Android Phone Fans |
- Pebble watch begins shipping to early backers, Android app coming Jan 24th
- NASA’s newly published images of the sun make for the perfect Android wallpaper
- Australians to get a ride on the Nexus 4 train Feb. 1st with retailer Harvey Norman
- Hands-on: SF Launcher Alpha by Alamo Apps [VIDEO]
- Samsung said to be stepping into the 440ppi realm with Samsung Galaxy S4
- Good Guy Samsung extends free Galaxy S3 and Note 2 Flip Covers promo
- GroupMe 4.0 brings complete redesign, tablet UI
- LG VS870 heads to FCC in Verizon flavor, could be an Escape with wireless charging
- HTC M7 said to be getting revealed a week ahead of Mobile World Congress
- Facebook takes “most used app” crown from Google Maps in 2012, 2013′s story sure to be different
- Pink Droid RAZR M headed to Verizon in time for Valentine’s Day
- Samsung reshaping pixels to create ultra-dense HD displays
- Before Apple, Verizon planned to launch Siri as Droid line’s killer feature
- Nexus 4 once again available from T-Mobile
- T-Mobile teases LTE, plans to cover 200 million subscribers by end of year
| Pebble watch begins shipping to early backers, Android app coming Jan 24th Posted: 23 Jan 2013 06:24 PM PST
I’ve been wanting to get into the whole “connected watch” scene for quite awhile now but haven’t been able to pull the trigger yet on any specific product. The Pebble watch has been one such prospect, fully funded and Kickstarted by a whopping $10,266,845 many moons ago. After what seemed like forever, Pebble has finally begun shipping out their first round of Bluetooth connected watches to early backers. More than 500 units will be arriving on doorsteps, with even more expected to ship “soon.” Apparently Pebble’s factories in China are pumping out a thousand units a day, but when we can expect Pebble in stores is anyone’s guess.
As for the Android app that will give users the ability to program watch faces, widgets, and added features, that will officially arrive in the Play Store come January 24th (iOS version still pending approval). Any Phandroid readers been clamoring for a Pebble watch, or do alternatives like I’M Watch have your eye? Anyone feel that connected watches are useless? |
| NASA’s newly published images of the sun make for the perfect Android wallpaper Posted: 23 Jan 2013 05:13 PM PST
The boys at NASA have published some images of the sun that are both breathtaking, and awe inspiring. The images show our sun through a variety of filters used by the Solar Dynamics Observatory to study our yellow sun (as opposed to Superman’s red sun) and its surface behavior. One of the images actually combines all of these filters to form a single picture of the sun, making for a beautiful collage of colors from something we see every day — just never like this.
Why are we telling you guys about this? Well, the high-resolution image (linked below) makes for one wicked cool wallpaper on your Android device. Links to the post from NASA, as well as the image, have been provided below. Science, am I right? [NASA | High-Res Sun Collage Image | via Gizmodo] |
| Australians to get a ride on the Nexus 4 train Feb. 1st with retailer Harvey Norman Posted: 23 Jan 2013 04:58 PM PST Just yesterday, we were wondering when we might be able to buy more Nexus 4 units in places like North America and Europe. While Google’s CEO Larry Page had little more to offer than the promise that the Nexus 4 supply issues is the team’s top priority, LG was busy brewing up an announcement that the device would become available starting February 1st… except this time, it’ll be in Australia. The company has agreed to sell the device in Australia through retailer Harvey Norman, and while the list price will be about AUS$100 more than what you can get it for in the Google Play Store we have a feeling that the Play Store’s limited availability will have folks shelling out the extra dough to own one.
