4.7-Inch iPhone 6 Set to Begin Mass Production This Month, 5.5-Inch in August
Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is set to begin mass production on the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 this month, according to local media cited by Reuters. The larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 will begin production a month later, in August.
Mass production of a 4.7-inch successor to the wildly popular iPhone 5 series of smartphones will begin during the third week of July, Taiwan’s Economic Daily News said, without citing sources. Production of a 5.5-inch version will begin during the second week of August, it said.
Foxconn is also set to hire around 100,000 additional workers to help meet future demand for the device, according to a Chinese state-run news agency. Fellow Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron is also ramping up hiring, recruiting over 10,000 for its own facilities to help manufacture the iPhone. Additionally, it was reported last week that Foxconn was planning on deploying 10,000 robots to help employees with less intensive tasks like tightening screws.
Apple is widely expected to announce the iPhone 6 in early September, with a release coming a couple weeks later in late September. While it’s unclear whether both the 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 models will launch at the same time, the one-month delay in mass production could mean that the 5.5-inch is either available in lower quantities at first or will be announced at the same time as the 4.7-inch model and launch shortly after. Previously, it’s been rumored the 5.5-inch model had been experiencing production issues.
Other than larger displays, the iPhone 6 is expected to include a thinner, iPod touch-like design, an A8 processor, and an improved camera, potentially measuring 13 megapixels. The larger model is expected to come with a $100 price increase, optical image stabilization and greater storage capability.
Google Maps version 8.2 is out, download and install it now [APK]
I bet over 90% of Android device owners out there use Google Maps, not only because it’s the default maps application that comes with Android but because it’s the best service out there, by far. Google Maps in version 8.2 is now available and it brings a handful of features/changes along with it. Let’s see what we get.
These are the changes we’ve noticed thus far:
- Voice control in navigation mode
- Elevation change for bicyclists
- Voice input is now available on the main screen
- “Your places” is now located in the slide-out menu
Voice controls while in navigation mode are definitely the biggest addition to Google Maps. While navigating you’ll be able to call up voice interface by tapping the small microphone icon in the bottom left part of the screen. You can ask the phone “When will I get there” if you want to get to your destination for example, or “Where is my next turn” which is also self-explanatory. There are quite some voice actions you can take when the phone is listening. What you’re all wondering is if you can use that sweet “OK, Google” phrase in order to call it up, the answer is no, at least for now.
The update is rather big in terms of features and changes, you can try all of them by download the .apk and installing it on your device. If you want to do that, follow this link.
Source: AndroidCentral and AndroidPolice
The post Google Maps version 8.2 is out, download and install it now [APK] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google confirms Android Wear will support custom watch faces
Since its beginnings, the Android platform has been known for being heavily customizable. As such, it’s not exactly a surprise to hear Google say its new smartwatch ecosystem, Android Wear, is due to support watch faces from third-party developers. However, having actual confirmation makes for perfect peace of mind. In a Google+ post, Android’s VP of Design Matias Duarte affirmed this would be the case, stating that the Wear team is already working on a custom watch face API. “Customization has helped Android thrive, and the same will be true for Android Wear,” he wrote. The incoming API will make it “as simple as possible” for devs to make all-around great watch faces, ones which can look good, not drain a battery and blend well with the watches card-based UI. Duarte said “some” of these things won’t be available until later this year, but that they are, without a doubt, on their way. So, don’t worry, soon enough you’ll have better choices to deck out that fancy, smart tick-tock wearable of yours.
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Wearables, Google
Via: Android Police
Source: Matias Duarte (Google+)
Google loves Epic Rap Battles and the ad money it brings in
To no one’s surprise, Google — the company that builds everything from web email services to self-driving cars — has once again climbed the revenue charts. Today in its quarterly earnings report, the Mountain View company reported it’s raked in $15.96 billion in revenue this quarter, which is about a 22 percent growth year-over-year. And, as you might expect with Google, a bulk of that cash comes from good ol’ advertising — about 90 percent, in fact. But the chatter wasn’t all about search and advertising in today’s earnings call — the company also alluded to other notable successes such as Google Shopping Express, Chromebooks and, yes, Epic Rap Battles of History.
