Smartphone News and Updates

BlackBerry's Android Priv wins praise, but price tag questioned

2015-11-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

BlackBerry Ltd launched its first Android-based device on Friday, with the future of the company's hardware business riding on a slick smartphone called Priv that boasts an impressive array of features and a hefty price tag.

img source: http://www.engadget.com

The company is betting the Priv's large curved screen, full array of Android apps from the Google Play store and blend of productivity and security features will help it rebuild its share of the smartphone market, which has slid to under one percent.

With hacking and data theft issues becoming a bigger concern these days, BlackBerry expects keen interest in its pre-loaded DTEK feature that alerts users every time any app attempts to access data, or turn on the phone's microphone or camera.

"You will be blown away by some of the apps you use and how much data they actually access of yours," said BlackBerry's head of devices, Ron Louks.

The smartphone's "wow" factor, as Louks dubs it, is actually a throwback - a slide out physical keyboard. While the small number of such Android 'slider' phones that do exist have had little success in the market, most are dated and clunky, say analysts.

BlackBerry (BB.TO 6.5%) (BBRY.O 5.53%) is hoping its sleek design and touch-sensitive keys that allows users to swipe, scroll and set up shortcuts will woo former loyalists back to using the Priv.

Initial reviews of the device were mixed, with many lauding its security offerings, long battery life, camera, dual-keyboard design and other features, but panning the Priv's high price tag - $699 without a contract in the United States and C$899 without a contract in Canada.

Still, if the Priv does well, analysts note the device could be a game changer for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company.

"If the Priv – with its premium price of about $700 – is a hit, it could drive meaningful growth for the company. Moreover, the smartphone industry tends to be largely perception-driven, and a single hit flagship product can bolster a company's brand image and create a halo effect around its entire product line," said research firm Trefis, in a note on Thursday.

Blackberry is pivoting to focus more on software and device management services but has said it will stick with hardware if the segment is profitable.

BlackBerry shares rose 4.7 percent to $7.96 in early trading on Friday on the Nasdaq.

source: http://www.bnn.ca

Google unveils Nexus 5X and 6P smartphones, Pixel C tablet - Complete Review

2015-09-29T21:36:00.000-04:00

Google is countering the release of Apple's latest iPhones with two devices running on a new version of Android software designed to steer and document even more of its users' lives.

The Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X unveiled Tuesday are the first smartphones sold with an Android upgrade called "Marshmallow." It features changes that will give expanded powers to Android's personal assistant, Google Now, so it can explore the information that people call up in the mobile applications.

Previously, Google Now learned about its users' interests and daily habits by analysing search requests and scanning information contained in emails.

The Marshmallow version of Android enables users to summon Google Now to scan whatever content might be on a mobile device's screen so it can present pertinent information about the topic of a text, a song, a video clip or an article.

The new Android feature, called "Now on Tap," will be activated by holding down the device's home button or speaking, "OK Google," into the microphone. That action will prompt Now on Tap to scan the screen in attempt to figure out how to be the most helpful. Or, if speaking, users can just say what they are seeking, such as "Who sings this?"

Google began taking pre-orders for the Nexus phones in the U.S., United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan on Tuesday with prices for the 6P starting at $699 and $559 for the 5X in Canada with no commitment to a wireless contract required. They are expected to start shipping by mid-October.

Google uses its Nexus line of phones to showcase how the company would like Android to be set up. Most phone makers, though, still take advantage of the freedom that Google gives them to alter Android, although the free software usually is still set up to drive traffic to Google's search engine, YouTube video site and other digital services.

Marshmallow also features Google's revised mobile payment system, Android Pay, and more privacy controls, including support for fingerprint scanning for phones such as the new Nexus models equipped with that technology.

"In a multiscreen world, it is even more important for Google to do the hard work so the experience is simple and delightful for the users," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Cameras, fast charging challenge iPhone

The Nexus phones also feature better cameras than previous models, matching similar upgrades that Apple just made to its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Google Inc. is promising the Nexus 6P will be able to be fully charged in half the time that it takes the iPhone 6s Plus.

The Nexus 6P has a 5.7-inch screen, slightly larger than the iPhone 6s Plus. The Nexus 5X has a 5.2-inch screen.

The debut of the latest Nexus phones underscores the steadily intensifying rivalry between Google and Apple as they duel for consumers' loyalty in the increasingly important mobile device market. The battle also encompasses tablets and is starting to spill over into the living room as both companies introduce devices that help people watch internet video on their TVs and listen to online music through their speakers.

Besides its Nexus phones, Google also began selling upgrades to its Chromecast video-streaming device and a new Chromecast model that can be plugged into speakers to play music from a phone or an internet service. The devices will sell for $45 apiece in Canada. The original Chromecast sells for $40.

Google disclosed Tuesday that more than 20 million of the Chromecast video devices have been sold since its debut two years ago.

Google also provided a peek at a tablet called the Pixel C that is aimed at consumers and workers who want a device that can accommodate a lot of typing. The $499US tablet comes with an attachable $149US keyboard that transforms the device into the equivalent of a laptop, when needed. Google did not release Canadian pricing. Apple will begin selling a similar model of its pioneering iPad later this fall.

Apple got a head start on Google with the release of its newest iPhones last week. More than 13 million of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were sold during their first three days on the market, according to Apple, the strongest debut for the device yet.

Although iPhones tend to generate more excitement and longer lines when they are released, far more smartphones run on Android. More than 1.4 billion devices worldwide are now powered by Android, up from 1 billion a year ago, according to Google.

source: http://www.cbc.ca

Google Expected to Unveil New Nexus Phones, Latest Android OS

2015-09-28T21:46:00.001-04:00

Google is expected to unveil two new Nexus smartphones, its new mobile operating system and the next generation of its Chromecast streaming device at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Analysts will be watching closely, but not just for product updates: The event marks Sundar Pichai's first presentation as CEO and investors will be looking for signals of a change in direction for Google's business.

"[It] will be interesting to see if Pichai talks about any topics other than products. Will he discuss business or organizational goals‎ for Google? [We] will be looking for signs of how active or distinct of a CEO he will be," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney.

Pichai is expected to unveil Google's new flagship Nexus phones from LG and Huawei. The Nexus 6P is Huawei's first Nexus device and, according to Android Police, will be available for pre-order on Tuesday in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada and Japan starting at $499.99 and the device features a metal body, Gorilla Glass 4, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v 2.1 processor and 3450mAh battery.

The Nexus line provides Google with the opportunity to show off the features of its new Android software. Most device makers and carriers customize Android, but Nexus phones run an unchanged version, allowing Google to showcase its vision for the new OS dubbed "Android Marshmallow."

The two new Nexus phones Pichai is expected roll out are an important part of Google's pitch to developers to get them to build apps on the platform. According to Comscore, Android has 51 percent of the US smartphone market share and an even greater share of the pie outside the U.S., where Apple's iOS devices are less popular.

Android Marshmallow, first unveiled in May, includes some key new features to rival Apple's iOS 9 and is expected to be released in early October.

