HTC One M9 Release Spoiled by Leaked Video

HTC One M9 Release Spoiled by Leaked Video is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

We’re now just hours away from the official announcement and unveiling of the all-new HTC One M9 smartphone in Spain, but the release has been spoiled this afternoon as the device has leaked once again in the flesh in a brand new comparison video. March 1st HTC will reveal the new HTC One M9 smartphone, but ahead of the release this video is giving buyers a good idea of what to expect.

Tomorrow HTC will announce the new smartphone, and below are the details for those looking to watch the announcement live in real time, as they’ll be holding a live stream with all their latest news. Before that happens, read on for everything we know, and the latest leaked video comparing the new HTC One M9 to the others.

Read: How to Watch the HTC One M9 Event Live

For months leaks and rumors have speculated about this new smartphone, what it will offer, if it will have a radical new design and a bigger display, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The HTC One M9 will be nearly identical to the One M8 released last year, but there’s more than what meets the eye, as it should be a much improved device. Below is the video, and the latest leaked information and specs.

As you can see above, the new HTC One M9 looks nearly the same as the past two years. Pictured above from left to right is the HTC One M9, HTC One M8, and the original HTC One on the far right. The biggest changes are internally, and the camera on the back which you can see from the newly leaked video below.

Initially the first rumors started in September of last year along with concept images, a few small reports of a complete redesign, and much much more, but sadly that won’t be happening. We even received some hard evidence that HTC had completely changed the look of the HTC One M9 and moved the speakers to the edges, trimmed down the bezels, and changed the entire look and feel of the phone.

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However, the past week we’ve seen countless photos, official commercials from HTC that leaked early, and now the comparison video shown below for your viewing pleasure. This video is from Barcelona where someone has released their hands-on and comparison a day early, and it’s revealing everything about the phone, even if there isn’t much that’s new. Without talking about it much, check it out below.

While the new HTC One M9 looks very similar to the model last year, it has a lot more to offer. It will reportedly come in three color variations and as you can see, it has a new two-tone color option as shown in the video, which is silver and gold. The screen remains the same size coming in at 5-inches with a 1080p HD display. Some may like that, others want something bigger, but to each his own.

The resolution will reportedly stay at 1080p Full HD to keep battery life in check, and for good measure HTC made the battery much bigger, bigger than the Galaxy S5 and rumored Galaxy S6, by adding a large 2,900 mAh battery in the new HTC One M9. The video above shows it off against it’s older brothers, talks about the new 20.7 megapixel rear camera, redesigned buttons on the side, and that’s about it.

HTC One M9 Specs (Rumored)

• 5-inch 1920 x 1080p HD Display


• 2.3 GHz 8-core Snapdragon 810 processor (64-bit)


• 3GB of RAM


• 32GB of internal storage and a micro-SD slot for expansion


• 20 MP rear facing camera and 4 Ultrapixel front shooter (or 12 MP)


• Android 5.0.1 Lollipop and HTC Sense UI 7.0


• Dual HTC Boomsound Speakers with Dolby 5.1 Audio Technology


• 2,900 mAh battery


• more

We’ll find out even more about the all-new HTC One M9 early tomorrow morning, as HTC is set to make the announcements starting at 10AM ET, for those interested. Above is the full rumored spec sheet, which could vary slightly, but we’ll have to wait and see.

We’re still waiting for release date details, as some suggest tomorrow HTC will announce AND release the smartphone on the same day. They did it last year with the HTC One M8, even if Verizon was the only carrier that had it on launch date in the US, and we’re expecting something similar here in 2015. Stay tuned because we’ll know all the details soon enough.

HTC One M9 Release Spoiled by Leaked Video is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

HTC One M9 Release Spoiled by Leaked Video

Microsoft OneDrive Review

Microsoft OneDrive Review is a post by Travis Pope from Gotta Be Mobile.

Talk of cloud services has reached an all-time high. Having spoon-fed smartphones and PC users new features that increasingly clog up their storage, the entire computing industry is shifting to a new way of getting users media. Forget downloading a movie, Microsoft and many more companies hope that you’ll want to stream them and not take up precious space on your device. Music too, is getting the cloud and streaming treatment. OneDrive is Microsoft’s play in the cloud storage space, and it’s one of the most robust cloud services we’ve seen from the company yet. OneDrive is included in most Microsoft products, and offers a decent experience across devices.

