Android Community |
- HTC One X gets Jelly Bean on Telus in Canada
- Chrome Beta for Android adds support for experimental features
- Samsung Q4 2012 earnings report shows a profit of more than $8 billion
- AT&T grabs $1.9 billion in network spectrum from Verizon
- HTC goes after ROM repository HTCRuu
- Sony released an alpha Jelly Bean ROM for the Xperia T
- IDC: Strong demand for smartphones with Samsung leading the charge
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 images continue to leak
- Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 rugged smartphone announced
- HTC Desire U 4-inch smartphone announced in Taiwan for $275
- Intel and Safaricom announce Yolo Android smartphone for Africa
- Skype for Android updated with portrait calls on tablets, more languages
- AT&T Q4 posts $32.6bn in revenue, still loses $3.9 billion
- Lenovo looking to acquire RIM for Android smartphone push
- Sony Xperia LTE device compatibility detailed
- T-Mobile Galaxy S II getting update – not quite Jelly Bean
- OUYA game controller gets a pre-production redesign
- Huawei Ascend P2 image leaks ahead of MWC reveal
- Acer unveils the Liquid E1 smartphone with 4.5″ display and Jelly Bean
- Amazon acquires IVONA text-to-speech to take on Siri and Google Now
| HTC One X gets Jelly Bean on Telus in Canada Posted: 25 Jan 2013 11:13 AM PST If you’re a proud owner of the HTC One X in Canada we have some good news today in the form of some Jelly Beans. After Rogers started pushing out the update earlier this month it’s been confirmed that TELUS customers are getting the same treat. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is rolling out now for the HTC One X on TELUS. Now we’re just wondering about AT&T stateside.
Confirmed earlier this week from the official @HTCCanada Twitter page, you can expect the update to arrive any minute now if you haven’t received it already. The updates started arriving a few nights ago on users handsets and we’ve heard multiple reports backing up the claims. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean brings a lot of new enhancements and features, as we’re sure many of you are already aware. If not, Jelly Bean brings a faster and smoother UI with Google’s project butter, as well as the highly popular Google Now voice features we all love here at Android Community. The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the TELUS HTC One X should be hitting handsets as we speak, and will be arriving over the air. As usual, users can manually head into settings and check for updates if you’d rather not wait for it to arrive over the air. We’re hearing battery life is seeing a noticeable improvement as well. Balls in your court AT&T. Lets do this! Device Info
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| Chrome Beta for Android adds support for experimental features Posted: 25 Jan 2013 10:45 AM PST Google launched the Chrome Beta for Android app earlier in the month and it looks like we have been given an app that will see regular updates. The app had some new features added a few days after the launch and some more have arrived today. For those trying to keep track, this latest Chrome Beta update brings the version number up to 25.0.1364.47. Of course, if you have any doubt about the version you are running, it is likely easier to fire up the Play Store and see if an update is waiting.
That being said, the Chrome Beta app maintains the requirement of Android 4.0 or later for use and brings “chrome://flags” support. For those not sure what this means or how to proceed — this means access to some experimental features. You can access them by launching the app and typing “chrome://flags” in the URL bar. From here you will be greeted with a warning page letting you know (amongst other things), that “these experiments may bite.” The long and short of the warning is that you may have issues and that these features may “change, break, or disappear at any time.” This warning may sound familiar to those who have played around with some of the experimental features on the desktop version of Chrome. Forgetting the warning and diving in, you will need to skim down and look to see which are available for Android. You can find the Android designation to the right of the experiment name. Or alternatively, you can look for the blue “enable” link Some of the experiments include being able to disable accelerated CSS animations, add an FPS (frames per second) counter, GPU accelerated SVG filters and perhaps one of the more exciting — enabling support for WebGL. The WebGL support should help with things in terms of 3D graphics. The nice part about being able to enable WebGL in the browser, this was once a task that was limited to those who were rooted. [via Chrome Releases] |
| Samsung Q4 2012 earnings report shows a profit of more than $8 billion Posted: 25 Jan 2013 09:53 AM PST Samsung has reported their Q4 2012 earnings and it appears as if they had another good quarter. Of course, as we recently saw with the IDC report, Samsung is doing well in terms of smartphone sales. In fact, they managed to come out on top in terms of smartphone sales for the fourth quarter of 2012.
