OnePlus One Lite rumoured to be anounced alongside OnePlus Two today
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We know that OnePlus is announcing something today and we’re hedging our bets and guessing that it will be the OnePlus Two seeing as it has been one year since the launch of the OnePlus One. However, a rumour coming out today is suggesting, just hours before said announcement is meant to come, that not only will the OnePlus Two be announced, but a second, cheaper version of the OnePlus Two will be announced, tentatively called the OnePlus One Lite. It won’t quite be a rehash of the OnePlus One with updated hardware as you’d expect from a newly announced device.
On a bit of a disappointing note (depending on who you ask), the rumour also suggests that OnePlus will be requiring an invite to purchase the OnePlus Two, though is actively looking for another way for people to get a hold of their devices without compromising their inventory situation. We’re interested to see what OnePlus has to bring to the table with at least the OnePlus Two, if not also the OnePlus One Lite.
What do you think about the rumoured OnePlus One Lite? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: DroidPile via Phone Arena
The post OnePlus One Lite rumoured to be anounced alongside OnePlus Two today appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
BMW’s 7 Series lets you park by remote control
Looking at a BMW 7 Series model, Mr. Moneypants? BMW’s 2016 flagship will awe Alistair at the yacht club with some Bond-worthy gadgets. We’ve seen the most interesting feature demo’d by Volvo, Audi and BMW before, but it has yet to arrive on a production car: remote control parking. Using the touchscreen-equipped BMW Display Key, you’ll be able to automatically squeeze into (and out of) a parking space without even being aboard. Self-parking is already available on BMW’s i3 electric vehicle and others, but the 7 Series is the first to let you park from outside the car.
Another much talked about, but so far un-buyable feature is gesture control. BMW’s 7 series will let you wave your hands around to accept or reject phone calls and control media volume, to name a couple of features. Along with a touchscreen, the system will take single finger, two finger and full hand movements, and BMW says you’ll be able to create custom gestures for various functions. To top it off, the new vehicles will get driving assistant systems including steering and directional control assistance, lane departure warnings and cross traffic warnings.
The vehicle’s body will use copious carbon fiber for 130 kg (280 pounds) less curb weight, and sport highly tunable drive dynamics thanks to an air suspension. There’s no word on pricing for all that yet, and tsk, tsk for even asking — but the 2015 models start at $68,500 and run all the way up to $130,000.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Autoblog
Source: BMW
Sony Xperia Z4 officially unveiled – Snapdragon 810, 3GB RAM, 5.2-inch display
If you have been holding your breath in anticipation of Sony’s latest flagship, the Xperia Z4, to officially announce, it is time to breath. Sony has taken the wraps off of the device on their Japanese website, revealing few unexpected specs in what appears to be a solid iterative update to the Xperia line.
Before we dive into the juicy details, let me just say that Sony goes on at length comparing the Xperia Z4 to its predecessor, the Xperia Z3. Similarities abound, but we think the Xperia Z4 is a worthy update, at least on paper. Being thinner and lighter with a metal frame is certainly a plus.
First up, the Sony Xperia Z4 is equipped with a 5.2-inch full HD LCD panel. As mentioned, it is thinner than the Xperia Z3, measuring 6.9mm in depth. Keeping things moving along is the Snapdragon 810 SoC, a 64-bit octo-core chipset backed by 3GB of RAM. Internal storage offers just a 32GB model, so far, with the ability to add up to 128GB via microSD.
The back side of the device offers a familiar 20.7MP Exmor RS shooter, capable of up to ISO 12800 with “camera shake correction” out of their BOINZ image processor. Video capture is up to 4K, or 1080p at 60fps. The front shooter is a modest 5.1MP with full HD video capture.
Despite the exposed micro USB port, the Sony Xperia Z4 is IP6X dust and IPX5/IPX8 water certified and comes in your choice of colors, from White, Black, Copper or Aqua Green.
Under the hood is Android 5.0 Lollipop and support for Sony’s LDAC Bluetooth protocol for high-quality audio. Finally, to keep all these bells and whistles running, Sony has opted for a 2,930mAh battery, stating up to 17 hours of talk time over a 3G connection. This battery sounds small compared to some of the other flagships out there, but after the Xperia Z3, I’ll give Sony the benefit of the doubt.
