Nexus 7 purchases now come with £50 Play Store credit
If you’ve been eyeing up Google’s latest Nexus 7 tablet but needed a little something to tip you over the edge, then this might give you the incentive you need. Google and ASUS have teamed up to offer £50 credit to spend on Play Store content if you purchase a 16GB Nexus 7 between now and June 1st. There’s also some good news if you bought your Nexus earlier in the month: ASUS says that any purchase made from a UK retailer after May 5th will qualify. If you have your Nexus 7 in hand, all you have to do is head to this site within 30 days and follow the instructions to redeem your credit.
Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, Google
Via: Google UK (Google+)
Source: ASUS
Top Five Android Accessories According to Everyday Users
Like most people, you probably think of yourself as a distinct individual— completely original, a 100 percent unique snowflake. But you tend to start caring a little more about the thoughts of others when it comes to buying something online. You’re probably a lot less likely to download a particular Android app if the ten most recent reviewers complain about crashing issues. Phone accessories are no different, except you usually invest a lot more money in accessories than you do in apps. So rather than sorting through the reviews yourself, below are just a few five best-reviewed accessories on the market:
1. Universal Charge Cable
Every gadget geek has a tangled web of charger cords lurking somewhere, turning every “low battery” alert into a starter pistol for the race of untying the cord before the device dies. The Universal Charge Cable is an essential cord that connects your smartphone to your computer, e-reader, tablet, and any device with a USB port. Out of 98 Amazon reviews, the device has a four-star rating, with most of the positive reviews raving about the long, five-foot cord and the convenience of data syncing. The cable offered by Cable Forge had a number of negative reviews about the cord’s short lifespan, while the universal charge cable offered by T-Mobile received more consistently positive reviews.
2. Sports Armband for Droid OtterBox Defender
Four hundred and forty-five Amazon customer reviewers gave the Sports Armband an average rating of 4.5 stars. The armband is designed to secure to protective OtterBox cases for the Motorola Droid Mini, Droid Razr HD, Razr Maxx HD, Droid Razr M, Moto X, and more. Reviewer Silver called the armband “a must for runners,” with some advice on using the styrofoam insert to provide a snugger fit for skinnier arms. Meanwhile, a special band flap keeps your earphone cords organized, and a clear, protective window cover doesn’t interfere with control.
3. Andru Android Robot USB Travel Charger
The Andru Robot is unquestionably the cutest Android smartphone charger on the market, and it happens to be one of the most well-reviewed. An outstanding 224 Amazon reviewers gave the charger a perfect five-star rating. User Anonymous139 gave the most helpful review, writing, “The most important thing about this little guy is the fact that he’s a 1 amp charger — the same as your stock charger. So you’ll get fast charge times, unlike with a cheap charger or USB port (which usually puts out about 500mA or half an amp).” One three-star reviewer said it charged a little too slowly for his taste.
4. Oontz Curve Wireless Bluetooth Speaker and Speakerphone
When your phone speaker doesn’t cut it for playing music and watching movies, the Oontz Curve portable Bluetooth speaker picks up the slack. The device has five hours of play time, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and 365 five-star reviews on Amazon. User Liana Saxton Smith said, “I didn’t expect too much bass at this price point but I have to say I’m very pleased with the quality of sound and volume.” User Josh complained of feedback to support his two-star review, so users sensitive to this quality may want to take extra precautions.
5. Mot Droid Razr Hybrid Case
Unfortunately, many Android users know the gut-sinking feeling of accidentally dropping a smartphone on a hard surface. If a regular case just isn’t cutting it for your lifestyle, the Mot Droid Razr Hybrid case comes with high-tech protection and more. It comes with a hard plastic inside, soft silicone outside, and reinforced edges to maximize grip and protection.The case got an average four-star rating from 69 Amazon reviewers, who claim it’s “better than an OtterBox” and emphasize the benefits of the kickstand feature.
