Monday, August 5, 2013

Android World Update # Mobile Roar Podcast: Our thoughts on the Moto X, Nokia Lumia 1020 reviewed, and more

Android Phone Fans
Android Phone News, Rumors, Reviews, Apps, Forums & More! 
Mobile Roar Podcast: Our thoughts on the Moto X, Nokia Lumia 1020 reviewed, and more
Aug 3rd 2013, 19:01, by Chris Chavez

We're back with another episode of the Mobile Roar podcast. Each week, this is the place you can turn to get unique perspectives from Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. This week it was all things Moto X (and a little Nokia Lumia 1020). Check it out!

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Android World Update # Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 review (video)

Android Authority
Android News, Reviews, How To 
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 review (video)
Aug 5th 2013, 17:06, by Joshua Vergara

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa featured

Samsung’s newest tablet is finally here — the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0. The first question that comes to mind, of course, is just how much better it is than last year’s model?

While it’s no high-end device, it does do very well in the mid-range category. Nonetheless, we’re giving the device the full review treatment, and it’s up to you to decide just how much better it is than last year’s tablet.

Design

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa design

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 takes on the same plastic look that many of Samsung's products employ. While this is a tried and true design, some are hoping for a change in these aesthetic choices, but that's just not what you get here, unfortunately. And it doesn’t seem like things will be changing anytime soon, either.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa design top back

However, the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 does employ some enhancements that supplement what we've come to expect. You still get the rather slippery, plastic feel with the 8-inch screen, with Samsung's usual bevy of buttons. There is a significantly thinner bezel now, which definitely helps make the screen handling better.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa hardware microsd

Looking at the back, we have a 5-megapixel camera placed on the unremovable back, along the somewhat golden sides, there're a power button and volume rocker on the same plane as the IR blaster. Opposite of this is a most welcome microSD card slot.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa display bottom front half

So that's all good and unsurprising until you hold it in your hand. The aforementioned thinner bezels do a nice job of improving the handling of this 8 inch tablet, but a lighter weight very much helps as well.

Weighing in at 314 grams, the Galaxy Tab 3 is pretty easy to maneuver and throw around as you need. While it is just outside the comfort of a one handed grip, you can pretty comfortably rest the entire device on your fingers and reach what you can with your thumb. In the end this is a no-frills design that actually somewhat surprises with its ease of handling.

Display

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa display

You'd hope for a good display on any 8-inch tablet. While the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 isn't capable of any 1080p qualities like many devices in 2013, it still sports a nice, TFT capacitive screen capable of 1,280 x 800 resolution, rated at an understandable 189ppi. It's understandable because with this large screen, the device will be far enough away from your face so that pixelation in text and whatnot isn't that noticeable or bad to look at.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa display specs

And it really isn't, though some of the software enhancements for text certainly help with that. Nonetheless, you're not going to be getting the most cutting edge or sharpest experience here. However, colors are actually quite vibrant, and viewing angles are impressive.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa display text

The more bloated elements of TouchWiz elements work on a screen this size and keeps things easy on the eyes. While I would've wished for a 1080p display on a tablet like this, I did have an enjoyable time with it.

Performance

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa performance

Looking at performance, Samsung outfitted the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 with its in-house processing package, a dual-core Exynos 4212, clocked at 1.5GHz. It's backed bya Mali-400MP GPU and 1.5GB of RAM. As you can see, this isn't a high end product by any means, and benchmark tests support this.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa performance specs

In practice, the tablet performs quite well; apps run very smoothly, but as you load more and more apps, it does begin to stutter a little, as resources are increasingly being used in the background.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa performance antutu score

For the power user, this might not be an optimal tablet, but for the general user, web browsing, occasional, casual gaming, and YouTube viewing is easy enough for the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0.

Hardware

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa hardware

If you were thinking that the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 would have a lot of the same bits and features as the Galaxy S4, stop right there! Samsung's tablets often don't get the flagship treatment the same way its phones do.

With that said, you don't get any extra sensors in this tablet, aside from the typical accellerometer, along with an IR Blaster for WatchON capabilities. Finally, we have one of the most sought after features — a microSD card slot on the side. Unfortunately, there's no NFC to take advantage of S Beam.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa design landscape

It's also worth mentioning that a version of the Tab 3 capable of cellular connectivity is available, but, as usual, it's not likely to come to States. 3G and 4G LTE versions are available overseas, but this one is simply made for Wi-Fi, along with the usual Bluetooth and GPS featues.

