Android Community |
- Android 4.3 Jelly Bean release date pegged for July
- Sony Xperia i1 ‘Honami’ photos appear with possible July 4 launch
- Songza launches an advertising-free ‘Club’ subscription option
- T-Mobile acquires US Cellular AWS Spectrum to further expand LTE reach
- BlueStacks GamePop Mini unveiled as the “forever free” edition
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom UK launch expected early next month
- Gmail update brings return of the delete button
- Huawei Ascend P6 Google Edition a “possibility”
- Android 4.3 caught in the wild on Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition [Update: Download it!]
- Vine gets yet another update and adds front-facing camera perks
- Steve Wozniak talks Google Glass, Now, and Samsung in latest interview
- Google tipped to be building a game console and Nexus smartwatch
- Google opens Street View Trekker camera loan program
- DuckDuckGo private search engine app sneaks into the Play Store
- Facebook Beta for Android promises a better, faster app
- Google expands BYOD management for Android devices
- Xbox games will not be coming to Android, says studio head
- TrickDroid 1.0.0 Google Edition ROM launches for the HTC One
- FingerQ case rocks a built-in fingerprint scanner
| Android 4.3 Jelly Bean release date pegged for July Posted: 28 Jun 2013 10:54 AM PDT This morning we’ve been hearing quite a bit about Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Especially now that it has leaked in the wild for the Galaxy S 4 Google Play Edition smartphone. After all those rumors yesterday of updates not coming in a timely fashion, we now see the Play Edition phones possibly getting the latest and greatest from Google first. Imagine that.
Insider sources over at SamMobile, which are likely the same sourced that provided them with the leaked build of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, have stated the update right from Google is pegged for sometime in July. After a no-show at Google I/O this year rumors were swirling about a June 20th release date, which never happened, and now we have this. For those wondering, Android 4.3 is mainly behind-the-scenes updates and changes. We could have a few UI enhancements or additions, but so far nothing is being revealed in these leaks today. However there is a lot of new Bluetooth low energy things on board, but the details are still quite light at the moment. The leakster confirms that Android 4.3 Jelly Bean will be arriving for the GPe phones in July, which means we’ll likely see it even sooner for the true Nexus family. So with that, we’re left wondering if we’ll see the update roll out for Nexus devices starting as soon as next week. At the moment anything is possible, but 4.3 is out and in the wild, only a minor software bump, and should be arriving soon. Now we’ll have to start looking forward to October, where rumors have Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie finally making the rounds. Who’s excited? VIA: SamMobile |
| Sony Xperia i1 ‘Honami’ photos appear with possible July 4 launch Posted: 28 Jun 2013 10:06 AM PDT Lately we’ve been paying a lot of attention on Sony‘s new 6.3-inch Xperia Z Ultra phablet that they announced earlier this week, but we’d like to go back to rumors about the Honami. We’ve mentioned the Sony Xperia i1 before (codenamed Honami) as a true imaging device with a 20 megapixel camera, and now a few more pictures of the device have leaked into the wild. Take a peek at the new device below.
Back in May the full spec list was leaked, if the details were accurate, and now we’re getting another glance at the flagship phone which is set to replace their current top-tier Xperia Z smartphone. We’ll be enjoying the same 5-inch display with a full 1080p resolution, but this time around Sony will finally offer high end specs under the hood. Instead of a processor from last year, like most of their devices. It seems that Sony is finally ready to step up to the plate and offer absolute top-tier smartphones with the latest and greatest specs, throughout. Previous devices have all arrived with processors slightly under-powered when compared to the competition, but not with the i1 Honami. Here’s the rumors specs once more for good measure.
Getting the Snapdragon 800 quad-core under the hood, along with a massive 20 MP camera this phone sounds rather impressive. We’re also hearing, according to latest leaks, it will have the latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean when announced on July 4th. Although that date hasn’t been confirmed, we’ll all know soon enough once the date approaches. Bring this to a US carrier like Verizon or AT&T and we’d be sold. If the rumors are accurate we’ll be learning a lot more on this new phone soon.    VIA: Unwired View |
| Songza launches an advertising-free ‘Club’ subscription option Posted: 28 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT Songza is touted as a service that “plays you the right music at the right time.” The service offers curated playlists based on everything from your current activity to genre, decade and mood and does so for free. In return for offering a free service, Sonza does mix in some advertisements and also limits how many tracks you are able to skip. Well, as of today a new subscription option has been announced.
