Minor iOS 8.1.3 Update Likely Coming Next Week
In mid-December, we reported that Apple was working on a minor iOS 8.1.3 update as developers test iOS 8.2, and it appears that the iOS 8.1.3 update could be close to seeing a public release.
According to BGR‘s sources, Apple is planning on debuting an iOS 8 software update “sometime in the next week” and while the site cannot confirm whether it’s a new beta or a public release, our own data suggests the upcoming update is most likely iOS 8.1.3.
Over the course of the past week, MacRumors has seen an increase in visits from devices on Apple’s networks that identify themselves as running iOS 8.1.3, and as of yesterday, that number jumped significantly, suggesting a larger number of Apple employees are now testing the software ahead of a public launch.
The first hints of iOS 8.1.3 appeared on December 8 just ahead of the release of iOS 8.1.2, and while initial visit numbers were in the dozens for much of the month, we are now seeing hundreds of visits from devices that are running iOS 8.1.3.
Visitors to MacRumors.com via Apple’s networks from devices running iOS 8.1.3
We are also seeing a larger number of general devices (not specifically from Apple-based networks) running iOS 8.1.3 and while there are likely some faked identifiers in the general pool of web visitors, an increased number of visits directly from Apple networks has historically hinted at Apple’s software development plans.
Overall visitors to MacRumors.com from devices running iOS 8.1.3
Like iOS 8.1.2, which fixed a ringtone issue along with other bugs, iOS 8.1.3 is expected to be a minor update that bundles in small bug fixes and performance improvements. As with the previous release, iOS 8.1.3 is likely to be launched to the public without a beta test.
iOS 8’s next major update is iOS 8.2 with the WatchKit SDK, which was seeded to developers in November. As an update that introduces significant system changes, iOS 8.2 will see an extended beta testing period before launching alongside the upcoming Apple Watch. It remains unknown when Apple plans to debut the Apple Watch, but recent rumors have hinted at a March launch.
Aside from iOS 8.1.3 and iOS 8.2, Apple employees also appear to be testing both iOS 8.3 and iOS 9, but visits from devices running those versions of iOS remain low.
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Google Play Weekly
<!–
By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C
found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/.
–>
<!–
This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon
as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after
the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line.
–>
brightcove.createExperiences();
Welcome back to Google Play Weekly! Here are your headlines this week:
- Hyundai announced an Android Wear app that will remote start your car and find it in a parking lot.
- Monument Valley developer shows that piracy is still alive and strong on Android.
- A Need for Speed: No Limits teaser video appeared in the wild and the game looks really good.
- WhatsApp hit the 700 million active monthly users mark.
- Microsoft Office have released a beta for their tablet version of Microsoft Office to the public. If you want to try them out, you can download Word here, Excel here, and PowerPoint here.
And now here are five Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week!
Unclouded
[Price: Free / $2.99 / $3.49]
Unclouded was updated to version 2.0 this last week and with it came a number of changes. It now has Material Design, sports a dark theme for premium users, and has support for Microsoft OneDrive and Box.com. There were also the standard bug fixes and performance improvements and remains the best way to manage multiple cloud storage services in one app.
SoundCloud
[Price: Free]
SoundCloud received a pretty substantial update this last week. With it came some design tweaks to make it more Lollipop friendly along with Lollipop notification support, better Facebook integration, French translation, and some bug fixes and performance improvements. It’s worth noting that it’s not full on Material Design but it still looks really good.
Lego Bionicle
[Price: Free]
Lego Bionicle is a tap-to-play hack-and-slash game where you play as one of six heroes as you beat the snot out of a bunch of robotic bad guys. The graphics are decent and the game play is simple but that makes sense because it is a game geared toward kids. It may be a bit repetitive for adults but it’s free with no in app purchases which helps make up for it.
SnoopSnitch
[Price: Free]
SnoopSnitch is a crowd-sourced and open source security app that analyzes mobile radio data to make sure that you’re mobile data isn’t being tracked or jacked by hackers or other people aiming to do you ill will. This app comes with a cornucopia of restrictions. You’ll need to be rooted, not running a custom ROM, and have a device with a Qualcomm chipset.
BitCoin Wallet
[Price: Free]
Last up this week is Bitcoin Wallet. It’s one of the premiere apps for Bitcoin users and it received a pretty substantial update this last week. It now comes with more Material Design along with some under-the-hood security enhancements along with the ability to send and receive Bitcoins. You can also buy Bitcoins which is a nice touch if you need that.