With OneDrive growing quickly and built into everything, a lot of users are wondering whether it’s a good idea to turn on OneDrive for use as their cloud storage service of choice. In What is OneDrive, GottaBeMobile broke down what OneDrive is and how to best use it. Now it’s time to see how OneDrive lives up to user’s everyday standards.

OneDrive Review – Availability

Cloud storage is about the simplest computing innovation to explain. Having filled up our local hard drives, cloud storage services like OneDrive allow us to store our digital goods on someone else’s servers. Any service can store a file. Judging OneDrive requires that users look at factors that make the cloud storage experience seamless. One big factor is availability.

OneDrive on the web.

For OneDrive to be relevant, you need the ability to upload and access content almost anywhere. OneDrive delivers on this. There are roughly a dozen different in OneDrive clients available just about everywhere. Over the past year, I’ve interacted with OneDrive on iPhone, OneDrive on Android and the OneDrive client built into Windows 8.1 the most. Each is solid. Logging in with your Microsoft Account lets you access files you have stored on Microsoft’s servers quickly – depending on your internet connection. Each also has some form of picture back up so that you don’t lose a single memory if something happens to your device.

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OneDrive has a Windows Desktop, Mac, Windows Store, Windows Phone, iOS, Android and web app.

If there was one complaint I have with OneDrive it is that it’s built-into a lot of different apps and services, but isn’t very consistent. Take the Windows Phone version of OneDrive, you can add files and edit folders in that version. That’s something you can’t do with the Xbox One version. I understand that Microsoft offers different features for different tiers of devices. It’s why I’m willing to forgive them for not having a fully featured Xbox One client. My complaint is that they don’t do a good job of explaining why the different apps are different.

OneDrive Review – Ease of Use

OneDrive nails another key thing for a cloud storage service: ease of use. Too often, new technology like this comes with strange stipulations. Not so long ago, some users would find that they couldn’t upload huge files to OneDrive because of a file-size limitation. Microsoft killed that in short order. Then the company realized that it was way too easy for users to delete their files and have no way of getting them back. That’s when the company added a OneDrive Recycle Bin.

The OneDrive app built into Windows 8.1.

By default, Microsoft gives everyone with a Microsoft Account 15GB of space with bonuses for installing its mobile apps. Those who needed more storage a few years ago had a hard time finding where they could add it. When they did, Microsoft’s upgrade pricing and more wasn’t exactly clear.

It’s almost too easy to see how much storage you have available on OneDrive these days. One page in the OneDrive website’s settings breaks down how much storage Microsoft is giving you free and how much you’ll pay to get even more. $1.99 a month gets users $100GB. $200GB costs $3.99 a month. $9.99 gets users Office 365 Personal and 1TB of OneDrive storage.

OneDrive Review – Experience

Over all, I can’t say that I’m unhappy with OneDrive and that’s no small feat. I interact with it almost every half hour. I’ve seen little in the way of downtime and a custom stream of updates have made it just as featured packed as the competition. It’s easy to use and with the right mix of apps, it’s made backups, or what most would consider mirroring, a non-issue for me.

Batch loading large files isn’t instant, but it’s certainly not slow. Windows Phone and Windows versions of OneDrive could still use some improvements, but even the OneDrive app on Android is particularly good. It isn’t necessarily obvious, but OneDrive also allows users to share individual files and folders directly with friends and family instead of emailing them. It too, is pretty seamless, even if users do have to remember to right click on the web to do so. I shared a few files and folders in recent weeks and those exchanges went perfectly.

OneDrive is a great service that offers reliable cloud storage and a reasonable price. The apps are everywhere, and Microsoft gives out 15GB of free storage to start users off. It really doesn’t get any better than that.

Microsoft OneDrive Review is a post by Travis Pope from Gotta Be Mobile.

Microsoft OneDrive Review

How to Watch the HTC One M9 Event Live

How to Watch the HTC One M9 Event Live is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

All the latest news, reports, leaks and rumors will finally come to a halt tomorrow as HTC takes the stage on March 1st at the annual Mobile World Congress event to officially announce the new HTC One M9 smartphone. The event takes place in Spain, and for those wanting to catch the latest news here’s how to watch the HTC One M9 unveiling live.

