Moto E (1st Gen) gets Android 5.1 Lollipop update via AOSP custom ROM

Moto E (2014) can be now upgraded to the latest Android Lollipop software version through a custom build of AOSP ROM. It is considered as pure as the stock AOSP version, without much modification, while delivering faster performance as compared to other custom firmware.
Most of the features work fine in the custom release expect RIL on dual SIM devices. According to XDA forum members, the ROM works fine on single SIM Moto E models and can be used as a daily driver.
Follow the step-by-step installation guide if you want to upgrade your Moto G to AOSP ROM to get Android 5.1 Lollipop.
ROM info

• ROM OS Version: 5.1.x Lollipop
• ROM Kernel: Linux 3.4.x
• ROM firmware required: Unlocked bootloader and custom recovery
• Based on: AOSP
• Status: Testing
• Created: 18 April

 Key notes

• Create a backup of all your important data as this process might wipe out everything. You can do so by using any custom recovery on your Android device.
• Enable USB Debugging Mode on the phone to connect it with the computer and use Android SDK with it. [Go to Settings>> About phone. Scroll down to Build number, Tap seven times on the build number. The Developer options under Settings should appear now. You can now enable USB debugging mode.]
• The Moto E should have above 80% battery charge as due to battery drain, the phone might shut off during the process, which in turn could damage the device.
• It should be rooted with the latest version of recovery installed.
• The AOSP ROM used in this guide is compatible with Moto E 2014 model only. Applying this on any incorrect variant might brick the device. Verify the model number of the smartphone by navigating to Settings>> About phone>> Model number and install firmware based on the mode number of the device.
• All the features might not be functioning properly since the ROM is still going through development.
• After the ROM is installed, leave the device for at least 10 minutes, before using it, for a better user experience.
• IBTimes UK will not be held liable for any damage to the device.

Download AOSP ROM 
How to update Moto E to AOSP Android 5.1 Lollipop ROM (CWM recovery)
Step 1: Connect the phone to the computer using the USB cable. Without extracting move the downloaded files to the internal storage of the phone. Keep the files in the SD card root folder, not inside any other folder
Step 2: Unplug the USB cable from the phone and switch it off
Step 3: Place the phone into recovery mode. Press Volume Down, Volume Up and Power buttons together until the boot menu appears. Then navigate to recovery mode using Volume Down and select it pressing the Volume Up button
Note: Use Volume keys to scroll between options and Power button to select certain button.
Step 4: In the recovery menu, first perform a Nandroid backup of the existing ROM, which can be restored later if you do not like the new ROM. To perform a backup, select Backup and Restore, then on the next screen select Backup again
Step 5: Perform data wiping task. Select wipe data/factory reset then select Yes on the next screen confirming the action. Wait for a few minutes until the process is completed
Step 6: Return to recovery menu, then select wipe cache partition and then Wipe Dalvik Cache, which can be found under advanced menu
Step 7: Now flash the files. From the main recovery menu select install zip from sdcard>> choose zip from sdcard. Now locate the AOSP ROM, which you earlier copied to the internal storage of the phone. Select it and confirm installation
Step 8: When the installation process is completed, go back to the recovery menu and select reboot system now to boot the phone into AOSP ROM
How to update Moto E to AOSP Android 5.1 Lollipop ROM (TWRP recovery)
Step 1: Connect the phone to the computer using the USB cable. Without extracting move the downloaded files to the internal storage of the phone. Keep the files in the SD card root folder, not inside any other folder
Step 2: Unplug the USB cable from the phone and switch it off
Step 3: Place the phone into recovery mode. Press Volume Down, Volume Up and Power buttons together until the boot menu appears. Then navigate to recovery mode using Volume Down and select it pressing the Volume Up button
Step 4: In the recovery menu perform a Nandroid backup of the existing ROM using TWRP Backup option
Step 5: Perform Factory Reset. Keep in mind this step will wipe out all apps, their settings and game progress. Tap on Wipe then at the bottom of the screen do a swipe on Swipe to factory reset option
Step 6: Now flash the files. For this tap on Install, then browse to the location where you have saved the AOSP ROM file, select it
Step 7: Now at the bottom the screen, do a swipe on Swipe to confirm flash option
Step 8: When the installation process is completed, reboot the phone. Go to the recovery menu, tap on Reboot>> System. This will boot up the One Mini to the new CyanogenMod 12 nightly. Wait for some time until the process is completed and do not press any button.
Restoring previous ROM: If you do not like this new ROM, you can always choose to go back to the previous ROM. Boot your phone into recovery mode, select Backup then use the Restore option to get your previous firmware.
Head over to the XDA development thread to know more about the AOSP ROM, shared by forum member, percy_g2.

