Saturday, May 11, 2013

Android and Me

Android and Me

Google, ASUS set to announce next Nexus 7 at Google I/O

Posted: 10 May 2013 10:35 AM PDT

We’ve been hearing faint whispers that a new Nexus 7 will be announced at Google I/O this year. Until today, details surrounding the device had been surprisingly scarce, especially considering that Google I/O is almost upon us. Word is now in from KGI securities analyst Mingchi Kuo that Google and ASUS will be teaming up to announce a new Nexus 7 next week.

According to Mingchi Kuo, Google I/O will indeed be the venue for the unveiling of the next Nexus 7, set to be released in June or July for $199. We’ve heard previous rumors that the next Nexus 7 will come from ASUS and feature a spec bump in nearly every area; if Kuo is right, that’s exactly what we’re looking at.

Kuo has detailed the new Nexus 7 as coming with a 7-inch LTPS 1920 x 1200 display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (much like the one found in the Nexus 4), Qi wireless charging, a 5-megapixel rear camera, an HD front-facing camera, NFC, a 4,000mAh battery and Android 4.3.

Normally, we wouldn’t take anything an analyst says to heart, but Kuo is considered well-connected and has been right on several rumor reports in the past. There’s a good chance what you hear today will come true. If that is the case, what do you think of the upcoming Nexus 7 refresh?

    

BBC Watchdog to investigate Samsung Galaxy S 4 internal storage claims

Posted: 10 May 2013 07:23 AM PDT

If you’ve been keeping up with your tech news lately, you may have seen a few dozen stories about how little storage is actually available on the Samsung Galaxy S 4. The entry level 16GB unlocked European model in reality only gives consumers 9.5GB of usable storage, but that number drops to around 8.5GB for those who purchase a carrier branded device here in the US.

The discrepancy between the amount of advertised storage actual storage has caught the attention of BBC Watchdog, a consumer rights show in the UK. During next week’s episode, they will be looking into Samsung’s “extra-large memory” claims and hopefully show consumers exactly how much storage they will get when they purchase the Samsung Galaxy S 4.

It’s quite easy to pick on Samsung due to its recent successes, but the advertised internal storage issue does affect quite a few other phones. The 32GB HTC One has 26.1 GB of usable space and most of Sony’s high-end Xperia devices have 6-7GB of storage which is not accessible to users. Even Microsoft’s 64GB Surface Pro leaves consumers with a mere 23GB of usable storage.

BBC Watchdog may not be the first to report on the topic, but they do reach a much wider audience who could definitely benefit from a little more about the Galaxy S 4 before they go out and buy it next week.

    

WSJ: Amazon working on phone with holographic display

Posted: 10 May 2013 06:42 AM PDT

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is work on two smartphones, one of which features a holographic display. Sources familiar with the matter say, “Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles.” The concept sounds pretty awesome, but don’t get too excited because the same report says the devices “could be shelved because of performance, financial or other concerns.”

This latest report is just another blip in the endless stream of rumors that Amazon is working on a smartphone. We first reported back in 2011 that Amazon had an entire family of Android devices in the works, and The Verge reported that Jeff Bezos would unveil their first smartphone at an event last September. All the leaks and rumors suggest that Amazon is working on several smartphone projects, but we have no idea when they will be announced.

I’m an Amazon Prime customer and I make most my online purchases through their store, but I’m not sold on the idea of an Amazon smartphone quite yet. We assume that Amazon’s first smartphone will be powered by a forked version of Android, but it will likely lack assess to Google’s mobile apps. If I were to switch to an Amazon smartphone, there would have to be some pretty compelling content and services that Google does not offer.

What features would Amazon need to include in their first smartphone in order to make you consider a switch?

    

AT&T’s HTC One now available in Stealth Black

Posted: 10 May 2013 06:14 AM PDT

The HTC One has been available on Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T for a few weeks now, but the black variant has been a bit hard to find. Fortunately, that all changed last night when the Stealth Black HTC One made its debut on AT&T’s online store. On-contract pricing for the Stealth Black HTC One from AT&T is set at $199.99 for the 32GB model or $299.99 if you simply can’t live without 64GB of portable storage.

Now that the Stealth Black HTC One is available from Sprint and AT&T, we are hoping that HTC will make the black model available to those who want to buy the Developer Edition of the SIM unlocked HTC One directly from HTC.

How many of you are willing to sell your silver HTC One at a slight loss in order to get your hands on the Stealth Black HTC One?

    
Posted by at 7:38 AM

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