Android Authority |
- iSuppli: Google’s Nexus 7 tablet might cost $130-$210 to make
- U.S. Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Ice Cream Sandwich update rolling out now
- Google I/O: EA to showcase HTML5-based 3D multiplayer game for Chrome
- Best Android apps for the blind and visually impaired
- Songkick Concerts: Tracking your favorite music artists’ tours, events, and performances
- Stereomood: Finding a music track to match your mood
- Jelly Bean monument shows up in Google campus, 24 hours before official debut of Android 4.1
- CyanogenMod team releases CM9 RC1 ahead of Android 4.1 launch at Google I/O
- Civic Incivility 2012: Kick and punch your presidential candidate’s way to the White House
- Motorola Atrix 3 gets Bluetooth SIG’s seal of approval, launch is imminent
| iSuppli: Google’s Nexus 7 tablet might cost $130-$210 to make Posted: 27 Jun 2012 02:49 AM PDT
Last fall, when Amazon launched the Kindle Fire, they probably had to take a little loss, as the components alone cost about $190 out of the $199 retail price they were selling it for. Add to that the costs of marketing, distribution, and so on. It seems that the Nexus 7, Google’s and Asus’ endeavor, may be a little more profitable, as the materials are estimated to cost between $130 and $210 for the two versions ($199 and $249), according to a preliminary estimate by IHS iSuppli. At the request of ComputerWorld, IHS iSuppli analyzed two tablets that are already on the market, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, which costs $499 (with materials costing almost $300) and the Novo 7 Paladin which is priced at $115 on Amazon (includes components of around $100). According to iSuppli, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 has an LTE module that goes for around $40, and also a Super AMOLED display, which costs $120 alone. By contrast, the Nexus 7 tablet should use a cheaper IPS display, that goes for around $70-$80. The 8GB storage module would cost around $10 for the Nexus 7. In general, the three most expensive components in a tablet are the display, the processor, and the memory. They could make up 60%-70% of the tablet’s total cost, says Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. The processor alone could cost anywhere from $25 to $50, although I assume the Tegra 3 will be on the lower end of that scale, especially for their Kai design, which this tablet will probably use. Some people are suggesting that Google is going to subsidize the Nexus 7 tablet, like Amazon did, but unless Google is willing to do it with everyone’s tablets, I very much doubt that’s going to happen. The other manufacturers, like Samsung, might not be very thrilled about Google’s move to make such a cheap tablet with Asus, but they would be mistaken to think like that. As long as the $200 tablet is profitable enough, and Google manages to sell millions of units, its success should be good for the whole ecosystem. First, all manufacturers would benefit from having more apps for their own tablets in the future. Second, since the $500 Android tablets haven’t been truly successful so far, maybe these inexpensive tablets will be. Again, Google’s strategy will only work if the Nexus 7 is profitable enough, and, according to these materials numbers, that seems to be the case. This article, iSuppli: Google’s Nexus 7 tablet might cost $130-$210 to make , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| U.S. Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Ice Cream Sandwich update rolling out now Posted: 27 Jun 2012 02:43 AM PDT
U.S. Lenovo tablet owners will be happy to hear that their ThinkPad Tablet Ice Cream Sandwich update is finally here. After the company released the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the international versions of the device, it's now time to meet the Android 4 needs of the North American public. According to The Verge, the Thinkpad Tablet Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade has been available since Monday, but in case you haven't received a notification for your over-the-air update yet you can always try to set it off manually. Here are some of the features that Android 4 will bring to your ThinkPad tablet:
Have you updated your ThinkPad Tablet yet? No related posts. This article, U.S. Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Ice Cream Sandwich update rolling out now , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Google I/O: EA to showcase HTML5-based 3D multiplayer game for Chrome Posted: 27 Jun 2012 02:02 AM PDT
Although EA pulled their games from the Google+ game store for lack of user interest (I don’t think Google+ users like playing Flash games that much, and they don’t like getting spammed like in Facebook, either), it seems that the video games giant will still partner with Google to release a sophisticated 3D multiplayer game for Chrome and ICS devices, that surprisingly is not made in Native Client, but in HTML5. I say that’s surprising because, so far, I’ve only seen good looking 3D games for browsers that were done in Native Client (written in C++), like Bastion or AirMech. I haven’t seen anything similar that was done in HTML5 until now. But apparently, EA will do most of the computing in their data centers, not on the devices themselves, and they will only stream the game to your browser, much like the OnLive service works. This could easily allow anything from smartphones to PCs to play pretty advanced 3D games, without any latency at all, provided you have a good enough internet connection. From a New York Times report on the project:
