Android Authority

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• Google Play News section coming soon: another nail in the coffin for newspapers?
• AT&T, T-Mobile Galaxy S4 sign-up pages go live, launch dates not public yet
• Apple shareholders send Samsung a thank you note
• LG Optimus L9 finally receives long-awaited Android Jelly Bean update
• XMBC for Android gets updated as work on next version continues
• Facebook hashtags will soon be official, according to Wall Street Journal report
• Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and 7 now receiving their Jelly Bean OTA update
• Galaxy S4 infographic highlights specs and features, made by Samsung
• Samsung Galaxy S4 display might be best one yet, says expert
• U.S. Galaxy S4 vs HTC One vs NVIDIA Tegra 4 fight in early benchmark comparison

Google Play News section coming soon: another nail in the coffin for newspapers? Posted: 16 Mar 2013 03:01 AM PDT Are newspapers obsolete? Image credit: Shutterstock Newspapers are so 20th century, or at least this is what trends are showing us. Media companies around the globe are struggling to maintain their readership, amid the rise of online media outlets (such as Android Authority). With Time Warner considering the sale of its Time Magazine assets, it’s probably a sign that the global media landscape is getting ready to scuttle the old paper-based business in favor for a purely online one. This is one reason why the introduction of subscription-based services for mobile devices — tablets and smartphones — and desktop/notebook computers is probably the next best thing that publishers are exploring. With Apple running its own Newsstand service and both Amazon and Barnes & Noble running their own Android-based subscription services, you’d think they have everyone covered. But new code on an upcoming Google Play release uncovered by Android Police suggests that Google might be planning to implement subscriptions soon. “Google Play News” items come in “issues” and “subscriptions,” which clearly suggests that the Android platform might soon have a native subscription-based service for content. The web version’s CSS even includes a new color-coding scheme for content: blue for books, violet for magazines and yellow for newspapers, and so forth. The code indicates that users will be able to purchase either an individual issue or make recurring payments for a regular subscription. The obvious question at this point for publishers and content developers would be their revenue share. Apple takes a 30% cut off subscriptions made from Newsstand, for instance. No pricing details are available at this time, although we can perhaps liken it to the Google Play Magazines model. Perhaps we can expect Google to push newspaper subscriptions in upcoming Google Play releases. You’re likely accessing your news through apps like Flipboard, Currents, Pulse and the like. Would a native subscription-based app offer better access to content? The post Google Play News section coming soon: another nail in the coffin for newspapers? appeared first on Android Authority.

AT&T, T-Mobile Galaxy S4 sign-up pages go live, launch dates not public yet Posted: 16 Mar 2013 02:57 AM PDT The Galaxy S4 will launch in a variety of markets by the end of April, and hopefully U.S. carriers will get the handset at the same time. For now, we only have a release date for UK's Everything Everywhere, which will have the handset out in the wild on April 26. We wouldn't be surprised to see more European and other international mobile operators kick off the Galaxy S4 launch party around the same date, but it would definitely be interesting to see how U.S. carriers will play it out. Will the handset launch simultaneously in the U.S. and Europe? Six American operators have already been confirmed to have the Galaxy S4 in stock later this year including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Cricket Wireless. Of those two, AT&T and T-Mobile have already put up Galaxy S4 sign-up pages that don't reveal that many details. You know the drill, all you have to do is fill in a form and you'll be notified the moment either carrier has Galaxy S4 information for you. Interestingly, each mobile operator has its own way of teasing the handset, with AT&T showing an empty box, while T-Mobile displays a Galaxy S4 teaser image even though the handset has been announced. AT&T tells us that the secret is out and lists three Galaxy S4 features, Smart Scroll, which sounds better on paper than it did in Samsung's presentation, WatchOn and the camera features: Scroll through a page using just your eyes. Turn your phone into a TV remote control. Take photos you’ll never believe came from a smartphone. T-Mobile is insisting on the same features, although it sort of adds Air Gesture to the mix, without naming the feature: DO SOMETHING YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE Take photos so amazing, you won’t believe they came from a smartphone. Turn your phone into a TV remote control. Navigate your screen without even touching it. In case you have no idea what Smart Scroll, WatchOn or Air Gesture are, check out this list of software features for the handset. Will you buy the U.S. Galaxy S4 version? What carrier will you choose? The post AT&T, T-Mobile Galaxy S4 sign-up pages go live, launch dates not public yet appeared first on Android Authority.

