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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Nexus 7 (2012) Wi-Fi: Android 5.0.2 update now available to download

When it rains, it pours, and such is the collection of confectionery confetti that is flowing down from the Mountain View candy land. Released in October, Android 5.0 landed with the Nexus 9, yet just a few weeks later 5.0.1 was already on its way, a small update to address bugs, but which also included fast and slow-motion video recording.

LRX22G has just been released by Google, which brings the hard candy’s teeth-talking tally to 5.0.2. The update is currently only available for the Nexus 7 (2012) Wi-Fi version. Google has since pulled the device’s 5.0.1 patch.

According to XDA Developers, the 5.0.2 update addresses “issues with MountService which should now start before performBootDexOpt [and] changes related to NAND have also been pushed. Fstrim, introduced in Android 4.3, caused some serious issues on Lollipop… devices with slow NAND should now have a noticeable performance boost.”

Lollipop is definitely shaping up to be the most unusual of all Android releases so far. Google released an unprecedented Developer Preview (Android L) earlier this year, and has now pushed out two patches within a very short span of time. Additionally many users have reported major problems with their older hardware upon updating, especially when it comes to poor power management.

The existence of yet another update will also mean that OEMs desperately scrambling to get their Lollipop builds in order have yet another new version to test when conceivably the original 5.0 still hasn’t been given the green light to push OTA.

If any of our readers feel compelled to manually update, please feel free to share your comments below and let us know if there is any noticeable improvement in the software experience.

The factory image can be found here, and is officially signed by Google. Please note that the Android SDK is required to install it, as is a more advanced understanding of sideloading.

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