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- Sony’s Music Unlimited service now supports 320kbps streaming playback
- Sony HuaShan to be branded as Xperia SP, Xperia L also coming soon
- Nexus 4 Wireless Charging Orb costs $59.99, not that it’s in stock yet
- Samsung just bought 5% of Wacom for $58.2 million, long live the stylus!
- Google Earth adds more than 100,000 new tours
- Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition for Android gets delayed indefinitely
- Write once run everywhere: Codename One kit hits 100k downloads, exits beta
- Arma Tactics to launch on NVIDIA’s Project Shield gaming console
- Carbon backup app lands on Google Play
- Samsung to rely on third-party chipsets to bolster entry-level market
| Sony’s Music Unlimited service now supports 320kbps streaming playback Posted: 31 Jan 2013 02:09 AM PST Feeling the heat from the competition, Sony Network Entertainment International has announced that high quality streaming is now available on its Music Unlimited service. If you don't mind burning your data plan faster, you can turn on the high quality streaming option in the service's settings. By high quality, it means you can enjoy listening to the songs in 320 kbps AAC format. While this might be old news for Spotify customers, it's quite an upgrade for Sony's, as it previously only supported 48 kbps streams. For now, the high quality streaming is only available on PC, PlayStation 3, and Android. Sony said that the new feature will come to more platforms soon. Sony's digital music service, launched in July of last year, now boasts a collection of over 18 million songs. The premium subscription plan is offered at $9.99 per month in the U.S. If you use the service on your Android phone or tablet, make sure to head to Google Play to get the latest update that enables the high quality streaming. Related Posts |
| Sony HuaShan to be branded as Xperia SP, Xperia L also coming soon Posted: 31 Jan 2013 02:09 AM PST Is there anything more baffling in the Android world than the branding of Samsung's latest mid-range offerings? Sure there is, Sony's naming scheme. Just think about it, the Xperia family covers basically half of the alphabet already and there's no logical way to explain why the P is larger and more powerful than the U or why the E and Z have seen daylight after the J and S. And don't even get me started on the double-lettered models that make less sense than Inception's plot. But hey, Sony doesn't seem to be bothered at all by these logical inconsistencies, so get ready to welcome the Xperia L and SP. Oy vey! Granted, the two market names are far from confirmed at this time, but they have been spotted in Postel's database and "the Indonesian FCC" is usually to be trusted. Out of the two, the SP is most likely going to be the shiner, as it's supposed to come packing a 1.7 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, an Adreno 320 GPU, 1 GB of RAM and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. We don't know the device's screen size yet, but we’re almost certain the panel will be boasting a 1,280 x 720 pixels resolution. We've even seen a couple of low-quality pics starring the SP, only at that time the phone was known as the C530X or HuaShan (to be honest, both those names sound acceptable now). In a nutshell, the Xperia SP is going to be a downsized version of the Z/ZL duo for folks that can't afford the top of the line phones, so chances are it'll be out soon. Maybe at MWC, maybe even earlier. As for the Xperia L, aka the C210X, this has also been leaked before, but it's been mostly ignored so far. That's because it's not exactly a top-tier device, being rumored to come with an 854 x 480 pix res display (probably a 4-incher), a dual-core 1 GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU, 1 GB of RAM and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Come to think of it, that doesn't sound too awful, so maybe if the L will also follow Z's design philosophy while keeping the price bar very low it might stand a chance at least in Europe and Asia. But still, what the fudge is up with that random naming scheme, Sony? Are you trying to mess with our heads? Related Posts |
| Nexus 4 Wireless Charging Orb costs $59.99, not that it’s in stock yet Posted: 31 Jan 2013 01:37 AM PST 3D-print it out yourself (and add the appropriate electrical wiring) or buy it from a regular electronics retailer, the Nexus 4 Wireless Charging Orb will do its job, charge the Nexus 4 without any wires. However, the accessory is not exactly available to Nexus 4 owners. Electronics retailer Pure Mobile is going to sell the Wireless Charging Orb for $59.99 to anyone interested, but the gadget is not exactly in stock at this time. So for now, all the store does is list the device. There's no news regarding availability at this time, but you are invited to sign up to get notified when this mythical product gets back in stock. So better get ready to wait some more for this particular accessory to ship to your doorstep. Will you pay $59.99 for the Wireless Charging Orb, or are you happy charging the Nexus 4 the usual way? Related Posts |