The developers seem to have used little in terms of resources, which made the development of the game less costly for EA. In fact, they don’t have a plan on what to charge or how to charge for it yet, but they have months to figure that out. The game is only intended to show what can be done in a browser, for now. Google, however, wants developers to become interested in making this type of games for Chrome and ICS devices:
A game played in the browser or on a mobile device is going to have to be different than a game played on a console. People don’t have the time or desire to play for hours at a time, so it needs to be interesting and addictive, starting from the first few minutes of playing:
I feel this Google I/O is going to be a lot less about new features arriving with Android 4.1, and a lot more about new content and services that are coming to both Android and Chrome. What do you think? No related posts. This article, Google I/O: EA to showcase HTML5-based 3D multiplayer game for Chrome , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Best Android apps for the blind and visually impaired Posted: 26 Jun 2012 09:00 PM PDT
One of the most common problems that many blind and visually impaired people experience is their day-to-day challenge in coping with their impairment. Equipment such as Braille, reading glasses, or a walking stick are just some of the few things that help visually impaired people get along with their lives. With the advancement of technology, a common Android smartphone equipped with specific applications can aid visually impaired and blind people in functioning. Here are some of the best applications that are tailor-made for visually impaired persons. ScanLife Barcode and QR Reader For those of you who can't afford purchasing gadgets for reading barcodes and identifying certain products, then you might want something less expensive. People who suffer visual impairment can still experience the same technology through the use of an application known as ScanLife Barcode and QR Reader. The app runs on any Android phone, and it is cheaper than those expensive item readers out there on the market. The app is simple to use and all it needs is for the user to take a picture and let the app do its magic. ScanLife Barcode and QR Reader can read UPC and QR codes. Once a code is scanned, the app reads the embedded string as a QR code. This is certainly useful for people who have a hard time shopping for items or buying stuff due to their impairment. TalkBack TalkBack is an application that is part of Google's Android Accessibility Service, designed to help blind and visually impaired users with using their mobile devices. In a nutshell, TalkBack will greatly help blind people hear what they are trying to do with their mobile phone as the app will tell them the item that they have just selected or picked. The app can also read texts aloud and every movement the user makes on her or his phone is carefully being monitored and spoken by the app. To enable TalkBack, users just need to go to Settings > Accessibility and enable the TalkBack service. This app is pretty useful for those who still want to use their mobile phones without suffering any drawbacks or challenges when they try to navigate menus and other services. TalkBack is updated regularly by Google. IDEAL Accessibility Installer The IDEAL Accessibility Installer, also known as the Platform Access Installer, was designed by Google to be a complete package of Google's Android Accessibility programs. This app contains packages for blind or visually impaired people that will help them get through with operating their mobile phones. The app features an all-in-one installer that contains TalkBack, KickBack, and SoundBack (TKS) applications. Google's TKS applications work great in tandem with Android's Accessibility Service for individuals who have disabilities. The applications found in the package will add spoken, audible, and vibration feedback to Android devices. Once you install the application, you can find all of the settings in Settings > Accessibility. Just check the ones you need and those applications will run neatly in the background. Download the complete Android Accessibility Service today with the IDEAL Accessibility Installer. Magnify Turn your phone into an instant digital magnifying glass equipped with a flashlight. Magnify by Appd Lab, is an innovative application that helps users see better by using their smartphone. The app is great for reading tiny print, visual impairment, or people who are just too lazy to put their glasses