Early LG G4 rumors suggest 16-megapixel wide camera, Snapdragon 810 CPU
With CES in the rear view mirror and Mobile World Congress fast approaching, we’re in that time frame where unannounced devices are being leaked. The next few months should give way to rumors and conjecture. Such is the case, already, for the successor to the LG G3.
Early chatter around the handset suggest the next-gen flagship could feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB RAM. The camera, allegedly, is being bumped from 13-megapixels to a wide-angle 16-megapixel shooter.
Other hardware is not clear at this point; it is expected to run Android 5.0 Lollipop.
LG has increasingly shortened the window of time between flagships so we might not be surprised if the so-called G4 arrives at Mobile World Congress. Historically, LG brings quite an arsenal of new products to Barcelona. Perhaps this one will be along for the ride.
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4K, VR and a watch by Apple: What we’re excited for in 2015
Now that we’ve emerged from the technological wonderland of CES unscathed, the rest of 2015 is coming into focus. It’s going to be a year where the smart home, connected cars and the entire “Internet of Things” concept finally reaches everyday consumers. And, on the whole, it looks like we’re going to see plenty of other long-anticipated products and technological concepts come to fruition. Barring any major surprises, it looks like 2015 is going to be a year of evolutionary progress, rather than a revolutionary one. But that doesn’t mean we’re not excited for what’s to come.
The rise of 4K TVs
With 4K, what seemed like mere TV industry fluff years ago is actually getting interesting in 2015. Prices for 4K TV sets are quickly coming down (Vizio’s 4K set is just $800 right now); the content is slowly trickling down from Netflix, Amazon and others; and, most importantly, it actually looks significantly better than your existing HDTV. Sure, 4K isn’t a dramatic upgrade like the jump to HD from standard def, but it’s still a noticeable one (especially when combined with OLED). I wouldn’t rush out to replace my 1080p plasma and projector anytime soon, but if you’ve been holding out on upgrading, 4K is worth a look this year.
Enter the Apple Watch
Sure, this is going to be a big year for wearables in general, but the Apple Watch is the one the entire world will be watching. After plenty of ho-hum smartwatch attempts over the past year, everyone’s waiting for Apple to redefine the market once again, just like it did with the iPhone and iPad in mobile.
Engadget Associate Editor Jon Fingas is particularly excited for it:
I dig Android Wear, but my big expectation for the year is the Apple Watch. It’s designed to look good and has some clever interface concepts that haven’t been tried before. And let’s face it, there’s something exciting and scary about Apple’s first device in a category. Is it going to be brilliant? A buggy mess? It’s hard to tell, but it’ll be exciting … and you can’t say that about a lot of devices.
Thinner and lighter laptops
Now that Intel’s Broadwell chips are out, we’re looking forward to how laptop makers will use them to slim down their machines. One of the first computers to use that chip, Lenovo’s LaVie HZ550 (which won our Best of CES award for laptops), weighs only 1.72 pounds and seems impossibly thin. It’s hard to imagine a laptop getting even thinner than that without sacrificing too much battery life and computing power, but we’re sure plenty are going to try.
VR advances
Virtual reality made some pretty significant progress last year, and we’re eager to see where things go in 2015. Oculus might release its consumer VR headset this year (though there are significant challenges with that), and we’ll likely get a better sense of how Sony’s Project Morpheus competes. We know the tech works; now VR outfits just need to make it more accurate, cheaper and easier to use.
The Internet of Things grows up
We’ve been hearing plenty of hype around the Internet of Things (IoT) for a while now, but this year we’ll actually see plenty more smart devices you may want to buy. IoT basically describes connecting everything in our lives, from our homes to our cars. At CES, we saw things like Misfit’s Bolt (above), a colorful, smart LED bulb that’s cheaper than the competition, and several connected cars that could change the way we drive forever. Not everything needs to get online, to be sure, but the idea of the web touching things outside of our phones and computers is certainly intriguing.
Smarter and more fashionable wearables
Expect to see plenty of wearables this year focusing on two major trends: better sensor capabilities (things like body-composition sensing and persistent heart-rate monitoring), and better looks. Some devices, like Jawbone’s Up3, are aiming for both. Others, like Misfit’s wearable partnership with Swarovski, are all about the looks. Either way, they both show how much the wearable market has grown up.
USB Type-C cables
Yes, we’re nerds. So when we hear there’s an upcoming USB standard that’s reversible, recharges devices faster and is also double the speed of USB 3.0, we’re instantly on board. USB Type-C is eventually going to replace the micro-USB standard on smartphones and tablets. And as a bonus, it may also allow for even thinner mobile gadgets. While it just hit mass production, it’ll likely find its way into many high-end devices this year. “Considering the device I plug a cord into and out of the most is my phone, I’m excited to see what phones will adopt this new technology,” said Engadget’s Engagement Editor and social media guru John Colucci.