Even though Google didn’t break out the exact percentage from which it gains that aforementioned ad revenue, it’s clear the company is focused more than ever on leveraging the advertising dollars it gets not just from search, but also via other services such as YouTube and Google Play. Indeed, Nikesh Arora, the current Chief Business Officer for Google — who, incidentally, has announced he’ll be leaving the company for SoftBank — spent quite a bit of time in the call talking video.
“Video is at the forefront of our efforts,” he said. Notably, he called out the professionally created content on YouTube, pointing out channels like Epic Rap Battles of History and internet celebs like Michelle Phan that add value to the streaming service. Digital sales on Google Play continue to do well too, and he credits partnership deals with providers like CBS and Viacom as part of its success. As for whether Google was open to making money not just from advertising but from subscriptions too, CFO Patrick Pichette said they’re still experimenting with different ends of the spectrum, but it’s fair to say they “have a horse in every one of these races.”
“We’re living in a multiscreen world,” continued Pichette, stating that the fact that video can be viewed not just on your tablet, but also on your TV via Chromecast, makes the revenue possibilities very intriguing. This is ostensibly the reason why the company didn’t break out mobile revenue from desktop — as it all sort of flows together — but it could also point to the fact that it’s not doing as well in the mobile ad biz.
Stepping away from advertising, Arora also drew attention to the considerable success of Google Shopping Express, saying he didn’t know anyone who didn’t like it. “It has tremendous results,” he said, stating that it’s “clearly an opportunity for us.” The focus for the delivery service will remain local, even as they cater to large businesses as well as small ones. “There continues to be amazing demand for the product.” Not to leave Chrome out, Arora said that over a million Chromebooks have been sold to schools and that the Chromecast’s popularity continues to grow.
As for those moonshot projects like self-driving cars? Well, the company said that it’ll still invest in them and will keep a close eye as to how that money is allocated, but it’ll certainly take a long time for any of those to turn a profit. In the meantime, we’ll cross our fingers for an epic rap battle starring Elon Musk.
Source: Google
Flayvr relaunches as MyRoll, “the world’s first intelligent mobile photo & video gallery”
Have you ever opened your gallery app and thought, “this sucks”? As a Samsung owner, I think this on a daily basis; the Gallery on the Note 2 is slow, awful and poorly optimized. Luckily, MyRoll is here to save the day. Having existed as Flayvr for around 2 years, MyRoll is a relaunching of that app with a new brand and new focus: to create a personalized experience with your photo and video gallery. MyRoll does this by observing “behavioural, contextual and image data analysis to learn what memories matter most” and personalizes the gallery based on those preferences. Check out a short video showing off some of these new features in MyRoll:
The main tenets of MyRoll’s purpose include:
- Organize – MyRoll automatically organizes photos & videos into moments around events and locations.
- MyRoll turns moments into living memory collages based around events, combining interactive photos and videos helping users and their friends & families relive those memories as they happened.
- Discover – MyRoll uses advanced computer vision technology to cut through the clutter and find your best photos and videos – memories with smiling faces, great lighting, vibrant color, clear focus and more. MyRoll will event center a photo preview around the face in the picture, instead of the random “center” of a photo.
- Share – Users can share entire memories, not just single photos or videos, with just a tap across:
- Facebook – MyRoll is the only gallery that lets users turn their moments into Facebook albums on the fly with just a couple of taps. Doesn’t matter if it’s 5 photos or 25.
- Email & SMS – No more attaching single photos at a time to an SMS or email. MyRoll is the only gallery that lets users create a link to a beautifully designed HTML5 web page showcasing their moment for easy sharing with anyone via email & SMS, even if they aren’t a MyRoll user, with no limits on the number of photos being sent.
- WhatsApp – MyRoll is the only gallery that automatically selects the top 10 photos of each moment to allow for easy sharing of moments via WhatsApp.
- Twitter – Just like Email and SMS, MyRoll is the only gallery that lets you quickly create a link to your moment for easy sharing across 140 characters.
