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“Eventually they will end up suing Comcast for extortion.”
It’s episode 115 of our weekly Android show. Mat Lee and Nick Carroll are back to talk about a bunch of Mobile World Congress 2014 Android stuff including the Nokia X, the $25 Firefox phone, the dual display YotaPhone, the Tizen powered Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, the Sony SmartBand, and so much more. Plus this week’s app picks! If you have a passion for Android, come be on the show. Contact us and let’s make it happen!
We would like to apologize for the bandwidth problem. Sometimes shit happens. I recommend listening to the audio only and not even bothering with the video for this episode.
Let’s start things off with some Mobile World Congress coverage. Make sure to check out the coverage from the team over on aNewDomain.
Image Credit: Android Authority
Nokia announced the Nokia X. It’s a very low end phone, perhaps designed to make Android look like poop. Who knows. Ewdison Then has an article about it here on Android Community.
Image Credit: Android Community
There’s also an article by Robert Triggs on Android Authority showing a nice table of the different Nokia X offerings. You can get the X, the X+, or the XL, although none of them have even a gig of RAM, and they all have the 1GHz Snapdragon S4 Dual-core processor. Weird right? Is this like a weird back to the future sort of thing? These are like three year old specs. This begs the question, WTF Microsoft?
For those looking for a super cheap phone that runs Firefox, Mozilla just added 12 more markets for 2014. It’s totally fine, not like we are running out of room for our stupid disposable electronics in the landfill right? Richard Devine wrote an article about it here on Android Central.
Image Credit: Android Police
Have you ever heard of the YotaPhone? This thing is really cool, it has an E-Ink display on the back. It’s not super innovative, but it’s a step in a new direction at least. Something that might be more useful than gimmick. David Ruddock wrote about it on Android Police.
There’s been some rumors of an Amazon Android set-top box coming out sometime in March. This is apparently different from their gaming console that was also rumored. Robert Triggs wrote about it on Android Authority.
Image Credit: Android Authority
Who’s still excited for smart watches? Samsung announced the Tizen powered Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo at MWC 2014. It’s expected in April with no price yet. I was a watch skeptic at first… and I still am. Unless you are using it for Google Now cards and notifications, it’s kind of pointless. Andrew Grush wrote about it on Android Authority.
Image Credit: Android Police
Sony announced their SmartBand coming out sometime in March. This is kind of cool. It’s a fitness tracker, and it can give you notifications. Ryan Whitwam wrote about it on Android Police.
Intel announced the Merrifield and the Moorefield, two 64-bit processors that will power Android sometime this year. The Merrifield is a dual-core and the Moorefield is a quad-core. Both support LTE and are supposed to be nice and efficient with the power consumption. Are you excited for four gigs of RAM in your intel powered Android smart device? Sounds tasty. Richard Devine wrote about it on Android Central.
Image Credit: Android Police
Going back to smartwatches, there’s some rumors centered around Motorola’s prototype smartwatch. Liam Spradlin has an article about it here on Android Police.
Text Secure got a great update fixing the lag I was experiencing on the Moto X. They also gave it a refresh. If you want to keep your texts secure, you should definitely use Text Secure.
AotA app picks for episode 115
Nick – Ridge Racer Slipstream by NAMCO BANDAI Games
Mat – Ski Whitefish by Ski Whitefish
Stay up with the Android discussion during the week on our AotA Google+ Community. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and the AotA Google+ page to know when the show goes live, and when new episodes are posted. Also make sure you subscribe to the Attack of the Androids YouTube channel.
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