Android Pay — a rival to Apple Pay — lets users pay for products using an Android phone, and virtual assistant Google Now gets an upgrade with Now On Tap, which let users access the service by holding down the home button, just like Apple's Siri. The new feature also incorporates information Google knows about users, such as location data and data from gmail, to suggest useful information.

Pacific Crest analyst Evan Wilson said that the fragmentation of Android limits its impact in the short term. Only 21 percent of Android smartphones are currently running Google's latest Android OS, Lollipop, according to the Google Play store.

Still, Android has "closed the functionality gap with [Apple's] iOS at high end and is now a true competitor," Wilson said — an important step since Android phones are generally seen as targeted to more price-conscious users.

Google is also expected to announce the second generation of Chromecast stick with home screen support for streaming video and improved Wi-Fi capabilities, and a new Chromecast audio stick for streaming music. Android Police reports that Google will also announce a Play Music family plan for $15 per month for up to 6 devices, rivaling similar offerings from Spotify and Apple. It's all part of Google's effort to get more devices using Google's platform.

With Android facing probes in Europe and reportedly in the U.S. over antitrust claims, first reported by Bloomberg, Google is under increased scrutiny from regulators, though analysts are split on how much of a threat these investigations pose to Google's business. "For now, we are assuming that regulatory scrutiny of Android will not lead to any material changes at Google. Largely because there are no direct revenue streams associated with Android," said Mahaney.

But SunTrust analyst Robert Peck says Wall Street is not so optimistic. "Many believe there could be some cash penalty, akin to what Microsoft saw several years ago (several billion). However, the much more important part would be any impact to top-line growth rates, should Google be forced to emphasize other services (i.e., YELP) over its own," he said.

source: http://www.nbcnews.com

This Is Not The New Nokia Android Smartphone You Desire

2015-09-08T21:20:00.002-04:00

Nokia’s fall from the top of the smartphone pyramid is a story that will continue to be told for many years to come. Fans of the Finns have long hoped for a Jobsian revival of the company that started the first smartphone revolution now that the dalliance with Windows Phone is consigned to the history books. Those hopes rest on an Android-powered device, and a recent leak offers fresh hope to the followers.

The potential handset’s image was found on CNMO (reports The Verge) and suggests a model name of Nokia C1, powered by an Intel Atom processor, running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and comes with a 5-inch sized 1080p screen. These specifications and the bare-bones nature of the handset point to a budget or mid-range device.

The timing feels wrong as well. The purchase of Nokia’s Devices and Services section by Microsoft included a number of clauses that prevents Nokia marketing a smartphone for a fixed period. Morlino also acknowledged this:

As we agreed with Microsoft, the soonest that could happen is Q4 2016 — so it’s safe to say Nokia won’t be back (at least in phone form…) before then.

There’s nothing that I’m aware of that would stop Nokia sourcing partners and designing a handset that would be ready to go on sale when the agreement expires. But if you’re expecting this Nokia-badged handset to appear in the next few months, you will be disappointed.

source: http://www.forbes.com/

Lenovo's new smartphones are weird

2015-09-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

Alongside all of its other announcements today, Lenovo is showing off a pile of random, weird smartphones. None of them will be coming to North America, but if you're wondering what Motorola's parent company has planned for China, the Middle East, and Europe, prepare to take in the strangeness.

The craziest of all are the two Phab phones. I've made my peace with the Phablet term — it was annoying until it wasn't, and now that all phones are basically huge, it sort of doesn't really apply to anything anymore. But Lenovo is embracing it and, well, extending it. The base model Phab has a 6.98-inch, 1080p screen and decidedly middle-of-the-road internal specs. The upgraded Phab Plus has a slightly smaller 6.8-inch screen with the same resolution and slightly better internals, including 2GB of RAM and a Qualcomm 615 processor. Neither is powerful, both stretch the definition of phone past the breaking point and into tablet territory. Lenovo's PR says that these devices "eliminate the dilemma of choosing between costly smartphones with big screens and underwhelming small tablets by offering a sweet-spot 6.8-inch device." I say it's a small tablet you can make calls with. Potato, Potahto, Phab.

If that's not weird enough for you, gaze upon the Vibe S1, which has two front-facing cameras for selfies. The main sensor is 8 megapixels while the second is just a 2mp depth-sensing camera so you can add bokeh effects to your selfies. There's also some surprisingly decent specs to commend the Vibe S1 to you: it has a MediaTek processor, sure, but there's 3GB of RAM and 160GB of storage.

Lenovo also has a Vibe P1 and P1m, both of which have another gimmick: a physical switch that puts the phone into power-saving mode. Oh, and one more: absolutely gigantic batteries. The P1m is the lower-end of the two with a 5.5-inch 720p screen and a 4,000mAh (!) battery. The P1 has a nicer 1080p, 5-inch screen and a 5,000mAh (!!!) battery. Just. Massive. The P1 weighs 6.67 ounces, too, which for a phone is not light.

All of these phones will be coming out in the next few months — some as early as this month. But, again, North American customers won't be able to partake in the weirdness. Sorry.

source: http://www.theverge.com

Obi Mobiles to launch new line of smartphones on 26 August in San Francisco

2015-08-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

Obi Mobiles is set to launch its new line of smartphones on August 26, 2015, in the Silicon Valley. The company has been co-founded by John Sculley, former head of Apple and Pepsi-Cola. At the moment, the company has established its presence in various countries including Dubai, Shenzhen, New Delhi, London, Singapore and USA.

Naturally, everyone wants a piece of one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. India has seen a number of new brands make an entry in the smartphone market last year alone. From Chinese companies such as Gionee and Oppo, to American PC giants HP to brands such as Japan’s Panasonic have given up on the smartphone game back home, but have big budgets for India.

In the past, Obi Mobiles had launched its flagship smartphone dubbed Octopus S520. Sporting a metallic design, the Octopus S520 is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core processor, coupled with 1GB of RAM. Following the current trend among budget phones, it runs on the latest Android 4.4 KitKat. It sports a 5-inch HD IPS display and the company claims that the thickest part of the device is 8.4mm.

The Dual SIM smartphone comes with support for 3G. The 8GB onboard storage can be expanded further up to 32GB. On camera front, one can expect 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The device is fuelled by an 1800mAh battery that promises 240 minutes of talktime and 180 hours of standby time.

source: http://tech.firstpost.com

Samsung Woos iPhone Users with $1 Trial Offer for Latest Smartphones

2015-08-21T21:49:00.002-04:00

Samsung is offering users of rival Apple (AAPL) iPhones a 30-day trial to test its latest Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 phablet in a no-strings attached promotion that costs users $1 to participate.

The vendor has set up a separate web page for what it’s calling its “Ultimate Test Drive” promotion, which begins on Friday, August 21, corresponding to the opening day of availability for the new smartphones announced last week. The offer comes with a free data plan, an activated SIM card and is not tied any single carrier, Samsung said. The standard Galaxy S6 Edge also is included as an option in the offer.

