Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime “confirmed” in shipping manifest
The long-rumored premium Galaxy S5 gets one step closer to reality this week as a shipping manifest leaked online. Referencing four SM-G906K units being shipped for “R&D purpose”, it’s the same model number that has been the subject of additional leaks. While this is not outright proof positive of the so-called Galaxy S5 Prime, it’s more fuel for the fire. For what it’s worth, the manifest has since been yanked offline.
Specifications expected in the premium smartphone are reported to include:
- Android 4.4.2 KitKat
- 5.2-inch 2560 x 1440 display
- 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor with Adreno 420 GPU
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB storage
- 16-megapixel camera
- 2-megapixel front-facing camera
If the rumors hold true, the S5 Prime should be encased in a stronger, perhaps metal body.
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Snapdragon 801 powered OnePlus One officially unveiled, starts at just $299 unlocked
After months of teasing and gathering attention, OnePlus has finally made an official announcement of their first smartphone – the OnePlus One. This device is powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM and 16GB or 64GB of internal storage. The most impressive thing about the OnePlus One is its aggressive pricing structure. You can get yourself a 16GB version for $299 and 64GB version for $349. It also comes with stylish back cover options known as StyleSwap Covers which are being offered in wood, bamboo, denim and kevlar trims.
OnePlus One White Version
OnePlus One Specifications
- 5.5 inch LTPS IPS LCD display, 1920 x 1080 pixels & Gorilla Glass 3
- 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Adreno 330 & 3GB LP-DDR3 RAM
- 16GB or 64GB of internal storage
- 13MP Sony camera sensor (IMX214), dual-LED flash, 4K video recording, 5MP front-facing camera
- Android v4.4 KitKat based CyanogenMod 11S
- LTE, WCDMA, dual-band Wi-Fi ac/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.1, NFC, A-GPS & microUSB v3.0
- Stereo speakers, tri-microphone noise cancellation microphones
- 152.9×75.9×8.9 mm, 3100 mAh
- Bamboo, Wood, Denim & Kevlar trim for back covers
OnePlus One Battery
It is evident from the hardware and software specifications that the OnePlus One is a ‘no compromise’ smartphone which competes with all the top-end smartphones of 2014 such as Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One M8 but is being offered at just half the price. The device will be available through an ‘invite only’ basis in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the US to contain the rush. The device availability starts from mid May.
Earlier, only Nexus smartphones were known for their price to performance ratio but if the OnePlus One performs as claimed, it will beat the Nexus line-up of smartphones.
Via: Tom’s Hardware
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 will make a May 1st U.S. appearance with pre-order starting tomorrow
Samsung certainly doesn’t have plans to slow down their launch schedule of devices anytime soon. just about every month their is some new Galaxy device heading somewhere. Today the mega manufacture has announced the availability and pricing of the next Galaxy Tab. Keep true to the name scheme, it will just be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.
Samsung will be making the new Tab 4 available for pre-order purchase tomorrow with official availability beginning May 1st. That is solely for the Wi-Fi models which include a 7-inch, 8-inch and 10.0-inch variety. Each of the three pack in Android 4.4 KitKat powered by a 1.2Ghz quad-core processor and 1.5GB of RAM. The screen resolution set for each one is the same at 1280 x 800. It is a little interesting that the resolution will remain the same across all three screen sizes.
There are only a few key differences that I can see in the spec out line from Samsung’s press release.
- Battery size: 8-inch (4,450mAh) 10.1-inch (6,800mAh) Samsung listed the 7-inch as (battery)
- Storage: 8 and 10 inch are 16GB and the 7-inch will be 8 or 16 GB
All of the tablets will offer a micro SD card slot. Pre-ordering for each of the Wi-Fi models starts tomorrow starting at $199.99 for the 7-inch, $269.99 for the 8-inch and $349.99 for the 10.1-inch. You will be able to snag an order through Samsung directly or other retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Tiger Direct, Fry’s and others. We will add a few links to those tomorrow when they go live.
