Thursday, June 20, 2013

Android Community

Android Community


Samsung GALAXY S 4 wireless charging backs arrive with Verizon

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 11:02 AM PDT

Samsung announced the availability of the GALAXY S 4 wireless charging setup a short while back and as of today it looks like the back covers have come available by way of Verizon Wireless. The one catch, Verizon has the back covers available but at the moment there is no sign of the Samsung branded charging pads.

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With that in mind, the GALAXY S 4 back covers use the Qi wireless charging system which means other charging pads will work just as well. Verizon Wireless does have the Nokia DT-900 Charging Plate which is selling for $49.99. And for those keeping track, the official Samsung branded charing pad is also priced at $49.

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In addition to the charging pad, the GALAXY S 4 wireless charging back covers are priced at $39 and Verizon Wireless has these available in black and white. Otherwise, the carrier also has a bundle deal available for $89.98. This includes a black or white back cover along with the previously mentioned Nokia DT-900 charging plate.

Bottom line here, you will need to part with $90 (plus tax) to have the convenience of wireless charging. That brings the other issue, the fact that Samsung doesn’t directly integrate this support like some other handsets. Not to mention, using the wireless charging back cover will add a bit of extra thickness to your handset.

VIA: Droid-Life

SOURCE: Verizon Wireless

Instagram touts 130 million monthly users

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 10:45 AM PDT

Facebook is having an event today and the focus is all on Instagram. While we are already seeing some details in terms of the new features that will be available later today, there were also some interesting numbers mentioned and this post is all about those numbers.

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To begin with, Facebook acquired Instagram about a year ago and it was said the team has grown since. It was said the Instagram team is now three times the size they were at the time of the acquisition. Aside from a growth in the size of the team, it looks like the users have also increased. There are now 130 million active users.

Looking back for some comparison, back in late-February the company shared how they had reached 100 million active users. Bottom line here, it looks like Instagram has had decent growth since February. Plus, with new features such as what we are seeing today (Video on Instagram), it seems likely they will continue to grow moving forward.

Otherwise, it was also said that Instagram is now seeing 16 billion images being shared and 1 billion likes every day. Perhaps more important than the numbers though, the new feature — Video on Instagram. This looks to be very similar to Vine. Or more specifically, it looks like it is arriving as an improved version of Vine.

While we have a detailed Video on Instagram post already live on the site, some of the feature highlights include video that can be up to 15 seconds in length and then touched up with any of the 13 new filters. Users will also be able to customize the cover frame which basically means the default image doesn’t have to be the beginning of the video.

Facebook reveals Vine-like 15 second video sharing for Instagram

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 10:23 AM PDT

Today, Facebook‘s own Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to announce what they’ve been calling a “new product” for the past few days. We’ve been wondering and reporting on rumors, but can now confirm exactly what they’ve been working on. Updates to Instagram! Facebook has just announced they’ll be one-upping Vine with their own 15 second video clips for Instagram. Get ready for those short clips covered in more Instagram filters folks.

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Just like we reported last week, Facebook has brought more features to Instagram to make it more than just a photo-based social network, but a tool to capture and enjoy moments forever. It inspires people to be creative, myself included (yes, I’ll admit it) and it’s going to only get better. Mark Zuckerberg said Instagram as a product “is only just getting started” and this is the first step in what’s next.

Vine on Instagram! No, not really, but basically. Today the co-creator of Instagram himself took the stage and confirmed that Instagram has received video. Not just 6 seconds either, they’ve one-upped Vine completely and allow up to 15 seconds. Which you can instantly share with your friends. Oh, and starting today they’ve added 13 new filters exclusively for video. Filters evolved!

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Not only is Instagram getting video, 13 new filters for video only, but they’ve added the option for a custom “cover image”. Which means you can choose what the cover image looks like, it isn’t just the first seconds of the video clip. This will make Instagram for video beautiful, and of course all 130 million users can see it, and watch in awe.

So, do you use Instagram? Will this make you come back to the Facebook-owned app and ditch Vine? Let us know. Vine still needs some serious help with their Android app, and we have a feeling Instagram has it polished from the beginning. Stay tuned for more details.

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Live from Samsung’s Premiere 2013 event: What to expect

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 09:54 AM PDT

It’s June 20th, the day we’ve been waiting for, where Samsung is set to take the stage and drop a flurry of new Android-powered products on the world. We’re here live at London’s Earls Court Event Center for Premiere 2013, and we’ll be sharing all the details live as they happen, and of course getting our hands all over whatever Samsung announces. So what do we know, and what should you expect? Read on for more thoughts.

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For starters, the show starts at 11 AM PST. Today isn’t all just about Android (although it should be) and Samsung is revealing details on their Windows ATIV line, and some GALAXY products. So we’ll see 2-3 Android devices, and 2-3 Windows devices. If you’re a Windows Phone or Win 8 fan, get excited, but for us it’s all about the green robot.

There hasn’t been much speculation or rumors regarding what Android devices Samsung will be announcing, and that’s probably because they’ve been leaked by the truckload the past month. While we could get thrown a curve ball and surprised by a new Galaxy S4 LTE Advanced with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 800, that’s unlikely as it isn’t market ready yet. However, this is what we’re expecting ourselves.

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom
Samsung already revealed and officially confirmed their Galaxy S 4 Zoom earlier this month, but no one has been able to test it out or get their eyes on it. We’ll learn all the nitty gritty details today, and hopefully get an extended hands-on with the smartphone camera hybrid after the show. It’s a 4.3-inch Galaxy S 4 Mini in sorts, with a massive 16.3 megapixel lens on it. Likely the same one from the Galaxy Camera released last year.

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Galaxy NX Camera
Speaking of cameras, Samsung will have another photography focused device at this show, and that is the NX Camera. It leaked in full last week, after tons of speculation, and Samsung hasn’t confirmed a thing. Following their NX line of swappable lens cameras, it’s rumored to rock a 20.9 MP shooter, and be quite impressive. More details are available here, and we’ll certainly learn more later today.

Galaxy S 4 Active/Mini
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active has already been announced by Samsung, but they still aren’t out in the wild or in the hands of the press or media. Well, not officially. We may see one or both of these today, but they certainly won’t be the star of the show. We could get the final details on the Mini, though. The big deal today for Android will be the NX Camera, and that’s probably all.

Samsung could throw us all a curve ball and announce something we haven’t seen, leaked, or talked about, but that’s doubtful. What are you expecting to see, and what are you most interested in? There’s also talk of an AT&T 4G LTE Galaxy Mega and that 6.3-inch display. So that’s interesting. Stay tuned for all our coverage and hands-on pictures and video.

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OPPO denies Find 5 Mini rumors, confirms the Find 7

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 09:09 AM PDT

We have previously seen chatter about an OPPO Find 7, however as of today it looks like there is now confirmation. Sadly this confirmation didn’t arrive with anything in terms of specs, but on the positive side, it did arrive by way of a statement from OPPO. Basically, the company confirmed they are working on the Find 7, which will serve as a follow up to the currently available Find 5.

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The statement was short and to the point and mentioned how OPPO is “currently developing the next phone in the Find series, the Find 7.” No specs were given and in fact, it was said that “development is still in the early stages” and so far there are no finalized designs or specifications.

As one may suspect given that statement, there has yet to be a release timeframe announced. To further that thought, OPPO has said the Find 7 will “not be available this September.” Otherwise, earlier leaks have shown the Find 7 to be coming with a Snapdragon 800 processor. Other specs for the Find 7 are expected to include a 5-inch 1080p display, 2GB of RAM and 4000 mAh battery.

Aside from a confirmation on the Find 7, there was also some talk of the Find 5 Mini. This news is not quite as positive as the Find 7. In this case the company has said “there are no plans” to release a mini version of the Find 5. Sticking on the topic of the Find 5 and it looks like the OPPO has been testing the waters to see if a Google Edition would be wanted.

There isn’t much to go on in terms of the find 5 Google Edition, however OPPO does at least appear to be considering such a device. In the meantime, while there is plenty of OPPO smartphone chatter, the one device that is currently available is the Find 5, which is available in Europe and priced from €399 for the 16GB model.

VIA: GSM Arena

Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE Advanced tipped for Snapdragon 800

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 08:33 AM PDT

Details of the GALAXY S 4 LTE Advanced popped up earlier in the month and while the handset remains unannounced, it looks like another bit of evidence has surfaced. This latest bit has arrived in the form of a user manual which not only details the handset, but shows the processor as being a Snapdragon 800. Specifically, the manual has the processor listed as being a quad-core MSM8974 clocking in at 2.3GHz.

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Otherwise, it appears as if the SVH-E330 name has carried over from those earlier reports. The manual also lists the remaining specs which will look familiar to those who know the GALAXY S 4. Basically, it looks like the GALAXY S 4 LTE Advanced will arrive sporting a 4.99-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 along with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 2600 mAh battery and running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Touching back on the earlier report — that was based on the handset being spotted in a DLNA certification. What this all means in terms of the user will depend on where they happen to live. Just to begin with, this is not a handset we are going to see released here in the US. Or for that matter, outside of Korea. Basically, this handset is bringing support for the next generation of 4G technology.

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Reports show that this handset will be able to pull speeds upwards of 150Mbps down. There is also expected to be support for VoLTE. This new network is expected to be available in August and the handset is said to be coming a month earlier — in July.

Bottom line here, it looks like Samsung is about ready to push out another GALAXY S 4 variant and while this one may sound exciting given the processor and potential network speeds — it is not one that many will get a real chance to experience. In the meantime, we remain looking forward to seeing what Samsung has in the works for the event scheduled later this afternoon.