- Personalize – Using machine learning, behavioral analysis, and connections to a user’s events calendar, MyRoll learns which photos matter the most to each individual, highlights those memories, and make them easy to share and enjoy. MyRoll is the only gallery that gets smarter the more you use it, and even leverages big data from the crowd to elevate memories around important events.
IF a smart gallery is just the thing you have been looking for, then you can download MyRoll for free from the Google Play Store from the link below.
Application: MyRoll
Price: Free
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
The post Flayvr relaunches as MyRoll, “the world’s first intelligent mobile photo & video gallery” appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Google set to offer Android Wear API for custom watch faces soon, urges devs to hold off on dedicated apps that do it
When Google handed out the new Android Wear LG G Watch to people at Google I/O, we knew it wouldn’t take long for developers to star pushing apps to the Play Store. While there are already a ton of apps that have been updated to support the watch, there are plenty yet to come. We have seen a few screens roll by of various watch faces that pretty cool, but are still stand alone apps that run on the screen. We had faith in Google though and it looks like they are going to bring the API needed create custom watch faces to developers really soon.
We are working to make this as simple as possible for you so that it’s easy to make good-looking faces that work well across multiple form factors, conserve battery, and display the user’s card stream nicely. Some of these changes won’t be ready until we migrate Android Wear to the Android L release later this year, but don’t fret: they’re coming! – Wayne Piekarski
The API is a little tricky and needs some special attention from Google to make it as fluid and functional as possible while making it easy to work with, especially with various form factors on the way. It doesn’t sound like it will be this month though. With Wayne’s statement leading to Android L for Android Wear, we are pegging the potential release of any supporting API’s to come out near that time. Talks still place Android L as being pushed out in October, but things can always change.
So, where does that leave us today? As we work on finalizing the API, we would suggest not posting your apps publicly to Google Play until there is a stable, published API (we’d suggest using Alpha or Beta channels, available through the Play Developer Console, in the meantime). These changes mentioned above are coming soon and will make it easier for you to create great watch faces, but the existing unpublished API may not be compatible with the next Android Wear release, and no one wants to disrupt the experience for users in the future. – Wayne Piekarski
In a nutshell, do what you want devs, but they are suggesting that you dial things back a bit on the custom watch face apps. At least in terms of pushing them to the Play Store.
Source: Wayne Piekarski G+ Via Android and me
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
The post Google set to offer Android Wear API for custom watch faces soon, urges devs to hold off on dedicated apps that do it appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Omate Truesmart Review
The marketplace for smartwatches is a young one, filled with potential and ready to explode any year now. We have only a handful of competitors right now, ranging from what some people call the original smartwatch, Pebble, all the way to the ultra-premium Moto 360.
But somewhere in the middle of that we have the new Omate Truesmart smartwatch, a device funded on Kickstarter and only available for pre-order. The device is being advertised as a Smartwatch 2.0, and they say there’s a dozen reasons why. But whether or not these features mean it’s a device you should buy is a matter of discussion. Let’s dive into what makes the Omate Truesmart… truly smart.
Standalone or companion smartwatch… you choose.
One of the unique things about Omate is the fact that you can put your micro-SIM card into and have it act as a standalone smartphone. As long as your SIM card isn’t locked to your current smartphone, you can simply take out your SIM card and pop it into the Omate to receive data on its own and make calls and texts. This feature alone can make the Omate a very powerful option when compared to the competition of smartwatches that only act as companions to your smartphone.
But while Omate is proud of its standalone capabilities, I can’t see many people using it by itself at all. When I think of a person today that has a smartwatch, I think of them as reasonably tech savy and quite interested in gadgets, which would lead me to believe that would have a smartphone in their possession. Not many people would buy a smartwatch without having a smartphone. That’s a problem with the Omate is that there was too much focus on this being standalone smartwatch and not enough focus making this a companion watch. By this, I mean the companion abilities are pretty bad.
Abilities currently supported are notification mirroring, accepting or rejecting calls, and seeing when you get a text message (not actually seeing the text message or being able to reply to it). It really makes the whole smartwatch experience seem pointless when I can’t actually see the text message on the watch and I have to pull out my phone to do so. Pebble does this pretty well, and I don’t see why Omate can’t.
