Thursday, September 26, 2013

Android World Update # Slacker Radio gets a major overhaul, adds 'My Vibe' listings

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Slacker Radio gets a major overhaul, adds 'My Vibe' listings
Sep 26th 2013, 18:00, by Phil Nickinson

Slacker radio

New UI, mood-based playlists highlight update

Slacker Radio has long been one of our go-to apps for online music, and the app is getting a pretty major overhaul with Version 5. First up is a pretty drastic visual refresh — it's worlds better than Version 4, we think. More and bigger images, an easier layout to navigate — good stuff all around. You've got four "quick start" tiles on the bottom of the home screen, and easy access to all the available stations.

And then there's the new "My Vibe" section — sort of a mood-based playlist picker. Categories include "Morning Coffee," "News," "Exercising," "Driving" and "Waking up." (And that's just for starters, but we do question the choice of "Road Rage" as an option in the "Driving" category.)

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Android World Update # Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition Arriving This October 10

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition Arriving This October 10
Sep 26th 2013, 17:20, by Edwin Kee

There is nothing quite like a new tablet that will be making its way to the local market, is there? Frankly, I personally think that Samsung has extended their reach to the tablet and smartphone market by saturating it with just about every possible user class, from the entry level all the way to the high end, that it can be pretty difficult to figure out just which is what any more. Samsung’s recent event that happened earlier this month saw the spotlight focused on the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear, but there was also the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition to look out for. This particular tablet has been designated to arrive on October 10th.

galaxy note 101 2014
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition © Samsung

 

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

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Android World Update # Gold Samsung not pimp enough? Enter the super-premium Galaxy F line

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Gold Samsung not pimp enough? Enter the super-premium Galaxy F line
Sep 26th 2013, 18:00, by Kris Carlon

Samsung will release an all-new super-premium line next year called the Galaxy F to replace its current S- and Note-series flagships. Considering the various additions to the Galaxy S-series that haven't performed as one might expect of a flagship model - like the S4, S4 Zoom and the minis - casting a new premium line to carry the torch makes perfect sense. So what will you get in a Galaxy F device?

samsung galaxy F
Samsung plans to replace the Galaxy S with the super-premium Galaxy F. / © Samsung

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

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Android World Update # Using the Hardware Scaler for Performance and Efficiency

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Using the Hardware Scaler for Performance and Efficiency
Sep 26th 2013, 17:41, by Android Developers

Posted by Hak Matsuda and Dirk Dougherty, Android Developer Relations team

If you develop a performance-intensive 3D game, you're always looking for ways to give users richer graphics, higher frame rates, and better responsiveness. You also want to conserve the user's battery and keep the device from getting too warm during play. To help you optimize in all of these areas, consider taking advantage of the hardware scaler that's available on almost all Android devices in the market today.

How it works and why you should use it

Virtually all modern Android devices use a CPU/GPU chipset that includes a hardware video scaler. Android provides the higher-level integration and makes the scaler available to apps through standard Android APIs, from Java or native (C++) code. To take advantage of the hardware scaler, all you have to do is render to a fixed-size graphics buffer, rather than using the system-provided default buffers, which are sized to the device's full screen resolution.

When you render to a fixed-size buffer, the device hardware does the work of scaling your scene up (or down) to match the device's screen resolution, including making any adjustments to aspect ratio. Typically, you would create a fixed-size buffer that's smaller than the device's full screen resolution, which lets you render more efficiently — especially on today's high-resolution screens.

Using the hardware scaler is more efficient for several reasons. First, hardware scalers are extremely fast and can produce great visual results through multi-tap and other algorithms that reduce artifacts. Second, because your app is rendering to a smaller buffer, the computation load on the GPU is reduced and performance improves. Third, with less computation work to do, the GPU runs cooler and uses less battery. And finally, you can choose what size rendering buffer you want to use, and that buffer can be the same on all devices, regardless of the actual screen resolution.