Here’s the online text of the offer:

For just one dollar, you can try one of our latest Samsung phones for 30 days with no obligation. Your test drive kit will come with the phone of your choice, an activated sim card, and a step-by-step guide to help you start your test drive. After 30 days, if you buy a qualifying Samsung device, there’s even more love in store for you.

Samsung’s promotion comes as the growth rate of global smartphone shipments slowed to its lowest level in two years, according to researcher Gartner. In Q2, worldwide smartphone shipments grew 13.5 percent from the same period last year to 330 million units, hampered by saturation in the China market, Gartner said. China accounts for some 30 percent of total worldwide smartphone sales, the researcher said.

While Samsung continues to lead the segment with 72 million units shipped for the quarter and a 21.9 percent share, its position has been eroded by some 5 percent by Apple, which moved 48.1 million units during the period for a 14.6 stake of the global market. Samsung shipped about 4 million fewer smartphones in Q2 this year than at the same time last year as Apple shipped 13.3 million more units.

Samsung competitors Huawei and Xiaomi also saw significant year-over-year shipment increases in Q2, Gartner said, although Lenovo shipped 2.5 million fewer units for the period.

The Korean manufacturer hopes its new Note 5 phablet and S6 Edge+ handsets will reverse the trend with a kickstart from the month-long test drive promotion.

source: http://thevarguy.com

It’s 2015, Why Do All Android Phones Still Include a “But”

2015-08-21T21:45:00.001-04:00

The year is 2015 and we still don’t have a perfect smartphone. I’d argue that there isn’t even a phone that is all that close to being perfect. I’m not saying that all of today’s phones are bad, because most are very, very good and you will probably be satisfied with whatever you choose. But every single one of them includes a big “but.” Hear me out.

Over the past few years, we have seen display technology from Samsung that looks more life-like than your TV and is mindblowingly good. We have seen processors reach PC-like power and efficiency levels. RAM is insanely fast. The Galaxy Note 5 has 4GB of it, people. 4GB. Storage is also faster than ever before. We even have fast wireless charging now! Cameras are reaching point-and-shoot territory. No, smartphone cameras are coming close to eclipsing some point-and-shoots. Metals are being used. Glass is too. Phones look like high-end watches or jewelry, yet do more than a computer in many instances. Technology is, well, pure awesome right now. So why is it that every single Android manufacturer can’t make us the perfect phone.

Why isn’t there a perfect option right now?

I bring this up because not only am I trying to figure out what my next phone should be, but I seem to have run into a number of friends over the last week that are looking for advice on their next smartphone purchase. What do I tell them? I tend to hesitate, toss out a phone or two based on my general thoughts about what they might want, and then finish each phone’s description with a “but” followed by an explanation of what’s wrong with it. That’s sort of sad. It seems like there should be a phone, in 2015, that doesn’t have any drawbacks. There should be a phone that I can emphatically say, “Buy this now and you will not regret it.” But, there isn’t.

Walk with me through these and tell me if I’m wrong.

Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge: Great phones with the highest-end specs, beautiful designs, class-leading cameras, and a list of features that almost no other phone can come close to comparing to! But, they have terrible battery life, have seen severe performance dips after recent updates, don’t have SD card slots or removable batteries, and aren’t waterproof or resistant. They also run Samsung’s mostly awful TouchWiz on top of Android.

Galaxy Note 5: The best specs on the planet with an equally impressive design and some really nicely improved S Pen features. But, Samsung ditched the SD card slot, shrunk the battery while making it non-removable, killed the IR blaster, and forgot that people in countries outside of the US, might like this phone. Oh, it’s also huge.

Moto X Pure Edition: It runs a “pure” Android experience along with Motorola’s awesome suite of software, can be customized to your liking, has an SD card slot, a camera that Motorola finally took seriously, and is going to be sold unlocked at a hell of a price! But, it’s huge, doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor, and is going to be sold unlocked and out of the eye (and reach) of typical US customers. I also don’t know if we can trust Motorola when they say its camera will finally be good. They’ve never made a phone with a decent camera, let alone a best-in-class shooter.

Moto X Play: “Hey, Motorola here. We made this really sweet budget-friendly phone with mostly premium specs, but, this is us giving you the finger, US customers. You are never buying one.”

OnePlus 2: The price is awesome, as are most of the specs and premium materials used in the build. But, OnePlus decided for you that you don’t need NFC or an SD card slot, plus you’ll never be able to buy one, thanks to a ridiculous invite system that is 4 million people deep.

LG G4: Pretty good specs for the most part and a really, really good camera. But, it’s made of cheap-feeling plastic and terrible faux leather, is a pretty big phone, has the worst Android skin in the business, and has the software support of LG, which is not something to brag about.

Nexus 6: It runs Google’s vision for Android. But, it’s a whale, has an average camera for a 2015 smartphone, and…did I mention that it’s a whale?

Sony has phones that have some really good things going for them (like best-in-class battery life and smaller high-end models), but they aren’t ever available in the US, almost always have below-average or average cameras, and look like their predecessors from 3 years ago.

The next new Nexus phone or two could come with few compromises, but I would imagine they won’t have SD card slots, could be tough to get a hold of (unless Google goes the carrier route again), and will more than likely have piss poor cameras.

Now, as I mentioned in the opening, almost all of these phones are more than capable and are the best line of phones we have ever seen. Some of these phones are borderline great on a number of levels. But, they all have pretty serious flaws that I just mentioned. Some of these things are dealbreakers for our readers, myself, and my friends and family. And trust me, I’m not the only one thinking this. Every time a new phone is announced, our comment sections get filled with all of the items I mentioned here for each phone.

It’s 2015. Why don’t we have a perfect smartphone yet?

source: http://www.droid-life.com

Samsung Teases The Circular Gear S2 Smartwatch In 30-Second Video

2015-08-20T20:44:00.001-04:00

We didn't cover Samsung's Gear S all that much. While the smartwatch may seem like just another Android-powered wrist-bound gadget from a manufacturer that has produced many, this one was different. It actually ran Tizen.

Well, Samsung has another one in the works. The company teased the hardware in this 30-second video.

This clip, while recently published on Samsung's YouTube account, first appeared during the recent Unpacked event alongside the unveil of the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+.

The original smartwatch sported a large display that curved along with your wrist. The new hardware marks a departure from that design. In its place we see a more traditional looking circular timepiece.

How much we cover the device going forward will depend on what it's running when Samsung announces more information at this year's IFA in Berlin on September 3rd.

source: http://www.androidpolice.com

HTC O2 'Hero' Smartphone: Snapdragon 820 Processor, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, 4 GB Of RAM And More Details

2015-08-20T20:39:00.004-04:00

HTC's current flagship smartphone, the HTC One M9, has been a huge disappointment. The company is reportedly planning a "Hero" phone to replace it that will be called the HTC O2, and it's got some very impressive specs.

There was a time when Samsung wasn't the biggest player in the Android smartphone world. That title was held by HTC, which actually got its start as being an original design manufacturer, building smartphones and PDAs for companies like Palm and HP. HTC decided to use its proven track record and design skills to release smartphones under its own name, and Google soon took notice. It chose HTC to build the first Android smartphone, the T-Mobile G1, which was released in 2008.