Following up the Wi-Fi only variants will be the LTE variants. All three sizes will be available through various carriers. Samsung lists T-Mobile to carry the Tab 4 in the 8-inch size, AT& and Sprint will be stocking the 7-inch and Verizon will sell the 8-inch and the 10.1-inch.
Source: Samsung Press Via 9to5Google
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Recon’s deal with the ‘other’ Motorola could see a rugged Glass rival
Head-mounted computing specialists Recon Instruments is building quite a team to take on Google Glass. Last year, Intel offered both cash and its manufacturing and technology expertise, and now the “other” Motorola has followed suit. Motorola Solutions has opened its checkbook and pledged to share its product development and distribution know-how with the Canadian outfit. Why has a company with a pedigree in walkie-talkies and barcode scanners teamed up with Recon? Not only does it have plenty of experience making rugged gadgets that’ll likely improve the Jet and Snow2′s hardiness, but it also already makes wearable computers on the side. The Motorola HC1, you see, is an enterprise device that’s designed to work in extreme environments where it’d be too dangerous to use a phone. Perhaps the two of them will develop a new wearable platform that’s as comfortable on the slopes as it is on the oil rig.
Filed under: Wearables
Scribd brings Lonely Planet guides to its book subscription service
Scribd’s e-book subscription service is only six months old, and already it’s working hard to hook some big names to convince you that it’s worth $9 a month. The company has now snagged a deal with publisher Lonely Planet that’ll see hundreds of the latter’s travel guides appear on the former’s platform. At the same time, the company has added in bookmarking across all devices, so you’ll always be able to find that list of restaurants when you’re roaming without WiFi. Great, now we’ve got the theme to the Lonely Planet TV series stuck in our head.
Source: Scribd Lonely Planet, Scribd press room
High school seniors conquer watery ketchup with 3D-printed bottle cap
3D printers have produced some pretty amazing (and scary) stuff, and now a pair of high school seniors have successfully used the tech to ensure they’ll never have to eat a soggy hotdog again. Tired of the watery, separated ketchup you get from a bottle that’s been sitting unused for a while, the two seniors went about solving the issue with the help of their school’s 3D printer. What they ended up with was a replacement cap for bottles that forces the sauce out through an internal, raised tube. As ketchup leaves the bottle at a higher point, the standing water at the cap end stays inside. The simple but elegant fix may seem like a trivial use of 3D printing, but it’s the perfect example of rapid prototyping, and the make-it-yourself attitude the technology is all about. There’s even talk of the young dudes turning the project into something of a business venture, but if that doesn’t work out, there’ll almost certainly be scholarship spots for them at the MIT’s ketchup vessel innovation department.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Sky News
Source: KCPT
Verizon and Google have spent over $6 million on lobbying in 2014
Two of the biggest names in American communications, Verizon and Google, are also two of the highest spenders in the world of political lobbying. In the last two years alone, the two spent a combined $63 million attempting to sway legislation in their favor, and 2014 is gearing up to be another landmark year in Silicon Valley’s profits flowing into Washington: the two are already $6 million deep in 2014, with Comcast and AT&T nipping at their heels. Google leads contributions, with over $3.8 million already spent in 2014.
Not that anyone’s surprised; Google’s been involved with politics for some time now, even openly joining the lobbying group The Internet Association in 2012.
Some of the company’s subtler tactics were recently uncovered by The Washington Post, such as hosting a conference at George Mason University and stacking the invite list with Federal Trade Commission regulators and other folks instrumental in deciding the fate of Google’s 2011 FTC investigation (which ended in a settlement).
Verizon’s also no slouch in the world of politics, having previously thrown its weight into the ongoing battle between the companies using wireless spectrum and the government agency which regulates said spectrum (the Federal Communications Commission). Both Verizon and Google are on track to match and exceed previous contributions — the only question is which company will contribute more.