Putting the IDC report to the side though, the Samsung earnings report show Mobile Communications as having quarterly revenues of 27.23 trillion won. This accounts for a 4 percent increase as compared to Q3 2012 and was said to have been “mainly drive by solid sales” of the Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III. But really, would we have expected something else in terms of top selling devices. After all, Samsung has regularly offered updates in terms of how many they have sold. In addition to strong Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II sales, Samsung cited increased demand in the mid-to-low end new model launches for tablets and increased demand for smartphones in both emerging and developed markets. Other bits mentioned strong sales of smartphones and tablets (in general), increased sales of the Note 10.1 and increased sales of the Galaxy Note II due to upgraded pen functionality. Taking a step back from the Mobile Communication side and looking at Samsung Electronics as a whole and we are seeing quarterly revenues of 56.06 trillion won ($52.04 billion) and an operating profit of 8.84 trillion won ($8.27 billion). Finally, looking forward to 2013 and we learn that Samsung is expecting “intensified competition” in terms of both smartphone and tablet sales. |
| AT&T grabs $1.9 billion in network spectrum from Verizon Posted: 25 Jan 2013 09:42 AM PST Today the two wireless giants have agreed to swap some of their spectrum. Following earnings reports this week from both parties, today the folks from Verizon have agreed to sell off about $1.9 billion worth of network spectrum to their friendly foes at AT&T. The deal will see Verizon transfer 39 700MHz spectrums to AT&T, while gaining some AWS for themselves.
The news and deal was confirmed today by Verizon Wireless, as well as plenty of small details containing what this means for both companies involved. The spectrum in question is Verizon’s 700 MHz B band which covers over 42 million people across 18 states, including Colorado, Florida, Texas, and Utah. Many of the areas currently aren’t supported by AT&T, so they’ll be bolstering their network. While we can’t say for sure what AT&T plans to do with the newly acquired network real estate, it’s pretty much a given that they’ll be using it to improve and expand their 4G LTE offering. As shown below, AT&T’s been on a buying spree as of late. Improving and expanding 4G LTE will be one of the main priorities for both companies as 2013 continues on. As detailed by Verizon, this deal was actually agreed on last year during previous spectrum purchases, and was necessary to get past deals approved. It isn’t all good news for AT&T though, because Verizon has their own plans. The deal worth $1.9 billion consists of a cash payment from AT&T, and some of their Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum. While AT&T is willing to give up the AWS spectrum in favor of the 700 MHz, Verizon surely has something in mind for it. We can expect to see more 4G LTE updates from AT&T following the deal so stay tuned. |
| HTC goes after ROM repository HTCRuu Posted: 25 Jan 2013 08:41 AM PST HTC has recently set their sites on another ROM repository. This latest is HTCRuu.com and the owner has recently been contacted by lawyers from HTC demanding the site be taken down and the domain name transferred over to them. This all seems to come down to the fact the site was providing ROMs, however the complaints were dealing with trademark infringement and copyrighted material.
More specifically, the trademark infringement side was in regards to the domain name and the copyrighted material side was in regards to the ROMs. A little touch on the back story here, this isn’t the first time that we have seen HTC go after similar sites. But at the same time, there always seems to have been a sort of look the other way feel in regards to these types of sites. The key here though, just because HTC may not have reacted before this, it does not justify what HTCRuu.com was doing. In fact, details coming from the owner of the website note that he will comply with the requests to not only remove the site and files, but to also transfer the domain name to HTC. In terms of the name, it was even said that in looking at it now he is able to see that “it was a bad choice to pick for the domain name.” An interesting part here, the HTCRuu site was registered and created several months back — in November 2012. On top of that, the site owner seems to be more puzzled as to why they went after him. Not saying that he was in the right, but that he was nothing more than a “small time Sense ROM developer.” All that being said, we should also point out that HTC is well within their rights to go after sites such as these. [via Reddit] |
| Sony released an alpha Jelly Bean ROM for the Xperia T Posted: 25 Jan 2013 08:01 AM PST Similar to what we saw Sony do with Ice Cream Sandwich, the company has recently released an alpha phase Jelly Bean ROM. At the moment the ROM is only available for one device, the Xperia T. We should also point out that this ROM comes with some serious limitations in terms of use and is truly aimed at the more advanced user.
