Android Authority |
- Early bird tickets for the Big Android BBQ 2013 are now on sale
- HTC shows up uninvited at Galaxy S4 launch, calls it #theNextBigFlop
- How they work: Computer/Gaming glasses
- Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 2
- Google nabs neural networks startup to aid in speech recognition tech and more
- Samsung Galaxy S4 turns into smart TV remote with IR sensor and WatchOn
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Canada availability: what we know
- Samsung Galaxy S4 to launch Knox feature for fast personal and business account switching
- Samsung Galaxy S4: here are all the new TouchWiz and software features
- Missed the show? Watch the Galaxy S4 launch event recording
| Early bird tickets for the Big Android BBQ 2013 are now on sale Posted: 15 Mar 2013 03:07 AM PDT
Are you in the midst of building something incredible on the Android platform? You may not want to miss the chance of meeting other bright minds and thinkers at the upcoming Big Android BBQ 2013, which will be held in Hurst, Texas in October. Though it's still half a year away, you can already grab the early bird tickets for the mobile tech conference, as they're now selling at $42 a pop. Remember that there's a processing fee of $2 on top of the price, but at least you'll get a free towel. The geek event of the year will run from October 10 – 12, but except for the date, no other details have been given. The team promises that it will be bigger than ever, though, with more planned sessions and exhibitors in the cards, as well as evening activities to keep you entertained. Whether you're looking to make some contacts with folks in the industry or you're just a fan of the platform, you're bound to have a geeky good time there. The early bird sale will end on March 31. Are you going to the Big Android BBQ this year? The post Early bird tickets for the Big Android BBQ 2013 are now on sale appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HTC shows up uninvited at Galaxy S4 launch, calls it #theNextBigFlop Posted: 15 Mar 2013 02:05 AM PDT
When HTC said that it's done playing the role of a muted, though admittedly brilliant competitor, it looks like the company really meant it. As told by AllThingsD, prior to the start of the bizarre show that was the Galaxy S4 official unveiling, HTC deployed a street team to meet techies, journalists, and regular customers who were queuing outside Radio City Music Hall in New York, the venue for the big event. Not only did they bring some hot snacks and drinks, but they also brought along some demo units of the HTC One for folks to try, as well as handing out $100 coupons to those who want to trade in their old phone with the HTC One. Some may call the move brazen or perhaps desperate, but for HTC president Jason MacKenzie, it was simply "a good opportunity to let people compare real-time."
Once the show got going, HTC seemingly went below the belt and posted the above on its official Twitter page, calling the Galaxy S4 #theNextBigFlop. Given the Galaxy S lineup’s stellar sales track record, with a combined sales of over 100 million units, the tweet may just come back and bite the Taiwanese in the back side. But we'll see anyway how things pan out. The post HTC shows up uninvited at Galaxy S4 launch, calls it #theNextBigFlop appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How they work: Computer/Gaming glasses Posted: 15 Mar 2013 12:00 AM PDT
Is it technology, or voodoo? Computer glasses have been around for a few years now, and seem to be catching on. Do those tinted lenses really work, or is it a bunch of marketing nonsense? There is a quite a bit of science backing it up, and the difference is palpable. The folks at Gunnars, who are really unparalleled in this eyewear genre, were kind enough to send over a pair for me to test out. After wearing them for a few weeks, I'm a bit surprised. We're not going to stop looking at screens and monitors, so we should probably find a way to reduce eye fatigue. You know it, I know it… we do this for far too long each day. We game or work for hours, and our eyes are throbbing by the end of it all. Then, we have to wake up and do it all again tomorrow.
LensesThe lenses are critical to any eyewear, and a good pair of computer glasses don't disappoint. The lenses are made to create what is defined as a "microclimate" around your eyes. They're angled and shaped in such a way as to prevent unnecessary airflow from entering the space between your eye and the lens. The meaning of that is to create humidity, and help to prevent your eyes from drying out. Dry eyes mean blinking, and blinking means stress on those tiny little eye muscles. The shape of the lens is also meant to deflect light. When we look at monitors close-up, our eye muscles flex to take it in. This extended period of flexion in the muscles causes strain. The shape of the lenses refracts light into the eye, meaning your muscles can relax. Try flexing your arm for long periods of time. After a while, it starts to hurt, especially after you relax the arm. Eye muscles are no different.
