Android Phone Fans |
- Android head talks Project Svelte and how Android 4.4 KitKat is the leanest Android version yet
- Moto X with wood finish still on the way, will arrive in time for the holidays – but will you wait?
- NVIDIA teases SHIELD Black Friday bundle deal
- Familiar “Ok Google” hotword arrives on desktop via official Chrome extension
- Sonic Dash comes rolling into the Google Play Store, takes in-app ads to another level
- T-Mobile Galaxy S4 gets Android 4.3 upgrade; Samsung plans Galaxy Gear upgrade for improved notifications
- Get $25 Google Play Store credit with Nexus 7 (2013) purchase, Chromecast gets free HD movie rental
- Google posts holiday shipping schedule for Google Play orders to ship by Christmas
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas coming to Android this December
- Motorola Moto G now available in the US from Motorola.com starting at $179 unlocked
- Oppo N1′s CyanogenMod build will be the first to come with officially-licensed Google Apps
- Here’s the new CyanogenMod 10.2 boot animation, and it doesn’t look too shabby [VIDEO]
- Google sending out second wave of Glass Explorer invites
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition now seeing Android 4.4 KitKat rollout
- [UPDATE: DROID Ultra, too] Motorola DROID Mini coming in white?
| Android head talks Project Svelte and how Android 4.4 KitKat is the leanest Android version yet Posted: 26 Nov 2013 06:44 PM PST
Back during Google IO 2012, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was officially unveiled unto the world. Major firmware versions always bring their share of new features, it was a little something Google called Project Butter that got us the most excited. Addressing Android less than consistent frame rates, Project Butter looked to finally make the Android UI as silky and smooth as As we approach Thanksgiving, it’s safe to say we all know firsthand how consuming excessive amounts of butter can put on the pounds. I guess something similar began to happen in Android. In an interview with ReadWrite, Android’s head of engineering, Dave Burke — the man behind Project Butter — talked about his latest contribution to Google’s mobile OS: Project Svelte. Project Svelte had one goal, to slim down and optimize Android so that it could run on both high and low-end devices. This would help reduce OEM’s dependence on Gingerbread for their low-end hardware. Burke talks about the painful process his team endured after testing KitKat to run on modified Nexus 4 using only 512MB of RAM, dual-cores (instead of 4), lower CPU clocks speed, and at 960×540 resolution — a common configuration in low-end hardware. Burke didn’t just talk about it, he and his team lived it. These crippled Nexus 4s were the team’s primary devices. Project Svelte
Using a new developer tool called ProcStats, Google was able to monitor the RAM usage of their apps, finding out which were behaving, and which were eating system resources for breakfast. In the end, Google was able to tweak their apps, decoupling many of them from the operating system altogether. It’s this trimming of the fat that makes Android 4.4 KitKat the leanest and meanest Android release yet. In our experience running Android 4.4 KitKat on the Nexus 5, we mentioned in our review how much quicker Google’s device is over even the LG G2, the Nexus 5′s sister device powered by the same processor and packing the same amount of RAM. While optimistic, we’ll have to reserve final judgement until the first low-end KitKat devices begin to hit the market sometime next year. Anyone out there running KitKat on older Nexus hardware? Have you experienced a noticeable improvement in speed? |
| Moto X with wood finish still on the way, will arrive in time for the holidays – but will you wait? Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:58 PM PST
There’s been a lot of guessing as to when we might expect the wood-backed Moto X’s to hit Motorola’s virtual store shelves. A premium option that will be available on Motomaker, the last we heard from it was earlier this month in a leak. No date mind you, just the 4 finishes — Teak, Ebony, Rosewood and Bamboo — listed on Motomaker as “coming soon.” Today, Reuters’ Sinead Carew provided us with an update, going on the record as saying the wood finishes would, unfortunately, miss their target Thanksgiving release, but should still arrive in time for holiday shopping. For some of you, you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a Moto X until these special wood-backings were available, and who could blame you. It’s a shame they weren’t made available shortly after the device’s release, but we imagine real wood is a little harder to come by these days. [via Google+] |
