Android Community |
- GALAXY S 4 under attack in latest Windows Phone commercial
- After Earth game brings another endless runner to Android
- Motorola: digital tattoos and vitamin authentication pills are the future
- DROID DNA Sense 5 update tipped for a summer arrival
- Swype update brings improved word prediction and Dragon Dictation UI
- Motorola “Google Edition” phones up next
- NFL.com Fantasy Football app update finally makes it useful
- Google Wallet for the Verizon GALAXY S 4
- World War Z blockbuster brings the zombies to Android
| GALAXY S 4 under attack in latest Windows Phone commercial Posted: 31 May 2013 03:47 PM PDT Sigh. I don’t even know where to start with this one. The folks over at Microsoft have a new commercial that’s making the rounds where they’ve put the flagship and top-tier Samsung GALAXY S 4 against the Nokia Lumia 521. Yes the budget friendly 521 and it’s 1 GHz dual-core processor and low price is being compared to the king of all Android phones. It’s pretty comical so take a peek below.
The Lumia 521 comes with a 1.0 GHz dual-core and only 512MB of RAM. The 4-inch screen has a 2009-style 480 x 800 resolution display. Oh, and it runs Windows Phone. The phone does have one good thing going for it, and that is the price. Being nearly free on contract, or $149 outright Nokia did do a good job with making it a quality budget smartphone. The problem here isn’t the device, it’s that they compare it and the $149 price with Samsung’s GALAXY S 4, while claiming the GS 4 will cost $750. So while the add isn’t really comparing both phones, Microsoft wants to show us what all we can buy with the money saved if you choose a Lumia 521. It’s a noble try, but I found it quite funny and figured our readers would too. In the end they want you to know that $750 is way too much for a phone when you can get the Lumia 521 for $149. Sadly almost everyone (at least in the U.S.) will get it on contract for $199, and that $49 difference for a 5-inch 1080p display, quad-core power, 13 megapixel camera, and the latest Android 4.2.2 is 100% worth it. In every aspect. It’s just laughable that they actually took the time to make this a full out commercial. Yes, we know they aren’t actually comparing the phones head on vs each other, but when you look at it realistically the price difference isn’t big enough that people will honestly see this and choose a Lumia. Just my $0.02 on the matter. What do you guys think? |
| After Earth game brings another endless runner to Android Posted: 31 May 2013 03:07 PM PDT Earlier today we mentioned a game being released to accompany the movie with World War Z, and now we’re seeing the same thing for the upcoming action film After Earth. Will Smith style and all. In a partnership with Sony Pictures, the team at Reliance Games is releasing a new game for Android and other mobile devices, called After Earth. It’s basically an endless runner but it actually could be pretty fun so take a peek below.
Even if the movie took some design and visual hints from Avatar it still looks pretty darn good. The game will closely follow the movie, and ties in directly with the cast. A cast which doesn’t have too many people so you won’t need to worry about that. The movie has Will Smith and his son fighting all types of animals so making this an endless runner actually works quite well. It’s a little bit of Temple Run and a little of Iron Man 3 blend into their own game to coincide with the movie. They describe it as a game “based on the film where you can slide, leap and fly through perilous terrain, and slice and dice evil creatures that lurk in the dark with your cutlass sword.” And here’s the launch trailer too: After watching the preview the game actually looks quite fun. Being everything and more that Temple Run 2 is, although we’ll have to try it before we give it a thumbs up. It’ll run users a quick $0.99 on the Google Play Store and so far it has mixed reviews. A few screen flickering issues are mentioned, as well as no exit button, but otherwise things are looking good. With story mode offering 20 challenges, an infinite mode to test your durability and concentration, and tons to collect from coins, new suits and more this should keep you entertained – for longer than the movie will. Give it a try today and let us know what you think. SOURCE: Play Store |
| Motorola: digital tattoos and vitamin authentication pills are the future Posted: 31 May 2013 02:21 PM PDT At the big D11 conference yesterday we learned a lot about Google and Motorola‘s plans. Obviously a lot of their focus is on the upcoming Motorola X-Phone, but the company is also looking into the future too. With wearable computing like Google Glass and beyond quickly approaching our daily lives, Motorola wants to be at the front of the pack with many new technologies. Things like digital tattoos and even pills that you can swallow to replace your passwords.