This is called Club Songza and it it priced at just $0.99 per week which means you would be looking at about $4 per month. This club subscription brings a few perks dealing with those skips and advertisements. Basically, Club Songza will provide users with twice as many skips (as compared to a free account) and perhaps more important for some — it will be an advertising-free experience. Also worth noting, moving forward Songza has some new plans for those choosing to stick with a free account. These accounts will begin seeing new types of ads. According to the details provided on the Songza website, these advertisements will be coming before your playlist begins. This may sound annoying at first, but there is a perk on the other side in the form of a 24-hour period without any additional ads.
Diving in a bit deeper with these advertisements. As annoying as some may think they are, that seems to be a small price to pay for a free service. The folks at Songza touched a bit more on the topic and have said the goal is to “turn the minutes of advertising per hour that other services (and FM radio) have into mere seconds of advertising per day on Songza.” In that respect, dealing with an interruption every 24 hours seems like a good trade-off. It will be interesting to see how many users are going to subscribe first, or if they will be trying out the free option for a while. Speaking personally, paying a buck a week to remove all advertising sounds like a winning deal. Then again, this is coming from someone that has been paying for a subscription music service for years now. SOURCE: Songza Blog |
| T-Mobile acquires US Cellular AWS Spectrum to further expand LTE reach Posted: 28 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT T-Mobile is currently in the process of acquiring 10MHz of AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum from US Cellular. This is said to be a cash deal for $308 million and it will help T-Mobile further expand the reach of their 4G LTE network. This acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2013 and the spectrum covers some of the Mississippi Valley Region.
Specifically, the spectrum includes coverage for 32 million people across 29 markets. These markets include parts of St. Louis, Nashville, Kansas City, Memphis, Lexington, Little Rock-North Little Rock, Birmingham, New Orleans and Louisville. It was said this will allow for an “incremental” rollout of additional 4G LTE coverage. Looking back to the bit about this acquisition expecting to close during Q4 2013, that of course is based on approval from several organizations including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice. While this purchase may look like a small piece of spectrum, it seems to be all about getting any bit of additional spectrum possible. John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile spoke briefly on this topic noting that "in today's marketplace, spectrum is gold." Legere also went on to talk about how “this is a rare opportunity to secure precious AWS spectrum in key markets that will immediately be put to use by both T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers.” Otherwise, while this expansion was discussed as being incremental, Legere also touched on that by saying how this acquisition will do a few things. According to Legere, this acquisition will allow for a “broader” 4G LTE rollout that will being an “even faster and more reliable 4G experience for our customers” Not to mention, it is also expected to further spur the competition in the wireless marketplace. SOURCE: T-Mobile |
| BlueStacks GamePop Mini unveiled as the “forever free” edition Posted: 28 Jun 2013 08:22 AM PDT BlueStacks announced the GamePop console back in early-May and while we have yet to see that model make its way in the hands of the public, it looks like a second model has been unveiled. This new model is the GamePop Mini and BlueStacks will have it available for free. Well, free for those who are willing to pay for an annual subscription (at $7 per month).
We suspect the introduction of this GamePop Mini console will bring a bit of confusion, however the folks at BlueStacks have said they had “always planned on having a free console option” given the “biggest value of the GamePop service is its content – not the box.” With that in mind, the original GamePop can still be picked up for free through the end of the month. After the month of June ends the original GamePop console will be priced at $129. And just for the record, both the original GamePop and the GamePop Mini will require the user to pay the $7 per month subscription fee. For that monthly fee users will have access to play what they want when they want without worry of buying games individually. BlueStacks is said to have 500 mobile game partners, some of which include HalfBrick, Glu and Intellijoy. Details coming from this latest announcement show this subscription as being able to offer “access to over $200 in paid games for free.” Pre-orders for the original GamePop system are said to have been “stronger than expected.” For now the special pre-order offer for the original GamePop will close out on June 30th. Following that, pre-orders for the GamePop Mini will begin on July 1st. The GamePop Mini is then expected to begin shipping this winter. |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom UK launch expected early next month Posted: 28 Jun 2013 07:57 AM PDT Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 Zoom earlier in the month and they had it on display during the Premiere event that took place on June 20th. While those two mentions were enough to learn the specs and details, there was still the bit about how much the Zoom would cost and when it would be available for purchase. Well, we have yet to hear anything direct from Samsung but it does look like UK retailer Clove has some information.
