Sprint looking to shell out big cash to get you as a customer
Looks like Sprint is ready to toss out some big bucks in hopes of swaying you to the Now Network. In a press release on the Newsroom from Sprint they outlined their latest offer where they will not only offer to pay your ETF for you, but they will also pay off any remaining phone […]
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LG G4 Note with 3K display slated for second half of 2015?
The phablet market is currently being dominated by the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the iPhone 6 Plus, both of which are great smartphones, however the competition could soon be heating up, with LG CEO Cho Ju-No announcing that a “higher end device” than the G4 will be announced in the second half of 2015. An announcement on the LG G4 is expected in the second quarter of this year, whereas this alleged second device is rumored to be the LG G4 Note (hopefully not the final name choice).
Speculation points to a 5.5 inch 3K curved display for the LG G4 Note. A display of that resolution and size would result in a ppi of about 600, which would be the highest pixel density for a phablet (or smartphone in general) on the market to date. Other reported specs include a 16 MP front-facing camera and a 5 MP rear facing shooter. These cameras are switched around compared to the norm, so perhaps LG is focusing on selfies? While this does seem to be an odd design choice for a phone, LG is known for creating very high-end polished devices with useful extra features, so we’ll have to put our trust in them when it comes to the G4 Note.
Source: The Korea Herald
The post LG G4 Note with 3K display slated for second half of 2015? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Benchmarks Confirm New MacBook Air Brings Decent Speed Improvements, MacBook Pro Less So
Earlier this week, we shared some Geekbench benchmarks for the Broadwell processors in the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and the new 13-inch MacBook Air, which pointed towards speeds that were comparable to mid-2014 models.
At the time, we noted the results might shift once more data came in and the machines got past their initial housekeeping tasks, and Primate Labs’ John Poole has now shared additional benchmarks for all stock versions of the new machines. The new data indicate that performance improvements may indeed be somewhat better than initially thought, though still relatively moderate.
On the new MacBook Air, both the default 1.6 GHz Core i5 chip and the 2.2 GHz Core i7 chip available as an upgrade performed somewhat better than their predecessors on the 32-bit single-core test, but there were more significant gains in the multi-core test for the higher-end processors.
According to the new averages, single-core performance increased 6 percent from Haswell to Broadwell. Multi-core performance on the i5 chip increased 7 percent, while multi-core performance for the i7 model increased 14 percent.
Due to the more meaningful jump in multi-core performance between the 2.2GHz Core i7 chip and the 1.6GHz Core i5 chip, Poole recommends that MacBook Air buyers go for the processor upgrade.
If you’re thinking of buying the new MacBook Air I would strongly recommend the i7 processor. It has 20% faster single-core performance and 25% faster multi-core performance for only a 15% increase in price.
Benchmarks of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro showed slight gains over previous-generation models, but the differences were not quite as pronounced as on the MacBook Air. Single-core performance increased between 3 percent and 7 percent from Haswell to Broadwell, depending on the model, while multi-core performance increased 3 percent to 6 percent.
I have no recommendations regarding the processor for the new MacBook Pro. The performance differences and the price differences between the processors are roughly equivalent.
Intel operates on a “Tick-Tock” chip manufacturing model. Tock upgrades represent a new microarchitecture, while tick upgrades like Broadwell are generally an improvement on tock architecture, leading to improvements in efficiency. As a tick upgrade, the minor speed improvements Broadwell brings are no surprise. Intel’s last tock upgrade was Haswell, and its next tock upgrade will be Skylake, coming later this year.
Apple’s new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and new MacBook Air models are available immediately from the online Apple Store and from Apple’s retail stores.
Tech origin Story: what first got you into tech, how have your interests evolved?
As things wind down in the aftermath of MWC 2015, we felt now was the perfect time to do something a bit different for the Friday Debate. Instead of the usual news-related topic, we want our team members, participating community members and our readers to tell us a story. What story? Their “nerd” origin story. In other words, tell us about your earliest inspirations for getting into tech. Perhaps it was a gaming system, a computer, or even a famous techie that first drew you into the world of technology? How has your tech interests evolved over the years, and what drew you into making the move over to Android?
We will start by showcasing one of the responses from forum member Cowen K. Gittens, and you can read the rest here
Cowen K. Gittens
What drew me to the world of technology? I believe it’s my general appentency to fix things. I’ve never been to any technical institution of any kind, but anything that goes bad in my house, if I can’t fix it then we might as well throw it away. All praise to the internet and the internet god, Google. Whatever you want to know you can find it and you can learn about it, if you have internet connection. And if you can read, then you can fix anything from a rocket ship to your shoelace.
