Android Authority

---

• Asus Padfone Infinity to ship in Taiwan this week
• Sony Xperia ZL now available for US pre-orders, pricing is $720 and up
• New Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 ad is full of trick shots [video]
• You can now listen to Android Authority On Air Podcast through Google Currents
• Lawmakers want to ban use of Google Glass while Driving
• What is LTE Advanced?

Asus Padfone Infinity to ship in Taiwan this week Posted: 25 Mar 2013 02:32 AM PDT After two not-so-successful attempts with the Padfone and Padfone 2, Asus is hoping that its next smartphone and tablet hybrid, the Padfone Infinity, will gain a better traction in the market. Following its official unveiling last February at MWC 2013, the first big test for the Infinity is coming. As reported by Focus Taiwan, the Padfone Infinity will arrive in stores in Taiwan starting tomorrow on March 26. Although the price hasn't been disclosed yet, the device(s) will be offered by three major mobile operators in the country. If you're wondering when the combo will come to other parts of the world, we heard from Asus that it will be released in Europe next month, with the price has been set at €999 ($1300). Yes, it already includes the docking station. And yes, it's still pricey as heck. Despite the rather exorbitant price tag, we're sure there are still a few many who find the idea of getting a 5-inch full HD smartphone that can be docked inside a 10.1-inch tablet shell appealing. To refresh your memory, the phone is powered by a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor and boasts 2GB of RAM, 32/64GB internal storage, 13-megapixel rear camera, 2MP front cam, NFC, LTE, 2,400mAH battery, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Meanwhile, the tablet station packs an additional 5,000mAh battery. In case you haven't already done so, check out our Padfone Infinity hands-on review. Alternatively, you can just hit play on the above video. The post Asus Padfone Infinity to ship in Taiwan this week appeared first on Android Authority.

Sony Xperia ZL now available for US pre-orders, pricing is $720 and up Posted: 25 Mar 2013 02:18 AM PDT Out already in countries like India, Russia and Australia, Sony's Xperia ZL is ready to take things to the next level. The North American level, that is, where only the mightiest can succeed. Folks up north have known for a couple of days now when they can expect the ZL and how much money they have to save for the 5-incher and today is time to detail pricing and availability for our US readers as well. Unfortunately, it's not all good news, with rumors from last week gaining confirmation via Sony's online store. The unlocked, LTE-enabled Xperia ZL (model number C6506) will be up for grabs from there for a whopping $759.99, while the HSPA+ version (C6502) will be a tad cheaper – $719.99. Needless to say that pricing structure is far from ideal. Heck, it's downright crazy if the Samsung Galaxy S4 will end up going for one of the two rumored price tags – $579 or $650. We also expect the HTC One to sell for $650 ($700 tops), so on the whole it looks like Sony might have overestimated ZL's value a bit. On the bright side, these are only the MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail prices). Sony says the ZL "will soon be available through other select online retailers" and there's more than an outside shot they will charge less for the phone. In fact, we've already tracked down two sellers that claim to have the ZL in stock, both of which offer the 5-incher for a more sensible price. PVCS through Amazon has the 3G-only "international" model at $640, while Negri Electronics has the same non-4G version for $654.40. Still a lot of dough, but definitely closer to the fellow's real worth. Getting back to Sony's US store, the ZL is there available for pre-orders in black, white and red. The exact shipping date is not mentioned anywhere, but we can guess the first orders will be fulfilled around April Fools' (no joke). Remember, the slightly more impressive Xperia Z is also due out in the US soon, although we don't even want to think about its price. Anyways, are you planning to get any of the two? Which one and why? The post Sony Xperia ZL now available for US pre-orders, pricing is $720 and up appeared first on Android Authority.

New Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 ad is full of trick shots [video] Posted: 25 Mar 2013 01:07 AM PDT Even with the impending arrival of the Samsung Galaxy S4 in stores, Sprint is still pushing for the Galaxy S3 and its unlimited LTE offer. The carrier has just unleashed the latest commercial for last year's flagship Galaxy S phone. The new ad seems to tie in nicely to March Madness, as it features folks shooting hoops. By folks we don't mean professional basketball players, but the star of the ad is one little boy who's showing off his pretty amazing talent of making trick shots around the house and on the court. As he puts the ball in the basket, the dad captures everything on video, the footage of which we then see being shared from the Galaxy S3 to other devices via S Beam and AllShare. Hit the play button on the embedded video to see it in action. Has the commercial inspired you to grab the S3? RadioShack is currently selling the handset for $49.99 with a new contract, though you won’t find the new purple variant as it’s yet to be officially introduced. The post New Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 ad is full of trick shots [video] appeared first on Android Authority.