That being said, as mentioned the ROM is available for the Xperia T. The limitations include some that are minor and some that are major. For example, on the minor side, this ROM does not have the final UI look and feel. Then again, for some that may be a perk. On the major side, this ROM will now allow you to make any calls. Sony is describing this release as having a limited set of working features and not being ready for ordinary everyday usage. According to Sony, the limited set of features is due to them not having passed all the necessary approvals. Aside from not being able to make calls, some of the other “turned off or not yet working” features include the FM Radio, NFC, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This ROM is also missing the Google apps which means you are not going to have any of the Google goodies such as Gmail or the Play Store. Bottom line here, if you are a developer with an Xperia T this may be an option to consider. If nothing else, you will likely be able to provide Sony some feedback and help speed things up in terms of a final release. Otherwise, while Sony has yet to say when a beta or final ROM release is expected, we can look at the timeline from last year. Looking back, Sony released an alpha ICS ROM in December 2011 and followed that up with a beta ICS ROM in February 2012. [via Sony Mobile] |
| IDC: Strong demand for smartphones with Samsung leading the charge Posted: 25 Jan 2013 07:32 AM PST IDC, the International Data Corporation has recently released their Q4 2012 report and are telling a story of strong demand for smartphones and of heated competition between vendors. The numbers are showing the top five smartphone vendors as being Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Sony and ZTE. The report shows all smartphones vendors as having shipped 219.4 million units during Q4 2012.
This makes for a 36.4 percent year-over-year growth. Taking a step back from smartphones and looking at the numbers for all mobile phones, the IDC report notes a total of 482.5 million phones were shipped during the fourth quarter of 2012. This translates into smartphones accounting for 45.5 percent of all mobile phone shipments for the fourth quarter. Comparing the Q4 2012 smartphones sales to the year total, it was said that 545.2 million smartphones were shipped globally in 2012. Unsurprisingly, that number is up from 2011. Shifting over to individual vendors and Samsung was in the lead for Q4 2012. Samsung shipments were 63.7 million which accounted for 29 percent of the market share. Coming in behind Samsung was Apple with 21.8 percent market share and as having shipped 47.8 million units during the fourth quarter. Trailing Samsung and Apple we see a large drop with Huawei at 4.9 percent market share, Sony with 4.5 percent market share and ZTE with 4.3 percent market share. The remaining vendors which are summed up as “others” account for a total of 35.5 percent market share with a total of 77.8 million units shipped. [via IDC] |
| Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 images continue to leak Posted: 25 Jan 2013 06:49 AM PST The Galaxy Note 8.0 is shaping up to be one of the worst kept secrets that we have seen in some time. The leaks have included everything from specs to rendered images to real world images. As of today, it looks another in-the-wild style image has surfaced. We should also mention right up front, this latest has kept the same form factor and looks that we have been seeing.
Simply put, is is beginning to look more and more as if we are seeing a final design. Of course, things can and sometimes do change, which means we still need to get the official details from Samsung. Those details are expected during MWC which means we still have a few weeks to wait, and likely — another few weeks of leaks to watch. That all being said, this latest image leak has the Galaxy Note 8.0 sitting beside the smaller Galaxy Note II. As a side note, we didn’t see the day where we would refer to the Note II as being smaller and while we are technically talking about a tablet and a phone, the comparison somehow seems fitting given the similar looks. Also, this image should be nice for those who are fans of the S Pen as this is the first time we have gotten a full look at that. Otherwise, as mentioned, we are expecting Samsung to announce the tablet during Mobile World Congress. So far the specs are looking to include a Super Clear LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 800, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a microSD card slot, 4600 mAh battery 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and 5 megapixel rear-facing camera. Finally, the Note 8.0 is expected to arrive with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and options for either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage space. [via FrAndroid] |
| Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 rugged smartphone announced Posted: 25 Jan 2013 06:24 AM PST The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 name has been mentioned a few times in recent history. We had seen rumors suggesting an announcement was coming during Mobile World Congress and then it showed up on the 2013 roadmap. It now looks like we can put those rumors to the side because as of this morning, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Xcover 2.
