Android Community |
- Facebook gears up to launch Photo Sync for Android
- Verizon Galaxy Note II hands-on and unboxing
- Jelly Bean lands on Verizon DROID RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD next week
- Nokia headed to Android hints job posting
- Nexus 7 $99 model appears in benchmarks
- Xbox SmartGlass now supports 7-inch Android tablets
- Samsung Galaxy Camera may come to Verizon according to FCC leak
- Samsung launching Protective Flip Cover bundle for Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III
- New details surface about Redbox Instant by Verizon
- Android Community Nightly: November 29th, 2012
- Square Enix announces Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade for US and Canada
- Pioneer AV receivers get support for HTC Connect
- Sharp’s 5-inch 1080p smartphone shown off against the competition
- Instant Google Street View could be coming soon
- Zynga brings Clay Jam to Google Play
- Verizon sells more 700 Mhz spectrum to Clear Talk
- Google wants to deliver information you never would have searched for
- Google Maps Navigation gets a green light in Mexico
- iLumi intelligent LED bulbs kick off Indiegogo campaign
- Huawei Ascend D2 quad-core 1080p phone leaks in GLBenchmark
| Facebook gears up to launch Photo Sync for Android Posted: 30 Nov 2012 11:30 AM PST Uploading photos you take with your phone to Facebook is about to get a whole lot easier – as in essentially effortless – thanks to Photo Sync. Facebook announced today that after a period of beta testing, it will soon be rolling out its new Photo Sync feature to Android users. The roll out will be happening over the next week or so, meaning that if you don’t get it right away, it should be arriving shortly.
Given that Facebook’s Photo Sync beta has been running since August, there’s a good chance some of you are already familiar with the feature. For the uninitiated, here’s a quick run down: with Photo Sync, you can essentially sync the photos you take with your phone to your Facebook profile. Facebook will upload the photos as you take them, meaning that you don’t have to hassle with uploading yourself – just snap the picture, and it’ll show up in a private album on your Facebook page. That private album bit there is the part to pay attention to. Facebook keeps the photos uploaded with Photo Sync private until you go into the album and decide which ones you want to share publicly. That way, you avoid having private photos seen by your entire Facebook network, which could lead to some pretty undesirable situations. It appears that Facebook is ready to move its Photo Sync feature out of beta, so it should be available through the Facebook app shortly. You’ll want to make sure you’re running the latest version of the Facebook Android app to use Photo Sync, and of course, you can turn Photo Sync off entirely if you want to upload photos on your own terms. Did you have the opportunity to test out Photo Sync before this roll out?
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| Verizon Galaxy Note II hands-on and unboxing Posted: 30 Nov 2012 11:17 AM PST It’s finally here. The Samsung Galaxy Note II complete with Verizon‘s ever expanding and extremely fast 4G LTE has landed on store shelves. As of yesterday the Note II is available in-stores and online from Big Red. Today we’ll be taking a peek at this 5.5-inch smartphone phablet in the new Titanium Color, our personal favorite, then giving you a few pictures of the home button “decorations.”
So here it is, the Note II with Verizon. You all should know absolutely everything about this phone already. Especially if you’re considering picking up this extremely powerful and impressive smartphone. For those that don’t, the Galaxy Note II from Verizon rocks a 5.5-inch 1280x720p HD Super AMOLED display that looks amazing. It comes with a powerful 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 8 and 1.9 megapixel cameras, and of course that S-Pen stylus for note taking and sharing. The Galaxy Note II has a few extremely important features over it’s biggest Verizon rival, that being the DROID DNA — but more on that later. Samsung’s worked really hard to offer tons of additional features over most devices with their Note II. You get the S-Pen stylus and app suite to take advantage of that Wacom digitizer in the display for extreme accuracy when using the stylus. Using the S-Pen to hover over words and buttons for previews, instant screenshots and cropping with the tap of a button, multi-screen mode for true multi-tasking and more. That was all covered in our T-Mobile Note II Review, so for now enjoy the Verizon unboxing! How does everyone like the branding or decorations Verizon added? I’m personally not a fan of the huge Verizon logo slapped front and center on the home button — but to each his own I guess. It’s here to stay (without some modding) so we better get use to it. Running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean the Galaxy Note II is one of the most up to date Android devices available, aside from a few Nexus smartphones. Samsung’s been working hard to deliver timely updates so hopefully the latest Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean arrives in the next month or 3. Enjoy a few photos below and expect another review of this Verizon flavored Note II to come soon.              Device Info
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Dimension & Weight
Battery & Power
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 Cellular Network
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| Jelly Bean lands on Verizon DROID RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD next week Posted: 30 Nov 2012 10:51 AM PST Here’s a happy way to kick off the weekend: Verizon has announced that the update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has been approved for both the Motorola DROID RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD. Support documents for the update have appeared on the Internet, which usually means that the update is just a couple short weeks away. Not this time, however, as Verizon has confirmed that RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD users should be getting the update sometime next week.
