Sunday, April 15, 2012

Update - 255


Posted: 20 Mar 2012 03:30 AM PDT
Sony Tegra 3
Sony has drawn critics (including from us), for the lackluster device lineup that they've shown at MWC, a few weeks ago. I am talking about the conspicuous absence of a quad-core flagship, something that even ZTE and Huawei, the new kids on the Western markets block, have managed to deliver, and, in the case of Huawei with stunning success.
And Sony doesn't do any better in the tablet department either. The admittedly original Tablet P and Tablet S are seen by consumers as exotic novelty items, rather than able-bodied competitors in the cut-throat tablet market. Again, the lack of a quad-core chipped powerhouse is glaring. How did Sony respond to these critics? We'll use quad-core procs when we're ready, which probably means 2013. Ouch.
But apparently Sony isn't just standing by, watching everyone else have fun with the quad-core Tegra 3. If a NenaMark benchmark session is of any credibility, Sony has a Tegra 3 powered tablet in the making, codenamed V150.
Sony-V150 tegra 3 benchmark
Courtesy of Japanese tech blog Ambelo, we've learned about a mystery Sony tablet that was spotted in the listings of NenaMark 1, an OpenGL-ES 2.0 graphics performance benchmark. It seems that a Sony engineer or someone else in the position to test out new products has run the benchmark on a Tegra 3 powered device that runs Ice Cream Sandwich. From the benchmark results, we can also tell that the device has the same resolution as the wedged-shaped Tablet S, or 1280 x 752 pixels (WXGA).
The device was benchmarked only once, obtaining a score of 59.7 FPS, which is about the same with the performance of a Samsung Galaxy S2. Of course, we should always take benchmark leaks with a nice grain of salt, as they can be spoofed. However, the processor's ID is harder to disguise, so, there is probably some truth to this affair.
Anyway, when can we expect a Tegra 3 Sony tablet in stores? I hope that it will happen faster than it took Sony to deliver the Tablet P and Tablet S. Otherwise, a year from now, I see myself writing yet another Sony-late-to-the-game post. But, this time, Sony will move a bit faster. Right?

This article, Mystery Sony Tegra 3 tablet spotted in benchmark results , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:23 AM PDT

If you’re a student, a teacher, or just someone who loves to read, you’ve probably heard of Scribd, the popular online multi-format document sharing, social publishing website that lets you access documents and books.
The site carries a wide variety of topics covering health, music, politics, science, literature, and even more–practically packing everything you could ever want, Scribd makes researching for your school project or presentation a dream.
Scribd’s use isn’t limited to individuals in the school setting, however. Writers can also get their work out into the world through Scribd. If you’ve got a document you’d like to share with the world, whether it’s your own writing or an electronic copy of a book, Scribd allows you to upload to its network. If Scribd sounds too good to be true, then it gets better.
While Android users were previously only able to access the website and its database through the original website or third party clients, accessing Scribd directly from your Android device is now possible.The official Scribd client for Android has just recently rolled into the Google Play Store, which gives Android users the power to search for a document they need and to read it directly from their Android devices.
Looking for text on a certain topic? Input your keywords into the search tab and you’ll see a list of documents that may just match what you’re looking for. The app also gives you recommendations about documents you might be interested in. You’ll never have a boring commute home or vacant period in your day again.

Once you’ve chosen a document, tap it to read it in full screen. You can even use the usual pinch-to-zoom gesture to zoom in and out of the document. Swipe left and right to turn pages.
If you’re afraid that you might forget the names of the documents you had been looking through a few moments ago, you can check them out in the Recent Docs tab.
If you find the text on your document way too small and eye-strain-inducing, you can adjust the size of the text according to your preferences. The text will be automatically reordered for your pleasant reading experience.

In terms of bringing Scribd to Android, the official Scribd reader App is pretty straightforward. At the moment, users can’t upload and download documents or share documents with others, but these may be features we’ll see in future versions. In terms of giving you access to a rich library of documents, however, this app certainly delivers.
If you’d like to start accessing Scribd’s vast document library, download Scribd Reader free from the Google Play Store today.