TintThe amber tint on computer glasses is another very important factor to reducing strain. Maybe the yellow-ish tint is cause for suspicion, but it has a purpose. Turns out those high-powered monitors are not as awesome for our eyes as we might think. All that high energy light emanating from your screen can be damaging over a long period of time. We tend to spend extended periods of time glaring at our games or work, so we're taking in a lot of unnatural light. Overhead fluorescent lighting, multiple screens, lots of stuff to be done… it's madness! The amber tint is meant to soften the harsh coloration, all while increasing our perceived contrast. In doing so, our eyes can recover quickly during change, like navigating between different screens or pages on the same screen. The lens material is also optically pure, meaning there is no distortion on light deflection. FramesThe theme of the day is reducing fatigue, and frames play a surprisingly big role in that. The frames are usually made of a very thin, light metal that almost disappears when you put them on. The weight of something sitting on my face was a concern for me, since I don't wear glasses at all. Reducing fatigue and strain is the goal, and the frames do a fabulous job in the overall experience. While light, they're not fragile or delicate.
Do they work?When you first put a pair on, the amber tint may strike you as odd. Though after wearing them for a bit, that won't be an issue at all. The tint may be surprising, but that may also be because you're looking for it. The goal of computer glasses is to reduce eye fatigue, which also reduces overall fatigue. If you're spending long hours looking at screens, then a pair of computer glasses is probably something you should consider. The concept may be foreign to some, but the science works. A recent independent study of computer glasses, with 100 participants, yielded some interesting results. All 100 participants reported easier viewing, with 96 people reporting reduced eye strain. An impressive 80 participants reported their eyes were just plain less tired while wearing them. The experienceComputer glasses have an amber tint, meant to soften colors, but they don't diminish the overall viewing experience. Colors are softened, not changed. The amber tint definitely alters things, but not greatly. It also tends to magnify things a bit, so the viewing experience can be enhanced in that respect.
ConclusionThe claims aren’t false… Gunnars work. If you're going to be staring at a monitor for an hour or more, and it's a recurring part of your life, I'd suggest checking them out. The science is legitimate, even if it's a new concept to you. I was pretty skeptical at first, but have been pleasantly surprised by the experience. My eyes really do feel less fatigued during normal amounts of use, and wearing them (especially for someone who doesn't wear glasses) has been less intrusive than I thought. We stare at monitors and screens almost constantly, and that's cause for concern to our eyes. Eye strain can cause a myriad of concerns over time, and those problems can be hard (or impossible) to reverse. If you wear glasses already, there is an option for prescription lenses, or a different tint for those who need truer colors on their monitor. If you're on the fence about trying them, some Best Buy locations have try-on pairs of the gaming glasses. Give them a shot, maybe pick up a pair. Over the course of a few days and weeks, you'll start to notice it more when you don't wear them, which is the true hallmark of a successful product. The post How they work: Computer/Gaming glasses appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Posted: 14 Mar 2013 11:21 PM PDT
Arguably the most important Samsung announcement of the year has just passed earlier today, as the South Korean manufacturer has raised the curtain on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Now that the Galaxy S4 is official, we take the time to compare it against the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and learn how the two size up. As the freshly unveiled Samsung Galaxy S4 is the first high-end smartphone that the South Korean manufacturer has unveiled since the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, a comparison between the two should reveal the progress of Samsung's technology in the past six months. It's no news by now that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was a major hit for Samsung, as the second generation phablet has received positive feedback not only from the online tech media but, if you take into account a few sales reports, regular consumers as well. By the looks of it, we're in for an interesting battle. Additionally, it is my belief that this article might help some of our readers to better understand the differences between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, should they ponder upon buying one of the two. For a video comparison, you can jump to the bottom of this article. Those of you interested in learning all the details might want to bear with us as we divide this battle in four equally important rounds: display, design and build quality, internal hardware and Android version. Specs
Display
The Samsung Galaxy S4 uses a 4.99 inch Super AMOLED display that runs at a 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution, at a 441 Pixel Per Inch (PPI) ratio. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 uses a 5.55 inch SAMOLED panel that displays 1280 by 720 pixels at a lesser 267 PPI ratio. The only noticeable difference (besides the size, of course) is an extra crispness on the Galaxy S4 display. Both panels are very bright and display good contrast ratios, but they also bear the mark of the traditional issue with SAMOLED displays, meaning that color reproduction is not very accurate. Some can live with these oversaturated colors, some can't. Verdict: The Samsung Galaxy S4 wins this round thanks to the enhanced crispness of its display. Design and Build Quality