There’s no specific date for the start of the roll out, but we have a feeling that RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD owners will be happy enough knowing that the update will be arriving so soon. Verizon and Motorola have been pretty speedy getting this update out the door, but there’s one new Motorola device that managed to beat these two phones to the punch: the DROID RAZR M. The Jelly Bean update for the DROID RAZR M started rolling out earlier in November, meaning that it received the update to Jelly Bean only a couple of months after it was released. That certainly isn’t bad, so it would appear that Motorola is serious about its commitment to getting Jelly Bean updates sent out to its devices. The company announced this commitment when it revealed the RAZR M and RAZR HD, saying that those who don’t get an update to Jelly Bean are eligible for a free $100. Of course, there’s a little more to it than that (there always is), with Motorola requiring that you trade up to a phone that will be getting Jelly Bean to snag that promotional $100. In any case, Verizon’s support documentation details all of the changes that come with Jelly Bean, including voice search, the new smart keyboard, and Google Now. Verizon also says that it has “improved voice and data connectivity” with this release. The update comes in at 276MB in size and will begin rolling out at some point next week, so keep it tuned here to Android Community for more information. [via Verizon]
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| Nokia headed to Android hints job posting Posted: 30 Nov 2012 09:51 AM PST We have some potentially awesome news to share with you all this Friday afternoon. While it might be a little premature, Nokia could in fact finally be realizing they should have gone with Android — the best mobile OS in the world. New reports are surfacing today that Nokia is looking to hire some new “principle software engineers” and many think this could finally be their arrival into the world of Android.
A job posting has appeared on LinkedIn by Nokia looking for a software engineer but it’s the fine details that have many excited about the job posting. It reads: “Principal Software Engineer, Embedded Linux Middleware at Nokia” and then is followed by “job will be to oversee the development of embedded Linux device software and hardware drivers for our exciting new products." That last bit being the important part. As you all know and many including Gizmodo are pointing out, Android is based off of a Linux kernel at its core — and we all know what Windows Phone uses. This is truly exciting as Nokia has some of the most amazing hardware in the business. Well if you ask me of course. We’ve heard Nokia talk about a backup plan before if Windows Phone doesn’t succeed or work out as well as hoped. While those predictions were bold — Could this be the first step? At this point MeeGo is basically all but dead. A few other Linux-based operating systems are supposedly in the works by Samsung but it doesn’t make sense for Nokia to jump on that sinking ship. The only logical thing here is either some of Nokia’s awesome apps for Android, or they will indeed take the jump we’ve all been waiting for and try their hand at the world of Android smartphones. Hopefully Nokia’s new Linux expert gets cracking on some Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean goodness and they release a phone in due time. Who’s excited about this idea? Share your thoughts below.
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| Nexus 7 $99 model appears in benchmarks Posted: 30 Nov 2012 08:54 AM PST Over the last few months, we’ve seen rumors coming and going about a cheaper version of the Nexus 7 tablet. After Google had its big media event where it announced all kinds of new stuff and the cheaper Nexus 7 was not announced, rumors on the device went pretty silent. Well, the rumors are back again, this time it comes from a GLbenchmark for a tablet called the “ME172V.”
