U.S. availability for the HTC One M9 begins April 10th
During the company’s “Uh-Oh” presentation this morning, HTC announced that the new One M9 handset would be available in the United States starting April 10th. According to HTC’s Jason Mackenzie, the phone’s availability will vary based on carrier. Also, Mackenzie confirmed that we will not see a Google Play Edition HTC One M9.
The U.S. launch of the HTC One M9 coincides with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which begins the same day. With that said, it’s now clear that HTC wants to compete directly with the best that Samsung has to offer.
Availability in the United States wasn’t the only thing HTC announced at its presentation, though. The company also launch its new Uh-Oh protection plan, which will give users a free one-time replacement if their One M9 or One M8 handsets suffer a broken screen or any water damage. The coverage lasts for the first 12 months of having the device, and all users are automatically signed up for the service upon purchasing the smartphone.
If you’d like to get some more information on HTC’s newest flagship, head to our hands-on and first impressions post here. Now that we know the One M9 is launching in the U.S. on the same day as the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which one will you pick up?
Digitally Imported gets rare bug fixing update for Windows Phone
Although apps like LivingSocial are disappearing from Windows Phone one of our favorite music services – Digitally Imported – is getting a rare updated. Digitally Imported or just DI.FM for short, arrived for Windows Phone back in October, 2013. Since then it has had only one update.
Today, version 1.0.2 has landed for Windows Phone and with comes some bug fixes for connection issues.
Gameloft flips the switch on Modern Combat 5 and makes it Free-to-Play, previous buyers get perks
Gameloft launched Modern Combat 5 to an eager following in July of 2014. It launched with the typical $6.99 price tag, but hit sales at $3.99 and even landed for $0.75 for the holiday season. This morning Gameloft has announced that they are doing away with the price tag all together and making the first […]
The post Gameloft flips the switch on Modern Combat 5 and makes it Free-to-Play, previous buyers get perks appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
[New Chromecast Game] Motion Tennis Cast aces screen mirroring for gaming
Last year during Google I/O, one topic of interest to Chromecast fans was full support for screen casting from Android devices. Many believed that this would make the dongle much more useful and could open the door to things like better gaming options. Anuj Tandon with Rolocule Games was so excited about the prospects, that he had already started work on a game called Motion Tennis that would enable gamers to use their smartphone as a motion controller while casting the game’s video to their TV via Chromecast. That game has now been officially launched around the world through the Google Play Store as Motion Tennis Cast.
This is no simple tennis game as Rococule includes several features to help keep things spiced up. With practice, players can learn to hit a variety of shots like groundstrokes, slices and lobs and the game’s physics will accurately calculate spin and direction of travel of the ball. Four difficulty levels are included along with grass, clay or synthetic courts. A time attack mode is included so players can challenge other online opponents.
Hit one of the download links below if you want to give Motion Tennis Cast a try. Please be careful though – we don’t want to hear any tales of someone slinging their “racket” across the room and destroying it!
Click here to view the embedded video.
Come comment on this article: [New Chromecast Game] Motion Tennis Cast aces screen mirroring for gaming
Google’s street art collection doubles in size
If you’re the sort who’s more excited by graffiti and murals than paintings hanging in a museum, today’s your lucky day. The Google Art Project has doubled the size of its street art collection to a total of more than 10,000 images, including spruced-up abandoned buildings in Buenos Aires and formal projects from Sweden’s Artscape festival. And there’s new ways to check out these pieces, to boot — in addition to the existing mobile and web views, Google has quietly released a Street Art Watch Faces bundle that shuffles through projects on your Android Wear smartwatch. Hit the source links if you’re curious about street culture around the world.
[Image credit: RUN/Dulwich Outdoor Gallery, Google Art Project]
Via: The Verge
Source: Google Official Blog, Google Play
Orchard wants to cover Austin in inflatable, huggable trees
trydocument.getElementById(“fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-344018″).style.display=”none”;catch(e)
Chaotic Moon needed something to soften its image. The “creative technology studio,” known for stunts like a bitcoin-mining exercise machine and a drone that sprayed paint and flames, was starting to seem a little rough around the edges. So, they started work on Orchard, a giant inflatable and interactive tree built in collaboration with the design firm Gensler. Basically it’s a 30-foot balloon, loaded with sensors, LEDs and speakers. When you poke, push, hug or tackle the tree it responds in different ways. It subtly changes the music, emits tones, displays ripples of color or even just locks into a single shade until you release your grip. The two companies are hoping to work with other partners and sponsors to build an entire orchard (hence the name) of these inflatable trees that will interact with not just the people touching them, but with each other and maybe even social media. For a full explanation from one of the designers, John Houser, check out the video above.
Filed under: Misc
TOCCs Feather Buds: Noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones for under $25
I can’t think of anything more trivially infuriating than my ear buds being ripped from my ears after getting snagged on a doorknob or crowded subway passenger’s arm. The Feather Buds from TOCCs are a perfect fit for folks looking to cut the cord from their wired earbuds without dropping beaucoup bucks for the Bluetooth upgrade.