on. The app is handy and can serve a wide array of functions. Use Magnify in restaurants, movie theaters or places with little or no light at all. For the app to work successfully, keep your phone at a distance of at least 4 inches from an object. There are controls to enhance focus and you can manually turn the flashlight on or off to save battery. The app also supports basic gestures onscreen like double-tap to zoom in or out, single tap to focus, and long-press for turning the light on or off. Font Installer Root One of the hardest challenges for older smartphone users is their tiny screens. Smartphones that have less than 4 inches of screen space will definitely be inconvenient for many users who have problems with their eyesight, especially when such users read texts. There is an application that will solve the problem of tiny font sizes. Font Installer is an app that will enable users to install over hundreds of fonts to their device for better reading. The catch is that your phone must have root access for the app to work properly. If you managed to get past this requirement, then it’s all systems go for you. You can change the fonts you want on your phone, as well as make them big enough to read. Once a font is picked, it will be applied globally and not just to a single application. MessagEase Keyboard MessagEase Keyboard is a smart and fast way to type full text on your Android phone. Users of the application can type lightning-fast messages by using only one hand or just one finger. The app is straightforward so that users don't need to fight with AutoCorrect. With MessagEase, users can accurately type words as the keyboard has large letters that can easily be seen. The best part of MessagEase Keyboard is how customizable it is. Users have the power to change the colors, type using a Swype gesture, change the keyboard layout, and even lookup dictionaries to find the right spelling. Users can also change the size, shape, haptic feedback, and many other aspects of the application. It is highly recommended for users who have a hard time typing or seeing some parts of their phone's screen due to visual impairment. Classic Text to Speech Engine Visually impaired persons usually have a hard time navigating their phone. Whether it’s reading a book or texting someone, they are limited on the things they can do. However, SVOX Mobile Voices made an application that will eliminate the problems of most visually impaired people with the use of the Classic Text to Speech Engine application. The Classic Text to Speech Engine app is a combination of over 40 male and female voices that supports people by reading out aloud their texts, e-books, translations, and even navigation. The app features voice support in key areas like navigation, as it will keep you guided when you are driving. It also reads aloud your favorite e-book or PDF documents, making it an eye-free application. Not only that, it also helps users with their pronunciation. This classic application installs a TTS engine, making it compatible with other applications, as well. WalkyTalky One of the most common problems that many visually impaired and blind people experience is navigation. Most of the time, they need to be equipped with a walking stick, or accompanied by a guide dog. With the latest advancement in technology, getting around town will be easier thanks to Android-powered phones. One such app that helps in navigation is WalkyTalky. WalkyTalky is one of the many apps by Eyes-Free Project that helps blind people get along with their daily lives. The app has an exceptional navigation aid that will greatly help people with visual impairment navigate the streets. Users will able to get instant updates on their current location as the app has a built in compass and will always point to the right direction. If a user gets lost, the app will automatically vibrate and tell the user that he or she is going the wrong way. Ultra Magnifier + Here's another application that is definitely going help you see everything from a different perspective. Ultra Magnifier + by zapDroid will turn your Android smartphone into the ultimate magnifying glass. Go full screen mode by using your phone's camera zoom and get a better picture of a particular thing you want to magnify. To get the most of the application, place your phone’s camera 10 cm away from an object to gain perfect focus. The app only works with phones that don't have locked Camera API's. Other cool features that you can do with Ultra Magnifier + are changing the scene of an object and choosing from negative color, sepia, mono, aqua and solarize effects. NoLED NoLED is an interesting application that will benefit not only phones that lack a dedicated LED but visually impaired people, as well. NoLED can display custom notification icons or dots on the screen to help users instantly know if they have a notification. The app supports different notifications such as text messages, voice messages, missed calls, Google Talk notifications, charging activities, calendar events, emails, and notifications from third-party