This will be sour news for many to swallow as folks are still without word on a restocking in the Google Play Store in various countries. Word on the street is that Google didn’t put in enough orders to meet initial demand, so if that’s the case then that definitely explains why stock at the likes of T-Mobile and Harvey Norman seem to be more plentiful. We’re not exactly sure how plentiful it’ll be for the latter just yet, but if there are enough units to guarantee a February 1st launch then that must be where a lot of LG’s production time is going. This entire episode has been one big, confusing headache for everyone involved. You would think Google would get first dibs on LG’s production time, but from the outside looking in it sounds like Google has to wait in line just like everyone else. Perhaps it’s yet another lesson to be learned for the Mountain View giant, but 2013 is well underway and people aren’t patient enough for lessons anymore. These sorts of blunders might have been cute and flown under the bridge for Google’s first crack at this when they introduced the Nexus One, but I would liken this sort of regression to a cancer that just won’t die — after a while, you just get tired of it coming back and the optimistic attitude and smiles become more difficult to fake each time it does. That said, we’re still happy for our friends over in the land down under. All Harvey Norman stores will have the device for use with any carrier for $496 outright, while those who want the phone subsidized on a contract will need to pick up a plan with Optus. Read on for full press details.
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| Hands-on: SF Launcher Alpha by Alamo Apps [VIDEO] Posted: 23 Jan 2013 04:29 PM PST
Probably the best part about Android is its sheer variety of homescreen replacements (or launchers) available in the Google Play Store. Of course, sifting through all of them provides a challenge in itself and most of the time, most are simply rehashes of the stock AOSP browser with a few added features. Every now and then, a developer attempts to change things up by coming up with a launcher that’s truly unique, changing the behavior and look of the traditional launchers we’ve grown accustomed to. One such launcher is SF Launcher by Alamo Apps and it offers a fun new take on a traditional launcher setup. Still very much in its infant stages, the homescreen replacement looks to mimic the UI and stylings of the Google Now app found on Jelly Bean devices. The first thing you’ll notice upon downloading is a big, colorful header with the time and date similar to the one found on Google Now, only minus the search bar (we really need an option for a search bar). Currently, the header can be customized to show a cartoonish landscape of either San Francisco (that’s where the SF in SF Launcher comes from), London, or a generic mountainous region.
Below the header are 2 sections: a spot for widgets (that can be scrolled horizontally), and the other to place your favorite app icons. Swipe to the right, and you’ll find all your applications neatly tucked away in alphabetic order. Give ‘em a long press and you can send them over to your favorites section.
Swipe to the left and you’ll find a few settings for tweaking your homescreen to your liking. This can be done a variety of ways. There are settings to change the theme between light and dark, and even have it change automatically according to the time of day. Pretty snazzy if white backgrounds give your battery anxiety. Other settings include the ability to change the size of the icons, columns, as well as display their names and adjust font size. That’s pretty much all there is to SF Launcher. Clean. Simple. Minimal. Oh, and don’t forget — still very alpha. Sure, this wont be for everyone (what app ever is?), but with regular updates coming almost daily, this might be one launcher you want to keep an eye on. You can download SF Launcher Alpha for free in the Play Store. |
| Samsung said to be stepping into the 440ppi realm with Samsung Galaxy S4 Posted: 23 Jan 2013 04:04 PM PST When Apple first unveiled its high resolution “Retina” display for the iPhone series, many marveled — at the time, no other smartphone could boast a display nearly as sharp. That was multiple years ago, though, and as we all know things tend to change very fast in the tech world. A changing of the guard, if you will, has already happened in many different areas. Android is now the world’s top mobile smartphone OS, Samsung has become the world’s biggest mobile OEM, and I might finally be able to get my mom to upgrade from a dumbphone this year. Welp, it looks like things are going to get even more interesting starting in 2013.