SOURCE: rbmen

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 spotted with AT&T LTE

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 08:02 AM PDT

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 was spotted with the FCC back in April, however it looks like the handset has recently made another visit. This latest filing remains largely the same, but it did bring some potentially good news for those hoping to see the handset arrive with AT&T. Basically, this new filing is showing support for AT&T LTE.

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At this point it is looking like the next step will be an announcement from AT&T. Of course, while that seems like a logical next step, we should offer the reminder that an FCC filing doesn’t necessarily mean that will happen. In the meantime, there is an option available for those who feel like they must have the Galaxy Mega 6.3 now.

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Online retailer Expansys began offering the handset earlier in the month. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is unlocked, priced at $595 and sporting support for GSM on the 850/900/1800 and 1900 bands as well as HSDPA. Aside from the network support, there all also be the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Touchwiz.

The hardware includes a 6.3-inch 720p display, dual-core 1.7GHz processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, 3200 mAh battery, 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera and an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera. Touching back on the possibility of an AT&T branded Galaxy Mega 6.3, this isn’t the first time talk of a release has popped up. Aside from the April FCC filing from April, we also saw some chatter about an upcoming release back in May.

VIA: Engadget

SOURCE: FCC

Samsung GALAXY S 4 monthly production set to drop

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 07:25 AM PDT

Samsung is going to be cutting GALAXY S 4 production levels by up to 15 percent. The GALAXY S 4 component orders for July were around 6.5 million, which ended up being a bit more than half of what was ordered for May. While we suspect this may cause some to think sales are slumping, Samsung did recently address that topic after some analyst reports caused issues for the company.

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Samsung CEO JK Shin said GALAXY S 4 sales “are fine” and pushed those earlier reports to the side by saying how the analyst reports were “based on its own analysis.” Also worth noting on the topic of GALAXY S 4 sales — they crossed the 10 million milestone during the first month of availability.

Aside from GALAXY S 4 production, it looks like gaining additional market share with this one device alone is not a viable option. With that in mind, Samsung also has the other recently announced handsets such as the Active, Zoom and Mini. Basically, it looks like the GALAXY S 4 production cuts are being done to simply stabilize inventory levels and not as a result to slumping sales.

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Putting the new handset to the side, there was also some talk of the Galaxy S III. With this now older model, it is looking like Samsung is going to be stopping production. According to recent reports, that production could be stopped as early as next month. The one interesting take on that is how we are still seeing that handset arrive with new carriers.

Otherwise, Samsung also has an announcement set for later this afternoon. The specifics of the announcement have yet to be fully revealed, however the invitation did hint towards some Galaxy devices and some ATIV Ultrabook models. As for that Galaxy Note III — despite frequent rumors, that announcement isn’t expected until later in the year, during IFA.

SOURCE: etnews

Verizon Galaxy S III software update VRBMF1 rolling out

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 06:34 AM PDT

Verizon began pushing what seemed like an exciting update for Galaxy S III users back towards the end of May. While the update seemed really good in terms of reading the changelog, it turned out to be not so good once downloaded and installed. User complaints began almost immediately and in the end, Verizon and Samsung pulled the update soon after and promised that a fix was on the way.

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That being said, that update has officially arrived. Anyway, those with a Verizon Galaxy S III now have a few options available — sit back and wait for an update notification to arrive on your device or dive into the settings and try to grab it now. Those taking the pro-active approach can navigate to Settings – About phone – Software update to get the process started.

We have yet to see any changelog for this update, however we suspect those who had been dealing with issues will be exciting to get started regardless. Our handset is already in the process of being updated, but it is a bit soon to say whether things will all be fixed. Otherwise, this update is rolling out as VRBMF1 and serves to replace the faulty VRBMD3 update.

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The update has run the course on our handset and while we are going to dive in and start playing with LTE to see if the connectivity has been improved, we are a bit disappointed to see the hand icon for the Talkback app still sitting in our notification tray. Granted, this is just a smaller annoyance, but it is one that didn’t start until that previous update had been applied.

If you happen to have a Verizon Galaxy S III head down into the comments and let us know how this new update is treating you. With fingers crossed, here is to hoping the LTE connectivity issues have been completely taken care of.

NVIDIA SHIELD shipping date confirmed alongside price drop

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT

NVIDIA has confirmed the launch date for the SHIELD. And perhaps coming as a better news, the system will also be priced a bit lower than originally announced. With that being said, the NVIDIA SHIELD will begin shipping on June 27 and the new price will be $299.

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This means a $50 price drop from what we originally saw, however most important here — the $299 price point will be for all SHIELD purchases. In other words, those who pre-ordered a system will only be charged the $299 price point. NVIDIA has said your cards will be charged when your device ships next week. For those keeping track, the original price was $349.

The reasoning here seems simple, and is actually a bit refreshing. NVIDIA has said they lowered the price due to comments from “thousands of gamers.” Regardless of the reason though, this announcement means you have just about a week left until shipments begin.

Otherwise, while we suspect a fair amount have already pre-ordered — there are probably a few that had been waiting given the original price tag. With that in mind, we have spent some hands-on time with the SHIELD and you can see a bit more in depth coverage on the Android gaming and PC gaming sides from our earlier posts.

In addition to our hands-on coverage of the SHIELD itself, NVIDIA recently offered a behind-the-scenes look and some accessories have been announced by Nyko. The Nyko goodies include some cases and cables as well as a docking station. And similar to our time with the system itself, we have also spent some time with the Nyko accessories.

SOURCE: NVIDIA

LG Optimus G to now utilize Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 08:48 PM PDT

The times they are a changing, or so the saying goes. We’ve been hearing a lot about LG lately, and although the LG high end line of phones will no longer be referred to as “Optimus“, the low end to medium range will be, and with that, the new G series is getting a brand new Snapdragon processor to go with it: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800.

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What makes the Snapdragon so snappy (sorry, we couldn’t resist) is its incredible ability to display everything in Ultra HD format, as well as to record it all. For the movie buffs in all of us, that is a welcome sigh of relief. Also, the new Adreno 330 GPU apparently doubles the performance of the old Adreno 320 GPU, which means quicker load times, and less lag.

In our recent test of the Snapdragon 800, we were blown away by its performance. As expected, LG announced the successor the the Optimus G from last year (and Nexus 4) will be getting the Snappy 800 first. Right now, the Optimus G runs on a quad-core S4 Pro that we can’t complain about. But you have to also keep in mind that right now, the Optimus goes all the way up to madly expensive territory.

This all equates to a very simple truth; That the next wave of LG smartphones will be less expensive than their forerunners, while also being faster and more capable. As consumers, we’re sure you’re stoked. And as people in the industry, we’re very intrigued. Stay tuned for more info as it comes in.

SOURCE: LG Newsroom

Canon Direct Print and Scan V2 available for Android

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 08:19 PM PDT

It’s always nice when you can get out there, take some cool photos, and print them off on the go. Or that feeling when you need to scan in that quick piece of artwork, and bring it to the design studio to submit before to your boss before deadline, and you can do it in a jiffy. Unfortunately, PC owners tend to not get the good end of the stick on these quick tasks, so it’s with a great emphasis on portability that Canon brings it to Android.

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For people who are always on the go, Canon has developed this application that allows you to wirelessly print and scan images via your Android phone and the multifunction embedded application platform (MEAP) Canon device. By doing this, you can instantly send images from your phone to the actual printer itself.

To add whipped cream to the already exciting ice cream dish, you can also wirelessly print web pages from your phone as well, using the built in Canon Android Application. This nifty little process can help aid in things as small as pizza orders all the way up to flight tickets that require a printout with a barcode. By doing this, Canon claims that they’re making it easier to use your mobile device more and more like a personal computer.

From the application, you can also adjust paper size, color range, brightness/saturation/contrast, and how many pages you want printed out. We’d like to see more apps like this implemented in the future, as being able to wirelessly print out our stuff is a big bonus for us, since we’re always on the go. You can pick up the Canon Direct Print and Scan Version 2.0 Android application in the Google Play store now.

SOURCE: Canon

HTC One Mini headed to AT&T

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 06:51 PM PDT

With all the hype of the HTC One Mini, and its capability (being an absolute miniature of the One in almost every way outside of display size), AT&T seemingly couldn’t wait to get their hands on it to start selling it up to consumers. The new device, expected in August, will be a great addition to a growing line of 4G LTE capable phones, that AT&T can most certainly utilize.

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Most recently, we discussed the HTC One Mini, and tried to disclose some details about it. Just to recap, it’s speculated to run a 720P screen and more than likely does not carry a IR blaster like its bigger brother. It’s basically (visually) the same, and likely runs on a 1.4GHZ dual-core Processor.

AT&T has reportedly pounced on this little bundle of joy, as well as pouncing on the tablet version of the One, right now codenamed “T6″. The coolest part about all the news is that with the ever growing expansion of 4G LTE, you’ll be able to have your cake and eat it too (HTC One Mini and great mobile network speed).

Although the Mini is expected to arrive in August, we’re not quite sure if that will coincide with its launch at AT&T or not. It is probably in AT&T’s best interest to be the first on the roll to get it and distribute it. When it does, we’ll be here to check it out.

SOURCE: Phone Arena

Galaxy S III from US Cellular updated with multi-window and more

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 04:59 PM PDT

For those of you rocking Samsung’s flagship smartphone from last year, the Galaxy S III, and are on U.S. Cellular we have some good news. We’re getting scattered reports an over the air update is rolling out this week. It isn’t Android 4.2 just yet, but you’ll be getting a suite of new features worth taking a look at.