Since then, HTC has faced tough competition from companies like Samsung and Apple but appeared to get its groove back when it introduced the HTC One M7 in 2013. The device became an instant hit with smartphone fans, thanks in part to its unibody aluminum case, which became the basis for its successors, the HTC One M8 released in 2014 and One M9, which went on sale in April.

Sales of the HTC One M9 have been a huge disappointment, and the company has watched its stock continue to plunge. HTC's new CEO, Cher Wang, recently revealed that her company would release a "Hero" handset that would replace the One M9 as HTC's flagship smartphone and feature a new design and impressive specs.

A new report claims to reveal what HTC has in store for its upcoming "Hero" phone, which will reportedly be named the HTC O2 and not the HTC One M10. The smartphone is said to have an all-metal design, and like the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, will boast a 2560 by 1440 quad-HD display. The handset will pack in Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 820 processor, which will bring enhanced performance, compared with the One M9's Snapdragon 810 processor, as well as improved battery life.

The HTC O2 will also get a bump up in the RAM department to 4 GB, include 64 GB or 128 GB of internal storage, run Android 6.0 Marshmallow and pack in a large 3,500 mAh battery. Early reports have claimed the device would be released in October, but it now appears the HTC O2 will likely hit retail shelves in early 2016.

As with all rumors of unannounced devices, take this one with a grain of salt for now. We'll be sure to keep you posted on any new information regarding the HTC O2 as it becomes available.

source: http://www.techtimes.com

Intel brings RealSense 3D cameras to Project Tango smartphones

2015-08-19T21:51:00.001-04:00

At IDF 2015, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced Tuesday that Intel is partnering with Google to bring Intel's RealSense 3D camera to Google's Project Tango smartphone. Krzanich showed off a prototype of the un-named smartphone prototype, which is running the company's Atom processor and comes with a 6-inch display.

RealSense 3D enables more computing possibilities on a smartphone. For one, users can begin making 3D scans and models in real-time.

At the technology showcase at IDF, the prototype that I played with came pre-loaded with a few apps and games that benefit from the "world-oriented," otherwise known as rear-mounted," dual-camera setup.

Mapping the world

Beyond just simple scans, you can map the world around you with RealSense 3D. By using the camera, users can begin modeling their living room or garden, and then they can build off of that map by placing furniture, flowers or plants into the space. This would be a good app for a landscape or interior designer.

Architects can also create immersive building experiences. They can create a home, for example, and then with the camera, they can walk through and traverse the different rooms in the home on a 3D augmented reality tour with their smartphone display.

In the example shown at the technology showcase, Intel staff members at the Project Tango booth built a brick home, and you can virtually "crawl" through the brick rooms.

Entertainment

Rather than strapping a phone to your head a la augmented reality and virtual reality glasses, you can attach a RealSense-enabled phone onto toys and peripherals to enhance the experience.

In another demonstration, Intel attached the phone to a Nerf-like gun. Rather than shooting real Nerf ammunition, you get an augmented reality experience. This could very well be the perfect toy for parents as kids won't be able to do any "real" damage with their virtual bullets.

Cost

Intel said that the Project Tango phone shown at IDF 2015 is only a prototype and it's up to OEMs to bring RealSense to market. Intel isn't disclosing component costs, saying it varies by volume. The company would not disclose what type of premium a phone with RealSense will have when questioned.

source: http://www.techradar.com/

Xiaomi announces MIUI 7, makes your smartphone smarter

2015-08-19T21:46:00.001-04:00

After unveiling of MIUI 7 in China, Xiaomi has introduced its new Android-based ROM in an event held at New Delhi. The firm has further revealed that the MIUI 7 (beta update) will start rolling out on Monday in India. All smartphones from the manufacturer will be supported by the Beta version, including Redmi 1S, Redmi 2, Mi 3, Mi 4, Mi 4i, Redmi Note, and Redmi Note 4G.

The new OS from the company is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop OS, which is developed and designed by ‘750-strong R&D team’. After updating the device to MIUI 7, the users will get various themes that will suit for both men and women.

The developers has been added several lock screen features, including tune unlock, ‘Howzat’ cricket game, and much more. The company said, “We’ve already made two cricket themes in India and they both did so well that we decided to do it again but step it up a notch.”

It comes with over 1500 colorful themes and a web tool called Muse, which allows users to create a custom theme for their handset. In addition, the company claims that their new OS is also integrated with several performance measures that makes the device work faster and to offer an improved 10 percent battery backup.

“MIUI 7 is a fresh new take on our immensely popular operating system, well-loved by over 150 million users. With so many exciting new enhancements, you will be able to feel the difference the moment you power on your phone running MIUI 7. With more new system UIs to choose from, customised profile videos for calls using Showtime and a variety of personalisation options, MIUI 7 is truly ‘Yours by Design’,” said Xiaomi Global VP Hugo Barra.

The new ROM further makes your smartphones smarter as it includes several more features like ‘DND mode’ which get enabled if the Mi Band detects that the user is asleep, and a ‘Visual IVR’ for 50 clients, which include Indian Railways, major banks, and others.

The Visual IVR enables the users to see the options of an automated response call on their display, so they can respond at a glance. Now the users don’t need to follow the instructions like “Please press 1 for English or press 2 for Hindi.” Xiaomi global director of product management Donovan Sung revealed that the firm is adding more majorly used customer care numbers in India.

“We will add Visual IVR support for more numbers. The support totally comes from our end and it is just a matter of time before we get to deliver most of these in visual IVR form,” he said.

“We are hoping to complete the beta testing within two months and roll out the stable version,” Sung says.

Besides this, the firm has also announced a limited edition of Mi4i smartphone, which will be available in Pink, Yellow, Blue color variants, matching the color of new system themes as a part of new OS.

The phone will be available for sale starting from, August 25, at the same price tag, i.e. Rs 12,999 for 16 GB variant and Rs. 14,999 for 32 GB variant. Currently, it is available in only White and Black color options.

Tech Specs for Mi4i

Display	5-inch HD OGS 1080p IPS display
Camera	13MP rear and 5MP front facing camera
Processor	64 bit 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa core chip
RAM	2 GB
OS	MIUI 6 w/ Android 5.0 Lollipop
Battery	3120 mAh
Storage	16/32 GB

source: http://www.tecake.com/

Could BlackBerry be back? Gorgeous leaked phone to run Android

2015-08-19T21:36:00.003-04:00

OK, so we’ve seen plenty of leaked renders of BlackBerry’s Android phone but they’ve all been missing something: The iconic BlackBerry physical keyboard. Worry not because @evleaks on Wednesday posted a new leaked press render of the upcoming BlackBerry Android device that gives us a terrific view of the device’s slide-out keyboard.

As you can see, the physical keyboard comes right out of the bottom of the device, which is something that we don’t see much of anymore in Android phones. The original Motorola Droid had a slide-out physical keyboard, although it was notably very poor for typing and we imagine BlackBerry’s is going to be vastly better.

