Your once daily stop for tech news! If it's important we've got it covered!
Our focus is on mobile devices such as phones and tablets, but anything goes!
HTC have explained why there's no MicroSD card support in the 'normal' versions of the HTC One but there is in the Chinese version. It's all down to those pesky LTE radios which take up the extra space. Seeing as they don't need as many radios in the Chinese version there's the room in the chassis for the SD Card slot, so it's all quite logical really! Via TechRadar.
BB10.2 is being worked on at the moment and Blackberry's Michael Clewley, has revealed that the update will add support for unicode emojis, multiple alarms and level 1 notifications for emails. The SDK will be out in June and it will land on devices later in the year! Crackberry Via Engadget.
Mediatek's General Manager confirmed to ITProportal that the company will release a 'global LTE offering' later this year. Hold your hats guys budget devices are going to be seeing a lot more LTE!
Infinity Ward have confirmed that Call of Duty Ghosts will be coming to both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 3! Yay for the current generation support! Via Slashgear.
Twitter have started rolling out two-step verification to stop those hacks which we've been hearing so much about lately! If you're in the UK you can make use of the service assuming you have a phone on all major networks except for EE and T-Mobile, but you're good if you're on Orange! Full details on how to set it up are on Twitter's blog here! Via Slashgear.
Sky and Virgin Media have inked a £49 million deal which will see the latter help the former with its network infrastructure over the coming 5 years! Via TheNextWeb.
Rumours have surfaced today that Samsung will supply Google with high-end oled screens for Google Glass! Check out the Korean Times' article here! Via AndroidBeat.
HP have raised their earnings outlook for the year after positive results which have been credited to the new input of CEO Meg Whitman. When she took over she promised more quality products and you can check out some of her results in consumer devices here, here and here! Via Reuters.
Google Play magazines has been updated with a lovely new UI! Via Android Central.
And finally, Pheonix Devices have officially successfully funded their Kickstarter campaign to get Android apps on the WebOS powered HP Touchpad! The guys raised a total of $45,533 which was about $10,000 more than they wanted originally! The best way to announce the news is the way Pheonix did on Twitter! Full details on their plans can be found on KickStarter here.
GOOAAALLLLLL!!!!
— Phoenix I.C. (@phxdevices) May 23, 2013
Google have been in the news a fair bit today! It seems as though they might have something being organised with Samsung in the OLED arena, but the guys have also revealed the processor and internals of their Google Glass headset as well as updating their terms and conditions on the Play Store to make sure that people can't update their apps without going through their marketplace!
We'll start with the internals of Google's Glass, which haven't really been confirmed as much as they've been discovered by an enterprising owner who managed to get them to boot up on ADB! His investigations led him to find that Android 4.0.4 ICS is powering the device, with a dual-core OMAP 4430 processor being back up, by what we assume is 1GB of RAM because 682MB was available while the Glasses were running! We already know that there's 16GB of internal storage and a 5MP camera, which when all is said and done, makes this a solid mid-range Android device, but there's nothing too spectacular here except for the form factor of course.
Secondly, it seems as though Google is none too happy that Facebook has been going behind their back and updating their apps without using Google Play to provide the updates. As a result Google have updated their terms and conditions to try to make sure that this doesn't happen any more!
When Facebook used the tactic it wasn't against Google's Terms of Service, but they've now been updated to read:
“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism” Google Play Developer Content Policy
This change has been made to Google's 'Dangerous Product' section of their policy, which is totally understandable because it'd be easy for people to 'spike' an app on Google Play that way. Google for their part reiterated that, "Google Play is a trusted source for Android application downloads, and we are committed to providing a secure and consistent experience" and that's what they had to do in this situation really. There's been no word from Facebook on the changes, but then again there's not much which they can say any more! Via TheVerge and Slashgear.
Google's Eric Schmidt said that Google's Glass project is probably a 'year-ish' away from being ready for general release in an interview with BBC Radio 4! Via TheVerge.
Sony Mobile today tweeted that they are in the final stages of prep-ing updates for the list of device which you see in the tweet below!
Just a quick update to say we hear you re: JB 4.1 for Xperia P & Go, (S, SL, acro S and ion). Work's in v. final stage - more news next week
— Sony Xperia News (@SonyMobileNews) April 19, 2013
Twitter have signed a deal with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) to bump up advertising on the social platform. As part of the deal Twitter will display ads from people like Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, something which analysts believe could see Twitter's profits double! FT Via Twitter.
