Stock Android phones are pretty rare, at least through major carriers worldwide. Most Android smartphones come with a customized OEM interface, such as TouchWiz or Sense. Today, Google's Nexus 4 by LG and custom ROMs on popular flagships are generally the easiest way to get your hands on the latest versions of Android without manufacturer skins. But a recent device also comes with a mostly stock version of Android on board – the HTC First. Officially, it comes with Facebook Home pre-installed. So, technically, it's not pure Android. But that's mostly semantics. You can disable Facebook ...

Samsung's big Galaxy S 4 launch was a thing to behold, with multiple venues and one of the largest casts we've seen to date. That also makes it a seriously tough act to follow, and as such there's been a bit of a lull in smartphone press events in the weeks that followed. Now it looks like LG is ready to step up and try and capture the attention of smartphone fans for itself, sending out a save-the-date for a May 1 New York event. Just what will LG have to share with us in two weeks? Well, we don't know of any big, new hardware on the horizon – the Optimus G II isn't expected for another ...

If you were to ask us last year if LG was capable of making a Galaxy Note or Galaxy Note II competitor, we probably would have chuckled a little bit and answered with a stern, straight-faced, "No." But LG is a living, breathing example of how much can change in just a few, short months. The highest-end smartphones from LG between 2010 and mid-2012 were not exactly memorable. The T-Mobile G2X, for example, was released with a handful of issues and quickly swept under the carpet. The LG Optimus Vu found itself on our Worst Gadgets Ever list, even while it's still available for purchase. That ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the Nexus 10 Cover finally arriving at the Google Play store. Later it's Nokia talk as we go through their software updates and also the leaked video of the Lumia 920 getting tap to wake in the near future. Microsoft follows as we talk about a possible Surface 7-inch tablet. The LG Optimus G Pro is next as it's rumored for an AT&T launch soon and we've also got news of the software Value Pack reaching current customers with some major enhancements. We end today's show talking about the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Galaxy Mega 5.8. All this ...

LG wanted to be the first to announce its eye-controlled playback and they managed to beat Samsung -- the Galaxy S 4 has this functionality -- by a couple of hours. According to the latest official wording the "Value Pack" which will enhance the LG Optimus G Pro -- currently in our labs for a review -- will be pushed out starting tomorrow, the 12th of April. Among others, the Value Pack will include features like Smart Video, Dual Camera, as well as Pause and resume recording. There's also a video on LG's YouTube channel demonstrating the above mentioned features which will allow you to ...

Facebook bored shocked the world by announcing their new app experience for Android phones last week. Speculation abounded that Facebook would announce a new phone, a fork of Android's operating system (think Amazon Kindle, but with a "like" button) or less impressively, an updated app. What we got was a little bit of all three. Putting aside the HTC First, which is by the way what most customers should do, Facebook made a pretty ambitious announcement. Instead of an Android fork, and instead of an updated Facebook app, we got something that lies in the middle. Facebook Home is a new Lock ...

Sometimes you just have to schedule a podcast a few hours before a major news event, and as a result you've got to scramble to come up with some valid-sounding speculation about just how useful a Facebook Phone could really be. It's not like we haven't tossed this notion around before, but doing it on the air, off-the-cuff, imbues our lives with a certain energy, a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. Or even if you won't. Whatever; we have a good time riffing. You'll listen and like it! Ahem. All that, plus some chat on just how big a copycat LG's Optimus G Pro is - and how well it does ...

It's finally here, slowly that is. After almost a full month since Sprint launched their Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update to the LG Optimus G, the software update is now reportedly reaching AT&T customers. Sadly we haven't been able to confirm this officially, as AT&T hasn't sent out any press notifications about it. What matters is that some customers are already reporting that it is arriving to their devices. LG really surprised us last October with the Optimus G. None of us here had any positive things to say about the company until this device was released. LG proved they had ...