Expect Sky and BT to launch new 4K boxes sooner rather than later
It’s no secret that BT is after Sky’s sports broadcasting crown — it’s already taken away Sky’s access to Champions League coverage and will soon go toe-to-toe with its rival again to spend big on more live Premier League matches. While it isn’t quite as dominant as its rival in terms of customers, Sky deems BT a credible enough threat that it will reportedly bring forward the launch of its new 4K set-top box to ensure it doesn’t lose subscribers when those major European football broadcasts vanish.
That’s according to The Telegraph, which says the broadcaster will debut a new internet-connected 4K set-top box in the Spring. It’s meant to be capable of sharing streams to smartphones and tablets, allowing access to recorded programmes while a user in on the move — similar to EE’s new TV hardware.
Sky’s new box could be the final incarnation of a project known internally as “Project Ethan.” Reports of the project first popped up in April last year, which detailed new Sky hardware that can output 4K broadcasts and store recorded programmes in the cloud. It was meant to debut in 2016, but the rise of BT and increased competition from Virgin may have forced it to launch earlier than originally planned.
BT won’t let Sky have it all its own way, however; the company is also said to be readying a new 4K-ready box, which could launch “within months.” The Telegraph says BT will kick off trials of its new ultra high-definition streaming service in May, ensuring it’s ready in time to broadcast its Champions League coverage in the autumn.
Regardless of their launch dates, 2015 is shaping up to be a big year for both companies. BT will return to the mobile industry following the completion of its £12.5 billion takeover of EE, while Sky has just announced plans to launch its own mobile service with the help of O2 (which could soon be sold to Three owner Hutchison Whampoa). It’s likely that mobile service will form some part of their future TV offerings, but at the moment it’s sport that is doing all the talking.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: The Telegraph
Octa-core, 5.5″ QHD display HTC A55 rumored for the Desire series
When it comes to HTC, all of the focus may be on the company’s much anticipated One M9 (Hima), but, according to @upleaks, HTC also has another interesting upcoming smartphone, code-named the A55.
According to the leak, the HTC A55 is a relatively high-end smartphone. It is expected to feature a 20MP rear camera, 3GB RAM, a 5.5-inch WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixel) display and a 2.0GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6795 processor. The handset is packing some other impressive features too, so here is the full leaked spec sheet:
- MediaTek MT6795 2.0GHz*8 64Bit
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB ROM
- 5.5″ WQHD Display
- 20MP Back Camera with a LED flash
- 13MP or 4MP UltraPixel Front Camera
- BoomSound
- Bluetooth 4.1
- Not big battery (less than 3000)
- Android 5.0
- Desire Sense 7.0
- Launch Date Feb 2015
Despite the high-end specifications, the A55 is not related to HTC’s flagship One smartphone line up, but will instead fall into the Desire range, apparently. Originally, it had been rumored that a high-end HTC Hima_Ace was in the works, which would offer a larger 5.5-inch display. However, this appears to have been scrapped in favor of the A55.
It seems that HTC Hima_Ace is cancelled and replaced by A55.
— @upleaks (@upleaks) February 2, 2015
An interesting feature of note in the MT6795 chip is that it supports 1080p video recording at 480 frames per second, allowing for impressive slow motion shots. This may explain why HTC chose this chip for a phone in its camera focused Desire series, although we will have to wait and see if this feature ends up being implemented. A dual-SIM variant, the A55#DTUL, is also apparently in the works, to satisfy the demands of the Asian market. The only real concern on the spec sheet is that a sub 3,000mAh battery may not provide sufficient battery life for such a high resolution display.
We may not have long to wait to see if the A55 turns out to be real, as the release date is scheduled for some time this month. The leak promises a choice of White Rose Gold, Grey or Brown Gold color options at launch.
What do you make of the HTC A55?
Cyanogen 12 for OnePlus One coming soon, nightlies for Yureka in a few weeks
The Lollipop-based Cyanogen 12 build for the OnePlus One is in late testing, while the first nightlies for the Yureka will be out in the second half of February.