Pretty crazy stuff when you really think about it. At the event Regina Dugan, SVP for Advanced Technology and projects at Motorola, showed off some rather neat technology that’s current under development. One being a digital tattoo that users can wear for over a week. This would cut down on the authentication and password processes we go through multiple times daily with our gadgets. Imagine a simple tattoo you could wear for a week or longer. You wouldn’t need slide to unlock or other passcode access measures on your smartphone. It would know you’re the one using it, and thus remove those authentication measures. If someone else tries to access a device or wearable, they won’t be so lucky. This is just one of many neat things, but the next one is even more bizarre. Imagine taking a pill that will do this all too. Yes, that’s real too and apparently already cleared the FDA.
The “smart pills” come from Proteus Digital Health that you can swallow and then are powered by the acid in the users stomach. Eww right? We wonder how long they last and how exactly this works. These pills create an 18-bit signal in your body which acts as your own personal “authentication token.” That’s just creepy if you ask me. Would you take one each morning with your daily vitamins and medication? In the end we won’t be seeing anything like this anytime soon. Google’s working on the next-gen Motorola X-Phone with all types of next-gen sensors and such, but vitamin authentication pills and tattoos are still a long ways away. SOURCE: SlashGear |
| DROID DNA Sense 5 update tipped for a summer arrival Posted: 31 May 2013 01:56 PM PDT Much of the recent DROID DNA talk has been focused on the topic of the HTC One. Specifically, as to whether or not the HTC One is coming to Verizon Wireless as the replacement for the now six-month old DROID DNA. Assuming you are a Verizon user that is eligible, or close to being eligible for an upgrade, those talks were probably what you wanted to hear. On the flip side though, there are plenty of DROID DNA users that are going to be tied to an agreement for quite a bit longer and that group is most likely thinking of updates.
That being the case, it looks like there may be a bit of good news coming. Keep in mind, this has yet to be confirmed by Verizon or HTC, but it looks like your Sense 5 update is coming sometime this summer. What we have instead is coming by way of Twitter user @LlabTooFeR, who in the past has been fairly reliable when it comes to HTC related information. Anyway, the question as to when Sense 5 would be arriving for the DROID DNA was recently asked and in reply, we saw the following;
We do have to keep in mind that “this summer” is still a rather open timeframe. Not to mention, even if that is the plan for now, things can and often do change when it comes to carrier provided updates. Verizon tends to not pre-announce updates. Or if they do offer some sort of an announcement changelog, that is usually posted shortly before the update begins rolling out.
While the DROID DNA is already running Jelly Bean, the Sense 5 update is expected to arrive with a bump in version number. Looking back, HTC has already confirmed that a Sense 5 update would be available for the DROID DNA. Sense 5 is also expected for other HTC handsets to include the One X, One X+ and One S as well as the Butterfly. Lastly, while we may be a bit hesitant to pick up a DROID DNA at this very moment, the handset does remain available in the Verizon lineup. Big Red has the device priced at $199.99 on a two-year agreement and in addition to running Jelly Bean, the handset sports a 5-inch 1080p display, quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 2020 mAh battery and 8 megapixel rear-facing camera. With that, those considering a DROID DNA purchase may also benefit from our review. VIA: GottaBeMobile SOURCE: Twitter @LlabTooFeR |
| Swype update brings improved word prediction and Dragon Dictation UI Posted: 31 May 2013 01:15 PM PDT After a seemingly never ending beta period, Nuance Communications released the Swype keyboard app into the Google Play Store in late-April. While the Play Store version of the app should have been familiar to anyone that had been using the beta release, it did come with a price to pay. Specifically, the Swype app arrived priced at $0.99. And while we suspect some long time beta users may have had a hard time paying, there is one perk that has come as a result of parting with that dollar.