The retailer has recently begun accepting pre-orders for the handset. They have it priced at £369.00 (£442.80 with VAT being included) and are currently showing an availability timeframe of the first week of July. There hasn’t been an exact date given, however the pre-order page is showing the inventory is set to arrive during the “week commencing July 8th.” Of course, as with pre-orders of this type that date is subject to change. The good part here is that (based on previous experience) Clove is generally good about providing shipping estimates. The model that is available is white and with 8GB of internal storage. Aside from the internal storage, which is actually 5GB of user-accessible storage, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with a 4.3-inch display, a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera and a 16 megapixel rear-facing camera. The camera is the big highlight here, but an important aspect to remember is this is still a full featured phone with a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 2330 mAh battery, microSD card slot and more. As for the camera, Samsung has included something they call the Zoom Ring. This is a control that sits on the outer portion of the lens and brings easy access to features. For example, the Zoom Ring can be used to activate the Quick Launch and shortcut features that launch you into the camera interface and it can also be used to send an image while on an active phone call. SOURCE: Clove |
| Gmail update brings return of the delete button Posted: 28 Jun 2013 07:19 AM PDT Google updated the Gmail app earlier in the month and well, that update caused issues for some users. Most notably, Google made some switches in the way things looked and the way you handle messages that didn’t go over well with everyone. The two big issues seemed to circle around the sender images and the delete button. Or in this case, the lack of a delete button.
Anyway, while the delete button was easy enough to add back, it looks like Google has responded to feedback and has returned it as a default action. This change comes with the most recent Gmail for Android app update, which just recently made its way into the Play Store. Moving forward, users will now see a delete button (along side the archive button) when viewing an individual message. This can also still be changed in the settings if you had gotten used to not having the delete button showing by default. Otherwise, this update also brought some bug fixes as well as a change dealing with multiple email selection. This latest Gmail update added the ability to tap sender images to select multiple email messages. This is done in the conversation view and is dependent on whether or not you kept those sender images around after the last update. Assuming you left them in place, you can now select multiple messages with a single tap (on each of the sender images you want included). Bottom line here, this latest Gmail update keeps the sender images and has returned the delete button as a standard action. Those looking to make changes can do so by heading into the settings and looking for the “Archive & delete actions” and/or the “Sender image” options. From this point it is just a few simple taps to have things set to your personal preference. SOURCE: Google+ (Android), Google Play Store |
| Huawei Ascend P6 Google Edition a “possibility” Posted: 28 Jun 2013 06:41 AM PDT The HTC and Samsung Google Edition handsets arrived in the Play Store earlier in the week and while there has been rumors of similar handsets from other manufacturers, it now looks as if there may be one coming from Huawei. There has yet to be an official announcement, however Kevin Ho, the president of the handset product division at Huawei has recently been talking about the device.
According to statements from Ho, Huawei is “working with Google to analyze the possibility” of releasing a Google Edition of the Ascend P6. There wasn’t much else said aside from this being a possibility. Of course, this goes against what Richard Yu had said when the company launched the Ascend P6. The handset was launched a short while back at a London event and at the time Yu commented about how the Emotion UI was better as compared to a stock Android experience. At the time Yu spoke about how the Emotion UI was more in touch with the “emotions” of the user and about how it brought “hundreds of improvements” that a stock Android experience doesn’t offer. Aside from a disconnect between Kevin Ho and Richard Yu on this topic, we suspect that even if Huawei is considering such as device — they are watching to see how well the GALAXY S 4 and HTC One Google Edition handsets are selling. Granted, Huawei will not see any sales figures for these devices, but they could be watching the chatter on social sites in an effort to judge demand. Otherwise, while the Ascend P6 Google Edition seems like it may be a possibility, there has also been rumors of similar handsets coming from Sony and Motorola. And then there was the talk from OPPO, which came in the form of a question they had posed directly to users on Facebook. SOURCE: Pocket-lint |
| Android 4.3 caught in the wild on Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition [Update: Download it!] Posted: 28 Jun 2013 03:55 AM PDT After the successful launch of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Editions, news about a new version of Android 4.3 has trickled in. There are screenshots doing the rounds that show an alleged Samsung Galaxy S4 Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505), which is powered by Snapdragon, running on an early edition of Android 4.3.