The new device is part of BlackBerry’s effort to show it’s possible to make Android secure enough to use for enterprise customers while at the same time delivering the kind of Google-centric experience that users have come to expect from Android phones. The slide-out keyboard is the first of its kind that BlackBerry has released on a major device since its last BlackBerry Torch models hit the shelves all the way back in 2011.

As far as other features go, an earlier report from N4BB stated that the phone’s specs include a 5.4-inch quad HD display, an 18-megapixel camera, a hexa-core 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM.

@evleaks says that the new device will launch this November on all four major American wireless carriers, which makes it sound like BlackBerry is going to make a big push to become relevant in the Android market.

source: http://bgr.com/

IBM has built a digital rat brain that could power tomorrow’s smartphones

2015-08-18T20:54:00.000-04:00

In August 2014, IBM announced that it had built a “brain-inspired” computer chip—essentially a computer that was wired like an organic brain, rather than a traditional computer. These chips are designed to work like neurons—the brain’s nerve cells. Wired reported on Aug. 17 that the team working on the brain chips recently hit a new milestone—a system has about 48 million digital neurons, which is roughly as many as found in the brain of a rodent.

Dharmendra Modha, the lead researcher on the project, recently told Quartz that he sees the future of computing being composed of two types of computers—traditional, logical computers, and synaptic brain computers—working together in a sort of left brain-right brain symbiosis to create systems that were previously unimaginable. “Existing computers as really fast calculators,” Modha said.

While current chips are excellent at analyzing information in sequential order, the new “neuromorphic” types of chips Modha’s team are working on are better suited to finding patterns in information—like the right side of the brain. The chips’s design, with digital neurons communicating over digital versions of synapses, result in more powerful chips that need less power to run.

Traditional chips follow instructions, whereas IBM’s new chip manages “spikes”—rather like spikes in electrical activity in an organic brain. The spikes are like a single bit of information, passing between neurons. “Together, this creates this truly path-breaking architecture that can process sensory data in real time while consuming minimal energy in a mobile phone factor,” Modha said.

IBM held a bootcamp to explain to government agencies, researchers, and universities how its chips work, and how to build apps using them. As the chips aren’t wired like traditional computer chips, they needed their own programming language, which the team designed, and is now showing to the world. For these chips, “the old mindset would be a square peg round hole,” Modha said.

Back in 2012, Modha’s team announced it was on the path to building a brain chip at the scale of a bee’s brain, which could play Pong about as well as a human. Three years later, the team has upped the power of its brain chip to the brain of a rodent, but there’s no word on whether it’s mastered any newer videogames.

Modha said his team’s goal is to build a “brain in a shoebox,” with over 10 billion synapses, consuming less than 1 kilowatt hour of power—the minuscule amount of power the human brain requires to work. He thinks this will be possible in less than a decade. (For reference, a human brain has about 100 billion synapses.) A computer with the intricacy and power of a human brain is likely still decades away, Modha said. “The complexity and beauty of neurons in nature dwarfs the imagination,” he added.

In the future, as cognitive computing systems like IBM’s own Watson likely wrangle more and more of the endless torrents of data that the world produces, more powerful computers that can solve problems in novel ways will be needed. As Wired pointed out, Future versions of Siri or Google Now could be powered by neuromorphic chips like Modha’s, where natural language processing (NLP)—a computer’s ability to understand you when you speak to it—happens on the device, and doesn’t require an internet connection to a server farm half way around the world that’s devoted just to NLP. This project, however, is not yet a digital brain, capable of producing the intelligence of a rat. Rather, it’s a system inspired by the way a rat’s brain is wired. But who knows where it could lead as research continues.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” Modha said of his work. “That’s been my mantra.”

source: http://qz.com

Scientists Develop App To Turn Smartphones Into Cosmic Ray Detectors

2015-08-18T20:47:00.000-04:00

If scientists can convince people to use the app, they hope it will help them solve a cosmic mystery. This story originally aired on March 27, 2015 on All Things Considered.

Listen to the story here:

source: http://www.npr.org

Oh look, Samsung has Galaxy O series of smartphones on the way

2015-08-17T20:34:00.002-04:00

Virtually nothing is known about the SM-G550 and SM-G600 handhelds, aka the Galaxy O5 and O7 that Samsung reportedly has in the pipeline.

It seems old habits indeed die hard, and especially when you try to tweak them instead of transforming them altogether, you often fail. Case in point, Samsung, which gave up a convoluted type of branding its smartphones and tablets and adopted a strategy just as confusing to the end user.

Granted, all the Galaxy Cores, Stars, Youngs, Avants, Grand Primes, Pockets, Core Primes, Grand Maxes and so on and so forth have almost surely kicked the bucket. But they haven’t really made way for the streamlined product portfolio we expected.

Starting from the low end of the spectrum, Samsung now groups its Galaxy members in J, E, A, S and Note families. And before long, an O pair will apparently join them. No words on the target audience and price range of Galaxy O5 and O7 devices, but we figure they’ll either squeeze between Js and Es in the low to mid-range sector or sit next to the S lineup and Notes at the very top of the totem pole.

After all, tipsters claimed a little while ago Sammy’s fascination with curved gear grew, so why not dedicate a faction of the overall smartphone clan to “edgy” handhelds? It’s not impossible, is it? Perhaps retain the flashy bodies of the S6 Edge and Edge Plus, and lower the specification bar in order to hit a more reasonable price point.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves here, obviously, as the SM-G550 and SM-G600 are presently the result of unfounded, unsupported speculation. Besides, who’s to say the Galaxy O7, if real, isn’t a tablet? Maybe the mysterious curved big guy teased by Samsung ahead of its recent Unpacked event, and likely held up until IFA in early September.

source: http://vr-zone.com

Now, smartphones will be able to detect gases

2015-08-17T20:28:00.002-04:00

LONDON: Scientists have developed a miniature smartphone sensor that can identify the type and amount of gases in air samples.

Gas measurements made with smartphones will make activities such as the detection of internal air problems easier, researchers said.

In addition, sleep quality will be measurable with greater precision, using mobile health-care applications which gauge carbon dioxide quantities, researchers said.

Many sensor developers are interested in using smartphones to measure gas concentrations.
"This is probably due to the spread of the Internet of Things (IoT), which enables indirect observations of a range of environmental factors based on data gathered from single sensors or sensor networks," said Anna Rissanen from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

"Many day-to-day issues, such as precision and efficiency in the workplace, can depend on carbon dioxide levels and internal air quality," said Rissanen, leader of the research team.

Using a mobile device to measure carbon dioxide will also enable new applications for smartphones: for example, sleep quality can be monitored by measuring the sleeper's exhalations.

The tiny gas sensor developed by team's senior scientist Rami Mannila is based on channelling light through the sample being analyzed.

Penetrability at various light wavelengths can be used to determine the composition of the compound. Carbon dioxide is identified based on its strong absorption of light at a wavelength of 4.2 micrometres (m).

In addition, a corresponding sensor technology can be used to simultaneously differentiate and detect other gases or substances based on the spectrum of their absorption peaks at various infra-red wavelengths, researchers said.