Original Moto X Android 5.1 update changelog now posted

There seems to be constant news about Android Lollipop updates reaching further devices and today it’s the turn of those who have the Motorola Moto X first-gen. Yesterday there were reports that the Android 5.1 Lollipop update was now in testing for the 2013 Moto X. Now further details have emerged as the original Moto X Android 5.1 update changelog has been posted.
The first-generation Moto X received the Android 5.0 Lollipop update starting last month while the Android 5.1 upgrade is already available for the Moto X 2nd gen. Now the rollout for Android 5.1 has begun in Brazil for the first Moto X as well, and if there are no major problems it is likely to start rolling out for further global regions soon. Following the arrival of 5.1 for the device in Brazil, Motorola has now posted the changelog in Portuguese.
There changelog includes Material Design and priorities of notifications, a new multitasking overview mode, Moto Assist features such as Moto smart screen, Moto Shares, and Moto Voice, battery settings changes, and Smart Lock that enables users to keep the phone unlocked in particular areas or when paired up with a smartwatch. The update is also likely to include plenty of bug fixes.
You can see the full changelog and update notes for Android 5.1 on the Moto X (1st Generation) at this Motorola page (Google translated). The company has been doing a pretty good job at pushing out Android updates to its devices in recent times, though there have been some delays particularly concerning the original Moto X.
Let’s hope it’s not too much longer until the Android 5.1 update starts rolling out to regions worldwide. Are you pleased to hear that this update is now appearing for the first-gen Moto X, at least for some users? Let us know with your comments.

Huawei P8 Challenges Galaxy S6 with Superslim Steel Design

LONDON -- How do you stand out in today's sea of smartphones? Huawei is betting on the premium design of the P8 to win over shoppers. Announced today (April 15), the Huawei P8 sports a fetching design made of steel and glass, and it's only 0.25 inches thin (thinner than the Galaxy S6). Other highlights include an octa-core CPU, 5.2-inch full HD screen and a new Super Night Mode for the 13-megpaixel camera.
The US variant of the Huawei P8 will arrive stateside in May, and retail unlocked for under 500 euros (about $529). Huawei also launched the huge 6.8-inch P8 Max phablet, which will be available globally next month. During my preview of the P8 (international version), I was charmed by its looks and intrigued by its potential.

Design

While the generic-looking, black rectangle didn't immediately wow at first, I was won over with a single touch. The steel unibody and glass construction feels solid and luxurious. With a barely-there profile of 0.25-inches and a 5.2-inch 1080p display, the P8 is minimalistically sexy. There is nothing on the front other than the 8-megapixel camera and a small 2 by 3 grid of sensors above the screen. The phone's also available in silver and gold.

The P8 is one of the slimmest smartphones around, beating the Samsung Galaxy S6 (0.27 inches), the iPhone 6 (0.27 inches) and the HTC One M9 (0.37 inches). I liked the small square power button on the right side, below the volume rocker, as it's easier to press and identify by touch than some competitors.

Specs

Inside, the P8 carries Huawei's own 2.0-GHz octa-core, 64-bit Kirin 930 CPU with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. A 2,600-mAh battery also sits under the hood. That's bigger than the Galaxy S6's 2,550-mAh one, which lasted 8 hours and 32 minutes. The P8, however, is smaller than the HTC One M9's (2,840 mAh), which lasted 7:14. The P8 supports NFC and Bluetooth 4.0.
During my time with the P8, the phone was mostly zippy when opening apps and sliding between home pages. It did struggle to keep up sometimes, pausing to return to the home screen from the camera app, for instance. I liked how bright and sharp the display was, and viewing angles were generous -- the image quality did not change as I tilted the phone from side to side.

Camera Improvements

The P8 carries the same 8-MP front and 13-MP rear camera setup as its predecessor (Huawei Ascend P7), but has a new Super Night mode to enhance low-light shooting. Huawei said the new mode is optimized to leave the shutter open for longer and reduce noise (grain) when activated. The P8 offers an Ultra Panorama mode that lets you shoot panoramic scenes not just horizontally but vertically as well, for a more rounded, almost 360-degree view. A cool new Light Painting mode (in low light) uses long exposure to let you capture the path of moving light, as if you were painting with a light source.
Aspiring filmmakers will appreciate the P8's cool new Director Mode, that lets you record, in real-time, video from four different smartphones. As long as one of the four is the Huawei P8, it doesn't matter what the other three are. After filming, you can immediately stitch together and edit the footage from the phone's app for a multi-cam video.

