Samsung and Nokia have announced that HERE Maps are arriving in beta form on Android, free for Galaxy phones. HERE comes with voice-guided navigation capabilities and will work offline too, something which Google Maps doesn’t allow.

The Tizen-running Samsung Gear smartwatches are getting HERE maps too. The initial announcement was a little vague but now we have the full details. Read more »

Is Motorola trying to pull Apple’s move of shutting down the online store right before the launch of a new phone?

This is pure speculation, of course, but the thing is the Moto Maker is down for “a tune up.” Read more »

Microsoft is expanding the availability of the Surface Pro 3 (which recently got a price cut) with 25 new countries (up from just 3!). The Docking Station is available for pre-order in those same regions.

The company calls the Surface “the tablet that can replace your laptop” and has an infographic to prove the need for its hybrid device. The company surveyed 2,900 professionals in eight Asia-Pacific markets and found that half travel between different cities for their work and four out of five carry three different devices devices. Read more »

Dropbox has revamped its Pro plan with more storage, improved link sharing and remote wipe. The Dropbox Pro plan remains at $10 a month (or $100 per year) but you get 1TB of storage for that.

Having a Pro account lets you share password-protected links. Sharing links is arguably one of the best features of Dropbox and now you won’t have to worry about the link getting in the wrong hands. Read more »

Waterproof smartphones are cool but what about a waterproof ebook reader? If reading by the pool or at the beach is your thing the Kobo Aura H2O is the one to look at. It’s the first ebook reader with IP67 certification meaning it’s dust tight and can last up to half an hour under a meter of water.

The screen is a 6.8″ Carta E Ink HD with 1,430 x 1080 pixel resolution and 265ppi density. For comparison, an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has a 6″ 212ppi display. Read more »

How many apps you have on your phone? An average Android user has 95 but only uses 35 throughout a regular day. Often each app gets used more than once, you’re likely to have 100 interactions with apps by the time you turn in for the day.

These numbers come from the Aviate launcher for Android, with the help of Yahoo Labs. Read more »

Wearables will be a hot topic at IFA but there are several competing platforms – Android Wear has been getting most of the spotlight recently, but Samsung just announced that its Tizen-based watches can enjoy over 1,000 apps.

If you’re still not sold on wearables, check out the infographic Samsung made to celebrate the occasion. It details the various uses of a smartwatch. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha comes in two versions – one with Samsung’s brand new Exynos 5430 Octa chipset and one with the more common Snapdragon 801 chipset. Both have small 1,860mAh batteries. Small relative to the phone’s size, of course, 4.7″ phones typically have 2,000+ mAh batteries. The Galaxy Alpha is pretty slender though, just 6.7mm, which eats into the available volume for the battery.

Today we’re testing the Exynos version of the device. Read more »

If you haven’t heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge you must just be coming out of a cave. The Challenge has become so popular that it has passed from people to smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 follows in the footsteps of many celebrities and got splashed with freezing water. Read more »

Mophie has unveiled a Juice pack for the Samsung Galaxy S5 – a 3,000mAh battery case that promises to double the battery life of your Samsung flagship.

The Juice pack sports Mophie’s usual design and supports USB 3.0 for charging and syncing. The case also doesn’t block NFC connectivity, which is also required for S Beam (Android Beam too). Read more »

That new HTC One (M8) for Windows has a name with great potential to confuse consumers – it’s not the HTC One (M8), it’s not the One (E8) and it doesn’t run Windows (but Windows Phone instead). It turns out that the similar looks of the One family are an issue too, even for the carriers.

Verizon put out a video to tout the HTC One (M8), both the Android and WP versions, except if you look closely at the screenshot above you’ll notice those are actually two different devices. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, the ebook-focused tablet by Samsung and Barnes & Noble, is available in the US today at $180 (after a $20 instant rebate). That’s the same price as the pure-Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 but Barnes & Noble claims it is throwing in $200 worth of content.

That includes bestselling books, magazines, TV shows and you even get $5 store credit. Read more »

Facebook carved out the chat functionality from its main app and transferred it exclusively to its Messenger app. Messenger is getting pummeled with 1-star reviews but that hasn’t stopped it from growing and it is now on over 500 million Android devices.

Only two other non-Google apps (so not Android defaults) have managed this – the main Facebook app and the Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Read more »

The Motorola Moto X is on its way out with numerous Moto X+1 rumors swirling, but it’s still a reasonably attractive phone at $350. And now you can get one of the four wood backs at no extra cost.

You can pick Walnut, Bamboo, Ebony or Teak back instead of the usual plastic back. You don’t even have to ask, of course this is for the US only (sigh). Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha branches off the Galaxy S line. It brings the same flagship experience but in a more compact and, more importantly, a more premium body. The Galaxy phones (all of them) use practical plastic instead of expensive and heavy metal.

The Galaxy Alpha has a metal frame and still manages to be surprisingly light – just 115g. Read more »