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Best Features of Samsung’s New Galaxy Smartphones

2015-08-16T20:43:00.000-04:00

Source: Samsung

Samsung revealed evolutionary updates to two popular handset models this week, the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Edge. The Note 5 and Edge+, both available August 21, sport 5.7-inch screens and Android OS 5.1 Lollipop. The new devices are also the first to support Samsung’s mobile payment service, Samsung Pay, which launches in Korea next week and in the U.S. on September 28.

The Edge and especially the Note have carved out a niche for themselves among Android loyalists, and further cement Samsung’s position as the top Android device manufacturer. The Note is one of the best-selling “phablets” — the nickname for smartphone/tablet hybrids — and the Edge was widely popular due to its innovative curve screen despite shortages at launch.

Both devices sport a 16-megapixel rear-facing and 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and come in either 32 or 64GB capacities running on the company’s new Exynos 7420 eight-core processor with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display. Traditional and wireless charging is supported, with a full charge possible in less than 90 minutes.

The Note 5 and Edge+ both are made of metal and glass, a departure from the plastic Samsung smartphones of the past. The company switched to more premium materials earlier this year, no doubt in response to chief competitor Apple’s preference for metal over plastic and more demanding consumer tastes.

The Note 5: A step up in quality

The Note 5, while mostly an evolutionary release, still has features that are sure to attract new buyers. The Verge’s Dan Seifert described the Note 5 as “a blend of the Galaxy S6 introduced earlier this year and the Note 4 from last year.” This is due to the fact that the Note 5 now makes use of the same materials — metal and glass on both the front and back — that the S6 did.

Wireless charging is a nice feature, something that Samsung is pushing heavily in some of its lineup in an effort to differentiate its devices from Apple. It has also shrunk the Note somewhat. The Note 4 has the same 5.7-inch screen, but a thinner and narrower case along with a curved back make it seem like less of the extremely large phone that it is.

Like any Note, it includes the S-Pen stylus. For quick notes the device will now allow you to draw on the screen even when the display is “off.”

There’s even a cool new feature for YouTubers that allows for livestreaming to the service directly from the camera app itself. That feature is found on the Edge+ as well, Samsung says.

The Note 5 is available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Silver Titanium. Pricing will be set by the carriers, but expect the pricing to be similar to the Note 4 at its launch.

The Edge+ builds on the original

No doubt the coolest feature of Samsung’s Edge lineup are their curved screens. Samsung actually misjudged the original Edge’s potential popularity the first time around, leading to shortages in the original version and a lot of unhappy customers, according to PCWorld.

Samsung’s not making the same mistake twice, improving on its manufacturing process to produce more Edge+, and including a larger 5.7-inch screen in a package that is only 12 millimeters longer and 5 millimeters wider. The battery is slightly larger than its predecessor, and charging speed has also been improved.

Of course, the device’s curved screen is still the main attraction. The edges of the screen that curve are where your select navigation and control buttons sit, and are able to change operation based on the apps you use. Samsung says it has improved the software here so that these buttons will not only allow you to access frequently used contacts but apps as well.

While it’s not perfect yet, the functionality tweaks are beginning to improve a device that at first seemed a little gimmicky to some. There has been talk about curved displays for years, and Samsung deserves at least some credit for making it a reality.

Like the Note 5, the Edge+ is also expected to be available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum and Silver Titanium. Both devices are available for preorder immediately before their launch on August 21.

Move over Apple Pay, here’s Samsung Pay

The Note 5 and the Edge+ are the first two devices to support Samsung Pay, the company’s response to Apple Pay. Like Apple Pay, Samsung’s version also works on the NFC platform for contactless payments. However the company also is promoting another technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission, or MST.

MST works by transmitting a magnetic signal to traditional card card readers while the phone rests on the swiping slot, which most modern card swiping devices should be able to receive. Samsung also will beat Apple Pay to the punch in offering store-branded credit cards, likely due to the addition of MST as a mobile payment option. Retailers don’t have to add contactless payments technology to their registers in order to support Samsung Pay.

While users of the Note 5 and Edge+ will have the Samsung Pay preloaded, owners of the original Edge and other select Galaxy S6 should receive the new services as part of a software update within the next several weeks. As mentioned previously, Korea will get Samsung Pay first on August 20, followed by a launch in the U.S. on September 28. Samsung officials say other countries will come online in the coming months.

source: http://www.cheatsheet.com

Motorola's Moto X Pure Edition Is the Smartphone of the Future

2015-08-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

Motorola's next flagship smartphone, the Moto X Pure Edition, will debut on September 3. Those who wish to purchase one must do so through Amazon, Best Buy, or Motorola's own website -- Motorola will not sell the Moto X Pure Edition through any carrier.

This stands in sharp contrast to its Android rival Samsung (NASDAQ Other:SSNLF). In the U.S., the Korean tech giant does not sell unlocked Galaxy handsets -- all of its phones are designed for particular carriers.. Every Samsung phone sold in the U.S. -- even those sold through third-party retailers -- is branded by a single wireless carrier.

Motorola has been much less successful than Samsung to date, but its strategy hints at a changing U.S. wireless landscape.

Unlocked and ready work to with any carrier

It's often a difficult and confusing process to bring a handset from one carrier to another. Differences in technologies and frequency banding can make it an impossibility. In the U.S., Samsung sells four versions of its Galaxy S6 -- one designed to work with each of the four major networks. Some of these versions are compatible with other networks (the T-Mobile variant, for example, can work on AT&T) but a difference in radio banding can lead to sub-par performance. Others are simply incompatible -- the AT&T variant lacks the CDMA technology used by Verizon's (NYSE:VZ) network.

At the moment, there is no version of Samsung's Galaxy S6 that offers this capability. This wasn't much of an issue in recent years, as most smartphones were sold on standard, two-year contracts. When a contract expired, consumers would just sign a new contract and get a new phone.

Motorola's Moto X Pure edition, however, is able to work with all four major carriers. The phone's lone model supports both GSM and CDMA, HSPA+ and 14 different LTE bands. By simply changing the SIM card, Moto X Pure edition owners will be able to change their carrier whenever they please.

The death of subsidies

But the way consumers are purchasing smartphones is changing. Earlier this month, Verizon announced that it would be doing away with contracts altogether for new customers. Now, new Verizon customers must purchase their phones outright, pay for them in installments, or bring over compatible devices they've purchased elsewhere (like the new Moto X). They can cancel their service at any time, and if their handset supports it, use their device on a different network.

Under this system, an unlocked phone with support for a wide variety of networks is much more attractive, as a handset lacking support for other carriers limits its owner's choices.

Whether this will lead customers to choose the new Moto X over a competing Samsung device remains to be seen. Certainly, Motorola's brand isn't as strong as Samsung's -- even as Samsung's mobile profit has plunged, its share of the U.S. Android smartphone market has strengthened. According to Kantar Worldpanel, in the second quarter, Samsung and LG combined for 78% of all U.S. Android sales.