The perk is updates. Simply put, it is nice to have the updates managed by way of the Google Play Store. You get the notification and updating is pretty painless. With that in mind, Nuance has just recently rolled out an updated release. This latest update has arrived as version 1.5.6.16542 and perhaps more important than the long string of numbers — there are some decent improvements and fixes. The folks at Swype have said the Dragon Dictation UI has been improved and the next word prediction accuracy has been improved. Two decent perks right there, however those using the Mail app on an HTC One will also have a fix for the word duplication issues. Additionally, there was also mention of unspecified user reported crash issues having been fixed along with other bug fixes and optimizations. The list of available themes has also grown by one with this latest update. Those looking to switch up the keyboard theme can head to Settings -> Language and Input and then clicking the gear icon to the right of the Swype + Dragon keyboard option. From here you click Settings (top option in the list) and then choose the option for Themes (also on top). The default is likely set to Holo, however there are plenty of options to include Arctic, Silver and Night as well as the Classic layout. In total there are now 14 themes. Additionally, this update has also added support for new languages as well as brought updated language databases for several other languages. The new languages include; Afrikaans, Irish, Javanese, Sesotho, Sundanese, Swahili, Xhosa and Zulu. The updated language databases include; French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian. With that, those who have already purchased Swype will get this update for free. For those who have yet to try Swype and are afraid to part with the buck, there is a trial available in the Google Play Store as “Swype Keyboard Trial.” SOURCE: Google Play Store |
| Motorola “Google Edition” phones up next Posted: 31 May 2013 01:08 PM PDT When Google purchased Motorola for over $12 billion in 2011, many (myself included) thought Motorola would be the first company to release what we’re now seeing as Google or Nexus experience phones. However, Samsung managed to beat them to the punch, and now even HTC. What gives? Google told us they built a firewall between Android and Motorola, but could the next wave of Motorola phones all be Google Editions? Yup.
The entire process of buying Motorola Mobility needed to be handled with care, and Google knew it. They couldn’t give Motorola a huge edge over the competition, as that wouldn’t be too nice, and surely their other partners (read: Samsung, HTC, LG and more) wouldn’t be very happy. While I thought we’d be seeing a few Motorola Nexus phones already, that never happened. However things are starting to change. Samsung has their flagship GALAXY S 4 hitting the Play Store in late June with stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, as does HTC with the One, and they’ll get updated regularly and nearly at the same speed of a Nexus device. Being dubbed a Google Edition and Nexus experience device. Now it’s Motorola’s turn. We know Google has big plans for Motorola, and their CEO even confirmed the Moto X is real and coming this summer. Personally, we think Motorola needs to showcase exactly what they’ll be offering before these “Google Edition” phones go on sale. Motorola needs to show the consumers what they have in the works, and why we should want them over the GALAXY S 4 or the HTC One. So far they’re more than a few months behind, and there’s no announcement date in sight. You better hurry Motorola!
This brings us to the Motorola X (as Dennis Woodside called it) or the X-Phone. Or as recent FCC filings have shown, the XFON. This device has been leaked more than a few times and has been spotted clearing the FCC for AT&T, Verizon, and others. So far the reports are still scattered regarding exactly what the specs will be, but we’re betting they’ll be impressive. Could this push for Google Edition phones for other manufacturers be Google’s way of playing nice (and fair) as they prepare to launch all upcoming Motorola devices on completely stock Android? It’s a real possibility. We’re not sure what the future holds. We don’t know how stock the Moto X will, or won’t be, but we know it’s coming. If the smartphone does indeed launch on all carriers like rumors suggest and isn’t stock Android, you can bet Google will have a XFON Google Edition for sale in the Play Store. Things are getting interesting folks. How do you see it playing out over the next 2-3 months? My guess is the XFON will be the first devices to launch with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box, and will arrive a few weeks after Google pushes the same update to the Nexus 4, 7 and 10. Whenever that may be. |
| NFL.com Fantasy Football app update finally makes it useful Posted: 31 May 2013 12:20 PM PDT The NBA playoffs are both a good thing, and a bad thing for people like myself. They keep me somewhat entertained while patiently waiting for the NFL season to return, but also remind me just how much better Football really is. These last few months as we wait for even pre-season to start seem to take forever, and while we’re waiting the folks from NFL.com are getting ready for the 2013 NFL season.
