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Showing posts from October, 2013

Nexus 5 Stock Hits UK Retailer Carphone Warehouse

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Not a lot of you might know this but, there’s this search giant called Google who just so happen to make Android – you know, the Operating System that’s running on most smartphones these days. Well, every year this company takes it upon themselves to release a device called the Nexus, to show off just what they can do with stock Android, without those pesky OEMs like Samsung and HTC messing with their UI and experience. Oh, who are we kidding, you guys know  all  about the Nexus 5 already and so do we. Today’s the 31st of October and it’s a pretty fitting day for the Nexus 5 to be announced on. All signs and teases are pointing to today for an official announcement of the Nexus 5. Our UK readers will like this latest leak that our friends over at  Pocket-Lint   have found, stock of the Nexus 5 has hit Carphone Warehouse stores. Which has been selling the Nexus devices since Samsung’s first attempt, the Nexus S. Last night we got an exclusive look at an animated GIF of the Nexus 5, we k

Screenshots of Android 4.4, Kitkat, Leak Out Courtesy of Reddit User

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So, according to numerous sources across the web, today is the day that Android 4.4 and the Nexus 5 officially grace the Internet with their presence. After months of leaks and teases, we should certainly think so, too! Even if the 31st is Google’s day, that hasn’t stopped the leaks from hitting the web. Reddit user, with the brilliant username of “throwawaynexus5guy” has a Nexus 5 in his possession and now, he’s been so kind as to  share with us some screenshots of Android 4.4 in action . As you might expect, the shots are similar to that of previous leaks and seem to be showing off an updated Holo look which was refined throughout the Jelly Bean releases and seems a little bit more colorful than previous releases. One particularly interesting shot is off the search bar that asks users to just say “OK Google” which suggests that always listening is coming to the Nexus 5 and it always goes hand in hand with the “OK Glass” tagline of Project Glass. Throughout the Jelly Bean releases, we

Facebook Redesigns Messenger: Send Messages to Non-Friends

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It seems like a new messaging application is being thrown at us on a daily basis or at the very least, updated to add new features– most recently, we had a huge BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) surge last week, where after months of delays and problems handling the number of downloads, we can finally try out in the Android and iOS worlds what was once an exclusive messenger service only to BlackBerry users.  Today, Google, at their “A Morning With Google+” live broadcast announced major updates to its popular Hangouts messaging application, adding features and making it easier to use.  In addition, today, Facebook announced a major overhaul of its Messenger on Android application, making it easier to use and updating the interface. As more and more people use Facebook as a way to connect to friends via mobile, they claim they concentrated on building the best mobile experience as possible when it comes to connecting with your friends on Facebook – and that means something “faster and lighter

Google is Paving The Way for Android 4.4 by Updating Apps

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The Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 might be arriving very soon, but Google has already been working on updating all of its apps on the Play Store, a couple of days before the Kit Kat announcement. They’ve just updated all of these apps (Hangouts may still not be updated for everyone yet, but it should be soon, which means you can enjoy SMS support): Blogger Calendar Chrome Drive Earth Gmail Goggles Google+ Hangouts Keep Play Magazines Translate Wallet This isn’t exactly the first time Google has done this, although perhaps they’ve never updated so many apps at once, and around the time of the new Android version launch. This may be because there could be a lot of new changes under the hood for Android 4.4, and Google needed to upgrade all of its apps to take advantage of those changes. That also means that unless you will get Android 4.4 soon, you might not be able to take advantage of those changes. Since Google is going to get the Linux kernel 3.10, if they took advantage of the kernel’s

A Nexus 5 Has Been Un boxed Somewhere

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As if the constant leaks and teasing isn’t enough, they just keep on coming. The Nexus 5 has been teased and  leaked so many times by now, you may as well swing by your local Best Buy, just to check that Google hasn’t secretly released the device into the wild. Google’s Nexus devices are a pretty big deal for Google, after all they’re a chance for the search giant to show off to the world just how good Android can be, when it’s left alone. Last year’s Nexus 4 broke the rules when it went on sale unlocked for far less than comparable smartphones and this year, we’re hoping for more of the same. The Nexus 4 didn’t have LTE however, this year the Nexus 5 should right that wrong and, it’s even coming to Sprint. Somewhere out in the world though, there is a Nexus 5 in retail packaging and this Nexus 5 has been unboxed.  PhoneArena   have been passed a tip that leads to a sinister screenshot hosted on  Photobucket . With no further commentary or even a shot of Android 4.4, KitKat running on