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps or games news this week, let us know about it in the comments!
[Deal] Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 selling for just $379.99
The Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is one of the two AMOLED tablets sold by Samsung. And naturally, these are flagship offerings with a pretty steep price tag as well. But thanks to a new deal on eBay, you can now get the device for just $379.99.
The tablet costs upwards of $450 on other sites, which makes this an instant choice for prospective buyers. We’re not sure how long the price will last, but we suggest you proceed quickly before stocks run out.
The Galaxy Tab S 10.5 comes with a 2560 x 1600 resolution display, an octa core Exynos 5420 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (expandable), an 8-megapixel rear camera, fingerprint scanner, Android 4.4 KitKat and a 7,900 mAh battery.
The eBay listing mentions that the tablet comes in an already opened box, so we’re guessing it’s a refurbished product. Either way, make sure you read through the listing before making the purchase. The seller has a good feedback rating, so there should be no concerns regarding the quality of the product.
Source: eBay
Via: Android Headlines
Come comment on this article: [Deal] Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 selling for just $379.99
Neil Young’s high-definition Pono Music is coming to cars
In addition to a triangle-shaped player, Neil Young’s Pono effort also includes a music store for purchasing high-definition tunes. Here at CES, the man behind the project announced that he’s teaming up with Harman to bring the higher-quality tracks to vehicles. Harman is a big name in infotainment and in-car audio, and it’s already been working on solutions to make compressed audio sound better. Compared to other high-resolution players, Pono is competitively priced at $400, and if you opt in to the ecosystem, it looks like your next car could have the tech to handle all that music, too. If it has a Harman stereo installed, of course.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Transportation
HTC and Under Armor announces partnership
Yesterday, HTC on their news channel announced a partnership with Under Armour, the leading provider of fitness footwear, apparels and equipments. The deal was not foreseeable as HTC hinted no plans to dive in this niche anytime soon. HTC, with this move, plans to release a whole new lineup of fitness gadgets that are probably aimed at the existing markets of fitness freaks and obviously Under Armour consumers.
HTC will be making devices that will be working in close cooperation with the UA Record, the newest addition to the Under Armour Connected Fitness for which UA released both the app and website at the #CES2015. Both the companies have very close resemblance in their work commitments and values namely a strong sense of design and polish in their products.
Peter Chou, CEO, HTC commented, “Mobile innovation has completely changed people’s lives in recent years, making us more connected to our world than ever before. Now we want to help people be better connected with themselves, helping them to achieve their goals and gain deeper insight into their own lives to become the best they can be. By joining forces with Under Armour, one of today’s most exciting and ambitious leaders in empowering athletes, we are taking the first step on this journey and will provide consumers with a range of connected health and fitness products and services that no other brand can match.”
HTC have not commented on any tentative time period as to when we can expect the new products but it does say “soon”.
Robin Thurston, SVP, Connected Fitness, Under Armour also had some opinion regarding this deal, “HTC is renowned for its fearless commitment to innovation, coupled with an attention to detail and premium design that makes it the ideal partner for Under Armour and UA RECORD. By applying these shared values to our collaboration, we will allow athletes everywhere to take their performance to the next level in a more connected and intuitive way than ever before.”
I guess I will leave it there. You can sign up for the HTC newsletter if you want to keep yourself updated.
Source: HTC via PhoneArena
The post HTC and Under Armor announces partnership appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Did you delete your BlackBerry Hub icon? You can now download it to get it back
Over the past few months BlackBerry has been taking their core apps found on BlackBerry 10 smartphones such as the clock, calculator, compass and more and putting them into BlackBerry making updates to those apps easier for everyone. One of the most recent additions added to BlackBerry World was the text messaging icon and while folks may laugh at that even being an available download, truth is it comes in handy because some folks have managed to actually delete it.
Moving beyond ‘just mobile’: Where’s HTC headed in 2015?
At CES 2015 HTC unveiled the Desire 826, a decent mid-range device but not anything as impressive or exciting as the LG G Flex 2, which was easily the biggest Android-related announcement of CES. Like so many other players in the mobile industry, HTC is holding back its biggest announcements until later in the year, likely at MWC 2015. That said, HTC did talk a bit about its future plans, plans that go beyond mobile.
