Galaxy S4 And HTC One Google Play Edition Receive Android 4.4.2 Update:

Google rolled out the Android 4.4.2 update recently shortly after it had rolled out Android 4.4.1 for Nexus devices. Updates such as these are first rolled out for Nexus devices before they gradually make their way to devices manufactured by other OEMs. The benefit of owning a Google Play Edition device is that you’re much higher up the list, meaning that updates are rolled out for these variants soon after the Nexus devices have received their fix. The first two GPE smartphones released earlier this year, the Galaxy S4 and HTC One, have both received the latest release of KitKat, Android 4.4.2. These incremental updates don’t bring any major features, however they do fix various bugs, including device specific bugs. Furthermore, a SMS related security exploit that was discovered recently has also been patched in Android 4.4.2. The updates have started rolling out over-the-air for both Google Play Edition smartphones, alternatively, users can download the firmware files from Google and flash their devices manually. Just recently a couple of new GPE devices were released, including the first ever GPE LG G Pad 8.3 tablet and a similar edition of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra. Both of these devices, the smartphone and the tablet, come with Android 4.4 KitKat preinstalled.

read more

Read more »

iPhone Air And iPhone 6C Concept Videos Spotted

Let’s see – there is a MacBook Air, the iPad Air, so why not have the iPhone follow in the very same footsteps some time down the road? Who knows, Apple might just do that, but right now, we do have a couple of videos to share with you – one above as well as another right after, that will depict the possibility of what the iPhone Air as well as iPhone 6C would look like if they happened to be in existence. The iPhone Air video hails from Set Solution, where it boasts of some rather pretty renderings that might just leave some folks pinching themselves so that they know what they are seeing is not real, and it might never even come out in the first place. After all, who can argue with a smartphone that measures all of 1.5mm thin at the top, with a 3mm thickness located at the bottom, tipping the scales at 70 grams, while boasting an edge-to-edge glass display? As for the conceptual iPhone 6C, it will share the theme of having many different colors just like the iPhone 5c, except that there is a pronounced curve located on the display that is not too different from that of the LG G Flex, although the back would remain flat.

read more

Read more »

Google Could Venture Into Designing Own Server Chips

What happens when you have a whole lot of money and influence? Well, it is a whole lot easier to make things happen, of course, and that seems to be the case with Google. Bloomberg has reported that Google could be looking into designing their very own server chips as part of an effort in order to build a better way for its hardware and software to interact with one another. Does this mean that Intel should watch out for this potential development? I would suppose so, especially when you consider how Google is not any two bit company, and the latter is touted to rely on technology from ARM Holdings Plc. Right now, Google is said to be the fifth largest customer of Intel, and should Google actually make its move into the world of server chips, it would definitely affect Intel’s bottomline at the end of the day – by up to 4.3%, if you were to take the percentage of Intel’s revenue contributed by the folks over at Google. Having said that, designing their own server chips also makes sense for Google in the long run, when you consider how they have already begun to design their own data centers with servers worldwide. With ARM’s chips being the top dog in the world of smartphones and tablets, it ain’t such a bad idea after all to team up with them. This is still a rumor, though, as Google has yet to step forward to confirm or deny such claims

read more

Read more »

Nexus 10 Gets Manual Android 4.4.1 KitKat Update

We have seen how just a few days ago, the Android 4.4.1 KitKat manual update for both the Nexus 4 as well as Nexus 7 were made available to the masses. Well, since all good things always come to those who wait, those who happen to own the Nexus 10 will be pleased to hear that the Android 4.4.1 KitKat manual update is finally available for download and subsequently, installation. It does seem as though majority of the fixes and features introduced with this latest Android update would cater for the Nexus 5, so it can be pretty difficult to guess the exact nature of how the Nexus 10 will change this time around. One thing that can be confirmed, at the very least, would be the fact that the default app for managing your images from the camera app would be the Google+ Photos app, being used in favor of the stock Android Gallery app. Needless to say, for those who want to download and install this manual update, just make sure that your Nexus 10 happens to be running on stock Android 4.4 build KRT16S before you proceed. It would also be an amazing – nay, common sense move to perform a backup of all your data beforehand since you can never quite tell just when will Murphy strike.


source-ubergizmo.com/

Read more »