Get Online With Even the Slowest Data Connection Thanks to Be-Bound

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Imagine you are travelling in a remote part of the country and you need to send an email or just send a tweet. But you can’t, because you have no access to WiFi, 4G/3G or even Edge signals. There’s no other choice is there? You have to wait until you reach an area where you can connect to one of the aforementioned networks, right? Not according to Albert Szulman, CEO of Be-Bound who has announced that: “We started with a simple observation: everybody has faced connection issues, even in covered areas like trains, subways, indoor buildings or any other areas with poor or limited connectivity, Be-Bound have developed an app that takes advantage of innovative cloud technology, using very low-bandwidth that delivers the best user experience even with low connection.” When there is no access to WiFi, Edge or 3G networks, Be-Bound uses the 2G network (the ‘g’ symbol on the status bar) as a transport layer to exchange information between the web and your smartphone, thus increasing the inte

Motorola Announce Project Ara, A Hardware Platform Just Like Phonebloks

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A little earlier on in the year, you might remember a little project that made a few waves on the internet that went by the name of  Phonebloks . Essentially, the project was Lego in smartphone form, the idea was that you can pick and choose which modules you want, which you don’t and so on. It would also lead to far more recyclable devices. Instead of throwing out a year or two old phone because it’s slow, you could simple buy a new application processor for it. This all sounds like something out of the future and, frankly, it still is rooted very much in the future. However, Motorola have come out and revealed that they’re working on their own version of the Phonebloks concept, calling it Project Ara. Project Ara runs pretty much parallel with what Phonebloks is trying to achieve, a smartphone that allows you to pick and choose what you want, rather than having to pick from a handful of companies’ ideas. Motorola hasn’t just taken a good look at Phonebloks and made their version be

Today’s Google+ Announcement Have Something to Do With the Nexus 5

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We’re all wondering just when, oh when, is Google finally going to officially announce the new Nexus 5 and let us all hurry to the Play Store and let us buy one. Well, last night we got that little bit closer when a leak from WIND Mobile in Canada gave us another look at the Nexus 5 and gave us a cute little tagline. While that doesn’t seem like much to go on, when talking about today’s Google+ event scheduled for later on, stay with me. The tagline reads: Google Nexus 5. The smart, new phone made to capture the moments that matter. Vic Gundotra, the Senior Vice President of Engineering in charge of Google+, had this to say on  Google+  earlier on: Rehearsing for our Google+ update in the morning. I hope you can all join us and watch the live video stream! #momentsthatmatter There in lies the link, the fact that the Nexus 5 is being billed as the phone to capture moments that matter and Vic teasing today’s event will be all about moments that matter. Of course, this could all be conj

Google Glass Explorers Can Invite 3 Friends to Join

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Wearable tech is the focus of quite a few companies these days. Samsung recently passed a design patent through the Korean patent file system. Intel is investing in companies that make sports glasses, too. Google Glass is obviously the big player here, forging the way as these companies make their augmented-reality glasses. Google announced the next phase of the Glass project today, and we’re pretty excited about it. It was reported last July that Google would open up more space for people to join the Google Glass Explorers program. They officially confirmed that rumor today with an announcement on the  Google Glass G+ page . Starting today, all of the current Glass Explorers will be given three invitations to ask friends to join the program. The invitees will then have the ability to purchase their own Google Glass unit and have it shipped to them, wherever they are in the world. On top of that, current Glass users will have the option to trade-in their current Glass unit for an  upda

Nexus 5 with Android 4.4 KitKat to Hit Israel Market at November 10?