Flying drone can ‘3D print’ with foam, help carry away hazardous objects
Flying drones with 3D printers attached to their body: it was only a matter of time until the two technologies met. Such a thing now exists, although we’re not quite sure it’s earned its printing qualification yet. Developed by a team at the Imperial College London, the “3D printing Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV)” is a quad-copter that carries two chemicals that create polyurethane foam when mixed. Scientists say the foam can be molded to create non-complex structures or repair components, making the drone especially useful in hard-to-reach areas. The substance is also extremely sticky, which allows teams of drones to work together to remove dangerous objects from hazardous locations. Like the video below shows, the quad-copter can swoop in and “print” a layer of sticky foam, which will then stick to the underside of a bigger and more powerful drone so it can be transported away.
Scientists drew inspiration from nature when developing the MAV, mostly notably the the swiftlet. The swiftlet is a small bird that builds nests entirely from threads of their saliva. Right now, the drone can only fly in controlled environments using sensors that feed real-time information back to a laptop. The next step will see the team equip the quad-copter with high-speed cameras, sensors and even solar panels, allowing it to fly autonomously and charge itself in any environment.
Via: CNET
Source: Imperial College London
EU court says Google must remove links to personal data if it’s asked to
Google’s recent run of bad luck in Europe has reached new heights after it was told it must take down links to personal information found in its search results. The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) today ruled that Google should be made responsible for processing links to personal data which appears on third-party websites, so it must allow users to request that outdated or irrelevant information be removed. Google has long argued that such a ruling amounts to censorship, but Europe’s top court agrees with the European Commission’s belief that people should have the “right to be forgotten.”
The ruling came after a Spanish man complained to local regulators that Google had indexed an auction notice on his home from 1998. Google refused to delete the information, so the ECJ was asked to step in. Although today’s ruling has not yet been passed into law, the court says users who want to remove their name from search providers’ results can “approach the operator directly and, where the operator does not grant his request, bring the matter before the competent authorities in order to obtain, under certain conditions, the removal of that link from the list of results.” We’ve reached out to Google for comment and will report back once we receive a response.
[Image credit: European Parliament, Flickr]
Filed under: Google
Via: Reuters
Moto E announced in the UK priced at £89
After many rumours of the device, Motorola have finally unveiled the Moto E to the world, and following the launch of the device in India, have officially launched the device in the UK for £89.
Undercutting the Moto G by around £30, the Moto E is the most affordable smartphone from Motorola yet, but it doesn’t compromise on specs either.
The Moto E has a 4.3-inch qHD screen, Snapdragon 200 SoC Cortex A7 dual-core 1.2GHz processor, Adreno 302 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory with an SD card, and also a 5-Megapixel camera.
The device will also be available in nine different colours and will feature grip shell accessories.
Head over to Motorola’s site to order yours now.
The post Moto E announced in the UK priced at £89 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Twitter adds muting options to mobile apps
Twitter has announced a new feature which allows you to mute people. The update is coming to Android, iPhone, and twitter.com users over the course of this week. The feature is nice to have when you have that friend that is just retweeting everything and you just want a break. Well mute them and they willl never even know!
Twitter for Android (5.8.0) has the mute feature ready to go. So go ahead, clean up your feed and not hurt your friend’s feelings! Below is the official excerpt from Twitter.
In the same way you can turn on device notifications so you never miss a Tweet from your favorite users, you can now mute users you’d like to hear from less. Muting a user on Twitter means their Tweets and Retweets will no longer be visible in your home timeline, and you will no longer receive push or SMS notifications from that user. The muted user will still be able to fave, reply to, and retweet your Tweets; you just won’t see any of that activity in your timeline. The muted user will not know that you’ve muted them, and of course you can unmute at any time.
Source: Twitter
The post Twitter adds muting options to mobile apps appeared first on AndroidGuys.
ARCHOS debuts ArcBook, a wallet friendly Android netbook
Archos has just announced its latest Android powered netbook for a very money-friendly price of $169! The netbook runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box and is preinstalled with Office Suite Pro 6, so you can edit all your Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and PDF files with ease.
The netbook looks promising offering access to all Google services, including the Play Store and also features 15GB of free Google Drive. Check out the spec list below!
