Apple Watch Pre-Order Delivery Estimates Continue to Improve for Many Customers
Many customers who pre-ordered the Apple Watch over the past two weeks and received an extended shipping estimate of 4-6 weeks or later should receive the wrist-worn device earlier than expected. Apple continues to update several pre-orders with improved delivery estimates, with some Apple Watch orders initially slated for June delivery now shipping as early as this week.
A growing number of users within the MacRumors discussion forums with Apple Watch pre-orders facing June delivery are beginning to receive more specific shipping dates between mid May and early June. Some customers, for example, have delivery estimates of May 14-May 20 or May 28-June 10, and the white 38mm Apple Watch Sport in particular is set to deliver on April 28 for multiple customers.
The timing of deliveries is highly dependant on the model that customers selected, as the Stainless Steel Apple Watch with Link Bracelet and Space Gray models continue to face long lead times, and Space Black models are virtually nonexistent. Apple is still processing many of the orders for those aforementioned models, with delivery estimates remaining at 4-6 weeks or later for many customers.
Apple Watch pre-order deliveries began on April 24 as scheduled, but limited data from Slice Intelligence estimates that only about one-fifth of customers who pre-ordered received their Apple Watches on launch day in the United States. The report, based on e-receipt data from only 10,744 U.S. Apple Watch buyers, extrapolates that only 376,000 of 1.7 million pre-orders were delivered over the weekend, with another 547,000 watches estimated for delivery between April 27 and June 11.
Apple confirmed last week that many Apple Watch pre-orders will arrive sooner than expected, shortly after an executive relations spokesperson said that elongated shipping estimates were set purposefully to avoid disappointment in the event orders were not fulfilled on time. Nevertheless, the company said that some customers still face long lead times, particularly those who did not place an order until several hours after pre-orders became available.
Apple Watch Faces Offer a Multitude of Options While Users Get Creative With Home Screens [iOS Blog]
It’s been a full weekend for the first batch of Apple Watch pre-order customers to experience Apple’s wrist-worn device for themselves. While some issues like the impact of the Watch on an iPhone’s battery life remain in contention, many early adopters agree the wearable’s ten available watch faces offer a deep amount of customization for Apple’s most personal device yet.
All of the different watch face options can be a bit confusing, so we’ve put together a video showcasing not only the detailed differences between each face but the complications most of the faces include to allow users to display various bits of information.
Apple Watch faces range from heavily customizable (chronograph) to essentially no customization whatsoever (astronomy and solar), and over the weekend many new Apple Watch owners took to the MacRumors forums to share photos of their watches, including everything from the initial packaging to pictures of the wearable on their wrists with their preferred watch faces and home screen layouts.
While the initial set of watch faces and the various options allow for significant amounts of customizability, Apple hints in its Apple Watch User Guide that it may add more options in the future.
Apple Watch includes a variety of watch faces, any of which you can customize to suit you. Check frequently for software updates; the set of watch faces that follows might differ from what you see on your Apple Watch.
Beyond watch faces, the home screen is another area where users can show some creativity with manipulation of the constellation of apps from within the Apple Watch iPhone companion app. Some users have created completely new shapes of their own design, while others have recreated famous logos, from Apple’s to what appears to be The Legend of Zelda triforce.
It begins: Oppo starts teasing the Oppo R7
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We’ve already seen quite a lot of the Oppo R7 already thanks to various leaked photos, but Oppo has today decided that today is the day to start teasing the device itself. Oppo posted a photo on its Facebook page today and the tagline that came with it can only be described as awkwardly written. The tagline goes “If you count on what you want, and do what you need, you’ll receive both and lose nothing. The R7 is coming.” I’m assuming that Oppo is trying to imply that the R7 will be everything that you want and need from a smartphone, but we’ll have to wait for future teasers before we really know what Oppo means.
One of the leaked photos
Of course, from the previous leaked photos we’ve seen, the real star of the Oppo R7 show is going to be its bezel-less sides where the sides of the display finish where the side of the device starts. It’s a breathtaking design, and we’re hearing that Oppo has plans to make use of that edge, not unlike the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, though perhaps not so obviously.