Samsung seems to be very fond of the design language that they've used on the Galaxy S3, and then on the Galaxy Note 2, as the Samsung Galaxy S4, at least from the front, appears to be little more than a Galaxy S3 with a larger display. But if you examine the bezel and the periphery of the device, you will find that Samsung is opting for higher quality materials here, giving it a more refined and luxurious aesthetic and feel. Both the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 make use of the same rounded corners, the same glossy plastic back and the same navigational button style (a hardware button flanked by two capacitive buttons). The metallic frame that the Galaxy S4 uses is a welcomed addition, although some were expecting a bit more from Samsung in the design segment. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 measures 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm (5.95 x 3.17 x 0.37 in) and weighs 183 g (6.46 oz), while the Samsung Galaxy S4 measures and weighs in at an incredibly svelte 130 grams. Verdict: Some love larger devices like the Note 2, whereas some don’t. Samsung has managed to fit a very large display with seemingly higher quality build materials into a device that is substantially lighter, too. Our hats go off to Samsung here for making it so compact, yet a large, high resolution display. Plus that thin bezel is a very welcome addition for people, too! Internal Hardware
CPU, GPU & RAMFor the international variant, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will use a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa SoC, one that consists out of a quad-core A15 CPU and a quad-core A7 CPU in big.little configuration, a GPU and 2GB of RAM memory. For LTE markets like the US, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 SoC, which is the one depicted and benchmarked in the image above. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is based on Samsung's Exynos 4 System on a Chip (SoC), one that combines a 1.6GHz quad-core A9 CPU, a Mali 400MP GPU and 2GB of RAM. Benchmark results as well as real life performance have proven the Exynos 4 as the fastest chip for the main part of 2012. Six months is a very long time in the mobile device market, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 seems to be the faster smartphone of the two, whether or not it’s the LTE specific one with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 or whether it’s the international variant with the Exynos Octa SoC. Internal and Expandable StorageBoth the Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy S4 can work with microSD cards of up to 64GB in size and are available with either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 13MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary camera for video calling, an upgrade from the Galaxy Note 2 and its pair of 8MP and 2MP cameras. BatteryTo power all its components, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 uses a 3100 mAh battery and features great battery life. In the other corner, the Samsung Galaxy S4 uses a 2600 mAh battery, but we'll have to wait for more time with the device before we can assess its battery life rates. Verdict: The Samsung Galaxy S4 is likely to have comparable or better battery life compared to the Note 2, due to its more efficient SoC, because it has a smaller display, and because it uses a more advanced display technology compared to the Note 2. Android Version and Software TweaksBoth the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. The Samsung Galaxy S4 uses a newer version of the TouchWiz custom Android UI, although only the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has access to Samsung's range of S-Pen enabled features and apps. Verdict: Draw VideoConclusion
As one could expect before Samsung's announcement, at the end of the day, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is inferior to the Samsung Galaxy S4 in terms of display quality and internal hardware. Despite this, I personally know a bunch of Galaxy Note 2 owners who couldn’t give up the extra screen real estate and S-Pen capabilities for nothing in the world. What do you think about this? Between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 which one would you choose and why? Voice a thought in the comment section below and let us know! The post Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 2 appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google nabs neural networks startup to aid in speech recognition tech and more Posted: 14 Mar 2013 10:30 PM PDT As part of Google’s ongoing effort to consolidate its resources and hone in on the few core products that it intends to keep going into the future, it has acquired Toronto-based startup DNNresearch for an undisclosed sum. DNNresearch is a startup that specializes in neural networks and recently developed a solution for highly improved object recognition. DNNresearch is the result of work done in collaboration by University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton and a couple of graduate students, Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever. Since Google has bought their company, the two grad students will now transition to the search giant itself. And as for professor Hinton, it has been said that he will start working with Google as well, while still keeping his post at the University of Toronto. Last month, Google announced U of T neural networks start-up acquired by Google TORONTO, ON – Google has picked up a ground-breaking start-up out of the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto. University Professor Geoffrey Hinton and two of his graduate students, Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, incorporated