Monday, October 7, 2013

Android World Update # Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3 to get the waterproof ‘Active’ treatment

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Android news and opinion 
Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3 to get the waterproof 'Active' treatment
Oct 7th 2013, 18:09, by Scott Webster

To the surprise of nobody, Samsung is rumored to introduce waterproof versions of its current Galaxy Note 3 and presumed Galaxy S5 smartphones. According to ETNews, Samsung has been very impressed with the sales and feedback for the Galaxy S4 Active and are working to introduce semi-rugged and water resistant variants for future flagships.

Look, we’re all for Samsung throwing its weight around and releasing a wide variety of device options, but we get the sense they could be smarter. Why not just make all versions of their iconic models waterproof like Sony and call it a day? It would be one more feather in the cap and could further differentiate from Apple and others. Sony doesn’t have a strong U.S. presence yet so we might assume it’s Samsung’s race to lose.

Does having a waterproof smartphone matter to you? Would you pay extra for the feature? Leave a comment below with your thoughts and feedback.

ETNews (translate)

 

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Android World Update # 5-inch Samsung Galaxy J headed for Japan, leak indicates

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Android news and opinion 
5-inch Samsung Galaxy J headed for Japan, leak indicates
Oct 7th 2013, 17:44, by Scott Webster

Samsung will soon introduce a 5-inch Galaxy J smartphone for the Japanese market, reports RBMen. According to a leaked brochure, the handset will be a quad-core experience with a 20.7-megapixel rear camera, the highest we’ve seen in a Samsung phone to date. Aside from the impressive hardware, other details are said to include Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, a dust/water resistant design and Samsung’s familiar plastic body. NTT DoCoMo is expected to carry the Samsung Galaxy J in Coral Pink, Satin White and Lapis Blue colors; pricing and availability remain unclear.

Galaxy J specifications:

  • 5-inch FHD 1080p display (1020×1080)
  • 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • 32GB internal storage
  • microSD card slot expansion
  • 20.7-megapixel rear-facing camera
  • 2.2-megapixel front-facing camera
  • NFC
  • 3,000mAh battery
  • Dust/water-resistant

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy J looks to be quite a powerful device that rivals today’s top models. Would you consider something like this for yourself if it was offered in the United States?

RBMen

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Android World Update # X-Physics FREE: Be nimble in a game with real physics

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This feed includes text previews of the latest news articles and app tests on www.androidpit.com. Click on the article title to read the entire article. 
X-Physics FREE: Be nimble in a game with real physics
Oct 7th 2013, 17:19, by Loie Favre

Physics-based games are very popular and it’s no wonder! Needing to calculate various objects all at once makes every time you play different. You are required to be more on the ball with these types than with ‘normal’ games. Today we take a look at one of these called X -Physics FREE and in our app test review we will see how well it does the trick.

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

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Android World Update # Device Wars: Galaxy Note 3 vs Xperia Z Ultra

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This feed includes text previews of the latest news articles and app tests on www.androidpit.com. Click on the article title to read the entire article. 
Device Wars: Galaxy Note 3 vs Xperia Z Ultra
Oct 7th 2013, 15:00, by Loie Favre

Nowadays, with so many smartphones and tablets on the market, it’s hard to choose the best one. In today’s Device Wars, we pit the opinions of two AndroidPIT editors head-to-head, who are backing either the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or the Sony Xperia Z Ultra in a 5-point battle. Andreas firmly believes that the Note 3 is the clear winner while Sophia isn’t budging about her determination that the Z Ultra outshines its Samsung competitor. Though the question remains: which flagship is the flavor of the month for our Android readers?

androidpit galaxy note 3 xperia z ultra teaser
© AndroidPIT

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

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Android World Update # Not so fast LG: Samsung says they are already producing flexible displays

Android News, Rumours, and Updates
The latest in android news, rumours, and updates, including device news and apps! 
Not so fast LG: Samsung says they are already producing flexible displays
Oct 7th 2013, 14:38, by Robert Nazarian

Samsung_Galaxy_S_4_Front_Top_Samsung_Logo_TA

LG sent out a presser this morning announcing the mass production of the “world’s first flexible OLED panel for smartphones,” but Samsung says they have already been producing their flexible OLED displays. Furthermore, they will release their first product “within days.”  Samsung’s display will be a little smaller, at 5.7-inches, but I think they are going to clearly win the race since LG’s G Flex probably won’t be announced until next month.

