A couple of months ago Google surprised everyone by getting into the business of designing and selling Wi-Fi routers. Its first effort in the space was created in partnership with TP-Link, and today a new model has been unveiled. This one is made by Asus.

The OnHub devices and the way Google does things with them by partnering with other companies that have been in the networking business already does certainly bear more than a slight resemblance to the Nexus program for smartphones and tablets, especially since Google is in charge of software updates for the OnHubs as well.

The second OnHub costs $219.99, which is $20 more than the TP-Link model. It’s already up for pre-order at certain retailers such as Newegg and Amazon, but also in Google’s own hardware store. Although the others are mum about this, Newegg does list a shipping date of November 3.

The Asus OnHub router has a cylindrical design that’s similar to that of the TP-Link device, but not identical. The new feature the Asus comes with is gesture recognition – you can in fact wave above it to get it to perform certain tasks, such as prioritizing a particular device that’s connected to it, thus giving it more bandwidth.

You control an OnHub router through the Google On app you install on your phone or tablet. Software updates for the routers happen automatically when the network isn’t being used, and in fact Google says the first rollout will land soon, bringing with it a new smart antenna algorithm.

That has to do with the way these routers dynamically vary the band they use, the channel, as well as how many antennas, for each transmission to and from each of your devices. All of this is supposed to make the best possible use of Wi-Fi spectrum of course.

Spec-wise, here’s where the Asus OnHub stands. It has AC1900 support, a 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU, it’s Bluetooth Smart, 802.15.4, and Weave ready, has a congestion-sensing radio, a Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, a single Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, one USB 3.0 port, a speaker, an ambient light at its base (which tells you the network status through different colors), and a proximity sensor on top to enable that waving…

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Back in March this year, a Samsung official revealed that the company is working on a foldable phone internally codenamed Project Valley. Just last month, there were reports revealing some specs of the device – it was also revealed that the phone will be ready for unveiling in January 2016.

Now, a new report has revealed the list of markets where the handset will be launched. As per the report, the Project Valley phone will be available in the UK, Germany, Italy, Nordic countries, France, Poland, as well as Samsung’s home country of South Korea. It was also revealed that the phone will carry a model number of SM-G929F.

The above list indicates that those living in the US are currently out of luck, although the possibility of Samsung expanding the phone’s availability later on cannot be ruled out, the report…

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By now you must have heard: today Motorola announced the Droid Turbo 2, which it’s claiming to be the world’s first smartphone to come with a shatterproof display.

Now that’s a bold claim to make, but Motorola has put out a video that explains things in a little detail. In the “Making of Droid Turbo 2” which you can see below, the company tells us that the new phone’s screen has five layers in total.

There’s an aluminum chassis for a rigid foundation, on top of which there’s a flexible P-OLED panel. This is more rugged than the majority of OLED panels out there because it’s made on a plastic substrate instead of glass. On top of that we find a dual touch layer for “resilient touch response”, and an interior lens for “crystal clear visibility”. Everything’s topped off by the exterior lens, which acts like an outer protective layer for the whole thing.

The result of all of those components is that when the Droid Turbo 2 is dropped, the shock is dissipated much better than in other phones. To drive this point home, Motorola’s first ad for the Droid Turbo 2 (which you can see below) is all about that shatterproof screen. Be warned, however, that a fair amount of iPhones have been harmed in the making of this video.

So did you know that one in three phones out there have their screens cracked at some point in their lifetimes? Or that 1 in 4 people apparently still use their phones when they have cracked displays, even if they’ve gotten cuts from them? Well, Motorola does know all of these things, and it’s also got a solution for you – the Droid Turbo…

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As we expected thanks to all the rumors on the matter, the Droid Turbo 2 wasn’t all that Verizon and Motorola had in store for us at today’s special event. The two companies also unveiled the Droid Maxx 2, an upper-midrange handset that’s meant to be the more affordable Droid-branded option this time around.

And just as every past leak said it would, the Droid Maxx 2 is basically just a rebranded Moto X Play, which has been launched internationally a few months ago. This explains why you can’t buy a Moto X Play in the US then – Verizon wanted the exclusive.

Like the Moto X Play, the Droid Maxx 2 has a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, the newest Motorola 21 MP rear camera, a 5 MP selfie unit, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC at the helm (with a 1.7 GHz octa-core CPU), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and a big 3,630 mAh battery. It too runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, though Verizon promises an upgrade to Marshmallow is on the way.

The Droid Maxx 2 will be out on the same day as the Droid Turbo 2, namely October 29. Its full retail price will be $384, which you can also pay off through 24 monthly installments of $16. Although the Moto Maker customization service isn’t going to be available for the Droid Maxx 2, Motorola and Verizon will sell five additional interchangeable differently colored ‘shells’, which apparently will feature “a soft grip texture”.

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Right on time, Motorola and Verizon announced two new Droid-branded smartphones today. The higher-end of the duo is, of course, the Droid Turbo 2, the successor to last year’s Droid Turbo.

The Droid Turbo 2 has been in the rumors a lot lately, and it turns out that everything that’s been leaked about it was true. So yes, it does have what Motorola claims is a shatterproof display, which it’s branded ShatterShield. The company guarantees that it won’t crack or shatter for up to four years.

