Android Phone Fans |
- Hangouts 2.1.223 rolling out now, fixes excessive battery drain, adds custom ringtones
- Google Glass XE17.3 update introduces new ‘notification glance’ feature
- Report: Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to merger valued at $32 billion
- Amazon schedules June 18th event for new smartphone, accidentally shows it in teaser video
- Sense 6 now rolling out for AT&T HTC One M7, obligations nearly complete
- 17 Awesome Moto 360 Designs We Want to Wear Right Now
- Instagram for Android is still killing the quality of your uploads, but not the iOS version
- This is exactly why I’m losing faith in Kickstarter (and why I wish I never backed Pressy) [OPINION]
- Best Android Phones [June 2014]
- Deal: $100 off T-Mobile tablets for Father’s Day
- You can now buy the Sony SmartBand in the US for $100
- Android, Samsung see slight increase in US market share while Apple takes small hit
- Google Glass could help soldiers shoot around corners without exposing themselves [VIDEO]
- Some users starting to see World Cup support in Google Now
- LG G Watch system dump reveals Google Now images, clock face weather backgrounds, Snapdragon 400 processor, and more
| Hangouts 2.1.223 rolling out now, fixes excessive battery drain, adds custom ringtones Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:49 PM PDT A new update for Hangouts is hitting Android devices today bringing, not only a few key bug fixes, but new features as well. Version 2.1.223 introduces the ability to set your own custom ringtone for incoming calls, a likely precursor to voice calling we’d guess. Also, Google mentions they’ve finally patched up that nasty battery draining bug plaguing so many devices. The update will be hitting the Google Play Store today (in a staged rollout, of course), but for those that don’t feel like waiting, you can sideload the apk via our link below.
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| Google Glass XE17.3 update introduces new ‘notification glance’ feature Posted: 04 Jun 2014 04:42 PM PDT Google Glass Explorers are being treated to yet another small update in the XE17 release. XE17.3 is rolling out today and introduces a new “notification glance” experimental feature that should make lives easier for Glass wearers. Previously, Glass users would have to either tilt their heads up or touch the touchpad to view a new notification. With notification glance, users will only need to look at their Glass to display to view a notification. Notification glace can be found as a new card in the Settings and will need some quick calibration to get it up and running. If you haven’t received XE17.3 quite yet, plug your Glass into a charger, connect to WiFi and head over to your Settings > Device info > Install update. Cheers. |
| Report: Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to merger valued at $32 billion Posted: 04 Jun 2014 03:11 PM PDT Oh, man. According to reports out of Bloomberg and the WSJ, Sprint is close to reaching an agreement to acquire T-Mobile for a summertime merger. The proposed deal could run SoftBank around $50 billion, leaving T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom with only a 15% stake in the company, while Sprint gains 50% stock (around $40 a share) and 50% cash. Of course, all of this is subject to regulatory approval but sources close to the matter say they’re planning for a July announcement. Similar to the deal T-Mobile made with AT&T, if it falls through, Sprint could be paying around $1 billion simply for trying. We’re really trying to weigh out the positives and negatives and we have to say, it’s too early to freak out. How would you guys feel about reports that T-Mobile could be merging with Sprint? Could there possibly be a bright side to all this? |
| Amazon schedules June 18th event for new smartphone, accidentally shows it in teaser video Posted: 04 Jun 2014 02:23 PM PDT After a few good leaks, Amazon could finally be ready to unveil their long rumored “Amazon phone.” Scheduling an event for June 18th, Amazon does give us slight clue as to what will be unveiled, with a few lucky individuals given a preview of the device in a new promo video. In the video, a lady mentions it “moved” with her which only makes sense in the light of recent leaks that show 4 sensors said to work in tandem with Amazon’s new 3D UI. Apparently the perspective changes according to how you’re looking at it. As we’ve seen with the Amazon Fire TV, expect a mobile version of Amazon’s Fire OS based off of a bastardized version of Android. Funniest part is unless you’ve been keeping up with all the leaks, the video could look “wrong” if you know what we mean (use your dirty imaginations). Check it out below for a quick chuckle. Update: Turns out Amazon slipped up. If you pause at a specific point in the video, you actually get a brief glimpse at their new phone. Yup, guess it’s just about confirmed then. Proof pictured below (via Aaron Kasten). |
