Android Phone Fans |
- OUYA mod turns the micro-console into a gaming handheld
- Moto G pictured for Verizon Wireless, priced at $99 off-contract?
- Nokia bans all HTC Android-based devices in Germany over the use of Android Beam
- ARCHOS announces line of connected devices (including smartwatches starting at £50) to debut at CES 2014
- AllDock wants to be your charging station for everything [KICKSTARTER]
- Schemer is the latest Google service on the chopping block
- Carbon for Twitter version 2 will sport a fresh new look tomorrow
- AT&T tipped to carry Samsung Galaxy Note Pro
- What Eric Schmidt thinks 2014 will bring
- Samsung’s Galaxy Gear 2, Galaxy Band said to be coming to Mobile World Congress
- LG expanding Knock feature to all L-Series II devices in 2014
- Samsung announces 8-gigabit LPDDR4 RAM, could bring 4GB of RAM in future devices
- Google, Audi to team up for Android in cars in 2014; Announcement coming at CES
| OUYA mod turns the micro-console into a gaming handheld Posted: 30 Dec 2013 06:02 PM PST With many Xbox fans upgrading to the higher-powered Xbox One this passing holiday, many 360s around the world found themselves kicked swiftly to the curb. With all those extra 360 controllers laying around, we suppose it was only a matter of time before someone put them to better use. Using a little ingenuity and whole lot of creativity, OUYABoards member Eucrow decided to take on the ambitious DIY project of converting his Android-powered micro-console into a portable handheld. Alright, so it’s not exactly pocketable, but this is still a work in progress. Definitely not for the faint of heart, you can see how Eucrow hacked up the 360 controller, slapping an LCD display in between. Underneath the display we find some of the guts of the OUYA, with the end result looking like something similar to the Wii U gamepad and Frankenstein’s monster. Eucrow mentions he’ll now work on tidying things up, eventually crafting some sort of case to keep everything hidden inside. Fun mods like this never cease to amaze us. We suppose the OUYA’s low price point makes it the perfect device for tinkering, and although we’ve seen custom cases in the past, this takes modding to a-whole-nother-level. [OUYABoards | via XboxOneDaily] |
| Moto G pictured for Verizon Wireless, priced at $99 off-contract? Posted: 30 Dec 2013 04:21 PM PST
Today, a Best Buy Mobile employee posted a picture of the Moto G in its Verizon packaging to his Google+ page. While there’s not particularly interesting in itself, the leaker goes onto mention that the device could arrive at only $99 (likely the 8GB model) off-contract. That’s a fairly nice discount over the GSM model. Given there’s no way to verify this information, we’ll take it with a grain of salt. It’s entirely possible the employee was mistaken at left out a digit. Still, even with the device’s shortcomings, would any of you consider a Moto G on Verizon Wireless for only 100 bucks? Thanks, Steve! [Google+] |
| Nokia bans all HTC Android-based devices in Germany over the use of Android Beam Posted: 30 Dec 2013 03:05 PM PST HTC’s string of bad luck continues, this time in in Germany where Judge Dr. Matthias Zigann has just granted Nokia a permanent sales injunction against their rival’s handsets, effectively banning the sale of all Android-based devices made by the Taiwanese manufacturer. Of course, all of this had to do with patents — patents like EP1148681 which deals with peer-to-peer sharing via NFC over a Bluetooth connection (but not WiFi). You know, just a little feature baked into the core Android OS. Because this isn’t considered a standard-essential patent, Nokia doesn’t have to license it under FRAND terms. HTC is currently being sued by Nokia in 7 different countries including Germany, the US, UK, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Japan. HTC is likely to appeal the decision while Google makes an attempt at invalidating the patent. In the meantime, we expect some sort of over-the-air update to sidestep Nokia’s patent, a move HTC is all too familiar with. Yay, for software patents. (Sarcasm). [FOSS Patents | via Engadget] |
| Posted: 30 Dec 2013 02:00 PM PST
Billed as "well-designed" and affordable, these devices are all aimed at enhancing connectivity at home, while keeping tabs on personal health. Let’s take a look at what they’ve got lined up. ARCHOS Connected Home First up is ARCHOS Connected Home — featuring a 7-inch, custom designed "Smart Home Tablet" at the forefront. For those looking to bring their own device, there is also the Smart Home app for Android and iOS. The app can customize Connected Home actions, like turning on the lights and triggering pingpong ball-sized camera when movement is detected. Connected Objects include: mini cam, motion ball, movement tag, and smart plug. There's even a “Weather Station,” used for monitoring indoor and outdoor information like humidity, CO2 levels, temp, etc.. ARCHOS Connected Self As part of ARCHOS' Connected Self line of devices is a Connected Scale that recognizes up to 4 different users, tracking body fat and measuring body shape to help lose weight "intelligently". The Activity Tracker measures footsteps, calories burned, and shows the time while syncing data through the smartphone app. With promised 7-day battery life, it sounds like it should easily get users through a solid week of runs. Also announced was the ARCHOS Blood Pressure Monitor that does, what else, but monitor your blood pressure. It also tracks displays heart beat information, that can be used to detect irregular heart beats. ARCHOS Smartwatches Still kept behind the curtain were ARCHOS' upcoming line of smartwatches, starting as low as £50. The achilles heel of currently available smartwatches are their normally high entry fees, so consider us more than intrigued. We'll be bringing you more next week during our CES 2014 coverage, so stay tuned! |