This article, Reading Scribd documents on Android  with Scribd Reader app , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 08:34 PM PDT


charging
The Samsung leaks just won’t stop these days. It seems Samsung may launch the Galaxy S3 with its own proprietary wireless charging station. The smartphone will not even need to touch the charger, as it can charge from a distance of 1-2 meters. That seems pretty futuristic, if you ask me, considering that only a few years ago wireless charging was more of a science lab experiment.
Of course, Samsung wouldn’t be the first to use wireless charging for a phone. The Palm Pre was one of the first to have to boast the wires-free charging technology. But Samsung may have improved the technology, if the information concerning the 1-2 meters charging range is to be believed. This also means that we’re talking about Samsung’s own proprietary technology, one that they’ve potentially patented, and not the Fulton eCoupled method seen at CES.
Apparently, Samsung has not decided yet whether it will include the wireless charging station or not, because it adds quite a bit to the cost of the phone. When you consider the rumored quad-core chip, the LTE integration, ceramic casing (maybe Micro Arc Oxidation, a la HTC One S), the 4.8″ Super AMOLED screen, and even the 1080p resolution, all of those  high-end specs will add bulk to the cost of the phone.
However, even if they can’t include the wireless charging station in the Galaxy S3 base package, you will probably still be able to buy it separately, so, ultimately, it will be your own choice if you want to pay the premium or not.

This article, Samsung Galaxy S3 might come standard with wireless charging , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 08:02 PM PDT


humble bundle 2
It seems that the Humble Bundle for Android 1 did so well, that the team behind it is revving up for a sequel, and this time, with games that are available for Android, as well, all 5 of them. The games are as follows:
  • Swords & Soldiers
  • Canabalt
  • Zen Bound 2
  • Cogs
  • Avadon
The way this project works is that you can donate whatever amount you want – the minimum is just $0.01 (don’t be cheap now!). There’s one catch, though. You’ll only get the last 4 games if your amount is lower than the “average” amount, which at the time of this writing is $6.24. If you beat this average you’ll also get Swords & Soldiers, which seems to be the best one out of the group. Part of the money can also go to charity, whether it’s EFF (one of the biggest and most effective organizations fighting for our digital rights) or Child’s Play. You can customize the amount however you want.
All of these games will also work on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, and they are DRM-free, which could be part of the reason why you’ll want to donate to these developers, besides the already great idea that they allow you to get their $57 worth of games for whatever amount you want.


This article, Humble Bundle for Android 2 is now available , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 06:58 PM PDT
samsung_exynos_dual_core_processor
We’ve known about the Exynos 5250 for a while now, thanks to other rumors. As such, none of the specs leaked from the slideshow captured by SemiAccurate are breaking news, but it’s certainly nice to get confirmation, not just for the Cortex A15 CPU, but also for the Mali T604 MP4 GPU and the LPDDR3 1600 MHz RAM that this chip supports.
The Exynos 5 will have a dual-core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 chip, coupled with the next-gen Mali T604 GPU built on the Midgard GPU architecture, that should be several times more powerful than a Mali-400 (5x according to ARM). It will also have 2.1 Gpixels/s rendering speed and 12.8 GB/s 64 bit memory bandwidth, which should help a lot with 3D games, because lately memory bandwidh has been a bottleneck for mobile gaming. The whole chip will be built on Samsung’s 32nm HKMG manufacturing process.

If this chip is just being showcased right now, chances are that we will not see it at least until mid/late summer or even until fall this year. I don’t really see anything competing with it, except the Qualcomm S4 with the Adreno 320 GPU (possibly weaker than Mali T-604 too), and, even then, the S4 will need to run at slightly higher clock-speeds to be competitive.
The first device in which we’ll see this Exynos 5 should be a next-gen Galaxy Tab, as rumored before. Once we see Cortex A15 tablets with 2+ Ghz per core, and 2 GB of 1600 Mhz LPDDR3 RAM, we’ll start seeing these devices as more than just nice-to-have toys. It’s also possible we’ll see at least one smartphone rocking the Exynos 5 by the end of the year. If it will be the next Nexus device, it will be even better, though unlikely if it’s going to be made by HTC or LG.


This article, Exynos 5 specs show up in leaked slideshow , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 02:36 PM PDT

There is an ongoing battle for world domination in the field of technology, which is especially prominent in the mobile phone and tablet industry. As it’s customary in such epic fights,  the best of the best are pitted against each other, and we, the spectators, witness how the process of natural selection takes its course (Over dramatic, I know, but essentially true).
In this segment, we will pit one of the best Android tablets currently available, the ASUS Transformer Prime, against the newly released iPad 3. And, the battlefield of choice is gaming! Introducing the ASUS Transformer Prime with Android 4.0 vs the iPad 3, running iOS.
This battle is more a competition of the powerful processors running the two devices, the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor in the Transformer Prime, against the A5X processor in the iPad 3. The carefully selected games  are Pinball HD, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, and SHADOWGUN. Each game has been created by the same developers for both the Android and iOS platform, which makes them ideal for showing off the potential of both devices.
So, moving on. Let's FIGHT!
(All videos are courtesy of the guys at Slashgear who have taken the time to produce them. The setup: Stands for the tablets to keep them still, and a tripod to keep the camera still)

Pinball HD

Pinball HD is the highest rated pinball game on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. As it should be, having no competition in this area, at least as far as HD gaming goes.