| Sense 6 now rolling out for AT&T HTC One M7, obligations nearly complete Posted: 04 Jun 2014 01:51 PM PDT After promising last week that their latest version of Sense 6.0 would soon arrive for the AT&T HTC One (M7), the final puzzle piece that was their obligations to the HTC One (M7) have finally been met. True to their word, HTC has successfully rolled out the latest version of their software to the previous flagship line (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile models), leaving only the Verizon HTC One Max and AT&T HTC One Mini still on the menu. This is great news considering Android 4.4.3 began rolling out yesterday for a handful of “stock” Android devices like the Motorola Moto X, G, E and a handful of Google Play edition devices. We’re curious to see if HTC will now begin the process of updating this same device line to Android 4.4.3, or if they’ll hold out for something a little bigger launching later this year (Lollipop?). In either case, I think we could all use a little break. [HTC] |
| 17 Awesome Moto 360 Designs We Want to Wear Right Now Posted: 04 Jun 2014 01:14 PM PDT The Moto 360 smartwatch with Android Wear is one of the most highly anticipated devices of 2014. Motorola and Google simultaneously blew our minds when this attractive device was announced. We’ve seen many smartwatches in the past with Android, but there is something very special about the Moto 360: it’s round. This simple design feature has captured the imagination of techies everywhere. This is best displayed on Motorola’s Moto 360 Design Face-Off contest page. Thousands of watch faces have been entered in this contest. Motorola will soon be choosing a winner, but until then we have scoured the entries and chosen some personal favorites. Enjoy! JarvisThis design was created to make it seem like the watch is powered by JARVIS, Tony Stark’s AI computer assistant. You may not have an Iron Man suit at your disposal, but a Moto 360 with JARVIS is close enough. Fun fact: JARVIS stands for “Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.” Circle-based ClockIn this design the hours, minutes, and seconds are displayed with circles that grow to represent the time. On the outside of the rings is the day of the week and the date. At the center of the face is the current weather conditions and temperature. It’s a very attractive and information-rich design. Calendar ClockAt first this seems like a very simple and plain watch, but there is more than that. The colored lines represent events on your calendar. You can visually see how close your are to an upcoming event, or see if you are currently at an event. This is very handy for anyone with a loaded calendar. Moto SimpleSimplicity is sometimes an overlooked feature. This clock face has tons of it. Simple clock hands show what time it is, and a realistic-looking cutout displays the date. There is also a handy shortcut to perform a voice command. COSMOS ClockAre you a COSMOS fan? This is the watch face for you. At the center is our bright sun, with the Earth and Moon revolving around it to display the hours and minutes. There are no numbers to show the time, making this watch a bit abstract, but it is visually stunning nonetheless. Fitbit ConceptThis design is a concept for an Android Wear Fitbit app. With your Fitbit on your wrist or in your pocket you will easily be able to pull up this app and check your progress. This is super handy since most Fitbit devices don’t have displays. The 360 could be the perfect companion to a Fitbit. Simple Weather ClockOne of the most common reasons for pulling your phone out of your pocket is to check the weather. Moto 360 will make this even easier, especially with this clock face. At the center is a big icon for the current conditions and the temperature underneath. Even the high and low can be found on the left side. On the right side you can switch locations to browse the weather, and up top is of course the time. Minimal & ElegantThis watch face is called “Minimal & Elegant,” and that is exactly how we would describe it. Instead of the usual clock face you always see, this one uses a revolving row of numbers for the hour and minutes. It also displays the date underneath. We would love to have this on our watch. Translucent DiscsAnother take on the classic watch is this face that uses discs. The discs don’t really help you tell the time (that is done with the hands), but they subtle move and create a cool effect. We like the Tron-like design of this watch. It’s futuristic while using the classic time-keeping mechanism. Classic MickeyEveryone has seen the classic Mickey Mouse watch at some time or another. This guy has been around for a long time. Mickey’s arms act as the hour and minute hand which make it very fun. We would love to see a hyper-realistic Mickey Mouse watch face like this. Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Soundcloud ConceptHere we have another app concept for Android Wear. This time it’s for the music service Soundcloud. There is a lot going on in this concept. Along the right side is a volume slider, across the bottom is the progress of the track, along the left side is shortcuts, and in the middle there is play and pause. This would be an awesome remote for Soundcloud. Simple Text“Hey, what time is it?” IT’S FOUR TWENTY TWO “Okay, cool.” It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Space & TimeSpace: the final frontier for watch faces. The second design on our list with a space them is a little more cartoonish, but that is why we love it. This design uses clean vector graphics to show the moon, a planet, and a cute little space ship. It also shows the time, which is critically important. Modern Retro“Modern Retro” may sound like oxymoron, but there is nothing moronic about this watch. It shows the time with stacked discs that have small arrows to point at the hours and minutes. If that is too difficult you can just check the digital time on the center of the screen, as well as date. Very snazzy looking. MotogotchiA cute little creature on your watch at all times sounds pretty cool. But what if that creature could also interact with the weather conditions? That is exactly the proposed idea for this watch face, which has been accurately named “Motogotchi.” Hopefully this one is less addictive. Lambdλ WatchfacesThis watch is cool because it looks like something a diver would wear. Instead of specialized read-outs for depth and oxygen we have the weather, date, and battery information. You can use this watch face to feel like a marine biologist without getting your hands wet (the 360 will also appreciate that). Chin InvertYou may have noticed a “chin” on the bottom of some of these designs. That is something that will be in the final design of the Moto 360. In most designs it looks out-of-place, but in this one it was used in the design. The designer put it at the top of the display to make every symmetrical. It’s a very nice balanced look. *** Now it’s your turn! All of the submissions can be seen here. It’s amazing how many different designs have been submitted. We can’t wait to see some of these in real life. What are your favorites from the list? Do you like the watch faces that we chose? Let us know in the comments if you plan on getting a Moto 360. |
| Instagram for Android is still killing the quality of your uploads, but not the iOS version Posted: 04 Jun 2014 11:57 AM PDT (Click for full size image) Yesterday, we watched as yet another update for the Facebook-owned Instagram app rolled out onto the Google Play Store. We already gave you guys the full spiel in yesterday’s post, with Instagram 6.0 introducing a new bag of tricks to help make your photos look even more awesome. There’s just one big problem: if you’re using the Android version of the app, your photos will look just as crappy as ever. This is because of a well documented and ongoing issue we’ve seen practically since Instagram first debuted on Android. Instagram’s upload quality — unique to the Android version of the app — compresses images to high hell before uploading and posting to the social network. What’s even more frustrating is that the iOS version doesn’t suffer from the same quality issues. We know, it’s not bad enough to that it would be blatantly obvious to the casual user, but it’s enough that people will notice photos taken with the iPhone (and uploaded to Instagram) just look better. Original (left), and the quality after uploading to Instagram on Android (right) Don’t believe us? Just take a look at our sample image (above) to see the differences between the iOS and Android versions of the exact same image. While a loss of some image quality is to be expected — even in an age of 1080p smartphones, Instagram still insists on resizing images to a shockingly small 640×640 — the fact that the most recent version of the Android app pales in comparison to its iOS counterpart is in no other words, simply unacceptable. What we’d really like to know is if this is somehow intentional, or merely an oversight. It’s clear the problem — which affects millions of Android IGers around the world — has been going on long enough that we know it’s not a priority. Funny too, given Instagram is one of the world’s biggest photo sharing services with millions of dollars in backing. You’d think they’d be on top of this. As an Android user who spent X amount of dollars on a fancy new smartphone with a cutting edge camera, what can you do? Not much. But if you’re looking to show off your photos to the world — and don’t want them to look like they’ve been shot with a potato — we’d suggest checking out rival services like Flickr (who also recently overhauled their Android app) for the time being. It’s a shame given Instagram was, at one time, one of our favorite social networks. Editors note: Instagram has an option to enable “high quality image processing” in the Android version of their app. I tested both with HQ enabled and disabled in the lines comparison and found absolutely no discernible differences in quality (I’ve noticed this across multiple Android devices). The first image in this post was taken with HQ enabled. Here’s the original image if you’d like to test it for yourself. |