After extensive use with Omate, I prefer it to act as a standalone smartwatch but doing so can really strain your eyes after squinting almost every time at the less than average screen…
Screen
The screen is okay. After using the original Galaxy Gear for a little bit and hearing about the upcoming Android Wear smartwatches with OLED displays, it’s safe to say this screen isn’t the best on the market. If I hold the watch away from a distance, the 1.54 inch 240×240 IPS display looks pretty decent with average color display, but when looking closely, and trust me you will, you’ll absolutely notice the pixels, which makes web browsing and photo viewing less than pleasant.
Battery Life
Omate comes equipped with a 600 mAh battery, capable of 100 hours of standby time. I was able to get a full day use out of it starting at 8:30 am and ended up with 18% by the end of the day at 11 pm. I wasn’t using Omate as heavily as I would a smartphone, but I had my SIM card in it so I tried a couple phone calls, sent text messages and downloaded some things from the OStore, which is Omate’s app store, and played a bit of Flappy Bird (Oh yeah, you can live the experience all over again). I did a little bit of web browsing using mobile data which was the big drainer, but on a normal day I wouldn’t use Omate as heavily, so I was happy with the battery life.
Software and Functionality
This is where my biggest complaints are about the Omate Truesmart. As Omate was being developed, the best OS available for a smartwatch was Android. Omate is powered by Android 4.2.2, and probably won’t be seeing a newer version, at least anytime soon. Omate has a custom skin and launcher on top of Android which serves to bring better Android functionality to a small screen on the wrist. While having the full power on Android makes this device incredibly customizable, many things just seemed to small and hard to see. The Android Messaging app that came pre-loaded was very hard to use and even the flexible Kleksy keyboard was just too small for enjoyable typing.
I’m going to be a while on this text..
Android 4.2.2 runs really smooth on Omate, and your options to do things are limitless. Just imagine all the things you can do on your Android powered smartphone, just smaller. Much smaller. You can download and install apk’s from the internet, you can choose which launcher you want to use for the home screen, you can send tweets, check out Google+, and pretty much anything, and with 1GB of RAM on this thing, you can easily switch between these apps with Android’s default multitasking. Pretty cool. But some apps truly seem incompatible for smaller screen, like Dropbox for example. I opened it, it gave me a handful of welcome screens showing me what to do, but then I couldn’t move on from there. It was as if the continue button was below the screen margins and I just couldn’t see it..
While this device is clearly geared towards power users and people who want their smartwatch to do everything, I still believe smartwatches with Android Wear are the better option. On Omate, you are sacrificing the user friendliness and accessibility of Wear’s Google Now cards for customization and lots of features you probably won’t use.
Camera
Omate comes equipped with a 5MP camera on the side capable of shooting 720p video. I’m guessing this won’t be your primary shooter, but with 5MP, it can be a really solid emergency camera and is compatible with Instagram, Snapchat and other photo apps.
Connectivity
On AT&T’s HSPA+ network, speeds were fair and browsing was almost as fast as my Nexus 4 (3G also), and the GPS worked great when trying to figure out how far you’ve ran.
WiFi signals were pretty bad and downloading from the OStore took pretty long. The interesting part is that downloading speed up quite a bit when I took the watch off my wrist, meaning that wearing the device blocks some of the WiFi signals.
Build
My immediate though when trying the watch on was how bulky it was. People tend to wear watches for fashion statements and because they look nice. With Omate, some people thought I was under house arrest because of the bulky device on my arm. I’m a fan of how the Galaxy Gear and Gear Live look, with their metallic finishes and very modern designs.
Omate was obviously designed for power and lots of features, so to cram 1GB of Ram, 8GB of storage, an HD camera, micro SD slot, powerful dual-core processor as well as antennas for GPS radios inside of a Kickstarter project is no easy task, but the end design is just a bit too bulky for my tastes.
Other than the size, the durability is top notch, with it being water resistant and a very strong feel to it.
