutely full. No hollow plastic feel here.

Sound quality

While the MercuryBox was a bit of a mess in terms of audio, the MarsBox fares better. The MercuryBox sounded like it was covered with a wet cloth: muffled and unbalanced. The bass was pretty strong, but it sounded like the mids were almost gone. It wasn’t awful for the everyday person, but for those who care about audio, it was difficult to listen to.

The MarsBox makes big improvements. While it still has balancing issues and is a little bit of muffling, it’s pretty much normal to most people. I’m serious about good audio quality and it bothers me, but it’s far from bad and is a huge improvement over the MercuryBox.

Once again, this speaker has powerful bass, but it also has pretty clear highs and mids. You can actually hear the mids very well. The muffling effect is there, and I have no idea why, but it’s really not that bad and your ears adjust pretty quick.

Also, this thing gets insanely loud for its size. It can fill a large room easily. In fact, in smaller rooms, it’s painfully loud. And for more than 90% of its volume range, it’s perfectly clear. The top bit gets distorted, but a few clicks of the volume down button and you’re good. A bit of extra volume headroom is always good for outdoor use.

The sound quality isn’t bad. In fact, if you can get past the slightly muffled sound, it’s pretty good. And it’s incredibly loud, fantastic for outdoor use and parties.

Battery life

Inateck typically puts large batteries into its Bluetooth speakers, and the MarsBox is no different. It features a beefy 2,200mAh battery that is advertised as providing 10-15 hours of battery life, depending on volume.

It delivers on those claims, going long times between charges. If you listen to it quietly, it lasts forever. It also doesn’t discharge at a quick rate when not in use.

Extras

Just like the MercuryBox, this speaker comes with some sweet accessories. It has the same 3.5mm aux and microUSB cables as the MercuryBox, but in a really nice red. They’re high-quality, with fabric coating and great connectors. It’s a fantastic touch.

The Inateck MarsBox isn’t for an audiophile, but it excels at almost everything. The battery life is fantastic, the build quality is top notch, the price is low, and it gets incredibly loud. The sound quality may have its issues, but they’re issues most people can get past.

If you’re looking for a budget speaker to be used outdoors or at a party, this is it. If you’re serious about audio, you may want to look elsewhere. And don’t discount the brand, because some of its speakers sound pretty great.

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Once a new version of Android is released, we typically see announcements from device manufacturers which lay out which of their devices will be updated. But we rarely, if ever, see the same sort of news coming from a service provider. T-Mobile is changing that expectation by launching an Android Marshmallow software update page on its site, listing 17 different T-Mobile devices which will be updated to Android 6.0. On top of that, T-Mobile will also be tracking the Marshmallow update process for each phone with three different stages to the process:

1. Manufacturer Development: T-Mobile and the device manufacturer have agreed to support a new software update.
2. T-Mobile Testing: During this stage the device will go through T-Mobile certification process testing to make sure you get the best quality software possible.
3. Complete: The software has been approved to launch and is now available.

The list will likely grow as more OEMs announce their Android Marshmallow update plans, but it’s certainly exciting to see T-Mobile make such a public commitment on an Android software update. Hopefully, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon will follow in T-Mobile’s footsteps and offer transparency into the software update process for the devices that they sell.

T-Mobile Phones that will be updated to Android 6.0

• HTC One M8
• HTC One M9
• LG G3
• LG G4
• LG G Stylo
• Nexus 5
• Nexus 6
• Nexus 7
• Nexus 9
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
• Samsung Galaxy S5
• Samsung Galaxy S6
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

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With Android 6.0 Marshmallow officially making its way to Nexus devices, Sony has decided to chime in and share its update plans. While HTC only listed 10 devices (HTC will likely add more devices in the future) in its Android Marshmallow announcement, Sony has listed 14. Sony certainly gets credit for listing more devices than HTC, but they have failed to commit to an initial release window, simply promising to “update to as many of our devices as possible, as quickly as we can.”

