We’re live from Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2015!
Greetings from Barcelona, Spain! We’re back in town for the annual Mobile World Congress. And to say that this year’s show is going to be insane wouldn’t get anywhere close to doing it justice.
But this year’s show is going to be insane. Trust us.
Coming up Sunday: We’ll be liveblogging the HTC event at 10 a.m. EST. And at 12:30 p.m. EST we’ll have Samsung’s Unpacked event.
And even as big as those two events are, they’re just a fraction of the news that’s going to drop. Just leave our Mobile World Congress page open for the next few days. You’re don’t want to miss a thing.
IKEA to integrate Qi charging in some furniture starting in April 2015
Everyone’s favorite build-your-own furniture store IKEA has just announced a partnership to start integrating Qi charging for devices into some of its furniture. Starting in April 2015, IKEA will offer bedside tables, lamps and desks with Qi charging built in, meaning you won’t need to drop any extra cables or charging bases to keep your phones topped up.
We’re live at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona!
It’s that time again: Our team has descended upon the heart of Barcelona to bring you another week of the latest the mobile world has to offer. As always, we’ll be shooting videos and liveblogging events until our fingers fall off, and we certainly hope you’ll come join us for the ride. So, what’s in store for us all this time around?
We’re glad you asked.
To no one’s surprise, HTC and Samsung have been working on a handful of leaky flagship phones, and they’re going to unveil them at a pair of back-to-back press this afternoon. You know what that means: Back-to-back liveblogs to bring you the news as soon as it breaks. One has to wonder if that’s all HTC’s bringing to Barça, considering the dull throb of rumors that keep suggesting there’s some sort of M9 phablet secretly lurking under wraps. Samsung’s eternal rival LG has already trotted out its newest smartphones ahead of the show (and we already reviewed the only one that’s really worth talking about), though we’re looking forward to slipping on the webOS wonder that is the G Watch Urbane LTE.
Meanwhile, Sony’s presence at the show has been scaled back as it tries to decide if smartphones are a part of its future at all, but it’s probably going to show up with at least a new tablet in tow. Microsoft is making an appearance tomorrow morning, too, so expect more clarity on Windows 10 for mobile and maybe a pair of mid-range smartphones for good measure. Then you’ve got Huawei, a company that can’t help but tout its surprisingly handsome Android Wear watch ahead of time, and BlackBerry, a company that’s reportedly planning to layout its roadmap for the entire year sometime this week.
Beyond all that, beyond the glitz and glamour of new gadgets from huge companies, are the little things. The quirky bits. The Bluetoothbrushes and smart suitcases and the GPS canes. In years past, stepping into the Fira de Barcelona has been like digging into a tiny slice of the future, and we’re going to spend the week helping you see as much of it as possible. Keep it locked to our MWC event page for all the news out of Catalonia as it breaks, and thanks –really — for joining us.
Filed under: Mobile
Have you noticed: The Facebook app for Android devours battery life like nothing else
If you have an Android smartphone, and you’re relatively tech conscious, it’s pretty likely that you’ll have the Facebook app for Android on your device. Facebook‘s app has always been a little unusual compared to the other social media apps, but it’s made great strides in recent times to bridge that gap and create a smoother, […]
The post Have you noticed: The Facebook app for Android devours battery life like nothing else appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Top Windows Phone children’s games from the For the Kids Collection
There is a wide variety of Windows Phone games available in the Store, many designed to educate and entertain our children. While these games may not appeal to everyone, if you have children these Windows Phone titles can come in handy. Whether it is for long road trips or waiting for a table at a restaurant, these titles can keep your children occupied and teach them a few things along the way.
The Windows Phone Store has a series of collections that group themed apps and games together, making it easier to find the Windows Phone title you are looking for. The For the Kids Collection groups a couple of dozen children’s games together. We have visited this collection before and thought it was a good time to revisit things. For this week’s roundup, we have plucked four titles from the For the Kids Collection to highlight.
Apple Watch Pop-Up Shop Also Planned for London’s Selfridges Department Store
Apple is planning to open a dedicated pop-up shop for the Apple Watch at high-end department store Selfridges in London, according to sources. The shop will likely be located near the entrance of the iconic Wonder Room, a 19,000-square-foot shopping hall that houses a wide selection of luxury jewelry and watch brands alongside a concept store and mezzanine wine bar.
Wonder Room at Selfridges in London houses fine jewelry and watches
A section of Selfridges located near the Wonder Room was boarded up earlier this month to allow for construction of the expected Apple Watch pop-up shop, sources say. The store-within-a-store concept will display various Apple Watch models and provide customers with a personalized shopping experience, potentially including One to One service for those interested in learning more about the wrist-worn device.
Apple is recruiting retail employees from nearby Apple Stores in London to fill Specialist vacancies at an upcoming Central London location, which is likely to be this Selfridges boutique. The pop-up shop is expected to be readied in time for the Apple Watch launch in April and will likely join Galeries Lafayette as one of multiple standalone Apple Watch stores that Apple plans to open throughout Europe.