Today NFL.com and their Fantasy Football app was updated for the new season, and along with it comes tons of changes. The app actually works now. For some odd and ridiculous reason most users couldn’t even use the app last year, myself included, so it’s nice to see it finally updated with a working and decent UI. It’s a blend between Android and iOS in terms of the look, but at least it works! Now it has all the players, stats, record listings, updated news feeds and much more. Being able to see player stats, injury reports and more is nice (that’s what Bleacher Report is for) and the only important part for me was the UI, and actually being able to manage my Fantasy Team. Last year 90% of the buttons weren’t working in the app, which is depressing for the official NFL app, so at least they’ve fixed that.
You’ll be able to manage multiple teams in a way that is actually useful with the app this year, and you can even draft and prepare your league as we speak. I’ve done a mock draft or two already, but won’t be doing anything official until we get closer to the season. For all you die hard NFL and Fantasy fans, get the new app below, and hold on because the season is coming soon enough. Oh and go Packers! (Booya) SOURCE: Play Store |
| Google Wallet for the Verizon GALAXY S 4 Posted: 31 May 2013 12:16 PM PDT Verizon users haven’t really been able to use Google Wallet on their devices. Verizon opted to go with ISIS for mobile payments and despite seeing frequent complaints from users, that doesn’t appear like it will be changing any time soon. Basically, Verizon Wireless users have been blocked from using Google Wallet. That would be the standard rule here, however there is the option to run Google Wallet if you are willing to do a bit of work to make it happen.
Well, technically the folks at xda developers have done most of the hard work. Nonetheless, there is still some work involved on the part of the end user. And in this case, it looks like Google Wallet is now up and running on the GALAXY S 4. That is, provided your GALAXY S 4 is rooted. Specifically, the xda forums note that you will need to be rooted and have a custom recovery. The necessary files, along with the directions can all be found in the xda forums and the good news is how this will work for those using a TouchWiz- or AOSP-based ROM. Those who have already rooted their GALAXY S 4 have a head start here and can proceed directly to the part where you get Wallet installed, set-up and running. Thankfully though, the process shouldn’t be all that difficult even if you are still unrooted. Just yesterday we mentioned the one-click root tool that came available for Verizon GALAXY S 4 users. You should make sure you are comfortable with messing with your phone, but the process doesn’t seem all that involved or difficult. In fact, aside from downloading (and unzipping) the zip file, there are only five other steps. The one catch with the one-click Verizon GALAXY S 4 root tool — it requires the use of Windows PC. Bottom line here, as long as you are ok with rooting your phone and running a modified version of Google Wallet, you can now swipe your smartphone instead of your credit card. That all being said, the xda forums have a nice set of directions that are broken down into simple steps but remember that you should still read, re-read and make sure you do not skip any steps in the process. SOURCE: xda developers, Droid-Life |
| World War Z blockbuster brings the zombies to Android Posted: 31 May 2013 11:34 AM PDT While we already have enough zombie-inspired games on Android, today one was released by the popular Phosphor Games Studio in collaboration with the upcoming movie starring Brad Pitt, World War Z. There’s some impressive looking movies coming out in 2013 (like Superman) but I’m oddly excited for World War Z too, even if the title is god awful. However, we now have a pretty stellar looking game to play at the same time.
Released today to the Google Play Store is World War Z the game, and the visuals and graphics actually look fairly decent. Developed by Paramount Digital Entertainment and the team behind the Horn adventure game, you know it should be a pretty quality release. They even have a teaser trailer showing us what to expect before throwing down cash on the game. So who doesn’t like killing loads and loads of zombies? No one! That’s why we have an abundance of similar games in the Play Store. It follows the movie, not the short story book, and comes with 28 first person shooter action filled levels, and what the developers call “intense combat, engaging puzzles, upgradable weapons and armor, and unlimited challenge mode.” That unlimited challenge mode sounds familiar, and is probably loads of fun. Check it out. With tons of different options, settings, customizations to make your player unique and even over a dozen upgradable weapons you should be well-equipped to handle the hoards of zombies. It even mentions hand-to-hand combat, so we might be fighting a few off with a knife or machete. Sounds good to me. Get it below for about 5 bucks. SOURCE: Play Store |
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