Both the Transformer Prime and the iPad 3 performed excellently while playing this game. This only serves as a testament to how powerful their respective processors are. The only difference is the Android device took just a tad longer to load the game. The game also seemed to fit the screen of the iPad 3 better, mostly because it is tuned to work with a massive range of display sizes in the Android version. Other than these minor factors, it is very difficult to pick a winner considering the gameplay itself.
Result: Draw (with just the tiniest of leans towards the iPad 3)
Did you notice the Pinball HD "FOR TEGRA" tag on the Android version?

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline

Asphalt 6 is a premier racing game developed by Gameloft for almost every operating system around, including iOS, Android, Bada, WebOS, and Blackberry Playbook. It provides excellent gameplay with a large variety of maps and cars to choose from, never leaving the user bored.

The better graphics on the iPad 3 are easily noticeable, mostly due to the developers ramping up the graphics to suit the Retina-display of the device, for the chance to be the featured app on the Apple App Store. So, it is not an entirely favorable comparison for the Android version, running on the Transformer Prime.
Gameplay is again excellent on both tablets, with very fast response times, giving us another reason to believe that these machines are truly the best of their kind.
Result: iPad 3 (Since it has the latest version of the game with superior graphics, and till developers further optimize the game for Android)

SHADOWGUN

SHADOWGUN, a third person cover shooter, is a hugely popular game on both platforms featuring surprisingly detailed visuals and animation. In this face off, the latest versions for both devices are loaded, SHADOWGUN for iOS and SHADOWGUN THD for the Android version.

This time around, the advantage lies with the Android device, in part, due to the developers again. The developer of SHADOWGUN, Madfinger Games, worked in close collaboration with NVIDIA to provide near optimized gameplay for the Tegra 3 processor – the Android version features added effects, more environment action, and even a few more bad guys.
That being said, gameplay was extremely smooth on both devices. Both had glitches because of the amount of extra pixels on the iPad 3, and the higher detailing for the Android version.
Result: ASUS Transformer Prime (until a graphically enhanced version for iOS is released)

Conclusion

During the announcement of the iPad 3, Apple claimed that the A5X processor would perform four times better than the Tegra 3. It is difficult to draw a conclusion from this incredibly fun but highly unscientific comparison. Both tablets performed admirably and kept up with each other, with the difference lying only in the game development itself. There will be other benchmark and tests that will push these processors to their limits, but mobile gaming isn't one of them.
The only conclusion that can be confidently drawn here is a WIN for gamers everywhere!


This article, iPad 3 vs ASUS Transformer Prime with Android 4.0: Gaming FIGHT! , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 01:39 PM PDT


Window N90
As more and more people realize that they want tablets but just can’t afford to shell out hundreds of dollars for one, consumers are turning to more economical solutions to fulfill their tablet lust. While the rest of the world drools in excitement over the next high-end product release from Apple, Samsung, or HTC, Chinese manufacturers are slowly but steadily releasing very impressive, yet cheap alternatives. We’ve just reviewed one such mid-range tablet that has recently become available on the market — the Window N90 FastTab Android 4.0 tablet.

Specs

The Window N90 (in Chinese YuanDao, not to be confused with Microsoft's Windows) has mostly average-to-good specifications, not unlike most other low to mid-range tablets available.
Window N90 specs:
  • 1.2 Ghz Rockchip processor
  • 1GB DDR3 RAM
  • Built-in 8/16GB storage, with MicroSD card support for up to 32GB
  • 9.7-inch 10 point multi-touch capacitive display with 1024×768 resolution
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • 2 MP rear camera, 0.3 MP front camera
  • 8000 (4000×2) mAH battery
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

Window N90 tablet box

Form Factor

The box in which the device arrived is of a practical form, neither overly impressive nor distasteful to look at. In the box, you will find the standard fare, including a power adapter, two USB cables, and an instruction manual, which, like most other similar releases, is only in Chinese.
Unboxing the device reveals a 9.7-inch tablet of a surprisingly nice build quality, akin to most high-end tablets available in the market. The tablet has an ultra slim design with a thickness of only 9.6mm, and, at only 630g, is lighter than the iPad 2. It also features a glossy HD screen and a brushed silver casing. The Window N90, at least out of the box, looks and feels very much like any high-end Android device. It seems that, with every passing day, the spec sheet becomes the only real difference between budget friendly-tablet devices and high-end ones.

