Saturday, February 2, 2013

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Google Android News Android Forums

M7 highlighted by HTC’s Chou at company event

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 01:41 PM PST

HTC CEO Peter Chou has done his bit to added to the HTC M7 fever that continues to ratchet up in advance of an HTC event scheduled for later this month. At a year end celebration held by HTC, Chou got on stage and whipped out the new phone to take a picture of the crowd while playfully mentioning it was “a great opportunity for testing.” Chou also congratulated the M7 team for putting in extra work to wrap things up so production could start. He also touched on some of the challenges of the past year for HTC, which has seen its financial performance nosedive. However, Chou thinks HTC can rebound, let by the M7. Hit the source links for video of Chou with the forthcoming HTC M7.

source: NextTV, cnYES

via: Engadget

CyanogenMod Takes Down Chronus Clock Widget Because Of Trademarked Name, Wants People On Facebook To Make Up A New Name Instead

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 11:43 AM PST

 

CyanogenMod recently introduced an awesome new Chronus clock widget that was certainly welcome with open arms. But just as quickly as the clock widget was introduced, Chronus was taken down thanks to a friendly cease & desist letter from those who have the “Cronus” name trademarked. What this means is that the CM team just wanted to avoid any costly and unnecessary trouble by getting into a legal battle, so it took the entire clock widget down… despite the clock being unique in design compared to the general design of “Cronus”.

So while the widget is down for now— fear not gang: all the CM team needs to do is simply rename the app and it should be available again without issue. In order to rename the app, it has gone out to its Facebook page and ask you the people to do the dirty work and come up with an awesome replacement name. Hopefully the CM team will have this done sooner than later.

source: CM Facebook

HD Widgets releases new app to test widget themes

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 11:29 AM PST

Fans of popular widget app HD Widgets from cloud.tv may want to check out a new app that was released today to the Google Play Store. Developers are testing a new theme for HD Widgets and this new test packet, HDW: Colourform Test pack, gives actual users the ability to serve as beta testers. You do have to have HD Widgets installed, available from the Google Play Store for $1.99, in order to make use of this pack. cloud.tv indicates the following widgets are available with this pack:

  • one 1×1 widget
  • three 4×1 widgets
  • one 4×2 widget
  • two 6×2 widgets (intended for tablet devices)

cloud.tv has included some new features in this pack like Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean styles; full color ranges; background opacity, tiles and textures that can be set; new dynamic settings (also called switches); and some new Roboto fonts.

To grab the test pack, use one of the download links below. If you don’t have HD Widgets already, we have included links for that as well if you’d like to give it a try.

hd_widgets_colorfourm_test_pack_01 hd_widgets_colorfourm_test_pack_02 hd_widgets_colorfourm_test_pack_03 hd_widgets_colorfourm_test_pack_04 hd_widgets_test_them_app_banner

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HDW: Colourform Test pack Download Link

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HD Widgets Download Link

Google Glass Explorer Edition passes through the FCC

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 09:03 AM PST

At last year’s Google I/O, it was promised that Google Glass beta versions would be available early this year. Those of you that signed up for one might get a nice box in the mail very shortly because the Google Glass Explorer Edition passed through the FCC. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot to go on, but we know it has a Broadcom 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g WiFi radio and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE. There is also a reference to an “integral vibrating element that provides audio to the user via contact with the user’s head.” This probably has something to do with the bone conduction patent we wrote about last week.

I still wouldn’t expect full blow consumer friendly versions to be available until 2014, but I’m sure Google Glass will make another spectacular appearance at this year’s Google I/O.

source: FCC
via: Engadget

 

HTC will launch two additional phones soon after the M7

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 08:32 AM PST

You didn’t think the M7 would be the only phone HTC would offer this year did you? We just got word on two more phones, codenamed M4 and G2. We probably won’t see these guys at the launch events on February 19, but they should hit stores this spring.

The M4 is going to sit just below the M7, much like the One S was to the One X. It will feature a 4.3-inch 720p display, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 13MP rear camera with f/2.0 lens, 1.6MP front camera, and a 1700mAh battery.

The G2 shouldn’t be mistaken for the original HTC phone. Again this is a codename. It will be an entry-level device and feature a 3.5-inch HVGA (480 x 320) display, 1.0GHz ARM Cortex, 512MB of RAM, 4G of storage, microSD slot, 5MP rear camera, and 1400mAh. It won’t even come with Jelly Bean and instead come with Ice Cream Sandwich.