You can now listen to Android Authority On Air Podcast through Google Currents Posted: 24 Mar 2013 07:56 PM PDT   Thanks to last weeks Google Currents update, you can now listen to the Android Authority on Air weekly podcast directly from Currents. The latest update added support for audio playlist for editions, audio media bar in app controls, story scanner audio icons for launching audio directly, and notification bar audio controls when Currents audio is playing in the background. You can also find categories for our News, Reviews, Apps, Giveaways, Google+ posts and YouTube videos by subscribing to our Google Currents edition. It’s pretty much your one stop Android Authority shop…except you can’t buy anything. So go ahead, Subscribe to Android Authority on Currents. The post You can now listen to Android Authority On Air Podcast through Google Currents appeared first on Android Authority.

Lawmakers want to ban use of Google Glass while Driving Posted: 24 Mar 2013 06:08 PM PDT I took the train because they said no using Google Glass while driving. (Photo credit: Noah Zerkin) There’s a long list of things you shouldn’t do while driving, and in many jurisdictions, these are spelled out by the law. These include driving under the influence of alcohol, calling on a mobile phone, and also texting. The key point here is that distracted driving is dangerous, and whatever is keeping you from concentrating is dangerous, too. In West Virginia, lawmakers are seeking to ban the use of Google Glass while driving. The proposed law does not necessarily single out Google’s device, though, as it seeks to ban “using a wearable computer with head mounted display,” in general. But it seems the rising popularity of Google Glass has prompted this move, says Cnet wrier Chris Matyszczyk. Congressman Gary G. Howell wrote Matyszczyk that the bill was intended to target mostly young users, who are likely to be early adopters of technology, and who are also likely to be inexperienced drivers. “It is mostly the young that are the tech-savvy that try new things. They are also our most vulnerable and underskilled drivers. We heard of many crashes caused by texting and driving, most involving our youngest drivers. I see the Google Glass as an extension.” The ambivalence toward Google Glass is not new. Recently, we featured a few pieces citing arguments against Google Glass. For instance, shop owners have started banning Google Glass on their private premises, due to privacy concerns. A London-based advocacy “Stop the Cyborgs” is also urging people to think twice before using Google Glass. After all, it’s the unmonitored and clandestine recording capabilities that are potential privacy risks, whether in public or in a private setting. But the ban on using Glass while driving might have its merits. Distracted driving accounts for more than 3,000 deaths per year in the U.S., and about 400,000 injuries. Studies have argued that using handsfree headsets might not be too helpful in reducing the risk. After all, it’s not just the use of hands that is risky, but rather being distracted in itself. There’s no knowing whether someone driving with Google Glass is texting, watching a video or simply using Glass to help navigate or check traffic. It may not be enough to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. Your focus should also be on the road. Of course, we may argue that Google is developing self-driving cars after all, and we might not have to give 100% concentration and driver input. But we’re still a long way to go from self-driving cars being mainstream. Are you for, or against, the ban on Google Glass while driving? The post Lawmakers want to ban use of Google Glass while Driving appeared first on Android Authority.