Samsung’s display is also thinner and weighs less. It comes in at 0.12mm thick vs 0.44mm and it weighs 5.2 grams vs 7.2 grams. Of course, some of the weight differential could be a result of the size. LG’s flexible panel will be 6-inches as opposed to Samsung’s 5.7-inch panel. Samsung’s production capacity is at 1 million per month, although they are unlikely to hit that target early on. Earlier reports indicated LG’s capacity would be much lower.

source: OLED-info


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Android World Update # Samsung phones with flexible displays could be marketed under ‘Galaxy Round’ name

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Samsung phones with flexible displays could be marketed under 'Galaxy Round' name
Oct 7th 2013, 15:01, by Robert Nazarian

Samsung_Galaxy_Round_Trademark_Filing

How does the Galaxy Round sound to you? It just might be the marketing name that Samsung uses for all their phones (and future tablets) that feature a flexible display. Samsung was just granted the trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, so chances are very good.

Samsung’s first flexible-screened device is rumored to be a Galaxy Note 3 limited edition, so we might not see the “Galaxy Round” name utilized until the next device. Trademarks are never a guarantee of usage, but what do you guys think?

source: USPTO
via: Phone Arena


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Android World Update # Samsung to make their over version of Google Glass

Android News, Rumours, and Updates
The latest in android news, rumours, and updates, including device news and apps! 
Samsung to make their over version of Google Glass
Oct 7th 2013, 14:09, by Robert Nazarian

Samsung_Gear_Glass_Tweet

According to Eldar Murtazin, Samsung is going to come out with their own version of Google Glass next spring. It will be marketed under the Gear Glass name and will be available in April/May. Based on this timing it could be unveiled at the spring Unpacked Event, which is usually reserved for the next Galaxy S phone.

This news is far from shocking since Samsung has been building their own ecosystem for a few years now. I have no doubt Google Glass will be the better product, but Google hardware doesn’t usually sell well with the mainstream. On the other hand, Samsung’s products are everywhere, and Samsung is just the company to take a glass-like product to the mainstream. Of course you can also expect it to be half baked like the Galaxy Gear, but will Samsung loyalists care?

source: @eldarmurtazin

 


Come comment on this article: Samsung to make their over version of Google Glass

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Android World Update # State of the Mobile Nations podcast: LIVE 10 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. EST

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Android Central 
State of the Mobile Nations podcast: LIVE 10 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. EST
Oct 7th 2013, 14:42, by Phil Nickinson

We're wrapping up Talk Mobile 2013 this week and figured now's as good a time as any to get the Mobile Nations editors together. 

Join Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry, Phil Nickinson of Android Central, Daniel Rubino of Windows Phone Central, Derek Kessler of Mobile Nations, and me of this place for a look at the state of the mobile platforms!

We're going live at 10 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. EDT. Be here!

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Android World Update # Paperboy: My new favorite reading app

Phandroid
Android Phone News, Rumors, Reviews, Apps, Forums & More! 
Paperboy: My new favorite reading app
Oct 7th 2013, 14:37, by Raveesh Bhalla

This image has no alt text

This review is going to be a lot more in-depth than most of my previous ones. I have been using Paperboy since last December, and over the course of times I have learnt so much about not just the app, but also the effort the developer put in over that duration.

