Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Google Android News Android Forums

Google Android News Android Forums

Google Play Music Brings Music Match Feature To The US

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 01:27 PM PST

You might be thinking, doesn’t Google Play Music already stream my own music back to me? Yes it does but now it does it in a way that has a few hidden bonuses. Not only does matching the music in your collection with music in Google’s library mean all of your music will be played back at 320 kbps, it also eliminates the need for the long upload process. As a guy who still has tracks ripped at 128 kbps, this makes me very happy.

Google launched Play Music, including the music match feature, last month in Europe. The free service has a 20,000 song max. If that’s not enough music for you, check out our guide to the best music streaming options out there.

Source: Google Play on Google+

Run Jelly Bean 4.2.1 on your Kindle Fire

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 11:45 AM PST

As mentioned in this space before, it never ceases to amaze what the developers over at XDA can cook up. One dev’s latest feat is actually getting Jelly Bean to run on the ‘outdated’ 512MB RAM equipped Amazon Kindle Fire. As with a lot of hacks, there are some features missing (at the time of this writing) such as Swype keyboard, USB camera support, and photo sync.

However, you do get the benefits of Google Now along with a straight port of basically the exact ROM being pushed to Nexus 7 and 10 users. The process itself is very much like flashing other ROMs on other devices, so those that are familiar with it will feel right at home. If you need to brush up on your rooting skills, you can check our guide and dictionary to assist. Click the source link below for the full list of instructions.

source:  XDA

Unofficial Samsung Galaxy S III WiFi roaming fix now available

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 10:16 AM PST

Owners of some Android devices, in particular the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Nexus, may have noticed a bug that causes their device to have trouble transitioning between different WiFi access points when access points overlap. XDA Forum member felixchris has put together a hack that addresses one of three possible ways the bug manifests itself. According to felixchris, the three ways that users may experience the bug include:

  • Bug version 1: when connected to an access point (e.g. SSID_A), as you move to the area covered by a second access point (e.g. SSID_B), the phone never releases from the first point even though the signal gets very weak and the higher strength SSID_B is available. This particular version of the budget can be verified by turning off WiFi, then turning it back on again, at which point the device should associate with the second access point.
  • Bug version 2: very similar to version 1, but even after restarting WiFi, the phone still insists on connecting to the first access point, SSID_A.
  • Bug version 3: when connected to the first access point, SSID_A, as you move to the second access point, the signal strength seems to increase as the device searches for a stronger access point, but then drops the connection and after a short hiatus, re-establishes the connection. The easiest way to observe this is by the disappearance of the WiFi icon and an interruption in the connection.

Bug version 3 is the one for which felixchris has created a workaround. The fix is confirmed to work on Samsung Galaxy i9300 models and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250. A couple different versions of the mod have been developed, one that requires a custom recovery and one that does not. However, both solutions require root access to the device.

If you are having trouble with your WiFi connection when moving between overlapping access points and you have one of the specified devices, you may want to give the fix a try by visiting the source link below. Just be sure to read the warnings and cautions related to rooting your device or flashing files.

source: XDA Forum WiFi Roaming Fix

AT&T 4G LTE Goes Live In Four More Cities

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 07:37 AM PST

Fast indeed just got a little faster for AT&T customers in four more cities across the U.S. LTE is now live in the following cities:

  • Tucson, AZ
  • Melbourne, FL
  • Springfield, MA
  • Green Bay, WI

Do you live in one of these areas or an area surrounding it? If so, let us know what kind of speeds you’re getting now that sweet LTE service is live in those areas.

Garmin’s Navigon Navigator App Gets Extensive Update

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 07:32 AM PST

 

Garmin’s Navigon Navigator app has just received an extensive update bringing even more functionality for its users. Right off the bat, Garmin has brought the ability to share your location with others using its Glympse technology. This means that no matter where you might be, users will always be able to share their locations with friends and family via a text message or email with a location link to a tracking map included. In addition, the Navigon app will include even deeper Foursquare integration, which eventually learns your check-in behavior and even offers suggestions of places to visit and check into.