T-Mobile and LG have announced that a 350MB update will be arriving on your Optimus L9 OTA soon which brings an update to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. There's a few more details on T-Mobile's support page, but not too many! Via AndroidCentral.
Daft Punk have smashed Spotify's streaming records in both the UK and USA with the launch of their new song 'Get Lucky' which crushed previous streaming figures for the first 24 hours of a songs availability! Via Slashgear.
Tumblr have announced that they have rolled out mobile ads to their iOS and Android apps and you can see up to four ads per day from ABC Entertainment and ABC Family, GE, Pepsi and Warner Bros. You can read full details of the move on Tumblr's blog here! Via TheVerge.
Google had been fined 145,000 Euros for collecting data for Wifi hotspots in Germany and subsequently violating data protection laws. Apparently the largest fine available for this offence is 150,000 Euros but the judge wanted to fine them considerably higher for what is regarded as a serious violation. Via PhoneArena.
The update to Android's Play Store which has quite a redesign is currently rolling out to users and if you're particularly impatient you can get it at the source link below! Via AndroidPolice.
Samsung have released the source code for three variants of their Galaxy S4! Again you can find them at the source link embedded below! Via PhoneArena.
Digitimes is reporting that Intel is encouraging people to make All-In-One PCs with batteries built in! There's a lot more details too so check out Digitimes here for all the goodies!
There's a new one-click tool which lets you root your HTC One available on XDA Developers! If you're interested head to XDA here, but remember we can't be responsible if your lovely new phone becomes an expensive paperweight! Via PhoneArena.
And finally, if you were wondering if Gorilla Glass 3 on the Samsung Galaxy S4 would protect your phone well enough without a screen protector, then check out the video below! It's a little crazy, but this should be a good example of how it'll perform!
Sky have updated their mobile streaming app, SkyGo, to add support for the Sony Xperia Z, the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Motorola RAZR HD! It's great Sky are bulking out the list of supported devices, we just want to see it on a few more Android tablets now! Via PocketLint.
It's been discovered that Google's Glass project isn't quite compatible with iOS just yet. Over on the support page it says that to send SMS and use the GPS you have to have the MyGlass app for Android meaning that these features aren't yet in the iOS app! TheLATimes Via Slashgear.
The UK phone, internet and TV provider, Talk Talk, have been fined £750,000 for an excessive number of abandoned and silent marketing calls to prospective customers. OFCOM discovered somewhere near 9,000 silent and abandoned calls were made in early 2011, as well as a failure to follow Ofcom policy on a separate marketing campaign in 2011! For more information hit up the source link below! Via PocketLint.
Boulder Dash XL has launched on Android with over 100 levels! This is apparently exactly the same game which you can get on PC and Xbox 360! You can get the app for £2 on the Play Store here! At the time of writing it has eight 5* ratings so initial impressions seem good! Via Eurodroid.
If you fancy picking up either a tablet, smart TV, computer or any other device which uses the internet for John Lewis then the company will offer you some of their new broadband packages. The deals aren't spectacular, but they're not bad: the Standard package costs £11 per month and that nets you up to 16Mb speeds and 20GB of usage. There's also unlimited broadband is from £18 per month, giving you 16Mb down and no monthly usage cap. Alternatively you go for Fibre which is £25 and gives you speeds up to 38Mb and 100GB of usage per month. All of these require line rental of £13.50 per month and if you buy an internet enabled device you get six months free! Via PocketLint.
Archos have announced a new line up of three phones. Each of them is dual sim and they look relatively good! Check them out here!
Samsung have confirmed that the Galaxy S4 won't have FM Radio support. A decision they justified by saying that they have seen a trend towards digital consumption through YouTube. We're not sure everyone with data limits will agree! Via SamMobile.
Yahoo have updated their Mail and Weather apps for Android with nice new tablet interfaces! For little demos and more information check out Yahoo's blog page here! Via AndroidPolice.
Anything Yahoo can do LinkedIn can do too! The latter have also refreshed their Android app, bumping it to version 3. There's a tonne of changes which can be found on their blog here! Via AndroidPolice.
Wordpress are in on the act too having updated their Android apps with lovely new Holo themes! For full details on the update check out the Wordpress blog here! Via Engadget.
Three Sweden have confirmed that the Sony Xperia S will get the update to Android 4.1.2 on their network from April 22nd! That means it's possible that unlocked devices will see the update much sooner! Via XperiaBlog.