The screenshot of the platform in the 'About phone' page clearly shows that a test build was being run, as well as the identity of the Google Play Edition Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505G) device. Rumors are rife that the new Android version should be out next month, which is not too much of a wait. If Samsung was trying it out, does it mean that HTC too has access to version 4.3? Softpedia would like us to belive so, since HTC has its own Google Edition HTC One and would like to keep everything streamlined for future updates. According to the screenshots provided by SamMobile, , the Android version is 4.3 and the build number is "JWR66N.S005.130625". The prefix "JWR66N," is the Android build number, while the suffix "S005.130625″ is what Samsung has added to keep a track for the internal tests that it is conducting. Early access to the software only means that we get quick software updates and less Android fragmentation. If we trace back the rumors of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS, then the trail leads us to the time when it was rumored to have been spotted on a new Nexus tablet, presumed to be the refreshed Nexus 7. The new versions of HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 will ship running Android 4.2.2, dating back several months, so a next-gen version is very much due. Hopefully Android fans will not have to wait longer than July. Update: SamMobile now has a download of Android 4.3 that, though an early build, is described as “fully functional” |
| Vine gets yet another update and adds front-facing camera perks Posted: 28 Jun 2013 02:36 AM PDT With Facebook updating its Instagram acquisition with video features, it comes as no surprise that Twitter is upping its Vine Android App with new features that the social community wants. Vine 1.2.0 now features updates like front-facing camera support and a new upload manager for unsubmitted posts.
The bigger picture in the entire update has to be the front-facing camera support. There are two possible outcomes that I can think of; one is the flexibility of using the front camera of the phone. This of course is a given advantage. The other is the possibility of creating personal blog-videos that can be easily shared. As before, users can loop in six-second long videos and share them instantly on Facebook and Twitter. You can even find and follow or interact with people who are close to you. Twitter gave us the benefit of hashtags searches and the trend continues here. Trending posts, featured hashtags and editor’s picks are all included for those who wish to get in deep with Vine. I can very well see this app coming as a handy tool for both regular folks and publishers, who could use it for instant sharing of information from conventions and exhibitions. Improvement to settings and bug fixes hopefully translates to better stability, particularly on uploads, since some users complained of bugs like a failure to upload their videos with the “tap to upload” dialog refusing to disappear. So far the response to the new version has been slow but it will be hard to not warm up to Vine. Given that Instragram Videos is the only other serious competition to this app, life looks to be getting good. Other updates include: Improvements to camera loading time and support for more devices, Speed improvements overall and Bug fixes and UI improvements. The current rating for the app stands at 2.9 or 3 stars. |
| Steve Wozniak talks Google Glass, Now, and Samsung in latest interview Posted: 27 Jun 2013 04:36 PM PDT Steve Wozniak needs no introduction as the co-founder of Apple, and recently our sister site SlashGear had a moment to quickly interview “the Woz”. There’s no denying his genius, and we’ve covered many comments from Wozniak in the past. While talking about cars at a Ford conference in Michigan, Google Glass, Google Now, Samsung S-Beam and even Apple’s Airdrop all came up. It’s an interesting interview and we had a few snippets we wanted to share.
The Ford Trend conference was mainly aimed at their cars, and the next generation of connected cars as we head into the future. SlashGear talks in detail about FORD, and had a lot of questions for Wozniak regarding safe driving. The idea of touchscreens being unsafe is obviously a big one, and that’s where options such as Google Glass came into the discussion. The Woz likes Google Glass, but ultimately still thinks it would be a distraction to drivers. And we’d have to agree. He goes on to talk about how it’s safer than an in-dash display and that Google Glass is "like a heads-up display" that's in the driver's line-of-sight. He then brings up Google Now, and it sounds like he’s quite the fan. Obviously the conference is aimed at driving, and he likes the idea of Google Now being aware of your location, your recent searches, and even where you’re headed. With Google Now being able to know if you’re headed home from work or not, and having Google voice recognition being able to simply say “See Iron-Man 3″ and instantly getting driving directions to the nearest theater is ideal. Rather than having to find the nearest location, tap a display while driving, and other unsafe practices we all do daily. Overall the entire article over at SlashGear is a good read, as it all relates to technology in general, and inside vehicles. He even takes a few jabs at Apple here and there. Check out the video interview below. When asked about iOS 7 he really didn’t have much to say. However he did talk about how pretty the UI was, but mentioned how uniform it all may or may not be. While we can’t really take words out of his mouth, or look into comments too much, he did state that Apple doesn’t do everything best. As an example he mentions AirDrop, the new sharing feature in iOS 7. Then quickly compares this to NFC sharing using “Samsung bump” which you all know is S-Beam, or Android Beam.