Battery

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa battery

As I said before, the back cover is not removable, but the 4,450 mAh unit found underneath provides a good level of juice. Straight usage of either web browsing or a heavy amount of video will get you about 8 hours of life out of the battery.

For the general user that doesn't have their eyes glued to the screen all day can probably eek out a few days of usage.

Camera

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa camera

We never really expect cameras on tablets to be exceptionally good. On the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, you get a 5-megapixel camera, along with a camera app, which has a startling lack of modes, compared to Samsung's newer products. Nonetheless, you get a few modes to play around with, and picture quality is decent, for a tablet.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa camera modes

It's becomes a necessity to put cameras on just about anything now, but that doesn't mean they'll blow you away.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa camera 1

Software

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa software

Those familiar with Samsung products will be familiar with the general user experience. TouchWiz with Android 4.2.2 makes a return to the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 with little changes. The only real difference here is the few, minor changes to make things more tablet friendly.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa software power widget

WatchON and Group Play are the only app inclusions as far as navigation goes, and you do get a few motion capabilities, but not much else. You also have Google Now and S Voice for voice commands. When it comes down to it, this is the same TouchWiz that everyone is already familiar with, and it works as expected.

Video review

Price

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa battery

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 comes in at $299, a pretty middle price range for a device that is, well, very middle. It's really not too bad, though, if you want to get more bang for your buck, a Nexus 7 (2013) may be more up your alley.

Put frankly, the Galaxy Tab 3 is an enjoyable device. The lighter form and thinner bezels make for a much easier to handle tablet and that's always a plus. The screen is actually quite good and is as easy on the eyes it can get. But these enhancements all just feel like ways of trying to detract from the truth – that we've seen all of this before.

samsung galaxy tab 3 8 aa boxed

The plastic body, the all-too-familiar TouchWiz, and these middle of the road specifications can all be had in plenty of other devices, not to mention ones that are cheaper than the Tab 3. If you think what the Tab 3 offers will please you, I'm sure it will. But for me, it's an experience I've had all too many times before, not to mention with a ton of other Samsung products. And in the end, it's far from unforgettable.

Brad Ward contributed to this post.

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Android World Update # Strategy Analytics vs Canalys: Q2 2013 tablet sales are off by 15 million Android devices

Android Authority
Android News, Reviews, How To 
Strategy Analytics vs Canalys: Q2 2013 tablet sales are off by 15 million Android devices
Aug 5th 2013, 16:20, by Chris Smith

Nexus 7

Without actual sales data from companies, quarterly tablet sales and market share numbers offered by analysts may not always paint an actual picture of the tablet environment, and we're going to show you today how a number like nearly 15 million Android tablets may affect the bigger picture.

After a report said a few days ago that Apple's tablet market share has dropped to 28% for the second quarter of the year (according to analysts from a research firm), a similar study for the same period has been published by a competing firm, which says that things aren't as great for Android tablets as previously described, as Apple still had a more than decent size of the pie, at 47%.

In other words, Android had 67% of the tablet business in the second quarter of the year according to the first study, while the other one said that while Android was the dominant tablet platform, with a 53% share.

The difference between those two studies – from companies which we're expected to trust with such numbers, and who can influence public opinion with such detailed reports – is of around 15 million units, which is far beyond any kind of error that we'd accept from such studies.

The two reports we're talking about come from Strategy Analytics and Canalys, respectively, and have been filed just a few days apart – links for the reports are available in the Source section below.

Strategy Analytics

We have already showed you what the company said, but let's quickly recap. According to the company, Android dominated the market in the second quarter with a "robust" 67 percent market share, while Apple came in only at 28 percent. The remaining 5% were divided between Microsoft (4.5%) and others (0.5%).

Strategy Analytics Tablet Sales Q2 2013

Strategy Analytics tablet sales Q2 2013 | Image credit: Strategy Analytics

According to the company, Apple shipped 14.6 million units, a number the iPad maker actually shared during its Q3 FY2013 earnings report, while Android tablet sales amounted to 34.6 million units. Adding the Microsoft and others, we get to a grand total of 51.7 million units of sold tablets compared to 36.1 million for the same period last year, or a year-over-year increase in tablet sales of 43%.