I would think we would see these phones at Mobile World Congress, but the source says no. We will have to wait and see.

source: unwiredview

 

Benchmarks For The Samsung GT-P3200 Tablet Surface, Brings Us One Step Closer To Possibly Seeing The Galaxy Tab 3 In All Its Glory

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 06:43 AM PST

 

It certainly appears that Sammy is pulling no stops when it comes the developing some sweet tablets for 2013. We are already aware of the Galaxy Note 8.0 that’s on the way, but a leaked GLBenchmark has recently surfaced indicating yet another beast is currently in the works. If you recall, we recently told you about Sammy’s plans on bringing some new additions to the Galaxy Tab family— and we now have a nifty little benchmark which helps to prove what we’d heard before. According to the screenshot you see above, the device is currently codenamed “Santos” and has a model number of GT-P3200. In addition, the device features the latest build of Jelly Bean (Android 4.2.1), has a 1,200 x 800 resolution and has a peak frequency of something around 1.5GHz.

Additional details are scarce for now, but it’s probably a safe bet to assume that we’re getting our first glimpse of what could possibly be the Galaxy Tab 3 tablet. But then again— it could be something else entirely different. Nevertheless, we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open of this mysterious little toy that Sammy has in development.

source: GLBenchmark

Sony Xperia Z Smartphone Is Officially Up For Pre-Order In The UK

Posted: 01 Feb 2013 06:24 AM PST

 

Those of you living in the UK are one step closer to getting the Sony Xperia Z smartphone in their hands. At the time of this writing, the smartphone is now available for pre-order through O2, Three UK, Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse. Pricing for the device will vary by the retailer and carrier, so you’ll need to hit past the break in order to get all the juicy deets.

 

Three UK

  • The device will be available in both black and white colors
  • Prices start at £34/month on-contract, with an additional £69 upfront fee

 

O2 UK

  • The device will be available in both black and purple colors
  • O2 will be offering various tariffs and plans starting with a free Xperia Z that is £47 per month on-contract

 

Carphone Warehouse

  • Device will be available in both black and white colors
  • Device will be offered on 2-year contracts with O2 and Vodafone between £33 and £38 per month

 

Phones4U

  • Registration page is officially up

 

source: Phones4U | Carphone Warehouse | O2 UK | Three UK
via: Android Central

Android Apps Will Make Up A Substantial Portion Of Blackberry 10 Apps

Posted: 31 Jan 2013 10:44 PM PST

RIM Blackberry, formerly known as Research In Motion, has said its two new Blackberry 10 devices, the Z10 and QWERTY-equipped Q10, will launch with 70,000 to 100,000 apps. BlackBerry vice president Martyn Mallick said 40% of those would actually be ported Android apps. Developers will be able to use the BlackBerry 10 SDK to “wrap” Android code into something the new BB10 OS can use. The SDK also transforms menu and back buttons into Blackberry-specific gestures.

Ported apps can also use a menu overlay as in the example below. By all reports these apps are working smoothly and the interface tweaks are doing the job, although often with clunky results. Blackberry is surely hoping the Android apps act as a crutch until its app store, Blackberry World, can get up to speed with plenty of solid native apps. Blackberry has a bounty program to help spur app development. The program, for which these ported apps are not eligible, promises $10,000 in revenue for native apps for the first year.

Much like Palm did, Blackberry will focus on getting developers of top mobile apps on board. Mallick said Blackberry is targeting the top 100 to 200 most used apps. He said, “There are three components to it. One is the statistical analysis – month by month, who are the top downloads on competing platforms. The second one is looking at ComScore data to say, what are the brands and services that are getting attention? The third is what I call gut feel: they live in these markets, and can say hey, we know what we see.“

Source: PC Mag

Judge denies Apple’s appeal against Samsung for sales ban on the Galaxy Nexus

Posted: 31 Jan 2013 09:49 PM PST

Apple initially filed a request with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in October asking the panel to revisit the rejected sales ban that was briefly placed on the Galaxy Nexus last year. Today the court has officially ruled on the matter, rejecting the Cupertino company’s request for an injunction. The reasoning behind the decision remains unclear as the court failed to include any sort of detailed documentation with the ruling.

Of course, this news means Samsung will be able to continue selling the Galaxy Nexus both independently and through retailers like Verizon and Sprint in the US. It is still legally possible for Apple to pursue its appeal process through the U.S. Supreme Court, though the case would unlikely be heard considering the high court’s unfriendly stance on patent cases.

For now it looks like we’ll have to wait until March of 2014 for round two of Apple v. Samsung which is when the next major trial is slated to begin.

Source: Reuters

Samsung buys up 5% of Wacom to back up the stylus fad

Posted: 31 Jan 2013 07:35 PM PST

Personally, I think the stylus is awesome. Fortunately for those of you that agree with me, Samsung thinks so, too. And considering the amount of marketing power Samsung has invested in their Note brand, it’s pretty easy to see why they just bought 5% of Wacom, the manufacturer of the Note’s S-Pen. That 5% turned out to be around 58 million dollars, which is pocket change for Samsung, but it’s clear that Samsung is intending to evolve the stylus into a pretty large part of their smartphone and tablet lineup. Hit the source below to read up on Wacom’s side of the story.

source: Wacom
Posted by at 6:48 AM

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