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Unlike the Verizon GSIII update, which caused massive problems for users, this update from Samsung and US Cellular seems to be going quite well. We haven’t heard of any issues at least, so that’s a plus. The update will leave users still enjoying Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, but we’ll have plenty of new features you’ve been waiting for.

Some of the goods other carriers GSIII’s have received, as well as all those multi-window and smart actions have been added. You’ll be able to split the screen and have two windows open at once for browsing YouTube while reading an email. It’s quite fun. The update should be rolling out today, and will be available on Samsung Kies soon enough.

They’ve added all the smart switch features, multi-window, the new Samsung gallery for images, and apparently some sort of contextual page and tag feature. That’s new to us, but says so right on US Cellular’s update page. As soon as we learn more details we’ll be sure to update. Drop a comment below if you’re on US Cell and have already updated.

AT&T switches on the power to more 4G LTE

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 04:47 PM PDT

With Verizon showering greater continental USA with 4G LTE, it would only be common sense for its head competitor, AT&T, to begin doing the same. That’s why the news of 5 more cities to receive 4G LTE from the global blue doesn’t surprise us in the least, and why we’re very excited for many more to come.

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With 4G LTE becoming a staple of basic mobile networking, it needs to be out and about in numerous places to be utilized. Even more important than that is that it needs to be available on different networks with different pricepoints. Right now, Verizon is killing it with their 4G LTE availability, but AT&T has just announced that they’re catching up – and fast.

They’ve announced that 4G LTE is now available in these fine cities:

- New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Gallup, New Mexico
- Logan, Ohio
- Rio Grande Valley, Texas
- Salinas, California

- Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Florence-Muscle Shoals, Alabama
- Providence and Kent Counties, Rhode Island
- Tri-Cities, Washington

This brings AT&T’s round total close to that of Verizon’s, and keeps it on the edge of things. It’s goal? To absolutely annihilate the current 3G coverage available to its customers and better promote its faster, more reliable 4G LTE network. We suspect it’ll have no problem meeting its goals by the end of 2013.

In the meantime, if you’re in any one of the aforementioned zones, you can currently try 4G LTE on your Android equipped device. In our recent review of the Samsung Galaxy S 4, we were pleasantly surprised to find how blindingly quick 4G LTE is. We also know that our neighbors to the North are basking in a 4G LTE glow, so it’s good to know we might get some of those sweet summer rays as well.

SOURCE: AT&T Newsroom

Verizon DroidLanding Augmented Reality game leaks – phone might be MIA

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:55 PM PDT

Yesterday, the extremely popular but silent for the past year Twitter account @DroidLanding woke up and started tweeting. The Verizon branded and ran Twitter account has been used to promote their phones in the past, and many were immediately excited about an upcoming “DROID” smartphone on Verizon. There could still be a phone coming, but many believe this activation of the account was only to hype a new game by Verizon, and now we have it.

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So far we’re seeing a lot about DROID Combat, which is rumored to be an upcoming smartphone from Verizon and Casio that is durable and rugged. At the same time a few are hinting at the idea that this is nothing more than a new Augmented Reality game from Verizon Wireless. Now that we’ve found both the game D:COM (DROID Combat) and the video you see below, it’s safe to say this is only a game, and no new phone is coming.

Verizon has the HTC One coming soon, and we’re all praying they also offer an updated DROID DNA announced today by HTC as the Butterfly S. While we wait for a potential announcement of the Moto X, and any real high end phone from Verizon this year for that matter, we can enjoy a nice little location based multiplayer augmented reality game. It’s called D:COM, and here’s the trailer.

At the end you’ll be instructed to call **DROID to get started with the new game, which doesn’t appear to work. It’s either not available in your country, or not supported on any of my devices, and I have every DROID phone released in the past 3 years. Now as of writing this the URL appears to have been pulled from Google Play. Earlier today we could see the download page, but it didn’t work. Now it’s completely gone.

D:COM is a located based augmented reality game. You can play the campaign, have multiplayer fun with your friends, and use the AR aspect to find packages and weapons around town. It doesn’t look to be officially ready yet, but we have the game available as we speak thanks to our good friend @WinDroidGuy on Twitter. Interestingly enough the video above mentions “90 days to domination” so possibly in 90 days (from whenever the game actually gets announced) we’ll see the newest DROID. That lines up nicely for a possible release of the Moto X, just a thought.

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Get the DROID Combat game below and give it a try. We’ll update if we learn more from @DroidLanding or Verizon Wireless. That was depressing, we were hoping for a new smartphone.

D:COM game download
– Thanks WinDroidGuy

Android Nation Stores now in India

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:46 PM PDT

Google didn’t see fit to sit around and watch all the other big tier companies wander casually onto Indian soil (You know, the country with the second largest population in the world) and take up all their possible mobile sales, so they’ve decided to do something about it. In an effort to broaden the Android user-base and push sales of Android equipped devices in India, Google has taken the initiative to open their first store in New Delhi’s Select CityWalk.

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Although Androids have already been available in India for quite some time, they have not had a single fully dedicated Android location. With Google entering, and supposedly seeking a location the size of 1200-1500 square feet in the CityWalk, it would seem that they themselves are starting to take India seriously as a viable market for Android equipped phones.

Previously, Google did enter Jakarta Indonesia with the Android Nation Store. In that location, the sales of Android devices and accessories have done very well. It’s within Google’s best interests to keep developing growth in these markets – therefore India is the second country to get a fully independent Android Nation store.

The Android Nation Store itself will sell everything from Samsung, to HTC, Sony, and Asus. Its style will emulate that of the actual Android figure, being a bulbous green and white type design (should it emulate Jakarta’s interior design). The store will also have staff to help potential clients choose the right phone, answer questions, and help procure software updates.

SOURCE: India Times

Huawei Ascend P6 now on Pre-Order from Carphone UK

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:19 PM PDT

The Huawei Ascend P6 is quite an interesting phone. It can make your skin appear smoother, it’s the thinnest smartphone available and it mixes it up with both plastic and metal trim. Now though, it’s available from Carphone UK – all 120G of it that is.

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When we took a look at the Huawei Ascend P6 yesterday, we praised how small it was, and how light it felt in our hands. The main gripe we had was with the expected battery life, and that the performance really wasn’t as good as we would have liked for a quad-core. Other than that, it passed with seemingly flying colors, so it’s good to see that it’s available for pre-order as of today.

Carphone UK is the first place to have it out on pre-order, and with a pretty decent price of £21 every month on a two year term, it’s something you probably should take a look at if you’re in the market for a new phone. It comes equipped with its 5MP camera, sleek body, Android 4.2.2, custom Huawei "Emotion" user interface, and 4.7 inch display.

Although it’s sufficiently less expensive than its main competitors, the Huawei Ascend P6 is a pretty solid deal of a phone. It may not be as world renowned as say, Samsung or HTC, but if what you’re looking for is a daily grind phone to run Android on, and play some mild games with, it’s certainly usable. It’s up to the market to decide whether or not it can succeed.

SOURCE: Carphone Warehouse

Feedly Cloud arrives to help replace Google Reader

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT

As the termination date for Google Reader draws near, Feedly has stayed in the news as a viable replacement service for all you RSS fans, and today their option just got even better. After improving their Android app, today they’ve announced the Feedly Cloud that will help us all seamlessly transition away from the dying Google Reader, and into Feedly’s arms.

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They are essentially telling Google Reader to enjoy retirement, and they’ll take all the loyal fans instead. With Feedly Cloud, the RSS reader will be completely independent of Google Reader, and will be a viable replacement for many. Being a completely stable and scalable infrastructure to deliver us all the news we need. It’s no longer just an app, and is now an entire platform.

We’re just days away from Google’s RSS service shutting the doors, so this comes at a perfect moment. Just in time for everyone to get setup, comfortable, and to import your RSS feeds if you haven’t done so. I wouldn’t wait til the last minute either, as everyone else will be doing the same thing later this month. Do it now, is what we’re saying.

feedly-cloud-apps

Their new cloud can be used on the web by heading to cloud.feedly.com and as long as your app is up to date you’ll get transitioned to the cloud soon enough. You can enjoy their web interface from any browser, anytime, for free. Now that they aren’t just being an app, the feedly cloud is an entire platform for others to use as well. They’ve confirmed that other popular options like Press and gReader will be able to access their cloud, for those who don’t want to change.

Feedly serves over 12 million users daily at the moment, and Press was updated this morning with support for the new Feedly Cloud. Between those other apps and the millions leaving Google Reader next month their numbers are about to blast forward. More details can be found below.

SOURCE: Feedly Blog

Rockmelt social discovery app arrives for Android

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:55 PM PDT

Rockmelt has officially launched for Android and while this had previously been available for iOS users, it was made clear that this release is “not merely a port.” In fact, the Rockmelt Blog tells the story about how the whole company moved over to Android so they “could all live the experience.” That being said, while this is not an iOS port, the Rockmelt app does have a familiar feature set.

rockmelt-01

For those not familiar with Rockmelt, this app provides a relatively easy way for the user to discover viral and newsworthy items. Some of the key features include smooth scrolling through and endless stream of content, the ability to add any site you want, an ad-free reading experience and simple sharing to the social network of your choosing.

The Rockmelt app also has the reaction buttons that will allow the user to share what they are thinking. Otherwise, a tap of the “R” button will bring up an Explore and Popular browsing option as well as the ability to quickly navigate home. Users also have a “Kept Items” section to store favorites. And keeping those favorites is as easy as long pressing a title.

rockmelt-02 rockmelt-03 rockmelt-04

Anyway, upon downloading and installing the Rockmelt app you first create an account or login using an existing social site such as Facebook or Twitter. From this point you choose five (or more) categories that will be used to populate your stream. The app promises to put the “best of the web, news and blogs at your fingertips” and well, while your opinion of the best may vary, we can say that the Rockmelt app does have ease of use going for it.