Of course, despite getting an announcement from Samsung, there are still some missing details. First though, lets begin with the specs. The Galaxy Xcover 2 is a rugged smartphone. It is dust proof, sand proof and thanks to the IP67 certification, the Galaxy Xcover 2 can handle being submerged in water up to one meter for up to 30 minutes. The Galaxy Xcover 2 also has a camera key, battery cover lock and strap holder. The hardware includes a 4.0-inch (480 x 800) display, dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, 1700 mAh battery, VGA quality front-facing camera and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with auto-focus and LED flash. The Galaxy Xcover 2 will be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean along with the TouchWiz user interface. And of course, the handset will arrive with the Samsung apps to include the Readers Hub, Music Hub, Video Hub and Game Hub.
A nice perk for those looking for map data, Samsung has pre-downloaded Google Map data with an enhanced GPS ＋ GLONASS setup. This is said to be able to increase satellite signal detection by up to 20 percent and also track your location with improved accuracy. Another pre-loaded app is Cardio Trainer Pro, which gives you the option to create training programs and record your progress. Finally, the missing details included the pricing and release dates. But with that, we suspect Samsung will have the Galaxy Xcover 2 on display and reveal a bit more during MWC. Device Info
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[via Samsung Mobile] |
| HTC Desire U 4-inch smartphone announced in Taiwan for $275 Posted: 24 Jan 2013 06:34 PM PST HTC has announced the Desire U Android smartphone in Taiwan, and while the specs aren’t the best out there, the price is certainly right at $275 USD. With a 4-inch display, Beats Audio, and micro-drilled rear cover art, the device certainly seems promising. Check out its specs and images after the jump to decide for yourself.
Inside, users will find a decent 1GHz processor, although its product page doesn’t specify more than that. There’s a low 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage space, as well as a microSD expansion slot in case the internal storage isn’t enough for your needs. Likewise, there is a microUSB 2.0 connectivity port. Connectivity includes Bluetooth 4.0 (aptX enabled), as well as your standard 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. There’s a 5-megapixel camera around back with an LED flash and autofocus. Maximum image resolution is the same as the display – WVGA (800 x 480). The battery is only 1,650mAh, meaning users will probably be charging it more often than they like. The Desire U runs Android with HTC Sense, although the version wasn’t specified. There’s GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz and HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz. While none of the specs are mind-blowing, this appears to be a solid mid-range handset for those wanting a combination of powerful enough hardware and a budget-friendly price. |
| Intel and Safaricom announce Yolo Android smartphone for Africa Posted: 24 Jan 2013 06:28 PM PST Safaricom is making a rather big announcement for Africa today, introducing its new Yolo smartphone. We’ll sidestep jokes about the name for a moment to point out that this is a pretty significant release, as it’s the first Intel-powered smartphone to launch in the country. That itself is rather big, with Safaricom targeting the phone at first-time owners living in Kenya.
Though this is Africa’s first Intel-powered smartphone, it will only be available in Kenya, at least for now. It features an Intel Atom Z2420 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, which makes use of Intel’s hyper-threading technology. The phone offers a 3.5-inch display, and comes ready to take advantage of HSPA+ mobile data. Thanks to Intel’s XMM 6265 modem, the Yolo has global roaming functionality, and the microSD slot means that expanding on its internal memory is definitely an option. Sadly, internal memory and RAM specifications are two that we’re missing with this announcement, so some things remain in the dark as we head toward release. We do know that the Yolo features a 5MP camera that can record video in 1080p resolution and has a burst function that can snap seven shots per second, all at 5MP quality. The phone will come with a price tag of Kshs. 10,999, which is right around $125. 500MB of data from Safaricom is included in the price, and while that seems like a pretty low price tag, remember that newcomers to the smartphone world are being targeted with this release. No word on a release date just yet, but we imagine it can’t be too far off. Stay tuned. |
| Skype for Android updated with portrait calls on tablets, more languages Posted: 24 Jan 2013 04:12 PM PST If you’re one of the many still using Skype for video calls in this day and age, we have some good news for tablet users. The Android app for one reason or another has just failed to impress, and has been riddled with little issues or lack of proper support. Today Skype was just updated in the Play Store adding new languages, and better tablet support.