What we do know about this tablet, which may or may not be a Nexus 7, is that it features, as you can probably guess, a 7-inch screen with a 1024×600 resolution. It also will have 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage capacity. It also appears to have a 4270mAh battery. he new tablet is reported to be running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean on a 1GHz processor, though we’re not sure at the moment if this model has more than one core. Last month, we heard a rumor that Google was in fact working on a brand new iteration of the Nexus 7 tablet, but that ASUS would not be involved. When compared to competition, the Nexus 7 is already very affordable, but it certainly would not hurt to see an even cheaper model on the market. [via Blue Ringer Men]
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| Xbox SmartGlass now supports 7-inch Android tablets Posted: 30 Nov 2012 07:43 AM PST If you own an Xbox 360 and a 7-inch Android tablet, we have some great news for you. Xbox SmartGlass on Google Play now supports 7-inch Android tablets. This means you can get all the cool features Xbox SmartGlass offers on your tablet, as long as it is of the smaller 7-inch variety.
So what does SmartGlass do? Essentially, it allows you to control your Xbox 360 dashboard from your tablet or smartphone. The best way to think of it is as a second screen for your Xbox 360. You can control videos, navigate around the dashboard and all that good stuff. You can also use SmartGlass to send text messages to your friends on Xbox Live. This helps you avoid the painful process of typing with the on-screen keyboard. If you own a 7-inch tablet, and you’ve made it work on a tablet besides the Galaxy Tab 2 or Nexus 7, hit the comments section below and let us know. [via Cnet]
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| Samsung Galaxy Camera may come to Verizon according to FCC leak Posted: 30 Nov 2012 06:52 AM PST One of the more intriguing devices out there is the Samsung Galaxy Camera. It offers the quality of dedicated camera and awesome Android features of a smartphone. The one big flaw that some users could find with the device is that it is only available from AT&T. Well that might be changing soon enough, if this possible listing from the FCC is to be believed.
Overall, the Galaxy Camera in its current form is a fantastic device. It comes with a 4.7-inch LCD and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean installed. It comes with a 1650 mAh lithium-ion removable battery that seems be working quiet well.
As for the camera itself, the current model comes with 16 megapixels and 21x optical zoom. That’s a pretty solid resolution that can take some beautiful shots. Check out our review on the current model Galaxy Camera to get a feel for the device. Hopefully, this Verizon version comes to fruition, but for time being, we will have to wait and see if one of the two companies involved announce something official. [via TalkAndroid]
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| Samsung launching Protective Flip Cover bundle for Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III Posted: 30 Nov 2012 06:23 AM PST Samsung Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III owners looking for a colorful way to protect their device are in luck. Samsung is offering a bundle of Protective Flip Covers for the two devices. With the bundle, users get a bunch of colors at a discounted price.
The cover offers a one piece folding design with a glossy snap on the back and a front cover. The front cover keeps the screen safe and the back keeps the phone free of scratches and helps save the phone from drops. The covers also prevent fingerprints and dirt from getting on the device. The Protective Flip Covers are designed specifically for the two Samsung smartphones to add as little bulk as possible. The covers sell for $39.99 each with a bundle of four different colors coming in at $99.99. For users who want a little less variety, two colors are available for $49.99. That price is the same on both the S III and Note II. [via SlashGear]
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| New details surface about Redbox Instant by Verizon Posted: 30 Nov 2012 05:47 AM PST Netflix has been the dominate force in streaming movies and TV for a long time, but companies such as Amazon are looking to take that business from Netflix. Well, another company is going to be jumping into the fight. Redbox, the disc-based movie rental service that is in nearly every grocery store, is getting ready to launch its own streaming service, and some new details have emerged on its service.
The second tier is $8 a month and includes four credits to rent physical discs from a Redbox location each month. Users can check online and reserve discs to make sure they get the movie they want. Unused credits expire at the end of the month, so you cannot stockpile for a massive movie marathon. Redbox Instant by Verizon will offer video-on-demand service that allows users to download a movie starting at $.99. The rented videos can be downloaded to an Android device and watched offline, such as on a plane. Redbox Instant by Verizon will be available on computers, Android/iOS devices, certain Blu-ray players, Samsung televisions, and the Xbox 360 console. Based on the help section, it looks like the service might be launching on December 17. [via SlashGear]
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| Android Community Nightly: November 29th, 2012 Posted: 29 Nov 2012 07:52 PM PST Welcome to the first of many Android Community Nightlies we’ll be enjoying together in the future. No, we aren’t talking about the latest CM or AOKP nightly ROM build either. Instead we’ll be focusing on one simple post each evening to let you catch up and enjoy all the Android news from the day. So with that we’ll jump right into today’s Android Community Nightly full of new games, Android 4.2.1 and more.