The information was revealed this weekend on Twitter:
Lollipop build for @oneplus one has entered QA/QE stage for release! Testing & cert to begin alongside 3rd party partners to meet GMS reqs.
— Cyanogen Inc. (@CyanogenInc) February 1, 2015
QA/QE (quality assurance/quality enhancement) is one of the final stages of shipping software. Any bugs or issues found during QA/QE will be fixed before the OS goes through a re-certification for compliance with Google’s mobile services. After this, it’s up to the “3rd party partners” (read OnePlus) to push the update over the air.
Note that this refers to the global version of the OnePlus, and it’s still not clear whether an OTA will be made available in India as well, or users will have to resort to flashing an image manually.
@cnuanu @oneplus TBD. Worst case you install via recovery. Our hope is yes, ota.
— Cyanogen Inc. (@CyanogenInc) February 1, 2015
The process is expected to take a few days, assuming all goes well.
@IdreesRasheed1 @oneplus Sadly, more on the scale of days
— Cyanogen Inc. (@CyanogenInc) February 1, 2015
Cyanogen also shared a few details about the other device running Cyanogen OS out of the box, Micromax’ Yu Yureka. The device, which launched late last year, will receive its first Cyanogen nightlies from mid to end-February.
@omkarsathe92 @YUplaygod mid to end of February for @CyanogenMod nightlies, most likely
— Cyanogen Inc. (@CyanogenInc) February 1, 2015
Nightlies are the cutting-edge releases of Cyanogen, meaning that they are not quite ready for regular users. A final version will be pushed over the air at a later date.
OnePlus, Cyanogen, and Micromax have been at the center of a lot of controversy over the past few months, spurred by Cyanogen’s decision to award Micromax exclusivity in the Indian market. OnePlus devices running CM were banned in the country, though the company can still ship devices with other operating systems.
While Cyanogen will continue to support the CM11S-running OnePlus One, there’s a very good chance that the next OnePlus device (expected this summer) will run OnePlus’ homegrown OxygenOS instead.
Apple to Open New Retail Store in Tianjin, China on February 7 [Mac Blog]
Apple today announced on its Chinese retail website that it will be opening its brand new store in Tianjin, China this Saturday, February 7.
The store will be located within the Nankai District and follows Apple’s other recently opened locations in Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, and Chongqing.
Last month, Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts noted that Apple would be opening five new retail stores in five weeks to coincide with the Chinese New Year. The Tianjin store is the fourth store in that rollout, as Apple has also boosted its advertising efforts in the region by releasing a new version of its ad “The Song” for the Chinese market. After the five stores are opened, Apple would have 20 locations in China and Hong Kong with an ultimate goal of 40 stores in China over the next few years.
Apple’s new Tianjin store opens on Saturday, February 7 at 10:00 AM local time.
The great South African BBM recruitment contest
Over in South Africa it looks like BlackBerry are having a purge on getting more folk signed up to BBM and you can’t blame them as it’s without doubt the best instant messaging platform around.
Download the 1080p LG G Flex 2 wallpapers here
Probably one of the most interesting smartphones to debut at CES 2015 last month was the LG G Flex 2, LG‘s follow-up to its maiden curved display device. Featuring a much more manageable 5.5-inch curved display, the G Flex 2 looks like it could be one of the better phones of the first half of […]
The post Download the 1080p LG G Flex 2 wallpapers here appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Apple Releases New Version of ‘The Song’ Ad for Chinese New Year [Mac Blog]
Apple today released a new version of its holiday ad “The Song” to coincide with the Chinese New Year holiday, using new actresses and showing a variety of Apple products throughout the video.
Like the original version, the Chinese version of “The Song” centers around a girl who comes across a vintage record sung by her grandmother as she secretly learns the notes and vocals to put together her own rendition alongside the original. The commercial ends with the girl and her grandmother listening side-by-side to the new record on an iPad.