| This is exactly why I’m losing faith in Kickstarter (and why I wish I never backed Pressy) [OPINION] Posted: 04 Jun 2014 11:30 AM PDT Anyone who has followed my musings here on Phandroid knows I have been excited for Pressy. I’ve been excited since the day its Kickstarter went live. I pledged my bills just like everyone else, and have kept abreast of the project’s progress ever since. I went into it knowing full well what hurdles Kickstarter backers typically have to go through: delay after delay after delay. Whether it’s a manufacturing mishap, shipping issues, or project creators simply overestimating the capabilities of their production chain, I’ve come to expect that the “ship by” date will almost always come and go without fulfillment. So I’ve been very patient with Pressy. I’ve been patient with all the projects I back. It does get annoying, but you will often put up with something if you really want it. What I can’t put up with, though, is a project turning out to be something other than what was originally promised. In the case of Pressy, the offense is rather small in scope but big in principal: the companion app will be unavailable in the Google Play Store. The reason this is a big deal is because Pressy was adamant in saying that the app would be available in Google Play all throughout the campaign. This is important for a lot of people — specifically, those who care about security and wish not to enable the installation of APKs from third-party sources. It’s more than security, too. Getting apps through the Google Play Store enables us to get hassle-free updates that our phones can apply on the fly and without effort, and it gives us a good place to share our thoughts on the app in the event that it isn’t everything we expected to be (or if we feel the opposite and simply feel like raving about its awesomeness). I can’t say I fit into that category, because I do install tons of non-Google Play APKs for purposes of testing and reviewing. But when you tell me the app that is supposed to come with my overpriced clicky button is going to be in the Play Store, I want it to be in the Play Store (and so do many other backers, apparently). Pressy has also made several design changes, such as the butt ugly keychain that we are getting instead of the original we were promised. And I might have been able to stomach all of that if Pressy would have been open and upfront about all of it, but their lack of communication about delays, changes and other matters is simply unforgivable. The first scheduled delivery of April 28th came and went without a word from Pressy, and it was over two weeks since that date slipped since we first heard a peep out of them regarding what happened. And we wouldn’t have heard about this latest scandal if not for someone who just so happened to see a response to a comment buried deep within one of Nimrod Back’s Facebook post. Not helping the matter is that they tried to deny ever saying it would be available in the Google Play Store despite their own update posts and the original Kickstarter post saying as much. The more that I think about this situation, though, the more I realize that I’m not necessarily mad at Pressy — I’m more mad at myself for putting faith into yet another inexperienced Kickstarter hopeful who has done everything absolutely wrong. It’s become a trend by now, and one that will certainly make me rethink my decision to back any further projects in the future. Perhaps my saltiness comes from the fact that other, arguably more superior, and less expensive solutions have launched since Pressy’s inception. Xiaomi with their MiKey comes to mind, as well as other “knock-offs” that can be found around the net. Hell, my phone comes with a Pressy by default just by installing a free app and using my volume buttons. Pressy has done absolutely nothing to make me feel good about my decision to pay $20 for a piece of copper and plastic that probably costs them $.20 to produce. Perhaps I’m being too harsh, but Kickstarter isn’t a charity with a bottomless pit of forgiveness — we pay for goods, and we expect to get exactly what we’re promised. That’s not to say that every Kickstarter project turns out the same. An insane amount of them go according to plan, and most of the project creators work hard to keep folks clued in on what’s going on. It’s just a shame that every project I end up backing (about three of them now) goes straight to horse manure, and it’s that trend that makes me that much more hesitant to support the independent scene in the foreseeable future. UPDATE: The folks at Pressy have reached out to us, assuring us the Google Play availability (or lack thereof) was a misunderstanding. Despite Pressy’s comments on Facebook, the app will, in fact, be released on the Google Play Store. [Reddit] |