Window N90 tablet ports

External ports and controls

The Window N90 comes with support for 2 On-the-go USB ports, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and an AC adapter port. Surprisingly, missing from the list of ports is a HDMI-out port, which has become standard in most tablets nowadays. The microphone jack is at the bottom of the tablet, just below the screen. Physical buttons include the standard volume rocker and a power button, and an additional camera function button, a feature not found in other similar devices.

Screen and Speakers

Gone are the days when the resolution and quality of the screen were considered the worst things about a mid-range tablet (and the reason why most users preferred high-end products). The Window N90′s 9.7-inch screen boasts a 1024×768 pixels with 1080p video playback capability. The display comes with IPS technology, which adds considerable range to the viewing angles. One of the tablet’s more distinctive features is the ten-point multitouch display (where most low to mid-range tablets offer five-point multitouch), which works beautifully on this tablet, and makes us wonder why this feature is not present on all modern tablets. The display shows no noticeable lag; it’s very easy to swipe between screens, open menus and apps, or quickly shift between pause and play (as seen in the video below).
The stereo speakers are placed on the thin bottom side of the tablet. This is certainly well thought, as placing speakers at the back usually leads to reduced sound quality when the tablet is placed on a surface. But, that is where the good ends for the sound capabilities of the Window N90. The sound quality is distinctly poor, with seemingly no bass. While playing car racing games, the noise of the engine is almost grating to the ears. However, there is a big improvement in sound quality when headphones are used.

Battery

The Window N90 contains a huge 8000 mAh battery. However, usage statistics are not as impressive as you’d expect from such a big battery. The Window N90 provides 11 hours of music playback, 4 hours of HD video viewing, and 5 hours of intensive web usage over WiFi. The battery does charge very quickly, requiring only three hours to reach 100%.


Software

While most current Android tablet owners eagerly await an upgrade to ICS, the Window N90 comes pre-loaded with Android 4.0, with some minor tweaking to the user interface. Applications do tend to load comparatively slower, but it is barely noticeable and does not affect performance.
The UI allows significant customization, giving users access to all their favorite applications without leaving the home screen. A full view window allows users to see which applications are open, and  apps and documents are neatly sorted. Gameplay is very impressive, with the G-sensor functioning perfectly, and some games are extra fun thanks to the ten-point multitouch (think Fruit Ninja).

Conclusion

I would recommend this tablet to any user looking for a good tablet at a reasonable price. Window N90′s specifications are better than average and the device looks and handles itself like a high-end tablet. Sound quality could be improved, but the inclusion of a branded set of headphones helps alleviate the inconvenience. Remember that you get numerous features for the bargain price of $230 for the 8GB version and $270 for the 16GB version.
The Window N90 FastTab is most likely part of the first wave of cheap slates, with more (and maybe better) tablets set to arrive on the market in the close future.  If you cannot wait to get your hands on some ICS goodness, the Window N90 FastTab should definitely get your attention.
Here is video of the unboxing and review of the Window N90 FastTab:


This article, Review: Window N90 FastTab Android 4.0 tablet , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 12:24 PM PDT

Rev your engines, Android developers, the Ice Cream Sandwich source code for the international version of Samsung Galaxy S2 is upon us. Yes, we're talking about the same ICS that was just rolled out by the company to an exclusive few a couple of days back.
You can get the ICS kernel source code for your Galaxy S2 phone by going to Samsung's Open Source Release Center website. There will be four zip files for you to download, once you do a search on the model number of the Samsung Galaxy S2; in this case, it's the GT-I9100.
What effect would the source code have on the ordinary Joe and Jane and their Samsung Galaxy S2 phones? Probably not much and it probably won't interest them at the slightest. But the source code does give Galaxy S2 developers, and there are thousands of them, reasons to cheer. Let's just say that fully functioning and more advanced Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs for the Samsung Galaxy S2 are in the cards.
samsung galaxy s2
Based on reports from our readers, the official ICS update for Samsung Galaxy S2 has hit so far South Korea, Hungary, Poland,  UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Nepal, Philippine, Canada, Brazil, Estonia, Cyprus, Turkey, and probably some other regions. With many countries and many million owners of the phone that have yet to receive ICS update, we find it rather surprising that Samsung has decided to release the kernel source code so early in the game. If we had to guess, it is likely that the company is trying to push carriers to roll out the update faster.
With over 20 million units of Samsung Galaxy S2 sold, it is by the far the most popular Android smartphone in the world. But Samsung is hoping big time that the next iteration of the series will surpass this amazing achievement.