We’ll start with hardware and jump into the many different bits of software and game news that happened today. The Samsung Galaxy Note II from Verizon became available today in stores and online, then Samsung announced their Galaxy S Advance would be enjoying Android 4.1 Jelly Bean come January. Hopefully by January Samsung will have updated all their Galaxy S III, Note II’s, and many of their recent Galaxy Tablets too. Then probably the most exciting and nostalgia filled news today was the release of Jet Set Radio for Android. Can you say awesomeeee! Following that we also received a price drop for the official Predators game for Android too — which is almost as awesome as Jet Set Radio. In other game news Angry Birds Star Wars received an update with the HOTH, 20 new levels, and Princess Leia even was included. Other software news includes YouTube adding more languages to their closed caption support, and Samsung’s remote app Peel getting an expansion.
Consumer reports came out with their report on carriers and networks today, and as usual Verizon took first place while AT&T is in dead last — again. I wonder if they should start docking Verizon points for being slow to release devices, and the worst when it comes to Android updates. In other news Google Play is slowly gaining ground on Apple’s App Store, and Amazon’s own 3rd party store received a quickie software update too. In more Google and Jelly Bean news the folks from Mountain View released the Android 4.2.1 factory images for the Nexus 4, 7, and Galaxy Nexus — so that’s good news. Speaking of Google, Maps Navigation is now available in Mexico, and Google’s trying to develop software that will guess what you might search before you even search it — or think it — creepy right? That is some big brother stuff but at the same time I love where technology is headed. This is only the beginning!
To wrap things up this evening Zynga released a rather fun game called Clay Jam, Sharp is releasing their own 5-inch 1080p smartphone next month, and Google showed us an awesome company that made an app that does Instant Google Street View searches. For any and all Android news that you might have missed this afternoon, click any of the multiple links above to get your daily Android fix! See you tomorrow!
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| Square Enix announces Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade for US and Canada Posted: 29 Nov 2012 06:15 PM PST Video games in general are pretty awesome, but one bad thing about being a gamer is watching as players in other regions get to enjoy a game that will probably never be released where you live. We thought that would be the case with Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, a mobile game made by Square Enix that has so far been exclusive to Japan. Apparently that isn’t the case, as Square Enix announced today that Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade will soon be launching in the US and Canada.
With Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, Square Enix has partnered with DeNA, creator of the social games platform Mobage. Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is indeed a social game, as it will have you teaming up with other players as you adventure through a world inspired by the main Final Fantasy series, collecting weapons and fighting enemies from the series along the way. The twist? Each player gets his or her own airship, which we have to say sounds like an awesome game mechanic. After all, who doesn’t love airships? Square Enix seems to be marketing Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade toward those who are new to the long-running franchise, but assures that series veterans will have plenty of fun with the game too. Square Enix must have done something right with Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, as the game has attracted more than three million players in Japan. Hearing that, it’s no wonder Square Enix is willing to ship the game overseas. Like most social games, Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade will be free-to-play, and sadly Square Enix didn’t talk about its microtransaction system in its announcement. The game will be available on the Google Play Store eventually, but Square Enix has yet to announce an actual release date. If you’re interested in checking out Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, you can pre-register at the game’s official site to be notified when release information is made public.
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| Pioneer AV receivers get support for HTC Connect Posted: 29 Nov 2012 05:22 PM PST If you happen to own both a Pioneer AV receiver from 2012 and a HTC smartphone, then starting today there’s a chance you can use both of them together. Today Pioneer announced a firmware update for “all Pioneer 2012 networked audio video receiver models,” that adds support for HTC Connect. This means that you can now use your HTC smartphone to stream music to your receiver.
That’s not a bad feature at all, but these AV receivers aren’t the first Pioneer products to get HTC Connect functionality. That distinction belongs to the company’s SMA wireless speakers, which launched earlier in the year. In any case, a number of Elite and Pioneer branded AV receivers have been given HTC Connect support, and you can see the full list over at Pioneer’s website. By clicking on that link above, you can also find the firmware update for your specific receiver. The page lists all of the HTC handsets that will be compatible with your receiver after you’ve applied the update: the HTC One series, HTC Droid Incredible 4G, HTC EVO 4G LTE, and the HTC DROID DNA. That’s a pretty healthy selection of HTC smartphones, and we’re sure owners of the brand-spanking-new DROID DNA will be pleased to see the device on the list. It should be noted that you can still use your phone as you stream music to your receiver, though Pioneer warns that this functionality hasn’t been tested with third-party apps, so it’s recommended that you use HTC’s pre-installed music app to make sure that everything works properly. Is your receiver supported in Pioneer’s push for HTC Connect support?