These headphones are lightweight and tangle-free so you won’t be encumbered by heavy tech on your head nor will you have to worry about unwinding a tangled heap of cord. The Bluetooth transmission is rated for 30ft and we’ve heard feedback of roughly 5 hours active-use, 50 hour standby, battery life. Three sizes of comfort-gel earbuds are included to ensure a perfect fit. There’s also a built-in mic and remote to make calls and control your phone’s audio playback.
AndroidGuys readers can snag these awesome earbuds today for just $24.99 (free shipping) over at our deals page. I’ve had a good experience with the Plantronics BackBeat GO 2 but am certainly going to snag these TOCCs. At this price, grabbing a few pairs for gifts might not be a bad idea.
Check this deal out, and many others at deals.androidguys.com!
The post TOCCs Feather Buds: Noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones for under $25 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
HTC One M9+ arriving in late March-early April says @upleaks
Remember the HTC Hima Ultra rumors that popped up in the run-up to the official launch of the One M9? Well, @upleaks has just revived the rumor, stating that the handset will be heading to market under the HTC One M9+ name tag.
As well as the new name, the leak also says that the M9+ will be made available in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The handset will allegedly make an appearance towards the end of Q1 or possibly in early Q2 this year.
Confirmed：Hima_Ultra will be going to the market as HTC One M9+(not Plus), and I was wrong it will be available in EMEA too…
— @upleaks (@upleaks) March 18, 2015
Although hardware specifications are being kept under wraps, @upleaks suggests that the One M9+ won’t be using the same Snapdragon 810 processing package as the standard One M9. Instead, the handset is said to come equipped with a MediaTek SoC, possibly the company’s flagship MT6795. The MT6795 is a 64-bit octa-core processor, featuring a similar 4x Cortex-A57 + 4xA53 CPU design as the Snapdragon 810, but packing a PowerVR G6200 GPU.
Rumors have previously suggested that the Hima Ultra, or One M9+, will also feature a larger 5.5-inch display, possibly with a QHD (2560×1440) pixel resolution, which would make sense based on the name.
Do you like the sound of the HTC One M9+?
Motion Tennis Cast uses Chromecast and your phone for Wii-esque motion gaming
The Nintendo Wii proved that interactive living room gaming could be popular with people of all ages, at least for a while. Rolocule wants to bring the same idea to Android, by using your phone at a remote motion controller and casting the gameplay wirelessly to your living room TV. With motion sensors already an integral part of all our smartphones, combining the idea with the hugely popular Chromecast seems like a natural step forward.
The system works by running a game on your Android device and beaming the display to your Chromecast or Miracast Smart TV. All of the motion sensing is done with your phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope hardware, and this setup also enables dual-screen gaming options. Here statistics, menus, or commands can be presented on your phone for easy use, while the gameplay continues to be displayed on your TV. The video below shows off Rolocule’s Motion Tennis Cast game in action, where you control the swing of a tennis racket through motion gestures.
As well as Motion Tennis Cast, Rolocule also has Motion Badminton and Squash available for Apple TV, which may make an appearance on Android in the future.
These days, larger smartphones aren’t really ideal for waving around in your living room, and there’s double the risk of a technological disaster if it should fly out of your hand. Fortunately, Rolocule also has a working prototype using an Android Wear smartwatch, see the GIF below, which looks even more practical.
With more manufacturers moving into the Android gaming space, content casting becoming increasingly popular and the smartwatch market expected to continue to grow, there’s certainly a lot of promise and plenty of interesting content ideas that could come out of Rolocule’s design. Hopefully Google will continue to extend support for cast-ready software to enable more ideas like this.
If you fancy testing the game out for yourself, Motion Tennis Cast is available to download for free from the Google Play Store, with in app purchases.
How smartphones are changing the way we shop
When’s the last time you made a big purchase without using your smartphone? You may not have actually completed the sale with your phone, but you probably used it to research what you were buying. Our smartphones are playing a bigger role in our shopping than ever before.
By last summer, according to IMRG Capgemini research, 52% of all traffic to retail websites in the UK was coming from smartphones or tablets. Increased confidence and improved app and mobile website design is contributing to growth in completed sales on mobile as well, a recent study from The Integer Group found that 35% of shoppers make purchases on their mobile devices now, up from 25% in 2012.
Retailers have plans to take things much further. Smartphones could become our primary shopping devices in the not too distant future.
Smartphones as a shopping platform
The list of things we use smartphones for when shopping right now is long – we use them to find stores, compare prices, find detailed info on products, research user reviews, create shopping lists, find and use coupons and vouchers, and check related social media. All that comes before we actually purchase, which is sometimes done on the phone, or, as mobile payments take off, completed using the phone. Even once the purchase is complete we use our phones to take photos of the product, post to social media, and write reviews.