| NVIDIA teases SHIELD Black Friday bundle deal Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:08 PM PST
The holiday deals keep on coming. This time it’s NVIDIA stepping up to the plate, prepping the NVIDIA Shield Android handheld for an upcoming Black Friday deal to be revealed on Thanksgiving, at 9pm PT. Details are scarce, pretty much all we know is that the deal include some kind of bundle, with Batman Arkham Origins making an appearance in the fine print. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for a deeply discounted NVIDIA SHIELD (we’ve been looking for a good excuse to pick one up), and will have our pocketbooks ready. Stay tuned, folks… |
| Familiar “Ok Google” hotword arrives on desktop via official Chrome extension Posted: 26 Nov 2013 02:19 PM PST
The “Ok Google” hotword — the phrase spoken to perform a Google Voice Search — is slowly growing into a pop icon. We’ve watched as its evolved, making its first appearance in Google Glass (albeit under the slightly modified Ok Glass command), to today where it’s made its home on our Nexus 5 homescreens. Today, “Ok Google” has finally landed on the desktop via Google’s all new extension for the Chrome web browser. Once installed on Chrome, the Google homepage will automatically begin listening for the familiar “Ok Google” command to perform hands-free voice searches. Pretty neat. Oh, and to avoid sucking battery life out of laptops, Google.com will stop listening for the hotword after 5 minutes of inactivity. To show off Chrome’s all new feature, Google uploaded a new video onto YouTube for easy sharing with friends and family. Help spread the word, and try out the extension for yourself.
[via ChromeSpot] |
| Sonic Dash comes rolling into the Google Play Store, takes in-app ads to another level Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:49 PM PST
If you spent any length of time looking for games to download onto your Android device, you’d know the Google Play Store has no shortage of endless runners. Today, your favorite spikey-haired hedgehog is joining their ranks. Sonic Dash, is all new for Android and features the world famous blue protagonist, as he spins, jumps and, of course, dashes his way throughout linear levels in search of shiny gold coins.
An endless runner more akin to Subway Surfers, players assume the role as Sonic the Hedgehog, flicking either left or right to dodge obstacles, swiping up to jump over them, or down to spin attack. For a Sonic the Hedgehog game, we have to admit, it translates pretty darn well into an endless runner. Gameplay is challenging, obstacles and enemies are mixed, and it will take quick reflexes to clear areas and bank coins. In-game currency Because Sonic Dash is a freemium game we’re talking about here, the usual sets of in-game currency apply. You’ll accumulate gold coins the easiest, simply by playing a level and banking them at various checkpoints. These can be spent on simple power ups to advance further in a level, giving you bragging rights should you connect the game to your social networks. Harder to come by are the “Red Star Rings”, used for unlocking new characters, playing mini games, or gaining extra lives. It’s the typical freemium-fare, something we’ve grown accustomed to.
Ads It’s Sonic Dash’s other business model that will, no doubt, be the make-or-break for most. Intrusive popup video ads greet you at every turn. They’re so jarring and seemingly appear whenever they damn while feel like it (usually when you’re in the menu screen). Frustrating doesn’t even begin to describe them. Not only will you be forced to watch a video for about 5 seconds before being able to skip, but another popup ad always follows, requiring you to press a small “X” in the corner to exit. Of course, these aren’t always the easiest to hit and more than often you’ll accidentally click the ad forwarding you to the Play Store. It’s annoying, and we can’t shake the feeling that they’re supposed to be. The real price of admission For a minimum of $4, ads can be removed from the game altogether, something I’ve strongly considered paying for simply to keep my sanity. Sega tries to sweeten the deal by including a gang of in-game currency. It’s a shame because the game is actually pretty solid, but if playing a Sonic game in between video ads sounds like a good time to you, you can download Sonic Dash for free in the Google Play Store.