Software: Android Lollipop with Emotion UI 3.1

The P8 runs Android 5 Lollipop with Huawei's Emotion UI 3.1 overlay. This software skins the OS with quaint-looking icons for apps such as browser, files and messages. It removes the apps drawer as well, putting all your downloaded programs on the home screen, a la iOS. With Emotion UI, you can create custom skins, which lets you set your own icons, color schemes and backgrounds. This feature will not be available in the US, however.

As on the Ascend P7, you can double press the volume down button when the device is locked to quickly snap a picture without having to open the camera app. I found this to be very handy, although the pictures I snapped came out blurry. Since you won't be able to see what you're shooting onscreen, your pictures shot this way might not be framed the way you intended. But this is a nifty feature for when you want to quickly capture a fleeting moment.
In place of your typical Google apps, the P8 uses its own apps, including Huawei's Browser, Camera, Clock, Phone, Messaging and File Manager. You'll have access to the Play Store to download other options. Huawei also loads the P8 with Search, Music, Huawei Cloud+ (available in some countries for data backup) apps, which are somewhat helpful. It's not clear specifically which apps will be available on the US version just yet.

Enhanced for connectivity

Huawei says it optimized the P8 for connectivity in a number of ways. First, the phone will more quickly connect to a network during bootup. It will also automatically detect the strength of your cell and Wi-Fi connections and switch to the stronger of the two for better speeds. You can choose to enable this feature automatically or have it ask you before switching, so you don't accidentally get off Wi-Fi abroad and drum up roaming charges.

P8 Max phablet

The company also unveiled its large 6.8-inch P8 Max phablet at the event. It looks like a supersized P8 but also a little like the iPhone 6 Plus. At 0.26 inches thin though, the P8 Max is one of the slimmest phablets around, compared to the iPhone 6 Plus (0.28 inches) and the Galaxy Note 4 (0.4 inches). The P8 Max sports a display that Huawei claims is richer and more vivid than the iPhone 6 Plus. It will also run Android 5 Lollipop with Emotion UI, and comes with Split Windows and other features that make use of the large screen for better multitasking.
The P8 Max's large 4,360-mAh battery will last about 2.23 days and 1.4 days of normal and heavy use respectively, according to Huawei. And with the company's patented 7-layer heat conduction thermal tech, the P8 Max should stay cool regardless of how much you use it.

Huawei reveals Ascend P8, coming to SA in June

There was a time when choosing a smartphone consisted of deciding between an iPhone or a Samsung. In the last few years we’ve seen the likes of Lumia, Sony, HTC and LG throw their hats into the ring and produce phones that compete with the two gadget giants. In the last few weeks we’ve seen a new Samsung enter the fray, an HTC One M9 launched and in the next few weeks a the rumoured LG G4 will make her appearance.

Chinese manufacturer Huawei has been knocking at the door for some time, releasing phones with similar specs to compete with the bigger brands while beating them on price points (got to love those Chinese imports).
Today in London, Huawei announced their latest flagship, the Huawei Ascend P8. It’s super skinny at 6.4mm. Huawei’s biggest downfall in the past was that the aesthetics of their phones were, well, cheap and plastic. They’ve upped the game a bit with the P8 using premium materials with an aluminium unibody and offering up a very similar look to that of the iPhone 6. However the phone manufacturer says this won’t effect the pricing we’ve come to expect from Huawei. I’m presuming they took a knock in profit margins to try compete with the big boys then? There’s a 5.2″ display with 78.3% screen-to-body ratio… they’d like you to know that that is industry leading, by the way. I’m not sure it matters.
The specs are pretty decent. A 13MP rear camera, 8MP front facing camera and, just for Matty, a host of “selfie” features that include being able to get great architecture shots in low light (for those selfie backgrounds) and a selfie fix that will remove all the things about your face you might not like. The phone brags a 2680 mAh battery (with quick charge!) which should give you a day of heavy usage and if you don’t choose to Instagram all of your food you’ll likely get a day and a half out of it. They’ve added lots of bells and whistles, some fun features and, for the most part, it’s a really impressive phone. This is mainly because Huawei have costed it at around the R7000-R8000 mark.