| AllDock wants to be your charging station for everything [KICKSTARTER] Posted: 30 Dec 2013 12:35 PM PST It’s not that uncommon for a tech geek to have more than one, two or even three devices that need charging every now and then. Keeping up with all the wires needed to charge said devices might get a bit ugly and a bit clunky. AllDock wants to change that. It’s a Kickstarter project that has the potential to do big numbers. What is it, you ask? It’s a multi-device dock that can seat up to 6 different devices, whether it’s a 4-inch smartphone or a 10-inch tablet. The device comes equipped with all the ports you need for nearly any device you can imagine, from the standard microUSB cable that’s become an industry standard, right down to The AllDock features a removable base, beneath which will sit all the cables you will use to charge your devices. Its purpose is to hide all that extra unneeded length and make your setup look as clean and neat as any good desk deserves.
The developers are promising a super fast charge, with each USB port able to charge devices at a rate of 2400mA per port, giving you more than enough juice to charge any modern tablet, and giving you up to 80% of battery life in under an hour for most smartphones. The six-seater too much for your small stable of devices? There will be a mini version that can seat up to two devices, and a medium version for four devices. The docks will be available in black, white, and wood-grain finishes, giving you a neutral suite of options to fit any desk. The project is seeking only moderate funding, with the Berkeley-based Dittrich California Inc. asking for just $40,000. The project has already reached $16,990 as of the time of this writing, and there are still another 31 days to go. Head over to Kickstarter to check it out, and take a good look at the many pledge options available to you. The cheapest pledge currently runs for about $39 for a small edition, with the most expensive coming in at around $149. The product is expected to ship at some point in May. [via Kickstarter] |
| Schemer is the latest Google service on the chopping block Posted: 30 Dec 2013 11:12 AM PST After launching Google Schemer almost 2 years ago, it appears Google is finally ready to set the “to-do” service out to pasture. Shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, really. The Android app hasn’t been updated since October of 2012. With no progress being made on the app, we even suggested in an August article that Google could even integrate the service into Google Now, breathing new life into Schemer. Unfortunately, as evidenced by an internal screenshot obtained by Google Operating System, Schemer will be shut down, although it appears a specific closing date hasn’t been decided just yet. For those that had a good number of Schemes on their bucket-list, as usual Google will allow users to download their data. We think Schemer had some potential, but with so little exposure, its closure was inevitable. Still, the fact that Google closes services based solely on their popularity is a bit disheartening. Makes you wonder which Google service is next on the chopping block? |
| Carbon for Twitter version 2 will sport a fresh new look tomorrow Posted: 30 Dec 2013 10:30 AM PST It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen an upgrade for the beautiful Twitter client Carbon — August 28th by Google Play’s word — but the team has been working on a big new upgrade that should be hitting our devices at some point tomorrow. According to dots & lines designer M.Saleh Esmaeili, “v2 is now fully wired and polished,” and will bring with it an all new timeline design, a new Quick Timeline feature from Carbon versions past, and more. Esmaeili took the time to remind us that all of Carbon’s features are represented up-front and center, and not hidden into a settings menu, so whatever other changes are in-store should be noticeable the moment you open the app. We’ll be getting in touch to see if we can’t get a quick sneak peak ahead of time, or to see if there are any more new features and changes folks should look forward to. For now, though, you can check Carbon out in the Google Play Store to see why it’s become one of the top Twitter clients available for Android. |
| AT&T tipped to carry Samsung Galaxy Note Pro Posted: 30 Dec 2013 09:46 AM PST While we’re waiting for Samsung to officially announce details about the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro (potentially at CES), @evleaks tells us we can already look forward to at least one carrier shoving their 4G LTE radios inside. The Twitter-bound leakster has mentioned that the device would be headed to AT&T under the model number SM-P907A. We don’t know a ton about the Galaxy Note Pro just yet, but what we do know makes us quite excited:
It sounds like a beast of a tablet, though time will tell if something this unwieldy will be able to capture the interests of a wide range of people in a time where lighter and smaller tablets are often seen as better. There’s only a week to go before we see if Samsung is ready to take the wraps off of a tablet that should make a huge splash in the market (be it in sales or reviews) once it launches. |
| What Eric Schmidt thinks 2014 will bring Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:47 AM PST The year is almost over, and one Google executive is already looking ahead to the turn of the calendar. I’m talking about ex-CEO and current chairman of the board Eric Schmidt, the man who saw Google through some of its best years before handing the reigns back to the two original gents who started the Mountain View company. Speaking with Bloomberg, Eric Schmidt let us in on his thoughts about what would transpire in 2014. While he didn’t have any off-the-wall predictions to make in regards to mobile, he did let us know that he believed “everyone” would have a smartphone or mobile device in 2014. While we’re sure that statement isn’t to be taken literally, the trends have indeed shown that smartphones and tablets are gaining in popularity at a much more aggressive rate than PCs. In fact, the two seem to be headed in completely different directions, with PC market share steadily declining over the past few years. That these tablets and smartphones are becoming as capable — if not more, in some cases — than traditional PCs has certainly helped, and 2014 should bring the innovation needed to drive that trend home. Schmidt also touched on the social networking boom, and how Google wouldn’t underestimate the importance of being a major player in that arena like they have in the past. Google has tried many times in the past with things like Google Buzz, iGoogle and more, but ultimately failed. Schmidt wasn’t above taking the blame for those failures, with the executive putting the missed opportunities on his own shoulders. Their latest attempt — Google+ — has already been a huge success, and you can bet they’ll be working to bring us even more social innovations in the year to come. On the not-so-tech focused part of it, Schmidt says he thinks we’ll be seeing great ground broken in DNA and genetics, leading the way to unlocking the information needed to combat some of the world’s as-yet uncured diseases. We all hope that one turns out to be true for the sake of the world’s health. Be sure to watch the video above for his full slate of thoughts. |
| Samsung’s Galaxy Gear 2, Galaxy Band said to be coming to Mobile World Congress Posted: 30 Dec 2013 07:07 AM PST It didn’t take long for folks to learn that the original Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch was rushed to market. With a limited subset of features, and with it initially available for a very limited amount of Samsung’s smartphones, it’s no inaccurate to suggest the watch was a bit of a dud. Samsung later admitted that the Galaxy Gear was a bit rough around the edges, and seemed to confirm that they would be moving quickly on a more complete sequel. So when is that going to happen? Latest rumors suggest we circle our calendars for February in Barcelona, Spain. That’s where Mobile World Congress takes place, a venue where Samsung historically has big announcements and product unveilings. Beyond that, we’re told to expect the Samsung Galaxy Band, which is a fitness tracker that will be able to sync all your relevant workout and vitality information with your smartphones. Samsung already showed interest in bringing health-related features to their phones with the pre-installed pedometer app, so a full-fledged fitness solution doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary. If we’re lucky, we might also get some new tablets and smartphones. Samsung could introduce new options in the Galaxy Tab line, and it might not be a bad time to bring the Samsung Galaxy S5 we’ve all been waiting for. And should the rumored 12.2-inch Samsung Galaxy Note Pro miss the bus to CES in Vegas, we could be seeing that launch, as well. No matter which way you spin it, though, everything points to a very big Q1 for Samsung, and our attention will be focused squarely on the biggest player in Android (and, arguably, all of mobile). [via Korean Herald] |
| LG expanding Knock feature to all L-Series II devices in 2014 Posted: 30 Dec 2013 06:30 AM PST LG tried a lot of new things with the LG G2. The biggest bungie jump for the South Korean company was to place buttons on the back of the device instead of the sides. Folks wondered if this would affect the ease with which you can wake the device up from sleep, but one feature made that irrelevant — LG Knock. It’s something Edgar Cervantes salivated over in his review, and the feature proved to be more than just a novelty for many other people. Simply put, LG Knock allows you to tap the display twice to turn it on, giving you a quick and easy way to open up the digital window to your mobile life. LG then implemented Knock in the virtually indestructible LG G Flex and the LG G Pad 8.3, and they found that it was one feature that pretty much everyone seemed to love. And now it’ll be in mostly all of their big devices for 2014. The company has announced that all devices in the L-Series II family (including the LG Optimus L7 II, LG Optimus L5 II and LG Optimus L3 II) will be getting LG Knock, whether it’s out-of-the-box or enabled via a global maintenance upgrade starting in January.
