| Sony Xperia Tablet Z update to 4.2.2 Jelly Bean brings UI changes Aug 5th 2013, 18:22, by Cory Gunther Sony has been busy lately with updates. Showing that the company can keep up with Samsung and the rest by offering timely updates to the latest version of Android. They recently pushed out OTAs for their newest Xperia phones, and now we’re seeing the Xperia Tablet Z get Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean this week. Hopefully 4.3 isn’t too far behind though. 
While not all versions of the slate are getting this today, we’re seeing multiple reports that the LTE model SGP321 in parts of Europe have received Android 4.2.2 OTA notifications as of late. Not only is the Tablet Z getting a new build of Android, but Sony’s switched up the UI a bit too. We’re hearing they’ve centered the soft touch on-screen navigation controls, instead of leaving them off to the side. Then the notification bar has been moved back to the top right like their smartphones, same as the notification pulldown bar. Instead of all on bottom as shown in the image above. There’s probably a few other changes we’ve not yet noticed, so if you’ve got the update drop us a comment below. So far other regions as well as the WiFi model have yet to see an update to 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but that should be coming soon. Stay tuned as we’ll update the minute it starts rolling out. VIA: PocketDroid |  | Koush teases Feedcast and MyCast apps for Chromecast Aug 5th 2013, 17:43, by Robert Nelson Google still has a hold on those looking to release Chromecast apps, however that shouldn’t stop anyone from creating new apps and sharing the details. That being the case, we have seen several from Koush up until this point and it looks like another has recently appeared. This latest is being teased in two videos and deals with pulling in videos based on an RSS feed. 
The name of the app could still change, however based on the video it appears to be called Feedcast. Regardless of the name though, this has your Android handset basically working as a remote control for your Chromecast. That is not all that different than what it does with the currently supported app such as Netflix, however this latest app tease is showing a setup based on an RSS feed. In other words, it is looking like the user will be able to customize this app based on feeds they want to see. There are two videos showing the setup and they both highlight content from the Twit.tv network. But again, as was pointed out in the first video (seen above), this is nothing more than an RSS feed with videos included. The second video (seen below) shows the app being a bit more polished. Otherwise, buried deep down in the Google+ comments for the second video was mention of how he plans to release the source for this soon. Perhaps more exciting for some, Koush also mentioned that would be coming along with “a Play release of another app.” He didn’t mention which app that would be, however some digging on his Google+ page may have offered a clue. 
There was a recent post showing a screenshot for an app called MyCast. The screenshot shows an app that appears like it will allow the user to stream items from their Gallery, Dropbox or Google Drive to Chromecast. Of course, what this looks like is a combination of two of the apps we previously saw teased. Sadly though, just like the “soon” comment, this app screenshot was only accompanied with one word of text that read “soon.” | | Samsung Galaxy Note III leaks in benchmarks with Android 4.3 on board Aug 5th 2013, 17:22, by Cory Gunther Lately Samsung has done an excellent job keeping things very quiet regarding their upcoming devices, and have gone as far as stopping most leaks too. However, the Galaxy Note III hasn’t been quite too successful in keeping out of the news and today we’re getting a leaked benchmark result of the Snapdragon 800 powered LTE model. 
If recent leaks and rumors are correct, Samsung might be taking a multiple device strategy with the Note III. Just like the Galaxy S4 we won’t simply get one device. Between different screen sizes, models, processors, and even LTE support, the Note III launch could be a bit confusing. As usual, benchmark results such as AnTuTu can be faked, but we’re seeing a rather odd Galaxy Note III device getting tested this afternoon. The leak reveals the SM-N9005 Snapdragon 800 quad-core powered LTE model, running around 2.3 GHz. This lines up with other Snappy 800 devices, but the score of only 22k comes in a bit low, which is why we’re unsure of the legitimacy of the results. 
It’s also worth noting that the device appears to be running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, the latest Android version, which at the moment only a few Nexus devices and Google Play edition phones are enjoying. This could certainly be a faked result, but at the same time the Note III is out in the wild with the September 4th announcement coming up quick. Samsung’s been excellent about launching all their devices as of late with the absolute latest version of Android, and we’re expecting 4.3 JB to be on board when they announce the Note III next month at Samsung Unpacked Ep.2 in Berlin for IFA. VIA: SamMobile | | IDC: Samsung and Android showing large year-over-year tablet growth Aug 5th 2013, 16:51, by Robert Nelson The latest IDC report has been published and this time around they are talking tablets. The report covers the second quarter of 2013 and while it is showing Apple as sitting on top with a 32.4 percent share of the tablet market, this same report is also showing Apple as dropping year-over-year. More to that point, this same report is showing big year-over-year growth for Samsung and Android as a whole. 
Looking first at the numbers broken down by vendor and we see the top five as being Apple, Samsung, ASUS, Lenovo and Acer. It should also be made clear that while those were the top five, there was an “others” category and that accounts for 38.8 percent of the market at the moment. Anyway, those numbers were as follows; Apple with 32.4 percent, Samsung with 18.0 percent, ASUS with 4.5 percent, Lenovo with 3.3 percent and Acer with 3.1 percent. Shifting to the year-over-year and we are taking a look at Q2 2012 as compared to Q2 2013. This has Apple going down 14.1 percent with Samsung growing 277.0 percent. The remaining vendors in the top five show ASUS with a 120.3 percent growth, Lenovo with a 313.9 percent growth and Acer with a 247.9 percent growth. Anyway, while Apple still holds the majority share of the tablet market, these numbers do imply the Android tablet market has been growing. Touching on that last point and we find Android as having a 162.9 percent year-over-year growth. Android had 38.0 percent of the market in Q2 2012 and grew to 62.6 percent in Q2 2013. In terms of the shipments, that percentage accounts for 28.2 million for the second quarter of 2013. This also has Android sitting in top of the tablet operating systems category. Looking at the remaining four of the top five in this category and we have iOS, Windows, Windows RT and BlackBerry with 32.5, 4.0, 0.5 and 0.3 percent respectively. In this case the others category is small and accounts for just 0.2 percent of the market. Otherwise, looking at the year-over-year for this category and we saw the big growth came from Windows, which had 527.0 percent growth. The catch with that, Windows still only accounts for 4.0 percent with 1.8 million shipments. | | Vine for Android update brings push notifications, improved sharing Aug 5th 2013, 16:48, by Cory Gunther It looks like the popular video sharing app Vine isn’t going down without a fight. After Instagram upped their game and launched similar services, many thought Vine wouldn’t hold on, but after multiple updates they’ve continued to improve their app over time. This weekend Vine received another update on the Android platform with plenty of improvements and fixes. 
Vine for Android hasn’t been up to par with the iOS counterpart, but another upgrade this week has added a few more of those features we’ve all been needing, and waiting for. Those being push notifications. Finally! Vine has added push notifications (like instant notifications) for likes, comments, and mentions. Then the developers also added a few improved sharing features, although they aren’t anything we haven’t been able to do through other channels thus far. Vine can now share any public post to both Twitter, and Facebook. As usual the update, which arrived this weekend on Google Play, also mentions the usual bug fixes and performance improvements. So you should be getting some faster load times and smoother usage out of the app. Time to start ReVining all those favorite clips. So, do you use Instagram or Vine? Let us know and then get the latest updated version below. VIA: Play Store | |