DNNresearch Inc. in 2012, and the company has been acquired by Google for its research on deep neural networks. Hinton is world-renowned for his work with neural nets, and this research has profound implications for areas such as speech recognition, computer vision and language understanding. “Geoffrey Hinton’s research is a magnificent example of disruptive innovation with roots in basic research,” said U of T’s president, Professor David Naylor. “The discoveries of brilliant researchers, guided freely by their expertise, curiosity, and intuition, lead eventually to practical applications no one could have imagined, much less requisitioned. “I extend my congratulations to Professor Hinton for this latest achievement.” Recently, Krizhevsky and Sutskever, who will both be moving to Google, developed a system that dramatically improved the state of the art in object recognition. “This is a wonderful opportunity for Geoff, and a great opportunity for the department,” said Computer Science Chair Sven Dickinson. “In recent years, we have been expanding our industrial relations, and this acquisition represents a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our existing ties with Google, one of the world’s most innovative IT companies.” The Google deal will support Prof. Hinton’s graduate students housed in the department’s machine learning group, while protecting their research autonomy under academic freedom. It will also allow Prof. Hinton himself to divide his time between his university research and his work at Google. “I am extremely excited about this fantastic opportunity to keep my research here in Toronto and, at the same time, help Google apply new developments in deep learning to make systems that help people,” said Professor Hinton. Professor Hinton will spend time at Google’s Toronto office and several months of the year at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA. This announcement comes on the heels of a $600,000 gift Google awarded Professor Hinton’s research group to support further work in the area of neural nets. The post Google nabs neural networks startup to aid in speech recognition tech and more appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy S4 turns into smart TV remote with IR sensor and WatchOn Posted: 14 Mar 2013 08:13 PM PDT
And now, with the announcement of its latest flagship smartphone, Samsung has taken the idea of a built-in remote control on a smartphone just a little bit further. The Samsung Galaxy S4, which was just announced as the newest Android-powered Galaxy-branded smartphone from Samsung at an event held in New York’s Radio City Music Hall, comes with a built-in IR blaster. This in turn will allow its users to transform it into a full-fledged smart TV remote control. This type of feature was first demonstrated with the Samsung Galaxy Note tablets. Then called Samsung Video Discovery, it can be used to control a user’s media center, look up on-demand content, check the latest TV programs, and even purchase media directly from any compatible devices. Now that the Galaxy S4 is here, the feature’s name has been changed to WatchOn. But it still works in pretty much the same way. With most of the Galaxy S4′s new software features being touted as merely gimmicks by some people, this is one of the things that will surely be useful. The post Samsung Galaxy S4 turns into smart TV remote with IR sensor and WatchOn appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy S4 Canada availability: what we know Posted: 14 Mar 2013 07:21 PM PDT
As you know, the Galaxy S4 was unveiled on Thursday evening in New York City, and we're sure you're dying to know when Samsung's new flagship will be launching and what carriers it'll be on in Canada. We've already talked about the device's availability in the United States, and now it's time to show you what we know about the launch in Canada. Samsung Galaxy S4 Canada carrier availabilitySamsung Canada announced via a press release that the Galaxy S4 will be making its way to a number of carriers, including some that aren’t very well known. You can check out the full list below:
MobileSyrup notes that the only carrier that is really missing from the list is MTS in Manitoba. As for release dates on the various operators, we’re looking at mid-May, which is a little bit later than the global release in late April. No doubt that the carriers themselves will announce official launch dates in the next few months if not weeks though. Samsung Galaxy S4 Canada hardware versionsThe Galaxy S4 will come in both 3G and 4G LTE-ready models. Depending on what region you live in, you can expect Samsung’s next flagship to sport a 1.6GHz Exynos octa-core CPU or a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600. Much like the U.S. version of the phone, we’re expecting the Canadian version to have the latter.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Canadian release dateSamsung, at its Unpacked event in New York City, announced that the Galaxy S4 would be releasing globally in late April. Canadians will, as heartbreaking as it is, be waiting a little bit longer. Samsung Canada says the Galaxy S4 will be releasing in the Great White North sometime in mid-May but did not specify a date. Samsung Galaxy S4 Canada pricingThe Galaxy S4 should cost anywhere between $199 and $299 on a new three-year contract with a carrier. Considering the amount of mobile operators that will have the Galaxy S4, you can expect a lot of varied pricing and possible discounts too. If you want to buy the phone unlocked and off-contract, you can expect to spend a good $800. RoundupYou can expect to see the Galaxy S4 become available over the next three months if there aren’t anymore delays. Expect to pay $199 to $299 for the handset, and $800 if you’re in the market for an unlocked and contract-free model. We’ll keep this post updated as more detailed information becomes available. The post Samsung Galaxy S4 Canada availability: what we know appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy S4 to launch Knox feature for fast personal and business account switching Posted: 14 Mar 2013 07:01 PM PDT