While the feature alone is small, it’s the summation of all the small things that make up a big, robust, attractive package, and LG’s no doubt looking to find more of the little things that will make up their user experience for the future. |
| Samsung announces 8-gigabit LPDDR4 RAM, could bring 4GB of RAM in future devices Posted: 30 Dec 2013 06:03 AM PST Samsung has announced yet another mobile silicon breakthrough. The South Korean company has announced the world’s first 8-gigabit LPDDR4 RAM capable of 1GB of RAM on a single die. The mark is heralded as the largest density of memory available on a single embedded die today. Samsung says it will provide performance that’s 50% faster than the fastest LPDDR3 RAM while using 40% less energy overall. What’s more? This will enable Samsung to offer 4GB LPDDR4 chips in 2014, a mark that would be absolutely insane considering most OEMs have yet to adopt 3GB configurations. Such a development would probably require brand new chipsets to take advantage, though we imagine that’s something Samsung is also thinking about behind closed doors. The company is rumored to be working on a new Exynos chipset that will enable 64-bit computing. That won’t be the end of it, of course. We still need to wait for further advancements in Android before OEMs can take full advantage of 4GB of RAM, but it’s not impossible to believe Samsung would develop their own solutions custom fit for their own devices and tablets. The company says the new 8-gigabit memory will be available at some point in 2014, though it remains to be seen which device will carry the honor of being the first to offer it. We’re all obviously hoping it’s something that’ll be on the way soon, like the Samsung Galaxy S5 or the rumored Samsung Galaxy Note Pro tablet, but we’ll try not to get our hopes up just yet. Besides, 3GB of RAM has proven to be more than enough for most mobile needs.
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| Google, Audi to team up for Android in cars in 2014; Announcement coming at CES Posted: 30 Dec 2013 05:12 AM PST Everything is becoming smart, folks, and the buck won’t stop with automobiles. While we’ve already seen decent efforts by automakers to make their cars more smart and connected in recent years, rumors from the Wall Street Journal suggest they’re about to get even more serious about it. The publication is reporting that Google is planning to team up with Audi to develop a comprehensive smart car experience that makes it easy to access entertainment and information on the road. The system would employ Android, natch, which would be a good platform to latch onto considering how open it is. While further fine details of the partnership have yet to be disclosed, WSJ tells us to expect the full gamut at CES 2014 in Las Vegas. We’re not sure if we’re getting a simple announcement or a cool tech demo, but excitement jolts us either way. Many would contend that not everything needs to be smart, with the likes of televisions, smoke detectors, and even kitchen appliances and doorbells finding a way to stay connected. But smart cars are definitely one natural evolution that the industry seems to be gravitating toward. Many auto makers are equipping their systems with 4G LTE, and it won’t be long before you might be able to sign a two-year data service agreement along with your lease on a car. Bringing the best of smartphones and tablets to everything doesn’t always work, but the marriage between these mobile devices and automobiles is certainly one of the more sensible ones. Phandroid will be toting all their bags to CES when all of this is said to be going down, and you can be sure we’ll be looking to hunt down these two major players as they make a very significant push for a smarter vehicle in 2014. |
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