Back in November Skype was finally updated with an improved tablet UI, but we quickly noticed that it wouldn’t allow calling in portrait mode and only worked in landscape. This is ok for some devices, but many tablets (like the Nexus 7) have a camera in a spot that makes portrait mode be the angle of preference. Sadly most gave up on Skype for tablets for this very reason but today they’ve fixed that. It surely isn’t anything special. Video or audio quality hasn’t improved, sound is still mediocre at best, but we can now properly use Skype on Android tablets. Today’s update is available now and as you can see above they added a few new things. They’ve fixed the portrait mode for tablets issue, added a few new languages, and claim performance fixes and general improvement.
Sadly their app is still what I’d consider quirky at best. The entire UI looks nice but doesn’t seem to play all that nice, especially on tablets. Users still are required to use the app in landscape mode and ONLY after placing a call do you have the option for portrait mode — and sometimes it still doesn’t work. Overall the app still needs help, but this will do for now. Who still uses Skype? [via Play Store] |
| AT&T Q4 posts $32.6bn in revenue, still loses $3.9 billion Posted: 24 Jan 2013 03:18 PM PST Just like many others this past week the folks from AT&T are holding their earnings and financial results calls today. As usual we are following along for anything interesting, while also watching Apple’s stock, and today AT&T posted some decent numbers although they still raked in a net loss. According to the report AT&T posted $32.6 billion in revenue for Q4 of 2012.
The wireless company experienced another loss for Q4 2012, but the good news is the loss was smaller than last year and they appear to be making serious progress. They sold millions and millions of smartphones, enhanced and improved their 4G LTE network, and are slowly beefing up all aspects of coverage. AT&T posted a profit of $0.44 per share on sales totaling $32.6 billion in revenue. Even with huge revenues topping 30 mill AT&T still sadly reported a loss of $3.9 billion for this quarter along. Like mentioned above though, the good news is that was less than the $6.7 billion less from Q4 2011. Everything isn’t bad news though for AT&T. They had an awesome quarter in terms of adding new customers, and selling smartphones with both breaking records. AT&T managed to add 780,000 new subscribers during the past quarter, and their CEO called it the largest increase in three years. The same can be said about smartphone sales. AT&T sold 10.2 million smartphones in Q4 of 2012 and around 8.6 million were the iPhone. It’s safe to say the iPhone had a good few months. For the entire year of 2012 the consolidated revenue hit $127.4 billion too. AT&T ended mentioning that by the end of the year they hope to have over 250 million customers blanketed in their growing 4G LTE network. [via SlashGear] |
| Lenovo looking to acquire RIM for Android smartphone push Posted: 24 Jan 2013 02:38 PM PST The PC and laptop manufacturing giant Lenovo has slowly been working their way into the mobile marketplace. While their tablets haven’t been a smashing hit, nor have their smartphones, some new products shown off at CES sure were exciting. Today some reports have surfaced that Lenovo could potentially be in the running to acquire RIM, and they might toss the ailing company a nice bid to make things interesting. This would really bolster Lenovo’s Android smartphone offerings.
During CES Lenovo showed us their impressive new K900 smartphone with a 5.5-inch 1080p display and powerful Intel Atom processor, and we came away quite impressed. They haven’t made a dent in the smartphone market as much as they’d like but hopefully that will soon change. According to Bloomberg the second largest PC manufacturer, Lenovo, is looking at their options and one includes purchasing RIM to boost their mobile output and sales. We all know talks about RIM being sold have been in the news for a long long time, but should BB10 fail this could be a real outcome. Reports confirm that according to Lenovo's Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming, RIM is just one of many different ideas and options they’ve been tossing around but nothing is concrete. Ming went as far as to say there’s a team dedicated to finding acquisitions to help their mobile presence. Interestingly enough it would be quite a story to see a Chinese manufacturer such as Lenovo buy out a “secure” enterprise-grade company such as RIM that is so widely used in the US. For now this is just a rumor, but we could be seeing more details on this throughout the year so stick around. [via SlashGear] |
| Sony Xperia LTE device compatibility detailed Posted: 24 Jan 2013 02:05 PM PST Sony Mobile has come forward with some details in terms of which markets each of the LTE capable Xperia handsets will work in. All in all, the Xperia lineup consists of eight LTE devices including the recently announced Xperia Z (C6603). The device list also includes the ion (LT28i), TL (LT30at), T (LTE30a), V (LT25i), SX (SO-0SD), AX (SO-01E) and ZL (LTE C6503, C6506).