Apple seems to be aware of this shift. The Cupertino tech giant began selling a fully unlocked version of the iPhone 6 earlier this year. Like the new Moto X, this version of the iPhone is compatible with all the major U.S. carriers, but as the company notes on its website, "purchasing an unlocked iPhone means you will not qualify for the lower... price associated with... a carrier installment plan." Buying an unlocked iPhone 6 means spending $649 or more up front -- a tall order for many.

A niche offering, or the future of the wireless industry?

The Moto X Pure edition, in contrast, starts at a far more palatable $399 -- but it may still be too expensive. In the past, T-Mobile's marketing for the Galaxy S6 has consistently emphasized "$0 down" for its installment plans -- clearly, customers are not eager to part with several hundred dollars upfront. At the same time, the move away from contracts is still somewhat in its infancy. In fact, Verizon customers could still sign contracts through Wednesday.

The new Moto X Pure is a different phone for a different era: a radical shift for a company that has been selling its Android flagships through carriers since 2009. But if it succeeds, it could help fuel a new trend -- one that could change the U.S. wireless industry forever.

source: http://www.fool.com

Disappointing smartphones suggest focus on margins

2015-08-15T20:41:00.000-04:00

Many commentators had expected this year to be a standout year for mobile phone manufacturers, characterised not only by major internal improvements, but also by innovative designs and groundbreaking aesthetics.

Consumers have long been clamouring for vendors to bring something truly revolutionary to the mobile table, but as the major vendors took it in turns to unveil their new devices, such hopes were dashed.
That sense of disappointment certainly rings true for most vendors, although one did manage to buck the trend. But before we reveal which vendor stood out from the crowd, let’s take a quick look at some of the major unveilings that left us wanting more in terms of design.

When HTC’s flagship One series was first launched in 2013, the original device was hailed as one of the best looking on the market, and the rave reviews continued for last year’s HTC One (M8) installment. With such pedigree in mind, hopes were high for the new HTC One M9, but almost as soon as the official unveiling was over, industry experts and consumers took to social media to lament the lacklustre evolution of the product.

Yes, the phone’s performance has been enhanced, but in design terms it looks almost identical to its predecessor. You would really have to know the devices well to distinguish between the two models, with the main difference being that the rear camera is now square rather than the previous circle design.
Last year’s LG G3 was another device that was very well received by the critics, although IDC’s market data shows that the device didn’t gain much traction in the GCC. In an attempt to reverse that trend, the company launched the G4 earlier this year, with improvements including a better screen, improved camera, and more powerful processor.

On the outside, however, the design changes are less obvious. The device is still made of plastic and the screen is the same size, although it now features an ever-so-subtle curve – you have to look very closely to notice. Undoubtedly the most noticeable difference is that LG now offers a fashionable leather-backed option that comes in a variety of colours.

Even the renowned design deities at Apple somehow managed to underwhelm in the looks department this year. It’s no secret that Apple builds some of the most attractive mobile devices in the market, drawing on an unrivalled attention to detail to produce immaculate fits and finishes that garner plenty of admiring glances.

However, in terms of true design innovation, Apple left us wanting with its latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models. Yes, the new larger screens represent a true departure for the American giant, and the phones are also more rounded than previous generations. However, one can’t help but notice the incredible aesthetic similarities between these devices and the latest iPod Touch, while there was also a less-than-rapturous response to the antenna lines and protruding cameras that feature on the back of the phones.

Despite these gripes, the sixth generation of the iPhone has gone on to break all previous sales records, with IDC’s data showing the vendor with a 20 per cent share of the GCC smartphone market for the second quarter this year.

So which of the leading vendors did manage to shake things up a bit in 2015? Enter Samsung and its new S6 Edge device, a piece of kit that is truly different to anything else already available on the market. For years now, consumers have been craving devices that not only feature the best internals, but also look and feel like the best, and Samsung has finally delivered, ditching its traditional plastic builds for a more premium glass and metal finish on the S6 and S6 Edge.

Although these devices now feel like they truly belong in the premium flagship bracket, it is the double-curved screen on the front of the S6 Edge that really captures the imagination and provides the wow factor that is so sorely lacking elsewhere in the market.

The vendor has experienced some supply issues with the S6 Edge as a result of production complications, while demand for the standard S6 variant has surprisingly fallen short of expectations. But none of this takes away from the fact that the S6 Edge is one extremely good-looking device.

The reasons for the lack of design innovation currently plaguing the market are not clear. It’s certainly not down to a lack of talent, so a more likely scenario is that many vendors are simply being mindful of their profit margins. The mobile space is becoming ever more crowded and margins are shrinking rapidly. With smaller profits and fewer funds, manufacturers have less to invest in design and research and development, which ultimately translates into less innovation in the hands of the consumer.

source:http://www.thenational.ae

Motorola Will Take Over Lenovo's Slumping Smartphone Division In Spite Of Motorola's 31% Sales Drop

2015-08-15T20:36:00.000-04:00

Nestled in Lenovo's latest earnings report were disappointing figures for both their own brand of smartphones and Motorola, which was acquired late last year. The Chinese company's response is to do some fairly large-scale restructuring, handing over basically all aspects of Lenovo smartphones to Motorola with the possible exception of marketing. Motorola will continue to develop, make, and market their own line that most Westerners are familiar with.

In light of the earnings figures, it might be surprising that Motorola is the part of the larger company that is rewarded with more responsibility. Lenovo's own brand of smartphones posted a sales increase of 2.3% compared to a year ago as they shipped 16.2 million units. Of concern to Lenovo is that smartphone market share fell 0.5 percentage points to 4.7%, though they still kept their spot in fifth place worldwide.

Motorola, on the other hand, saw a massive 31% drop in smartphone shipments to 5.9 million units. Lenovo feels that economic issues in Brazil, a large market that Motorola typically does very well in, explains some of those sales problems and should clear up in the future. Other explanations include supply problems and a fixed cost structure which could become a positive if sales pick up. Management claims they think Motorola will return to profitability within a year and potentially as soon as 6 months from now.

Still, citing worries about their declining market share and likely following through with plans that drove the acquisition in the first place, the company says Motorola will be used to "design, develop and manufacture smartphone products" for Lenovo. As it is explained, it appears these phones will still be branded as Lenovo, but will become Motorola creations.

The big question going forward is whether Lenovo smartphones will be recognizable Motorola designs but with a different logo or if the change will allow Lenovo to keep its own design language. While Android Police readers would probably welcome more Moto in their Lenovo, it's worth pointing out that Lenovo sold nearly three times as many smartphones last year.

I would speculate that Lenovo smartphones will begin to look a lot more like Motorola phones. Among the "restructuring costs" outlined in the report is $300 million earmarked for clearing out smartphone inventory, which sounds like something they would prioritize if they want to make wholesale changes to the product lineup.