Galaxy S4 Review

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has arrived to America, and if you have been eagerly waiting to know how it feels to use the Galaxy S4 in the real world, the wait is over. Since its predecessor sold more than 50M units worldwide, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has to live up to rather high anticipation and expectations. You may have followed our first hands-on review of the S4, so you may know a fair amount about this smartphone. for this complete review, we have had more time to use the Galaxy S4 as a primary smartphone, and needless to say that on paper, it improves upon all aspects of the Galaxy S3 with which you may have seen or played with. If not, don’t worry, we’ll provide a good picture of what the S4 is. Now, the question is: how does it actually behave in the real world, and is it a smartphone for you? Samsung Galaxy S4 Specs (powerful) First of all, let’s go over some critical specifications of this new smartphone (a Sprint unit), just to have a frame of reference: Galaxy S3 iPhone 5 Galaxy S4 HTC One Weight 133 112 130 143 Display Size 4.8 4 4.99 4.7 Resolution 1280×720 1136×640 1920×1080 1920×1080 Pixel Density 306 326 441 468 microSD 64GB max No 64GB max No OS Android 4.1 iOS 6 Android 4.2 Android 4.1 Battery mAh 2100 1440 2600 2300 Battery removable Yes No Yes No Infrared blaster No No Yes Yes Camera (F) MP 1.9 1.2 2 2.1 Camera (B) MP 8 8 13 4 Thickness (inches) 0.34 0.3 0.31 0.37 Note that there are a few variants of the Samsung Galaxy S4: this one is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor at 1.9GHz, but the two others feature a Samsung Exynos Octa 5 4+4 cores that I have described at length in my Exynos Octa 5 post. The Samsung chip may embed 8 cores, but it should be considered to be a quad-core chip (in code execution terms) since only 4 can run at any given time. Samsung used the big.LITTLE architecture from ARM, and if you are curious, check what I think of big.LITTLE, it’s pretty neat. Update: experts say that the GS4 is also “easy” to repair. Many of you have asked “why” Samsung comes up with these hardware variations, and although none of the companies involved would usually comment on this hot topic, my guess is that carrier certifications end up being what’s driving those choices. Since the Qualcomm communications software stack works obviously much better with their own processor/modem combo, and given that US carriers (AT&T in particular) have tested and approved Qualcomm, it’s likely that Samsung has chosen Qualcomm to have a faster time to market (Samsung may not have time to qualify their own chips) in order to hit a worldwide market at launch. Although you may hear a lot of noise about the hardware differences, the user experience of both platforms is largely comparable. That’s my opinion after playing with an “Exynos version” of the S4 recently. Context We all use our phones differently, so it’s important that I tell you what I do with my smartphone(s): I typically check email often with the built-in email app (via Microsoft Exchange), and reply moderately because typing on the virtual keyboard is tedious. I browse the web several times a day to check on news sites, but rarely watch movies or play music. I don’t call much – maybe 10mn a day, if at all. On the “apps” side, I have a couple of social networks (FB, G+), a receipts manager and random apps (<20), but I rarely play games or do something super-intensive like video editing. This usage pattern will affect battery life and the perception of what features are useful. Now you know where we’re coming from…

source-ubergizmo.com

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One Google Edition

You knew that those devices were coming: the Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition (GPE) was announced at Google I/O and the HTC One Google Play Edition followed shortly after that. There are even unconfirmed rumors of an XPERIA Z Google Edition (loaded with the stock Android OS, without modifications), but so far only two have finally landed in our offices: The S4 and the HTC One. You may wonder why Google does sell those devices, and the reason is quite simple: Google wants the general public to be able to experience Android as it was originally developed, on the best possible hardware. In this review, we will focus on the Android aspect, and if you are not yet familiar with the industrial design, performance and other critical aspects of those phones, I recommend reading our in-depth Galaxy S4 Review and HTC One Review articles since they will provide a lot of details.

source-ubergizmo.com

Read more »

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie Release At Google I/O Reportedly Delayed

A lot has already been rumored about Google’s I/O conference. It is believed that the company will announce a revamped Nexus 7 and a 32GB LTE Nexus 4 instead of a next generation Nexus 5 smartphone. Google was also expected to announce the next major Android platform update, Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Its release has now reportedly been delayed by as much as four months to give ample time to OEMs so that they can keep up with the new Android version. Another reason for this delay could be the launch of Motorola X smartphone. The company’s top executives have sung its praises, perhaps they’ll merge both announcements together? At the moment 29.3% of Android devices are powered by Ice Cream Sandwich, in second place comes Jelly Bean which powers some 23% devices. Pushing back the Key Lime Pie release will aid both OEMs and Google itself. Despite being announced at last year’s I/O, many manufacturers and carriers are still rolling it out to Jelly Bean deprived customers. Launching a new version would further increase the fragmentation, and if this rumor is anything to go by, Google looks intent on avoiding that.