Style just ain’t my thing
Overall
Omate Truesmart is a device for a certain crowd. If you want to smartwatch that can do almost anything, has the full power of Android with all the apps compatible for it, then this might be the smartwatch for you. But my main complaint is that Omate has lost sight of what a watch is suppose to be. With Pebble, I can simple twist my wrist towards me and the screen lights up to show me the time. With Omate, the screen is off until I press a button on the side for it to light up and show me the time.
If you want all the capabilities your phone has and want to use a smartwatch as a phone, then this is a match made in heaven for you. But if you are a customer that wants important information at a glance at the right time, then I would check out Android Wear smartwatches. Check out the specs for yourself below and Omate’s Kickstarter page here
| Size | 45 mm × 45 mm × 14 mm |
| Weight | 100g |
| Screen | 1.54’’ TFT by LG display (240 x 240) |
| Resolution | 240 x 240 pixels |
| OS | Omate UI 1.0 / Android 4.2.2 |
| Storage | 4GB-8GB (upgradable to 64GB micro SD) |
| Colors | Black |
| Processor | Dual Core Cortex A7 – 1.3GHz |
| RAM | 512MB-1GB |
| Connectivity | Android Devices/Standalone mobile service via microSIM |
| Camera | 3MP camera which is up scaled by Software to 5MP |
| Bluetooth | Version 4.0 + BLE |
| Battery | 600 mAh battery: up to 100 hours standby |
| Charger | Micro USB with cradle |
| Marketplace | Ostore |
| Price | $249-$299 |
The post Omate Truesmart Review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Reboot: Welcome to the World of Wallpapers!
Welcome back to the World of Wallpapers!
This is a reboot of an old series held by Cliff Wade. Here, I will be running you through various wallpapers and wallpaper apps of all kinds. Like many of you, I suppose, I am a big believer in making my phone mine. Sadly, I don’t have the skill to create my own wallpapers, so I use other people’s work to make my home screen exactly as I like it! To kick things off, I will be introducing two apps and one wallpaper artist who does not have an app yet.
Behang by Ted Bates Jr.
First up to the plate is Behang, a paid app coming in at $1.99, but well worth the price of admission. If you are not keen on spending $1.99, you can always head on over to his site and download whatever walls you desire. Behang was created by Ted Bates Jr. who can be found on Google+ or Twitter. All of his walls are cloud based meaning that the app does not require updates in order to add more walls to his collection. Every wallpaper is unique and created by knokfirst. The real beauty of Behang is not just the dazzling walls, but the app itself. Behang can be used as a base app to add extensions on to. This means that you can download other apps from the Play Store and they will be added into Behang. All you have to do is change the source. Ted Bates had some help with this monster of an app. Anthoney Kiniyalocts was the developer behind this master piece. Ted Bates is the wallpaper creator.
Nóloc by Richard Colón
Next up is an extension to the previously mentioned Behang. Nóloc costs $1.50 on the Play Store. With Nóloc, you get photography type wallpapers that were taken and edited by Richard Colón. You can find Richard on Google+. While Nóloc has a fine collection of walls to use on your device, the app comes with an added bonus. Nóloc has over 18 high quality Zooper widgets to go along with its beautiful walls. These widgets require Zooper Pro to be installed in order to use them. While you can’t use the walls without Behang installed, and you can’t use the widgets without Zooper Pro installed, everything you are paying for is quality work and the designers earned their two dollars with beautiful products that I use in almost every home screen I create.
Partimus Prime (Jesus Partida)
Partimus is a talented individual who is a member of the GFX Bandits. He also is on the design team for Vanilla Android as well. He creates wallpapers and custom boot animations and who knows what else! He does not keep his work in one place, but you can find posts of his walls on his Google+ account or on his Google+ page. Yes, his account and his page are two separate things, but whatever he posts to his page, he seems to share to his G+ account as well. He is the mastermind behind the banner for the World of Wallpaper Reboot!