So far, we are seeing no reference to price or availability dates. My Japanese is rusty, but it looks like Sony may be announcing further details in a couple days, on April 22nd. Either that, or accessories will be available in their stores. I’ll update this when our resident writer in Japan comes online for his work day. For now, our other ‘resident Japanese expert’ says “Konnichiwa.” (Update: the Xperia Z4 will be on display at Sony’s showroom in Ginza, Tokyo, starting April 22nd. Just as the Z2 was on display ahead of launch as well. Thanks for the translation Matthew Benson!)
Worst case, Sony has a dock and a protective case with front window set to launch later this summer, so the Xperia Z4 can’t be far off itself.
What are your first impressions for the officially announced Sony Xperia Z4?
Microsoft’s Cortana ported to Android, with some big limitations
Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana, has reportedly been ported over to Android by an Italian developer group. The group, who go by the name of OrangeSec, have reportedly tapped into Cortana’s servers to bring the service to Android, albeit with some large limitations.
Firstly, their creation – which is called Portaña – is only available in Italian and secondly, it doesn’t boast the offline capabilities of the real Cortana. The latter especially is down to the method of “porting” the app; instead of recreating the Cortana experience in Portaña, the hacker group is communicating with Microsoft’s servers and there is little direct integration within the Android OS.
Related on Microsoft:
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Rather than port the entire app, OrangeSec merely used Cortana’s backend servers to create a basic Android assistant that is lacking the polish and shine of Cortana:
When reached out for a comment by VentureBeat, a Microsoft spokesperson said:
“Cortana was first available for our Windows Phone customers in Spring of 2014, and we announced on January 21 that Cortana will come to PC and tablets later this year with the release of Windows 10,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “We believe the best way to enjoy the full Cortana experience is as designed by Microsoft and available through Windows Phone and the Windows 10 technical preview.”
Microsoft has long been rumoured to be working on bringing Cortana to both Android and iOS but the company is yet to comment on the rumours. Although there has been no official confirmation, the fact that Microsoft is bringing its other apps, such as Office, to Android and iOS suggests that it’s a matter of when – and not if – we’ll see Cortana on Android.
Google Play Store vs the Apple App Store: by the numbers (2015)
When it comes to mobile ecosystems, there are two giants locked in a battle, not only for revenue, but also for the hearts and minds of developers and consumers alike. They are of course Google and Apple. Google’s mobile operating system is Android along with the Google Play Store, while Apple’s offering is iOS along with the Apple App Store (iTunes).
Both Google Play and iTunes offer apps, music, books, films, and TV series. But which is better? Here is a look at the two stores to see how they compare.
So with both stores offering at least 1 million apps and both notching-up downloads measured in the billions, what other deciding factors are there that distinguish one store from the other.
The common statistics which are used to compare the two stores are number of available apps, and total numbers of downloads. Apple has often used these statistics during its keynote speeches. Apple opened its App Store in 2008 at the time of the iPhone 3G launch. It started out with just 500 apps but within 3 months it had seen 100 million downloads and the number of apps jumped to 3000. By 2009 Apple hit the 2 billion download mark, by 2010 3 billion, and by 2011 10 billion with a total of 350,000 apps. By March 2012, the total number of downloads hit 25 billion across 550,000 apps (of which 170,000 were native iPad apps). A year later Apple hit the 50 billion download mark, and 85 billion towards the end of 2014. As for apps, it passed the 1 million app mark at the end of 2013, and Apple currently has around 1.4 million iOS apps available for download. However that number has been contested and some analysts say that the figure is closer to 1.2 million.
Google launched the Android Market in 2008 with only a handful of apps. But it quickly grew. By 2009 it contained some 2300 apps and by the summer of 2010 there were 80000 apps available, and the total number of downloads had surpassed the coveted 1 billion mark. However it was still a long way behind Apple’s App Store. During 2011 Google hit three major targets, 3 billion total downloads, then 6 billion total downloads and then 10 billion total downloads. This trend continued into 2012 where the number of apps surpassed 500,000 for the first time and the total number of downloads reached 25 billion.