Apple shareholders send Samsung a thank you note Posted: 16 Mar 2013 12:43 AM PDT Just like millions of eager customers and techies, Apple shareholders have also been on their feet in anticipation of Samsung's big unveiling of the Galaxy S4 – but of course for a completely different reason. In essence, they're looking for signs and reasons whether to keep betting on Apple or to jump ship before things take a turn for the worse. Upon hearing what analysts have to say of the phone, frown lines seemingly turned into smiles, as they learned that the Galaxy S4 may not be that too big of a threat after all, or at least even more so than it already is. The proof is in the stock market, as Apple's stock moved up 2.58% to $443.66 yesterday even when the rest of the market was down. It's not that the Galaxy S4 is a total dud, but the world was waiting for something more mind blowing. "We believe the S4 will certainly sell well and it is incrementally negative for Apple," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. However, he adds that it's not a revolutionary device. That type of talk alone was apparently enough to send Apple’s shares up. The real battle hasn’t even started though. With Samsung's marketing prowess and the humungous customer base for the Galaxy S series, the Korean may not necessarily need a revolutionary phone to capture an even bigger share of the market. In case you're wondering, Samsung is aiming to move 10 million units of Galaxy S4 per month, with overall sales expected to top 100 million units. The post Apple shareholders send Samsung a thank you note appeared first on Android Authority.

LG Optimus L9 finally receives long-awaited Android Jelly Bean update Posted: 15 Mar 2013 09:14 PM PDT In a report last month, we told you about a forthcoming software update for the LG Optimus L9 that would bring it up to speed with all the latest Android handsets in the market in terms of default software. Now, about three months after it first made its official European debut, the Optimus L9 has finally received this long-awaited software update, letting its users upgrade their device software to Android Jelly Bean. According to initial reports, the LG Optimus L9 Jelly Bean update is currently available in the following locations: Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Portugal, and the Baltics region. Right now, this much-needed software upgrade is still not available in the U.S. But it won’t be a stretch to imagine T-Mobile rolling it out at some point in the future. The only question is when exactly. The LG Optimus L9 comes with a 4.7-inch qHD IPS screen and uses a 1GHz dual core Cortex A9 processor with a PowerVR SGX540 GPU and 1GB RAM. Its other features include a 5-megapixel camera with 1080p video capture, 4GB of internal storage, and support for extra storage space by way of microSD cards. The LG Optimus L9 software update — all 575MB of it — is available for download over-the-air (OTA) as well as through the LG Update tool. The post LG Optimus L9 finally receives long-awaited Android Jelly Bean update appeared first on Android Authority.

XMBC for Android gets updated as work on next version continues Posted: 15 Mar 2013 08:47 PM PDT If you’re a fan of XMBC for Android and the XMBC project in general, then you’re going to love the latest bit of news published over at the XMBC Blog. The XMBC team says that they are going back to their usual monthly development cycle, which means that users can expect a new version of XMBC to come out each and every single month. In fact, right now, as most people are still getting acquainted with XMBC 12 – Frodo, the team as well as a number of other developers are already hard at work on making the next version, XMBC 13 – codenamed Gotham. There is currently a call for those with highly-developed art skills to come up with the relevant version images now for when it finally comes out. And at the same time, “the brave” are also called upon to test the resulting build that comes out of all the work done by the end of the month, to help streamline the software development process. For now the most stable build is still the most recent one — XMBC 12 – Frodo — and from the February changelog, the XMBC Team has pulled out a number of noteworthy highlights: Play Using… For those familiar with AirPlay for video and audio, this is quite similar, except now you don't need to be using an iOS device to push your content. You just need to check the box to turn on your UPnP server in XBMC under System->Services->UPnP and you can send your media anywhere that supports it. Android Improvements This first cycle includes a slew of Android improvements. For starters, XBMC now controls native Android audio, so users don't have to close XBMC, turn the volume up, re-open XBMC, and finally listen to whatever they were listening to. Instead, the audio is controlled like any other Android app (thanks to mcrosson). Second, XBMC for Android is no longer stuck facing one direction. If you flip your Android device 180 degrees, XBMC will flip with it (thanks to montellese). iOS Improvements The local iOS keyboard is already the default keyboard for XBMC, but now it has even more utility. It can accept any text from any iOS language, and it also supports the iOS clipboard copy and paste feature (thanks to ulion). Other Improvements Dev Montellese continues his breakneck work of improving the XBMC library. With this cycle, he has added tags for tv shows and musicvideos, and he has also made it possible for those individuals who like to pick and choose each piece of media art individually to add alternative artwork (landscape, banner, etc.) without needing to use an addon like the automated Artwork Downloader. To use this feature, click "Choose art" on a piece of media's info screen, and then select "Add art" at the bottom. If you would like to learn about all of the changes introduced in the most recent stable version, XMBC has a list of all February milestones gathered all in one page. And as always, you may contribute through either donations or offering support through the user forums and submitting your own bug reports. The post XMBC for Android gets updated as work on next version continues appeared first on Android Authority.

