Sony has revealed the Xperia Z4, its latest flagship smartphone, today. The device was made public in an announcement in Japanese, and, at this point, there is neither an international launch date nor an accompanying ‘Compact’ version.
The Xperia Z4 is much like its Z3 predecessor, with the same 5.2-inch screen, a thinner 6.9mm form, and a Snapdragon 810 processor which clocks a more modest 2GHz but is eight-core and 64-bit. The rear-facing camera has the same eye-popping 20.7-megapixels, the...
Monday, April 20, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 11:18 PM
Just days after unveiling the stylish-looking Urbane smartwatch, LG has announced a second model. The Urbane LTE runs software based on WebOS, rather than Android Wear, and doesn't require a phone connection at all—it takes its own SIM and can make and receive calls.We've seen smartwatches that can operate as standalone devices before—notably the Samsung Gear S—but this is the first to offer high-speed 4G LTE connectivity. In terms of physical looks, it's very similar to the Android Wear Urbane, which itself takes its cues from...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 11:11 PM
Latest figures from market research firm IDC reveal that Google Android and Apple’s iOS continued to dominate the smartphone scene in 2014. Microsoft and BlackBerry, however, both showed marked declines.Android enjoyed an 81.5% share of the market over the whole year, up from 78.7% in 2013. Apple slipped slightly to 14.8% from 15.1%.Windows, however, saw a 0.6% drop from 3.3% to 2.7%, while BlackBerry managed to take a mere 0.4% of the market, down from 1.9%.The figures for the last quarter of 2014 show a similar picture, with Apple enjoying...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 11:10 PM
The progression of the Android Lollipop 5.0 update has been a slow one. While many Android users are waiting for the initial update to come to their devices, others are already figuring out all of the new setting this update allows.The Android Lollipop 5.0 now lets users activate toggle settings with Google Now's voice activation. However, in order for the voice activation to work, the latest version of the Google search app must be running.For example: say, "Ok Google, turn on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Flashlight" to get to the settings....
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:59 PM
Microsoft has been churning out new apps at an impressive speed, putting the best it has to offer on competing platforms like Android and iOS along with its own Windows devices. Now there’s one more new app from the company to check out, an Android keyboard meant for getting work done.The new keyboard is designed specifically to work with Microsoft’s Excel app, and comes from the company’s experimental Garage incubator project. It’s a pretty simple keyboard, but adds a 10-key number layout on the left side like you’ve probably...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:50 PM
The new SDK allows developers to craft and update their Pebble apps with the new features of the Pebble Time, such as the color screen and built-in microphone, in mind. Pebble gave a rundown some of the more notable features in version 3.0:
Support for 64 colors which all have a name!
A brand new animation framework
PNG and Animated PNG support in the SDK
Detecting which platforms you are building for at compile time
Much more to come!
Pebble notes that apps that were built for the current version of the wearable are compatible with the...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:47 PM
The search giant has looked at how sponsored advertisements have performed on organic search results and now Google will be introducing a similar system for developers to take advantage of. In the coming weeks, a limited selection of consumers will see adverts from a pilot group of advertisers running the new system for their apps.There's a reason a developer might want to promote their app on Google Play: there's good money to be made. Says Google:
In fact, in the past year, we paid more than $7 billion to developers distributing...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:44 PM
According to a new report today, Google is looking at implementing a new ad targeting-system for YouTube. The new system would seek to make YouTube more profitable after years of struggling to generate significant revenues.Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal says that YouTube managed to pull in $4 billion in revenue last year. While this is up from $3 billion the year before, the service only managed to break even after accounting for content and equipment costs.In light of the lack of profits, the Wall...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:41 PM
You don't really need to do anything to claim the extra storage space. When you open up the Settings section of the Play Music site, Uploaded Songs should now reflect that you can store a maximum of 50,000 songs.So how does Google Play Music stack up with the competition for storing your music library in the cloud? Well, Apple's iTunes Match service will store 25,000 songs, half of what Google now offers, and iTunes Match will run you $24.99 a year. Amazon, meanwhile, will let you upload just 250 songs for free, though a $24.99 annual subscription...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:38 PM
Authy, a company that specializes in security through two-factor authentication, has been purchased by cloud communication services company Twilio. The two companies have been working together since 2012, with Authy using Twilio's technology to deliver authentication codes through SMS and phone calls. For the time being, Authy will continue to function as it always has, though certain parts of the company will expand with the acquisition, according to fonder Daniel Palacio:
First, our R&D team we'll be significantly expanding in...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:37 PM
Google has announced today the official launch of an initiative called Android for Work. Through the program, Google has teamed up with several partners to integrate enterprise-level security into the Android platform.
