Tag: android - Page 4 - Charlie DeLong

Pretty Much Every Detail Of NVIDIA’s Shield Tablet And Controller Just Leaked

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

Just a day after @evleaks dropped a render of the upcoming NVIDIA Shield Tablet, VideoCardz.com (a name only a writer for a site called Android Police is not allowed to make fun of) has burst any bubble the new slate had left to pop – by dropping a massive pile of leaked, high-quality slides. Yep, you’re going to get all the details.

The short of it, for those of you in a hurry, is as follows – an 8" 1920×1200 tablet, Tegra K1 quad-core (A15, 32-bit) processor, 2GB of RAM, two models (Wi-Fi 16GB and LTE 32GB), $299 and $399 respectively, on sale in the US July 29th, Europe August 14th, with more regions this fall.

Pretty Much Every Detail Of NVIDIA’s Shield Tablet And Controller Just Leaked was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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After Pressure From The European Commission, Google Will No Longer Call Games With In-App Purchases ‘Free’ On The Play Store

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

Consumer unrest over the prevalence of in-app purchases in free-to-play games has grown as of late, and nowhere is it more apparent than in Europe. The European Commission, the EU’s legislative arm, has issued instructions to both Google and Apple to more accurately market the erstwhile “free” games. They’ve also instructed both companies not to encourage children to buy virtual items with real money after considerable complaints from consumers. Today the Commission reported on its progress, including a favorable response from Google.

After Pressure From The European Commission, Google Will No Longer Call Games With In-App Purchases ‘Free’ On The Play Store was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Customers Frustrated At A Lack Of Extra Chargers For The Gear Live And G Watch – Samsung Will Offer Replacements Soon

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

Manufactures have been scaling back the included extras that come with hardware for a while now – you won’t find included headphones or cases with any of the latest flagship phones. But you can generally rely on getting a USB cable and a wall-wart charger at least. Such is the case with the current Android Wear devices, the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live. But if you have one, you’d better hold onto that charger like it’s made of gold, because it might as well be.

Customers Frustrated At A Lack Of Extra Chargers For The Gear Live And G Watch – Samsung Will Offer Replacements Soon was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Alleged HTC Android Wear Smart Watch Leaked By @evleaks

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

There are currently only two Android Wear watches available for purchase, but HTC has been reportedly planning to throw its hat into the ring too. There’s a new render of what may be HTC’s Android Wear watch from @evleaks, and it’s another square.

HTC Android Wear [artist reproduction] (hardware: … – http://t.co/dyqhL3jsGH http://ift.tt/WhDQM4

— @evleaks (@evleaks) July 18, 2014

First thing’s first: this isn’t the actual render obtained by @evleaks, but rather a reproduction of it.

Alleged HTC Android Wear Smart Watch Leaked By @evleaks was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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ZTE Chooses The Google Now Launcher (GEL) As The Default Homescreen For Upcoming Smartphones

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

It seems like it’s hard to find a non-Nexus device that uses anything close to stock Android. Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Asus, Acer – everywhere you look there are customizations to a greater or lesser extent. Even Motorola, formerly Google’s own subsidiary, uses a custom launcher. Chinese manufacturer ZTE is looking to break that trend, however. The company is planning to launch new smartphones that use the Google Now Launcher (AKA the Google Experience Launcher) by default.

ZTE Chooses The Google Now Launcher (GEL) As The Default Homescreen For Upcoming Smartphones was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Huge Tasker v4.4 Update Fixes Some Bugs And Adds So, So Many Things

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

Tasker is right up there with our lord Matias Duarte in the amount of love it gets from the Android community. There’s really no other way to get anywhere close to the same kind of automation running on your device. The new v4.4 update adds even more functionality to this already robust app. Heck, you almost don’t have to touch the phone anymore. That doesn’t really sound as fun, though.

Massive v4.4 changelog incoming.

Huge Tasker v4.4 Update Fixes Some Bugs And Adds So, So Many Things was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Kyocera to push the bar in smartphone durability with sapphire displays [VIDEO]

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

If Apple was planning on making people believe they were the first to use sapphire in smartphone displays for a more durable screen, Kyocera has made it a point to spoil those plans. The Chinese company has put out a video directly targeted at all the iPhone 6 rumors tipping the tech world off to Apple’s plans to use the displays.

They counter the rumors by saying that they have been doing this a lot longer than Apple has, with 41 years of experience using sapphire in everything from computer components to watch faces. And now they’re planning to beat Apple to the punch in smartphone displays.

They’re calling it the “Sapphire Shield,” and if you know anything about sapphire you’d know that it’s supposed to be virtually indestructible. Coins and keys wouldn’t be able to make scratches and dents, and it would come out looking like a champ if it were dropped flat on its face onto a slab of concrete. Sapphire is said to be used as transparent armor for many military vehicles, and if it’s good enough for a soldier it should be more than good enough for your smartphone.

The problem with sapphire is that it’s expensive — a lot more expensive than tempered glass like Corning’s Gorilla Glass being used in so many smartphones. It was only last year that sapphire displays were going for $20 to $30 a pop, whereas Gorilla Glass can be had for under $3 per unit. Kyocera says they have found a way to make sapphire-based displays affordable, though, and that we’ll be hearing something very soon from their camp.

As much as we make fun of Kyocera’s phones for being underwhelming and uninspiring, one thing we can say they’ve always done well is durable smartphones. This is a natural step forward for them, and hopefully it can be used as a barometer for other OEMs to get in line and compete — we sure wouldn’t mind a future with fully indestructible displays.

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Sony Xperia Z2 Gets An Update With Enhanced Call Quality, Improved Charging, And More

July 18, 2014 Charlie DeLong Old Posts

Sony is beginning the rollout of a new firmware update for its current flagship, the Xperia Z2. The software (version number 17.1.2.A.0.314) doesn’t bump the underlying version of Android, which was already based on KitKat. Instead, Sony is cleaning up the rough edges.