Project Ara and modular smartphones
Perhaps it’s just a desire for novelty, but we’re intrigued by Google’s modular smartphone concept, Project Ara. Ara might not be for everyone (indeed, Google’s focusing on emerging markets first), but going modular could put an end to the disposable-gadget trend. If you could upgrade your phone as you needed, it might also last you much longer than the latest iPhone.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household, Laptops, Wearables
[New App] Wear GoPro Remote lets you control your GoPro with your smartwatch
Are you an adventure enthusiast or simply have a GoPro device at your disposal? You will be pleased to know that you can now control this nifty gadget right from your wrist using the Wear GoPro Remote app for Android Wear.
The app doesn’t seem to be available on the Google Play Store, so you will have to download the apk directly from XDA. It allows deep controls for users including the ability to turn on the GoPro device, change camera mode, frame rate or even locate the GoPro device if it goes missing.
Here are some of the essential features listed out by the developer:
- Change camera mode (Video, Photo, Burst, Time lapse)
- Change video resolution and frame rate.a
- Change Time lapse interval.
- Fire shutter to take pictures, start/stop video and see a small preview of the picture taken.
- Fire shutter by shaking your hand (Great for selfies).
- Image gallery to browse images on Camera.
- Set basic settings like Spot Meter, Beep volume, Upside down, LEDs.
- Locate camera.
- Power off/on camera.
Click here to view the embedded video.
This is a relatively new app, so the developer urges users to pass on feedback about any glitches or errors that needs fixing. We’re keeping our fingers crossed to have this app hit the Play Store soon and we don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer. You can download the Wear GoPro Remote for your Android Wear device here.
Via: XDA Forums
Come comment on this article: [New App] Wear GoPro Remote lets you control your GoPro with your smartwatch
‘iPod Father’ Tony Fadell to Take Charge of Google Glass
Following some leadership changes that Google has implemented, Tony Fadell, creator of the Nest thermostat and “iPod Father,” will oversee Google’s Glass division, reports The Wall Street Journal. Google is planning on splitting out Glass, its wearable headset computer, from the Google X research lab into its own unit, led by Ivy Ross, who will report to Tony Fadell. Fadell will be in charge of Glass, and will provide “strategic guidance” on the product.
Largely seen as a failure at this point, Google Glass failed to drum up enough developer interest to truly establish itself in the wearable market and Google has continually pushed back the product’s mass market release.
Google has opted to cease selling Glass to consumers through the Explorer program, but the company will continue to sell the product to companies and developers. In November, Glass Head of Business Operations Chris O’Neill said the company remained “completely energized and as energized as ever” about Glass and that Google remained “committed as ever” to an eventual consumer launch.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google still has plans to release a new version of Glass in 2015, but details on the upcoming product and its potential launch date are unclear. With the shift, it appears that Google is shying away from public testing in favor of internal testing, a strategy used by Apple.
Under Tony Fadell, Glass could see some significant changes. In addition to creating the Nest thermostat, which was acquired by Google in early 2014, Fadell has been credited as one of the original creators of the iPod. Widely known as the “iPod Father,” Fadell was the SVP of Apple’s iPod division from 2006 to 2008 and helped to produce early versions of the popular music player.
Save Mart Supermarkets Adds Apple Pay as Bank of America Approaches 800K Customers On Board
Apple Pay was introduced last year during Apple’s September iPhone event and debuted alongside iOS 8.1. Months after launch, the service continues to expand with two major announcements today that mark the further expansion of the mobile payments service into regional supermarket chains and the continued adoption by consumers.
Starting today, California supermarket chain Save Mart Supermarkets is rolling out Apple Pay to all 217 Northern California and Nevada stores it operates under the Save Mart, S-Mart Foods, Lucky, Maxx Value Foods, and FoodMaxx brands. Save Mart Co-President & Chief Strategy and Branding Officer Nicole Piccinini Pesco said that the grocery store chain is adding Apple Pay for the “benefit and convenience” of their customers, adding that Apple Pay will “transform the shopping experience for our customers”.
While Apple Pay continues to expand to new retailers, consumer interest in the mobile payment service also remains strong. As part of its Q4 2014 earnings report, Bank of America today announced that almost 800,000 customers have enrolled in Apple Pay and have added approximately 1.1 million cards to the service since it launched in October 2014.
The number of mobile banking customers increased 15 percent from the year-ago quarter to 16.5 million users, and 12 percent of deposit transactions by customers were done through mobile, compared to 9 percent in the year-ago quarter. Since the introduction of Apple Pay™ in October, nearly 800,000 customers have enrolled in the service, adding approximately 1.1 million cards.