Canalys

A few days after Strategy Analytics came out with its report, Canalys revealed its own estimates for the same Q2 2013 period. According to them, Apple sold 14.6 million tablets – the number stays the same because it's what Apple reported – but Android tablet sales were only at around 19.6 million, for a total of 34.2 million of tablet sales for the period.

Canalys Tablet Sales Q2 2013

Canalys tablet sales Q2 2013 | Image credit: Canalys

According to the same company, tablet sales reached almost 24 million in the second quarter of the previous year. Interestingly, the year-over-year growth is similar to what Strategy Analytics has reported, 42.9%.

Google

Before we look at the differences between these two reports, we have a different set of numbers to check out – Google's.

The Search giant never reveals its tablet and smartphone sales during quarterly earnings calls, but like every other successful device maker, it does brag with its accomplishments from time to time.

Before announcing the Nexus 7 (2013), Google did some bragging of its own regarding tablet sales in order to showcase the importance of the Nexus 7 in the overall tablet environment, and the increasing number of Android tablet sales available on the market.

Google Android Tablet Sales

Google Android tablet sales explained by Sundar Pichai before the Nexus 7 (2013) launch

Sundar Pichai, now Google's Chrome and Android chief, revealed that 70 million Android device sales have been sold to date, according to combined data from IDC, Gartner and Google's own data. As you can see in the graph above, since mid-2012 (when the first-gen Nexus 7 was launched) until mid 2013 there were around 50 million Android tablet sales (roughly from the 20 million mark to the 70 million mark in the graph).

Of all Android tablet sales, around 10 percent were Nexus 7 units, not that we're interested in Nexus 7 sales right now.

Pichai further said that in the first half of 2013, one every two tablets sold runs Android, suggesting that Google has about 50% of the tablet market for the first two quarters of the year. According to the same graph, in the first two quarters of 2013, Google registered about 30 million tablet sales (roughly from the 40 million mark to the 70 million mark).

We have no idea whether Amazon tablets were counted for that graphic, but we'd be inclined to think so, as the graph shows the evolution of the Android tablet since 2010, and the data doesn't only come from Google, with IDC and Gartner also being quoted for the numbers.

The differences

Who's right, Strategy Analytics or Canalys? Have Android tablet sales really reached almost 35 million sales in the second quarter alone (Strategy Analytics) or are they around 20 million (Canalys)? Whatever the answer is, both companies can't be right at the same time.

Considering that Strategy Analytics' estimates for a single quarter top Google's numbers for the first half of the year, we'd be inclined to believe that the company, for some reason, may have made a major mistake with its tablet sales estimate for Q2 2013.

But that's not the only reason why one would suspect that Strategy Analytics is wrong – we have a second reason to question it's numbers. When comparing the company's reports for Q2 2013 and Q2 2012 we found some irregularities that shouldn't be there.

It looks like, for some reason, Strategy Analytics has changed the numbers it reported last year for Q2 2012 in this year's new report. This could explain why the overall year-over-year tablet sales growth is the same for both companies, at around 43%.

Here's what Strategy Analytics reported for Q2 2012 last year versus what it reported for the same period a few days ago – what we did was to compare the Q2 2012 numbers in the table below (red table, third column) and above (green table, second column) and and noticed they don’t coincide:

  • iPad sales: 17 million vs 17 million; share: 68.3% vs 47.2% (this number doesn't change as it's taken from Apple's Q3 FY2012 report)
  • Android tablets: 7.3 million vs 18.5 million; share 29.3% vs 51.4%
  • Microsoft tablets: 0.3 million vs 0.2 million; share 1.2% vs 4.5%
  • Others: 0.3 million vs 0.3 million; share 1.2% vs 0%.

According to this data, we find out that Android passed Apple in total tablet sales last year in Q2 2012, only we didn't know about it at the time. In fact, at the time, Strategy Analytics proclaimed that "Apple iPad Captures 68 Percent Share of 25 Million Global Tablet Shipments in Q2 2012" in its report (that's actually the title of a July 25, 2012 blog post from the company).

Strategy Analytics Tablet Sales Q2 2013

Strategy Analytics tablet sales Q2 2012 | Image credit: Strategy Analytics

Not to mention that 0.3 million for "others" meant a share of 1.2% of the market back then, but it has been corrected in the mean time to tell us that it actually means 0%.

Interestingly, estimates based on Microsoft recent earnings report suggest that the company may have sold just 1.7 million Surface tablets since the device was launched in fall 2012 which means that the 2.3 million of sold Windows tablets offered for Q2 2013 may be way off. This would be our third reason to question the company's recent report on tablet sales.