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| Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:33 PM PST
Joining a long line of Samsung phones getting Android 4.3 Jelly Bean recently is T-Mobile’s variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4. The upgrade is rolling out over-the-air starting today, and will bring the premium suite upgrades we’ve talked so much about before. This includes improvements to the camera, support for the Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch, minor tweaks to TouchWiz and more. The 781 megabyte update file means you’ll want to hit up a WiFi access point before pulling this thing down, and getting your battery charged to about 50% isn’t such a bad idea, either. Of course, not everyone will be in line to receive the upgrade at the same time thanks to a staggered rollout process. Fortunately, there’s another option for those of you impatient enough to wait. You can manually update using the latest version of Samsung Kies, but remember that you must be unrooted and on stock M919UVUAMDL firmware. The new version should show M919UVUEMK2 once complete. With that news, we’ve also learned that Samsung will soon be pushing out the latest Galaxy Gear smart watch upgrade to those of us here in America. Already available in Europe, this upgrade will bring improved notifications support. Whereas before you could only see full notifications from certain Samsung apps, this upgrade will allow you to read the full contents of a notification from pretty much any app. It’s a welcome, much-needed change that should go a long way toward improving the oft-criticized smart watch experience. Other enhancements will include improved Smart Relay functionality, and likely other minor bug fixes that Samsung felt weren’t worth mentioning. No exact word on when to expect the upgrade, but we should be dancing with joy by the time our big Thanksgiving dinners have settled in our stomachs. |
| Get $25 Google Play Store credit with Nexus 7 (2013) purchase, Chromecast gets free HD movie rental Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:23 AM PST
The holiday season is nearly upon us and with that, you can expect the usual slew of deals coming out of the woodwork. The Google Play Store is no exception and beginning today, when you purchase a Nexus 7 (all models) Google is throwing in a complimentary $25 Google Play credit. If the Nexus 7 is still too rich for your blood (or maybe everyone you know has been naughty this year), then the even more affordably priced Chromecast gets a special promo as well: free HD movie rental on the house ($6 or less). As always, there’s some fine print:
Also, any hardware purchased from the Google Play Store starting today is returnable up until January 13th, 2014. For those that have just purchased a Nexus 7 (2013) or Chromecast within the last 15 days, you can return it and order another to receive the Google Play credit. Sorry, international friends. This is US and Canada only. I guess the only question left is if purchased as a gift, will you be keeping the $25 Google Play credit (or $6 movie rental) for yourself, or generously gifting as well? Tis the season. via ChromeSpot |
| Google posts holiday shipping schedule for Google Play orders to ship by Christmas Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:23 AM PST
Christmas time is right around the corner, and now is the time of year when most folks begin shopping for their loved ones. If one of your gifts is coming from the Google Play Store, you’ll want to take heed to the following list of cut-off dates to make sure the item ships by December 25th:
Remember that the order must show as being “in-stock” for you to get it by these dates, meaning those back-ordered Nexus devices could still be out of reach by the time December 25th rolls around. Head on over to the Google Play Store for all the Nexus phones and tablets, Chromebooks, Chromecasts and accessories you can handle. [via Google] |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas coming to Android this December Posted: 26 Nov 2013 10:29 AM PST
We imagined Rockstar would someday complete the original PS2 Grand Theft Auto trilogy after bringing Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City to mobile, but we didn’t know how long it would take. Thankfully, we now know that it won’t be long before we’re treated to one of the biggest games in the history of the hobby on our mobile devices. Rockstar has announced that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be released next month for a variety of mobile platforms. Android was included in that list, though Rockstar was clear in mentioning that only “select” devices would be able to get in on the fun. Alongside one of the most compelling collection of stories, characters and settings, Rockstar’s re-release will also feature “newly remastered graphics including dynamic and detailed shadows, greater draw distance, an enriched color palette, plus enhanced character and car models.” Rockstar says it’ll be the best looking rendition of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas yet. Beyond visual fidelity, the game will also feature touch controls optimized for mobile devices, as well as support for gaming controllers for those who need a more traditional input option. There’s no word on cost just yet, but we imagine Rockstar won’t be asking for a ridiculous amount of your hard-earned money to revisit the classic fictional locales of Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Who else is as excited as I am right now? |