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| Sharp’s 5-inch 1080p smartphone shown off against the competition Posted: 29 Nov 2012 04:18 PM PST Smartphones with quad-core processors and massive 5-inch 1920 x 1080p full HD displays are going to be the talk of 2013. HTC’s already released their DROID DNA, and reports of similar offerings have came from Samsung, LG, and a few others. Today however Sharp is showing off their new 5-inch 1080p smartphone, and comparing it to the competition. It features some pretty impressive specs too so lets take a look.
Known as the Sharp Aqous SH930W this Android 4.1 Jelly Bean powered smartphone is smaller than most thanks to an extremely thin bezel. They sadly only compare it to the Galaxy S III, HTC One X+, and of course the Galaxy Note II, none of which have a 1080p HD display like the DROID DNA. However, it still shows just how impressive the Japanese companies new smartphone actually is.
Sharp has scaled back on some of the top end specs the DROID DNA comes with, and are going to offer it at a lower price point for their customers. You’ll be working with the same 443 ppi 5-inch 1920 x 1080p HD display but they’ve dropped 4G LTE, dropped the quad-core, and instead it’s powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor — which is still plenty powerful. You still get 2GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sharp increased the internal storage to 32GB (compared to 16GB on the DNA) and the battery is still pretty small dialing in at 2,100 mAh. The folks from ePrice got their hands on the training material you see below, and according to them the device will be on sale come mid December in multiple regions, starting with Japan. According to them it will be priced right around the $580 mark. The phone has just been announced so we aren’t sure what other regions will get to enjoy this 5-inch phablet from Sharp. Stay tuned for more details.    [via Unwired View]
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| Instant Google Street View could be coming soon Posted: 29 Nov 2012 03:27 PM PST Good old Google is always thinking of ways to better their apps and services. Things like Google Maps Navigation, Street View, or the impressive instant Google search. Instant search and autocomplete was a huge task by Google and something we use daily. Start typing a word and it guesses it for you, saves you keystrokes, and works like a charm. What if we have instant Google street view too? Well, someone’s developed exactly that.
When you type into Google search on any platform it predicts what you’ll be typing, and thus makes searches faster and easier. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have this same feature on Google Maps with street view. Today on Google’s Geo Developer Blog they’re featuring a company that has built a rather interesting system for doing just that. It starts off with a simple Instant Street View search page as shown above, and as you type it predicts what you’re searching for and shows you a street view of said location, and even predicts it before you finish. You’ll be looking at that old road where you grew up before you even finish the street name. Pretty neat right? The company is called QSView and it sounds like Google’s a pretty big fan of said company. Maybe we’ll see Google purchase them in the future, and add this to their many features available on our Android smartphones and tablets. Instant Street View uses Google’s autocomplete library and will find the street you search for as you type as we mentioned above. By the time you’re done you won’t have to hit “search” because you’ll already be looking at the destination.
Recently Google’s been all about getting us the information we need, and doing so quickly. They’ve added tons of features to Google Now for Android that shares location based details, time, notifications, flight information and more all automatically on our Android devices. I’m a huge fan of Google now. Then this afternoon we reported they’ve been conducting studies where they’ll try to predict what we search for, basically before we even do it. Pretty crazy technology when you really think about it, almost scary. Pretty awesome ideas are behind Instant Street View. Hopefully Google snags this company up and integrates it into all of our favorite devices. That would be great. Thoughts? [via Tech Crunch]
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| Zynga brings Clay Jam to Google Play Posted: 29 Nov 2012 02:52 PM PST Zynga gets a bad rap for making games that are similar to other casual titles on the market, but today we’re seeing the company release a new mobile game that’s pretty unique. Clay Jam is available today on the Google Play Store, and it’s a game that looks to appreciate the finer points of modeling clay. In fact, every model in the game was made with modeling clay, which gives it that hand-made feel that you just can’t get with computers.