Bank of America was a launch partner for Apple Pay, and the company has continued to promote Apple Pay since that time, releasing advertisements showcasing the convenience of using Apple’s mobile payments service with a Bank of America credit card.
WWE Immortals fights its way onto Google Play
Wrestling fans are in for a pretty cool treat today. NetherRealm Studios, the developers behind Injustice: Gods Among Us, just announced that WWE Immortals has been released for Android. The game allows you to play supernatural, supercharged versions of your favorite WWE stars such as John Cena, Roman Reigns, and Big Show.
Reuters: Samsung considering $7.5B purchase of BlackBerry
If the rumor is true, Samsung may be considering the purchase of the Ontario-based BlackBerry for as much as $7.5B.
According to Reuters, who have seen documents and who has a source familiar with the matter, Samsung is considering purchasing BlackBerry seeking its valuable patents as it battles Apple.
Reuters comments that Samsung’s strength as the No. 1 global smart phone marker has been built on making devices for the consumer market, which has become crowded in recent years, but with a takeover of Blackberry, it could help the Korean-based Samsung with the corporate market.
Not straying too far from it’s current business model, BlackBerry just launched its long-awaited Classic model on Wednesday, hoping to help win back a share of the smartphone market share. The smartphone resembles its once popular Bold and Curve handsets with its classic physical keyboard.
BlackBerry issued a released on the matter and said that while it’s aware of certain press reports published Wednesday with respect to a possible offer by Samsung to purchase BlackBerry, it “has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry” and that “BlackBerry’s policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, and accordingly it does not intend to comment further.”
VIA Reuters, BlackBerry
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Adobe Lightroom Mobile makes its way to Android phones, but apparently not tablets
Adobe Lightroom 5 is an exceptionally powerful photo editing tool on desktops. I know a number of friends and associates who will live and die by it. Now the power of the Lightroom has made its way to Android for a more mobile user experience. The new addition to the mobile suite of Adobe apps […]
The post Adobe Lightroom Mobile makes its way to Android phones, but apparently not tablets appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
First hands-on images of the Xiaomi Mi Note surface
Earlier today, Xiaomi unveiled its high-end Mi Note and Mi Note Pro handsets, packing in plenty of quality hardware at quite reasonable prices. Marketing images that accompany pretty much every device launch are all well and good, but there’s nothing quite like a hands-on image to get a better sense of what the phone looks like in the real world. Fortunately, a few such pictures of Xiaomi’s new Mi Note have popped up on the official MIUI blog.
Prepare your broadband lines, here is a selection from Xiaomi’s gallery (click to expand):
Not only can we catch a closer look at the Mi Note’s steel chassis, port layouts, and the rather nice curved glass edges on the back of the handset, but Xiaomi has released a second gallery to show off its one-handed mode feature. A piece of software that is becoming increasingly popular in larger smartphones. Xiaomi’s single hand option allows the user to select between three screen sizes: 4.5, 4, or 3.5 inch modes. We now also know that the handset is sized at 155.1mm x 77.6mm x 6.95mm.
Xiaomi has also tweaked its MIUI software for larger displays, so that additional content will fit on the handsets’s screen when compared with the company’s smaller models, rather than simply making objects appear larger. Although we’ll have to wait and see how this compression affects the image clarity of the 1080p display. System wide fonts can also be applied, even to third party apps, which is a nice bonus for those who love to customize their phones.
What do you make of the Xiaomi Mi Note’s design?
YouTube stars will interview Obama at the White House next week
Just a few days after President Barack Obama gives his penultimate State of the Union address he’ll be taking to the web to answer questions from a trio of big-time YouTube stars. Bethany Mota, GloZell, and Hank Green will sit down with the President in the White House to ask him questions about the issues that matter most to their audience — mainly tech-savvy millennials. While the three will certainly have their own questions, a good portion of the queries will come directly from you, the American people. You can submit questions via the usual social channels using the #YouTubeAsksObama hashtag.
If you’re over 25, you might not be very familiar with the three lucky YouTubers getting a chance to sit down with the leader of the free world. Bethany Mota is a 19-year-old fashion vlogger with eight million passionate followers who have led her to being one of personalities frequently featured on those YouTube commercials you keep seeing. GloZell on the other hand is a comedian who describes herself as the “queen of YouTube.” And lastly is Hank Green, one of the Vlog Brothers and host of several Crash Course lessons on science.
The State of the Union begins Tuesday, January 20th at 9 PM ET. And the trio of YouTubers will follow up with an interview on Thursday January 22nd.
Hey so *nervous cough* I’m interviewing President Obama at the @Whitehouse next week. Any questions you want I should ask? #YouTubeAsksObama
– Hank Green (@hankgreen) January 15, 2015
Filed under: Internet
Source: YouTube Blog
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