Google says it won’t test its Ara smartphones in Puerto Rico, as previously planned. Lynn La/CNET Google’s got a change of plans for its build-it-yourself smartphone initiative. Project Ara, an effort to develop “modular” phones that you can put together piece by piece, will no longer launch in Puerto Rico, as previously planned, a Google …
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August, 2015
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14 August
OnePlus 2 earns high marks for repairability in teardown
A look inside the OnePlus 2, including the company’s signature red battery.iFixit OnePlus, the China-based handset maker that has made a name for itself by offering high-end devices, has another reason for Android enthusiasts to celebrate: its latest smartphone is awfully easy to fix. The OnePlus 2 Android-based smartphone earned a repairability score of 7 out of 10 from iFixit, …
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14 August
Get a Fluance Fi50 wood bookshelf speaker for $149.99
CNET’s Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. Enlarge ImagePictures don’t quite do Fluance speakers justice. They look way better in person. Fluance A lot of speakers come and go in the Cheapskate labs, but there’s one that has earned a …
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14 August
Crave giveaway: Neo smartpen N2 for making handwritten notes digital
Enlarge Image NeoLab Congratulations to Justin B. of Lake Elsinore, California, for winning an iBattz Refuel Invictus charging case for the iPhone 6 in last week’s giveaway, and to Jim L. of Nashville, Indiana, for winning a House of Marley Chant BT Bluetooth speaker the week before that. Think those writing tools known as pens are things of the past? …
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14 August
The free and easy way to back up your iPhone photos
Microsoft How many photos do you have in your phone? Hundreds? Thousands, even? I bet you’d hate to lose them. And yet phones get lost, stolen and broken every day. Are you playing it safe? Apple’s iCloud affords a backup of sorts, but doesn’t really give you a way to access your photos via anything except other iDevices. (You can’t …
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14 August
Sorry, Galaxy Note 5, S6 Edge+ buyers: 128GB option was a flub
Enlarge ImageSorry, that 128GB option is a mistake on Samsung’s part. screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Looking for a high-capacity 128-gigabyte version of Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 5 or Galaxy S6 Edge+? Sorry, you’re out of luck. At Thursday’s Unpacked 2015 event, in which Samsung unveiled its latest mobile devices and its new Samsung Pay payments system, Samsung pulled back the …
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14 August
Why Samsung should be nervous about its premium Galaxy smartphones
When it comes to premium smartphones, a brave new world is coming — and it’s unclear where Samsung Electronics fits in it. The change is coming slowly, but surely. You’re starting to see it with the emergence of smartphones like Motorola’s Moto X Style , ZTE’s Axon Pro or the Xiaomi Mi Note — so-called flagship products with one shared …
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14 August
The smartphone battleground of India
Xiaomi execs alongside Indian politicians at the press conference of the announcement. Xiaomi Xiaomi, China’s No. 1 smartphone maker, is set to ramp up its operations in India with the announcement earlier this week that it is opening up a manufacturing facility in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The move by Xiaomi is a sign of a change in …
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13 August
Samsung Pay comes to the US in September
During the Galaxy Unpacked event in New York City, Samsung Pay chief Injong Rhee talks about how the company’s new mobile payment system works. Sarah Tew/CNET Samsung announced Thursday that its new mobile payment system, Samsung Pay, will be available in Korea on August 20 and in the US on September 28. This system aims to make it easier for …
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13 August
You’ll flip for this gorgeous flip
Enlarge ImageIt’s a flippin’ flip iPhone! Martin Hajek/@deplaatjesmaker Some of us remember flip phones more fondly than others do. You never accidentally bumped your screen into your keys. Your phone stayed charged for days. You felt like Captain Kirk every time you opened it. Nowadays we have big, flat phones with the screen front and center and naked. Designer Martin …
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