Specs:
- 10.1-inch touchscreen display with 1024×600 resolution
- ARM Coretex A9 dual-core processor, 1.2 Ghz
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB Flash memory
- Front Camera
- 2 Built-in Speakers
- Wi-fi ready
- 2 USB 2.0 jacks
- 3.5mm audio jack
- MicroSD card reader
- Full Keyboard and touchpad
- 10 hours of battery life
No exact release date has been said, but Archos is saying sometime in June. Will you be snagging one up for $169? Could this be a Chromebook competitor?
Source: Archos
The post ARCHOS debuts ArcBook, a wallet friendly Android netbook appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung unveils 1.5TB “Wireless media device” for smartphones
Terabytes have become extremely common in external hard drives, but what if you could harness that kind of power for your smartphone? That’s exactly what Samsung aims to do with their new wireless media device.
Designed to be lightweight and portable, this new accessory allows you to carry around 750 movies with you anywhere you go. Not to mention countless numbers of songs or pictures. This content can be taken with you just about anywhere, and streamed through WiFi to up to 5 different devices at a time.
The Samsung Wireless is available around the world for the price of $179, and for the storage space we think it would be worth it! No longer do you need to worry about the on-board storage of your smartphone, or even the petty 128GB microSD card limit in newer phones (sarcasm intended), but now 1.5TB is completely at your disposal.
All of these things combined with the portability to carry on your person make for what we think could change the storage game for mobile phone users. Oh, and did we mention it can also charge your phone? So there’s no need to carry around that fancy portable power bank you just bought either. Check it out now at Samsung HDD!
SOURCE: Market Watch
The post Samsung unveils 1.5TB “Wireless media device” for smartphones appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Blue HTC One (M8) shows its face in a leaked render
HTC One (M8) is definitely one of the best (Android) handsets of the year so far. The HTC flagship is available in 3 colors, Gunmetal Gray, Glacier Silver, and Amber Gold. While it has been leaked in red we’ve never seen it in blue, until now that is.
A blue version of HTC One (M8) has surfaced, courtesy of evleaks. Considering their track record we’re quite confident this metallic blue color will become official in the near future. The color reminds us of a metallic blue version o M8′s predecessor, HTC One (M7).
What do you think about this color, do you like it or not? Maybe you’re waiting for some other color option?
SOURCE: @evleaks
The post Blue HTC One (M8) shows its face in a leaked render appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Preparing HD Audio Playback for iOS 8 Alongside New In-Ear Headphones and Lightning Connector
Apple is said to be introducing high definition audio playback in iOS 8 alongside new versions of its In-Ear Headphones and Lightning connector, according to a report from Mac Otakara (Google Translate).
Building off of a report last month which claimed that Apple will announce high-fidelity iTunes music downloads at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the post notes that Apple will enable high-quality audio files to be played on iOS 8 compatible devices.
Currently, iOS 7′s stock Music app cannot play high quality 24-bit audio files. Additionally, while third-party apps such as Onkyo’s HF Player and FLAC Player are able to play said audio files, users are still limited to onboard playback at a 16-bit rate. Apple is also said to be preparing a new Lightning cable to enable high-definition playback on Made For iPhone (MFi) audio accessories, although it isn’t clear when the company would introduce the updated wire.
Apple’s In-Ear Headphones
Finally, the report notes that Apple is working on a new version of its In-Ear Headphones to accommodate high-quality audio playback. The premium in-ear headphones have not been updated since 2008, however the product is still officially sold by Apple at its retail locations and in its Online Store for $79.
Apple is expected to introduce iOS 8 at WWDC 2014, which will kick off on June 2. In addition to potentially enabling high-definition audio playback, the new mobile operating system is expected to include major improvements to Siri and Maps along with a rumored “Healthbook” app that displays various fitness and health-related information.
Apple will also likely debut OS X 10.10 at the event, and may introduce Beats Electronics co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre as new senior advisers following a likely forthcoming announcement regarding its acquisition of the audio company. 
AIVAnet 