[Image credit: Getty Images, Brand X]
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Handhelds, Tablets, Internet, Software, Google, Verizon
Source: Consumer Watchdog
GameStop Expanding Beyond Video Games with Aggressive Growth Plans for Simply Mac Stores
Major video game retailer GameStop is making a significant push to broaden its business, expanding its retail operations with new brands and stores that will focus on Apple gear and AT&T Mobility products, reports The Star-Telegram.
While the diversification will include a move into AT&T mobile services through GameStop’s acquisition of Spring Mobile, of more interest for Apple users is GameStop’s plans for Simply Mac, a chain of authorized Apple resale and repair shops that focuses on smaller markets where Apple has not shown interest in opening its own stores. Founded in 2006 in Utah, Simply Mac grew to eight stores by October 2012 when GameStop acquired a 49.9 percent stake in the Apple reseller. In November 2013, GameStop exercised an option to purchase the rest of Simply Mac, which now includes 23 locations focused in the western half of the United States, and GameStop has plans for a significant expansion of the Simply Mac network.
[GameStop CEO Paul] Raines said GameStop’s confidence in rapid growth at the small chains, acquired for about $110 million last year, is buoyed by their strong ties to industry leaders AT&T and Apple.
Steve Bain and Jason Ellis, the executives who built Simply Mac and Spring Mobile, continue to run the operations for GameStop and see strong growth opportunities. After opening 23 stores this year, Bain said, the company plans to open 50 more Simply Mac stores in 2015.
While its stores are smaller and lower profile than many of Apple’s retail stores, Simply Mac’s push to open nearly 75 stores through the end of 2015 appears to dwarf Apple’s own plans in the United States. Apple typically opens around 30 stores per year, but at this point the majority of those are outside of the United States.
The “transformation,” as CEO Paul Raines dubbed it, is intended to keep GameStop growing and leverage its expertise in store operations and buying and selling used devices. He said he envisions GameStop as a “family of specialty retailers that make your favorite technologies affordable and simple.”
As GameStop expands into the lucrative mobile phone and Apple device market, the retailer plans to downsize its video games operations by closing up to 130 of its 6,400 GameStop stores sometime this year. Though video games will remain its primary focus, GameStop CEO Rob Lloyd believes the company’s new technology brands could generate up to $1 billion in revenue and contribute up to 10 percent of GameStop’s revenue by 2016.
This move into Apple’s retail segment comes at a time when Apple is in the middle of a retail transition. The company is awaiting the arrival of retail head Angela Ahrendts, who is completing her transitionary period at Burberry. Apple also is rumored to be working on a mobile payments system under the leadership of Jennifer Bailey, who allegedly left her executive role in online retail to spearhead this new mobile initiative.
AT&T to relaunch Cricket by end of quarter
AT&T expects to relaunch Cricket Wireless by the end of this, the second quarter of 2014. According to the carrier, the prepaid arm will give its customers devices that work on AT&T’s 4G LTE network as opposed to the Cricket network.
AT&T will fold the Aio Wireless brand into Cricket; a nationwide presence of 3,000+ locations is expected. The entire transition should take around 18 months to pull all Cricket customers off the CDMA network over to AT&T’s LTE network.
The post AT&T to relaunch Cricket by end of quarter appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Photos of Samsung Galaxy K emerge ahead of expected April 29 debut
Photos recently posted on Baidu provide us with the best look at Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy K device. Presumed to be the successor to the Galaxy S4 Zoom, the slimmer, more powerful experience is a camera-centric take on the flagship device. Specifications are purported to include a 20-megapixel rear camera with 10X optical zoom and Xenon flash with a front-facing 2-megapixel camera. Internally, details could include an Exynos 5 Hexa processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 4.8″ AMOLED screen.
Samsung has a press event for April 29th in Singapore, and has been teasing it with the phrase “Kapture The Moment”.
Baidu via PhoneArena
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