Enterprise has traditionally been the expertise of BlackBerry, but the rise of bring-your-own device (BYOD) policies in the workplace has encouraged workers to choose Android and iOS devices as their work smartphones and tablets. But this has resulted in security concerns, which can include malware, data theft and the like, especially given how users tend to mix their personal apps and data with their work-related ones. Samsung launched its SAFE initiative in 2012 to improve its enterprise security profile. Earlier at MWC this year, Samsung also introduced Knox, which provides an easier way for users to manage both their professional and personal accounts. At the Galaxy S4 launch event, Samsung says its latest flagship smartphone will ship with Knox pre-installed, which should be a good thing for IT departments, professionals and just about anyone who wants to have separate access to their work and personal accounts on their phone. What’s so good about Knox is that the phone essentially stores work and personal data in separate spaces, which include messages, apps and user accounts. This means you can switch to your personal account at the tap of a button, say, when you leave the office, and you can switch back when you want to access work-related information. What’s great is that your company’s IT department won’t be able to access data from your personal account. And if you’re fond of installing apps that tend to pull data from your smartphone, you can install these on your personal account without worrying that the app will get information from your work data. As a refresher, Knox has the following key features:
Again, Knox lets you switch between the business and personal sides of your smartphone at the tap of an on-screen button, which means you don’t have to reboot, refresh or even launch one of these instances in a virtual environment, which can be very slow, time-consuming and resource-hogging. Knox will not be a Galaxy S4-exclusive, though, but Samsung will initially launch it with the S4, along with its other software features. The post Samsung Galaxy S4 to launch Knox feature for fast personal and business account switching appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy S4: here are all the new TouchWiz and software features Posted: 14 Mar 2013 06:40 PM PDT
The Samsung Unpacked event for the Samsung Galaxy S4 has come and gone and we’re left to decipher all the things that the Galaxy S4 will be. They didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the hardware, sadly, but they did spend a great deal of time outlining a plethora of new software and TouchWiz features that people will be able to enjoy with the new Galaxy S4. Read on below to see what Samsung has in store for their customers for the next year. Galaxy S4 Dual Camera (for video and chat)The first bomb Samsung dropped on the Unpacked event was the Dual Camera feature. At first we thought Samsung had lost their minds and put a second camera on the Galaxy S4. Thankfully, they didn’t pull an EVO 3D. Dual Camera refers to the camera app’s ability to use both the back and front facing cameras when doing a multitude of tasks. First, you can use the Dual Camera to take video. You use the 13MP back camera to shoot whatever you wish while the front-facing camera records a video of you. So if you’re at your kid’s baseball game and you’re taking a video, you can video both your kid and you at the same time. For a lot of people this is going to be a really awesome feature. For many more, it won’t be. Dual Camera on the Galaxy S4 can also be used during chats. You can use the front-facing camera to record your face and then use the 13MP back shooter to record what you’re looking at. This is a much more useful and cool use of the feature. With this, people will be able to chat with you face to face and if you want to show them something you’re looking at, use Dual Cameras and they will be able to see it too. Of course, since the feature is there, Samsung included Dual Camera in photos too. The Galaxy S4 can take a dual picture of whatever you want to take a picture of, and you. This would be cool, but it’s hard to imagine anyone using this feature unless it was high school girls taking selfies while they took photos of other random stuff. Prepare yourselves, the dual food and duck face pictures are coming. Galaxy S4 Shot & SoundIn an effort to recreate every horror movie ever made, Samsung has included a new feature in the Galaxy S4 called Shot & Sound. Ostensibly, this feature is used to take a picture of something and then add a short verbal missive to kind of explain it. So you can take a picture of a sunset and make a comment about how beautiful sunsets are. Then you can send it to people who can see the picture and hear your voice. While it’s cool, it’s not particularly useful. We could imagine a bunch of people making their most terrifying face and adding a verbal message asking their friends if they’d like to play a game. Galaxy S4 S TranslateThis was the first truly impressive feature we saw during the Unpacked event. S Translate will translate people speaking in more than a dozen languages instantly. This is actually a highly useful feature. If you’re asking for directions in a country where you don’t speak the language, there is no problem. You choose the language and speak into the Galaxy S4. It will translate what you say into any language you select and spout it back out to whoever you need help from. They can respond and S Translate will turn their words into text that you can read. Awesome.