Firstly, a brief description about Paperboy: Paperboy is a reader application with a focus being on providing a very neat and smooth user interface, avoiding some of the issues more famous applications suffered from. For example, I found Pulse for a long time to have issues with scrolling.

Historically, such apps have been very stripped down, which isn't the case with Paperboy at all. In fact, Paperboy provides an interface every bit as attractive as Pulse, without suffering from any of the glitches. It also focussed heavily on offline reading which is crucial for markets like India, where the developer is based out of.

Utilizing Google Play's Beta Channel brilliantly

paperboy wireframeI've mentioned on a few occasions before that my favorite announcement at Google I/O in May was the Alpha/Beta channel for developers on Google Play. I personally have always believed that it is crucial to have user feedback at an early stage to help shape the app, but for smaller developers it was never easy to do so.

The Play Store's implementation of this is amazing. The only friction to joining a beta program for a tester is to join a Google+ community that the developer has whitelisted. While this might reduce the overall number of testers, it actually increases the power of the system by a significant amount.

In Paperboy's case, the feedback from testers has been amazing, and it hasn't just been bug reports or usability issues that any app might come across. There have been several minor feature requests that have improved the quality of the experience tremendously, others have made suggestions at various places regarding design choices. Some have gone as far as to draw detailed wireframes.

A major reason for Paperboy's success with the Beta channel has been the responsiveness by the developer. With an average of two beta releases a week, as a user you know the suggestions you are making will be incorporated quickly, and hence you are more likely to share your views.

And, as always, the user benefits from getting early access to the app's updates, such as the Pocket integration which is available to beta users right now, but not the public.

Power to the User

A general rule for user experience is to not bombard users with options. This is something followed closely by a lot of the larger apps out there. The issue is that different users have different needs, and Android users are typically more likely to want to personalize an application.

Paperboy does a great job offering a wide range of options. For example, while I like images, I want to quickly get down to reading an interesting post. Paperboy allows you to make your interface "image heavy" or "text heavy". By default, their sort order pushes popular posts to the top, but I'm certain quite a few would rather see them sorted chronologically. Would you rather see a list of articles when entering a particular feed, instead of the first one? You can do so. Need more aggressive refreshing of your content, or even the time period in the day that it performs the syncing? No problem.

This allows you to really make the app your own. I've changed at least half of the default settings because of a few of my idiosyncrasies, such as an awkward time schedule which doesn't work well with the app's 8 AM to 8 PM refresh window. It is quite unlikely that there is something within the app that you would want to change, but can't.

The Reading Experience

paperboy screenshotAt the end of the day, Paperboy is a reading app, and it needs to nail down that experience. Fortunately, particularly when combined with the options offered, it really does so. Like I mentioned at the start, speed is a key element here when it comes to reading and scrolling.

One aspect that Paperboy does better than any other app that I have seen is the way it offers the ability to read the article one the source's website. Surprisingly, considering how common it is for sources' to limit the length of their posts on RSS feeds, even big apps like Pulse have poor experience in this regard. This boils down to WebViews, and the fact that they are pretty slow unless the developer makes some changes.

On Paperboy, it is snappy enough that I don't wish I were offered to launch in the browser by default. It also has a neat little easter egg of sorts that allows you to browse through the posts using the volume buttons, which has come in handy while travelling.

What Differentiates Paperboy

If you are a Feedly user, you probably aren't short of third-party options. However, if you are a Feedly Pro user, then Paperboy is the only third party app out there that gives you access to Pro features. Currently, that is limited to search. As a non-Pro user, but that doesn't mean I'm left out: they've built their own search feature within the app which automatically decides whether to use Feedly's service or theirs.

I can't recommend Paperboy enough, and definitely recommend joining the Beta channel in particular. You can join the community over here, or download the app from the Play Store over here.