applications. If there is a missed notification available, the app will display glowing icons of different colors corresponding to the application. This is very useful for users who have a hard time reading notifications, as the icons can help users easily distinguish their missed alerts. Technology has advanced to help not just the every day Jane and John but also people with certain needs. These apps may definitely be of help to people suffering visual impairment. We’re certain that we’ve missed out quite a number of applications, so if your favorite app didn’t make it to our list, share it with us in a comment below. This article, Best Android apps for the blind and visually impaired , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Songkick Concerts: Tracking your favorite music artists’ tours, events, and performances Posted: 26 Jun 2012 06:00 PM PDT
Finally after a year of being an iOS exclusive, Songkick Concerts is finally making its way to the Android platform. Released way back in the iTunes App Store, SongKick Concerts immediately rose to success for being a popular music client. If you're an Android user, then you'll be happy to know that the app is now available to download at the Google Play Store. The app is not just any variant of SongKick Concerts — it pretty much features the same characteristics of its iOS counterpart. Not only that, the developers have added some additional features. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Songkick Concerts, the app automatically scans your entire online and local music libraries. The app will then use its findings to analyze your music preferences and present you with a personalized calendar with all the customizations and gimmicks to alert you on events in your area and your favorite bands’ performances. Songkick Concerts generally follows in the footsteps of several music exploration apps like GigBeat and Bandsintown, but with added elements that makes it unique from its kind. Navigation is a breeze, as the app sports a Holo-themed UI that will please anyone looking for a clean user interface. As soon as you launch the application, it will automatically scan your favorite music sources for information. Once the app finishes scanning, it will present you with a calendar of the upcoming gigs of a bands that the app was able to analyze from your data. Users can view each event with its corresponding details such as date and location. The calendar button on the top right can filter out events depending on your preferred date. If you found something that catches your attention, simply hit the event title to jump to the details screen. From here you can either sync the event with your Google Calendar, get location details, book a ticket, or even share the details with your buddies. Real-time notifications regarding your favorite artist will be regularly streamed. The app includes a widget that neatly displays all the events that you have recently added to the list. The app also has a dashboard designed to help users filter events according to their date, location, and artist. Better yet, you can also search for your favorite tracks and/or artists. If you want to have location-based search results, the app can easily narrow down your results to include popular musical venues and arenas depending on the city of your choice. SongKick Concerts lives up to its name by helping users in monitoring the performances of their favorite artists. If you’ve always been a music lover and you don't want to miss your favorite band's next appearance, be sure to grab SongKick Concert from the Google Play Store absolutely free. This article, Songkick Concerts: Tracking your favorite music artists’ tours, events, and performances , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Stereomood: Finding a music track to match your mood Posted: 26 Jun 2012 03:00 PM PDT
Your music collection might be huge and it just keeps growing because you want to give every mood you have and every activity you engage in an appropriate soundtrack. But, what if you’re really busy and you can’t find the time to throw a new playlist together? Don’t worry, because developers stereomood android created an app just for you. Stereomood is an app that makes sure you have the music to match what you’re feeling, what you’re doing, and what you want to do. When you launch Stereomood on your Android device, you have the option to sign in using your Facebook account or through your Stereomood account. If you don’t have one, the app lets you register for an account. You’ll see a wall of slowly scrolling words but no instructions. You can scroll each line left and right to find a word that fits you. If going through a literal wall of text isn’t your thing, tap on the playlist icon at the bottom to bring up a list. I tapped the word “studying” and the app gave me a playlist with a number of songs chosen to fit the mood. Stereomood is a great way to discover music, especially when you’re looking for something different from your usual playlist. The app pools together the best independent music from artist