It’s a P-OLED panel (like the ones used by LG in its G Flex series), which means it’s built on a plastic substrate (and not glass), and this allows it to survive in conditions in which other screens might shatter. The display system consists of a total of five layers, which all act together to prevent breaks.

Aside from the screen, another unique selling point for the Droid Turbo 2 is its 3,760 mAh battery, much larger than any of its competitors’. This should allow it to reach a full day of use for even the most demanding of owners. The handset has fast charging support too, as well as Qi wireless charging.

The display is a 5.4-inch QHD affair, the rear camera has been transplanted from the Moto X Style so it’s a 21 MP unit, there’s a 5 MP selfie snapper in there too, and things are kept running by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset, paired with 3GB of RAM. Storage versions are 32 or 64GB, and there’s a microSD card slot too. The Droid Turbo 2 runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, with an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow already planned.

The Droid Turbo 2 will be available online and in stores on October 29, which is this Thursday. It will cost $624 in its base configuration, which can also be divided into 24 monthly payments of $26. If you pay $30 per month, on the other hand, you’ll be allowed to ‘refresh the design’ of your handset once in the two-year period. This effectively means you’ll get a new one when you want to. As for choosing a design, you can do that through Motorola’s Moto Maker customization service, since this is the first Droid-branded device to be able to take advantage of that.

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Today, Huawei unleashed the metal-clad Honor 5X in China. It rises above the Honor 4X that came before it, the Honor 5X sports mid-range specifications.

Huawei Honor 5X official photos

It’s built around a 5.5″ 1080p display and under the hood is a Snapdragon 616 chip with a 64-bit quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex A53 and quad-core 1.2 GHz A53 cores, plus Adreno 405 GPU. Internal storage is 16GB on board, expandable via the microSD card slot. Two variants different RAM configurations – 2GB and 3GB.

At the back, the Huawei Honor 5X sports a fingerprint sensor built on Huawei’s latest sensor tech that allows you to unlock the device in just 0.4s. Above it is a 13MP camera with dual LED flash, joined by a 5MP selfie snapper at the front.

Huawei Honor 5X official photos

The battery is 3,000mAh and supports Quick Charge 3.0, allowing you to charge up to 50% of the battery in just 30 minutes. The Honor 5X will have a dual SIM version with dual standby mode as well as 4G LTE on both slots.

The 2GB RAM variant of the phone will retail for $157 (CNY 999), while the version with 3GB RAM will be available for $220 (CNY 1,399).

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Chinese LeTV has officially launched the fourth smartphone in its Le lineup – the 1s. The LeTV Le 1s boasts an attractive price tag and is quite stylish with an all-metal unibody and a slim waistline.

The phone measures 7.5mm thick and houses a MediaTek Helio X10 chipset with a 2.2GHz octa-core CPU and 3GB of RAM. Internal storage is 32GB and isn’t expandable. The phone should feel substantial in hand with a weight of 169 grams.

At the front, the Le 1s features a 5.5″ IPS LCD display of 1080p resolution. Peak brightness is 500 nits, which isn’t too shabby. As for the back, it is quite busy with a fingerprint sensor and a 13MP ISOCELL camera with a single LED flash. Users will take selfies with a 5MP camera at the front touting 85-degree wide angle.

LeTV Le 1s official photos

Android 5.1.1 is running the show and is garnished with the company’s EUI skin on top.

Expect the LeTV Le 1s to initially launch in China and India for a price of CNY 1,100 ($173) on November 3. Strangely, the company says this price is below the Le 1s’ bill-of-materials of $206, meaning LeTV is selling the phone on a loss.

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As promised earlier this year, Samsung has started rolling out the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update to the Galaxy Note 3 Neo smartphone, which was released back in February 2014.

The update is currently rolling out in the company’s home country of South Korea, where it is available both OTA and via KIES for model numbers SM-N750L, SM-N750K, and SM-N750S. Other regions as well as models are expected to get it in the coming weeks.

Of course, it’s quite late, given that Android 6.0 is now out, but it’s still better than not getting the update at all. As for the update itself, it weighs in at around 900MB, carries a build date of October 12,…

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Many Apple Music subscribers, one of which is Pandora’s co-creator Tom Conrad, have noticed that Siri isn’t too keen on answering some questions unless a subscription to Apple Music is present. For example, searching for most popular songs in any location or a time period isn’t an option for non Apple Music users.

Instead of displaying an alternative web search result, Siri right out says that she’s not able to perform the look up.

Sorry, I can’t look up the music charts for you. You don’t seem to be subscribed to Apple Music.

Screenshot of Siri denying an answer to a question

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Less than a week after there were reports that Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is considering entering the US smartphone market, a handset from the company has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Dubbed Xiaomi Redmi 2 Pro, the smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 410 chipset, and sports a 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. It has 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory, and packs in a 2,200 mAh battery. Connectivity options include 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and 4G LTE.

If you remember, the Redmi 2 Prime – which was launched as the first made-in-India Xiaomi smartphone back in August this year – has similar specs to the Redmi 2 Pro. That device carries a price tag of around $110.

Anyway, coming back to the Redmi 2 Pro, the model which has been certified by the US agency is basically a GSM850/1900 phone that offers support for LTE bands 2, 4, and 7. Needless to say, not every FCC certification translates into a launch, so we’ll have to wait for some sort of official confirmation before concluding anything related to the device’s (as well as the company’s) US debut.

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