What do you think about the Oppo R7? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Facebook
The post It begins: Oppo starts teasing the Oppo R7 appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Samsung Galaxy Alpha getting Android Lollipop 5.0.2 update
In case you happen to own Samsung’s metal rimmed Galaxy Alpha, there is a good news for you! Your smartphone is set to receive the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update. Samsung has begun rolling out software update to the Galaxy Alpha handsets in South Korea. Three major carriers in South Korea including SK Telecom have started pushing the software updates over the air (OTA).
Currently the update is only available to the Galaxy Alpha users in South Korea, but it should soon reach consumers in other countries. If you live in South Korea, you can update your device by going to Settings> About phone> System updates. Alternatively, you can update your device by accessing Samsung Kies.
Upon updating, you will see a revamped User Interface with apparent Material Design changes. The software built that the Galaxy Alpha is getting is the same as the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy S5, which should be a good news as you are likely to get faster performance, better control over notifications, and possibly increased battery life as well.
Via: SamMobile
The post Samsung Galaxy Alpha getting Android Lollipop 5.0.2 update appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Tesla’s home batteries may be leased, rather than sold
Tesla’s not-so-secret plan to fill the world’s homes with giant batteries could involve leasing them, according to a report from The Guardian. The batteries have apparently already been leased to customers of SolarCity, a renewable energy firm chaired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, as part of a small pilot program. Customers were asked to finance a $1,500 downpayment followed by $15 monthly payments for 10 years. The puts the overall cost of a 10-year lease at $3,300, or $27.50 per month. According to the report, the cost is further reduced by subsidies from energy companies, who support the idea as it reduces the load on their networks during peak hours.
Why would you want a huge battery in your home? There are a few benefits. The batteries leased to SolarCity customers are able to store energy (up to 15kWh in the trial) from renewable sources locally, rather than feeding it back into the grid when you’re not using it. Even if you haven’t fitted your roof with solar panels, the batteries can still pull in power from the grid when it costs the least, and then power a home during peak hours, reducing your energy bills considerably. For context, an average american house uses just under 30kWh of energy per day, meaning you could expect to get through the peak hours without much difficulty. The battery packs can also act as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), keeping your electronics on during power outages.
Tesla has invested heavily in batteries, partnering with Panasonic on a “Gigafactory” in Nevada that is expected to produce 50 million kWh of batteries per year by 2020. They’re obviously of huge importance to its electric car business, but selling giant units for home use could be a lucrative source of income for the company. It’s worth noting that today’s news comes from a single source, an analyst who says he’s spoken to multiple members of the SolarCity trial. There’s no word on whether Tesla will stick with its trial payment system, or go for something entirely new (the company declined to comment on The Guardian‘s report), but full details on the plan are expected later this week.
Via: The Verge
Source: The Guardian
Huawei P8 Review
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The Bottom Line
- Thin design
- Beautiful metal build
- Sharp and vivid display
- Fast and responsive performance
- Great camera
- microSD expansion
- Average battery life
- Buggy software
With its elegant design, fantastic camera, and smooth performance, Huawei checks all the right boxes with the P8, a device that can go toe to toe with the current crop of flagship smartphones.
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Huawei has been on a solid run lately, with various fantastic smartphone offerings that cover the price spectrum. With their latest flagship, Huawei decided to drop the Ascend moniker, while retaining what defines the company’s P-series of smartphones: style, beauty, and great performance. Does Huawei succeed in taking things to the next level? We find out, in this in-depth review of the Huawei P8!
Design
Huawei has been known to deliver in the design department with some very well crafted devices, and the P8 is certainly no exception. In fact, it is one of the most well-designed handsets from the company yet, and is quite the looker with its unibody steel construction. Like any other smartphone that features the use of metal, the P8 feels extremely solid.