Facebook hashtags will soon be official, according to Wall Street Journal report Posted: 15 Mar 2013 08:13 PM PDT Some day, people will remember Facebook as the social networking giant that it is today, and they will say, “Remember when hashtags on Facebook were not a thing? Yeah, those were the days.” It hasn’t happened yet, but Facebook will indeed introduce hashtags as a feature that its users can use — and possibly abuse — if a recently published report on the Wall Street Journal is to be believed. Apparently, Facebook is currently looking into incorporating hashtags as its battle with microblogging site Twitter rages on. According to sources cited in the above-mentioned report on the WSJ, Facebook hashtags are currently in the testing phase. And much like the original, Twitter-based counterpart, Facebook hashtags will be used to group similar content on the same topics. Even now, Facebook users are already using hashtags, despite the fact that they don’t really do anything at all. Except maybe make short, indirect, and “witty” statements that could otherwise only be shared via typing out complete sentences. If Facebook does indeed decide to finally add hashtags as a feature at some point in the future, then it would perhaps be put to much better use by Facebook users. At the moment, the hashtag-as-a-way-of-grouping-content feature only really works with its originator, Twitter, as well as online photo sharing site Instagram, which Facebook famously bought for $1 billion back in April 2012. The post Facebook hashtags will soon be official, according to Wall Street Journal report appeared first on Android Authority.

Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and 7 now receiving their Jelly Bean OTA update Posted: 15 Mar 2013 07:46 PM PDT If you are tired of seeing the same outdated software on your Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab, there is an OTA update that is rolling out to most users that upgrades your tablet to, well, newer outdated software. Android 4.1 is now hitting the Verizon Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and 7, bringing all the performance improvements you would expect from Project Butter, as well as a healthy serving of Google Now. While those are the 2 biggest improvements, there are going to be specific features that will only be available on your particular device: click here to check out the entire list of changes for the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and here for the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. As always, if you are one of the people who have not had the update pushed to your tab yet, head into the Settings -> About device -> System updates to manually ping the servers. The update has already been approved and pushed to the non-carrier branded unlocked models, so hopefully there should not be any hidden problems or major bugs. Do let us know how the update is performing in the comments. The post Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and 7 now receiving their Jelly Bean OTA update appeared first on Android Authority.