Rockmelt for Android is currently available in the Google Play Store and sitting at version 1.0.0.3. The app is free to download, free to use and has support for devices running Android 4.0 or later. Or more specifically, the app supports Ice Cream Sandwich or later and has been optimized for 4-inch phones as well as 7 and 10-inch tablets.

SOURCE: Rockmelt Blog

Android Authority

Android Authority


Sony Xperia Z Ultra screenshots surface, showing specs, home screen and launcher

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:32 AM PDT

Sony Xperia logo aa 10 1600

Thanks to a reportedly leaked batch of screenshots, we now seem to have a big picture of what hardware the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, also known as Togari, will pack. A second set of leaked images apparently reveals the launcher of the handset.

The source for both sets of pictures is senior XDA-developers forum member Trekest and the screenshots are said to be shared by a "friend," so let's take this with a pinch of salt.

According to the following images, the Xperia Z Ultra specs list should include a Qualcomm MSM8974 (Snapdragon 800) CPU clocked at 2.15GHz and an Adreno 330 GPU. The pictures also show the presence of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean as the platform (build number 14.1.B.1.125).

Benchmarks for the device aren’t available, as apparently “the OS on it is clever, it recognizes known benchmark apps and forces you to uninstall them, otherwise it locks up until you do.”

3 1 2 4 5

The most interesting component by far is the display. While the screenshots indicate a 6.21-inch panel with 1824 x 1080 resolution (Full HD) and 320 PPI density, all other reports on the device pointed towards an even larger, 6.44-inch unit. The size difference can only be accounted on the navigation bar, which eats a small portion of the viewing area.

When it comes to storage, the prototype has 16GB of internal storage and it includes 2GB of RAM. Considering the huge size of the handset and that only 8.88GB of the storage can be usable, this should be a clear indication of a microSD slot presence. Other details mention the integration of no less than 22 sensors.

Previous reports have also given sparse details about an 8-megapixel Exmor RS main camera and a 2.2-megapixel shooter on the front. The size of the handset should be of 179.2 x 92 x 6.5mm. The device would be nearly as thin as Huawei's latest Ascend P6.

The second set of leaked images shows the launcher of the handset. Assuming they're the real deal, these images seem to indicate that we're indeed looking at a large display – as you can see, the dock includes six icons:

Xperia Z Ultra Xperia Z Ultra Xperia Z Ultra

However, an image of the Xperia Z Ultra is not available from the same source. Apparently, his friend wouldn't even show him the handset, which is "gigantic," meaning that "you can forget about one-handed operation with this thing."

The handset should be unveiled during Munich and Paris events set for June 25 and July 4, respectively.

+Chris Smith contributed to this report.

    


Galaxy S4 Active ships to AT&T customers early, appears in new live pictures

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:57 AM PDT

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active

The release date of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T is June 21, but it seems that the carrier is shipping the devices to customers earlier.

According to AT&T, both the Urban Gray and the Dive Blue version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active are already shipping to customers, as of June 19. The funny thing is that, with the devices already sent to customers, this can hardly be called a pre-order process anymore.

If you want to take a look at the AT&T-exclusive device in real life before you actually purchase it, Punk Panda, a user of Chinese social network Weibo, has posted some hands-on photos, including one that shows the back of the device with the AT&T branding.

samsung galaxy s4 active

There is also an image that shows the device with the back plate taken off, allowing you to take a look at the removable battery.

samsung galaxy s4 active

Also, in another picture, you can see the little rubber plug protecting the USB port from water and dust. All of the images give the impression of a very sturdy device, which is exactly what was expected of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

samsung galaxy s4 active

Of course, we’ll find out more when we get our hands on it for a review.

    


Rumor: Galaxy Note 3 to launch earlier than expected in order to make up for poorer Galaxy S4 sales

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:51 AM PDT

Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 2

Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 2

A new report suggests that Samsung may be interested in launching the Galaxy Note 3 earlier than initially planned, in order to compensate for poorer than expected Galaxy S4 sales.

Galaxy Note 3 – a savior?

Unfortunately, it's not clear when the Galaxy Note 3 would be announced and when it would hit stores. Earlier rumors suggested that the handset would arrive in September at IFA 2013 in Berlin, Germany, just like its predecessor did, but at least one recent report did say that the handset could be available earlier, in July or August.

An earlier Galaxy Note 3 launch would surely not bring back lost Galaxy S4 sales, but it will help generate increased buzz around Samsung devices. Moreover, the sooner the handset is unveiled, the faster it will hit stores, and therefore the more money Samsung will make from early sales. More Galaxy Note 3 sales will make up for some of the lost Galaxy S4 sales, even though, historically, the Note models have not sold as well as their corresponding smaller flagship devices.

For what it's worth, the Xperia Z Ultra (ZU or Togari) is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks and hit stores thereafter – Sony may be interested in beating the Galaxy Note 3 to market with bigger smartphones, just like it did earlier this year when the Xperia Z was launched a few months before the Galaxy S4. This may be another reason for the Galaxy Note 3 to arrive earlier than supposed to.

Is there a serious Galaxy S4 sales problem?

Galaxy Note 3 concept

Galaxy Note 3 concept

Now ETNews says that Samsung is dropping orders for Galaxy S4 supply components for the month of July down to 6.5 million units. That's definitely an impressive drop compared to April's and May's numbers, 10 million and 12.2 million, reportedly. Still, not many other flagship out there can complain of such a “problem,” having to go from 12.2 to 6.5 million units from May to July.

Naturally, these numbers aren't officially confirmed by Samsung at this time, and they don’t represent sales numbers for the Galaxy S4. The company only announced that it sold over 10 million Galaxy S4 units, reaching the milestone in less than a month after the device hit stores. Thus, the Galaxy S4 became the fastest selling Android handset so far, beating its predecessor.

But the handset is not quite ready to become the best-selling smartphone to date, a title still held by one of the iPhone versions out there. It’s also worth remembering that Samsung doesn’t announce handset sales numbers in its quarterly earnings report, but it does mention milestones – that means we’ll have to wait to see how fast the 20 million sales mark is hit.

Since Samsung announced its 10 million Galaxy S4 sales mark, we've seen a variety of reports saying that analysts and even Samsung expect sales to drop, even though Samsung’s CEO says the handset is selling well. Initial estimates suggested that the company could sell about 10 million units per month, but considering that Samsung is said to drop components orders, that may not happen.

Is the Galaxy S3 cannibalizing sales?

galaxy s4 vs galaxy s3

Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3

In addition to dropping supply orders, the company apparently has other measures in place to try to increase Galaxy S4 sales. One of them is retiring the "old" Galaxy S3, which is still a worthy investment for smartphone buyers considering that last-year's flagship is still able to offer an impressive performance. Not to mention that since it's an old device, the Galaxy S3 is available for a lower price in various markets, which surely appeals to plenty of buyers who aren't necessarily interested in buying the latest device available.

However, it's not known at this time to what extent the Galaxy S3 is cannibalizing Galaxy S4 sales, in case that’s actually a problem for the company.

Healthy competition

Furthermore, other Galaxy S4-branded devices have been recently announced including the Galaxy S4 Active, the Galaxy S4 Mini and the Galaxy S4 Zoom. While they're yet to hit stores, these devices may also prevent some buyers from getting the original Galaxy S4. Of the three models, just the Active is a flagship device ready to match the original in performance, but all of them carry the same flagship name. But, at the same time, the fact that they are part of the Galaxy S4 family, could be enough for plenty of buyers to choose them instead of mid-rangers or low-end offers from the competition.

We'll also note that, for the Android ecosystem, it's certainly good to hear that the Galaxy S4 is having some sales troubles. That means devices like Sony's Xperia Z, HTC's One and LG's Optimus Gs are worthy competitors. And then there's also the iPhone, whose sales have not dropped once the Galaxy S4 sales. As always, more competition should benefit customers.

Wrap up

At the end of the day, nothing is officially official, so we can only speculate on available reports. Again, no matter how important the sales drop for the Galaxy S4, chances are the handset will still outsell its main competitors including the Xperia Z, the HTC One and the LG Optimus G Pro. And if Samsung wants to correct its Galaxy S4 sales issues by launching the Galaxy Note 3 faster than planned, then it’s even better for Android buyers – there certainly are a few of you anxiously waiting for the device.

We'll point out that while this looks like bad news for Samusng – Galaxy S4 sales not matching estimates – the picture isn't as bleak as some people paint it. Samsung is still shipping plenty of mobile devices, and it's only Android manufacturer to really profit in this complex mobile business. Whether it will hit internal Galaxy S4 sales goals or not, Samsung will surely report better than average overall sales numbers in the following quarter.

    


Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 offers “ludicrous speed,” its GPU is the “new king,” benchmarks show

Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:07 AM PDT

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Qualcomm development tablet and smartphone | Image Credit: AnandTech

After seeing several unofficial Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 benchmark results that suggested the new flagship System on Chip from Qualcomm would blow the competition out of the water, we now have official tests showing the same thing.

Various publications including AnandTech and Engadget have been invited to check out the new SoC (Snapdragon 800 MSM8974) on a Qualcomm development tablet and smartphone, and the results are very interesting – and in line with what you expect.