What is LTE Advanced? Posted: 23 Mar 2013 11:52 PM PDT If you're living in the U.S., and select other parts of the world, then there's a good chance that you're enjoying a fast LTE connection. Sadly for me living in the UK, our 4G network is lagging severely behind, and it looks like we could be left even further back in the dark ages once LTE Advanced goes online. LTE Advanced is essentially a bandwidth expansion for existing LTE networks. If you read a technical document on it you’ll probably hear terms like higher spectral efficiency, improved performance at cell edges, and greater bandwidth efficiency, but for consumers we can simply say that LTE Advanced is going to be faster, potentially much faster. Source: Teliasonera So here’s everything you need to know about how LTE Advanced works, and what this means for you. How does it work? The new functionalities introduced in LTE-Advanced are Carrier Aggregation (CA,) enhanced use of multi-antenna techniques, and support for Relay Nodes. All of these are designed to increase the stability, bandwidth, and speed of LTE connections. Carrier Aggregation Carrier Aggregation is something you may have heard about, especially if you’ve been following news regarding Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 800 chip. Essentially this technology is designed to multiply the bandwidth of LTE connections by allowing you to download data from multiple connections simultaneously. It’s not totally new though, carrier aggregation has been used in other wireless technologies for a while, and T-Mobile is already employing this technology to boost its HSPA+ speeds to 42Mbps on compatible handsets. The problem with LTE is that eventually you reach a bandwidth limit, especially when you take into consideration that other services need the radio waves. In certain areas spectrum availability is already becoming a problem, with only small band areas free to use for LTE. This means that carriers have to chop up their LTE network into smaller bands. In order to overcome the speed limitations caused by this problem you need to be able read from multiple bands simultaneously, which is where Carrier Aggregation comes in handy. Carrier Aggregation combines signals from different frequency bands, so rather than having to pick from the fastest connection in your area you can combine a signal from all of the carriers within range of your handset, even if they are operating all over the frequency spectrum. LTE Advanced allows for multiple carriers operating in the same band (intra-band,) or inter-band in scenarios where frequency allocation is sporadic. Source: 3gpp Here’s a more technical explanation of how this speeds things up: each aggregated carrier is referred to as a component carrier, these component carriers can then be combined to produce an aggregated carrier. The component carriers have a maximum bandwidth of 20MHz, and a maximum of five component carriers can be aggregated using LTE Advanced. Simple math tells you that five component carriers will allow for a maximum bandwidth of 100MHz with LTE Advanced. Although as the bandwidth of individual component carriers can and will vary, LTE Advanced might not always be five times faster. In terms of data speeds this technique can provide extremely high peak data rates, theoretically up to 1Gbps when utilizing the maximum available bandwidth. However, in reality, carriers, hardware, and network coverage will fall short of this theoretical maximum, for example peaking at around 150Mbps download speeds with two 10MHz carriers enabled. Another major benefit of Carrier Aggregation is that is allows for full backwards and forwards compatibility between existing LTE networks and LTE Advanced compatible devices. LTE Advanced connections will be provided through existing LTE bands, so standard LTE users will continue to use LTE as normal, whereas Advanced connections will make use of multiple LTE carriers. MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output technology (MIMO) is another technology required for LTE Advanced to work as quickly as possible. MIMO increases the overall transfer bitrate by combining data-streams from two or more antennas. Source: Telecomhall In other words, rather than sending a single piece of information from one sender to one receiver, you can send the same single piece of information from multiple senders to multiple receivers. It’s a parallel process, which substantially increases the amount of data you can send and receive each second (bits per hertz,) providing you have a receiver modem which can sort all the information out into the correct order. But that’s where the technology becomes a bit too complicated for this discussion. Although MIMO is already used in current LTE networks, LTE Advanced requires that chips increase the number of inputs and outputs used simultaneously. LTE Advanced will support up to eight transmitters and receivers whilst downloading and four by four when uploading, although you couldn’t fit that many antennae into a smartphone. The increased MIMO arrangement will also improve the speed and connection quality of legacy connections such as CDMA, GSM, and WCDMA. If you think about combining this sort of parallel data transfer with the ability to pick from a wider range of frequency bands and carrier signals, then you can appreciate why LTE Advanced can be so much faster and more stable than a standard LTE or older connection type. Relay Nodes The final piece of technology introduced with LTE Advanced is called relay nodes. Whilst relay nodes aren’t an integral part of improving your data speeds, they will improve the availability of LTE connections, and offer you more connections to choose from when sending a receiving data. Simply put, a relay node is a low powered base station used to boost network coverage at the ends of and beyond the connection radius of the main station. These relay nodes connect wirelessly to the main station, and should help boost your signal when wondering close to the edge of your LTE network. Of course access to improved connectivity will be entirely dependent on whether carriers bother to invest in building these nodes. Smartphone Hardware So we’ve seen discussed what it takes to produce a LTE Advanced network, but it also means that hardware manufacturers are going to need to invest in new technologies as well as network carriers. Obviously the improved MIMO parallel networking will require different modems capable of organizing the received data. LTE Advanced modems will also have to be able to decode information sent from different frequency bands at the same, so current LTE smartphones aren’t going to be compatible. Qualcomm demoed 4k video streaming over a 150Mbps LTE Advanced connection at MWC 2013 Broadcom has announced its LTE Advanced modem chip, called the BCM21892, which is expected to start rolling off the production belt in early 2014. Similarly Qualcomm has announced its own LTE Advanced modem which will be bundled in with the unreleased Snapdragon 800 SoC, which again isn’t expected to appear any time soon. So far Broadcom has shown off its chip maxing out at 150Mbps peak download and 50Mbps upload, and Qualcomm’s own chip peaks at the same download speed. Technically the definition of true LTE Advanced speed is supposedly a minimum of 300Mbps download, but we won’t quibble about that as this is a good start. When will I be able to use it? There are no LTE Advanced networks or compliant handsets available as of yet, and the only manufacturers that I’ve heard of planning to put carrier aggregation technology into a chip are Qualcomm and Broadcom. The Snapdragon 800 and Broadcom’s modem chips in all likelihood won’t be available until the end of this year, and we might not see them used in a handset until sometime in 2014. Carriers across the U.S. and the rest of the world are also going to need to invest more resources into LTE networks before they are up to the speeds you can theoretically achieve with LTE Advanced. Of course that won’t stop carriers marketing new phones and deals offering pumped up potential max speeds, but in reality the introduction of the LTE Advanced marketing buzz words probably won’t see the massive jump in speeds that you’d hope for. LTE Advanced networks are expected to start rolling out in the U.S. next year, around the same time as we expect to see the first compatible SoCs, but it will probably take another year or more after that until LTE network coverage is substantial enough to drastically improve your LTE speeds. The post What is LTE Advanced? appeared first on Android Authority.

You are subscribed to email updates from Android Authority To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610