| Motorola Moto G now available in the US from Motorola.com starting at $179 unlocked Posted: 26 Nov 2013 09:55 AM PST
The Motorola Moto G was said to be making its way to the US before the end of January 2014, but Motorola decided that was a bit too long for some folks to wait. While we’ll still be awaiting Verizon’s version of the affordable smartphone, Motorola has no problem offering up the GSM version unlocked starting today. You can head over to Motorola.com right now and order yours for $179 for the 8GB version, and $199 for 16GB. The device will not have a SIM lock, meaning you should be able to use it on any GSM carrier you want by simply swapping SIM cards. You’ll also be able to unlock its bootloader without hassle. The Moto G doesn’t have the world’s most amazing specs, though that’s to be expected at such a cheap price point off-contract. Here’s what you can expect under the hood:
And that’s it. Like I said, not amazing, but this’ll make a nice gift for new smartphone owners or someone who just doesn’t prefer to spend a ton of money on their smartphones. You can grab it at Motorola’s website right here. |
| Oppo N1′s CyanogenMod build will be the first to come with officially-licensed Google Apps Posted: 26 Nov 2013 09:08 AM PST
A long while ago in the world of after-market ROM development, something unfortunate happened — Google decided they didn’t like their proprietary apps being packaged with ROM downloads without the distributor officially licensing them. As you might know, Android is open-source, but only to an extent. Folks can download and build the source code as freely as they want to, but it’s not until you get the Gapps package — or Google Apps — that you get access to things like the Play Store, Gmail and more. It’s something all OEMs have to go through, but you can understand why the development community wasn’t particularly fond of that process. That wasn’t much of an issue, though — folks were just as free to download Gapps packages separately and flash them on their own, giving them access to the Google Play Store and many other Google services on their favorite ROM. But with CyanogenMod going “legit” with their new incorporation and teaming up with Oppo to provide CyanogenMod for the N1, the company decided it was time to stop beating around the bush and get hooked up with the official licenses and other legal necessities to have Gapps distributed with CyanogenMod.
We know this to be true of the package that will be released for Oppo N1 owners wishing to flash CyanogenMod or get the limited run of the phone with the ROM pre-installed, though we’re not yet sure if this will extend to folks flashing CM to other devices through something like the CyanogenMod Installer (which launched a couple of weeks ago). This is especially significant for CyanogenMod considering the team’s ROM was the first major example Google used to make their point. The Mountain View company allegedly issued cease and desist letters a few years back asking the team to comply with their licensing rules or risk major legal action. That little snafu obviously didn’t spell doom for CyanogenMod, but it did happen. We’ll be getting a line into the CyanogenMod team to see if we can’t find out more, but this unprecedented event shouldn’t go unnoticed. This is as big of a deal as the day that the team announced they were going to be forming a corporation with major funds behind them. The craziest part is that this is still just the early beginning of something major, boys and girls. We’re still waiting to hear word on a supposed official “CyanogenMod phone” that is being worked on with a mystery hardware partner. The latest rumors suggest the team is working with ex-Oppo vice president Pete Lau to create device that was built from the ground up for nothing but CyanogenMod. The team already halfway confirmed their plans, though we’ll have to wait for more pointed details in the future to know exactly what we’re in store for. Let’s just say it’s going to be an interesting couple of months from here on out. |