The ad is currently being featured on Apple’s Chinese website. The company has opened a number of new stores in the past couple of weeks in time for Chinese New Year, with new locations popping up in Chongqing and Hangzhou.
Nexus 7 cellular variants finally receiving Lollipop 5.0.2 updates
For owners of the two cellular Nexus 7 models, new is indeed the best word to describe the update to Lollipop as both have been running KitKat until this weekend.
It’s hard to believe, but neither of Google’s cellular-equipped Nexus 7 devices have not received Lollipop yet, a fact that has no-doubt caused some grievances among owners. For whatever reason, it seems Google not only releases the cellular models in a protracted fashion, but goes about updating them in such as way as well.
Fortunately, the long wait is now over as both the 2012 Nexus 7 Mobile and 2013 Nexus 7 LTE variants are receiving Lollipop. Even better, they are both ported directly to version 5.0.2 meaning that there is no additional wait necessary to bring them up-to-date with the latest builds. Unfortunately there is going to be some wait involved for all those who want a FOTA pushed to their devices, though thankfully the individual factory system images can be downloaded directly from Google for those that know how to apply them:
Nexus 7 2012 Mobile Lollipop 5.0.2 Update
Nexus 7 2013 LTE Lollipop 5.0.2 Update
For all those who prefer to wait, please remember that it may take several days or weeks for the update file to hit your device, although it never hurts to hit the “Check for Updates” button every now and then.
Lollipop-based Paranoid Android 5 Alpha 1 is here!
The Paranoid Android team just announced the release of the first alpha version of the Lollipop-based Paranoid Android 5.
It’s been more than three months since the last Paranoid Android release, PA 4.6 Beta 5 Playful Pitaya, but now the wait is finally over for fans of the popular custom ROM project. Paranoid Android 5, based on the Lollipop source code, is now available for download, and it should be good enough for daily use.
The PA team warns however that this is just the beginning of the Lollipop journey, so you should expect some bugs and other flaws, this being an alpha release.
So, what’s new in PA 5? Here’s the change log as per the PA team:
- Update the baseline to AOSP Lollipop 5.0.2
- Improvements to Heads Up, such as an option to disable heads up interruptions completely
- Add Quick Unlock
- Extend the power menu
- Animate the volume panel in a more material manner
- Make it possible to skip songs using volume buttons when the device is locked
- Add CM12 Theme Engine
- Fix various small annoyances from AOSP
As you can see, there are only small feature additions for now, with more substantial changes to come in future releases.
“Lollipop has changed almost everything, and we must think with a different mindset in order to create new features that can provide meaningful improvements over stock while following material design. We’re on it, so don’t worry. Our sauce will have new spices soon enough”
PA team
This being a new alpha release based on a major new version of Android, there are some precautions you should take before flashing – read more about it here.
In news that may sadden users of the Galaxy Nexus, the venerable device has been dropped from the group of officially supported Paranoid Android devices, though there’s still hope it will be supported through the legacy project. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone; the CDMA Galaxy Nexus was also left behind by the CyanogenMod community.
Paranoid Android 5 Alpha 1 is available for download from here, for modern Nexus devices, the OnePlus One, the Oppo Find 5, and the Oppo Find 7.
The Big Picture: Private jets swarm out of Arizona after the Super Bowl
If you’ve just returned from a boutique hermitage in the middle of nowhere, you might have missed the fact that the Super Bowl has just finished. While most people, naturally, will be driving away from the University of Pheonix’s stadium, a higher class of sports enthusiast will be taking a private jet back home. If you check into a flight tracking service like FlightAware right now, for instance, you’ll see the sky over Arizona blocked out by a fleet of Gulfstreams and Cessnas. Judging by the map, there’s going to be more than a few east coast-bound flights that’ll run out of champagne in the not-too-distant future.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: The Verge, Darren Murph (Twitter)
Source: Flight Aware
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