The post Reboot: Welcome to the World of Wallpapers! appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Uncertainty Over Apple’s Sapphire Plans for iPhone 6 Remains as Analyst Estimates Vary Widely
Debate among analysts over just how widespread Apple’s use of sapphire displays will be in the iPhone 6 continues to rage, with The Korea Herald reporting on a new research note from NPD DisplaySearch Korea’s Brian Huh putting Apple’s sapphire display capacity at 45 million units for the iPhone 6 launch. With the iPhone 6 predicted to launch in an initial batch nearing 70 million units, Apple would not be able to use sapphire across the entire lineup.
“Apple’s sapphire material supplier, GT Advanced Technologies, appears capable of producing the glass for around 45 million smartphones. Still, only the iPhone 6’s most premium models may adopt it due to its high cost and a possible supply (set aside) for the iWatch,” said Brian Huh, a senior analyst at NPD DisplaySearch Korea, at its touch conference in Seoul.
He said the 64GB version of either the 5.5-inch or 4.7-inch model is likely to adopt the glass. The iPhone 6 will reportedly come in 32GB and 64GB models.
Separately, Huh also believes Apple will eventually use sapphire for its laptop displays, although manufacturing complexities and costs at those sizes would be challenging for Apple.
Huh is certainly not the first to suggest that sapphire may be limited to high-end iPhone 6 models, with previous reports from Taiwanese media and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo making similar claims.
A second research report from JPMorgan publicized by Taipei Times (via GforGames) claims Apple’s sapphire display production may only be around 10 million units through the end of the year.
“Sapphire covers will also be restricted to high-end iPhones, possibly the 128GB [gigabyte] ones,” the brokerage said in the report. […]
“Due to various challenges related to the new cover material, we believe the production output for sapphire covers will be low,” JPMorgan analysts said. “Sapphire ingot yield rates could be as low as below 50 percent for this size, and finished sapphire smartphone covers may cost as much as US$40 to US$45 versus below US$10 for finished Gorilla glass.”
In line with another recent report, JPMorgan also believes even the iWatch may see sapphire limited to certain models.
On the flip side, one of the staunchest advocates claiming Apple will be able to launch sapphire displays throughout the iPhone 6 lineup has been Matt Margolis, who has been digging deeply into regulatory and import filings related to the sapphire plant in Arizona being run by Apple and GT Advanced Technologies. Margolis early this year pegged Apple’s sapphire display capacity in excess of 100 million units per year, and perhaps as high as 200 million units, with the facility in operation since very early this year.
Margolis reiterated those predications just last month, noting that the plant 2,500 furnaces on hand to handle larger sapphire boules that would give Apple plenty of capacity to cover all models of the iPhone 6 as well as the rumored iWatch.
Facebook Launches Exclusive ‘Mentions’ App for Verified Public Figures [iOS Blog]
Facebook today launched a new Mentions app, designed for “actors, athletes, musicians, and other influencers,” allowing them to “discover and join conversations” on Facebook.
Limited to Facebook users who are “verified public figures,” Mentions aims to let celebrities interact with fans. The app displays mentions to let users know what the public is saying about them, and it has tools for sharing status updates, photos, and videos, much like the standard Facebook app. It also includes a feature that allows celebrity users to host live question and answer sessions directly from their iPhone.
Along with tools for interaction with fans, Mentions will also display trending conversations, so celebrities can share an opinion on popular news.
Facebook Mentions is currently only available to verified public figures using Pages. To gain access to Mentions, visit http://facebook.com/mentions.
Mentions is a new way for actors, athletes, musicians and other influencers to discover and join conversations on Facebook.
– See what fans are saying – Start a conversation with people and influencers who are talking about you.
– Tell your story – Share updates, photos and videos and host live Q&As directly from your phone.
– Join popular conversations
– Discover what’s trending and add your voice to the story.
According to Facebook product managers (via Re/code), celebrities who have tested Mentions use Facebook twice as much as before. Actors like Tyrese Gibson have been experimenting with the app for several months, with Gibson reportedly using Mentions to share the famous video where Dr. Dre bragged about being a billionaire ahead of Apple’s Beats acquisition announcement.
While Mentions will remain limited to verified public figures for the time being, Facebook says it has plans to expand access to conventional Facebook users in the future.
Mentions can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
AIVAnet 