My first Android phone was my first smartphone, the Motorola Milestone 2. I loved that phone so much it became a part of me. But it wasn’t until I had my Samsung Galaxy S3 that I realized the power I possess by owning an Android device. I started from simple rooting, to flashing custom ROMS and kernels, all the basic stuff to make my S3 more rewarding. But what really drove me, was the fact that Samsung Galaxy s3 wasn’t getting the KitKat and I would be left behind with an obsolete device.
So like I always do, I sat in front of my laptop looking for ways to get KitKat without losing the Samsung Galaxy S3 UI. I found a custom ROM, Blekota, I think, that had the S5 UI but with KitKat. And it was stable enough for me to keep it until I lost my S3 to the fate of evil concrete. Yeah, it fell.
But now, I have a Google Nexus 5 and I am enjoying all the benefits of Google. I’m running Android 5.1 that I sideloaded last night, and I’m rooted with a bunch of other cool stuff.
All in all, my interest in technology generated from a basic inclination to fixing things.
Robert Triggs
I’ve always been a bit of a tinkerer, I suppose. I seem to remember playing with Meccano, KNEX and even a little electronics kit, with lightbulbs and a motor, when I was a youngster. As a teenager I played a fair amount of video games, from TETRIS to Timesplitters, and built my first gaming PC when I was 16 or so, which pushed me to start learning about computer parts.
It might be a cliché, but music was the other half of my teenage years, I spent some serious time learning guitar licks. Curiosity in music and tech piqued, I went on to earn a First-class honours BSc in Sound Engineering, learning all about the science of sound, through acoustics, digital and electronics. I can no longer remember half of the Iron Maiden solos I learnt, but my hobby has evolved into designing amplifiers and coding digital audio effects on my Arduino. Forget a man cave, I’m building a laboratory.
That may sound a bit niche but my interest in technology has become increasingly broad, even Android was just another curiosity at first. Since getting my teeth into mobile, it’s opened my eyes to hardware that I knew little to nothing about a few years ago, such as displays and wireless, which helps to satisfy my inner nerd.
Jimmy Westenberg
Before I became interested in smartphones, I wasn’t interested in tech at all. Maybe I was too young, or maybe I just wasn’t subjected to anything that really clicked with me.
The first time I was shown a real smartphone was in my Freshman year of high school, when my best friend bought a BlackBerry Curve 8330. He showed me the interface, hardware and shortcuts he found during lunch one day. The next week, I went out and bought one for myself. I went to his house that next day and he told me how to navigate around the UI. That’s when I really became infatuated with mobile technology. I was obsessed with that phone. I used to take out the trackball and color it different colors and I’d experiment with different home screen layouts. Then the phone died, and unfortunately I didn’t have insurance.
So I went back to US Cellular and bought the HTC Desire, or “the iPhone killer”, as some of you may remember. That’s when I became interested in Android. The Desire had everything I wanted in a smartphone – beautiful HTC-made hardware, the wonderful Android 2.1 Eclair, and decent battery life for the time. Although, my time with the Desire was short-lived. HTC promised to update the phone to Froyo, though the 4GB of internal storage just couldn’t handle the update. So, I was stuck on an older version of Android, and I instantly felt like I was behind. Not only was the 4GB of storage not enough for the software update, the newest Google Maps update took up way too much internal memory, so I couldn’t even download the apps I wanted. Needless to say, the time I spent with my first Android smartphone wasn’t the most pleasant.
Even with all that said, I still stuck around for some reason. I found value in the Android OS that no other mobile operating system could provide. I wanted to tinker with my smartphone, use custom launchers, and take advantage of the wonderful widgets HTC had pre-installed on the device.
I haven’t really made my way into too many other areas of nerdom, though. I know my way around a computer, but I definitely wouldn’t call myself a computer nerd. I also know a fair bit about wearables and fitness trackers. But ultimately, Android and the mobile tech space is where I got my start, and that’s where I’ll likely stay.
Luka Mlinar
I’ve always been drawn to technology, always looking for that next big thing that’s just around the corner. I suppose it all started when as a kid. I found a Elektro Pionir in my uncles old room, a sort of mechanical kit for kids. That thing was the bomb. You could make all sorts of stuff, yet the electric motor was always my favorite thing to put together.
From there on it was just a matter of time before i got my very first computer. HTML came natural to me and it didn’t take long before I started creating blog and website templates. Dynamic scripts would always interest me the most, so eventually I redesigned the popular Lightbox script to my liking. At that point it was clear that no matter where the road takes me, I would always be in a world rich with technology.
When Android came out I didn’t think much of it. It was only around the time ICS came out that i started seeing the potential in it. After that i got pulled into the whole world of Android and I’m loving every minute of it.