While HTC didn’t get into too many specifics, they did reveal that the HTC Re was just the beginning of a bigger push into connected devices that further improve our modern lifestyles. The first hints at this future can be seen in the recent announcement that HTC and Under Armour are partnering up, and they have even been working together already in secret for about six months. It’s unclear exactly what kind of fitness products this partnership will see, but it’s the beginning of a big change in direction for HTC.
The RE was HTC’s first attempt at thinking outside of the mobile box.
it’s the beginning of a big change in direction for HTC.
Of course, everyone seems to be doing fitness and so we aren’t surprised to see HTC get involved there. In addition to pushing forward into the fitness space, they also plan to move into connected home and connected entertainment segments. To further this endeavor, HTC is putting together an 100-person global business unit for connected devices and has brought on quite a bit of new talent in the process. As you’d expect, HTC is giving us few specifics on what kind of devices or connected “stuff” they are aiming to create in 2015, but we do know that these products will likely integrated into existing and future HTC products like the Re, as well as Android smartphones.
Thankfully we don’t have to wait too long for more clarification, as HTC promises it will reveal at least some of what all this means sometime in the first quarter of this year. Bottom-line, HTC believes that the company needs to evolve beyond its current approach if they want to continue down the path to fiscal recovery. But what about smartphones? Don’t worry, HTC is very committed to whatever comes next (though they didn’t divulge anything, to no surprise) and the rumor mill suggests good things for the HTC Hima, aka One M9. While on the subject, we hope to put together a rumor roundup for the HTC One M9 sometime next week — so stay tuned for that.
Based on the little bit we know, what do you think of HTC’s plans to expand into more connected products? Is this the best path for continued recovery, or is HTC better off focusing on phones only?
// <![CDATA[
(function ()
var opst = document.createElement('script');
var os_host = document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https:" : "http:";
opst.type = 'text/javascript';
opst.async = true;
opst.src = os_host + '//' + 'www.opinionstage.com/polls/2245079/embed.js';
(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] ());
// ]]>
Recent iPod Shuffle Shortages Due to Supplier Changes, Not Imminent Discontinuation
Earlier this week, it was observed that Apple’s retail stores were running short of iPod shuffle units, leading to speculation about whether the shortages were just a temporary blip in Apple’s supply chain management or if they were a sign of an impending discontinuation of the diminutive music player. The iPod shuffle’s only updates since September 2010 have been occasional changes to color options, opening the door to questions and speculation about the device’s fate.
According to Billboard, however, the iPod shuffle shortages are indeed just a temporary issue related to component supplies.
Rather than being discontinued, however, sources with knowledge of the situation tell Billboard that Apple is actually going thorough component supplier changes that have interrupted production of the Shuffle.
Apple declined to comment.
Supplies of the iPod shuffle remain tight, with Apple’s online stores generally quoting shipping estimates of 7-10 business days for all colors. Some of the company’s retail stores do have stock of some colors, but many others show the device as unavailable with Apple offering to have units shipped to the stores for customer pickup.
As the iPod market has declined with customers opting to use smartphones for their music needs, Apple’s investments in the family have declined and product cycles have lengthened. As a result, it is unclear what Apple’s longer-term plans are for the future of the iPod, particularly the iPod shuffle and iPod nano that are more limited in their capabilities than the iOS-based iPod touch.
Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition is “no longer available for sale”
Today, we say goodbye to a longtime Google Play edition device. Following a stay of nearly two years in the Play Store, Google has formally retired the Galaxy S 4. The Samsung device carried an “out of stock” tag for quite some time, but now the same area reads “no longer available for sale.” This leaves the HTC One (M8) as the sole Google Play edition device available. Arguably, though, the Galaxy S 4 was the most welcome Google Play edition device because of its software. It stripped down Samsung’s TouchWiz overlay and stock Android ran the show.
Goodbye Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition. You will be dearly missed.
Source: Google Play
Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition is “no longer available for sale”
Last chance to win a Nexus phone and tablet, FREE
That’s right! We’re giving away a free Nexus 6 phone and Nexus 9 tablet to one lucky AndroidGuys reader. Why, you may ask? How about why not?!
There’s no purchase necessary so stop sitting around and click here for a chance to win. Once you’ve submitted your entry, share the giveaway on your social media feeds for an increased chance at taking home the prizes. Submissions are only accepted until 1/11/2015, so we suggest getting your entry in immediately.
Check this deal out, and many others at deals.androidguys.com!
The post Last chance to win a Nexus phone and tablet, FREE appeared first on AndroidGuys.
AIVAnet 