In short, the Snapdragon 800 – which is said to power various upcoming flagship Android handsets including the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the HTC One Max (T6), the Sony Xperia Z Ultra (ZU or Togari), the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE Advanced version and the LG Optimus G2, to name just a few – is able to deliver a remarkable performance, particularly in the GPU department.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Image Credit: ArsTechnica

Several benchmarks have been used to gauge its potential, and the Snapdragon 800 SoC has been pitted in an Engadget test against several worthy competitors including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 found aboard the HTC One and the Galaxy S4, the Exynos 5 Octa that powers certain Galaxy S4 versions, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro in the HTC Droid DNA, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S400 in the HTC First, the Exynos 4 Quad in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 but also the NVIDIA Tegra 4 SoC in a reference device.

AnandTech compared the Snapdragon 800 against some of the SoC mentioned above, but also against SoCs in the iPhone 5 and iPad 4, and, finally, the publication compared the Snapdragon 800's GPU against several PC GPUs.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Image Credit: ArsTechnica

The hardware

The hardware used to test the new Qualcomm flagship SoC is certainly interesting, so here's what the company offered the publications:

Tablet:

  • 11.6-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution
  • 2.3GHz MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 processor (4 Krait 400 CPUs)
  • Adreno 330 GPU clocked at 450MHz
  • 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM at 800MHz
  • 32GB flash storage
  • microSD support
  • USB 3.0 support
  • microHDMI support
  • 3.5mm headset jack
  • 12-megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash
  • 2-megapixel front-faing camera
  • 3400mAh battery
  • LTE
  • Wi-Fi ac support
  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE
  • GPS
  • NFC
  • 11.7mm thickness

Phone

  • 4.3-inch display with 720p resolution
  • 1500 mAh battery
  • most of the other features similar with the test tablet.

The results

As you'll notice in the following gallery of benchmark screenshots, the Snapdragon 800 did more than well whether we're talking about the phone and tablet. Testing them both, Engadget found them to offer "ludicrous speed," with only the Tegra 4 SoC capable of putting up a decent fight.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

The more thorough results come from AnandTech, which focused mainly on testing the performance of the tablet offered for demo. While the CPU of the Snapdragon 800 was not able to outclass the competitors in all tests, the GPU was found to offer impressive performance, outscoring its main rival in the process. The site concluded that the Snapdragon 800 CPU is more than a match for ARM Cortex 15 and Intel Bay Trail, while the GPU is the "new king," with Adreno 330 becoming the GPU to beat this year. The SoC fared well against PCs too in a GPU comparison, although the performance, as expected, is not quite there yet.

In the gallery below, you'll see various benchmark results as performed by AnandTech:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

ArsTechnica compared available benchmarks with previous results for other gadgets, and its graphs show that the Snapdragon 800 GPU is "even quicker than Tegra 4 or the iPad 4."

That said, we're very interested to see the first Snapdragon 800-based devices hit stores, and we're particularly looking forward to see what new tablets will be powered by the new processor, as so far we only have rumors about future smartphones that will use the flagship SoC.

    


Is your Nexus 7 lagging lately?

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 08:41 PM PDT

Nexus 7 with Android 4.1.0 Jelly Bean

The Nexus 7, though one of the best 7-inch tablets around, is experiencing some issues lately. Some users have reported performance issues with their tablet; things like stuttering, lagging, slow playback. The issue may not be the tablet, necessarily, but being the scapegoat for this issue could be the silver lining for Google.

It seems that the Nexus 7 simply hasn't aged well, or rather Android has lapped it. Reports of similar issues on other tablets are rampant as well, and it points to an issue with Android 4.2, not so much a hardware issue. As Android versions improve, the single gigabyte of RAM housed in the Nexus 7 may just not be adequate to keep up.

The only real fix is better hardware.

So, what's the fix? There isn't one, really. You can root your device and flash a different ROM, but that's no guaranteed fix. You can do a factory reset, but Android 4.2 will be right back once the device updates again. There are apps that will polish up the available memory, which can improve performance, but that's tedious to do often.

The only real fix is better hardware. In considering the Nexus 7 versus the Nexus 4, where both operate on the same iteration of Android, the Nexus 4 has none of these performance issues being mentioned. What it does have is double the RAM, and a better processor.

We still hope the new Nexus 7 hits our hands in the fall, when Google likes to announce their new Nexus devices, and we need to see some much improved specs. It's oddly satisfying to hear people complain about the Nexus 7 in this respect. It indicates a nice market share for the flagship Android tablet, and a user base hungry for an upgrade.

    


Displaymate pits the Xperia Z against the HTC One and the Huawei Ascend D2 in a Full HD display battle royale

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 08:00 PM PDT

htc one vs sony xperia z both standing aa

2013 will most likely be remembered as the year of the Full HD screen in the smartphone market. Pretty much anyone who wants their flagship smartphone to be considered high-end has managed to stick a Full HD panel on their smartphone.

But as we have found out all too often, screen resolutions and pixel densities are not the be-all, end-all of a great display.

Screen resolutions and pixel densities are not the be-all and end-all of a great smartphone display.

So to find out which Full HD smartphone was the best in its class, DisplayMate pitted the HTC One against Huawei Ascend D2 and the Sony Xperia Z in a shootout for the title of the best Full HD LCD panel.

Both the Huawei Ascend D2 and the Sony Xperia Z have 5-inch Full HD panels with a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch. However, the Ascend D2 utilizes IPS LCD technology and the Xperia Z uses a TFT display.

The HTC One has a slightly smaller 4.7-inch Full HD Super LCD3 screen, and therefore comes with a slightly higher pixel density of 469 pixels per inch. Of course you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference, because these are all very sharp displays and unless you walk around with a magnifying glass, you won't be able to resolve any pixels.

The color gamut for both the HTC One and the Huawei Ascend D2 are very accurate and therefore tend to produce more accurate colors, while the Xperia Z's color gamut is a little too large and can produce inaccurate and exaggerated colors.

Credit: DisplayMate

Credit: DisplayMate

The brightness on all displays was found to be excellent, with the HTC One having the brightest screen at 491 cd/m2, the Xperia Z coming in second at 478 cd/m2, and the Ascend D2 coming third at 421 cd/m2.

The much maligned viewing angles of the Xperia Z were again found to be poor, and were a major factor against the Xperia Z, however, the HTC One and the Ascend D2 were both found to have excellent viewing angles, but like all LCD panels suffered from reduced brightness when viewed from an angle.

The final, and perhaps most important test was the display power consumption test, and the HTC One came out on top here. When tested at the same luminance and same 5-inch screen area, the HTC One was the most power efficient at 1.03 watts, the Xperia Z second at 1.07 watts, and the Ascend D2 third at 1.12 watts.

Credit: DisplayMate

Credit: DisplayMate

Displaymate criticized Sony's Bravia Engine for its poor calibration, and recommends users to turn off the feature on the Xperia Z for a much improved viewing experience. It also took issue with HTC's calibration for using unnecessary image and color processing in an attempt to make the HTC One's display stand out, causing distorted and over saturated colors and contrast. Unlike Sony, HTC doesn't give you an option to turn off the processing.

In the end, Displaymate heralded the Huawei Ascend D2 for the most accurate colors and a superior picture quality and gave it an A rating, with the HTC One taking second spot with a solid B+, and the Xperia Z garnering a rather disappointing B-.

If you'd like to see how the other big Full HD smartphone did in the Displaymate tests, you can check out the Samsung Galaxy S4's display battle with the iPhone 5 by clicking here.

Do viewing angles mean anything to you? Have you noticed over saturated colors on your HTC One?

    


Verizon is closing out HTC Droid inventory in preparation of the HTC One

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 02:12 PM PDT

verizon-store

Earlier this month Verizon finally confirmed what we all knew already, the HTC One would be coming over to the Big Red carrier. Unfortunately, they were pretty vague with their release timeframe, simply suggesting "late summer".

Luckily we are now seeing a pretty strong sign that launch day is coming soon. According to Droid Life, several Verizon stores are running promo sales for the Droid DNA and Incredible 4G LTE in an attempt to clear out remaining inventory in time for the HTC One's arrival.

What's interesting here is that Verizon is clearing out both existing HTC Droid-branded devices, with no apparent HTC Droid replacement in sight.

HTC

So what does this mean? It could mean many different things.

It could simply mean that Verizon wants to focus completely on the HTC One, and feels that it’s time to cut loose these older HTC Droid models. It’s also possible that the HTC One could be arriving with Droid branding.

Considering Verizon specifically referred to the device as the HTC One, this seems unlikely, but again we can’t say for sure. Another possible theory is that Verizon is launching both the HTC One and Droid DNA 2.

With the HTC Butterfly S now official, it makes sense that Verizon might plan on launching the smartphone as a Droid-branded alternative to the HTC One later this year. Again, that's just speculation.

What adds some fuel to the Droid fire is that the @DroidLanding twitter account recently reactivated in conjunction with some kind of augmented reality Droid-branded game. These changes could mean that Verizon has new plans in store for the Droid brand. Or it could have absolutely nothing to do with the HTC One or the discontinuation of these two phones, hard to say for sure.

    


The Best Android apps for Kids! (video)

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:47 PM PDT

android apps for kids

It’s almost unexpected that a family wouldn’t own a smartphone, tablet, or even an iPod. Even though they’re very popular among teenagers and adults, kids take great interest in these devices, too.  Thankfully, the Google Play Store is full of kid-friendly applications, and we’ve put together a list of apps that all kids should find interesting. In a rush? Head to the bottom of the article to watch the video, otherwise, stick with us as we look at these few kid-friendly apps.