Matthew Benson
Now this is a loaded question indeed. It’s difficult to narrow down my first real interest in tech as it occurred on various fronts. Allow me to briefly explain each:
Games: In terms of video games, I think the official starting point was when I stayed over at a friends’ place and they had (the original) Legend of Zelda. I remember eating chocolate donuts and watching him play the game. The dungeons were just unreal: my only other gaming experiences were of an old Atari machine my dad had, and Super Mario Bros.
Shortly after, my parents got me Zelda and I was just memorized with the world. The awe and sense of wonder in those 8-bit graphics have, to this day, yet to be surpassed. There was just something astonishing about doing so much with what was technically so little back then.
And the instruction manuals. Andrew no doubt will admit his love for both Zelda and manuals as well, as they were just incredible. All the Japanese artwork at a time when none was around in the USA, along with such intriciate descriptions of everything. It really made the game world come alive.
Internet: My family had Prodigy internet service back around 1991, if I remember correctly. Booting it up in DOS, playing Mind Maze and Carmen Sandiego “online” as well as using ancient BBS sites. Wow what a throw back. In the summer of 1993 I remember having the Microsoft Network service and having my first international experience: I was chatting with a Japanese woman studying in the University of Edinburgh.
Some time later I remember, in the Japan Chat board, mentioning how I was having so much trouble with Dragon Quest VI for the SFC (my first imported game ever) and a guy actually faxed the relevant pages to my dad’s office. When that didn’t work, he actually sent me the guide book for free, EMS shipping no less. That was just incredibly nice, and I still remember it to this day.
Television: I remember watching “Dragon Warrior” on TV back around 1991, and had no idea it was even Japanese. I didn’t know who Akira Toriyama was then, either. The show was just so amazing, despite the fact it was on at like 7am on Saturday mornings and there were only 13 episodes that were translated into English. I remember wishing day after day that Enix would make a game version of the TV show, and to this day will still name the main character Abel when I play DQ games.
Additional mention needs to be made to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and especially the Friday-only Zelda episodes. I remember how much I loved Zelda, and the cartoon was (for me) absolutely epic. Some time later would come Captain N and the Super Mario Bros. show there.
Parents: I suspect the main reason I am so interested in technology is that my father would often buy things. He had a computer back in 1991 that he purchased from a coworker, and I think that was what amazed me. The ability to have this totally different world inside a box. Also perhaps it was my father getting a subscription to Nintendo Power and my first issue being the Tetris-cover one, and then shortly after taking advantage of the Dragon Warrior NES tie-in for those that remember!
You know, after typing all this I honestly have no clue why I like technology. Perhaps it was just that I like new things, and technology is always changing. But hey, reminiscing is awesome!
Now it is your turn
You’ve heard some of the ‘origin’ stories for a few AA team members and one of our forum members. What’s your story? Can you remember back to the first tech that truly pulled you in? As time has passed, what has brought you into the world of Android?
JXE Streams: ‘Splatterhouse’ makes a mess of Friday the 13th
Jason Vorhees’ hockey mask in Friday the 13th was an accident. Special effects man Martin Jay Sadoff just happened to really like hockey and have a bag of old-school gear with him when the third movie was in production. As pop culture serendipity goes, the mask is a brilliant success: when Friday the 13th rolls around, it’s impossible not to think of that chipped face guard. In turn, it’s impossible not to think of pulpy horror and that infamous date when you see something that even sort of looks like the mask. No doubt that was the logic at Namco when it conceived Splatterhouse — one of gaming’s earliest gore-fests — and its masked star. That’s also why we’re playing a whole lot of Splatterhouse for you on JXE Streams!
Starting at 3PM ET we’re going to play not one but two Splatterhouses. (Splatterhousi? Splatterheese?) First up is the 2010 reboot on PlayStation 3, what with its three-dimensional violent silliness. After that we take a tour through the first two levels of that, we’ll dig back into the original Splatterhouse from 1989. The whole thing will be streamed live right here, on Engadget.com/gaming and over at Twitch.tv/Joystiq.
Enjoy our streams? Bookmark Engadget.com/gaming to check out our upcoming schedule and follow us on Twitch.
[We’re playing a retail copy of Splatterhouse on a PS3 streamed through an Elgato Capture HD via OBS at 720p.]
Check-in app Swarm adds messages in latest update
Foursquare’s check-in app, Swarm, has just received an update that introduces a new feature, messages, in addition to making it easier to see more details about various locations.
The popular check-in application that allows users to share their location with other users of the application now allows for users to send messages to nearby friends. In addition to adding messages, a few other changes have been made as well.