Additionally, this functionality has been built into a number of apps, including the Samsung messaging app and the email app. So if you get an email in Japanese, it can be translated to English within the app itself. Essentially, there is no more worrying about having to copy and paste everything into Google Translate. Galaxy S4 Smart Pause and Smart ScrollWe mention these together since they are an extension of last year’s feature called Smart Stay. Smart Stay used the front-facing camera to track your eye movement so it would know to leave the screen on while you were looking at it. Smart Pause and Smart Scroll use this same technology to allow you to control other parts of your phone. For Smart Pause, the phone will automatically pause and start video based on whether you’re looking at the screen. So if you’re watching a movie and you look at something else, the video will pause automatically so you don’t miss anything. When you look back, the video will start once again. Smart Scroll essentially senses when you need to scroll somewhere and does it automatically. Galaxy S4 Air GestureIf you owned the Galaxy Note 2, you’re already somewhat familiar with this feature. With the Note 2, you could over your S Pen above a screen and interact with things without touching the screen. Air Gesture increases this functionality to include your fingers as well as an S Pen. It’s really simple and straight forward. You can interact with things on your phone without actually touching your phone. Rather, you can simply hover over things to interact with them. Nothing people with S Pens haven’t seen before, but still nifty if you’re into that sort of thing. Galaxy S4 Samsung KnoxSamsung Knox is not a new feature but Samsung has confirmed that it will be on the Galaxy S4. Knox is a pretty awesome application, so it’s worth discussing again. What Knox does is breaks up your phone into 2 halves. The first half can be used for business and be controlled by people like your IT department at work. The other half is controlled by you. What’s really cool is that neither of these sides can interact. Your IT department can’t interact with the personal half and your personal half can’t interact with the business half. So businesses can invest in the Galaxy S4 and give them to their employees. The employees can make part of the phone untouchable to the business. Everyone wins. This feature is only available on SAFE (Samsung For Enterprise) enabled devices, which include the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 2. The Galaxy S4 joins that list.
Galaxy S4 Story AlbumJumping back to camera functionality for a minute, the Galaxy S4 now has a smart photo album maker. Called Story Album, it creates albums based on when and where pictures were taken. So if you’re at a get together and you snap 25 pictures while you’re there, Story Album will group those all together for you. This is actually a moderately useful feature for people who love to take a bunch of pictures with their smartphones. Did you take 100 pictures while you were on vacation? Story Album will help you keep them sorted and help you upload them to wherever they need to go. For those who aren’t photo bugs, this feature will likely go unused. Galaxy S4 S Voice DriveWell Samsung thankfully put S Voice down as a main assistant app for TouchWiz devices. Thank you, Samsung! However, they didn’t kill S Voice off entirely. It returns in a driving mode app that is pretty much a beefed up version of every other drive mode app. S Voice will now read your texts while you drive, make phone calls, search for music, open navigation apps, and do all the other things people do with their smartphones while they’re driving. It can pair with your car’s Bluetooth if your car has Bluetooth so you can use the speakers to hear the stuff the phone is telling you. As a safety feature, it’s actually not half bad. Galaxy S4 S HealthSamsung apparently cares more about your health than its letting on since S Health will be released with the Galaxy S4. Essentially, S Health is a calorie counter application that monitors things like your calorie intake and how many calories you burn during the day. As if people needed yet another way to micromanage their health. However, some features of it are pretty nice. It can keep track of your calories (both burned and taken in) over a period of time. You can also get accessories to use with S Health to measure your heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals. Like calories, all these stats can be logged for future reference. So if you’re really into keeping track of your health, S Health may be a cool feature. Galaxy S4 Drama ShotAnother camera feature? You betcha, and this one is just a fancy name for one we’ve all seen before. Better known as burst shot, Drama Shot allows your Galaxy S4 to take up to 100 pictures in just a few seconds. The only defining difference between this and burst shot is that with Drama Shot, the S4 will create a collage of the pictures you took to create a single, epic picture. A Drama Shot, if you will. I apologize for that awful pun.