Many of the functions we’re talking about here are really related to Internet access and there’s evidence to suggest that we often still prefer to actually make online purchases on a desktop or laptop. This is largely down to screen size and user interface design making purchases more difficult on mobile. IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark Hub found mobile in the US last Christmas accounted for 45% of all traffic, and 22.6% of sales were made on mobile devices. But screen size does matter because smartphones accounted for 31.2% of traffic, but only 9.1% of sales, while tablets accounted for 13.4% of traffic and 13.4% of online sales.
Making it easy and secure
Clearly there’s still work to be done when it comes to mobile website and app design. Trying to enter credit card details on a small screen can be a real pain. Apps and websites that save your details and allow you to make purchases with one or two taps are highlighting the way forward. But many people are still wary of sharing sensitive data on their mobiles. This is a generational thing. Older generations are less likely to trust the process, but younger people don’t tend to have as many qualms about purchasing on mobile devices.
The fact that mobile payments are actually already more secure than credit cards is lost on many people.
The fact that mobile payments are actually already more secure than credit cards is lost on many people. As more weight is thrown behind mobile payments we’re seeing further security improvements and the introduction of biometric checks that could set minds at ease.
People had similar worries about online transactions at first, but confidence will grow as systems are proven trustworthy. We only have to look at how quickly mobile traffic and purchases are growing to see where this trend is going. What does it mean for traditional stores?
The threat to traditional bricks and mortar
Internet shopping has obviously bitten a huge chunk out of traditional retail. Why would anyone pay a premium for something just so they can buy it in a physical store?
If they can’t match the cheapest prices online then they’re going to lose customers, but how can they match those prices when they have to rent a huge retail space, furnish it, and employ sales staff?
The problem for retailers is exacerbated by mobiles because you can go into a store to get a hands-on look at a product, but the chances are good that your smartphone can provide you with better in-depth information about what you’re looking at than the sales person. It can also find you the lowest price and guide you to a rival store, or allow you to order directly online and have it delivered to your home. Traditional department stores can end up acting like show rooms for big online retailers.
If they can’t match the cheapest prices online then they’re going to lose customers, but how can they match those prices when they have to rent a huge retail space, furnish it, and employ sales staff? They have to offer some kind of additional value. For some stores it’s about quality or exclusivity, sometimes it may be expertise, but too many offer no incentive to tempt you to make a more expensive purchase with them.
Personalized advertising and tracking
Are we headed for a Minority Report future where billboards speak to us by name and stores can make personalized recommendations when we walk in the door? This is the reality of online shopping already. The ads you see as you browse around are closely based on your search and purchase history. Retailers spend millions on algorithms designed to assess your previous purchases and offer up relevant new suggestions that will prove irresistible.
The idea of a billboard calling to you, or a tailored set of products being offered up to you when you walk into a store is perfectly possible right now from a technology point of view. It’s the privacy issue that’s preventing it from becoming a reality. Tesco petrol stations in the UK already use face-scanning to identify customer age and gender and better target ads.
There’s lots of interest in retail apps that will allow the store to recognize you, track you as you browse using Bluetooth beacons, and send you personalized deals or enticements to buy. The advantage of this for retailers is obvious. The big question is why would you allow them to track you? If they don’t offer some incentive then it’s going to be a hard sell, but would you consent to use an app like that for a 10% discount?
What about augmented reality?
Some of the most exciting possibilities for retail and mobile are to be found in the realm of augmented reality. What if you could hold your phone up (or use AR glasses even) to the retail shelf in a store and have your camera recognize the product and give you detailed information on it, a list of the cheapest prices with links to buy, and a bunch of user reviews? Something like Amazon’s Firefly, but not tied to Amazon. That would make what many of us already do much faster and more convenient.
Some of the most exciting possibilities for retail and mobile are to be found in the realm of augmented reality.
Clever retailers are also starting to use AR in their apps. The Ikea app is one of the best examples, giving you an approximation of what a piece of furniture will look like in your room using your smartphone or tablet screen. Do you need to visit the store at all?
In China, Yihaodian, the largest e-commerce food retailer, is planning AR supermarkets in open city spaces where you can walk round a virtual supermarket that’s superimposed by your device, fill your basket, and have the goods delivered direct to your door later. Tesco tried something similar in the London Underground a few years back, using QR codes that allowed consumers to scan pictures on the station wall to order online for home delivery. It could be a clever way to place shops in convenient places and allow you to buy without queuing at a checkout and having to carry the goods home.
A step beyond this could be provided by fast-approaching virtual reality technology. There are already demos showing off the possibility of attending an event like a concert using the VR headset in your living room. There’s no reason the same tech couldn’t be used for shopping in a 3D environment, but with no crowds to battle and a store layout that’s been designed specifically for you.
These things may be a bit rough around the edges right now, but they’ll improve. Could we be looking at a future where the smartphone replaces the store entirely?
AIVAnet 