The Android Market was re-branded as Google Play on March 6, 2012, as it was merged with Google Music, and Google eBookstore. Google’s store managed to surpass Apple’s, in terms of the number of apps available, towards the end of 2014. As for 2015, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Google Play had 70% more app downloads than Apple’s App Store in the first quarter of 2015, but Apple’s app revenue was about 70% higher than on Google Play. The WSJ report is based on numbers from the App Annie Index: Market Q1 2015. The WSJ goes on to say that, “Google Play had 70% more app downloads than Apple, bolstered by demand in emerging markets such as Mexico, Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia. By comparison, Google’s lead in the third quarter last year was 60%.”
So with both stores offering at least 1 million apps and both notching-up downloads measured in the billions, what other deciding factors are there that distinguish one store from the other.
Developers
Apple’s App Store continues to generate more revenue than Google’s Play Store for developers. The reasons behind this are interesting. The biggest is probably that Apple owners come from higher income families. The handsets are expensive and these more affluent owners are prepared to spend more money on apps than the “average” Android user.
Another thing for potential developers to consider is that if you want to write an iOS app then you need a Mac, whereas Android apps can be written on Windows, OS X and Linux.
Of course, the Android ecosystem has its fair share of expensive phones, just look at the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. But there are also lots of Android owners whose handsets only cost between $100 and $300. Also in many parts of the world where Android is popular the average user may not have a credit/debut card and carrier billing isn’t always available.
This lack of direct sales revenue has resulted in more ad-supported apps on Android. In fact, the perception that Android doesn’t generate as much money in sales or in-app purchases may mean that many developers just go straight for ad-support apps on Android without even trying to monetize their apps in other ways. As a result it skews the statistics and perpetuates the idea that Android apps only make money via adverts.
This seems to be backed-up by statistics from AppBrain. According to its free vs paid Android apps page, only 196,000 of the total 1.4 billion apps are pay-for apps, the rest, some 1.2 billion are all free. Some of those free apps offer in-app purchases, but not many. Again according to AppBrain, the current number of Android apps with in-app billing is just under 110,000.
Another thing for potential developers to consider is that if you want to write an iOS app then you need a Mac, whereas Android apps can be written on Windows, OS X and Linux.
Web Interface
One very annoying aspect about the Apple App Store is that you need to use iTunes. In a web-centric, cloud-centric world it is quite jarring that I need to download and install a proprietary client on my PC to access iTunes. If you search for an iOS app on the web you will get a web page showing the app, but the only way forward from there is to view the app details in iTunes. If you are looking for apps on a iOS device then things are a bit better as you can search, download and install without needing to use the iTunes client on Windows or OS X.
Google Play is different, while it does have a native app on Android, when you use it on Windows or OS X it relies on a pure web interface. From here you can push install requests to your devices and as well as purchase apps. This makes the Play Store much more flexible than iTunes.
Media
Whatever ecosystem you are using there is one thing for sure, you are investing money in apps, movies, music and books, and in doing so you become tied to that ecosystem. Neither Apple or Google let you buy movies or eBooks that are DRM free. Howeer, you can get DRM free music.
If you buy movies on iTunes you can only watch them on an Apple device or on a PC using iTunes. If you want to switch from iOS to Android then you can’t take your movies with you. The same isn’t true of Google. Google offers its Google Play Movies & TV app on iOS as well as its eBook reader app. You can also watch purchased movies on any device that has a supported web browser including on Chrome OS. That means that if you do buy media from Google Play at least you have the option to use that media on just about any device you want.
What do you think, which is the better store?
Dark matter is (probably) more complex than you think
Scientists typically believe that dark matter, for all of its mystery, behaves in a simple way: if one clump encounters another, the two interact solely through gravity. However, researchers using both Hubble and the Very Large Telescope have published findings which suggest that there’s more involved. They’ve noticed dark matter (the blue lines in this picture) lagging behind a galaxy due to friction, hinting that there are factors beyond gravity at work. It’s not certain whether the source of this friction is a familiar phenomenon or something entirely undiscovered, but it’s definitely not the usual culprit.