 

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Android World Update # LG officially ready to mass-produce first flexible displays, but don’t count on your smartphones being flexible

Phandroid
Android Phone News, Rumors, Reviews, Apps, Forums & More! 
LG officially ready to mass-produce first flexible displays, but don't count on your smartphones being flexible
Oct 7th 2013, 14:35, by Quentyn Kennemer

LG has formally announced that they are first to the table with another bit of innovation in the area of mobile displays. After long being rumored to be working on flexible displays, LG Display can now claim that they are first to market with the ability to mass produce the technology (which is of the OLED variety).

We’d previously heard we’d be seeing devices with flexible displays at some point next year, and it looks like that prediction is indeed coming true. The rumored LG G Flex is said to be first out of the starting gate. But what does this mean? Will it allow us to get flexible smartphones?

No, not quite. You’d need a flexible battery, a flexible motherboard with flexible components, and a flexible chassis to get that, something we don’t see happening for a very long time. Instead, a flexible display will make a device’s display virtually impossible to break, and will also be useful for OEMs who want to introduce new curved designs in their latest products.

LG-flexible-display

Of course, the glass covering the display is still susceptible to shattering in the event of a drop, but it’s much easier and cheaper to replace a sheet of glass than it is an entire display. Here’s LG’s technical briefing on the achievement:

LG Display's flexible OLED panel is built on plastic substrates instead of glass. By applying film-type encapsulation technology and attaching the protection film to the back of the panel, LG Display made the panel bendable and unbreakable. The new display is vertically concave from top to bottom with a radius of 700mm, opening up a world of design innovations in the smartphone market. And only 0.44mm thin, LG Display's flexible OLED panel is the world's slimmest among existing mobile device panels. What's more, it is also the world's lightest, weighing a mere 7.2g even with a 6-inch screen, the largest among current smartphone OLED displays.

That means it should help smartphones and tablets become even thinner and lighter than they already are. While we obviously can’t judge the visual quality of these displays yet, we’ll use LG’s good track record in the display industry to declare that there probably isn’t anything to worry about. We’ll have to wait a bit more time to see which device will have the honors of being the first to the finish line with this technology in place.

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Android World Update # Motorola expands Droid Zap support to include all Droid models

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Motorola expands Droid Zap support to include all Droid models
Oct 7th 2013, 13:56, by Scott Webster

Motorola recently updated their image and video sharing app, DROID Zap, to allow for expanded device support. No longer relegated to this year’s Droid models (Maxx, Mini, Ultra), it now lets any Droid handset with Android 4.0 or later. The app provides a quick and easy way for users to send pictures to another person with a two-finger swiping gesture using an ad-hoc network of GPS/WiFi. It’s a different take on the S Beam and Android Beam, however it doesn’t require the need for an NFC-equipped handset. 

If you have a Droid model running Android 4.0 or later, check out DROID Zap for free in the Google Play Store.

via Phandroid

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Android World Update # AnTuTu releases Benchmark X Edition to fight score fraud

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AnTuTu releases Benchmark X Edition to fight score fraud
Oct 7th 2013, 14:25, by Scott Webster

You probably heard the news last week Samsung had been found to be manipulating the scores of the Galaxy Note 3 benchmarks to appear in their favor. Any why not? Everybody else does it. Nevertheless, cooking the books is not new and it makes for difficult time trying to sort through the figures. Just about everyone in the industry looks for a way for their device to excel and creates reports and statistics around the numbers. AnTuTu Labs, hoping to make things more clear for end users and potential buyers, has released a new Benchmark X Edition.

We know every phone-maker hopes to adopt a Benchmark which is good for him, even to develop a Benchmark by themselves. But, AnTuTu Benchmark is not the advertising media of phone makers, we only do service for the users. Therefore, in order to give users a more current and real performance feedback, AnTuTu Labs will release a new X-version named AnTuTu X Benchmark.

Reportedly, the benchmark experience looks and acts the same as the other app, however its “camouflage tricks” keep it from manipulation.

Learn more at AnTutu’s website

The post AnTuTu releases Benchmark X Edition to fight score fraud appeared first on AndroidGuys.