Optimizing the fill rate

In a mobile GPU, the pixel fill rate is one of the major sources of performance bottlenecks for performance game applications. With newer phones and tablets offering higher and higher screen resolutions, rendering your 2D or 3D graphics on those those devices can significantly reduce your frame rate. The GPU hits its maximum fill rate, and with so many pixels to fill, your frame rate drops.

Power consumed in the GPU at different rendering resolutions, across several popular chipsets in use on Android devices. (Data provided by Qualcomm).

To avoid these bottlenecks, you need to reduce the number of pixels that your game is drawing in each frame. There are several techniques for achieving that, such as using depth-prepass optimizations and others, but a really simple and effective way is making use of the hardware scaler.

Instead of rendering to a full-size buffer that could be as large as 2560x1600, your game can instead render to a smaller buffer — for example 1280x720 or 1920x1080 — and let the hardware scaler expand your scene without any additional cost and minimal loss in visual quality.

Reducing power consumption and thermal effects

A performance-intensive game can tend to consume too much battery and generate too much heat. The game's power consumption and thermal conditions are important to users, and they are important considerations to developers as well.

As shown in the diagram, the power consumed in the device GPU increases significantly as rendering resolution rises. In most cases, any heavy use of power in GPU will end up reducing battery life in the device.

In addition, as CPU/GPU rendering load increases, heat is generated that can make the device uncomfortable to hold. The heat can even trigger CPU/GPU speed adjustments designed to cool the CPU/GPU, and these in turn can throttle the processing power that's available to your game.

For both minimizing power consumption and thermal effects, using the hardware scaler can be very useful. Because you are rendering to a smaller buffer, the GPU spends less energy rendering and generates less heat.

Accessing the hardware scaler from Android APIs

Android gives you easy access to the hardware scaler through standard APIs, available from your Java code or from your native (C++) code through the Android NDK.

All you need to do is use the APIs to create a fixed-size buffer and render into it. You don't need to consider the actual size of the device screen, however in cases where you want to preserve the original aspect ratio, you can either match the aspect ratio of the buffer to that of the screen, or you can adjust your rendering into the buffer.

From your Java code, you access the scaler through SurfaceView, introduced in API level 1. Here's how you would create a fixed-size buffer at 1280x720 resolution:

  surfaceView = new GLSurfaceView(this);  surfaceView.getHolder().setFixedSize(1280, 720);  

If you want to use the scaler from native code, you can do so through the NativeActivity class, introduced in Android 2.3 (API level 9). Here's how you would create a fixed-size buffer at 1280x720 resolution using NativeActivity:

  int32_t ret = ANativeWindow_setBuffersGeometry(window, 1280, 720, 0);  

By specifying a size for the buffer, the hardware scaler is enabled and you benefit in your rendering to the specified window.

Choosing a size for your graphics buffer

If you will use a fixed-size graphics buffer, it's important to choose a size that balances visual quality across targeted devices with performance and efficiency gains.

For most performance 3D games that use the hardware scaler, the recommended size for rendering is 1080p. As illustrated in the diagram, 1080p is a sweet spot that balances a visual quality, frame rate, and power consumption. If you are satisfied with 720p, of course you can use that size for even more efficient operations.

More information

If you'd like to take advantage of the hardware scaler in your app, take a look at the class documentation for SurfaceView or NativeActivity, depending on whether you are rendering through the Android framework or native APIs.

Watch for sample code on using the hardware scaler coming soon!

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Android World Update # Motorola sets up new shop in Waterloo, Canada; swears it isn’t eyeing Blackberry campus

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Motorola sets up new shop in Waterloo, Canada; swears it isn't eyeing Blackberry campus
Sep 26th 2013, 17:34, by Quentyn Kennemer

motorola-logo-building

With news that Blackberry is shedding about 4,500 employees from their work force and looking to sell to Fairfax Financial, a lot of folks might be looking for a new job pretty soon. Blackberry’s Waterloo headquarters is just one of many tech-centric businesses in the area.