Essentially, Wozniak says, "the fewer steps involved, the better." And this can relate to anything, not just driving. Whether you’re looking for a nearby theater while driving, trying to check weather alerts on your phone, and more. Less is obviously better. Google surely is headed in the right direction with Glass and Now if you ask us, but this is only the beginning. Again, the interview touches on iOS 7, the new Mac Pro, and many other subjects so head to the link below for more details and a good read. VIA: SlashGear |
| Google tipped to be building a game console and Nexus smartwatch Posted: 27 Jun 2013 03:39 PM PDT It looks like Google is about to get into a lot more hardware than just the Chromebook Pixel. A new report has just broke that will surely get some peoples interest piqued, and rumors swirling. Google is apparently building their own Android-powered game console, a Nexus smartwatch, and even a new Nexus Q. Talk about a loaded rumor. Read on for more thoughts.
We know the folks from Google have tons of side projects and things like Google X, not to mention are always innovating and creating new products. Even if they never see the light of day. However, with the OUYA, NVIDIA SHIELD, and tons of game consoles hitting the market, Google could be planning their own. According to this rumor it’s already in the works, and we could see it later this year. The Wall Street Journal was the first to break the Motorola X-Phone rumors, and now they have another big one today. Reporting that “people familiar with the matter” have confirmed everything mentioned above. Crazy right? Google is reportedly working on their own smartwatch, which we’ll simply call the Nexus smartwatch for now, and then of course a game console. Both of these will be an attempt to combat any upcoming products by Apple. Not to mention dominate both markets, which are gaining a lot of popularity as of late. The rumor is filled with little goodies. They even say Mountain View is working on the Nexus Q, a device which we saw last year at Google I/O that never was sold to the public and later canceled. However, I have a feeling the Nexus Q won’t ever exist. And instead everything Google had in store for it will be blend into the game console. Just like the Xbox plans to dominate our living room. Google’s Nexus Q (or Nexus console) will do the same. If I had to guess. In closing the WSJ (and their sources) states that Google will design and market these products themselves (just like the Pixel) and at least one of these products will make a huge splash when it gets released this fall. Yes, this fall! Most likely anything at this point will be sold from the Play Store, so that’s a given. The rumor and article goes on to mention Google developing their own phones for emerging markets, which we mentioned yesterday, as well as Android Key Lime Pie being offered to manufacturers like Samsung to be used in appliances and more. Not just smartphones and tablets. Man, this really is one loaded rumor isn’t it? There’s plenty more, so check it all out from the link below. What do you guys think. Is a Google-made game console in the works, and would you buy one? SOURCE: Wall Street Journal |
| Google opens Street View Trekker camera loan program Posted: 27 Jun 2013 02:47 PM PDT Google wants our help to build a better Google Maps, improve Street View, and get photos from around the world. Their impressive Street View Trekker program has brought us images of the Galapagos Islands, The Grand Canyon, and tons of other exciting places, but now they want to loan their Trekker’s out to regular folks.