Table of Contents:

Duolingo

duolingo image android authority

First up on our list is Duolingo, This fun and simple app helps both adults and kids of all ages learn how to speak a second language. The only pre-requisite here is that you can read. Duolingo offers Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. It’s pretty much most of the Latin based languages.

Each lesson is broken up into a bunch of smaller exercises, and in some cases, this can be a good thing. As adults, it doesn’t take long to speed through them, but as you know, little kids tend to take a bit longer. All in all, Duolingo is a great way for parents and kids to bond and learn a second languages. It’s also educational, which is a win-win situation, in my book!

Get it on Google Play


Angry Birds

best apps for kids angry birds

There are billions of people who love Angry Birds, and seemingly, there are another billion people who don’t like Angry Birds. While many types of people play this game, Angry Birds is without a doubt also a good game for kids, given it’s colorful and cute nature. Angry Birds is awesome, and has virtually no content that could make parents blanch at the idea of letting their kids take the game for a spin.

We’re not going to go into the mechanics, since basically everyone know how Angry Birds works. Given the fact that there are 6 games, there’s hundreds of levels to wade through, and that’ll no doubt keep your child occupied for a long time. They’re hard to pass up, being free and all.

Get it on Google Play


Turbo Kids

turbo kids

Turbo Kids is a fun racing games that all kids will enjoy, perhaps because of the vibrant colors and cute creatures. You can play as either a boy or girl, and the goal of the game is pretty simple — you race against the AI players and try to finish in first place. Instead of the classic 3-star point system that you would find in Angry Birds, this game gives you stars based on how you place. If you come in fifth place, you get one star, third place will net you two stars, and first place will get you all three stars.

It’s not just a racing game, as powerups are placed on the track to spice things up a bit. Some powerups will increase your speed, make you jump higher, and restock your freezing bullets, which, as implied, can freeze other players in place for a short amount of time. It’s a very simple game, and it can be a lot of fun.

Get it on Google Play


Kids Doodle

doodle aa

Most kids enjoy drawing and doodling, especially when there are bright colors involved. If you’re looking for an app to do just that, then Kids Doodle is something you might want to consider. Like most of the apps on this list, Kids Doodle is very simple so little minds can easily grasp it. It’s actually a pretty fun doodling app though.

Each new canvas is a different color, and there are over a dozen options for your brush. Don’t worry about changing the colors, as the brush rotates colors on its own. Finally, there’s an option to play back all of the strokes on the canvas so kids can watch themselves draw.

Get it on Google Play


Kid Mode

KidModeScreenie

Kid Mode may sound like an app, but it’s not. It’s actually a home screen replacement, more commonly known as a launcher. To activate, you simply set it as your launcher, just like you would when using Action Launcher or Nova Launcher. Inside this particular launcher is a myriad of activities and apps for kids to enjoy, including the ones already downloaded on your device.

You’ll find a doodle pad, kids books, kids games, and other stuff that your kids will thoroughly enjoy. Perhaps the best part of the Kid Mode launcher is that it locks them out of the rest of your phone so they can’t, say, go on a spending spree with your Google Play account. I had that happen once, it wasn’t pretty.

Get it on Google Play


Video Review

Wrap up

Android apps for kids leaderboard

If you take a look at our leaderboard (image above) you can see how these apps stack up against each other. As per the norm, these are based on Google Play Store ratings and downloads. There is no bias on our part whatsoever.

Got a kid-friendly application that we missed? Be sure to let us know about it in the comments below!

    


FCC chairman nominee voices support for ending the ban on cellphone unlocking

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 12:53 PM PDT

unlocked-phone

From the Wireless Device Independence Act to the Unlocking Technology Act, there have been several bills proposed that aim to tackle the issue of cell phone unlocking in the United States.

While the various forms of proposed legislation have yet to get very far, it remains clear that not only is most of the U.S. public in favor of making cellphone unlocking legal again, so are many U.S. politicians. The latest politician to speak up in favor of cellphone unlocking is the newly nominated chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler.

Recently Wheeler was nominated by President Obama to become the new FCC head, and today the would-be Chairman appeared in front of the Senate Commerce Committee for a nomination hearing. During the hearing, Wheeler made it clear that he feels that cellphone locking should be legal and that library of congress shouldn’t have had the reach to ban unlocking in the first place.

“I am a strong supporter of intellectual property rights. At the same point in time, I believe that when I as a consumer or you as a consumer, or anyone have fulfilled our commitment and we’ve paid off our contract, that we ought to have the right to use that device and move it across carriers as we see fit. I look forward to working on this issue and resolving this issue to give consumers flexibility.”

While Wheeler claimed interest in changing the law here, he also admitted he's not exactly sure how the issue should be handled.

“I don’t know whether it [should be] a permanent exemption [to the DMCA], whether it is a rewrite of the Copyright Act, or what the appropriate solution is, but I do believe there needs to be a solution and consumers should have the right to unlock their phones after they’ve lived up to their side of the agreement."

What do you think of the issue of cellphone unlocking? How should it be handled going forward?

    


Gamestick delayed for a second time

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 12:18 PM PDT

gamestick

As summer rolls on, the Android gaming platform war heats up. With such platforms as OUYA and Project SHIELD on the horizon, and the impressive Project M.O.J.O. being announced, it's no time to lose ground. Gamestick, perhaps the most interesting of the new Android consoles, may be doing just that.

Having already been delayed once, the makers of Gamestick have once again set the launch back. The previous setback had to do with "high demand", which necessitated Play Jam to reconsider their manufacturing process. This new deferment is a bit simpler to fix, as it has to do with the user interface.

The Gamestick has already gone out to developers, but the UI is still a work in progress. As it stands, the first units have not gone out to early adopters who backed the kickstarter campaign. It's a slippery slope, that is only getting steeper.

If Gamestick wants to avoid being lost in the shuffle, getting the initial units out quickly is important. Those early adopters provide valuable feedback, allowing the team to make tweaks as needed. The UI being unfinished is cause for concern, but not devastating.

The most important thing is developer support, and developers have their Gamestick units. While we'd still like to see Gamestick in the wild, we'll wait a little longer for a great product.

Not too long, though.

    


Samsung still struggles with tablet market growth in the U.S. market, but why?

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 12:07 PM PDT

Samsung Logo aa 600px 2

When it comes to the smartphone and tablet world, Samsung is easily one of the most recognizable brands. In many markets Samsung leads the pack, especially when it comes to smartphones. Things are a little different in the United States, however.

According to ComScore, Samsung is currently the second most powerful smartphone presence in the United States with 22% of the market under its belt. The Korean giant clearly enjoys an impressive amount of sales, and is second only to Apple in terms of smartphone market penetration.

Where Samsung doesn’t shine so bright in the U.S. is in the tablet space.

Strategy Analytics reports that globally Samsung reached 18.9 percent control of the tablet market in the period ending in March, which is a massive jump over the 7.6 percent they held during the same timeframe back in 2012.

Most of this growth is thanks to Samsung's extreme popularity in markets such as South America and Eastern Europe. The later of these sees Samsung with 33 percent of the tablet.

Meanwhile, Samsung tablet growth is much slower in the United States.

In a Korea Times report, an unnamed Samsung source states that Samsung's tablet marketshare in the United States is "hovering around 13 percent, well below Apple's 50 percent. Our technicians and management are now trying to come up with a different approach".

With Samsung growing rapidly in just about every other global market, what gives?

What's holding Samsung back in the U.S. Market?

Probably one of the most obvious reasons for Samsung's tablet struggles in the United States is that this is Apple's home turf, and Apple enjoys a fiercely loyal following in the North American market.

Being honest though, let's look at Samsung's tablet offerings. What you'll see is devices with reasonable features and functionality, but you will also see retail prices that are equal to Apple's iPad and iPad Mini. The only major exception to this is the Nexus 10, which is just $399 for the 16GB model.

Samsung’s devices might be slightly more powerful than Apple’s in some ways, but pricing is a real problem. This is because there are primarily two type of U.S. Tablet buyers: Those that want an iPad. And those that want a solid tablet experience, at a discount price.

Sure, there are those of us Android users that specifically go after Android tablets regardless of the price, but we are arguably a minority here.

The non-Apple tablets that have made the biggest market impact are devices like the Google Nexus line and the Kindle Fire. These are products that are both capable and highly affordable.

Amazon and Google’s tablets reach rock-bottom prices by creating great products but only giving the features that are really needed – without all the extra fluff. They also are able to compete because they make most of their money back on services, not hardware.

Samsung is right to be interested in changing its tablet approach if it wants to dramatically expand its marketshare in the North American market. As industry sources speaking to Korea Times note, Samsung tends to focus its marketing on hardware prowess, which is something many Americans just don't care about.

samsung galaxy tab 3 7.0 gold brown

What Samsung needs to do differently

I might personally be drooling over devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 with its Intel processor, but most folks really have no idea what the difference is between an x86 processor and a ARM device.

The average consumer wants to check their Facebook, Twitter and G+. They want to play Angry Birds and Temple Run. As long as the tablet handles that and is affordable, that's all these users are really looking for.

To succeed, Samsung needs to find a way to cut out unnecessary (read: expensive) features that mean nothing to John Q. Public. They also need to focus on lowering the pricing, instead of charging premium prices on their devices.

Samsung also needs to consider if its own special "features" like TouchWiz and its custom alternatives to Google apps are helping their image, or hurting it. Samsung seems to fight against Google’s ecosystem, instead of promoting it, and this could be something that could potentially detract interest from some tablet buyers.