Details include North America using the 700, 850, 1900 and 1700/2100MHz bands, South America using the 700, 1700/2100 and 2600MHz bands, Europe using the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600MHz bands, Asia using the 850, 1500, 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2600MHz bands and Australia using the 1800MHz band. The rest of the break down includes operating bands and regions and which models will be supported in each. Keep in mind, several of these devices will be listed in multiple categories. For example, the Xperia Z has support for the 800, 850, 1800, 2100 and 2600MHz bands. Bottom line here, if you were planning to grab an Xperia device from a carrier they will likely have the easier answer as to whether or not LTE is supported. But on the flip side, if you were considering the purchase of an unlocked Xperia handset, the images in the gallery below should be able to help you get the definitive answer as to whether or not you will have LTE support.   [via Sony Mobile] |
| T-Mobile Galaxy S II getting update – not quite Jelly Bean Posted: 24 Jan 2013 01:39 PM PST The flavor of the popular Samsung Galaxy S II that graces the T-Mobile network is receiving a quick software update today. Details have confirmed T-Mobile is pushing an update out over-the-air as we speak for the handset, although it’s still running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We have all the details on this small bug fixer after the break.
We know you’ve all been patiently waiting some news regarding Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for the Galaxy S II, but sadly that time hasn’t yet come. After the update you’ll still be on Android 4.0.4 ICS, but you’ll have plenty of bug fixes as well as security patches. This could also be paving the way and preparing the handset for Jelly Bean. The update only appears to be about 11MB in size and brings with it security enhancements and a few tweaks and updates on the Qualcomm processor side of things. Vlingo S Voice is also getting some improvement, although that wasn’t specified much. As usual all the details are available from T-Mobile support forums. The international GS II just started getting Jelly Bean so hopefully US carriers like T-Mobile are next.
The image above is all Samsung and T-Mobile have provided, so the changelog is rather small. They don’t specify what the Qualcomm fix is for, nor anything else for that matter. Either way this update for ICS on the T-Mobile Galaxy S II is available now over the air, or as usual from Samsung Kies and a nearby PC. Give it a try and drop a comment below if you notice any changes. Device Info
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[via Android Police] |
| OUYA game controller gets a pre-production redesign Posted: 24 Jan 2013 01:16 PM PST The OUYA Dev Consoles were shipped out about a month ago and since then, it looks like the company has been taking the feedback rather seriously. Based on some of the feedback they received, the OUYA game controller will be getting some pre-production adjustments.
Details coming from OUYA note that “a lot of the feedback underscored things we were already changing, some comments were totally new, but ALL were great to hear.” Bottom line here, it looks like the feedback will result in changes to the d-pad, thumbsticks, touchpad, triggers and battery bay. Touching on each of these a bit more specifically, lets begin with the d-pad. This is changing from a disc to cross style which should help eliminate the accidental diagonal moves. The thumbsticks were said to need more grip and this issue is being resolved with the addition of a rubberized top. As for those triggers, the OUYA notes say that the original setup just wasn’t there yet and in order to fix them — they made them “a little more flush with the body of the controller. The final category was the battery bay which will see two tweaks. Those changes include the battery having a tighter fit and the pull tab being changed to a higher-quality material. Finally, while all of those changes should add up to a nicer controller, it seems as if the OUYA team is not yet resting. Further details tell the story of an oscilloscope, which will be used to “test the button-to-screen latency of our controller down to the millisecond.” [via Ouya] |
| Huawei Ascend P2 image leaks ahead of MWC reveal Posted: 24 Jan 2013 12:38 PM PST Just like the weeks before CES, we’re now getting close to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and we’re already starting to see leaks. Huawei is at it again and today the first press image has leaked for their upcoming 1080p super-slim smartphone. Their Ascend D2 was shown off at CES, but MWC it’ll be all about the new Ascend P2 with its 13 megapixel camera and 1.8 GHz quad-core processor.
