| Samsung considers acquiring stake in Best Buy Oct 4th 2013, 17:04, by Robert Nelson Samsung already has the “Experience Shops” in Best Buy retail locations, however it appears as if they may be looking to take the relationship a bit further. There has yet to be a firm announcement by either Best Buy or Samsung but report coming from the Korea Times did mentioned how Lee Jae-yong, Samsung's vice chairman “recently met with senior executives at Best Buy and discussed pending business issues.” 
Sadly, Lee didn’t provide any further details on the meeting. This nonetheless, comes among rumors that Samsung has been considering acquiring a stake in Best Buy. An analyst at HMC Securities, Kim Young-woo recently spoke about how “Samsung has been considering increasing subsidies paid to Best Buy in a strategic move to help the retailer and also increase the exposure of its products.” This sounds like an obvious plan for Samsung to gain more exposure across the US. While this would not be the same experience as say, an Apple Store, it would certainly be a quicker path. With that in mind, Lee jae-yong also touched on how they see Best Buy as being critical in their plans to increase US market share. Looking back to April when Samsung announced the Experience Shops. At that time they talked about how these would be a good way for customers to “explore, purchase, activate and service the broadest portfolio of Samsung mobile products and accessories.” Basically, expanding the relationship could have these smaller shops increasing in both size and numbers. |  | CBS brings streaming app to Android, shows available as soon as 24 hours after airing Oct 4th 2013, 16:46, by Nate Swanner CBS has brought their popular streaming app to Android, allowing for full streaming of popular shows like The Big Bang Theory. Users will have access to both daytime and nighttime programming, and CBS notes that most shows should be available about 24 hours after they air. 
The app will allow for full HD streaming, and offers cast pages and a personalized show list. There are also cast pages for you to peruse, and a full primetime schedule to check out for those times you actually have time to catch the shows as they broadcast. The Next Web is reporting that CBS intends for their Android app to perform just as the iOS variant does. On iOS, CBS combined their standalone app and CBS Connect, which allowed for a more immersive experience. Users could chat with CBS talent, and use their pohones or tablets as a second screen experience for shows they were watching. CBS wants to bring the same experience to Android users, and notes they'll add those features "throughout the fall". In addition, we hope they bring Chromecast functionality. The paradox of watching TV you missed on your tablet or phone, then streaming to TV again, isn't lost on us, but we still want the ability. If CBS could figure out how to utilize this "second screen experience" during Chromecast streaming, they would almost immediately have the coolest Chromecast functionality around. | | Microsoft looks towards HTC for dual-boot Android and Windows Phone option Oct 4th 2013, 16:12, by Robert Nelson Dual-booting Android smartphones are far from common at this point. We have seen some solutions presented, but they are aftermarket and likely only used by the geekier crowd. One dual-boot example includes the MoDaCo.SWITCH which allows HTC One and Galaxy S 4 users to bounce between stock Android and Sense/TouchWiz. Well, if Microsoft has their way, it looks like we may see something with Android and Windows Phone. 
Details are coming by way of a recent Bloomberg report, which notes that Terry Myerson of Microsoft approached HTC about just such a device last month. This has yet to be confirmed by anyone within Microsoft and in fact, at this time the report touches on how the source asked not to be identified because the talks are still private. Not to mention, only preliminary at this time. That being said, there are still some details available. It looks like Myerson has talked about cutting, or even eliminating the license fee to make this a more attractive deal for HTC. With Microsoft currently sitting with just 3.7 percent of the mobile market, this could potentially be a way to increase the user base. Of course, that would mean Android users would have to one, buy this particular phone and two, be willing to boot into and use Windows Phone. Without bashing Windows Phone, we aren’t sure how many Android users would be willing to make that switch. And going back to this seeming like something that would be attractive only to the geekier users, we suspect that group would also be more loyal to Android. Regardless though, assuming HTC could pull this off and have the handset arrive with decent performance, it may be an option to consider. Especially for those who are mobile curious. Still, given these talks are coming from an unnamed source and deemed nothing more than preliminary at this point, those specifics have yet to be discussed. Basically, that would bring the question as to which operating system was primary and which would take the back seat. Given where Android currently stands as compared to Windows Phone, it seems likely that HTC would focus on Android first, that is, unless Microsoft really presented a solid deal. | | HTC One Max image leak offers Galaxy Note 3 size comparison Oct 4th 2013, 15:34, by Robert Nelson No stranger to leaks and rumors, it appears as if we are getting another pre-announcement look at the HTC One Max. This time around the images have surfaced on the Chinese language ePrice and are offering a look at the handset sitting side-by-side with the Galaxy Note 3. And in addition, there are also a few shots of the backside of the One Max, both with and without the back cover. 
First up this time around is the image sitting above, the Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One Max. Previous rumors have suggested the One Max would be sporting a 5.9-inch 1080p display. Regardless though, what we get from this image is an idea of the size of the handset. We know the Galaxy Note 3 has a 5.7-inch display and measures in at 5.95 (tall) by 3.12-inches (wide). Earlier spec related leaks for the One Max have also brought details of a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB of RAM, a 3300 mAh battery, 2.1 megapixel front-facing camera and UltraPixel camera on the back. In terms of storage we have heard details touching on both 16GB and 32GB of storage. This latest leak suggests the handset will have 16GB of storage along with a microSD card slot that would support an additional 64GB.    There has been plenty of speculation surrounding that square black box sitting below the camera lens. That is believed to be a fingerprint reader, however we have yet to see much in terms of functionality. That said, the latest in the rumor mill points towards a mid-October announcement so assuming that time estimate holds — we should be getting those details sooner rather than later. Otherwise, aside from seeing the One Max make some appearances with the Chinese Tenaa, US FCC and Taiwan’s NCC, there was also a recent mention of the handset from Luke Wood of Beats Audio. Wood, in speaking with Stuff, mentioned that HTC had a “large-format” device coming in the fall that would have Beats Audio. VIA: GSM Arena | |
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