| Samsung just bought 5% of Wacom for $58.2 million, long live the stylus! Posted: 31 Jan 2013 01:33 AM PST According to a breaking news report from the Korean news agency Yonhap, Samsung has agreed to buy a 5% stake in the Japanese company Wacom. Don’t know who Wacom is? They make what’s considered to be the industry standard for digital drawing tablets. You’ve probably seen one of their products while browsing through a computer store. They’re basically large pads that have a stylus which lets you sketch. Wacom’s technology is used in both the first and second generation Galaxy Note. So what assumptions can we make from this announcement? Samsung believes that the stylus is a key differentiator for their products. Considering that the China is the fastest growing smartphone market that currently exists, you can see the logic in this move. Typing Chinese characters on a keyboard is possible, but drawing them is way more convenient. Will we see more Samsung products shipping with a stylus? There was a rumor we heard a few weeks ago that said the Galaxy S4 was going to ship with an s-pen, but we don’t believe it to be true. We’d of course love to be proven wrong, but our gut tells us that Samsung is going to reserve the stylus for devices that use the “Note” branding. The big question on our minds is whether or not Wacom will be allowed to license their technology to other handset vendors. Companies tend to steal ideas from each other, something we don’t have a problem with, but what’s going to happen if someone like HTC wants to throw in stylus support? Will Wacom be allowed to work with them or will Samsung give Wacom the evil eye? We just want to say that we’re super pumped about this news because several of us at Android Authority use the Note II, this writer included, and we’re having a difficult time imagining what life would be like without a stylus enabled smartphone. Update: Here’s the official PDF (in English) announcing the deal. Samsung will buy 20,996 common shares of Wacom on February 19th at a price of 255,510 Japanese yen per share. Related Posts |
| Google Earth adds more than 100,000 new tours Posted: 31 Jan 2013 12:39 AM PST
Many users welcome the update. A Robert Woldman commented that the tours let people "enjoy the world without enjoying the world." Another user, Leo Somera, says, "This is a great way to sample before you go. A few times, I got fooled by ads or commercials with a destination that looks great on media, but fails in person." First introduced in October, the tour guide acts as a local expert that recommends interesting locations in the proximity as you navigate the globe in Google Earth. Available on Windows and mobile devices, the new tours can be viewed without installing a software update to Google Earth 7.0. Related Posts |
| Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition for Android gets delayed indefinitely Posted: 31 Jan 2013 12:11 AM PST Have you been waiting for the release of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition for Android? A lot of people have, and many still are. Unfortunately, each and every one of those people are going to have to keep waiting a little longer for the app to be released, as the developers behind it have hit an inconvenient snag that has something to do with the final ship panel APK files. This is according to a tweet from the game’s creative director Trent Osner which first got posted earlier this month.
There’s no word on when this particular Android game will be released exactly, but the good news is that work on Baldur’s Gate 2 is under way, at the same time. For now, one can only hope that both games are made available for download before this year’s first quarter finally wraps up. Check out the first official trailer for Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition for Android: Related Posts |
| Write once run everywhere: Codename One kit hits 100k downloads, exits beta Posted: 31 Jan 2013 12:04 AM PST
Back in June of 2012, an Israel-based tech startup launched Codename One as its namesake, a Java-based mobile app development platform that offers developers a write-once-run-everywhere solution to help save precious time and money on their projects. After months of being left in beta, Codename One has now been downloaded over 100,000 times and has been used to create more than 1,000 native mobile apps across all of today’s most popular smartphone platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry. Codename One is now on version 1.0, and its creators hope that more and more people begin to adopt it as their own mobile app development solution. Its highlight features include built-in Eclipse and NetBeans integration as well as the ability to allow developers to create true native mobile applications with the use of a single code base across all mobile platforms. This helps developers prevent fragmentation before it can even begin. Codename One is also free and open source, so anyone who wants in can get started on using it now. Check out the full Codename One version 1.0 press release below for more information. Or as an alternative, hit the source link to get started developing with it. With 100,000 SDK Downloads, Mobile Development Platform Codename One Comes Out of Beta With 1.0 Launch Tel Aviv, Israel – Mobile development platform Codename One is announcing the The platform to date has been used to build over 1,000 native mobile Codename One has received widespread, viral acclaim in technology and "We have been thrilled with the success of our beta launch and are very excited Almog, along with co-founder Chen Fishbein, decided to launch the venture after The Java-based platform is open-source and utilizes lightweight technology, By drawing all components from scratch rather than utilizing native widgets, The startup's founders are recognized for engineering Sun Microsystems's Codename One is available for download free of charge. About Codename One Related Posts |