DigiTimes is reporting that Samsung Display is working on a new sub-pixel arrangement for its smaller AMOLED panels, and that the new display would be featured quite prominently in the Samsung Galaxy S4. We’re expecting nothing short of a 1080p display, of course, and in order to maintain a pixel density of 440ppi or higher Samsung is said to be using a hexagonal and diamond-shaped layouts as opposed to the more traditional side-by-side layout. Samsung is currently trailing Apple in terms of sheer ppi, with each company’s respective flagship devices — the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 — sporting 306ppi and 326ppi, respectively. Samsung’s feat is still a tad more impressive considering the 4.7 inch display size of the Galaxy S3 compared to the iPhone 5′s 4 inch display. The HTC DROID DNA and several other 5-inch, 1080p smartphones have already bested those figures, though, with pixel densities of 440+ ppi. Some were worried Samsung wouldn’t be able to bring that sort of sharpness to its AMOLED-based panels in time for the next iteration of the Galaxy S, but should these rumors hold up it looks like that won’t be an issue. Unfortunately we’re still left wondering when, exactly, we might see the next big thing unveiled. Samsung is almost sure to be headed to Mobile World Congress, but recent murmurings suggest we won’t be seeing the Galaxy S4. Instead, their showing is rumored to feature the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 as the star of the show, and a couple of other neat surprises might be awaiting us behind several red velvet curtains. We’ll be in Barcelona to take it all in so be sure to keep it parked here. |
| Good Guy Samsung extends free Galaxy S3 and Note 2 Flip Covers promo Posted: 23 Jan 2013 02:51 PM PST
A few weeks ago, we told you guys about a Samsung promotion of sorts taking place on the manufacturer’s US Facebook page. They promo had customers with either the Samsung Galaxy S3 or Samsung Galaxy Note 2 register their devices with Samsung in exchange for a special care package. Inside, Samsung packed a free Flip Cover (a $40 value) in the color of your choice, as well as a handful of TecTiles to place about the home, office, or car. The promotion didn’t last long, and many were left high and dry once word spread throughout the internets. For those of you that did go through the trouble of registering, but weren’t quick enough to nab your free goodies, you might want to check your email inbox (or spam box). Looks like Good Guy Samsung is honoring their promotion yet again with a 2nd wave of care packages being sent out to already registered users. While we’re not sure if registering now will do you any good, it certainly can’t hurt, can it? For those that nabbed the deal the first time around, you should check your mail as we’ve been getting numerous reports of the first round of Flip Cover and TecTiles already landing on doorsteps. |
| GroupMe 4.0 brings complete redesign, tablet UI Posted: 23 Jan 2013 02:26 PM PST GroupMe fans should stand up, do a little dance and make a little noise because you’ll be getting down tonight with a brand new update. As cheesy as that opening line was, this update is far from that — this is version 4.0, and it brings a completely fresh redesign to create the most elegant and beautiful looking version of GroupMe yet.
Chats are given a much more prominent position in the app as they are right front and center as soon as you open it. Chats will now feature bigger photos, you can share locations with a small built-in map feature, a left drawer gives you quick and easy access to all your chats, bigger avatars will represent your group chats in the right drawer and you can now tap avatars to send direct messages. You can also expect faster performance and a way to share access to your group chats with a simple URL. Oh, and you tablet folks can finally ditch the stretched out phone UI as the app now has a user interface made specifically for bigger displays. All of it is mega exciting and makes me wish I had friends who weren’t content with the simple joys that text and MMS messaging used to bring. For those of you with enough of a social life to make this app worthwhile, you can find your free download in the Google Play Store here. [via GroupMe] |
| LG VS870 heads to FCC in Verizon flavor, could be an Escape with wireless charging Posted: 23 Jan 2013 01:56 PM PST Verizon and LG might be looking to rekindle old flames of yesteryear with a possible mid-range handset headed to the carrier in 2013. The LG VS870 has hit the FCC clothed in a cloak of big, red armor… well, not literally, but you get the idea. The vS870 could be a new variant of the LG P870, or the LG Escape. We’re not sure if Verizon would look to rebrand it as they are always so keen to do, but the phone itself shouldn’t be much different in flesh.
