Top Android news of the week: Note 5 pen flaw, Fire Phone firings, lots of watches coming
This week in Android saw a flap emerge about Note 5 S-Pens, rumors appeared of a number of smartwatches to launch at IFA, and Amazon fired the engineers behind the Fire Phone flop.
Galaxy Note 5 pen can break the phone if inserted backwards
In what is being call "PenGate", Samsung is facing criticism for a design flaw in the S-Pen storage silo on the recently released Galaxy Note 5. If you insert the pen backwards in the silo it can permanently break the pen and/or the phone.
Samsung has respondedwith a statement that the user guide clearly explains how to properly insert the pen. It didn't address why all previous Note models had a design that made it impossible to insert the pen improperly.
The Fire Phone was a flop by anybody's standards, and with the layoffs of the team that built it it's a flop by Amazon's standards, too. The team was reportedly surprised that the market felt the Fire Phone was too expensive for what it provided consumers.
One has to wonder if Amazon will ever attempt another phone in the future.
In a move to get all of its phone business under one roof, Lenovo will integrate the Mobile group into Motorola. Lenovo acquired Motorola last year and has decided it makes little sense to keep its phones separate from the Motorola operation.
The Motorola brand is respected in China so this makes sense on every level.
Lots of Android Wear watches expected at IFA in Berlin
The rumor mill reports that LG, Asus, Motorola, and Huawei will be showing off new smartwatches at the IFA in Berlin. The show is in September and while specific Android Wear-based devices haven't been detailed sources are expecting a number of them to be shown at IFA.
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