| Arma Tactics to launch on NVIDIA’s Project Shield gaming console Posted: 30 Jan 2013 11:35 PM PST
As a matter of fact, there is. Game developer Bohemia Interactive is said to be currently hard at work making a new squad-based tactics game for NVIDIA’s handheld console, and it’s called Arma Tactics. It’s a military-themed game where players take control of a four-member Special Forces squad and the objective is to complete a number of missions as part of an overall storyline. The enemy forces will be composed of local militia and your usual guns-for-hire. While the idea for a military-themed squad game like Arma Tactics is not new in the slightest, it would be interesting to see how its creators plan to make it take advantage of NVIDIA Project Shield-exclusive technology. Namely, support for the powerful Tegra 4 processing chip as well as gaming across multiple screens. Multiscreen gaming support in particular, is said to be in the cards. If you think Arma Tactics sounds exciting, then watch for it to drop some time in Q2 2013. It’s one of a few games specified by NVIDIA itself as headed for Project Shield, and it will be made available for download through the TegraZone portal when it finally gets relesaed. Related Posts |
| Carbon backup app lands on Google Play Posted: 30 Jan 2013 11:21 PM PST
In case you didn’t know, Carbon Backup is product of the hard work and dedication of one man named Koushik Dutta. This is the same man responsible for the very popular ClockworkMod Recovery and he has a few other apps to his name. Now, with Carbon Backup, he’s taking on Titanium Backup and its ilk. As mentioned earlier, Carbon Backup for Android is available in two different versions. First, there’s an ad-supported version that can be downloaded for free. Then there’s also a premium version that’s available for $4.99. Carbon Premium doesn’t have ads and allows cloud backup and restore to online services such as Box, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Now that the app is out of beta, it offers one very important feature that was noticeably absent from earlier versions. It can now be used to back up applications without the need for rooting. Thanks to an accompanying desktop program, rooting is no longer necessary. Make your way to the source below to check out the free version on Google Play for yourself. Related Posts |
| Samsung to rely on third-party chipsets to bolster entry-level market Posted: 30 Jan 2013 10:13 PM PST Though it is currently sitting comfortably at the top of the world Android smartphone market, Samsung is not about to let its own present success get in the way of its success in the future. It owns over 30% of the entire smartphone market right now. What exactly is the South Korean electronics giant worried about? According to a news report that was recently published in the Taiwanese DigiTimes, Samsung has noted that there will be a decline in demand for smartphones in more mature markets in 2013, a year when more and more high-end phones are being announced and released. As such, the company is trying to look for ways to maximize sales of its mobile phones outside of the high-end handset segment. Samsung is planning to increase sales of models that are not, strictly speaking, “smartphones.” Here’s how it plans to do just that. Taking over the entry-level segmentOutside of the high-end segment, there are two more spots left for Samsung to take and rise to the top of, and these are the entry-level and the mid-range mobile phone segments. Samsung’s plan for taking over the entry-level segment in particular involves working with third-party chipset vendors in order to produce models with the highest price-to-performance ratios ever. They plan to use this tactic as they go up against the likes of Huawei, ZTE, LG, and Sony.
Will Samsung succeed?The bottom line is that Samsung intends to roll out low-cost models with ample processing power to attract more and more buyers and increase its market share in the entry-level segment. Of course, whether or not that’s enough to actually satisfy the target market is a different subject matter entirely. What do you think of Samsung’s plan to rule to entry-level and mid-range smartphone roost? Do you think models that use third-party chipset solutions are in the same league as Exynos-powered ones? Or are they roundly inferior? Sound off in the comments. Related Posts |
Do you want to visit tourist spots but can't afford the luxury? No worries, Google Earth has got you covered. A major upgrade to its virtual tour guide feature includes tours exceeding 100,000, as well as 1 million photos from user submissions. The announcement comes from the official Google+ page of Google Earth. Besides the newly added popular tourist destinations that span 200 countries, the update also brings in refinements to existing tours. And complementing the snippets from Wikipedia and 
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