We’re sure that Sony plans to keep its promise, but it would be nice to know when we can expect the first wave of Android Marshmallow updates to drop.

We’ve been working hard to bring this major update to as many of our devices as possible, as quickly as we can. We’re really excited about the new Sony features & functionality and the improvements we’ve made to the user experience – and we’ll be sharing more soon… so stay tuned to the blog and @SonyMobileNews for all the latest news on timings and features.

Check out the list below to see if Sony is planning to roll out its Android Marshmallow update for your phone.

• Xperia Z5
• Xperia Z5 Compact
• Xperia Z5 Premium
• Xperia Z4 Tablet
• Xperia Z3+
• Xperia Z3
• Xperia Z3 Compact
• Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
• Xperia Z2
• Xperia Z2 Tablet
• Xperia M5
• Xperia C5 Ultra
• Xperia M4 Aqua
• Xperia C4

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If you’re looking for a nice USB Type-C cable for your new OnePlus 2 or for your future Nexus 5X and 6P, OnePlus has you covered. The company has just released a USB Type-C cable that not only has the standard reversible Type C end, but also has a fully reversible end that goes into your computer.

On top of that, it’s also flat, has a nice tie attached to it for rolling it up, and features anti-flammable materials. Unfortunately, it’s only available in red, but you can get it in 100cm and 150cm lengths, in case you need a cable that’s a bit longer. They go for $5.49 and $6.99 respectively, so they’re fairly priced, too. Will you be picking one up?

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The rumored OnePlus Mini is gaining some steam, with a few leaks about the hardware specifications of the device popping up. The latest leak gives some pretty impressive specs for the $250 price point, but OnePlus fans might be pretty upset by the inclusion of NFC.

The device could be powered by either a Snapdragon 801 or a MediaTek Helio X10 SoC, with the latest info leaning towards the latter. And allegedly, MediaTek will release the kernel source. There will also be 2GB of RAM, 32GB of memory with a microSD card, a 5-inch IPS 1080p display, a 13MP rear camera with dual tone flash, a 5MP front wide angle camera, a 3000-3100 mAh battery, a USB Type-C port, an IR blaster, a front facing speaker, and of course, NFC.

There will also be IP67 dust and water resistance, which is a nice touch for a budget phone. And it’ll have MediaTek MiraVision, which allows the processor to render games at 720p and upscale it to 1080p to get around the low-end GPU’s limitations.

The lack of NFC in the latest OnePlus 2, a device more expensive than the Mini, was a disappointment. OnePlus claims that sacrifices had to be made to achieve that price point, so it’s a bit of a slap to the face for OnePlus 2 owners if the Mini comes out with NFC. Otherwise, the device seems very solid.

Are you interested in the OnePlus Mini? It should launch late this year if you are. And if you’re a OnePlus 2 owner, would you be mad if the Mini featured NFC? Leave a comment!

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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. Shine Launcher 3D

App info:  Shine redefines 3D Launcher interface for android 3d. Shine 3D Launcher uses ultra smooth, unique with 3D effects surprisingly, the ability to interact with the user great

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2. DAEMON Sync

App info: Introducing the first truly private cloud solution! Backup, sync, share and browse your photos or videos within the local wireless network. No internet access required! You don’t need to register anywhere, don’t need to enter your email or create login and password!

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3. Dim Light

App info: Can you be the one to escape from this pitch-black madness? Horror adventure game, “Dim Light” Featured in Busan Indie Connect(BIC) Festival

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4. Need for Speed No Limits

App info: Race for dominance in the first white-knuckle edition of Need for Speed made just for mobile – from the developer that brought you Real Racing 3.

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5. PixPass

App info: PixPass is an attempt to break the monotony of remembering passwords. PixPass unlocks the power of your images to generate cryptographically strong passwords. Best of all, PixPass is also a keyboard, so you can pull it up whenever you need it, without fumbling through your phone.

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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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