In Clay Jam, players take control of a ball of blue clay named Fat Pebble. The world of Clay Jam – more specifically, the hills of Clay Jam – have been devastated by monsters called Bully Beasts, and it’s Fat Pebble’s mission to rebuild these hills and return Clay Jam to its former glory. The game is comprised of five courses, with the goal of collecting up clay and growing bigger to deliver a devastating hit to the Bully Beast waiting at the end of the level. As Fat Pebble rolls through these courses, players swipe the screen to create the grooves in the ground that change his direction. You’ll need to do this in order to gather up clay, as Fat Pebble needs to roll over other creatures made of clay to grow bigger. You can spend the clay you earn to add bigger monsters to Clay Jam’s various levels, thus opening up the potential to gather more clay in subsequent run-throughs.
Of course, if you don’t want to go to the trouble of earning all of that clay by yourself, you can outright buy clay through in-app purchases. It’s a quirky and fun little game, and it sounds like just the thing Zynga, which has been struggling lately, needs to add to its portfolio. Clay Jam is the latest in a line of games that have Zynga acting as publisher, and with the company’s huge user base, this is a pretty big win for UK indie studio Fat Pebble as well. Clay Jam is free-to-play and available on the Google Play Store now [download link], are you going to pick it up?     
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| Verizon sells more 700 Mhz spectrum to Clear Talk Posted: 29 Nov 2012 02:07 PM PST Verizon has been pretty busy lately working on their 4G LTE spectrum. They’ve been doing a little of both, selling and buying up available spectrum as long as the FCC approves of the deal. Today Verizon has confirmed they’ve sold more 700 MHz 4G spectrum to Clear Talk and will be awaiting approval by the FCC.
In an effort to better serve their customers, Verizon’s been doing all sorts of spectrum swaps as of late. Back in August they bought up tons of 4G LTE spectrum to help their nationwide rollout, which also saw some of their lower spectrum sold to T-Mobile in the process. Now it looks like a few more rural small providers will be benefiting from Verizon once again. Clear Talk has agreed to purchase plenty of Verizon’s lower B-Block 700 MHz spectrum and the deal will be finalized as soon as the FCC approves the sale. The deal with Clear Talk includes licenses covering five markets in Texas as well as markets in Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. The 10 markets have a population of 2.1 million, so that’s good news. They’ve also been licensing out their faster 4G LTE C-block to as many as three different providers to offer a jumpstart for regional 4G LTE operators. This is a large effort by Verizon to consolidate their network holdings while continuing to expect 3G and 4G LTE to rural parts of America. This also helps them rationalize what they currently have to reach a wider base and more customers in their most popular and growing markets across the US. Verizon has sold over 36 lower spectrum since 2011 and this marks some good news for Clear Talk and their subscribers. [via Talk Android]
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| Google wants to deliver information you never would have searched for Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:47 PM PST Google is already pretty good at delivering information right when we ask, but naturally, it wants to get better. It wants to get so good, in fact, that it’s been looking into what sort of questions people have but never think to search for. That’s according to MIT Technology Review‘s Tom Simonite, who spent three days participating in Google study that aimed to find out what was on his mind.
Here’s the issue Google is facing: search is good for a bevy of information, but there are still times when we’re wondering something and don’t immediately hit up Google for the answer. Either we can’t be bothered to sit down at the computer and look up the answers to our questions, or we look to another resource for the information we’re seeking first. This prompted Google’s lead user experience designer for search Jon Wiley to kick off the Daily Information Needs Study, which asked around 150 people what they were wondering at 8 random times throughout the day over a three day stretch. Wiley isn’t willing to share the results of the study yet, but even without the results in-hand, we know that it brings Google a little closer to its goal of providing information right when users need it. “We've often said the perfect search engine will provide you with exactly what you need to know at exactly the right moment, potentially without you having to ask for it,” Wiley told Simonite. This new method of search could even use data phone – such as GPS information – to guess at what you’re thinking before you ever think to turn to the search giant. It sounds like this could go hand-in-hand with Google Now, which is already focusing on using data from your phone to deliver personalized information that you can actually benefit from. This will definitely be an ongoing effort from the big G, so we’re excited to see where it goes next. Keep it tuned here to Android Community for more information.