| Here’s the new CyanogenMod 10.2 boot animation, and it doesn’t look too shabby [VIDEO] Posted: 26 Nov 2013 07:48 AM PST In case you didn’t remember, the CyanogenMod team has started work on version 10.2 (which is the final Android 4.3 Jelly Bean release before the team starts focusing on the KitKat-based CM 11). Nightlies are already on their way to some folks, and it’s been discovered that the team decided to whip up a new boot animation for this major release. You can find the animation in the YouTube video above, but what you’re looking at is what you’re going to get — something simple, clean, professional, and elegant. It features a rather authoritative photo of Cid, the CyanogenMod mascot, with a clockwise arrow circling it. Beneath that is the “CyanogenMod” text in the always-familiar typeface they like to use. It’s not too flashy, because it’s not supposed to blow your mind. This is the image that’s going to represent the new, improved, and “official” CyanogenMod every time you boot your phone up. No more skateboarding bugdroids, and no more amateur animations: this is serious business, folks. We’re not sure when to expect CyanogenMod 10.2 for the masses, but it’s worth noting that the Oppo N1 should have first dibs. The Chinese OEM of said phone is the first to officially support flashing of the custom ROM, and we have a feeling it won’t take much longer for the CM team to deliver the goods to that particular device. Watch the quick flick of the boot animation in the YouTube video above. |
| Google sending out second wave of Glass Explorer invites Posted: 26 Nov 2013 06:39 AM PST
Ready for another chance to spend a crap ton of money on experimental products? Google is opening up their Glass Explorer program to a new wave of users, with the company sending email invites for those who signed up on their website to buy their way into the Glass Explorer program. Having the invite alone isn’t enough, though — you’ll also need $1,500 of disposable money for the privilege to own one of the most primitive pieces of tech out there. Emails are being sent out with one-time-only invite codes, and the codes will only last for 7 days (meaning you’ll need to act fast, or miss out on this second chance at getting into the Explorer program). We’re not sure if another opportunity will come along before Google brings this thing to retail early next year, so jump on it if you just have to have your Glass unit as soon as possible. Check your email for the code if you previously signed up to be notified. |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition now seeing Android 4.4 KitKat rollout Posted: 26 Nov 2013 05:54 AM PST
Yesterday, Samsung and HTC released the source code files for Android 4.4 KitKat for their respective Google Play Edition phones, which led us to believe that the upgrade to the latest version of Android wasn’t far behind. Indeed, HTC and Google confirmed that as they started rolling out Android 4.4 to the HTC One GPe-owning masses early that morning. We’d still been waiting for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition to get the rollout, but the wait is over — the phone is finally starting to see Android 4.4 KitKat! Many owners should be seeing the upgrade over-the-air, though if this rollout process is just as staggered as it’s been for Nexus devices then it’s possible you won’t see it right away. We’re still searching for a direct download link for those who don’t mind sideloading the upgrade, but in the meantime you can try your luck at the OTA by hitting the Settings menu. Don’t forget to turn on WiFi and get charged up to 30-50% before giving it a go. Have at it! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!] |
| [UPDATE: DROID Ultra, too] Motorola DROID Mini coming in white? Posted: 26 Nov 2013 05:16 AM PST
Verizon could be ready to introduce a new color option for folks who spring for the Mini variant in their latest DROID lineup. Twitter leakster @evleaks told us that much with this latest press render of the device in white. It’s an interesting look for the little guy, with Motorola typically sticking to darker tones when it comes to phones in the DROID lineup. The source didn’t have much more information to share, but we imagine Verizon will want to get this thing out during the season where “white” is usually all over the place in the northern hemisphere. With that, there won’t be much more guesswork to do, as we’ll expect this to be identical to the current Motorola DROID Mini in terms of specs. Here’s what you’ll be greeted to:
With that, we can also use the current DROID Mini to get a good idea of price. It’s going for $50 on a new two-year contract right now, or about $16 per month with no down payment if you get the phone through Verizon Edge. That’s not a bad price for a device in this size range. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take long for Verizon to unleash this thing for those who long for a brighter smartphone. [Update]: Looks like the DROID Ultra is also getting the white treatment. DROID MAXX in line too, Verizon? [via @evleaks] |
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