While the Navigon app has been revamped to include more features, Garmin is also getting into the holiday spirit by offering a price reduction of the app. Garmin will be offering the Navigon app for 25% off its normal price— so this means you can grab the app for $39.95, instead of $49.95. Not too bad of a deal, right?

You’ll find the complete presser as well as the Play Store link once you hit the break.

 

Garmin Smartphone Apps Combine Navigationwith Location-Sharing: Update Adds Glympse and Foursquare Integration

Today we’re releasing an update for our smartphone navigation apps that makes it easier for you to stay connected while on the road and to discover new places. The integration of location-sharing service Glympse allows you to easily share your location with friends and family, so they always know where you are. To help you discover new places, Garmin’s apps now also integrate Foursquare locations and special deals. Additionally, you can also check into venues on Foursquare upon arrival – right from your Garmin app. The new features are available through a free update via the App Store and Google Play for the Garmin StreetPilot®Onboard iPhone® app as well as for the NAVIGON® iOS andAndroid® apps. Just in time for the holiday travel season, Garmin offers these apps for 25 percent off until January 7,2013.

Share Your Location and Arrival Time with Glympse

The new StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON app versions integrate Glympse directly into the mapping and navigation feature set. Users simply click on the Glympse icon in the sidebar, select any recipient from their address book, and then choose for how long to share their location – from a few minutes to a few hours. The selected recipients will receive either a text or email message with a link to a Glympse tracking map, where they can see the sender’s current location, arrival time and speed. This feature is a great tool to help you meet up with friends or family, so they know where you are and when you will arrive.

Find Locations and Deals with Foursquare

The integration of Foursquare features allows you to easily search for locations, trending venues and special deals within the Garmin apps. This makes it easy to discover new places and directly navigate there with just a few clicks. If you link your Foursquare account, you’ll also be able to easily check into venues and view personalized POI suggestions based on your check-in behavior.

iCloud Support for iOS

Garmin StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON for iOS now also support iCloud, allowing you to synchronize your favorite destinations across multiple iOS devices.

Holiday Price ReductionsJust in time for holiday travel season, we’re reducing the prices of our navigation apps by 25 percent until January 7, 2013. Here’s an overview of the reduced prices:

StreetPilot Onboard iPhone USA: $39.99 instead of $49.99

StreetPilot Onboard iPhone North America: $44.99 instead of $59.99

NAVIGON iOS USA: $39.99 instead of $49.99

NAVIGON iOS North America: $44.99 instead of $59.99

NAVIGON iOS MyRegion: $22.99 instead of $29.99

NAVIGON Android USA: $39.95 instead of $49.95

NAVIGON Android North America: $44.95 instead of $59.95

Garmin’s StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON apps provide premium turn-by-turn navigation for smartphones, helping drivers find their way andsafe time and money. Features include onboard maps, lane guidance, speed limit warnings, real-time traffic and public transit routing, among many others.Today we’re releasing an update for our smartphone navigation apps that makes it easier for you to stay connected while on the road and to discover new places. The integration of location-sharing service Glympse allows you to easily share your location with friends and family, so they always know where you are. To help you discover new places, Garmin’s apps now also integrate Foursquare locations and special deals. Additionally, you can also check into venues on Foursquare upon arrival – right from your Garmin app. The new features are available through a free update via the App Store and Google Play for the Garmin StreetPilot®Onboard iPhone® app as well as for the NAVIGON® iOS and Android® apps. Just in time for the holiday travel season, Garmin offers these apps for 25 percent off until January 7,2013.