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Android World Update # Want to use the Galaxy Note 3 with a Pebble? You'll lose some pretty cool features

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Want to use the Galaxy Note 3 with a Pebble? You'll lose some pretty cool features
Oct 7th 2013, 14:02, by Alex Dobie

Note 3 + Pebble

Multi-window, direct handwriting input, smart screen and air view among features that must be disabled to use Pebble

Here's a quick PSA for anyone hoping to use the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with one of the leading non-Samsung smartwatches. While the Pebble watch will work with Samsung's latest oversized phone, you'll be required to turn off a bunch of TouchWiz features in order to use the Pebble with your Note 3. (We've got a full list of affected features after the break.)

Why? Well, it's all down to the way the Pebble phone app interacts with the wearable device. It uses an accessibility service to push notifications (calls, emails, IMs, etc.) to the watch, and the Samsung features listed above can't be enabled while any accessibility service is in use. The same limits apply to the TalkBack service, which reads on-screen text aloud.

So there are no shenanigans at work here, rather it's a limitation of the way the Pebble's software can interact with Samsung's firmware. It's also not limited to the Note 3 — the Galaxy S4 will impose similar restrictions if you use an accessibility service, Pebble or otherwise. However, the loss of features like direct handwriting input and multi-window is a bit harder to stomach on a big-screened device. (The S Pen itself, we should note, works just fine, as does the Air Command menu and everything in it.)

Of course, Samsung will be hoping consumers choose its own smartwatch companion for their Note 3 devices. And naturally, the Galaxy Gear will work without disabling any phone-side features, as its software has deeper roots into the phone's OS. But if you opt for the cheaper (and in some areas, more capable) Pebble smartwatch, it's worth remembering that doing so will strip your Note of a handful of its more noteworthy features.

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Android World Update # Samsung tries to make Galaxy Gear look cool by comparing it to gadgets from 80s TV shows [VIDEO]

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Samsung tries to make Galaxy Gear look cool by comparing it to gadgets from 80s TV shows [VIDEO]
Oct 7th 2013, 14:05, by Quentyn Kennemer

Samsung’s first attempt at a smart watch hasn’t been welcomed with the most warm reception in the world, but the company is looking to go hard with their advertising anyway. Alongside the general ad campaign Samsung launched to try and sell the Galaxy Gear beside the Note 3 (which we just reviewed), they’re trying to play on the nostalgia factor that such a watch could bring.

In their latest TV ad, Samsung takes us down memory lane by showing us a collection of watches and other wrist-bound gadgets that were featured in popular TV shows such as Power Rangers, Star Trek, Knight Rider and more. These shows made smart watches look ultra futuristic to me as a child, and now Samsung’s hoping to get your attention by declaring that those fantasies have finally become reality.

The Galaxy Gear does a couple of unique things that we haven’t seen on many other smart watches to date. For starters, it does include a pretty decent camera that will let you capture photos using your wrist. It’s also one of the longest lasting smart watches which use a traditional, non-eInk panel at a decent 17 hours per charge.

Samsung’s biggest mistake was making the smart watch compatible with only the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 – 2014 Edition to start. Samsung has promised that functionality would be coming to some of its older devices in due time, and they also mentioned that they were looking into the possibility of making the smart watch compatible with all Android devices at some point down the line.

To me, it all sounds like Samsung rushed this thing to market just a bit too fast. Some argue Samsung looked to beat Apple to the punch, but the egg is on Samsung’s own face as Apple didn’t even have a smart watch to reveal at their most recent event. It’s possible we could see that change whenever Apple gets ready to introduce their next line of iPad tablets.

That Apple didn’t rush to be the first out of the gate with a smart watch isn’t anything surprising. As we all know, Apple is more worried about getting it right than they are getting it first. We just wish Samsung approached their research and development process with that same sort of thinking. Watch the latest Galaxy Gear ads above and below.

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