Just a couple of days after Samsung began rolling out the Lollipop update for the Galaxy A7, the Galaxy A5 (SM-A500FU), which was announced by the company back in October last year and released a couple of months later, has also started receiving the update.

Weighing in at 1GB, the update brings Android 5.0.2 OS, a new TouchWiz UX influenced by the new Material Design, new lock-screen and notification panel, better battery life, as well as performance and stability improvements.

The update is currently rolling out in Poland, where it is available both over-the-air (OTA) as well as via KIES. If all goes smoothly it should expected to reach more markets next…

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Yesterday, we talked about the six tentpole features in the new Android M release. But there's a lot more that Google didn't go into during the keynote, which we'll talk about now.

Direct Share

It was already easy to share content between apps on Android but with Direct Share, Android can now learn which apps you share content to frequently and place that at the top of the list, so if you share photos to the Facebook app a lot, it will be at the top. Direct Share also lets you share content to specific people that you contact you the most, so they are placed directly in the share sheet instead of having to hunt them in the contacts list.

Improved text selection and floating toolbar

The text selection in Android hasn't changed much in several years. You still get the same confusing, nondescript icons at the top when you select the text in an app. With M, you now get a floating toolbar with clear cut, copy, and paste buttons, with overflow menu for additional options such as search or translate. The selection now also moves forward word by word instead of letters to make it easier to mark text but you can go back to select letter by letter. This feature is not present in the current developer preview for some reason.

There will also be undo/redo keyboard shortcut buttons.

App Standby

We talked about Doze, which puts the device in a deep sleep state when not used for long periods of time to save power. App Standby does this for individual apps. When the OS detects an app hasn't been used in a long period of time then it automatically puts it on standby, which disables its network access and suspends its syncs and jobs. When you plug in your device for charging, these apps can resume syncing in the background as usual.

Improved volume control

A lot of people were upset by the lack of a traditional Silent mode in Lollipop. With M, the silent mode is back, accessed by holding down the volume button and then once again to exit the vibrate mode. Only alarms work in the Silent mode, as they used to.

Google also brought back the extended volume control options, which let you control the media and alarm volumes by a drop down next to the ringtone volume level. The Interruptions feature has been removed from the volume bar and now is a separate feature listed below.

Do not disturb quick setting

M has a new Do not disturb button in the notifications, which is essentially the previous Interruptions feature. You can choose between Total silence mode, Alarms only mode, or Priority only mode. You can customize these options from the notifications or the Settings app.

Adoptable storage devices

Users can now add an SD card, which will then be adopted by the system to behave like internal storage. The memory card will be formatted and encrypted and will be seen like internal memory. You can then install apps and other private data easily onto the memory card.

Auto backup for apps

Google will now perform full automatic data backup and restore for apps designed for M. The data will be in your Google account and will be synced across devices.

Bluetooth stylus support

The OS now includes improved support for Bluetooth stylus devices.

Improved Bluetooth Low Energy Scanning

A new approach to scanning method cuts down on the power required to perform the scan, provided the developer of the app implements the feature.

Hotspot 2.0 Release 1 support

Support for Hotspot 2.0 in devices like Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 to automatically connect to Hotspot 2.0 networks when you enter the area.

4K Display Mode

Android M now supports display resolutions up to 4K.

Improved Android for Work

Includes features such as enhanced controls for Corporate-Owned, Single-Use devices, silent install and uninstall of apps by Device Owner, silent enterprise certificate access, auto-acceptance of system updates, delegated certificate installation, enterprise factory reset protection, data usage tracking, runtime permission management, VPN in Settings, and work status notification.

Improved USB On-The-Go support

Previously connecting a USB OTG drive in stock Android made it accessible in apps but the OS itself behaved as if nothing was connected. In M, you now get a notification that lets you explore the contents of the drive in a file explorer like…

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The LG Nexus 5, which was released back in November 2013, has started receiving the Android 5.1.1 update in India. The over-the-air (OTA) update weighs in at around 24MB and carries a build number of LMY48B.