Ultimately Samsung has been one of the most valuable players in the Android space, and one of the keys to Android’s global success so far. That said, if the Korean firm really wants to take things to the next level in the North American market, they need to refocus their direction in the tablet space.

What do you think, what could Samsung do differently with its tablets to better promote them in the North American market? Conversely, do you feel that Samsung’s existing tablet line-up is perfect the way it is?

    


Dish abandons Sprint offer, focuses on Clearwire

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 11:29 AM PDT

Clearwire logo

After tendering an impressive offer for Sprint back in April, Dish Network has decided to withdraw from their bidding war with Softbank. The original offer, deemed to be not "actionable" by the Sprint board, gave Dish until yesterday to counteroffer with a restructured deal. Rather than do so, they are now choosing to focus their efforts on acquiring a stake in Clearwire.

Dish has exerted a lot of effort the past year trying to start a mobile network of their own, not having much success. Details of Sprint's rejection have not been disclosed, leaving us with no idea why the Softbank offer is more attractive. In reading the large print, Dish's offer was much more lucrative. It gave more money to shareholders for Sprint, and put more capital into the newly formed corporation post-acquisition. Reports suggest Dish's offer simply leveraged too much of their own assets to make the deal impressive to the Sprint board.

Dish's CEO Charlie Ergen tried in earnest to drum up public interest in Dish acquiring Sprint, but it just led to more problems. Sideways chatter about cultural fits and foreign entities taking over domestic companies may have been Dish's opinion, but probably ones that should have been shelved.

The focus now shifts to Clearwire, where Dish has a new set of headaches. Sprint's deal with Softbank hinges, in part, on Sprint's ability to acquire the remaining half of Clearwire it didn't already own. Clearwire, facing its own challenges regarding solvency, began taking large monthly payments from Sprint. At the time, it was the only way the Clearwire board could reasonably keep the company viable for shareholders. Not doing so meant they'd run out of operating capital sometime in 2014, and a fire sale would ensue.

The Dish offer, peculiar in that it was made while a standing offer for Sprint was in place, offered a much more lucrative chance for Clearwire shareholders to cash out. At a 30% premium over the Sprint deal, the Clearwire board readily approved it. Sprint then sued Dish, claiming the deal violated Clearwire shareholders rights.

Keep in mind, the offer in place does not give Dish complete control of Clearwire, should it go through. The deal is really for roughly half of the company, which clearly concerns Sprint. Dish may be looking to squeeze Sprint out, or simply open new doors to additional spectrum. While not for complete control, owning roughly half of Clearwire does put them in a good position to make moves down the road.

    


AA Q&A Episode #003: Galaxy S4 Active, HTC One Verizon release date, Samsung Facebook phone?

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 11:24 AM PDT

aaqa-003 Welcome to another installment of Android Authority Q & A. Each week we take questions from you, our wonderful readers and viewers, and answer them both here and in video form on our YouTube channel. In a hurry or don’t like to read? Skip right to the video.

Q

Jimmy asks: Which carriers will be getting the Galaxy S4 active?

A

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active 1 It looks like, at least for now, AT&T will be the only carrier carrying the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. That could always change in the future, but there’s a lot of talk about the phone being exclusive to AT&T, so we wouldn’t bet on seeing it elsewhere. That said, you never know.


Q

Kim asks: I’m a Verizon customer and I’m very unhappy with them. Why do they not have the HTC One? Will they ever get it?

A

Luckily, the HTC One is absolutely coming to Verizon in the future. Right now it looks likely that it’s headed for a July release date. Of course, this isn’t exactly concrete information, but as far as we can tell that looks like the most likely time we’ll see it released, barring any unforeseen circumstances.


Q

Charn Sharma asks: I just saw on the news Mark Zuckerburg from Facebook went to visit Samsung in Korea. Will there be a Samsung Facebook phone?

A

Mark Zuckerberg Korea AP Photo/Yonhap, Do Kwang-hwan While this certainly is a possibility, especially given the existing of the Facebook-centric HTC First, we wouldn’t count on it. While it seems fairly likely that Facebook would be all over a possibility, Samsung holds on tight to its brand identity. For example, you don’t really see anything like Beat Audio branding on Samsung devices all that often. That said, they’re a company that likes making money, so if the deal is right, it could happen.

Q

Oscar says: I have an HTC One on T-Mobile and was wondering: will unlocking my boot loader void my warranty?

A

Yes, unlocking the bootloader will most definitely void your warranty. That’s a big part of why phones likt eh HTC One Developer Edition exist in the first place: so you can have an unlocked bootloader and still get to hang on to your your warranty. That’s not to say you can’t do it, but tread carefully and make sure you’re prepared before you go past the point of no return.


Q

Jacob says: Hey AA. My first generation nexus is outdated and is slow and laggy. I’m planning to upgrade. Should I get the S4 or wait for the S5?

A

samsung-galaxy-s4-s-health Considering that the S4 was released pretty recently, you’ll be waiting for a long time for the Galaxy S5, most likely around 10 or 11 months, but possibly longer. You could wait that long if you wanted, but it may not be worth it if you’re not happy with your current phone. Your best bet is to either go for the S4 or wait for the Note 3, if you like big phones.


Video

Join us next week for more questions and, of course, more answers! If you would like to, head over to the Q & A page to ask us some questions of your own.

    


Huawei Ascend P6 available for pre-order in the U.K. for £329.95 SIM-free

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 10:10 AM PDT

huawei ascend p6

The Huawei Ascend P6, the company’s new flagship device, now has a price tag, after being made official yesterday.

The handset, which has been first seen in a filing with the Chinese version of the FCC, has been made available for pre-order by Carphone Warehouse and, while it’s not as cheap as previously rumored, it still has a price tag that makes it pretty interesting, if you take a look at its specs. The Ascend P6 costs £329.95 SIM-free or around $516.

Carphone Warehouse also offers it free with a monthly deal that starts at £21 per month, and also as an upgrade to your current phone (still free with a plan starting at £21 per month). Another important thing for you to know, if you’re planning on purchasing the Huawei Ascend P6 from Carphone Warehouse, is that the device is expected to arrive on July 4, so you won’t get your hands on it until then.

In terms of colors, you can currently choose between white and black – there’s a pink version, too, but it’s not available for pre-order at Carphone Warehouse just yet.

What do you get for your money? Well, you get a very slim smartphone – at only 6.18 millimeters thickness and with a weight of 120 grams – which also includes some pretty good specs, starting with a 4.7-inch screen with HD resolution.

The device is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Huawei K3V2 processor, as well as 2GB of RAM and has 8GB of internal storage, which can be added to using a microSD card. The rear camera is an 8-megapixel one, while the front one has a 5-megapixel resolution (one that enhances “selfies,” if you’re a fan of that). As for the battery, we’re looking at a 2000mAh one.

What do you think of the Huawei Ascend P6′s price? Will you buy the device?

    


Back to Basics: Android skins explained

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 09:16 AM PDT

Android Authority Back to Basics

This week's edition is all about the skins that go on top of your Android device. If you missed last week's article about Android versions, you can check it out by clicking here. Let's first start by explaining what a skin is.

A skin is an overlay which runs on top of your Android device. Each manufacturer makes its own respective skin which adds features, or changes the appearance of your Android device. The reason manufacturers do this is to differentiate themselves from other device makers, and also to put their own services and apps, in addition to the regular Google apps.

Today we'll be explaining the main features of the most popular skins. These include the two latest versions of TouchWiz, which are made by Samsung, the two latest versions of Sense, which are made by HTC, LG's Optimus UI, Sony's Xperia UI, and Huawei’s Emotion UI. We’ll also look at stock Android, just so we know what we compare to.

TouchWiz Nature UX 1.0 (On top of Android 4.0/Android 4.1) – Made by Samsung

First seen on the Samsung Galaxy S3 in 2012, this skin is designed to mimic nature. From the wallpaper, to the lock screen and even to the notification sounds, the whole UI is centered around nature. In fact the tagline for the Galaxy S3 is "Designed for humans, inspired by nature".

TouchWiz is known for its feature rich and colorful user interface, but is sometimes criticised for its software slowing down the system and the fact that some features do not work as well as advertised. It also adds several Samsung apps like Music Hub, Samsung Apps, S Voice, S Memo and S Planner (See gallery below for the full list).

Some of the features that come with TouchWiz Nature UX are:

  • Smart stay: This feature tracks your eyes to keep the screen lit when you are looking at it.
  • Multiview: Multiview allows you to open two apps simultaneously on the screen, however it is only available on Samsung's high-end devices. (See gallery below)
  • Pop up Play: Pop up Play gives you the ability to play a movie or video on top of whatever you are doing.
  • S-Beam: S-Beam allows you to share videos, music, photos or contacts, with other Samsung Galaxy S3's, or Note 2's.
  • Burst photo: Burst photo shot takes 20 pictures in quick succession, perfect for taking photos of diving at the pools.
  • S Voice: S Voice is Samsung's answer to Siri. It is an assistant which can change settings and answer question
  • Direct Call: Direct call is a feature which automatically calls the person you are texting when you lift your phone to your head.
  • Air View (Only available on the Note range): Air View previews your photos or messages when you hover the S Pen over your gallery or messages.

Popular devices that run TouchWiz Nature UX 1.0: Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Lock Screen Pop Up Play Samsung's built in apps Settings Notification Panel Motion Multiview Music Player S Planner

TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0 (On top of Android 4.2) – Made by Samsung

TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0 continues upon the basis laid by TouchWiz Nature UX 1.0, and was first seen on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Most of the design remained the same, however the lock screen and settings app were slightly tweaked, as well as well as some new features being added (see gallery below).