Lately the leaks and teasers that have arrived have been sending mixed messages about what to expect. For months rumors have been swirling about the design, many of which claimed all the leaks were fake and HTC had a sleek new design and a completely revamped device coming, but sadly, that isn’t the case. Video leaks have confirmed what’s coming, but HTC has more than just one device to reveal tomorrow.

Read: HTC One M9 Release: What to Expect

Last year on March 27th HTC took the stage to announce and surprisingly release the HTC One M8 smartphone. It had a great aluminum design, improved features and a duo camera setup, but wasn’t quite as popular as they had hoped. Here in 2015 however, a much improved HTC One M9 is coming, possibly an HTC One Max, a smartwatch and more, and here’s how to watch the announcement live.

HTC will use the annual Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona, Spain to launch and announce the new HTC One M9, but Samsung will be doing the same for the Galaxy S6. Meaning tomorrow will be a big day in the mobile space for millions of potential smartphone buyers.

At this point we know what the new HTC One M9 will look like, all of the specs, that the camera is better, and more, but we still don’t know the final details right from HTC, nor has a release date leaked. Thankfully not everyone can go to Spain, so HTC will be live-streaming the entire event.

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Kicking off at 10:00 AM Eastern Time (or early at 7AM for those on the west coast) HTC will take the stage and make an array of announcements. We don’t know what all they have in store, but at least one smartphone and a wearable device (likely a smartwatch) are expected, among other things.

Watch the Live Stream Here

The link above is the official HTC launch page for all the March 1st announcements, and they’ll likely have a live video feed sometime Sunday morning for viewers and potential buyers to tune in and watch as everything is revealed on stage. They even have an easy one-click “add to my Google Calendar” option on the page right now, so users will be notified and won’t miss the big reveal.

The hype around HTC’s new One M9 smartphone has been at full throttle lately. From videos of the device, talks of a second bigger phone and much more. Most likely HTC still has a few surprises up their sleeve, and we’re also hoping for a surprise March 1st release date for the new phone too.

Watch live from the link above, then tune in right here for all the details, information, vs, and details you’ll need to know about HTC’s latest flagship smartphone.

How to Watch the HTC One M9 Event Live is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

How to Watch the HTC One M9 Event Live

How to Turn Off Flipboard Briefing on Galaxy Note 4

How to Turn Off Flipboard Briefing on Galaxy Note 4 is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is an impressive smartphone loaded with features, options, and apps, but one that comes installed out of the box may be quite irritating for many owners. It’s called “Briefing” but was previously known as My Magazine on the Galaxy S5 and Note 3, or is essentially the popular news app Flipboard specially tweaked for Samsung devices, and here’s how to turn it off.

Every user customizes their smartphone to their own needs, wants or preferences, but with the Galaxy Note 4 one screen is completely unusable out of the box. A swipe from left to right brings you to a slow but smooth “news aggregator” app known as Flipboard, but Samsung calls it Briefing.

Read: How to Enable Easy Mode on the Galaxy Note 4

Those with the Galaxy Note 4 who want to take back control of their homescreen and put the apps, widgets, or settings they’d like on that left homescreen, below we’ll explain how to disable or turn off the briefing app with just a few taps.

Swiping to the left on the Galaxy Note 4 greets users with a rather customizable and somewhat useful Breifing app full of news, sports information, and much much more. It’s a useful and popular app, but not everyone wants it. Sadly it isn’t as easy to disable as you’d think, and tapping the 3-dot settings button only allows you to customize it, not turn it off.

Thankfully, turning off this Flipboard-powered news aggregator is extremely easy and only takes a few seconds.

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Instructions

All you need to do is long press on any blank space on the Galaxy Note 4 screen, or long-press the recent apps (multi-tasking) button to bring up the homescreen customization page. This is where you add widgets, change wallpapers and more, and the far right option for “Home Screen Settings” is what you want to select.

Simply long-press on a blank space on your homescreen, head into homescreen settings, then just tap to uncheck the Flipboard Briefing app, and you’re all done.

Once you’ve done this users will be greeted with what they’re used to, and that is a blank page to the left of your default homescreen to add more apps, widgets, or customize the device to your liking. Many users just rearrange icons as they see fit, and this app gets in the way of that.

