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What's going on?
Brian Tong here, and welcome to Googlicious, where all the Google goodness that we can pack inside of a show.
This week, is Google making a power move and acting like a big bully?
Well, no.
They've always had their power.
But according to a new report from The Information.
The GOOGs is changing the terms of its licensing agreements with Android device manufacturers, like Samsung and LG, that are using their Google Mobile services, like Google Play, Google Maps, and Gmail.
They're now reportedly requiring their partners to include more Google apps, displayed prominently on the device.
In addition to making Google Search more visible.
Now, Android's still available for anyone to use, but big manufacturers like HTC or Motorola must agree to the terms in order to offer Google's apps and services on their phones.
It's really an interesting shift where Google is starting to exert more power and control than we've seen in the past over Android.
But phones aren't the only platform the G men and women are watching.
The Googs appears to be also imposing its tight control over their Android Wear wearable platform.
After it asked Crowdfunding site Indiegogo to take down a campaign for a budget smartwatch called the Com1 according to Android police.
Now we know that they are overseeing every aspect of the Android wear user experience from the UI to over the air updates, but after this move we shouldn't expect any Cloud funded Android wear hardware, if ever.
Google had just come out and at least acknowledged publicly that you're changing your approach these days.
And you want more control of your eco-system instead of doing it hush hush behind the scenes.
Google don't be evil.
Alright LG appears to be working on a new smart watch of their own according to recently discovered FCC documents.
The watch looks to be oval shaped.
And will support a 3G CDMA connection of its own for data which would point to Sprint and Verizon compatibility in the United States.
The smart watch won't be dependent on a phone but there is no word of the operating system it will be running yet.
LG's first round watch the G Watch R still has no release date so this new [iii] watch probably won't be coming out anytime soon.
And I know you've been bombarded by Ben Gate.
But Consumer Reports took some of the top phones right now and held a bend test of their own to see which phones really are the easiest to bend.
Now, the iPhone 6 and 6+ weren't the sturdiest phones, but they also weren't the weakest.
That award goes to the HTC One M8 which buckled under 70 pounds of pressure.
Now the 6 Plus managed to hold up to 90 pounds of pressure.
And the most durable phone on the market right now?
Guess what, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Which started to deform under 150 pounds of pressure and that phone, was out.
Now the LG G3 tied for second place with the iPhone 5, bending at 130 pounds as well.
And in phone use, the director of OnePlus Global.
Revealed that the 1 plus 2 is in the works and the company is targeting Q2 of 2015 but let's hope they drop their stupid invite only program for the one plus of purchase it.
See you guys aren't that special.
In fact no one is, you have a legit phone or you made people care about it less because there's a lot of other great ones out there.
So learn from that.
All right, Sony's inviting press out to an event on October the 9th in New York City that could possibly see the US launch of its latest Xperia Z3 lineup that we saw at EFA and its stellar camera so, we'll keep an eye out for that.
And Nexus 6 fans or, Nexus X fans, who knows what they'll really call it.
More pictures have leaked out for the smartphone built by Motorola.
Code named, Shamu.
But why name it after a killer whale?
Well, maybe because of its rumored 5.92 inch screen.
Now, this is no whale tale.
It's coming and specs have revealed, not only the monster screen, but a 13 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front facing camera, a QHD display, 3 gigs of ram.
And 32 gigs of storage.
We're expecting an announcement in October with a release in November, and with a co name like that, you guys should probably make it water proof.
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Alright that's gonna do it for this week's show.
You can always email us at googlicious@cnet.com or Tweet me @briantong.
Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you next time with some more of that googlicious
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Googlicious
