AndroidGuys |
- HTC Desire 200 and Desire 600 gets leaked
- Hangouts (formerly Google Talk) Android app review
- Glympse – Remarkably useful without spying or being creepy
- Cricket announces Samsung Galaxy S4 for June 7
- Google becomes second most valuable brand behind Apple, surpasses IBM
- Sprint’s XFON may have passed through FCC
- You have to check out the photo search feature in Google+
- HTC reportedly in “utter freefall” as execs jump ship
| HTC Desire 200 and Desire 600 gets leaked Posted: 22 May 2013 01:01 PM PDT Although HTC is going through a hard time, but that doesn’t mean they will stop working on new Android devices. Two new HTC Android smartphones are leaked, named as the HTC Desire 200 and HTC Desire 600. HTC is keeping the Desire series ‘alive’, and instead of going with names like Desire X, they have decided to go for numbers instead.
Desire 200 might land in the Asian countries only, but it is said that the Desire 600 might see the sunlight in Europe, so hopefully we might hear a good news soon. Share your thoughts with us in the comment box below. via: UV The post HTC Desire 200 and Desire 600 gets leaked appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| Hangouts (formerly Google Talk) Android app review Posted: 22 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT From the moment it was announced at I/O I was absolutely hooked. I used talk daily for work and a lot for talking to my fellow Android fanatics, so a face-lift and bundle of new features were definitely a welcome update. First let me talk about what a huge departure this is from the bland old Talk app. I’m loving the new colorful, happy theme. You have the familiar drop down menu to switch accounts on the conversations list. Although when receiving a message it’s usually easier to just tap your notification to switch between accounts. But this is quick and easy as well. Also in your conversations list you have the holo style “swipe to archive” we’ve come to know and love from Gmail. Although there doesn’t seem to be an option yet to change the swipe action to delete instead of archive as we’ve seen in Gmail. Hopefully we’ll see that in a future version.
Moving on to the chat and some new features. First, you can now see the last message your friend read, this icon also makes it easy to know when your friend is paying attention, when they are, their avatar is illuminated, when they leave, it’s dull and grey. Once they’re caught up on the conversation and begin a reply, a dancing little ellipsis to let you know when they’re composing a reply.
Here is one of my absolute favorite new features. You see above, I wasn’t actually in a video call at 1.56 AM, I just wanted to get in on the chat, once you join a hangout, you can turn off the video feed and communicate with everyone via chat. Really a cool feature for those bad hair-days when you don’t want to video chat with everyone, but still want to be a part of the fun! Also, you can see this on your device when you have an active video hangout on your PC or other device. I really like that you can use this on multiple devices at the same time. All-in-all the new app, when compared directly to the old Talk app, is a total “win” aside from the few bugs that accompany such a green app.
To enable the new Hangouts for you Gmail before Google rolls it out for everyone you just click the camcorder icon drop down menu next to your avatar above the Talk buddy list in Gmail and select the “Try the new Hangouts” option. For all of you Google apps users, you can still use the Hangouts app to send messages, although you won’t get the suite of features until your administrator switches opts your domain in to try the new Hangouts. Be aware though, if want to check out the new features on your Gmail or Google Apps email account, it apparently breaks your voice calling although there is supposedly an extension you can install to fix it.
All-in-all, I think Google will have a total winner here once it’s polished. I’ve found myself answering people who send me SMS through the Hangouts app, because I like it more and it seems to be more reliable than the SMS on my network. I’ve never really enjoyed chatting with multiple people at once, but for some reason I’ve found myself looking for groups of friends on G+ I think would be fun to hangout with. The more people adopt Google services like Gmail and Google+ the more friends you’ll have available with whom to Hangout. So everyone, do what I do and get as many of your friends and family using it as possible! Hit the comments below and let us know what you think about the new Hangouts! Is there anyone out there who misses Talk? The post Hangouts (formerly Google Talk) Android app review appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| Glympse – Remarkably useful without spying or being creepy Posted: 22 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Glympse is a location sharing app, similar to Latitude, that allows you to share your location and estimated time to arrival with anyone. Everyone likes to be updated on when their guests will arrive or if someone is going to be late. With Glympse, you can easily get all this information without the creepy factor of Latitude following you around and updating your location on its own.
