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- AT&T Delivers Security Patch For Exynos Kernel Exploit On Galaxy Note II
- The Weather Channel app gets updated to bring new look to UI and more functionality
- Vic Gundotra: Nexus phones will have ‘insanely great’ cameras
- LG Optimus G Pro specs available, headed to North American markets
- Featured Android App Review: SayIt Voice Launcher [Productivity & Tools]
- Plume for DashClock officially available in the Play Store now
- More Galaxy S IV details emerge, confirm many rumors
- Google to open official retail stores in the U.S. by the end of 2013
| AT&T Delivers Security Patch For Exynos Kernel Exploit On Galaxy Note II Posted: 18 Feb 2013 10:43 AM PST An over the air software update is available for the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note II. The update, which became available February 15, serves as a security patch for the Exynos kernel exploit discovered in December. As with most OTA updates, the carrier recommends downloading via WiFi. Make sure you have plenty of battery power as well. There’s no easier way to brick a phone than by losing power mid software install. It will push the firmware version to I317UCAMA4 but leave Android on 4.1.2. Source: AT&T
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| The Weather Channel app gets updated to bring new look to UI and more functionality Posted: 18 Feb 2013 10:27 AM PST
The Weather Channel official app has just gotten an extensive update to give even more functionality and accuracy for those of us needing those precious weather forecasts. Users of the app will be treated to a sleeker and more modern UI, faster and better optimized maps and even the use of custom weather widgets for smartphones and tablets as well. Oh and even more awesome is the fact the app can now give users the exact time of any given weather pattern (i.e. rain starting around 3:15pm). So in other words— the Weather Channel app has moved from being a bland and clunky app to a modern and buttery smooth app that gives users something to look forward to using on a daily basis. The latest update is available now in the Play Store for all Froyo+ devices, so that means that most of you have no reason to not grab the improved app today.
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| Vic Gundotra: Nexus phones will have ‘insanely great’ cameras Posted: 18 Feb 2013 09:58 AM PST Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, is making news after a comment he made regarding the camera quality of Nexus devices. There’s no doubt that with each generation of Nexus device, special attention is paid to the camera and the quality of images and video it is capable of taking. An example of this is the implementation of Photo Sphere, which allows for a 360 degree panoramic image that was introduced with the latest Nexus smartphone, the Nexus 4.
Gundotra has been quoted with saying “we are committed to making Nexus phones insanely great cameras. Just you wait and see.” It’s interesting to note that Gundotra only mentioned phones and did not include other mobile devices, which is most likely due to a phone’s smaller form factor and portability. While many OEM’s use their own skinned versions of the camera application, Google seems to be committed to improving the stock camera with each generation. Only time will tell what these new improvements will hold but you can be sure that if Google continues its trend of improvements, only the best is yet to come. Here’s the transcript of the conversation via Google+ Source: Google+
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| LG Optimus G Pro specs available, headed to North American markets Posted: 18 Feb 2013 09:12 AM PST In advance of MWC 2013, LG has officially released the specifications for their new LG Optimus G Pro smartphone on their Korean site’s newsroom. LG had previously announced the availability of the device for the South Korean market and the specs are consistent with that model. LG is stepping up to a 5.5-inch display with the device, incorporating a curved glass design capable of displaying 400 ppi full 1080p HD. Running the device will be 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor mated with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. Besides a 3,140 mAh removable battery, the device will also accept up to a 64GB microSD card. For cameras LG has included a 13MP rear-facing camera and a 2.1MP front-facing camera that can record full HD video. In addition to the impressive hardware, LG promises improvements to the user interface running on top of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. One of these improvements is a “dual-recording” function that will squeezes the display for both the front and rear-facing cameras on the screen and will then record that dual-display to a single video. LG appears to have built upon Googles panorama photo function from Android 4.2 to create “VR Panorama” that apparently will mimic the photosphere effect. For those trying to capture video of moving objects, like kids or animals, a new Tracking Focus function should help with that. LG has also built-in some multi-tasking functions that take advantage of pop-up windows. The device will be available in black and white versions. In addition to the South Korean market where the device will be available for 968,000 won ($898 USD), LG says the device will be release in at least Japan and North American during the second quarter of 2013. source: LG
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| Featured Android App Review: SayIt Voice Launcher [Productivity & Tools] Posted: 18 Feb 2013 08:20 AM PST If you’re looking for something new and cool to launch apps, I have one for you. It’s called SayIt Voice Launcher, and it was developed by Rn Software. From the name of the app, you can probably tell that this involves your voice. SayIt Voice Launcher allows you to launch any app by just saying the app name, and it works flawlessly. Not only that, you don’t even have to say the exact name of the app. For example, you can say “file” for Astro File Manager. Of course you can say the full name if you want to. There are four ways you can launch the app: the icon on your home screen, one of the widgets, the notification panel, or via a lockscreen widget that’s only compatible with Android 4.2. One of the widgets resembles the Google Now widget. You can open the voice launcher or their own custom scrollable app drawer. It organizes the apps by how often you use them so if you don’t want to use voice because you’re in a public place, you can quickly find those apps that you regularly use. The second widget is vertical. The top of it gives you access to the voice launcher and it also displays your six most used apps. Need to open a different app? No problem because it’s scrollable so you can quickly find what you’re looking for in the event that you don’t want to use your voice for whatever reason. Of the two widgets, this one is my favorite.