Assuming this is similar to the Escape, we could be looking at a 4.3 inch qHD smartphone with a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of ROM, a 5 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording, a 1.3 megapixel front camera, NFC, 4G LTE and more. It wouldn’t be the massive anchor Verizon would need to hold its smartphone lineup down in 2013, but for those looking for decent 4G smartphones for affordable prices it could be a very nice addition. A stop at the Wireless Power Consortium also indicates this device might come with some Qi wireless charging capabilities. Verizon has been a huge proponent of wireless charging from the beginning so it wouldn’t surprise us to see the carrier stuff the components necessary for that to happen inside this package. Of course, such an early stop at the FCC doesn’t guarantee we’re close to seeing a release — some phones have gotten this far and haven’t even seen the light of day — so we’ll be left wondering if Verizon really has its heart set on bringing this out or if the LG Escape has already sailed on from the isle of relevance. [via Engadget] |
| HTC M7 said to be getting revealed a week ahead of Mobile World Congress Posted: 23 Jan 2013 12:55 PM PST We’re just over a month away from Mobile World Congress where we expect some very big announcements to be made. One of the bigger stories to follow has been HTC’s M7. We’re almost 100% certain the device exists and that it is supposed to be announced next month, but a new wrench thrown into the rumor mill suggests we’ll be hearing official word about it sooner than we expected.
The event will supposedly take place February 19th, a full week and some change ahead of the goings-on in Barcelona, and folks believe HTC could take to London to do its bidding. Considering how CES went it’s not a long shot to suggest HTC will take this route. Many big companies skipped CES in terms of big mobile announcements, a trend that is increasingly sweeping the wireless industry. Everyone wants their own stage and their own time to ensure no one else can steal their thunder. The HTC M7 is a big deal for the company during times where it’s seeing its lowest profit margins in years. With profits slowly slipping away HTC has to do everything it can to roar back into the spotlight, and we don’t blame the Taiwanese OEM if it doesn’t want to share with anyone else. Either way, no one has received any save the dates or invitations so until HTC starts rolling those out we won’t know what to expect from its February schedule.
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| Facebook takes “most used app” crown from Google Maps in 2012, 2013′s story sure to be different Posted: 23 Jan 2013 12:06 PM PST The folks at ComScore did some number crunching to find out which mobile apps were the most popular throughout 2012. The results only include data from iOS and Android, but considering these two combined have a vast majority of the world’s mobile market share we’d say the sample size is good enough. Believe it or not, Google Maps was the most used application for a vast majority of the year, commanding a significant lead over Facebook until June 2012 when the race became neck and neck. The trend might have continued all the way throughout the year, but guess what happened at the tail end of the calendar? Yep, Apple Maps, and the temporary death of Google Maps.
Without Apple’s play, Google Maps might have come out with the top spot for 2012, but the lack of Google Maps on iOS caused a huge dip. Let’s not take anything away from Facebook — it closed the year out with a very nice climb of its own, but we’d like to think that has something to do with new smartphone owners being added to the pool following the smartphone-heavy holiday season. Google’s still sitting quite nicely, though, as spots 2-6 belong to its own applications, including Google Play, Youtube, Gmail, Google Search and the aforementioned Maps. With its own Maps app back on iOS we imagine Google will be able to contend with Facebook in the 2013 race, though with Apple Maps taking a large chunk of its thunder it’s going to be a tight one. What does all this mean? Nothing at all, really. Facebook and Google Maps provide two very different services, so the battle really isn’t between the two. If anything, this just goes to show how big of an influence Apple’s decisions have on the general landscape of mobile. Check the chart below for the full list of 2012′s top 10 apps.