Share Your Location and Arrival Time with Glympse
The new StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON app versions integrate Glympse directly into the mapping and navigation feature set. Users simply click on the Glympse icon in the sidebar, select any recipient from their address book, and then choose for how long to share their location – from a few minutes to a few hours. The selected recipients will receive either a text or email message with a link to a Glympse tracking map, where they can see the sender’s current location, arrival time and speed. This feature is a great tool to help you meet up with friends or family, so they know where you are and when you will arrive.
Find Locations and Deals with Foursquare
The integration of Foursquare features allows you to easily search for locations, trending venues and special deals within the Garmin apps. This makes it easy to discover new places and directly navigate there with just a few clicks. If you link your Foursquare account, you’ll also be able to easily check into venues and view personalized POI suggestions based on your check-in behavior.
iCloud Support for iOS
Garmin StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON for iOS now also support iCloud, allowing you to synchronize your favorite destinations across multiple iOS devices.
Holiday Price Reductions
Just in time for holiday travel season, we’re reducing the prices of our navigation apps by 25 percent until January 7, 2013. Here’s an overview of the reduced prices:
StreetPilot Onboard iPhone USA: $39.99 instead of $49.99
StreetPilot Onboard iPhone North America: $44.99 instead of $59.99
NAVIGON iOS USA: $39.99 instead of $49.99
NAVIGON iOS North America: $44.99 instead of $59.99
NAVIGON iOS MyRegion: $22.99 instead of $29.99
NAVIGON Android USA: $39.95 instead of $49.95
NAVIGON Android North America: $44.95 instead of $59.95
Garmin’s StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON apps provide premium turn-by-turn navigation for smartphones, helping drivers find their way andsafe time and money. Features include onboard maps, lane guidance, speed limit warnings, real-time traffic and public transit routing, among many others.

 

Play Store Download Link

Polaroid jumping on Android camera bandwagon, interchangeable lens featured

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 07:24 AM PST

By now you’ve most likely heard of the Samsung Galaxy Android Camera. In keeping with the Android Camera spirit, Polaroid is getting in on the action it would seem. This latest leaked information reveals a mirrorless, interchangable-lens camera powered by Android 4.0. The camera will sport a 3.5-inch touchscreen, an 18.1 megapixel sensor, a pop-up flash, built-in Wi-Fi, a microSD card slot, HDMI outputs, and HD video recording. We’ll have to keep an eye out for any further news regarding this newest player in the Android camera segment. Let’s just hope they get the price right.

source:  The Verge

Apple denied request to permanently ban 26 Samsung devices

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 07:04 AM PST

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a little bad blood between Apple and Samsung. On this episode of ‘As the Smartphone World Turns,’ Apple attempts to permanently ban the sale of 26 Samsung devices in the U.S. However, a judge denied this latest attempt of Apple to derail Samsung.

Judge Lucy Koh, who has presided over the entire trial, ruled that any infringing features on Samsung’s devices are just part of a larger feature set, and wouldn’t fit into the broad ban that Apple was seeking. She added that it ‘wouldn’t be equitable’ to deprive Samsung consumers of the infringing devices when only ‘limited features’ have been infringed upon.

It would also seem that Samsung has already been punished for the infringements and that Apple is just finding ways to keep their lawyers busy these days. I’m no lawyer, but it may have been helpful to request the ban back in August. When will it stop, Apple?

 

source:  CNET

NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 Chip Outed, Looks To Bring Even More Quad-Core Goodness

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 06:34 AM PST

 

We know that NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 chip is one hell of a processor, but what about it’s successor? We already know that NVIDIA plans on bringing in even more speed, but now it appears that we may likely see even more speed that ever before. According to Chinese website Chip Hell, the new Tegra chip will have a 28-nanometer part featuring “4-plus-1″ quad core architecture with a fifth battery saver core that will likely be based off ARM’s Cortex-A15 infrastructure. In addition, the imminent chip will be powered by a brand new 72-core GeForce GPU which should offer 20x the performance of the Tegra 2 and 6x that of the Tegra 3. Adding to this is the fact that the new chip will be capable of handling up to a 2,560 x 1600 resolution display at full 1080p and 4K support.