And finally, rumours of a cheap iPhone simply won't go away and today we've got an image of what is purporting to be that exact device. There's every chance that this could be nothing, but once in a blue moon random leaks turn out to be true, we've still got a fair few months to wait before we hear anything official about new iPhones though!
If we had a pound for every time we heard from people tipping us or giving us feedback about the lack of Nexus 4 availability we would be very rich bloggers! But, we don't and we don't have a cure for the availability issues either. Until now Google blamed LG for sporadic stock shipments and now LG has come forward and offered a degree of clarity on the matter. Forgive us for the very poor translation, but this is what LG said:
“Our domestic Pyeongtaek manufacturing plant has been producing the Nexus 4 without a hitch. There is no problem in supplying. [The Nexus 5 rumors] are unfounded. The Nexus 4 from LG is significant in that it’s becoming more successful than the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.”
So there you have it, LG are manufacturing them as they expect, but the device is just proving to be insanely popular! We tweeted out yesterday that there is stock available on Virgin Mobile in the UK and there are some other outlets, like T-Mobile USA and Phones4U! Chosun via Slashgear.
Qualcomm does think Google Glass is the way forward: They'll vote for smart watches instead!
At the moment 'connected devices' is a buzz phrase. People want everything to display your latest emails, texts, IM's, social networks and all the information needs to be in one place. Constantly checking your phone isn't convenient enough for our busy lives so people are trying to come up with the best solution for this. Some think the future is wearable glasses, which is useful if you wear them normally, but Qualcomm have a different opinion.
Qualcomm CEO, Paul Jacobs, sat down with PocketLint to talk about augmented realities. Jacobs revealed that he actually spent/spends a lot of time working on augmented reality options and he said that if you choose something which is fully immersive, like wearable glasses then you tend to suffer from painful headaches. His exact words were:
"I spent a lot of time on glasses at one point and the issue for me is that the ones that were very immersive I would get a headache from."
This would obviously pose a problem because they're designed to work all day and you can't go through your days suffering headaches, people simply will choose not to! So with that in mind Jacobs is:
"More focused on things like smart watches - always-on display on your wrist - those kinds of ideas as opposed to glass... [That's not to say we won't] support the partners working on glass too, it’s just our focus right now is more on the other stuff."
So devices like Pebble and Sony's Smartwatch (and dare we say their LiveView would fall into this category too) are what Qualcomm has in mind! We know what he means with this argument, the interactive glasses are very distracting (Zeal's Goggle's are very distracting if you're skiing) and smartwatches do seem to be very useful! What do you think is the future? Let us know in the comments below, but bear in mind that these sorts of things might pale into insignificance with things like Samsung's flexible displays and Yotaphone's come to prominence!
Via PocketLint.
In other news:
The Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update for the original Galaxy Note is hitting at the moment! The update is live in Poland, Samsung's normal test bed and we expect it will roll out across the continent soon after, assuming there are no hiccups! Via GSMArena.
Sony will make a PlayStation 4 announcement at E3 in either June “or earlier in May” this year! This news comes from Sony vice president of Home Entertainment, Hiroshi Sakamoto. This would announce the next gen console before Microsoft despite Sony having release their PS3 two years after the launch of the Xbox 360! It seems this time the consoles will be going head to head! Via Slashgear.
Sony will not be including their infamous Timescape app with the Xperia Z, instead they'll rely on other features like 'Socialife' and the other apps on offer for Android devices! Via CNet.
LG's Optimus G is currently receiving an update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean! Via Android Community.
Android's Google Now app will now give you the option to use virtual boarding passes! Google Now will automatically pull down information like flight number, gate number, seat number departure times and weather in your destination without you having to manually request it! Google will provide virtual boarding passes in the future with select airlines but the feature isn't live at the moment! Via Phandroid.
In case you haven't heard the UK high street store, HMV, is currently in administration. The firm is no longer accepting gift cards and 4,500 staff will face losing their jobs unless a buyer can be found in the next few days!
Dell's share price has rocketed over the last few days after rumours that the company will be privatising itself! Their shares are currently up 15%! Via Slashgear!
And finally, we've got a video demo of Blackberry's upcoming Z10 handset. This will be RIM's full touch device and it should be a relatively popular device if everything is well and good! We now have confirmed specs too! There's a 4.2" screen with a resolution of slightly more than 720p, a 1.5Ghz dual-core A9 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage which will be MicroSD expandable! Check out the video below and let us know whether you're excited for BB10!
Via Crackberry.
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