This version of TouchWiz was considered a refinement over previous versions, however it was still criticized for slowing down the system.

Some features that come with TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0 are:

  • Smart Pause and Smart Scroll: Smart Pause tracks your eyes so that when you look away it will pause the video that you are watching making sure you never miss a moment of your favourite videos. Smart Scroll allows you to scroll using only your eyes and also works by tracking your eyes.
  • Air View and Air Gestures (Only available on devices which support this feature): Air View is an extension of the feature seen on the Note range. However, it now works with just your fingers, allowing you to preview photos or emails, and even speed dial. Air Gestures allow you to answer your phone, scroll in the browser or gallery and change music.
  • S Translator: This feature allows you to type or dictate what you'd like to say and then it will read back the translation in the language of your choice, and it can also translate what others say to you. The feature currently supports the languages Portuguese, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.
  • S Health: S Health monitors your daily calorie intake, weight and workouts, it can track your daily incidental exercise with the built-in pedometer (only available on devices with built-in pedometer). It can also be synced with accessories like a heart rate monitor and a body scale.
  • Dual Camera: Dual camera allows the user to take pictures or videos with both the subject and the photographer in the shot.

Popular devices that run TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0: Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

Lock Screen S Translator Motion Settings 1 Settings 2

Sense 4 (On top of Android 4.0/4.1) – Made by HTC

HTC's Sense UI is very different to Samsung's approach at skins. While Samsung tries to add as many features as possible HTC attempts to create a great user experience without adding many features. It's a different approach, but if you wouldn't use any of the features on TouchWiz anyways then there is nothing to worry about.

The unlocking ring from yesteryear is still there, and the famous HTC Sense clock remains, but the whole design overall was simplified to become more attractive, and the over the top 3D animations which plagued older versions were reduced.

Overall the newer version provided a lighter, snappier experience, however some people criticized it for the way it strayed from stock Android, especially in multitasking.

HTC_Sense-_4.0

Popular devices running HTC Sense 4: HTC One X, HTC One X+, HTC Droid DNA, HTC One S, HTC Desire X.

    


LG to manufacture flexible displays this year, first device in development

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 08:35 AM PDT

lg flexible display oled Image credit: Yonhap

LG is gearing up to mass manufacture flexible OLED displays by the end of the year, a company spokesman told The Korea Times.

According to LG’s Frank Lee, the company will start manufacturing a flexible smartphone panel (probably the same one that LG demonstrated last month) in the last quarter of 2013. The statement contradicts what LG’s VP in Europe recently said about the flexible display technology not being mature enough to make it to the market.

LG is likely to beat its major competitor Samsung, when it comes to releasing the first smartphone featuring a flexible display. You might remember that Samsung showed a flexible display smartphone at CES 2013.

Lee added that production of flexible displays will take place on LG’s E2 line at the Korean company’s Paju complex, using a “4.5th generation glass-cutting technology for the OLED flexible displays.”

LG Display doesn’t plan to make flexible displays for LG Electronics exclusively; other smartphone makers will also be able to buy them from LG, the same report says.

It will be interesting to see how the first devices equipped with flexibles display will look, and how they will compare with conventional glass-based panels in terms of quality. However, the fact that the wait has been reduced to just a few months is exciting.

    


Falcon Pro pulled from the Play Store, after reset fails to resolve token limitation

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 06:23 AM PDT

Falcon Pro for Twitter

Joaquim Verges, the developer of Falcon Pro, one of the most popular third-party Twitter clients for Android, pulled the app from the Play Store in order to figure out a way around Twitter’s restrictions on number of users.

The app reached Twitter’s 100,000  token limit on Monday, and Verges had to reset the tokens and ask users to re-log in, in an effort to clear inactive tokens and allow new users to make use of the app. Falcon Pro went through the issue before, back in February, and the reset of the tokens did the trick back then.

This time, Verges doesn’t seem too optimistic about the future of his app. As he details in a Google+ post, the 100,000 tokens limit has been reached once again in less than 24 hours, meaning that he will have to look for a new way around the limitation.

The developer warns that the situation could mean the end of Falcon Pro, but hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy one of the best third-party Twitter clients out there once again.

Joaquim Verges thinks that the reason why the token pool was exhausted so quickly after the reset was a landgrab that occurred when people learned about the reset. Also, some users have more than one account, which further uses up tokens.

If you updated your Falcon Pro installation and can’t use it anymore, you can download the .apk file of the previous version (2.0.2). The app is available on Google Drive one (link below) and worked just fine at the time this article was written.

    


Nvidia will license its GPU technology to compete with ARM and Imagination

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 04:24 AM PDT

Nvidia logo CES [aa] (2)

Nvidia is in a delicate position right now. Its bread and butter, making GPUs for the PC industry, is increasingly skimpy, as customers move en masse to mobile computing and PCs are left to gather dust on store shelves.

Between a rock and a hard place

The Santa Clara company embarked into a transition to the mobile business, yet, so far, its Tegra line of mobile systems-on-a-chip hasn't made any headway against the giant of the industry, Qualcomm. The new Tegra 4 chip has only made it to one product so far, Nvidia's own Shield console, while the LTE-integrated Tegra 4i is only expected in 2014.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm scores design win after design win, and with the new and powerful Snapdragon 800 SoC about to hit the market, it doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon.

Everything’s for sale

What can Nvidia do, faced with seemingly insurmountable odds? Play its strongest card – its graphics expertise. In a blog post, Nvidia announced that, starting with the Kepler architecture, it would license "GPU cores and visual computing patent portfolio to device manufacturers to serve the needs of a large piece of the market".

This means that mobile SoC makers, such as Samsung, Qualcomm, or even Apple, will be able to use Nvidia GPUs in their designs, in exchange of a licensing fee.

This new business model will put Nvidia on a collision course with ARM and Imagination Technology. At the moment, most SoCs in the market feature Mali GPUs from ARM or PowerVR GPUs from Imagination. Nvidia uses its own GeForce GPUs for the Tegra SoCs, but moving forward, it's willing to let other companies use GeForce GPUs in their designs. This means that Samsung, for instance, could pair a quad-core CPU from ARM with a GPU from Nvidia.

Nvidia says that it will start by licensing its latest generation architecture, Kepler, a low-power design suitable for a wide range of applications, from supercomputers to smartphones. According to AnandTech, the IP licensing will extend to future architectures as well. Moreover, Nvidia is also interested in licensing its LTE technology, which is based on the acquisition of the modem maker Icera. In other words, everything is for sale.

Why now?

So, why has Nvidia decided now to go down the path of licensing? One reason would be the difficulties it faces with Tegra. The Santa Clara company faces the prospect of not being able to get the Tegra line off the ground. Selling its intellectual property would bring a solid business model and a lot of potential revenue.

But more importantly, more devices will have the potential to take advantage of our investments. That means more of the planet's users will be able to enjoy our advanced graphics technologies.
Nvidia blog

But there's more – by turning into an ARM or Imagination competitor, Nvidia can bring its technology to more devices, of all types. PCs may be dying, but the mobile industry is still booming, while wearable and other low-powered devices shape up as the next big thing. In a few years, we could see a Samsung flagship or even an iPhone containing a GPU designed by Nvidia, which is not something Nvidia can hope for right now with its Tegra SoCs. As for future classes of devices, the sky is the limit.

At the end of the day, the move to license its technology should give Nvidia a solid and flexible business model, that would allow it to continue working on the Tegra line without worrying about achieving immediate success.

    


Google Now wallpapers available to download to your computer, smartphone or tablet

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:20 AM PDT

google now wallpapers

Many people love the beautiful simplicity of Google Now backgrounds, which makes them perfect to use as a wallpapers.

If you’ve always wanted to have Google Now wallpapers as background images on your phone, your wish is now granted. That’s because a Reddit user has tracked down the Flickr account of the artist responsible for creating them. Brent Couchman is a San Francisco graphic designer, who did work for the likes of Coca Cola, Target, Microsoft, and, of course, Google.

Google Now wallpapers

But back to the Google Now background images. Couchman has posted four wallpapers to his Flickr account (link available in the Sources box below) – Forest Night, Mountains Day, Plains Day, and Beach Night. They’re all available in sizes of up to 1680 x 1050, so they should look pretty good on any device.

To download any of them to your computer, just click the one you want, and then, when you get to its page, right-click it and select the size you want – “Original” will get you to 1680 x 1050. Then, proceed to save the image on your computer.

    


HTC One mini to be available on AT&T, report says

Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:17 AM PDT

HTC One mini

The HTC One Mini, one of the most rumored devices of the year, is said to be coming to AT&T, but no specific launch date has been given.

According to Phone Arena, quoting sources close to HTC, the HTC One mini will be making its way to AT&T customers, without an actual release date being specified. You might remember that HTC developer LlabTooFer, a man responsible for many HTC leaks, was recently saying that T-Mobile USA would be selling the device, too.

The handset (also known as the HTC M4), has recently made a Bluetooth SIG appearance. Soon after that, more details leaked about it.

Although only the official announcement will tell us whether these specs are right, the HTC One Mini is said to feature a 4.3-inch display (resolution is expected to be 720p), and to look very similar to its older brother, the HTC One, except for the plastic ring which it will have around the display.

The CPU is said to be a dual-core Snapdragon 400 model, running at 1.4GHz, and the device would run Android 4.2.2 (with the Sense 5 interface on top of it, as you would expect).

While there’s no news on release date, the phone is expected in this year’s third quarter, with some reports saying that August will be the month when it will make its official appearance.

Are you looking forward to the HTC One Mini? Do the rumored specs look tempting to you?