Qualcomm will reportedly not support Nougat on Snapdragon 800/801 Androids

While Android users tend to almost exclusively point the finger at the manufacturers of their devices or mobile carriers for delays in update deliveries or premature software support termination, there are actually a number of criteria a phone has to meet before getting an essential OS makeover.And sometimes, it’s not the OEM’s fault at all a product that still seems relatively powerful is no longer eligible for a new Android flavor. Case in point, the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact. Sony recently hinted at

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OnePlus One will support voice commands from sleep

Being able to talk to your phone, issuing voice commands while it’s sitting around in its low power sleep mode, is a feature that really came to prominence last year with the launch of the Motorola Moto X. But while the Moto X gave it wings, the DSP hardware that cab be used of to pull off such a trick is present on plenty of other handsets – just yesterday, we looked at an unofficial effort to bring the ability to the Nexus 5. There, it’s the Snapdragon 800 offering that low power DSP – a chip we ...

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iPhone 6 phablet, HTC dual-camera purpose, Snapdragon 800 modded & more – Pocketnow Daily

Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about how AT&T is now teasing the Asus PadFone X, and what this means for the product in the US market. We then talk about the all-new HTC One, and what to expect from its special dual cameras. Que focus later on the Snapdragon 800, and how a developer figured out how to allow an “always listening” feature, like on the Moto x. Apple vs Samsung follow as we talk about how the lawsuit is really focused on stripping Samsung from making smartphone profits. Then we end today’s show talking about iOS 8 and even iOS 9, aside ...

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Dev brings always-listening mode to Snapdragon 800 phones (no thanks to Qualcomm)

Voice control for smartphones really started hitting the mainstream with the introduction of Siri, and since then we’ve seen it expand to address new platforms (like the forthcoming launch of Cortana for WP8.1) and offer new abilities, like the Touchless Control always-listening mode offered by Motorola’s Moto X. While it was cool to see the Moto X pull off such a trick, we were left scratching our heads as to why dozens more ...

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Qualcomm adds Snapdragon 801 to its SoC family

Sony just debuted a handful of new Xperia models, and while reading up on the changes, one detail might have caught your eye: both the Z2 and Z2 Tablet run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 SoC. The 800 we’re well familiar with from recent flagships, and last fall we saw Qualcomm announce the 805, but what’s all this 801 business? Qualcomm officially announced the 801 at the MWC this morning, but it turns out that this is one chip we’ve already ...

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All you need to know about Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragons

NVIDIAs newest SoC, the Tegra K1, made waves at CES 2014 when it was announced to have 192 cores! Alas, they’re graphics cores, not processor cores. Another chip maker has some news out of CES as well! What does Qualcomm has in store for us in 2014? What cool new things can its chips do? ...

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Why don’t Snapdragon 800 phones support Moto-X-style listen-from-standby?

When Motorola’s Moto X first launched, I remember not being too enthusiastic about the phone’s “Touchless Control” feature – the ability that, among other things, let the user interact with the handset using voice commands even when the phone was in standby mode. I think a lot of my objection at the time was formed around a knee-jerk reaction to what seemed to me (at least on first glance) a pretty unsavory idea: that of your phone perpetually monitoring what you say. But in the months ...

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Pocketnow Weekly 074: new Google Play devices and Windows Phone rumors galore

Sometimes there’s so much news you need to call in the Reserves just to handle it all, and that’s just what we’ve done this week. Between Google’s surprise announcement of an unlikely pair of additions to the Google Play Store; Microsoft’s rumored offer to pay Samsung to keep making Windows Phones; and a boatload of reviews, we’re in over our heads this week – so we’ve brought in four team members to do the news justice. Sorry, no listener mail this week – but in its place you get a consolation prize: you get to know what curious fate ...

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Hardware specifics tipped for possible CyanogenMod phone

CyanogenMod has really been in the public eye lately, following its incorporation earlier this year. Just yesterday, we saw the official CyanogenMod Installer hit the Play Store, hoping to introduce new (and maybe less tech-savvy) users to the custom ROM, and we’ve also seen the launch of the Oppo N1, not just with official CM support, but also its own ...

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Rumors talk Adreno 400 GPU for next-gen Snapdragon SoCs

There are still a few months left to go in the year, but it already feels safe to say that we’ve had a pretty decent showing of SoCs this year. While NVIDIA failed to attract much attention with its Tegra 4, Qualcomm has absolutely been knocking the ball out of the park, and you’ll find Snapdragon chips at the heart of most of this year’s hottest handsets. That’s spelled great things for currently available models, but where do we go from ...

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Upgrading from a Nexus 4 to a Nexus 5? Here’s what you’ll gain

The Nexus 5 has seen its share of coverage this week – not just at Pocketnow, but all across the internet. It’s not just the newest major Android smartphone to see release; it’s the once-a-year Nexus phone straight from Google. As such, it commands a degree of exclusive excitement, a hipsteresque appeal that merits a whole lot of media coverage – despite bolder devices hitting the market elsewhere. Much of the excitement for the Nexus 5 comes from owners of the current-generation ...

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Here are the main advantages of having a Snapdragon 800 SoC

Just so we’re all on the same page, a System on a Chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit which combines all the core components of an electronic system into a single chip. Depending on its use, it might include digital, analog, and mixed-signal processing, and typically includes various radio-frequency functionality. Blah blah blah. It’s the chip that powers your phone or tablet. Got it? Good, let’s get into the really interesting stuff! SoCs are made by manufacturers including (but certainly not limited to) Intel, Texas Instruments, Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, and more. ...

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iPad Air, iPad mini, Lumia 1520 and 2520 announcements, HTC smartwatch & more – Pocketnow Daily

Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Qualcomm’s new enhancements to come to the Snapdragon 800 processor. We then talk about HTC, and the company’s plans to build a smartwatch that is not a gimmick. Google follows as their purchase of Flexycore spells positive speed enhancements for Android in the future. Nokia is next as we get details on the new Lumia 1520, Lumia 1320 and Lumia 2520 that were announced. We end today’s show talking about Apple’s new iPad Air, and iPad mini with Retina Display. All this and more after the break. Stories: -

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New Snapdragon 800 flavor in the works? These benchmarks think so

If you’re looking to make a top-of-the-line smartphone, when it comes to your choice for the silicon that should power your handset, it’s hard to beat Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800. This year has proven the 800 to be wildly more popular than NVIDIA’s Tegra 4, and even Samsung, with its own Exynos line of chips to rely upon, continues to turn to Qualcomm for a large fraction of its models. But even with the 800 powering this season’s flagships, we’re already looking to what’s next; who’s ...

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