submissions and the top music blogs. That means being able to access over 100 music playlists and 50,000 songs. You can like a song by tapping on the heart next to the song’s thumbnail, but if it grates on your nerves, ban it from your playlist by tapping the ban icon. If you regret banning the song, pull up the playlist tab from the bottom and tap on the ban sign next to the banned song’s title. It will put the song back into your playlist. You can add your own tags to songs to help Stereomood build its mood playlists, or you can build a playlist of your own. Can’t live without a certain song? Tap more above the song’s thumbnail to bring up a shopping cart to buy the song from Amazon. If you want to let your friends know about what song matches your mood, share the song with Facebook, tweet it, or e-mail it. The app’s UI is clean and easy on the eyes, dominated by black and white with lively splashes of color to complete the look. It’s also easy to navigate so you don’t have to spend ages fiddling with it and getting lost before you get to the function you want. If the ads bother you, you can purchase the developers a cup of coffee and do away with those pesky ads. Get Stereomood for your Android device today. It’s free to download from the Google Play Store. This article, Stereomood: Finding a music track to match your mood , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Jelly Bean monument shows up in Google campus, 24 hours before official debut of Android 4.1 Posted: 26 Jun 2012 12:41 PM PDT
A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say. In case you are not up to date with Google’s informal traditions, the Android team celebrates major releases by decorating the lawn in front of Building 44 from the Google campus with a giant monument representing the desert that gives the codename of the release. It started with Cupcake (Android 1.5), and continued with Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, and Ice Cream Sandwich. Tomorrow, we will see the debut of Jelly Bean, and if you need to know, some say that the next version will be called Key Lime Pie. We’ll be reporting tomorrow with all there is to know about Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Nexus 7 tablet, and all the other cool stuff going on at Google I/O, so stay tuned on Android Authority. This article, Jelly Bean monument shows up in Google campus, 24 hours before official debut of Android 4.1 , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| CyanogenMod team releases CM9 RC1 ahead of Android 4.1 launch at Google I/O Posted: 26 Jun 2012 12:20 PM PDT
The ICS version of Android has been a pretty strange one from the point of view of upgrades from manufacturers and also of the hacking community that are making custom ROM’s for Android phones, like the CyanogenMod team. That’s because ICS was a huge overhaul of Gingerbread. This is the reason it has taken (some) tablet manufacturers a couple of months to upgrade Honeycomb to ICS, but it has taken at least half a year to even start seeing upgrades from most manufacturers for smartphones. It even took Google itself 4 months to upgrade the Nexus S. The ROM community didn’t have it any better, and it has taken them until recently to even get in the RC stage for their ROM’s. The camera app has been the hardest to fix for CM9/ICS because Google completely replaced the camera framework, to make it faster and more advanced, and this means that all phones needed new drivers for the camera so the app can work. This means that all the developers making ICS ROM’s had to rewrite the drivers for the new camera app. It’s one of the main reasons why it has taken so long for an ICS ROM to become stable (the same goes for manufacturers). While CM9 will only support a few dozen devices, there are many more developers who are making ROM’s for their own specific phone model, and they are basing those ROM’s on CM9. Why? Simply because of it’s cross-compatibility for many other devices, and its extra features and performance tweaks compared to stock Android. Google I/O is tomorrow, and we’ll most likely see Android 4.1 not only announced, but also released, which means that the CM team will have no time to rest and will have to get started with adding the Android 4.1 improvements to CM9, or whatever they will be calling it (CM9.1, CM10 ?). They’ve already reached the RC1 stage for several devices today, and this version is coming for more next week. The RC1 stage is the one after beta, so unless some last-minute bugs show up before the stable release, it should be released a few weeks later. This article, CyanogenMod team releases CM9 RC1 ahead of Android 4.1 launch at Google I/O , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Civic Incivility 2012: Kick and punch your presidential candidate’s way to the White House Posted: 26 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT
Does anyone remember those older fighting games where characters travel all over the globe to fight each other against a backdrop of carefully rendered scenery? While keeping that image in your mind, imagine two of the most iconic U.S. election candidates battling it out, fighting game style, across the United States of America. That’s Civic Incivility 2012, developed by Dawkins Creations, a fighting game for Android devices that is sure to tickle the funny bone of anyone tuned into the election news. When you launch the game, you’re treated to the old-school-style starting page. Tap Start to choose between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Your first fight will take place in Orlando, Florida and, in the spirit of old school fighting games, a deep gravelly voice will declare, “Debate!” Players will be very amused to see the heads of Obama and Romney on 2D bodies, ready to jump into the fight. The fighting controls are quite intuitive, and your basic goal is to land as many hits on your opponent as possible. Maneuver your character by sliding him anywhere across the screen and tap on your opponent to punch or kick him. Block against your opponent’s blows and jump over him to avoid getting hit. If you’re getting in blow after blow, your character’s head will turn towards the screen and start reciting some of their most iconic campaign lines. If you aren’t attacking him enough or he’s on the opposite side of the screen, your opponent may start spouting some of his own campaign lines. Keep landing punches to whittle down your opponent’s health bar, as well as interrupt his monologue, and gain points in the lower left portion of the screen for every punch and kick you land. You also charge your special combo gauge, located in the lower right corner of the screen. When that gauge is all lit up, unleash your special attack on your opponent. Special attacks can range from an airstrike to a flock of birds, accompanied by your character of choice’s memorable lines. Once you’ve won the round, get on a plane for the next stop: Columbus, Ohio. With each location change, the background also changes accordingly. Not only that, your combo gauge starts giving you more special attacks to hit your opponent with. The first level may have been a breeze but the farther you progress through the game, the harder it gets. Next thing I knew, the AI had won two rounds in a row. The increasing difficulty will definitely keep you entertained. Civic Incivility 2012 lets you record your score, together with your name and country on the Worldwide Leaderboard. Aim to beat the highest score of, at the time of this writing, God, location: Heaven. The game is rather straightforward, taking your from swing state to swing state for the 2012 race to the White House. I found the UI rather simple but it doesn’t affect the enjoyability of the game. The app was responsive to my tapping, allowing me to steadily whittle my opponent’s health bar down to zero. If you’ve been keeping an older Android phone, you don’t need to feel left out. Civic Incivility 2012 only requires Android 1.6 and up to run, so almost anyone can enjoy fighting as either of the presidential candidates. Civic Incivility 2012 is a wonderful way of spreading the word that voting is a civic responsibility. Get it for free from the Google Play Store today. This article, Civic Incivility 2012: Kick and punch your presidential candidate’s way to the White House , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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| Motorola Atrix 3 gets Bluetooth SIG’s seal of approval, launch is imminent Posted: 26 Jun 2012 11:32 AM PDT
When the original Motorola Atrix first surfaced, there was much fanfare about its biometric fingerprint scanner and a host of docks that come along with the phone. The successor, however, failed to gain the same level of attention from the Android community – which may or may not have to do with the omission of said fingerprint scanner. Fast forward to the second half of 2012, and the Motorola Atrix 3 is already upon us. Bearing the codename Dinara, the phone's pit stop at FCC last week gave us more clues as what to expect from the third iteration of the Atrix series, as well as estimation of when it will hit the market. The roadshow isn't over yet for the Atrix 3, as Unwired View has spotted the phone at Bluetooth SIG's website. The same MB886 model number that we saw at FCC is listed on the screenshot below.
It's quite obligatory for new phones to make stops at the two places for inspection and approval. For customers, this simply means that the phone is inching closer to being sold in stores. The Motorola Atrix 3 is expected to come with a 4.3-inch display of 1280 x 720 resolution, dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB RAM, 13M rear camera, 4G LTE connectivity, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We're not sure if the fingerprint scanner will make a comeback. And like its two predecessors, AT&T will carry the phone in the US. Any fans of the Motorola Atrix series out there? This article, Motorola Atrix 3 gets Bluetooth SIG's seal of approval, launch is imminent , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
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