Google originally announced and previewed Android for Work back in 2014 at Google I/O. The main idea behind the program is to allow workers to use their personal phones for work tasks, but keep work and personal content and data separate. Google gave the following breakdown of what users can expect...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:33 PM
The main features of the LG G Pad F 7 include a 7-inch display, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. On the camera front, the device packs a 5MP rear camera, along with a 1.2MP front-facing shooter. Finally, all of this runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and comes in your choice of white or black versions — though the black option won't hit stores until April 10.
Along with the announcement of the G Pad 7 tablet, Sprint also says that it is running a limited promotion whereby customers...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:29 PM
One of the more interesting tidbits to come out of the interview were Pichai's comments on Google Wallet, particularly amid recent rumors that the Google may be gearing up to launch a new payments API called Android Pay at this year's I/O developer conference:
For people who use Google Wallet, the experience works. [The question is] how do you get Google Wallet present and how do you get all the point of sale terminals and the end-of-end ecosystem, the banks, the issuers. For me there's been a lot of progress in the last few months....
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:26 PM
The highlight of the new modules is that they offer SSD-levels of read and write performance while consuming 50 percent less energy.With read and write speeds of 19,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second), Samsung claims that its UFS 2.0 flash storage is 2.7 times faster than what is currently available in embedded memory solutions that utilize the eMMC 5.0 standard.
As to when we'll see the latest flash modules, it is possible they'll be in launching with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge next week at Mobile...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:23 PM
These services will be enabled on through apps from banks and other financial institutions on the Google Play Store. The apps will enable you to pay with your Visa account from your phone:
Following a one-time enrollment process, customers of participating financial institutions who download and install the application will be able to pay in-store with their Visa accounts by waving their Android mobile phone in front of a contactless reader. These capabilities are an integral part of Visa Digital Solutions, a comprehensive suite of offerings...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:20 PM
Citing unnamed sources, Business Insider says that the relationship between the branches became especially strained in 2012 when Samsung's Korean office reportedly sent a team to audit the U.S. branch's Dallas office:
The Dallas-based employees had to go through all materials they used to sell and market Samsung's mobile products. They were accused of falsifying sales, bribing the media, and a bunch of other damaging actions that hurt morale in the office. The same US-based office that helped turn Samsung into a brand as recognizable...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:19 PM
The new technology, called LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U), works by taking advantage of unlicensed spectrum on the 5GHz band instead of licensed and controlled spectrum — typically in lower frequencies — traditionally used by phones. One of the main concerns some may have with this technology is how it will affect current Wi-Fi networks that run on the 5GHz band. Qualcomm says:
In order for LTE-U to provide maximum benefit, it must operate harmoniously alongside billions of existing Wi-Fi devices. Qualcomm Technologies is working to...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:07 PM
NVIDIA rolled out the 2.2 update last week, bringing more games available to stream to the Shield Tablet, several performance improvements as well as increasing battery life during standby. The update however caused the screen to desaturate colors, with users noting that reds were being muted. NVIDIA has now issued the 2.2.1 hotfix update, which is delivered to rectify the screen calibration issue.
Here's the official changelog from NVIDIA:
Display color-space correction
Improvements to Netflix experience
The update...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:04 PM
You might have heard the news already, but the Federal Communications Commission has voted three to two to classify Internet service as a Title II utility in the United States, marking the biggest win for Net Neutrality advocates in... well, ever. A lot of the "people" (remember, in America corporations are people too) who don't like that have issued statements about how much they really want to throttle Internet speed, block legal services, and charge double for content disagree with the FCC, but none have done so in quite the...
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 9:57 PM
We are rapidly approaching that fun time of year when the largest Android smartphone manufacturers unveil their newest flagships. That means we're already in the silly season of rumors and leaks. Isn't it interesting to follow all the developments on, say, the HTC One M9? The M7 was great, the M8 was better...it's understandably hard to wait for official information about the 2015 iteration. However, whatever you do, do not look at product images from case manufacturers like Spigen to learn what the next phone will look lik...
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