If you haven't received it yet, you can manually check for it by heading to Settings -> About -> System Updates on your device. For those who aren't already aware, the Android 5.1.1 update isn't a major one, as it is primarily aimed at fixing bugs and improving performance and stability.

This comes just a few days after the update started rolling out for the LG G Flex2 in…

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Just days after it came into light, Apple has acknowledged the iOS Messages bug – which renders the app completely unusable if a certain text is received – and has also released a workaround for it.

"Apple is aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update," the company posted on its support page.

The workaround consists of 3 steps: first, ask Siri to read unread messages, then use it to reply to the malicious message (once you reply, you'll be able to open Messages again), and finally, go to the app and swipe left to delete the entire thread (or tap and hold the malicious message, tap More, and delete the message from the thread).
Source |…

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Earlier this week, OnePlus shared a teaser on its official Twitter account, hinting at a big announcement on June 1. While speculations have been rife that this might be something related to its next smartphone – the OnePlus Two, a new rumour is suggesting that the company is set to announce a global price cut for the One.

According to a report from FoneArena, the Chinese company is expected to slash the price of the device by $50. This means that the 64GB model of the handset will be available at $298, while the 16GB variant will set you back around $248.

Needless to say, none of this has been officially confirmed by the company, so take it with a pinch of…

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After losing the spot to Apple in the fourth quarter of 2014, Samsung is back on top as the leading smartphone maker in the world in Q1, 2015, according to a latest report from market research firm Gartner.

Samsung sold a total of 81.1 million smartphones in the quarter, compared to 60.1 million units sold by rival Apple. However, the South Korean company's market share dropped to 24.2% from 30.4% in the same quarter last year.

On the other hand Apple, which overtook Xiaomi to become the leading smartphone vendor in China in Q1, saw its market share rising to 17.9% from 15.3% in Q1, 2014. Lenovo, Huawei, and LG rounded up the top five with 5.9, 4.8, and 4.0% market share, respectively.

As for mobile operating systems, Android was at the top, followed by iOS, Windows, and BlackBerry. However, except iOS, all other OS' saw their market share declining.

Source |…

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Earlier today Google announced Android M, the next release of its mobile operating system, which will become available sometime during the third quarter of this year.

Until then, though, the company has released the first developer preview of the new OS version. Just as last year, it's only called "M" for now, with the final naming due to be revealed at a later time.

You can test drive Android M if you own an LG Nexus 5, Motorola Nexus 6, HTC Nexus 9, or Asus Nexus Player. Those are the devices for which preview images are already available for flashing.

Do note however that this is intended for developers to use in improving their apps ahead of the final release of Android M. As this is a preview, bugs are to be expected. Also, the flashing procedure (detailed here) is quite involved, so if you don't have a bit of knowledge in the field you should probably not try this. Finally, understand that flashing the developer preview requires unlocking the bootloader of your device, which erases all the data on it.

If you still want to proceed, the images are waiting for you at the Source link below.

Google has planned to release three preview builds. The first one is out now, and the other two should come around one month apart each. The good thing is that those who have a preview build installed will get the new previews via over-the-air updates. On the other hand, once the final release of Android M is out, you will need to go the image flashing route, so you'll have to erase all the data on your device again.

Source |…

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AT&T announced that it will begin taking pre-orders for LG G4 tomorrow, on May 29 at 12:0am ET. The wireless carrier will offer the smartphone in Metallic Gray or Genuine Black Leather.

Pricing for the Metallic Gray version of LG G4 will be $21 a month with $0 down on AT&T Next 24, or $629.99 outright. The leather back model will cost $669.99 with no contract, or $22.34 a month with $0 down with AT&T Next 24.

LG G4 buyers on AT&T will receive a free spare battery with battery charger, as well as a 32GB memory card. For comparison, T-Mobile will give buyers of the device a free 128GB microSD card.

LG G4 comes with a 5.5-inch QHD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, 16 MP rear camera with OIS and LED flash, 8 MP selfie snapper, and 3,000 mAh battery. You can find out all about the device from our detailed review.

Source…

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