But in true “we’ll do what those other (Apple) guys did” form, Huawei didn’t only announce the P8 but also the P8 Max. Smartphone manufacturers seem to feel rather strongly that bigger is better. The P8 Max’s biggest selling point is the battery. It’s a 4360 mAh battery and the marketing folk assure me you can actually watch downloaded video for over 10 consecutive hours… but until I’ve done it, the jury’s out. It has a 6.2″ screen so you can toss out your tablet. The screen is an HD JDI screen which makes it the largest in-cell FHD screen in the world. It’s a beast, utilising the same DX19 high thermal conductivity alloy found in some luxury automobiles to avoid overheating. Again, I’m not sure this is a really big deal but it’s a fun fact to throw out at dinner parties while you look ridiculous with your giant phone bulging out your pocket.
For the most part I like what Huawei has done here. Their P8 presentation consisted of a lot of “this is better than the S6 and iPhone 6″ graphics and I like their ballsy nature. They had more than 700 media at the P8’s London launch. Clearly they want a slice of the Apple and Samsung Pie.
Expect the phones to land on SA Shores around mid June, just a few weeks after the HTC One M9 becomes available to the local crowd. The true question is, would the Apple loyal leave their beloved brand for this Chinese (not really but sort of) copy?

LifeNSoul BM101

The LifeNSoul BM101 is an ultraportable Bluetooth speaker that vaguely resembles one of those personal motorized fans people use at picnics and baseball games. For such a tiny and inexpensive speaker, the $24.99 BM101 actually pushes out a respectable amount of sound (though anyone seeking stereo channels or any semblance of bass is going to need to spend more money). The BM101 serves three primary functions: It's very affordable, it's very portable, and, most importantly, it's water-resistant. While it's not flawless—the design would be more useful if it featured a clip or a suction cup for in-shower use—it's hard to complain about a speaker this size and price that can hang out poolside. If you want to spend a little more for a bit more power, our Editors' Choice Panasonic SC-NT10$39.95 at Amazon is a good option.

DesignAvailable in black, white, pink, purple, or blue, the BM101 is barrel-shaped and pocket-sized. It sits upright, projecting sound upward through its single, one-inch driver. The driver itself is positioned behind a sort-of grille that looks a little bit like fan blades or a jet engine. Its entire body seems to vibrate with audio to help create a slightly greater sense of bass on certain tracks, but this is obviously not a big-sounding speaker.
There are three buttons on the BM101: a Play/Pause button that doubles as Power/Pairing, and two Track Forward/Backward buttons that double as Volume Up/Down when they are held down.
A rubber, water-resistant lanyard snaps on and off of the BM101 with ease, making it ease to wear around your wrist or fasten to a bike handle. That said, we've seen more functional designs for water-resistant speakers that incorporate hooks or suction cups for shower use. None, however, are as inexpensive as the BM101, so it's hardly a major criticism.

The BM101 ships with a micro USB charging cable; the connection on the speaker is protected with a snap-shut cover. LifeNSoul estimates battery life to be a modest three hours on a full charge, but your results will vary based on how loud you play your tunes.
In our tests, the pairing process with an iPhone 5s was quick and simple. The status LEDs blink when paired, which can be annoying after a while; they flash behind the track navigation buttons and seemingly light up the entire device.
As for water-resistance, this is definitely a speaker that can get wet and still offer solid playback. It's more of a poolside, tub-side, or in-shower option than a speaker you can submerge regularly, but it will survive a brief dunking and keep playing when you fish it out.
Some tracks made the BM101 dance across our desktop during water-free testing; it almost looks like a little robot dancing to the beat when the vibrations are strong enough.
Performance and ConclusionsIt's no surprise that the BM101 distorts on tracks with really deep bass like The Knife's "Silent Shout," but dialing back the volume a bit can rein things in. On tracks with less intense low-end, like Bill Callahan's "Drover," the vocals and guitar-strumming are crisp and clear, and the bass and drums are delivered with enough low-mid presence so that things sound closer to full than thin.
See How We Test Speakers
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop is delivered with enough thump to create a palpable idea of bass (without actually delivering the lows), while the vocals remain clear and crisp; there's no distortion on this track, either. Bass fiends will need to spend more money, but if you're just looking for a very affordable way to take your music on the go, the BM101 is a solid option.
For those who need bigger bass, the more expensive Freshetech Splash Shower Tunes and the Boom Movement Swimmer$59.00 at Amazon are slightly larger, somewhat fuller-sounding water-resistant speakers with more shower-friendly designs than the BM101. We also like the Altec Lansing Bluetooth Shower Wireless Speaker (IMW395), and the Panasonic SC-NT10 remains our Editors' Choice, but for $25, it's hard to take issue with the relatively powerful, portable, water-resistant BM101.