Android Weekly: top 10 stories this week

This week in your world of Android: Samsung and Google signed a massive patent deal, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo, Samsung reportedly agreed to cut back on Android customizations, we learned a few more details about the HTCM8 and the Galaxy S5, Chrome apps for Android got rolling, and a rumor about the death of the Nexus made the rounds.

These are the essential stories, the summary of an entire week in just a few words. It’s Android Weekly.

Patent alliance

When the world’s top software maker and top hardware maker join forces and share all their patents, you know something big is going to come out of it. Samsung and Google announced they would cross-license their intellectual property for the next decade, in what’s probably the biggest development in the mobile industry in a long while.

• Google and Samsung sign a 10 year cross-license patent agreement

Scaling TouchWiz back

A report emerged this week alleging Samsung agreed to stop developing a competing Android ecosystem and to highlight instead Google’s apps and services on its new devices. That means Samsung devices will be less bloated in the future, but what did Google had to concede to make this happen? The answer in the next segment.

• In “huge change”, Samsung to scale back its Android customizations, at Google’s request – report

Motorola, a Lenovo company

Motorola was a Google company for just two years – Lenovo bought the handset maker for $2.9 billion this week, putting an abrupt end to dreams of a truly Googley smartphone coming out of Motorola.

• Google to sell Motorola to Lenovo for $2.9 billion (Updated – official!)
• What’s the true motivation behind Google’s sale of Motorola?

Leaky HTCM8

Taking a break from big strategic moves, let’s take a look at a hot new smartphone – leaks this week suggest HTCwill finally adopt onscreen buttons for the M8, and the device will be available in four colors at launch.

• Will HTCfinally move to onscreen buttons on the M8 (One 2014)?
• Rumor: HTCOne’s successor (aka HTCM8) may launch in four colors

LG G Pro 2 coming

Putting an end to speculation, LG confirmed it’s going to unveil the G Pro 2 at MWC later this month. Sadly, the company didn’t actually reveal any details about the upcoming phablet.

• LG G Pro 2 confirmed for February launch

Guys, it was a bug!

Samsung backtracked this week on an issue that caused quite an uproar in the community – the company says it will fix the “bug” that caused compatibility issues with some Note 3 accessories following the KitKat update.

• Samsung admits Note 3 KitKat update disabled 3rd party accessories, fix on its way

Chrome apps are a go

A developer preview of the Chrome apps development toolkit for Android has been released by Google. While we’re still far from using Chrome apps on Android devices, the wheels are now in motion.

• Google brings Chrome apps to Android and iOS, toolkit currently in beta

Galaxy S5 leaks

Nothing spectacular this week in terms of Galaxy S5 leaks, but we now (think we) have a confirmation on screen resolution, camera resolution, and model numbers.

• Galaxy S5 leaks: first image sample and model numbers?

Nexus is (probably not) dead

A troubling rumor made the rounds this week, alleging that Google is planning to end the Nexus line next year. It’s hard to say if there’s any truth behind, but we tried anyway in this post:

• A second look at the “Nexus is dead” rumor

What’s the biggest story in Android this week? Tell us in the comments.