Sony Reveals The Xperia Z4, Its Latest Flagship Smartphone

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 front-facing camera has gotten a wide-angle lens, and elsewhere there’s 3GB of RAM under the hood and Android 5.0 Lollipop runs out of the box.

Sony is known for its water- and dust-resistant devices, and the Xperia Z4 also delivers on that front. (That’s of note for any Samsung customers frustrated that the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are not water-resistant.)

Sony had been rumored to be considering an exit from the smartphone space, though its latest restructuring didn’t see that eventuality realized it remains a possibility in the future. The Xperia Z4 is another iterative product and, while the Xperia Z3 received positive reviews, it didn’t sell particularly well, which makes it hard to see how sticking to the same recipe will dig the company out of its rut on mobile.

But, if you’re an Xperia fan, stay tuned for details of the Z4’s international launch, which will come sooner rather than later now that the cat is out of the bag in Japan

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Android 5.0 Lollipop Update Features News : Voice CommandsToggle Settings with Latest OS

 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. A card and small toggle will be shown on the screen, indicating the change. The card and toggle are also there for users who need to make adjustments or correct the action if the activation was not intended. If the devices' sound is on, confirmation of the action performed will happen.Last year, the voice activation would take users to the settings and users would have to make the changes manually. Many thought this was fruitless as voice activation should allow users to adjust settings hands-free. Other settings, such as GPS and Airplane mode, that could be used with the voice activation are still unavailable. For now, only their setup menus appear if users ask Google to toggle them.Android Lollipop 5.0 is only available to 1.6 percent of its users. They said, "Since Google Now is an integral part of the Android Lollipop experience, it is no surprise that Google is tweaking its personal digital assistant to help users get more out of the latest and greatest iteration of Android."

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Google officially launches Android for Work to make enterprise push

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 from the initiative:

• Work profiles – We've built on the default encryption, enhanced SELinux security enforcement and multi-user support in Android 5.0, Lollipop to create a dedicated work profile that isolates and protects work data. IT can deploy approved work apps right alongside their users' personal apps knowing their sensitive data remains secured. People can use their personal apps knowing their employer only manages work data and won't erase or view their personal content.
• Android for Work app – For devices running Ice Cream Sandwich through Kitkat, or that don't run work profiles natively, we've created the Android for Work app. The app, which delivers secure mail, calendar, contacts, documents, browsing and access to approved work apps, can be completely managed by IT.
• Google Play for Work – Google Play for Work allows businesses to securely deploy and manage apps across all users running Android for Work, simplifying the process of distributing apps to employees and ensuring that IT approves every deployed app.
• Built-in productivity tools – For everyday business tasks, we've created a suite of business apps for email, contacts and calendar, which supports both Exchange and Notes and provides document editing capabilities for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

To make all of this work, Google has teamed up with a large number of industry partners such as Citrix, Adobe, Samsung, BlackBerry, Cisco, and many, many more. Google says these partnerships have allowed it to create a set of APIs to bring easier management of Android devices to IT departments, as well as create secure business apps and more secure devices.

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LG G Pad F 7.0 coming to Sprint on March 17; free on contract

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 can lease an LG G3 bundled with the tablet with unlimited talk, text, and 1GB of data for $90 per month. Alternatively, customers also have the option of leasing a LG G Flex2 with the tablet and the same plan for $95 per month.

If you're intrigued, but aren't quite sure about the tablet, be sure to check out our hands on with the G Pad lineup.

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Android is ready for work

Over a billion people today carry Android smartphones—devices that are more powerful than the computers we used just a few years ago.

For many, these phones have become essential tools to help us complete important work tasks like checking email, editing documents, reviewing sales pipelines and approving deals. But for the majority of workers, smartphones and tablets are underutilized in the workplace. Their business and innovation potential remain largely untapped.

Today we're announcing the Android for Work program to tap into that potential. With a group of partners, we're helping businesses bring more devices to work by securing, managing and innovating on the Android platform.

Android for Work features four key technology components:

• Work profiles – We’ve built on the default encryption, enhanced SELinux security enforcement and multi-user support in Android 5.0, Lollipop to create a dedicated work profile that isolates and protects work data. IT can deploy approved work apps right alongside their users' personal apps knowing their sensitive data remains secured. People can use their personal apps knowing their employer only manages work data and won’t erase or view their personal content.

• Android for Work app – For devices running Ice Cream Sandwich through Kitkat, or that don’t run work profiles natively, we’ve created the Android for Work app. The app, which delivers secure mail, calendar, contacts, documents, browsing and access to approved work apps, can be completely managed by IT.

• Google Play for Work – Google Play for Work allows businesses to securely deploy and manage apps across all users running Android for Work, simplifying the process of distributing apps to employees and ensuring that IT approves every deployed app.

• Built-in productivity tools – For everyday business tasks, we’ve created a suite of business apps for email, contacts and calendar, which supports both Exchange and Notes and provides document editing capabilities for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

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Google Just Gave Photographers A Big Reason To Choose Android Over The iPhone

Google's new Android software comes with an important feature for photography enthusiasts: the ability to shoot raw images.

This means users will be able to see what photos look like before the phone's camera processes it and translates it to a JPEG file.

The ability to shoot in raw is common on high-end DSLR cameras, but hasn't made its way to mobile until now.

So why does this matter? The average person probably doesn't care much about shooting photos in raw.

In fact, it would probably be more of an inconvenience than an improvement. The camera software in phones are built to compress and translate images into a JPEG or similar file format since it's easy to share and edit.

But those who do know a thing or two about photography could benefit greatly from the new feature. Unlike JPEG or PNG, raw gives you the freedom and flexibility to edit and manipulate particular parts of an image.

Raw photos are essentially pure image data captured through a camera without any compression or modifications — meaning photographers can fiddle with it any way they want using software like Photoshop, as Shankland explains. In other words, when you're shooting in raw the camera's software doesn't make any assumptions about how colors and other elements of an image should look. 

It might not be the most noticeable addition to Android, but it opens up the door for mobile phones to replace professional cameras in certain circumstances. And, it certainly gives Android a leg up over the iPhone in that particular regard. Although the iPhone takes fantastic images, it doesn't allow you to shoot in raw like you can with phones running Android 5.0.

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Google Already Rolling Out Android 5.0.2 to 2012 Nexus 7

It’s been less than two months since Android 5.0 made its public debut, and already Google is rolling out its second patch. An Android 5.0.2 factory image has just been made available for the 2012 Nexus 7, fixing a number of issues that have been plaguing users since Lollipop first arrived.

The new release comes with the “LRX22G” build number, and it replaces the Android 5.0.1 patch for the 2012 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi). It includes both the changes made in that release, as well as some other welcome bug fixes.

“Most of these are adjustments in the kernel and startup scripts to boost CPU activity and maintain a bit higher performance,” Android Police reports. “There has also been another fairly significant update to fstrim, the process responsible for pruning the filesystem of unused blocks to prevent lag when attempting to write to a location in NAND storage containing outdated data.”

Google has also addressed an issue with AlarmManager, a process responsible for waking the device when apps and services need to perform different activities.

If you’ve been experiencing strange issues with your 2012 Nexus 7 since upgrading to Lollipop, then you’ll want to get your hands on this release as soon as possible. It’s only available as a factory image for now, so you’ll need to flash it manually, but we expect the over-the-air release to come soon.

We also expect Android 5.0.2 to be made available to other Nexus devices in the coming days and weeks.

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