Read: 51 Galaxy Note 4 Tips, Tricks & Hidden Features

You’re all done, and the briefing app is no longer taking over an entire page on your Galaxy Note 4. If you wish to re-enable it at a later date to see what it has to offer, simply do the same steps as above and active it again by checking the box, then customize it to deliver the news and information you’d like.

It’s worth noting that Samsung and many US carriers are currently busy rolling out or preparing to release the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Galaxy Note 4, which may re-enable the Briefing app. You may have to go in and disable it again, and if so let us know in the comments below. While you’re here check out the extensive 51 Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy Note 4 linked to above.

How to Turn Off Flipboard Briefing on Galaxy Note 4 is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

How to Turn Off Flipboard Briefing on Galaxy Note 4

Battlefield Hardline Ready for Digital Pre-Order

Battlefield Hardline Ready for Digital Pre-Order is a post by Travis Pope from Gotta Be Mobile.

Microsoft is finally making Battlefield Hardline available for users to purchase directly from its Xbox Store, and doing so isn’t a bad move for some.

Microsoft announced that users could pre-order Battlefield Hardline in the Xbox Store ahead of its March 17th release this past Thursday. Two versions of the game are available to purchase digitally, mirroring the plans that developer Visceral Games and publisher Electronic Arts announced earlier this year.

Battlefield Hardline Standard Edition gets users 3 sets of in-game items to be used in the game called Battlepacks. Gold Battlepacks include 2 advanced items and 2 standard items for use in the game. The free add-ons also come with experience boosts and special load outs that buyers wouldn’t get otherwise. Also included is the Versatility Battlepack with an assault rifle, camouflage skins for weapons and an experience boost. Battlefield Hardline Standard Edition costs $59.99 and does include a digital download of the game itself.

Battlefield Hardline Deluxe Edition gets players that Versatility Battlepack and more. 10 Gold Battlepacks are included, along with the Precision Battlepack and the Suppression Battlepack. The Suppression Battlepacks come with an assault rifle and maxed out magazine. It’s meant for those trying to turn their in-game characters into absolute killing machines. The Precision Battlepack in includes a highly accurate assault rifle, a skin to cover it with and another experience points boost. It’s more expensive than the standard version, costing $69.99.

Sony is also offering Battlefield Hardline digitally for the PS4 and PS3. There are both Standard and Deluxe versions of the game available in their store too. Battlefield Hardline’s story will use a war on crime to put players at the center of the criminal underworld. They’ll play as cops in episodic stories inspired by television shows like Law & Order. The game’s multiplayer will let players participate on both sides of the law, putting cops against criminals in a handful of multiplayer modes. Previous games in the Battlefield franchise focused on war simulations.

Read: Xbox One Gets Battlefield Hardline Early With EA Access

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Most gamers have walked away from pre-ordering titles, preferring to wait and see how a game performs on launch date or at least sitting in their physical pre-order until they’ve had a chance to read the reviews. Users who are planning to purchase the game digitally might want to go ahead and pre-order it through their console now. That’s because on launch day it’s probably going to be very difficult to download the game.

Purchasing a digital copy of Battlefield Hardline now means users won’t need to wait until the last-minute to download the game. Purchases are automatically downloaded to user’s Home console slightly before and after release. What this means is that users can make the purchase now — a little more than two weeks ahead of release – and have the game waiting on their hard drive to unlock on launch night. It’s one of the few advantages to going digital with your games purchases on both the Xbox One and PS4.

Microsoft’s Xbox Store shows the game as weighing in at a hefty 45GB. That means users who plan to buy digitally will need to download at least some of that 45GB before they can play. Users who wait to buy the game digitally until the last-minute could be stuck waiting on the sidelines while all of their friends have their copies of the game completely installed. Depending on how speedy the connection is, that could take a long time. The Xbox One does allow users to begin playing a game when a certain percentage of it is installed, but getting to that point could still take a while.

Battlefield Hardline will also be available for owners of the Xbox 360 and Windows PCs.

Battlefield Hardline Ready for Digital Pre-Order is a post by Travis Pope from Gotta Be Mobile.

Battlefield Hardline Ready for Digital Pre-Order