Android Central |
- Infobar A02 announced on KDDI in Japan with interesting UI and design
- Apps of the Week: Gumtree, Amtrak, OpenSignal and more!
- Hidden full screen browsing mode in latest Chrome Beta discovered
- The week in international Android news - Jan. 26, 2013
- Report: Galaxy Tab 3 initially coming in 10.1-inch version, Galaxy Note 8.0 LTE planned
- Nillkin leather flip cover for Nexus 7
- Amazon Cloud Drive Photos update brings automatic upload and in-app camera access
| Infobar A02 announced on KDDI in Japan with interesting UI and design Posted: 26 Jan 2013 02:38 PM PST
Japan is well-known for its seriously interesting mobile products, and the Infobar A02 on KDDI doesn't disappoint on design or creativity in the least. The Infobar series has traditionally been a design-leading line, and the A02 follows along with a striking thin unibody design in red, white and blue varieties. The design continues onto the interface, which is built on Android 4.1 -- although you wouldn't know it by looking at the homescreen. Closer to the paradigm of Windows Phone, the Inforbar uses a tiled interface comprised of smaller app tiles and larger widget tiles, in a vertical scrolling list. This handset is actually manufactured by HTC, and has some top-notch specs on the inside. We're looking at a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 16GB of (expandable) storage, 1GB of RAM, 720x1280 TFT display, 2100mAh battery and of course LTE. Like many high-end Japanese handsets, the Infobar A02 is also waterproof and dustproof, and includes NFC for mobile payments as well as a 1seg TV antenna. This is quite an interesting handset on all fronts, and worth a look at some of the materials on KDDI's product page for the phone. If you're interested, head to the source link and check out the galleries, especially the pictures showing the lineage of Infobar design for the last 10 years. Source: KDDI 
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| Apps of the Week: Gumtree, Amtrak, OpenSignal and more! Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:07 PM PST
We're in that slow transitional phase between CES and MWC, going through the motions of weird leaks and random product releases. Fear not, as the Apps of the Week posts will continue on regardless. You come here each Saturday to see what apps the Android Central staff are finding and using, so we do our best to find some great picks. Hang around after the break and see how we did this week. 
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| Hidden full screen browsing mode in latest Chrome Beta discovered Posted: 26 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST
Full screen browsing is top of many an Android fans wish list for Google's mobile version of the Chrome browser. On smartphone screens in particular, display space is important. It seems it might not be all that far away, as a recent discovery has shown off a hidden full screen browsing mode. Shared by Reddit user smackel, there is a bit of light work to be done to bring it about. So, while there, our thinking is that this is something to be rolled out properly in future updates. It's also a little buggy, but doesn't take any genius level work to enable. Click on past the break and we'll walk you through it. 
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| The week in international Android news - Jan. 26, 2013 Posted: 26 Jan 2013 08:02 AM PST
Mobile World Congress is just a month away, and already we’re steeped in news of devices reportedly due to be shown off in Barcelona. Alongside all the crazy rumors and leaks, we’ve also had a steady trickle of device announcements and updates to contend with. Needless to say, it’s been a busy few days in international Android news. Join us after the break for a rundown of some of the biggest stories of the week. 
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| Report: Galaxy Tab 3 initially coming in 10.1-inch version, Galaxy Note 8.0 LTE planned Posted: 26 Jan 2013 06:51 AM PST
We've learned much about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 over the past week, and now we're seeing further indications of what plans Samsung might have for its Galaxy Tab line. Samsung fansite SamMobile, which broke some of the Note 8.0 news a few days ago, now says that Samsung plans to launch new Galaxy Tabs this year, but only 10.1-inch versions are on the cards at the moment. The "Tab 3 7.0," it reports, has been mothballed in favor of the stylus-toting Galaxy Note 8.0. Depending on sales of the Note 8.0, SamMobile's source says, an 8.0-inch Tab 3 may be offered at some point in the future. 
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| Nillkin leather flip cover for Nexus 7 Posted: 26 Jan 2013 06:10 AM PST
The Nexus 7 is substantially more portable than larger tablets, and that means you may be more inclined to use a case. I've found the Nillkin leather flip cover for mine, and it's quite an impressive little case for the money. When I got my Nexus 7 I planned on carrying it with me more often, tossing it in the bag whenever I left the house. It's light and portable with great one-handed use, but I wanted to protect the screen when I wasn't using it. The case is a thin, tough, two-tone unit with black rubber edges accenting a colored leather primary case (red, grey or black colors are available). The leather part has a texture to it that I could only describe as a large hard cover book binding, which is very reassuring when holding the Nexus 7 one handed and provides an ample amount of grip. The case snaps on around the tablet like a normal case would, with no extra flaps, straps or fasteners. The flip cover pulls double duty as a screen protector and a tri-fold stand, and is attached with heavy stitching to the back of the case. The cover has a magnet to wake and sleep the device when opened and closed, which is a nice touch. The inside of the flip portion is a light brown microfiber material, which should protect the screen nicely and help soak up some smudges when it's resting on the screen. When you're ready to use the tablet, it flips back out of the way but has no magnet or fastener to keep it pinned back. Luckily the cover is very thin and folds over nicely to be held in a very natural position, so it doesn't add a whole lot of bulk when it's on the back. If you would prefer to use the cover as a stand, it props up the tablet low for activities like typing, or stands it up near a 45-degree angle for things like watching video. At somewhere between $20 and $25 (depending on the day) through many ebay sellers, the Nillkin leather flip cover is worth a look to protect and add a good bit of functionality to your Nexus 7. It is well-made and keeps a clean and functional design throughout, something not found in accessories as often as we'd hope. Check out our hands-on video and several pictures after the break. 
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| Amazon Cloud Drive Photos update brings automatic upload and in-app camera access Posted: 25 Jan 2013 06:00 PM PST
An update to the Dropbox for Android application almost a year ago brought with it an extremely useful feature for the snap happy photographers among us -- auto upload of every photograph taken with the camera to your Dropbox account. Now, if Amazon's Cloud Drive is more your thing, you too can experience the same kind of auto uploading goodness with the latest update to the Cloud Drive Photos app. Another cool new feature for Android 4.x users is the ability to take photos using the camera from within the app. A great little time saver if you're snapping away and trying to organise at the same time. The rest of the changelog isn't quite as exciting, but still pretty useful nonetheless. We now get the ability to select multiple photos to action on, view the upload and download status, along with being able to pause, stop and resume them too. If you're an Amazon Cloud Drive user, grab yourselves a copy from the Google Play Store link above. Equally, if you're yet to try it out, Amazon will give new accounts 5GB of free storage right out of the box. 
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