It’ll be a long while before there’s a clearer answer here. The findings only touch on one galaxy, and there’s currently an 0.1 percent chance that this is simply a measurement error. Researchers want higher accuracy before they confidently declare this to be accurate. If the data is on the mark, though, humanity will have a better sense of what dark matter really is, and how it affects the cosmos.
[Image credit: ESO/R. Massey]
Filed under: Science
Via: Forbes
Source: ESO
Here’s the next rocket that will carry US satellites into space
You may not be familiar with United Launch Alliance, but it’s about to handle a large chunk of US space launches — and that makes the rocket you see above particularly important. That’s Vulcan, ULA’s newly unveiled launch system for satellites and similar payloads. The two-stage vehicle is designed to the “most cost-efficient” rocket of its kind, helped in no small part by new recovery tech (Sensible Modular Autonomous Return Technology, or SMART) that captures the booster main engines in mid-air. Vulcan also eliminates an earlier dependence on Russian powerplants by relying on low-cost, reusable liquid natural gas engines rom Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. You probably won’t be happy with this machine if you’re rooting for SpaceX, but it’ll be a big deal if its affordable design gets more equipment into orbit and beyond.
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Source: United Launch Alliance
Sony’s new flagship smartphone has an image-stabilizing selfie camera
Sony’s unveiled its new smartphone in Japan, the Xperia Z4, and like you might tell from the press images, it’s mighty familiar one from a company still looking for its next big hit. Yep there’s a lot of similarities compared to the Z3 (a phone that we were pretty happy with), including a 5.2-inch screen, metal frame, support for Hi-Res audio and the same wide-angle 25mm lens on the main camera. Upgrades since last year’s model include a frame that’s both thinner (down to under 7 mm) and lighter, while camera upgrades are focused on the front, which now gets the same wide-angle lens of the primary shooter as well as digital image stabilization to keep your selfie game completely on point. Sony’s also added timer functions for improved posing and group selfies – with or without a stick. The phone launches this summer in Japan, in four shades of metal finish, but no word on where (or if) it’ll start its world tour after that. However, we’d put money on a very similar smartphone appearing at some point.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Via: Engadget Japanese
Source: Sony Mobile Japan
Messenger spacecraft to crash into Mercury after studying it for years
The spacecraft that captured the first photos of ice on Mercury is bidding us all farewell on April 30th. NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) spacecraft is almost out of propellant after spending over six-and-a-half years traveling to the planet and four orbiting and studying it. The agency sent Messenger to space aboard a Delta II rocket in 2004 in its quest to know more about the first rock from the sun. It ended up providing evidence that there’s ice and organic matter hiding in the planet’s craters, as well as data showing that all the ice in Mercury’s polar regions would be around two miles thick if spread all over Washington.
Its scientific findings aren’t Messenger’s only contribution to space exploration as a whole, though. Due to Mercury’s position near the sun, NASA had to develop special materials to protect the spacecraft from both heat and radiation. One of those is a ceramic cloth that regularly endured temperatures exceeding 570 degrees Fahrenheit to shield the scientific instruments on board. Scientists plan to take cues from those heat-and-radiation-resistant technologies to design equipment for future missions.
Messenger’s ground team has been trying to delay the inevitable by performing orbit correction maneuvers. However, after the last maneuver is done on April 24th, it will be completely out of propellant, leaving it to crash into the planet at 8,750 miles per hour. Unfortunately, we can’t witness its final moments, since it’s slated to land on the planet’s side facing away from Earth. So let’s just silently say goodbye and thank it for all the data.
[Image credit: NASA/JHU APL/Carnegie Institution of Washington]
Filed under: Science
Source: NASA
How would you change Sony’s PlayStation Vita TV?
It’s a PlayStation Vita that you can connect to your TV, but that doesn’t mean you should automatically go out and buy one. When we reviewed the hardware last year, we found that the low price and ability to play retro games were great, but the media streaming let the side down. That said, it was a much better crafted piece of hardware than some Android-powered consoles our reviewer could have mentioned. So, what we want to know is do you like your Vita TV and if so, why? Hop over into our forum and share the love, the hatred and everything in between.
Source: Engadget Product Forums
AIVAnet 