Selfridges has the second-largest retail space in the United Kingdom behind competing high-end department store Harrods. The store offers a myriad of designer jewelry and accessories, such as watches, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, pendants and rings. With the Apple Watch positioned at least partially as a fashion item, the department store offers an ideal setting for the wrist-worn device to be displayed.
Kyocera to show its Windows Phone prototype device at MWC 2015 next week
Next week’s Mobile World Congress 2015 trade show in Barcelona, Spain will be the place for Kyocera to show its first Windows Phone 8.1 prototype device. The Japan-based company has yet to offer any more details on the product.
How to add more notification Profiles to Quick Settings in BlackBerry 10.3.1
In previous BlackBerry 10 OS builds, before OS 10.3.1, tapping on the Notification icon in Quick Settings would toggle between Normal and the last used notification Profile. In OS 10.3.1 it just toggles between Normal and Silent. However, you now have the option to add more Profiles to the Quick Settings menu and each time you tap on the Notification icon it will scroll through those Profiles. This is a nice little addition as I sometimes like to use Silent or Vibrate depending on where I am.
Apple Likely Building Apple Watch Demo Area at Yerba Buena Center
A new image has surfaced that shows construction of an outdoor extension at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, as reported by 9to5Mac. The tented space will likely serve as an Apple Watch demo area at the upcoming “Spring Forward” media event on March 9th, where Apple is widely expected to provide further details about the Apple Watch’s features, pricing and release date.
According to the tipster that submitted the photos, there are security guards wearing “Apple Security” shirts monitoring the construction site, all but confirming that the external addition belongs to Apple. The company previously built a similar structure outside of the Flint Center as a demo area for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, so an exterior demo area would not be unprecedented.
Apple sent out invites for its “Spring Forward” media event earlier this week, and will also be providing a live stream of the event on its website for Mac, iPhone and iPad. The media event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on March 9th at 10:00 AM Pacific and should be focused on the Apple Watch ahead of the wrist-worn device’s launch in April.
Secret iMessage shortcuts: Ten gestures to speed up your iPhone chat!
Messages is the most popular app on the iPhone.
There are tons of features you can activate with just a tap. It’s got even more, however, that you can access with long presses, swipes, and other gesture shortcuts. If you have enough time, you can figure them all out. Or you can just read all about them right here and instantly master your messages!
Pull to search
Just like on the Home screen where you can touch and pull down to access Spotlight search, you can touch and pull down from any mailbox to bring up search for mail. Start typing and Mail will show you any messages that match.
Swipe to go back
Another system-wide gesture, any time you’re in a message or mailbox, you can swipe to go back to the mailbox the message is in, or the account the mailbox in in. It’s especially handy for those with bigger phones.
Swipe to see time-stamps
Time stamps — exactly when a message arrived — aren’t shown inline. If you want to see them, you can swipe from the right edge of the screen to the left and you’ll see them listed.
Hold to copy
You can’t select text in a message the way you can in other parts of iOS. If you want to copy any part of a message, you have to copy the whole message. To do that, touch and hold down on it and then choose Copy from the popup menu.
Multi-trash or forward
There’s no Edit button in Messages but there’s still a multi-select mode. Touch and hold down on a message and then choose More from the popup menu. Choose the messages you want, then choose Trash or Forward to delete or share.
Save images and videos
Whether it’s a priceless family photo, a magic moment, or an infuriating animated GIF, it’s easy to keep pictures and videos you get to you camera roll. Just touch and hold the thumbnail and then choose Save from the popup menu.
Swipe through attachments
Messages shows you thumbails for every photo or video you receive. Tap on a thumbnail and it goes fullscreen. Swipe, and you can browse through all the photos and videos in the conversation, just like albums in the Photos app.
Insta-selfies
To quickly send a selfie or video message, touch and hold the Camera icon. Then swipe up to take a photo or right to take a video.
Sound bites
To quickly send an audio message, touch and hold the Microphone icon. When you’re done talking, swipe up to send or left to trash.
Delete conversations
If you want to trash an entire conversation, swipe from right to left on the list item and then tap Delete to get rid of it. You can still send and receive new messages, but the old ones will be gone.
Hide keyboard
Sometimes, where you’re responding to a message, you want to see more of it. Maybe you forgot the exact question you’re trying to answer, or you want to refer to something specific. No matter the reason, all you have to do is touch the message above the keyboard and swipe down to hide it.
More secrets
If you just can’t get enough of this stuff, and want to learn more of the secrets to iPhone mastery, check out our ultimate guides and how-to pages. And if we missed any of your favorite Mail tips, add them to the comments below!
- Secret Siri commands
- Secret Safari shortcuts
- Secret Mail shortcuts
- Secret keyboard shortcuts
- Secret power-saving shortcuts
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