| Best Android Phones [June 2014] Posted: 04 Jun 2014 11:07 AM PDT As June begins we enter a period of calm during the smartphone release cycle. Flagship handsets from HTC, LG, and Samsung have all been announced and released to some extent while little else remains on our radar. That could all change by the end of the month with Google's annual I/O conference, but for now we present our picks for best Android phones as of June 2014. 5. Nexus 5Will the Nexus 5 ever leave our list? It's unlikely until the next great stock Android flagship comes along. With specs that still hold up despite the onslaught of recent competition — Snapdragon 800 quad-core processing, 1080p display — the Nexus 5 remains a fine choice for buyers seeking a device sure to receive quick Android updates. Even better, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg at $350 with out a wireless contract. It lacks some of the sophistication and advanced features found in phones higher on our list, but the type of person that favors the Nexus 5's simple, refined experience doesn't need them. 4. Sony Xperia Z2The Sony Xperia Z2 remains the best Android phone that you probably won't be able to get your hands on — at least if you live in the United States. With a stellar camera, crisp and colorful display, and solid performance, the Z2's internal prowess is matched only by its exquisite Sony design. Sony insists a US release isn't on their slate, but rumors (and leaks) persist that the flagship could see a Verizon launch in due time. 3. Samsung Galaxy S5Samsung, arguably the king of Android, sees its 2014 flagship slip to #3 after debuting as the second ranked phone on last month's list. We'll find out why a little further down the page, but let's not ignore the solid device that is the Galaxy S5. Top-notch hardware including a 1080p Super AMOLED display and extras like a fingerprint scanner and heart rate sensor provide plenty of intrigue, but a finicky, complicated TouchWiz interface holds this one back from its full potential. 2. HTC One M8In recent months, the HTC One M8 quietly established itself as the Android phone to beat. HTC's brilliant handling of their simplified Sense UI in conjunction with a sharp, classy design and hardware that could go head-to-head with the best of them makes for a phone that is as much a joy to use as it is to look at. 1. LG G3What could knock the HTC One M8 off of its throne? The newly announced LG G3, of course. Currently only available in Korea, time will tell if the G3's Snapdragon 801 and 5.5-inch Quad HD (1440 x 2560 pixels) display keep it on top, but the early showing has been impressive. LG has upped their game from the G2 with a brushed metal design, improved rear button, and overhauled UI, bringing it more in line with the premium Android experiences we are used to. Look for the G3 to see a global launch in the coming weeks. Honorable MentionWe only have room for five on our list, but there are plenty of other great phones to consider. Here are five more that barely missed out on being one of our top phones for the month of June.
Phones to look forward toWith Samsung, HTC, and LG all pushing their flagship phones for 2014 within the past few months alongside offerings from newer manufacturers like Oppo and OnePlus, our slate of anticipated smartphones has been wiped clean. If we didn't mention it above or if it's not mentioned among the rumored devices below, chances are it hasn't featured as even a blip on our radar. The good news? With so many stellar options on the market and nothing in the pipeline to provide cause for second guessing a purchasing decision, now is a great time to buy an Android smartphone. Rumor MillWe know what's available. We know there hasn't been much announced that we can't already get our hands on, but what else is out there. Here are a couple more devices that are starting to gain some buzz in anticipation of their rumored launches. Moto X+1Motorola's Moto X followup has been making the rounds on the rumor mill with several leaks giving us our first purported look at the next chapter. Those leaks as a reference, it appears the phone will feature a larger display than the 4.7-inch one found on the Moto X, possibly pushing beyond the 5-inch threshold. Can we expect a similar Moto Maker experience with even more customization options? The closing of Motorola's Texas plant raises some doubts, but we reckon we'll be hearing plenty more on the Moto X+1 soon. Samsung Galaxy Note 4Is it too early to start hyping the Samsung Galaxy Note 4? Not much is currently known about the handset, but if Samsung stays on schedule we should expect a fall release. The Note 4 could incorporate technologies introduced with the Galaxy S5 (namely a fingerprint scanner and health-oriented sensors), feature a Quad HD display, and take on an entirely new form factor (like the concept render above). The handset is also rumored to launch alongside Samsung's next volley of wearables — a Google Glass competitor could debut among them. Amazon Best SellersSo what are people actually buying? Amazon has the list for us. The retailer’s Best Sellers list reflect many of the same devices we named above, but what about the ones that didn't grace our rankings? Below are the top-selling smartphones on Amazon that we didn't already mention above.