Google has announced a new pilot program that enables third party organizations to rent out or borrow the Street View Trekker which they’ll then use any valuable imagery to add to Street View and Google Maps. You’ll be able to strap their impressive 360 degrees camera back to your back and do some touring. Stating that if you’re “a tourism board, non-profit, government agency, university, research organization” or other individual looking to borrow a Trekker, well now you can apply for one. Awesome right? They’ve gone under water with the Trekker, and have hundreds of thousands of miles recorded. Personally this sounds amazing, although I’m not sure where I’d go with the suit. Google mentioned the Hawaii visitors center is the first of many to join their new pilot loaner program. Which the center has been using borrowed Trekker’s to wander through the various Hawaiian Islands. We’re assuming Google won’t just be borrowing these out to anyone, not to mention the terms are probably pretty steep. You’ll need to put a credit card on file if we had to guess (oh dear). For those interested in contributing to Street View or Google Maps, now you can. Fill out all the necessary forms and you could be the next Google Street View Trekker. More details below. SOURCE: Google Blog |
| DuckDuckGo private search engine app sneaks into the Play Store Posted: 27 Jun 2013 02:17 PM PDT If you’re looking to stay anonymous and out of sight from prying eyes, the popular site DuckDuckGo might be worth checking out. Growing rapidly in popularity as of late, with the recent NSA and PRISM privacy scandals, DDG is an internet search engine that won’t track you. And now they’ve launched an app for Android that will help you regain that privacy while on the go.
According to DuckDuckGo, you’ll enjoy the same search engine results and speeds that many others offer, only they won’t track or share your information. In fact, they don’t even save search results. So even if someone were to ask for search queries, or they were hacked, there isn’t anything to find. We’re not going to get into a discussion about surveillance, government tracking, phone calls being recorded and all that, but we did want to share this app with you guys. Whether you’re a tinfoil hat paranoid type, or would just like to search anonymously, you’ll want to check out this new option on mobile. That isn’t all this does either. The second half of the news today is their new “stories” section on Android. They’ll share news with you, based on your searches, that aren’t filtered out by media or other search outlets. Their app and search engine also features auto-complete, conversion tools, and many other things we enjoy with Google Search. Get their app below and start searching with privacy.    |
| Facebook Beta for Android promises a better, faster app Posted: 27 Jun 2013 12:55 PM PDT The Facebook app surely has its fair share of issues, and has been something of discussion for a long time in the Android world. With the new Facebook Home, their app was improved significantly, but it looks like Facebook isn’t done with the improvements yet. They’ve just announced a Facebook Beta for Android. One that promises a faster, smoother, better performing app, but we’ve heard that before.
Back when Zuckerberg and company announced Facebook Home, they promised a monthly update cycle. So far we’ve been seeing updates almost every month, and they once again state that here. Instead of just updating every 4 weeks, they’ll be opening a beta program where users cant test the new app and features 7-10 days early. Facebook mentions the “diversity of devices and OS versions” is a problem for Facebook, and getting everything to scale properly, so in a way they’re tossing out the fragmentation claim this afternoon. In the end however, they do mention the main goal will be performance and reliability across all Android devices. So that’s a good sign. If you remember, Facebook added behind-the-scenes automatic app updates without support of the Google Play Store. A move that Google quickly killed, banning external app updates on Android. Then at Google I/O they launched their Play Store beta program, something that is very manageable and controlled. This solution works best for both Google and Facebook, so that’s what we have. The beta actually opens today, and we’ll be seeing updates in the future for both Facebook’s regular app, and the newly announced beta program. Who thinks this will help the app improve? |
| Google expands BYOD management for Android devices Posted: 27 Jun 2013 12:31 PM PDT Google has been rather friendly with the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and enterprise crowd. In fact it wasn’t all that long ago when we saw the Admin app launch for Android. And well, flashing forward back to the present day and we have some new device management features being rolled out by Google.
As of today Google has added four new Android device management features and they include selective data wipes and the ability to wipe an SD card along with a Device Policy app and a WiFi configurations setting option. Basically, these new features and improvements should help your IT admin better manage the company devices. Looking at these in a bit more depth, lets begin with the selective data wipes. This will be good for those with a personal device. This one will allow the IT department to remove all of the Google Apps account data without having to wipe the complete device. In addition, there is also an option to wipe an SD card, thought this one is tied in with complete device wipes. The Device Policy app is described as being able to help “ensure that security policies are enforced across all devices.” In order to accomplish this, the app will always require the latest version of the Device Policy app be installed. Finally, the last of the new features is the WiFi configuration option. This will allow WiFi settings to be entered once in the Admin console and then automatically pushed to all the managed Android devices. SOURCE: Google Enterprise Blog |
| Xbox games will not be coming to Android, says studio head Posted: 27 Jun 2013 12:19 PM PDT Earlier this week we reported that Microsoft’s classic Age of Empires was headed to Android, and possibly a slew of other Microsoft Studio games as well. After the immediate excitement, we’re now hearing conflicting reports that the rumor was just a “translation error” and we in fact won’t be seeing more games hit Android.