YouTube makes its support for 360-degree video official
The support for 360-degree videos on YouTube that was reported earlier has become official. Starting today, content producers can upload videos that take advantage of 360-degree cameras to show all angles possible.
Viewers on the web or mobile devices can interact with the content in different ways. On YouTube’s site and through embedded videos on Chrome, viewers can click and drag to chance their angle. Those with Android devices, tablets included, can change viewing angles by moving the device around. Other devices and platforms will see the feature arrive at a later date.
Here are the 360-degree cameras compatible with YouTube:
- Giroptic 360cam
- IC Real Tech Allie
- Kodak SP360
- Ricoh Theta
You can click here for full directions on how to upload 360-degree content to YouTube.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: YouTube Creator Blog
Come comment on this article: YouTube makes its support for 360-degree video official
Google’s Fiber TV service not exactly off to a good start
Google launched the Fiber internet service in Kansas City, Kansas a couple of years ago. Google also launched an accompanying cable TV service along with broadband, giving users the option to ditch their cable provider and pick Google instead. A new report now claims that this service hasn’t exactly been off to a flying start with only 29,867 video subscriptions made so far.
About 20,000 of these subscriptions reportedly came from Kansas City, Missouri, the report said. In the area, Google has grabbed about 10% of the market. Kansas City, Kansas on the other hand has a slightly better marketshare of 13%, which again, is nothing to write home about.
On the whole Google Fiber TV is said to have about 0.026% of the entire U.S. TV marketshare, which tells us that Google is yet to make inroads in this area. This also means that cable TV providers in the regions don’t have anything to worry about at this point with Google barely scratching the top of the surface.
Source: Multichannel
Via: 9to5Google
Come comment on this article: Google’s Fiber TV service not exactly off to a good start
Sprint will reimburse all cancellation fees when you switch from your current carrier
If you’re unhappy with your current mobile provider and you’re stuck in one of those terrible two-year contracts, there may be an out for you. Sprint, which is now considered to be the fourth largest carrier in the US, has just announced that it will cover all cancellation fees for customers who want to switch from their current carrier. That’s right, no matter what is owed, whether we’re talking about just the early termination fee or the remaining payments you owe on your phone installment plan, Sprint will reimburse the total cost to you.
Before you get too excited, there are a few hoops to jump through first. For starters, you’ll need to turn in your current phone, in good working condition, to Sprint in order for them to reimburse you. So if you had any hopes of keeping your current phone, you’re unfortunately out of luck.
Here are the details on how this promotion works:
- Bring your number from any other carrier with an early termination fee or phone installment plan balance.
- Activate a device on Sprint Easy Pay, iPhone for Life Plan, Sprint Lease or pay full retail price with a new line of service.
- Complete an online registration www.sprint.com/joinsprint and upload a bill that shows applicable charges for reimbursement within 60 days of activation.
- Customers are required to turn in competitor phones (in good working condition) tied to the bill they submitted. To make this simple and hassle free, customers will receive a prepaid return kit in the mail.
- Award is paid via American Express Reward Card after online registration.
Sprint will reimburse you in the form of an American Express Reward Card approximately 15 days after you complete the online registration form (explained above). We’re not sure as to how long this promotion is going on, so if you’re interested, you better jump on this deal before it’s too late!
So, anyone out there taking advantage of the deal?
Apple Fixes Keyboard in iOS 8.3 Beta So Searches.Don’t.Look.Like.This [iOS Blog]
Apple has improved the design of its keyboard in iOS 8.3 to fix a long-standing issue that caused several iPhone users to accidentally tap the period key while attempting to use the space bar in Safari. The change to a longer space bar was first spotted in iOS 8.3 beta 2 within the MacRumors discussion forums, and also appears to be present in the third beta of the pre-release software.
iPhone 6 Plus users in particular have long complained about having Safari searches littered with periods because Apple did not extend the space bar to account for the extra space on the larger 5.5-inch screen, instead making the “Go” button larger. While not necessarily a bug, the design issue was an inconvenience for many users and prompted several complaints on social media and within our discussion forums. Twitter user Austin Spencer, for example, voiced his frustration rather succinctly.
I.cannot.adjust to.the.period being.over.the.old http://t.co/DcNwYiH8Jz.spot on.the.iPhone 6.Plus
— Austin Spencer (@AustinSpencer_) March 2, 2015
Apple launched its new iOS public beta testing program on Thursday, making the third beta of iOS 8.3 the first iPhone and iPad software version to be seeded to both developers and the public for testing. iOS 8.3 includes several new features, such as support for wireless CarPlay connectivity, a new emoji picker, support for Google two-step verification, and Apple Pay support for the China UnionPay network.
AIVAnet 