Now as you can see above the Huawei Ascend P2 looks mightily impressive. They’ve moved to stock Android on-screen navigation buttons, although we aren’t sure what version of Android we’re looking at. Most likely 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. The problem here is we now have conflicting reports on the screen size. The leak today states a 4.5-inch 1080p full HD display – which would be impressive – but previous reports mentioned 5-inches and 720p. Screen size aside the P2 will be one of the thinnest smartphones shown off at MWC, and that isn’t the only thing it has going for it either. Huawei’s fit some top-tier specs throughout this plastic unibody designed smartphone. If rumors are correct the Ascend P2 comes with a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, 8/16GB of storage, a massive 13 megapixel camera while remaining thin, and then happily a 3,000 mAh battery. The leak and conflicting screen size comes to us today from the folks at UnwiredView and @evleaks, but we have a feeling more details and pictures will surface before Mobile World Congress kicks off later next month. Huawei keeps improving with each release and we’re getting excited to see what else they have in store for 2013. |
| Acer unveils the Liquid E1 smartphone with 4.5″ display and Jelly Bean Posted: 24 Jan 2013 12:22 PM PST Acer isn’t necessarily known for unveiling high-end smartphones so this latest shouldn’t arrive with much surprise. The newest Acer handset is the Liquid E1 which will bring goodies to include a 4.5-inch display and dual-core 1GHz processor. Taking a step back from the mid-range specs though, we do have to give Acer some credit for the exterior design, which does seem to be an improvement.
That being said, the Acer Liquid E1 has a display resolution of 960 x 540 and will be running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean at launch. Other specs include 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 +EDR and a 1760 mAh battery. Aside from Wi-Fi, the handset will have support for HSPA (900/2100MHz) connectivity. The camera set-up will include a VGA front-facing and 5 megapixel rear-facing. The Liquid E1 has measurements of 132 x 68.5 x 9.9mm and will weigh in at 130 grams. Touching on the battery, Acer notes that this would should be able to provide up to 8 hours of talk time and up to 400 hours on standby. Otherwise, aside from the unveiling of the handset, Acer has yet to reveal much else in terms of release details. Simply put, Acer has yet to offer anything in terms of pricing or a release date. We also haven’t seen anything in terms of release markets, though it seems safe to say that this one will arrive internationally before it arrives in the US. That all being said, Acer will likely have the Liquid E1 on display next month during Mobile World Congress so look for more towards the end of February. [via Eurodroid] |
| Amazon acquires IVONA text-to-speech to take on Siri and Google Now Posted: 24 Jan 2013 12:09 PM PST In a move to increase their options and features across their growing tablet lineup, today we’re learning that Amazon has acquired the IVONA Software company. They specialize in text-to-speech and Amazon’s used their services in the past, but many think this will be the first step in a new direction. This could be Amazon getting ready to take on Google Now and Siri.
IVONA is the company behind the Kindle tablet lines current voice features. IVONA supplies the “Explore By Touch” or voice-guided featured that have been popular for many of the companies e-readers and recent tablets. For now the type of service it offers is far from what Google Now is doing, and the same can be said for Siri. The important thing is how wide of a service the IVONA software can actually provide. They currently offer voice and language portfolios in 44 different voices and 17 languages, with more currently in development. Add that wide array of options to some backend services and integrate it into a new voice feature — and we could have something. Who knows what Amazon’s actually got planned, or if they even want to take on Google Now and Siri. Their current option is more for the hearing or visually impaired than a full-fledged “feature” but that could soon be changing. We can at least expect more hands-free options and features for current and upcoming Amazon tablets, and hopefully more will come soon. It will be interesting to see what approach the smiley face company takes. [via SlashGear] |
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