source-http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/04/android-5-0-key-lime-pie-release-at-google-io-reportedly-delayed/

Read more »

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie Concept

It has been said that the next update of the Android mobile operating system would bump Jelly Bean to version 4.3, but that particular version number is said to lack any major, earth shattering changes, so most folks have already cast an eye in the direction of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Well, what do you think one can expect from Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie when it arrives? We have absolutely no idea, so it is left up to the folks with an imagination to think of how “delicious” Key Lime Pie would look like on your smartphone down the road with this particular concept from a certain Jinesh Shah on Google+. Shah’s day job is a graphic artist, and his Key Lime Pie concept boasts of a minimalist and beautiful vision, sporting an extremely clean design approach. It looks like the “flat” graphical user interface scheme is catching on, where being minimal is a surefire trend in the right direction where mobile operating systems are concerned. This concept would see the Home Screen arrive with highly functional “hidden” widgets, showing up only when the user indulges in a customizable gesture. This helps reduce unnecessary clutter on the interface, coming into play only when you need to use it. Do you like what Shah did with his conceptualization of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie?


source-ubergizmo.com

Read more »

Facebook For Android 2.0 Aims For Speed

Facebook has just announced its Facebook for Android 2.0 app which is landing in Google Play later today. The new app is now using native code, just like it does on the iOS version which brought a huge speed boost, especially on the new iPhone 5 hardware. This is the same kind of performance increase that we expect for Android devices this afternoon when the update cycle starts.

Although the app should look the same on the surface, there was a lot of coding work and performance analysis that led to this new version 2.0 (more info on that). This is the biggest change in Facebook for Android since it was first released, and the good news is that Facebook should be able to rely on this foundation for a while, so expect the next release to be more about functionality than performance.

This is great news for Android users who may have grown frustrated by the slow performance of the Facebook app for Android. This was the #1 issue with this app from what I can tell. We’ll see if the release lives up to the expectations, but I’m pretty optimistic, and we’ll know for sure in a few hours. My Galaxy Note 2 cannot wait one more second to get this one.

Source-ubergizmo.com

Read more »

Google Names Its Best Android Apps For 2012

Not to be outdone with Apple’s list of best iTunes apps for the year 2012, Google is also flashing its own list of this year’s best Android apps. Topping the list is the Zappos app, which is basically an app for shopping shoes, clothes, housewares, and more. Second in line is the insanely popular note-taking app, Evernote. Landing at the third spot is Pinterest and bagging the fourth place is Grimm’s Snow White.

The list goes on with the offline reader Pocket taking the fifth spot. Expedia took the sixth place while the full-featured genealogy app Ancestry sits at the seventh. Fancy is Google’s eight best Android app in 2012 and money-managing app Mint lands at the ninth. The list also includes SeriesGuide Show Manager, Pixlr Express, and our favorite TED Conferences app. They are Google’s tenth, eleventh, and twelfth best apps, respectively. You can check out the full list on Google Play.

Source-ubergizmo.com

Read more »

Google buys cybersecurity startup VirusTotal

(Reuters) - Google Inc has bought startup VirusTotal, picking up a fledgling but widely used cybersecurity industry player in a move that could beef up protection for its Internet services.

The acquisition of VirusTotal, which aggregates warnings on submitted files and websites from most antivirus solutions, including Intel Corp's McAfee and Symantec Corp, could significantly shore up the search giant's ability to weed out infectious content from Gmail, social network Google+ and even the pages it shows search users.

VirusTotal operates by accepting requests for virus checks, running every available protection software on the questioned document or pages, then distributing the results to security vendors.

Because those results include the documents and websites submitted, the service is considered a valuable source of information by the security industry about emergent threats and potential targets.

"VirusTotal will continue to operate independently, maintaining our partnerships with other antivirus companies and security experts," the startup said in a blogpost announcing the acquisition.

"We've worked hard to ensure that the services we offer continually improve. But as a small, resource-constrained company, that can sometimes be challenging."

Google did not disclose the amount it paid, and did not respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Joseph Menn and Edwin Chan; Editing by Gary Hill)


view the orginal article here

Read more »