Galaxy S4 infographic highlights specs and features, made by Samsung Posted: 15 Mar 2013 07:32 PM PDT It's not everyday that you see a device maker come out with its own infographic, but Samsung has just done that today for its latest Android handset, the Galaxy S4. The Galaxy S4 was unveiled only yesterday at a special event in New York City – a strange one considering all the theatrics involved – and by know anyone interested in Galaxy S4 specs, software features, accessories, availability details and comparisons with other devices can access plenty of Galaxy S4 information. But for some reason Samsung felt the need to highlight the main specs of the phone in a short infographic that takes you through the main hardware characteristics of the device. Is Samsung trying to make up for the fact that it sort of ignored the hardware side during the show in order to highlight the Galaxy S4's many new software features? Or is it just another marketing trick – infographics are popular with certain crowds – with Samsung trying to turn it into a viral image? Whatever it is, it seems to be working, so let's check out, once again, the main specs and features as listed by Samsung in the image above: 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display: 1920 x 1080 resolution, 441ppi Gorilla Glass 3 Size: 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm Weight: 130g 1.6GHz Octa-Core or 1.9GHz Quad-Core processor 2GB of RAM 13-megapixel rear camera 2-megapixel front-facing camera 2,600mAh battery Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean 3G (HSPA+ 42Mbps) 4G LTE The handset will be available in black and white, and like always we have fancy names for them, Black Mist and White Frost, respectively. Are you buying the smartphone when it comes out in late April? The post Galaxy S4 infographic highlights specs and features, made by Samsung appeared first on Android Authority.

Samsung Galaxy S4 display might be best one yet, says expert Posted: 15 Mar 2013 07:00 PM PDT Much has been said about the Samsung Galaxy S4. In fact, we ourselves have written over 20,000 words about it in articles published in the last 24 hours. We’ve talked about its camera, its wireless features, its software add-ons, and a whole lot more. But what about its display? What level of quality was Samsung able to forge into its 4.99-inch multi-touch capable screen? Well, Ray Soneira, president of display analysis and software calibration company DisplayMate, weighed in on a recently published article on CNET to say that things are looking pretty good for Samsung in the Galaxy S4′s screen department. To be more specific, Soneira praised Samsung’s inclusion of what is referred to as a CIE Chromaticity Diagram and grayscale for the adaptive screen settings found on the Galaxy S4. This roughly translates to the phone’s capability of showing more naturally pristine colors instead of the bluish whites that Samsung screens have tended to show in the past. In other words, the Samsung Galaxy S4′s touchscreen display will be very interesting to watch not merely for its high pixel density (441 ppi) and use of a full high-definition panel on a 5-inch screen. We may have to wait a little further until we can get our hands on one for a proper review before issuing a final verdict, but for now, it looks like it’s safe to say that the Super AMOLED panel used on the latest Samsung flagship Android phone is the best one yet. The post Samsung Galaxy S4 display might be best one yet, says expert appeared first on Android Authority.

U.S. Galaxy S4 vs HTC One vs NVIDIA Tegra 4 fight in early benchmark comparison Posted: 15 Mar 2013 06:46 PM PDT Two of the most important Android handsets of the year aren't even out in stores yet, the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One, but early benchmarks for these devices have already been performed and compared to the results of an important player in this year's mobile processor business, NVIDIA's Tegra 4 chipset. Laptop Mag was able to benchmark the U.S. Galaxy S4 version – which packs a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor under the hood – using AnTuTu Benchmark and found the device ready to outperform various contenders. The Galaxy S4 scored a total of 21,089 points in the test, significantly higher than the Galaxy S3 (16,301,) the Galaxy Note 2 (17,531,) and the Nexus 4 (18,096). In our own AnTuTu benchmarks we found the U.S. Galaxy S4 to score even higher, almost 26,000 points (check out the following image). The international Galaxy S4 version which will pack Samsung's eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip was been tested, and it will be interesting to see the scores for this model too once they’re available. According to Android and Me's HTC One AnTuTu benchmark, the HTC One performs even better than the U.S. Galaxy S4 version tested by Laptop Mag, scoring slightly over 21,089 (an actual number has not been given.) The same publication offers the comparison table above, including the NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor in the mix. While the processor is not found on any flagship Android device yet, and won't be for some time to come, it's very powerful, at least according to NVIDIA's own benchmarks. The Tegra 4's AnTuTu score is over 36,000, but we're definitely looking forward to see the processor in actual user testing. The same goes for the HTC One and the Galaxy S4, since we're still looking at pre-release devices in these early tests, which means their performances can improve by the time they hit stores. We'll certainly be back with more Exynos 5 Octa vs Qualcomm vs Tegra 4/4i benchmark comparisons in the future, but in the mean time we're curious what processor you'd choose for your next smartphone. The post U.S. Galaxy S4 vs HTC One vs NVIDIA Tegra 4 fight in early benchmark comparison appeared first on Android Authority.

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