To send a Glympse, you first select your recipient. You can select as many people as you like (I am not certain of a limit, but I know you can go over fifty people), and you can use social networks like Twitter and Facebook to add recipients. Glympse also lets you broadcast your whereabouts via other apps you have on your phone like Dropbox, Drive, Tumblr, WhatsApp, WordPress and other normal e-mail and SMS clients. Next, you can select for how long you want your Glympse viewable. This goes up to four hours, but you can add fifteen minutes or expire the Glympse whenever you like. A nice, but maybe not so obvious, feature is that Glympse allows you to see if the other person is watching your Glympse or not. We could view each other’s location on the map to get a sense of how close we were, and there was no worrying about when I would be there or whether I was stuck in traffic. Finally, you can select a message and pick your destination. Glympse will then send your location off to your recipients, and you can see who has received your location, how much longer the Glympse is viewable for, and make any modifications to it if necessary. In this way, Glympse is completely intuitive and easy to use. A few extra features Glympse has is the ability to favorite frequent contacts, see your Glympse history, add calendar events for quick sends, request a Glympse, and use Car Mode while you are driving. Glympse also is not bound to one service that everyone has to have. You can send your location via SMS, tweet, e-mail, and almost any other option so that others do not have to have Glympse to know that you are on your way. Glympse is certainly one of the best and easiest to use location-sharing apps that I have tried. Setup is quick and intuitive, and it works as advertised. My location was always picked up within a few seconds, and tracking my position was spot on. If you are having a party or a meeting and you want to keep up with attendees, Glympse makes this extremely easy for everyone involved. If you are a hiker, runner, camper, or something similar, you can give your friends the reassurance of knowing where you are and your anticipated return time. We will be trying at least one more location-sharing app, but it will have a lot to compete against with Glympse. What we liked
What could be improved
Download Glympse (Google Play) The post Glympse – Remarkably useful without spying or being creepy appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| Cricket announces Samsung Galaxy S4 for June 7 Posted: 22 May 2013 08:39 AM PDT
No-contract wireless provider Cricket today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Priced at $599, the 4G LTE smartphone will be offered starting from June 7. Qualified customers can purchase the device at $54.99 down with monthly payments. Cricket provides a variety of rate plans for smartphone users with variable prices and promotions.
It is possible, of course, to pair the Samsung Galaxy S4 with Cricket's 3G all-inclusive smartphone rate plans which start at $50 for unlimited talk and text plus up to 1GB of full-speed data per month. Cricket Announces Launch of the 4G Samsung Galaxy S 4 SAN DIEGO — May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Cricket Communications, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4. The Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone builds on the success and innovation of its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3, and provides a suite of new innovations that will change how customers interact with a smartphone. The Galaxy S4 uniquely makes advanced technologies and features easy to use by integrating them into the way individuals use their phones every day. The Galaxy S4 will be available at Cricket company-owned stores, dealers and at www.mycricket.com starting June 7, 2013 for $599.99 (MSRP). Qualifying customers can put $54.99 down at purchase plus monthly payments. "The Galaxy S4 redefines the smartphone and we are very proud to offer our customers the highest level of wireless technology on the market," said Matt Stoiber, senior vice president of devices for Cricket. "Cricket's three smartphone rate plans start as low as $45 per month1 and give customers value-packed choices for the plan that's right for them with unlimited music included." The Galaxy S4 is the first device to enable consumers to control the device with touch-less features including scrolling or turning a page and viewing documents within a file folder or a link on a web page. It enhances memorable moments with innovative camera features that captures progressive action and easily removes unwanted people from the photo. The Galaxy S4 also enhances the TV watching experience with the new Samsung WatchON™ service that simplifies searching and recommends TV, movies and sports according to personal tastes. With WatchOn and the built in IR blaster, the Galaxy S4 also functions as a remote control for home theater equipment. The Galaxy S4 combines the simple and visual interface introduced with the Galaxy Series Camera with a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera to take professional looking photographs with a smartphone. The front-facing 2-megapixel camera on the Galaxy S4 allows consumers to capture special moments in unique and new ways with Dual Camera shooting mode. Dual Camera mode takes pictures with both the rear and front cameras simultaneously to enable the photographer to be in the photo as well The Samsung Galaxy S4 is available on Cricket's 4G LTE Android Muve Music Double Data service plans that offer, for a limited time, double the monthly full speed data allowance offered in 3G rate plans. The $50 4G LTE Android Muve Music Double Data Rate Plan allows 2GB of full-speed data; the $60 plan allows 5GB of full-speed data and the $70 plan offers 10GB of full-speed data. The Galaxy S4 is also available on Cricket's 3G all-inclusive smartphone rate plans start at $50 for unlimited talk and text plus up to 1GB of full-speed data per month. The $60 smartphone plan contains up to 2.5GB of