Now, Motorola wants to get a bigger presence there. It’s being reported that Motorola is looking to open up a new engineering office in Waterloo, Canada, and will be hiring an undisclosed amount of employees to help fill it. The move doesn’t sound like anything significant other than wanting to be in the best position to attract all of the talent that was just laid off.

Motorola’s parent company Google also already has a pretty nice home there, with a considerable part of the Chrome and mobile teams enjoying employment in the area. We don’t know the scope of Motorola’s impending hiring spree, but we’re definitely keeping our fingers crossed that a considerable amount of those ex-Blackberry employees are able to land well on their feet with “a Google company.”

[via Financial Post]

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Android World Update # Android and Me

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Motorola opening office in Blackberry hometown, looking to hire
Sep 26th 2013, 16:49, by Dima Aryeh

Blackberry is going through some tough times. Their devices simply aren’t succeeding, and they’re quickly losing money. In the wake of such financial losses, the company has had to downsize. It is laying off as many as 4,500 employees in its hometown of Waterloo, putting a lot of people out of jobs. Who will come to the rescue?

In a funny coincidence, Motorola has been planning to open an office in the Canadian city for months now and will be hiring people in the area. While Motorola has not specifically referenced Blackberry and its layoffs, Motorola’s plans to hire in the wake of so many layoffs will land at least a few ex-Blackberry employees jobs. And with the tech haven that is University of Waterloo, it’s a great place to be hiring.

It’s sad to see Blackberry go; it really is. But someone will come and replace it eventually, and in the meantime, Motorola will be picking up some talent and hopefully a few of those laid off won’t be unemployed for long. What do you think? Was this a big coincidence or did Motorola plan it this way? Leave a comment!

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Android World Update # Samsung Germany issues statement on regional lockout of Galaxy Note 3 and other devices

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thumbnail Samsung Germany issues statement on regional lockout of Galaxy Note 3 and other devices
Sep 26th 2013, 16:43, by Bogdan Petrovan

note 3 americas region lock

Earlier today, we reported that the "unlocked" version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 isn't actually that free of restrictions.

Specifically, the device is apparently region locked, which, according to the warning stickers on the retail packaging, means the Note 3 will only work with SIMs from carriers in the region it was bought from. So far, we've seen stickers for devices sold in the US and Europe, but it's possible that the region locking applies to Galaxy Note 3 units sold in other parts of the world.

Unsurprisingly, the news caused quite a stir among readers, and it's not hard to understand why – limiting a device's functionality based on location can be inconvenient for travelers, but also for those who acquire phones from abroad.

note 3 europe region lock

AllAboutSamsung.de asked Samsung for comment on the matter. Here are the essential points from Samsung's official statement (original in German):

  • Samsung does lock some devices based on the region where they were purchased from. These devices are, besides the Note 3: Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy S4 Mini.
  • The region lock only affects units manufactured after the end of July 2013, that ship with the warning sticker on the box. Devices that have already been delivered, like those sitting in warehouses or in stores are not region locked.
  • If a user takes a new phone that hasn't been yet activated to a country outside the home region, the user can unlock the phone at a local Samsung service partner for free.

If we understand the situation correctly, in order to be able to use a phone outside the home region, users will have to register it first with a carrier from the home region. Samsung Switzerland seems to confirm this on their Facebook page.

For instance, if you purchase a Note 3 in the UK and activate it there first, you'll be able to use it with US SIM cards without problems. However, if you buy a phone from the UK, travel to the US, and activate it there for the first time, you will have to take it to a Samsung service center to unlock it.

It's not clear for now what unlocking implies or what happens if you travel to multiple regions. Can you unlock the phone multiple times or just once?

From the sound of it, the region lock is software-based, which means intrepid users might find a way around it.

Samsung's reasons for locking its entire flagship lineup are unclear for now. We can speculate that it might have something to do with curbing the activity of the so-called "grey market" importers, which are companies that buy devices from one region and sell them to another, profiting from the differences that exist between retail prices around the world. Back in February, we heard an unconfirmed rumor that Samsung might be attempting to do this.

We are waiting for a statement from Samsung US and we'll update the post with the official info as soon as we get it.

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