This article, Samsung releases Android 4.0 ICS source code for Galaxy S2 , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 11:47 AM PDT

The manufacturers have been right to push for larger screens, because it seems that’s exactly what people want. Of course, part of this is probably because some people have already bought some large screens, and only then the others noticed how nice the larger screen is, so then they wanted one, too.
This recent survey says that 90% of smartphone owners want their next phone to have a larger screen, that includes iPhone users as well. Either they are going to buy an Android phone next or they are really hoping the next iPhone will have a much larger screen, although I doubt the iPhone will ever be bigger than 4″.
Why are they choosing a larger screen smartphone? Because they realize that a larger screen offers you a better experience overall:
"Almost 90 percent of existing smartphone owners surveyed chose a prototype smartphone with a display larger than their current device," commented Paul Brown, a Director in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. "This trend is driven by increased mobile web browsing capability, as well as engaging video and gaming experiences."
Web browsing is better, because you get to see a lot more of the text and the page (if it also has a high resolution). Pictures are bigger as well when you browse through them. You don’t hurt your eyes watching a full movie on a tiny screen, and it makes you want to see more movies on your phone if it has a bigger screen.
Gamers also get to enjoy their games better not only because everything can be bigger in the game, but the controls can be bigger and more useful as well. Gaming experience is just better on larger screens, and every gamer should know that.  As long as it fits in your pocket, larger screen phones have only advantages and almost no drawbacks.

Initially, some reviewers, especially those that own iPhones, have quickly dismissed the Galaxy Note as being unusable because it’s so large with its 5.3″ screen after a few days of use, but the real truth is the Galaxy Note is gathering an army of supporters. People just love that big vibrant SAMOLED screen. I’m not expecting everyone to want a 5.3″ phone, but there are definitely millions of people out there who find such a device very useful and are addicted to it.
Even better, I believe Samsung will start releasing phones with very small bezels this year, for both tablets and phones. This means their phones can go to 4.7″ or 4.8″ and not be much larger than a 4.3″ current device, like the Galaxy S 2. In part that will be because of the tiny bezel, but also because of the move to onscreen buttons instead of physical ones, which means the screen can get larger, but only at the expense of the physical buttons.
What’s your phone’s screen size, and are you going to buy one with a larger screen in the future?
No related posts.

This article, Survey: 90% of people want their next smartphone to have a larger screen , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 19 Mar 2012 11:23 AM PDT

There are numerous media formats. It’s a great thing if your media player supports all of those formats. But, most of the time it’s not the case, especially if you are using your Android device. You can convert (transcode) your files using a converter, but that would mean extra steps.  Besides, transcoding can affect the quality of the files.
That’s why it’s really cool to have VLC because it can read and play almost every existing media format. Now, it’s also already available for your Android device.  Aside from its famous read-all-format feature, there are also some new features added to this app just for you to enjoy it more in your Android device.

VLC for Android

It may still take some time before the official VLC for Android devices will be released.  According to VideoLAN (the creator of VLC Player), the official VLC app for Android is still in development.
Thankfully, independent developers walked one step ahead and worked on an early build for the sake of those users who want to have the app on their devices. Recently, XDA Developers member adridu59 released an unofficial VLC build for Android. The build was based off official VLC source code.


The build is said to work for Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, but apparently there are still a lot of things to be worked on. The good news is that the developer has added a new feature for this one:  headset detection.
Aside from that, the app also has hardware acceleration and, of course, supports numerous media formats.
Media streaming is currently not yet implemented in the latest build.  Some codecs (DTS/MPEG2/Theora) are also not yet implemented, although most other media formats already work.

Builds

The unofficial VLC app for Android supports the following processor architectures:
  • ARMv6/ARM11
  • ARMv7a/Cortex-A8/NEON
  • ARMv7a/Cortex-A9
So, if your device’s processor uses any of those listed above, the unofficial VLC app will most likely run on your phone/tablet.  Check your device’s chipset to know whether this will work on your device.
Hopefully, the official version of VLC will soon be released or the developer of the unofficial app may expand the list of supported architectures and chipsets. For now we are just stuck with what the developer has for us, but if you can’t wait anymore, you can try this build and see if it works on your device.

Downloads

The unofficial VLC app for Android is not yet on the Google Play Store.  To be able to install it on your Android device, enable installation of “Unknown sources” on your device.  This can be set from Settings > Applications > Unknown sources.  Then, using a file manager or file explorer app, install the APK file which you can download from the following links (download the appropriate APK for your device’s chipset):
Have you installed VLC on your Android phone or tablet?  Does it work?  Tell us your success stories.

This article, Unofficial VLC Media Player app: A taste of the consummate media player for Android , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


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