While Age of Empires is probably the only Microsoft Studios game I’d like on my Android device, which has been confirmed for arriving later this year, their big man in charge said they have no plans to bring others to the mobile market. Well, at least not for Android or iOS. Head of Microsoft Studio Phil Spencer had a few comments to share recently regarding these new rumors, and many will be sad to hear that Age of Empires is their only planned port. Nothing else will be coming. He confirms on Twitter that the rumor started from a “translation error” and further states the company is "not bringing Xbox games to non-MS devices." Dreams. Shattered. If there is one thing to take away from this, it’s that he states “Xbox” games aren’t going to be seen elsewhere. However, we could still potentially start seeing some of those Windows PC titles be ported to Android, iOS, and of course Windows Phone. This isn’t from Microsoft, but all I want is the original Lemmings for Android. That would be epic! VIA: SlashGear |
| TrickDroid 1.0.0 Google Edition ROM launches for the HTC One Posted: 27 Jun 2013 11:50 AM PDT The HTC One and GALAXY S 4 Google Edition handsets came available for sale yesterday and it looks like we have already begun seeing some goodies as a result. Earlier in the day we saw the the Camera app and a red phase beam live wallpaper come available for download. While those are a few smaller bits, there is also word of a new ROM based on the Google Edition HTC One.
This newly released ROM is from torxx and has arrived as TrickDroid 1.0.0 GE — where the GE stands for Google Edition. This one is for the HTC One and is described as being “pure stock Android” and working fine. We have yet to flash this one ourselves so we are going to have to take that latter portion as it stands.
Perhaps more important for those looking to give this a try, torxx has also said this ROM has “basically no bugs.” That alone has it sounding like a winner. Of course, if you are using a regular carrier branded HTC One with Sense and thinking about moving over there are a few items you will be losing. For example, the Google Edition ROM doesn’t have support for the IR sensor and users will not have the Zoe experience. Aside from the Google Edition ROM, torxx also has the regular TrickDroid ROM which has recently been updated to version 8.0.0. Some of the highlights from the 8.0.0 update include a new kernel from HTC, improved audio and a better keyboard. TrickDroid 8.0.0 was based on 2.19.401.1 and is also said to have an updated AROMA. And for those wondering, this one is based on Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5.0 and has support for all HTC One models. We suspect more than a few readers will understand what it means to go the custom ROM route, however a bit of advise for those new to this game — proceed with caution. There can be some risk in playing with your phone in this way, but assuming you move forward slowly and make sure you understand all the steps before beginning the process — things should go smoothly. SOURCE: TrickDroid, XDA |
| FingerQ case rocks a built-in fingerprint scanner Posted: 27 Jun 2013 11:40 AM PDT Do we really need fingerprint scanners on our smartphones? You can hide messages from the government if used right! According to a few case manufacturers we do. Back in the day Motorola released the original Atrix with a fingerprint scanner, and that was the end of that. However, we’re now seeing a few case manufacturers push towards “the ultimate in security” for our devices too.
The image above, provided by CNET Asia, is of a new case from FingerQ, which will protect all the data inside the phone it’s covering. They have multiple different designs and each case comes with a biometric fingerprint sensors on board, as well as a USB port for charging. It won’t replace those standard unlock pin features on Android, so don’t expect this to lock your phone in that regard. Instead, it adds a complete second layer of protection for emails, messages, and even applications. The case shown above is called the PrivacQ Case, and will be available on the Galaxy S4, GS3, Note II, HTC One and others. By default you won’t be securing your emails or text messaging apps, but they have that as an option. Instead the main focus is their own FingerQ app for sending secure messaging and pictures that are safely encrypted. So just like iMessage, no one (like the NSA) can snoop in on what’s being sent. For those who aren’t fans of the latest PRISM news, this could be something worth looking at. The cases will retail between $40 and $60 according to reports, and come in a variety of colors. Would you want a case that requires you to scan your fingerprints every time you try to open the browser, or read an email? Let us know. VIA: AndroidAuthority |
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