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| Google Maps Navigation gets a green light in Mexico Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:36 PM PST Those folks from Mountain View have been working hard to bring their popular services to as many regions as possible. Yesterday it appears that the awesome Google Maps Navigation feature has been given the green light and is now available in Mexico. It’s in a beta stage, but users in Mexico should be able to use and enjoy Maps Navigation with all the features we currently enjoy elsewhere.
According to Android Police Mexico got added to the official supported list and help page for Google Navigation earlier this week, so they were quick to assume it was coming soon. However yesterday @GoogleMexico confirmed the news right to Twitter.
Google recently added Singapore and other locations to their offering, and today our friends (and drug cartels) to the south just got the same treatment. Google’s been updating Navigation frequently and in March added a new menu and improved the user interface significantly. For now Google Maps Navigation is still considered beta and tells you so each time you fire it up, but it works pretty flawless for us here at Android Community and has for a long while (insert Apple Maps joke here). If you’re in Mexico give Google Maps Navigation a try today. For those in other regions check out this list to see if your area is supported.
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| iLumi intelligent LED bulbs kick off Indiegogo campaign Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:06 PM PST There are a few intelligent light bulbs vying for your dollar at the moment, but before you dive in, you might want to give iLumi a look. The iLumi series of Bluetooth LED light bulbs have been in development for the past two years, and now they need your help in making it to market. The iLumi Team has created an Indiegogo campaign to secure funding for this new line up of intelligent LED bulbs, and they have 35 days left to reach their funding goal of $100,000.
What’s cool about the iLumi bulbs is that they have Bluetooth built in, so they can communicate directly with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. They have a range of 100 feet, and can sync up with the other iLumi bulbs in your house as a means of sharing the commands you issue. Powered by HyperLux technology – which the teams says “makes iLumi the brightest and most efficient multicolor light bulbs” – the iLumi comes in four different varieties. There are two large-sized iLumi bulbs, one with white spectrum functionality and the other with full spectrum capabilities. Similarly, there are two small-sized iLumi bulbs, with white and full spectrum models to choose from. The bulbs are controlled through an Android app on your phone, and iLumi’s technology is capable of supporting a network of 100 bulbs. That certainly isn’t bad, and it’s made even better by the fact that iLumi is touting “limitless programming options” with these bulbs.
For instance, the lights can sense your proximity and can turn on when you enter a room, switching off when you leave. If you have a house full of iLumi lightbulbs, you can even have them light your path as you walk through hallways and rooms. There are many other uses for the iLumi bulbs, and the team says they plan to release a developer SDK so users can come up with all new functionality for the line. iLumi bulbs start at $59, and depending on how quickly you get your pledge in, you could receive your bulbs as early as March 2013. There’s a lot more information over on iLumi’s Indiegogo page, so be sure to check that out if you think you might be interested in the new line up of intelligent light bulbs!
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| Huawei Ascend D2 quad-core 1080p phone leaks in GLBenchmark Posted: 29 Nov 2012 12:46 PM PST The somewhat popular Chinese brand Huawei has been making great progress as of late with their Android offerings. The folks from Huawei have been releasing impressive phones with their own in-house quad-core processors, large batteries, and trying to “get it right” according to them. While they still aren’t there yet, a new smartphone leaked from a GLBenchmark shows some promise.
We recently had a chance to review (and enjoy) the Huawei Ascend D Quad XL. Which is Huawei’s latest and greatest smartphone with a 4.5-inch HD display, quad-core processor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and an overall solid package. Today however it looks like Huawei is already in the testing stages for their next powerhouse smartphone, one we’ll probably see at CES in early January. Leaked as the Huawei D2-5000 this will indeed be the new Ascend D2 Quad when it hits the streets and it comes with pretty impressive specs. According to the GLBenchmark test the new device rocks a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, and a full HD 1080p display. The odd thing here is the resolution listed was 1800 x 1080, instead of the usual 1920 x 1080 we’ve seen in recent leaks and like the DROID DNA. Quad-core processors and 1080p displays are soon going to be the norm here for Android, and Huawei is looking to get a jump start and have their new flagship ready for CES and MWC next year. Samsung is still leading the pack and ZTE is the manufacturer of choice in China, but Huawei is hoping to change that with their latest devices. The rest of the specs aren’t available just yet but you can see more from the GLBenchmark site. Hopefully this will help Huawei get on track to the top spot in China. [via PocketDroid]
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