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“The wait is still on and Google is tightlipped over the release of this most expected device! While a lot has been rumored about the release of Nexus 5 with Android 4.4 KitKat at the end of this month, it may be delayed by a month according to various sources.” This was the scenario a few days back and things have changed upside down since Google recently leaked the pricing details of Nexus 5. Yes, it has sparked a ray of hope among Android fans as the fascinating device may hit the market this month end. What was the reason stated behind the delay? While a lot of reasons have been rumored behind the delay, a most crucial factor is found to be release of LG’s curved Smartphone.   Named as G-Flex, with codename Hammerhead, this device is embedded with the most recent Android OS. This is expected to be the reason for the delay in the release of Nexus 5. But, it is yet a rumor as there’s no official information about this either from Google or LG. Is the rumor Nexus 5 to be Unveiled in I

LG G Flex Becomes Official – 6″ 720p Display, Snapdragon 800, 2GB of RAM, 3500mAh Battery

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Samsung announced their curved display smartphone earlier this month. The  Samsung Galaxy Round . It was curved from left to right, while the LG G Flex is curved from top to bottom, kind of like how the Galaxy Nexus was curved. Tonight, LG has made their curved display smartphone official. It’s called the G Flex and is sporting a 6-inch 720p display along with a Snapdragon 800 processor inside, 2GB of RAM, 13MP camera, 3500mAh battery, and weighs about 177g. It’s also between 7.9 and 8.7mm thick. Depending on the point you’re measuring on the phone. Samsung did tout some software regarding the Galaxy Round, where instead of waving your hand over it to see data, you can tip your phone and get the same information. LG hasn’t done much in the software department for the G Flex, but it does include a “swing lock screen” feature. This basically moves the wallpaper in response to tilting motions and produces different unlocking effects when the user touches different parts of the screen. T

New Nexus 10 Specs and Press Image Pop-Up on the Play Store; Promptly Disappear Again

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While the new Nexus 7 has been on shelves for a couple of months now, and the Nexus 5 is a pretty poorly kept secret, the Nexus 10 has been a little more elusive. Even still, we know far too much about the Nexus 10 than we should do at this point and now, there’s some more info on the device’s specs. Coming from another of  PhoneArena’s   tipsers, it looks like the 2013 model of the Nexus 10 briefly made an appearance on the Play Store, revealing specs and giving us another image of the device. However, the appearance was short lived but, enough to give us an idea of what the device is packing under the hood at least. You can make out most of the specs above but, the headlining specs are of course the Snapdragon 800 CPU, the 3GB of RAM and the 9,500 mAh battery. There’s no mention of whether or not this is an ASUS-made tablet or a Samsung-made one but, it looks considerably different to last year’s Nexus 10 but, it does seem to have the same sort of boxy look that the Galaxy Note 10.

Latest Nexus Pre-Orders Starting on November 3rd

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We know a lot about the Nexus 5 already, we know what specs it’s going to come with and we know LG’s making it among other facts – we’ve even seen it in white! – but, one thing we still don’t know is just when we’re going to be able to buy it. We’ve been teased by the KitKat guys a number of times already and we’ve been hearing the end of October for a long time. In fact, today’s date, the 28th, is a date that was hinted at by the KitKat team. Now though,  PhoneArena   have been passed some new info from a tipster that seems to reveal the date for Pre-Orders on the Play Store. In the above screenshot, you can just about make out that the Play Store is giving us a November 3rd date for when Pre-Orders start. We’ve been thinking for a long time that pre-orders would be starting before the actual sale of the device, given the troubles people had trying to purchase last year’s Nexus 4. There’s no price listed here though so, it looks like could still be up in the air but, we’ve already h

The Livescribe 3 is Available Now, with Android Support Coming Soon

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Livescribe released the Sky Wi-Fi pen last year. It lets you transfer handwritten notes and audio notes straight to your Evernote account, making them accessible anywhere. This solution worked well, but you had to have a data connection to retrieve those notes from the cloud. The Livescribe 3 was just announced and it takes things a step further, making your notes available to you all the time. The Livescribe 3 smartpen works with your mobile device, using Bluetooth Low-Energy to sync your notes directly to the Livescribe+ app. Right now the pen and app are only compatible with iOS devices, but Android support is coming soon. The Livescribe 3 pen does not have a built-in microphone like the Sky or Echo pens. Instead, it uses your phone or tablet to record audio directly. The syncing works the same as previous Livescribe pen models, with voice notes being tied to the corresponding texts in your written notes. The Livescribe 3 smartpen has a very minimal design, mostly because it lets