For what it's worth, Canalys doesn't even mention Windows tablet sales, and its "others" category seems to include only Android players in the tablet market. According to its study, Apple had 47% market share, while Android tablets accounted for 53% of the market – the total is 100%, so where are the Windows tablet sales?

Canalys doesn't have a similar report for Q2 2012 to compare to this year's released numbers.

Wrap up

As you can see, analysts can drop the ball, and these sort of reports, while informative, may not always paint the actual big picture. How are we to trust these research firms when their reports offer such discrepancies, including contradicting Google's own numbers and "fixing" last year's report.

Strategy Analytics does bring into play a new tablet term, "white-box tablets," which is a "product produced by one company (the manufacturer or ODM) that other companies (the vendors or OEMs) rebrand to make it appear as if they made it. White box tablets invariably use different components to branded tablet in order to keep cost to a minimum."

But what are those white-box tablets, and who is so successful at selling them? According to the data offered by the company, in Q2 2013 alone, there were 15.5 million white-box tablets sold – that's definitely a great performance (surpassing iPad sales for the period) for what aren't necessarily great devices. Is the Nexus 7 included in that list? If it is, we’ll remind you that according to Google’s own estimates, the company sold about 7 million Nexus 7 (2012 model) since it launched the device.

both companies can't be right at the same time

Furthermore, if they're so successful, why isn't Canalys reporting these numbers as well? Because they're so many white-box tablets, you'd think they would show up in whatever research Canalys would be doing to come up with quarterly sales numbers for tablets, and would be taken into account.

Canalys does say that its report only lists "branded vendors and include Windows slates and hybrids."

Like we said before, both reports can't be right when there's such a difference between them. Taking white-box tablets out of the equation, would put the total number of tablet sales for the second quarter at 36.2 million, which is very close to the 34.2 million estimate reported by Canalys. A 2 million "error" is still unacceptable. Is it possible that Canalys’ report is wrong, as the company did not count white-box shipments?

Coincidentally, if one subtracts the 2.3 million Windows tablet sales reported by Strategy Analytics, the numbers are almost perfectly aligned. We're not saying there weren't any Windows tablet sales last quarter, but according to recent data, Microsoft is not yet that successful at selling Windows tablets, something that both studies have observed (we mentioned numbers above).

We'll certainly be on the lookout on future reports detailing tablets performance for the second quarter, which should help clear the waters. To paraphrase Dude, Where’s My Car?, we’re interested to see, dude, where are those 15 million Android tablets?

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Android World Update # Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini appears Verizon-bound

AndroidGuys
Android news and opinion 
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini appears Verizon-bound
Aug 5th 2013, 16:03, by Scott Webster


sch-i435_verizon

Newly released photos and recent Bluetooth SIG documents suggest Verizon will soon offer the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. A Samsung SCH-i435 has been spotted at the Bluetooth SIG website, matching up with pictures obtained by Engadget. Pricing and availability are unknown; Samsung and Verizon have yet to announce plans to bring the device to carrier.

Would you switch to Verizon for the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini? Would you, rather, pick this up on your carrier of choice?

Engadget | PhoneArena

The post Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini appears Verizon-bound appeared first on AndroidGuys.

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Android World Update # Rumor: Verizon in talks to offer Google Play Music All Access as plan add-on

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Rumor: Verizon in talks to offer Google Play Music All Access as plan add-on
Aug 5th 2013, 16:38, by Quentyn Kennemer

A very interesting rumor has made its way into the fold early this week. According to Billboard, Verizon and Google are in talks for the former to offer the latter's Play Music All Access subscriptions to Verizon customers. If it comes to fruition, the end result would be customers having the ability to subscribe to Google's music service by adding it as a plan feature.

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Android World Update # Android Community

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Tracking the Android Platform Revolution 
BBM for Android coming to the Samsung Apps store
Aug 5th 2013, 15:49, by Robert Nelson

BlackBerry still needs to offer an official release date, however Samsung has recently begun talking about BBM for Android. They have yet to drop anything in terms of a release date, but they have mentioned terms such as “upcoming” and “soon.” The important part to remember is the definition of “soon” usually varies depending on who is doing the talking.

samsung_galaxy_s_III_review_sg_7-580x431-540x40124

In this case Samsung is pointing towards the upcoming availability of the BBM for Android app in the Samsung Apps store. This next bit shouldn’t be much of a surprise in terms of app availability, however Samsung also mentioned how BBM for Android was coming to the Play Store.