The most convenient method to access the voice launcher has to be from the notification panel, which is accessible from any of your home screens. You will have to turn that option on because it’s not on by default. Just say “SayIt” in the Voice Launcher or open the app via the custom app drawer in the widget. The settings for the app will open and you can check or uncheck to make SayIt accessible (or not accessible) in your notifications panel. SayIt is a very simple app that just works, and those are two things that I love in apps. The only issue that could happen is if you have two apps with similar words in their names. For example, I have 3D Mini Golf and 3D Space Golf, and when saying the word “golf”, it opened 3D Mini Golf and didn’t give me a choice. In talking with the developers, they will probably add a pop up to allow you to choose which one to open. It’s a minor issue since I can just say “3D Space” or “3D Mini” to open the appropriate app. Voice assistant apps can be annoying especially when they don’t deliver as promised, but you don’t have to worry about that with this app. The only time SayIt Voice Launcher ever misses is when I speak too soon. It works right out of the gate, and I don’t think anyone is going to complain about that. It costs only 99-cents so give it a try. Check out my hands on video below and hit one of the download links to get started. Let us know what you think. Features:
      Click here to view the embedded video.
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| Plume for DashClock officially available in the Play Store now Posted: 17 Feb 2013 09:35 AM PST
Plume is no doubt one hell of a Twitter client for our Android devices, but the developers have just released one hell of a widget for its users as well. Based of the DashClock Widget extension, the new widget allows for users to have yet another means to check out the date, time and of course, what is happening in that oh-so important Twitter feed and all that good stuff. The great thing about this DashClock Widget extension is that it’s completely open-sourced—- meaning there is all sorts of goodies that’s just waiting to be toyed with. For now, the new widget extension is available for Android 4.2+ devices only, so if you’re on that version of Jelly Bean— head on down to the Play Store and grab it today— you’ll be glad you did.
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| More Galaxy S IV details emerge, confirm many rumors Posted: 17 Feb 2013 09:07 AM PST
We’ve seen plenty of Galaxy S IV rumors recently, from launch dates to hardware specs. According to some leaked documents, some of those speculations were spot on, while others missed the mark a bit. If the leak is accurate, though, it confirms much of what we’ve been expecting. The document states that the Galaxy S IV will feature an Exynos 5440 CPU, a powerful quad-core Cortex A15 chip. It isn’t the octa-core beast we saw at CES, but there’s no doubt it will surpass current generation CPUs in Samsung devices. Although, since we’ve seen some benchmarks with an S IV prototype equipped with a Qualcomm S4 Pro, there’s still some room for speculation. The S IV will also sport a 5 inch, 1080p display, as well as Android 4.2. Samsung likes to keep their flagship phones on the bleeding edge of technology, so no surprise there. And the most important question, of course, is when will the device be announced? Everyone’s been guessing March 15th, and it looks like that was spot on. Hopefully we’ll get a few more solid leaks like this before March rolls around, though. source: Icecream Sandwich Android Blog
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| Google to open official retail stores in the U.S. by the end of 2013 Posted: 17 Feb 2013 05:26 AM PST Recently we reported that Google was planning to open its retail headquarters in Dublin, and it seems Google is pulling all the stops to get its products into the hands of consumers. So much so that a report has surfaced claiming Google will have its own retail stores up and running by the end of 2013 just in time for the holiday season. Our sources says that the main products that will be featured in the retail stores are Google Nexus devices, Google Chromebooks and future devices that have yet to be released. As of today, Google has several in-store kiosks, called Chrome-Stores, featured in some Best Buy locations in the U.S. and several PC World stores in the UK.
Currently the most popular way of purchasing a product from Google is by way of online purchasing. A stand alone retail store might prove for greater customer service as well as an ease of mind for those leery about online purchasing. What do you guys think about Google’s possible retail stores? Let us know your feedback in the comments below. Source: 9to5Google
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