What say you?Another month, another list. What did we get right? What did we get wrong? Sound off in the comments below and let us know what you consider the best Android phone available as of June 2014! |
| Deal: $100 off T-Mobile tablets for Father’s Day Posted: 04 Jun 2014 09:29 AM PDT Father’s Day deals are ramping up and T-Mobile has gone live with one of their own. You can now get many of their tablets for $100 cheaper than they typically would be. The tablets are still $0 with monthly payments for 24 months, so you’re essentially getting an off-contract discount. Some of the Android options on tap include the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. There are also a couple of bitten fruit products up for grabs if you’re into that. Don’t forget that you can get free data for life if you need, and there’s a special promo giving you up to 1GB extra for free if you pair it with a compatible voice plan. The deals last through June 15th so be sure to jump on it before it’s too late. You can take a look at all of your options over at T-Mobile’s site. |
| You can now buy the Sony SmartBand in the US for $100 Posted: 04 Jun 2014 09:20 AM PDT Looking for another fitness band to add to the ol’ collection? Sony’s SmartBand might be worth taking a look. It features motion and location sensors for activity tracking, controls for media playback, as well as LED-powered and vibration-driven notifications for alarms, SMS messages, missed calls and more. The watch syncs with Sony’s Lifelog application (the two can be paired using NFC) to give you a quick and clean look at all your workout data (which syncs over Bluetooth 4.0 LE). The problem for those of us in the States is that it wasn’t available… until today. You can buy it from Sony’s own website if you don’t mind going that route. It’ll cost just $99.99, and that’ll net you 100 Sony Reward Points and free shipping. Might as well take a look if you don’t need a full fledged smartwatch. [via Sony] |
| Android, Samsung see slight increase in US market share while Apple takes small hit Posted: 04 Jun 2014 07:54 AM PDT Apple had a lot to say about Android during their WWDC 2014 keynote this past Monday, but what they couldn’t say was that they owned US (or even worldwide) market share for smartphone operating systems. ComScore has reaffirmed those US numbers with this timely report for the three month average ending April 2014. So how do all the big guys stack up? It’s more of the same — Android has a considerable lead overall, but Apple is still the top manufacturer. Specifically, Android saw decent increase to 52.5% market share in the period compared to the 51.7% in the three months leading up to the end of January. Apple, on the other hand, took a 0.2% decline going from 41.6% to 41.4%. That’s not nearly enough of a drop to make Apple start sweating, but it’s a drop nonetheless. Blackberry took another hit this month, dropping to 2.5% from 3.1%. Despite that hit (which is pretty big considering their overall share of the pie) they still command a fourth place spot. Microsoft slightly improved to 3.3%, and Symbian is pretty much non-existent at this point. Things are a bit different on the OEM side, of course. Apple enjoys a clear lead at 41.4%, while Samsung controls most of the Android territory with a 1% increase to 27.7%. LG, Motorola and HTC all round out the list in that order, with all of them suffering slight declines. It’s interesting to see Motorola still beating out HTC, though those numbers likely don’t fully reflect the launch of the HTC One M8 at the end of April. It’s unlikely that these numbers will change significantly in the next period, though we imagine the launch of the next iPhone will shake things up quite a bit. Until then, Apple still has to deal with the fact that Android is top dog in their home turf. Head to the source for the full report. [via ComScore] |
| Google Glass could help soldiers shoot around corners without exposing themselves [VIDEO] Posted: 04 Jun 2014 06:57 AM PDT One of the basic tips you’ll learn as a soldier in basic training is that you never compromise your cover or leave yourself open to enemy fire. Sad, that, considering it’s pretty hard to accurately hit targets when you’re trying to dodge bullets of their own. But Google Glass could eventually change all of that. Startup TrackingPoint is experimenting with augmented reality technology using Google Glass to help soldiers see what they’re shooting at around that concrete wall. The Google Glass app displays a video feed from the camera sensor mounted on the scope of the rifle, giving soldiers an accurate look at their target without having to expose themselves. We imagine it’s nothing that can’t be done on a computer monitor, but the portability and ease of Google Glass probably trumps that solution 10-fold. We’re not sure if this will ever find a solid place in military, but you can bet someone is taking notes — the armies of the world have already started figuring out ways to use all this new technology to their benefit. Find a very cool promo video of it in action sitting above. |