“Samsung has announced that the upcoming BBM app will be available in the Google Play and the Samsung App store soon and available to all Samsung GALAXY smartphone consumers across Africa.”

The interesting part here comes in with those last few words; across Africa. This particular press release was pointed towards that market and was pushing benefits of BBM as giving Samsung customers access the the BBM social network. Further details here pointed towards this being available as “part of Samsung Messaging Hub as a complementary addition to the current slate of propriety and third party messaging services.”

Of course, the features of BBM will remain the same as what we have been seeing with the leaks. Basically, that includes person-to-person chats, multi-person chats and BBM Groups. There was also mention of the ability to share images and voice notes.

Otherwise, while we don’t expect BBM for Android to arrive as a paid service, there was mention about how the app would be available “at no cost” at launch. That all being said, now we need to see which other markets Samsung will be pushing the availability of BBM.

VIA: CrackBerry

Google "All Access" music may arrive as a Verizon bundle offering
Aug 5th 2013, 15:22, by Robert Nelson

There has been talk of a music service for AT&T users from Beats Audio and we already know that Cricket Wireless offers Muve Music. Looking forward though, it appears as if Verizon Wireless users may be getting Google Play Music All Access. Coming by way of Billboard, there is word that Google and Verizon are currently in talks to offer this as a bundled service option.

verizon-logo-eric-hauser2

The details aren’t yet public and instead are coming by way of “executives knowledgeable with the discussions.” The catch here, while it seems the talks are underway, there also appears to still be plenty left to iron out. Or in other words, it seems as if it may still be some time before Verizon users will be able to bundle in an All Access account. To further that point, it was mentioned that the talks are still in the “early stages.” Part of the discussion is on payments.

Otherwise, it seems clear that Google will benefit from this arrangement. It was said the All Access service currently has between 250,000 and 500,000 users, though some of those are still under the trial period. With Verizon having roughly 100 million subscribers, that All Access subscriber number could jump considerably for Google. This could also be seen as a perk for the customer as the billing would be rolled into the regular Verizon service.

Aside from payments, it also appears as if some of the talk deals with the free trial periods. Or more specifically, who is going to cover the cost of those periods. Basically, the royalties still need to be paid, even if the user isn’t yet paying. Further details point towards Verizon not wanting to pick up the tab, but also towards Google as pushing this as a way for Verizon to attract new customers.

Bottom line here, assuming the details can be worked out, this could be a win-win-win for Google, Verizon and the users. Of course, that assumes the details do get worked out and All Access accounts do come available through Verizon. Otherwise, this isn’t the first time we have had Google Play Music mentioned in conjunction with Verizon. Those remembering back to the recent DROID announcement will likely remember anyone picking up one of those three handsets will get 6-months of All Access for free.

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Android World Update # Move Over Minis: HTC One Max Appears

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Move Over Minis: HTC One Max Appears
Aug 5th 2013, 15:36, by Kris Carlon

Well, it had to happen, just as HTC brought out the One mini to compete with Samsung's S4 mini, so too has HTC popped out a bigger brother to the bigger brother to compete on the phablet front. Samsung has both the Galaxy Mega and the Note 3 and Sony has the Xperia Z Ultra, but HTC will soon have the HTC One Max. We've just seen the first look at the device in leaked pictures from Chinese website, ePrice.

HTC one max
Boy, that's one huge HTC One! Actually, it's the HTC One Max!!! / © ePrice

(This is a preview - click here to read the entire entry.)

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Android World Update # ASUS Fonepad now available from Three UK

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Android Central 
ASUS Fonepad now available from Three UK
Aug 5th 2013, 16:15, by Alex Dobie

I'M WRITING A BLOG POST!

£29.99 up-front plus £12.49 per month, or £179.99 outright

British mobile operator Three has today launched the ASUS Fonepad on its network. The 7-inch Intel-powered Android tablet/phone hybrid is available for £179.99 outright when bought with a £5, £7.50 and £15 data top-up, or £29.99 up-front on a 24-month, £12.49 per month contract.

So Three is positioning the device as a tablet rather than an Android phone, which is probably a good thing considering its enormous size. Here's what Richard Devine had to say in our review of the Fonepad —

read more

    


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