full-speed data per month and the $70 smartphone plan offers up to 5GB of full-speed data per month. With the $60 and $70 plans, customers can use their device as a hot spot to power additional wireless devices. For more information about Cricket's dynamic service and newest device lineup and to check for availability, visitwww.mycricket.com. To follow Cricket's latest news and updates online, visit Facebook atwww.facebook.com/cricketwireless and Twitter athttp://www.twitter.com/cricketnation. About Cricket 1 With Automatic Bill Pay The post Cricket announces Samsung Galaxy S4 for June 7 appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| Google becomes second most valuable brand behind Apple, surpasses IBM Posted: 22 May 2013 08:25 AM PDT According to a list published by Millward Brown Optimor, Google has just sneaked ahead of IBM to become the world’s second most valuable brand, behind Apple. According to the BrandZ list report, Google has a brand value of $113.669 billion. That’s well behind Apple’s $185.071 billion, and just barely above IBM’s $112.536 billion. These giants are listed above companies like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Visa, and other related names, such as Samsung and Verizon, found much farther down the list.. Be sure to hit the source link below for full info, and let us know what you think in the comments. via marketingweek The post Google becomes second most valuable brand behind Apple, surpasses IBM appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| Sprint’s XFON may have passed through FCC Posted: 22 May 2013 08:20 AM PDT
A Motorola XT1056 recently passed through the FCC showing support for Sprint's LTE bands. Judging by the model number, we might assume this is one of the rumored XFON (X Phone) devices slated for arrival in the near future. With this model we now have three seemingly confirmed XFON devices to look forward to. Already known are AT&T’s XT1058 and Verizon’s XT1060 so this just leaves T-Mobile as the lone “big” carrier to be on board.
Unfortunately are no new details to add to the mix for the XFON projects; specifications thus far point to a mid-to-high end experience with a 720p HD display dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor. Motorola and Google have been talking a big game of late as it pertains to devices that really “wow” us. Based on the early reported specs we have to think these need a little more under the hood. If not in hardware then we’ll definitely need more in the software and experience department. Then again, these could just be the last line of products getting pushed out before the real drool-worthy stuff shows up. Whatever happens with the X Phone / XFON we get the sense that it will fail to deliver entirely. After all, there’s always something else to look forward to. Why doesn’t it have ‘X’ or do ‘Y’? Ugh, why did they only put ‘Z’ in there? Sounds like every other smartphone release on the planet… Via Engadget The post Sprint’s XFON may have passed through FCC appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| You have to check out the photo search feature in Google+ Posted: 22 May 2013 07:12 AM PDT Wanna see something really cool? No, for real, this is pretty impressive stuff that only Google could pull off. Here’s what you do. Open up Google+ on your Android phone and go to the photos tab. Tap the menu button and tap where it says “search photos”. Type in a keyword such as sky, clouds, water, dog, blue, or whatever. It doesn’t matter much. Check out those results! Is that not awesome? I noticed this in the app the other day but didn’t think to mess with it. A post by AndroidPolice today tells me that I should have given it a go as it’s much better than I initially thought. No, you do not need to be tagging your photos or applying anything extra to your images. Indeed, Google+ knows exactly what’s in your photo gallery. I tried it a number of times just to see how accurate the results are. In most cases I found them to pull up a nearly 100% accurate list. Sure, it might not yield every single photos but it’s pretty damn sweet. Yep – it works just as well on your desktop web experience! The post You have to check out the photo search feature in Google+ appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
| HTC reportedly in “utter freefall” as execs jump ship Posted: 22 May 2013 06:36 AM PDT We’re not here to beat a dead (or dying) horse and we hate to cover any Android player in a bad light, but that’s what we have to do from time to time. As most of you know, HTC is having a tough go at things over the last few quarters and is really, really banking on the HTC One to help jump-start a comeback. A new post on The Verge tells us that things are not looking good and that high-level executives are jumping ship at an almost scary rate. Here’s a short list of names who have reportedly left the company over the last couple of months.
We don’t need to tell you that those are some rather important roles within the company. Sadly, it could go all the way to the top of the ladder as HTC CEO Peter Chou has staked his own spot on the success of the HTC One. Should it fail to be the winner that the company needs, Chou says he will step down from his position. Non-starts and slow startsIf you’ve been paying attention over the last couple of weeks then you likely know that the HTC First was a resounding dud. As the next-generation Facebook phone experience, it has gone from $99 to $.99 in roughly one month’s time. Indeed, all of the hype and fanfare is for naught as the phone is already on its way out. Unfortunately HTC will pay the price for climbing into bed with Facebook. As for the flagship HTC One, it started off slowly but is said to be gathering momentum. But, with 10 million Galaxy S 4 shipments, Samsung shows no signs of slowing down. Even with all of the great word of mouth for the HTC One it doesn’t sound super promising. The post HTC reportedly in “utter freefall” as execs jump ship appeared first on AndroidGuys. |
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