Another product of this restructuring is layoffs for 3,200 workers, 5% of Lenovo's total workforce and 10% of their non-manufacturing workforce. All of the layoffs are non-manufacturing workers. While Lenovo isn't saying exactly who they are getting rid of, chances are their smartphone division is facing cuts.

source:http://www.androidpolice.com

Google's Project Ara still plans to launch modular smartphones in Puerto Rican pilot

2015-08-14T20:47:00.002-04:00

Lost in the tidal wave of news coverage this week about Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) decision to reorganize itself and split out its businesses under a holding company called Alphabet was the fate of Google's many projects under its Advanced Technology and Projects group. One of the most high-profile of those, Project Ara, indicated this week that it's not giving up on its mission of creating modular smartphones.

Project Ara's official Twitter account had not sent out a tweet since May 29 during Google's I/O developer summit. Then starting on Wednesday the account lit up to let the world know that Project Ara is still ticking and that: "We've been busy...making stuff," with apologies for the hiatus.

"We've got some updates to share...let's do this," the account posted, noting that there will be a "Market pilot re-route" and to "stay tuned for more details."

After that, Project Ara's account tweeted, "And this is not goodbye Puerto Rico! Nos vemos en el futuro!," with the Spanish translating into: "See you in the future!"

The account promised more updates next week and said not to worry, Project Ara "isn't going anywhere!"

Shortly after the I/O conference, where a Project Ara prototype was demonstrated, Paul Eremenko, who had led the Ara team, announced he was leaving Google to become the founding CEO of a new innovation center in Silicon Valley for defense and aerospace giant Airbus.

In January Google said it would have a pilot launch for Project Ara in Puerto Rico during the second half of 2015. At the time, Google said that when the pilot launched, users would be able to alter or customize their devices using the Ara Marketplace and Ara Configurator apps to help manage the phone's different modules and troubleshoot issues. Google also planned to open several "food-truck"-style stores for consumers to actually test and explore the devices before they use them. Google said it aimed to have around 20 to 30 Ara modules available across 10 different categories by the time the pilot program launched.

How a Physical Keyboard Could Help Samsung Sell More Smartphones

2015-08-13T21:16:00.000-04:00

There was a time when the launch of a new smartphone meant fascinating changes to the way we interacted with our devices. Or perhaps it’s simply nostalgic to think so. In any case, that halcyon time, if it ever existed, is no more.

These days a new smartphone from the likes of Apple or Samsung means marginal performance improvements, the addition and removal of various bells and whistles, and seemingly arbitrary changes in color, materials, and form. That isn’t an indictment of the category. Smartphones have simply gotten good enough at what they do that they don’t cry out for annual reinvention. Nevertheless, convention dictates that their purveyors continue to roll out new releases that can lay at least some claim to being different from those that came before.

Such is the case with Samsung’s next flagship phablets, announced Thursday to unjustified fanfare in a grand venue at Lincoln Center in New York City. The Galaxy S5 edge+ and the Galaxy Note6—err, sorry, the Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5—offer just enough fresh features and incremental upgrades to excite the tech press, without doing much of anything that you haven’t already come to expect a fancy smartphone to do. The Note5 gets an improved stylus, for those who like that sort of thing. The S6 edge+ is a somewhat larger version of the curvy, glassy S6 edge, which was released earlier this year.

There is one accessory, however, that could set Samsung’s latest apart from the field, at least in theory: a physical keyboard. For those still lamenting the touchscreen revolution that the original iPhone begot, each of the new Samsung phones will be compatible with a new hardware keyboard accessory that snaps over the bottom half of the phone. BlackBerry lovers, rejoice! Ryan Seacrest is vindicated! Steve Jobs was wrong all along!

OK, maybe a feature cribbed from the cutting edge of 1999’s mobile technology isn’t likely to take the industry by storm. Touchscreen phones took a while to get used to, but eight years was probably enough for most of us.

Still, Samsung’s current see-what-sticks approach to smartphone design is more interesting than simply aping Apple, as it used to do. Just because Apple finds success with one aesthetic doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. It was Samsung that popularized the larger screens that now dominate the market, forcing Apple to reverse course on its years-long “smaller is better” crusade. And in the tablet realm, Microsoft’s Surface has carved out an audience with the help of its elegantly conceived Type Cover keyboard.

It’s easy to write off Samsung features like curved glass, the “S-Pen” stylus, and the new Keyboard Cover as superficial gimmicks, which they are. But so are most of the “innovations” that Apple is trotting out in its iPhones these days. (See: larger screens, gold trim, fingerprint sensors.)

Probably the keyboard will appeal only to a small segment of Samsung’s enormous global customer base. But even if it flops as an accessory, it will have succeeded at one thing: ginning up just a little more attention for yet another otherwise desultory smartphone launch. These days, that’s about all we can ask.

Is Nextbit the Next Big Player in Premium Smartphones?

2015-08-12T20:39:00.000-04:00

Nextbit, the smartphone run by former Google, Apple, Amazon, and HTC employees, will launch its first Android smartphone on September 1.

In an interview with CNET, the company’s CEO Tom Moss, who previously worked at Google stationed at Android, said the phone will be a “premium” model, likely priced between $300 and $400, with incremental software updates that will improve the phone’s performance.

“Your phone will perform better over time and function at a higher level because of this software enhancement,” said Nextbit. The company is focusing on developing a smartphone that will adapt to you, said Moss with ever changing software.

“Phone fatigue is a real thing,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing something different.” Just how different Nextbit will be remains to be seen.

Nextbit is striving for that innovative space in the smartphone industry where companies like Microsoft and Samsung have either been struggling to get a foothold or making a loss in recent times. Meanwhile Apple has a staggering market share and popularity.

At the same time, the growth of modestly priced smartphones, like those from OnePlus or Xiaomi, is making an impact on the global market.

Nextbit didn’t reveal any information regarding its relationships with carriers.

Moss and the company’s chief technology officer Mike Chan both worked on Android. The company also features Scott Croyle, a former design head at HTC.

Nextbit's mysterious Android smartphone will be revealed on September 1

2015-08-11T19:54:00.002-04:00

Nextbit, a mobile developer run by former Google, Apple, Amazon, and HTC employees, plans to unveil its first Android smartphone on September 1st. In an interview with CNET, the company said the device will be priced in the "premium tier" of smartphones between $300 and $400 and will be, in the words of chief executive Tom Moss, "friggin' awesome." In fact, Nexbit's big promise is that its smartphone won't just be good, but will improve over time as software updates augment its performance and cloud services expand its storage.

"Your phone will perform better over time and function at a higher level because of this software enhancement," the company told CNET. Chief technology officer Mike Chan, an early member of Android along with Moss, added: "We're focusing on a device that can adapt to you." Exactly what this means for customers isn't clear, but alterations to Android as far-reaching as Amazon's Fire OS have been ruled out according to CNET. Previous reports have suggested that Nextbit devices will include Handoff-style software that allows users to save an app in whatever state it's in and pick it up at the same point on other devices.

The company is going to have to do more than just replicate existing features to impress in an increasingly challenging market though. HTC is almost out for the count, Samsung's profits are falling, OnePlus continues to offer high-end smartphones for less, and a host of Chinese companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and ZTE are making substantial gains. Nextbit will have to do something special to stand out from the crowd, but the company is at least confident in its own uniqueness. "Phone fatigue is a real thing," Moss told CNET. "That's why we're doing something different."