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| Pink Droid RAZR M headed to Verizon in time for Valentine’s Day Posted: 23 Jan 2013 10:53 AM PST
If you’re looking to get into the Valentine’s Day spirit, Verizon has a special version of the Motorola Droid RAZR M for you. Announced for release tomorrow, January 24th, the RAZR with an edge-to-edge display will be available in a new pink color scheme. Pricing remains constant with previous versions of the phone, as does the handset’s hardware. For $99 you get dual-core processing, 4G LTE, and reliable battery life. I’ll take that over a box of chocolates and some flowers any day of the week. [via Verizon] |
| Samsung reshaping pixels to create ultra-dense HD displays Posted: 23 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST
When it comes to hi-res displays, using traditional methods it is nearly impossible to squeeze more than 440 pixels per inch into a typically-zied smartphone screen. Samsung’s upcoming Full HD Super AMOLED display — said to be the centerpiece of the Galaxy S4 — just about reaches the limit. That screen measures 4.99 inches, but Samsung is looking into ways to bring a similar pixel density to smaller screen sizes. How do they plan on accomplishing this? By reinventing the pixel. Current screen technology uses square pixels, and only so many can be crammed into a display before the rules of geometry take over. But those same rules of geometry are being used to reshape the pixel in a way that will allow for more on smaller screens, perhaps at a clip even greater than 440 ppi. According to a report from DigiTimes, Samsung is experiminting with hexagonal and diamond-shaped pixels as a replacement for square pixels. But will the additional pixels be more than chum for the advertising department? It is said that the human eye maxes out at around 300 pixels, hence the Retina display moniker Apple has attached to its 326 ppi iPhone display. But in a smartphone race based on gigahertz, megapixels, and screen resolution, Samsung will do what it has to do get a leg up on the competition, even if the end result makes no technical difference to our eyes. [via TechCrunch] |
| Before Apple, Verizon planned to launch Siri as Droid line’s killer feature Posted: 23 Jan 2013 07:35 AM PST
In some alternate universe, Verizon’s hallmark Droid line launched in 2009 with its own voice-activated personal assistant, courtesy of then little-known startup Siri. Droids began listening to their owners, then talking back, eventually developing sentience and leading to a war between humans and machines. OK, so none of that actually happened, but it could have. At least the part about Siri on the Droid. You see, the story goes that Verizon signed a deal with Siri to include their voice assistant software on their flagship line of Android devices. It was going to be marketed as a killer feature, and commercials were even produced to showcase the app’s capabilities. Then Apple entered the picture, bought Siri, and the rest is history. But perhaps it’s better that way. Had Siri been available for Android devices, Google may have never been pushed to develop a similar service of their own to bake into Android. What we today know as Google Now might not even exist. The entire smartphone landscape would look utterly different. That’s just the sort of cultural power Siri, or more so Apple, holds. Siri itself would also likely be drastically different. Most would be surprised to find out that older standalone versions of Siri were actually more capable than the iteration that first launched on the iPhone 4S. If you thought the ability to book a table through Siri was new, just look back to the original iOS app, which had the functionality included. The ability to speak naturally and intuitively to our devices is a trend that will only continue to develop. In fact, if CES was any indication that sort of fluid interaction will extend beyond smartphones to the living room and beyond. Voice-activated TVs and other appliances are already here. Maybe that machine war isn’t so far off, after all. [via The Verge] |
| Nexus 4 once again available from T-Mobile Posted: 23 Jan 2013 06:49 AM PST
If waiting for Google to restock their Play Store offerings has driven you to consider inning a two-year contract with T-Mobile, now is your chance to grab a Nexus 4. The notoriously hard to come by phone is once again available online from the carrier for $199 after a $50 rebate. Customers also have the option to purchase the phone contract-free, but minus TMo’s subsidy can expect to pay a lot more than they would for the device direct from Google. Getting the device direct from Google, though, is the hard part. T-Mobile has also started stocking the phone at retail stores across the country. Larger outlets should already have stock (if it hasn’t run out yet) while smaller branches should be starting to see units trickle in. Google and LG have both expressed resolve in getting a handle on the stock issues plaguing the phone. LG is committed to churning out Nexus 4 handsets in order to meet high demand. [via AndroidCommunity] |
| T-Mobile teases LTE, plans to cover 200 million subscribers by end of year Posted: 23 Jan 2013 06:01 AM PST
T-Mobile will be the last of the four major US carrier to deploy LTE, but they plan to bring their game face in 2013. On a post to their Facebook account, the wireless provider teased its upcoming 4G deployment, asking customers if they are “ready to go faster.” TMo plans to cover 200 million customers with LTE airwaves by the end of the year. We’d call that a good start for the carrier. Plans to upgrade their network were more or less halted as the company awaited the finalization of an AT&T buyout that never came to fruition, which put T-Mobile back a step. Customers have been getting along just fine with HSPA+ 42, a network technology delivering comparable speeds to LTE in most areas. Look for more big developments in LTE this year, including the beginnings of a transition to pure 4G service. Voice-over-LTE is the next step in weaning users off of 3G. [via Facebook | Thanks, Chuck] |
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