As exciting as the new chipset is going to be, we can only hope that we see more support for the upcoming chips that we’ve seen in years past. There are no further details for now, though rumor has it that we can possibly see a formal announcement of the new technology as early as CES 2013.

source: ZDNet

The Unofficial Sony “Yuga” Smartphone Gets Detailed Preview, Confirms Everything We Thought Previously About The Device

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 05:51 AM PST

 

Another day, another tidbit of news regarding the suddenly not-so-secret Sony “Yuga” smartphone. After seeing some teaser photos of the superphone yesterday, we are now treated to a an actual preview of the device, complete with all the spec details you can handle. Thanks to our friends at Mobile Reviews, we now know the “Yuga” will come fully loaded with a 5-inch 1080p display, quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip, 2 gigs of RAM, a microSD card slot, LTE and 12MP camera. In addition to the premium hardware features, the smartphone will come preloaded with Android 4.1 and Sony’s custom UI slapped on top.

So now that the cat is just about out of the bag, it’s just a matter of time before Sony comes out and gives up the deets. Q1 2013 can’t come here soon enough!

source: Mobile Reviews

Samsung announces the Galaxy Grand; Essentially a 5″ Galaxy S II in a slightly smaller Note 2 body

Posted: 18 Dec 2012 12:08 AM PST

In the wee hours of the morning (EST), Samsung has announced their next Galaxy device, the Galaxy Grand. With the looks of a Galaxy Note 2 and the internals of a Galaxy S II, the device will most likely be dubbed as a ‘mid-ranger.’ At 5″, I thought at first that this would be an awesome device that hits that ‘sweet spot’ when it comes to screen sizes. As I read on, I was disappointed to see the resolution at 800×480, especially for a display that huge. Here’s a list of it’s specs:

  • 1.2GHz dual-core processor
  • 5″ 800×480 TFT LCD display
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB storage (expandable to 64GB via microSD
  • 2,100 mAh battery
  • HSPA+
  • Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean
  • Single- or dual-SIM models

Basically a re-hashed S II in a slightly smaller Note 2 body right? No word yet on the availability or if it’ll ever make its way to US shores. More info and Samsung’s press release after the break!

Samsung GALAXY Grand runs Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), Google's latest operating system. Its vivid 5.0'' display provides an expansive viewing experience, presenting messaging, multimedia and Web content in brilliant color and clarity. Even with the large screen, the phone is still slim, ergonomic and comfortable to hold. You can also enjoy true multitasking running multiple apps simultaneously and without switching screens using Multi Window feature.

 

GALAXY Grand with an impressive 1.2 GHz Dual Core processor supports seamless multitasking, faster web browsing, lightning-fast screen transitions and superior graphics for some of the most demanding apps and games.

 

The GALAXY Grand sports a powerful camera with zero shutter-lag and ultra-quick camera start-up. It includes a backside illumination sensor to ensure clear shots even in dark conditions, as well as Full HD video recording.

 

Samsung GALAXY Grand also includes intuitive features that make the phone easy to use. For example, Direct Callenables users to automatically dial a call by raising the device up to the ear; while users can also shake the phone to trigger status updates, or pan it to zoom into a screen. Smart Alert shows missed events such as missed calls and new messages just by picking up the phone. Popup Video, for example, lets users watch video in a pop-up window anywhere on the screen while running other tasks; S Voice lets you control the phone using your voice; and AllShare Play lets you share content across Samsung devices using a single account.

 

The phone is pre-loaded with the latest versions of Samsung Hubs to deliver the most popular games, movies and music direct to the user on demand.

 

The GALAXY Grand will be available in two versions – The Dual SIM version (GT-I9082) will launch first and the single SIM version (GT-I9080) will follow. For the dual SIM version, its innovative dual SIM feature provides total communication flexibility, allowing users to manage two phone numbers from a single phone. It is possible to receive calls on one SIM number while taking a call from the other, ensuring efficient management of personal and work commitments without ever missing a call. Dual SIM also offers the flexibility of selecting different billing plans for either SIM, switching between them to make the most of cheaper call and data plans.
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