| Some users starting to see World Cup support in Google Now Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:50 AM PDT The 2014 FIFA World Cup is nearly here, and it appears Google may be readying official support for the tournament’s information in Google Now. One Youtuber was able to issue several commands in Google Now asking for World Cup info, and the app spit out the appropriate goods. Asking something like “When does USA play” or “How did Italy do in the World Cup” will bring schedules, recent scores and stats, and more where appropriate. The features don’t seem to be working for a large amount of people just yet, but you can give it a try just for kicks. As Google has yet to officially detail this update we’re not sure how deep the rabbit hole goes, but with everything set to kick off June 12th we imagine it won’t be long until they announce a widespread rollout. Watch it in action in the video above, and let us know who you’re representing in the comments below! [via Reddit] |
| Posted: 03 Jun 2014 08:39 PM PDT Earlier today we showed you the upcoming LG G Watch boot animation thanks to a leaked system dump that found it’s way onto the web. While digging around the system dump, we found all sorts of goodies to help tide you over until Android Wear devices finally make their debut. The build.prop revealed that the LG G Watch sports an internal codename of ‘Dory’. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because Dory is the name of a fish from Finding Nemo. Google is fairly found of fishy device names for their Nexus line. This could mean that the LG G Watch is the reference device for Android Wear, backing up previous reports that the LG G Watch is Google’s Nexus Watch, so to speak. The G Watch is running Android 4.4W, where W most likely represents a specialized ‘Wear’ version of Android 4.4 KitKat. And lastly, the build.prop finally revealed that the G Watch will be using a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226) processor. The system dump also revealed plenty of Google Now backgrounds, further detailing that this smartwatch will be all about Google Now integration and functionality. The images below were found inside ClockworkHomeGoogle.apk and point to being background images to be displayed during certain events or scenarios. You’ll find images for birthdays, flights, packages, travel, traffic, stock prices, tickets, messages, alerts, and more.                           The next group of background images were all labeled as weather backgrounds and include an image for nearly every type of weather scenario you can think of from fog to sunlight to snow to typhoons. Since these are included in the same APK, so it’s probable that these backgrounds would appear on the watch face itself and not in a separate weather application, being triggered as your weather conditions change throughout the day.                                         The last group of background images included in ClockworkHomeGoogle.apk revealed images for various day and night events which include alarm, home, calendar, ‘Zen’, email, and stopwatch timers. Oh, there’s also an Alice background.             While digging through the rest of the system dump we were able to learn a bit more about Android Wear. It seems a ‘Zen’ mode will exist (3rd and 4th image above) that will disable notifications. You might be able to use your G Watch as a night stand alarm clock thanks to MicroDeskClock.apk. You’ll most likely be able to track your steps thanks to a built in pedometer system as well as track other modes of transportation. There seems to be a remote shutter function, which might allow your operate your camera on your smartphone for taking photos. There’s Google+ Signin assets as well as +1 buttons. And lastly, it seems like there’s support for Hangouts, calls, text messages, and other watch functions like an alarm, compass, stop watch, timer, and world clock. That’s it for now. Let us know what you think in the comments while we dig through the rest of the system dump for more information. Source: Twitter |
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