Galaxy S4 Adaptive DisplayThis is another one of the features of the Galaxy S4 that we actually kind of liked. This one is not a difficult feature to implement or explain. Simply put, the screen changes things like contrast and brightness depending on what you’re doing. So if you’re watching a movie, it’ll switch to cinema mode. If you’re reading an email or an eBook, it’ll switch to that mode automatically. This can be a savior for people with sensitive eyes and generally useful for people who like a little more out of their screen when doing things like watching movies. Galaxy S4 EraserWe promise that this is the last camera feature. We also saved the best for last because Eraser is actually kind of awesome. Say you’re taking a picture and someone walks through your shot. Erase actually takes a few pictures at once, analyzes the data, and removes pretty much anything that isn’t the subject or the background from the picture entirely. It’s much cooler to see it in practice than it is to explain with words. However, the premise is pretty clear. If there is something in your picture that shouldn’t be there, Eraser can help you get rid of it without having to re-shoot any pictures. Galaxy S4 HomeSync and Smart SwitchWe’re including these together because they both involve outside pieces of hardware. HomeSync uses a separate piece of hardware, also called the HomeSync, to sync your phone with your TV. This may sound a little lame at first but the scope is much greater. You can sync your phone to your TV from anywhere. This will be mostly useful for families but pretty much anyone could enjoy something like this. The hardware comes with 1TB of space that can be divided among 8 users if need be. Then each user can take photos or video and sync with HomeSync and anyone at home can see what’s going on. Smart Switch also requires some additional hardware, but this time it’s your computer. This is really only useful for people coming from other devices. You can plug your phone into your computer and make a full backup of all the info. Then you simply plug in your Galaxy S4 and Smart Switch will transfer everything. As stated, most people will only use this once to get info off their old phone. What will be interesting will be if the Samsung Galaxy S4 itself can be backed up. If apps, contacts, etc can all be backed up at once, this could actually be a handy tool for root users too. Right now, that’s strictly conjecture. Galaxy S4 Media Hub and ChatON updatesMost of this list consists of new features by Samsung for the Galaxy S4, but some old friends have gotten revamped and re-introduced. ChatOn has been updated and will now support voice chatting. Ostensibly, this will work with the Dual Camera feature so people using ChatON can see both the front and rear camera feeds if someone is using dual camera. Media Hub has also received an update bringing some improvements, although Samsung didn’t talk about it all that much. It pretty much does the same stuff it always has, just better.
Galaxy S4 Group PlayWe put this feature last because it is, by far, our favorite. Group Play allows users to play the same media on up to 8 devices at once. This can be pretty cool if you want to share a song with everyone in the house or something like that, but the best is yet to come. You can connect 6 devices and create a 5.1 surround sound system. Just set up devices in appropriate spots and play the song. This also includes support for multiplayer games so you can play games across devices just like you can share media. How awesome is that? Galaxy S4 new Touchwiz and software features wrap upThere was a lot to love about the Galaxy S4, but there was a lot that wasn’t very impressive also. Many blogs around the Internet are calling the Galaxy S4 and between-er device and we can see their argument. Most of these new features could’ve worked well within the confines of the the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 hardware. However, they’re here, they’re on the Galaxy S4 and while the event as a whole was mildly disappointing, some of these features are genuinely useful and fun. We’d love to hear from you. What did you think of Samsung’s new features for the Galaxy S4? Does it make the S4 worth grabbing up if you already have the S3 or the Note 2? The post Samsung Galaxy S4: here are all the new TouchWiz and software features appeared first on Android Authority. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Missed the show? Watch the Galaxy S4 launch event recording Posted: 14 Mar 2013 06:36 PM PDT
The Samsung Galaxy S4 was not a surprise in any way, due to a series of leaks originating in China, which have pretty much revealed every aspect of the new flagship. What was surprising however tonight was the launch event that Samsung staged, which was frankly, awkward, in an almost painful way. The recording of the Samsung Unpacked 2013 is now available online, for your viewing pleasure. Check it out. More coverage here: Samsung Galaxy S4 image gallery Samsung Galaxy S4 specs and features Samsung Galaxy S4 price and availability Samsung Galaxy S4 accessories unveiled Samsung Galaxy S4 – all you need to know: hardware, software, accessories and availability The post Missed the show? Watch the Galaxy S4 launch event recording appeared first on Android Authority. |
that it introduced a number of accessibility improvements to both Chrome and Android. The next time they announce more accessibility updates for all could be after they start harvesting the fruits of DNNresearch’s labor. 
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