The design is very angular and flat with chamfered edges, but the corners and sides have been slightly rounded to allow for a more comfortable feel in the hand. The metal body has been treated with what Huawei calls “diamond shaped blasting,” that enhances the texture of the metal, and provides the phone with some extra grip in the process. Keeping with one of the trends of the P-series, this device is extremely thin with a thickness of just 6.4 mm, resulting in an appearance that is sleek and stylish. The slim profile and fairly thin bezels on the sides of the display also allow for some ease with one-handed use, even though the bezels aren’t as thin as the press renders may suggest.
Taking a look around the device, the left side is completely bare, with the power button, volume rocker, microSD card slot, and SIM card slot all placed on the right. The power button and volume keys are easy to press and very tactile, but the latter did exhibit a slight amount of wiggle, though it isn’t particularly noticeable in everyday use. Up top is the headphone jack, and at the bottom is the microUSB port, flanked by what looks like a dual speaker setup. Unfortunately, the two speaker grills are just a design element present just for parity’s sake, with only the left grill actually housing a speaker, and the right housing a microphone. A multi-colored notification LED is located up front, next to the front-facing camera, earpiece, and usual array of sensors.
Display
The Huawei P8 features a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display with a 1080p resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 424 ppi. The display size is great for those looking for a “normal-sized” phone, at least in the Android world, and a 1080p resolution is more than enough, especially given how much more battery friendly the panel will be.
The screen is bright, vivid, and saturated with some great contrast, along with good viewing angles and outdoor visibility. You do have the option to change the color temperature of the display in the Settings menu to a little warmer or colder to better suit your tastes, but the default out of the box settings were good enough, as is, in my opinion. Overall, the P8 comes with a gorgeous display that will provide a great experience regardless of what you’re doing on the screen, and the thin bezels allows for it to really stand out.
Performance and Hardware
Like previous Huawei smartphones, the P8 utilizes the company’s in-house chipset, with the standard version of the device featuring the 2 GHz octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 930 processor, with the premium version packing the Kirin 935, both backed by the Mali-T628 MP4 GPU and 3 GB of RAM. This particular review unit is of the Kirin 930 variety, but functionally, these processors are mostly identical, save for the 200 MHz bump in speed that you get with the Kirin 935.
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Huawei’s chipsets have impressed in the past, and the fantastic performance you might expect continues this time around as well. The P8 is very fast and responsive in day to day usage with smooth UI animations, apps opening and closing quickly, along with multi-tasking being a breeze. Gaming is handled very well too, with the device not showing any signs of slowdown whatsoever. This kind of performance isn’t surprising, and the P8 can certainly hold its own against the other powerhouses released this year.
The usual set of sensors and connectivity options are available, including support for 4G LTE across a wide variety of bands, which allowed for access to high-speed internet on the T-Mobile network. The device also supports LTE Cat 6 connectivity for even faster data speeds, if you live in an area where you can take advantage of it. 16 GB of on-board storage is available with the base model of the P8, with 64 GB at your disposal with the premium iteration. Both versions also come with expandable storage up to 128 GB via microSD card.
The bottom mounted single speaker surprisingly makes for a great audio experience. The speaker gets very loud, and more importantly, maintains a crisp and clean sound without any signs of distortion at high volumes. It may not match up to the standard of those devices featuring front-facing speakers, but is certainly far better than any device out there with a rear speaker setup. Its placement does make it quite easy to muffle the sound with the palm of your hand though, while playing a game or watching a video with the device in the landscape orientation.
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What we’ve seen with a lot of devices is the compromise in battery capacity in favor of a slim design, and that trend continues with the P8, with its 2,680 mAh battery. Battery life proves to be just about average, with basic use that includes texting and browsing social media resulting in 14 to 16 hours of use, with up to 4 hours of screen-on time. Light users can definitely comfortably get a full day of use out of this device, but you can expect the numbers to drop fairly quickly if a lot of gaming and watching videos is done. On the bright side, the P8 does come with fast charging capabilities, a feature that is becoming more and more prevalent in smartphones to compensate for average battery life that we’re otherwise seeing.
Camera
The Huawei P8 features a 13 MP rear camera with OIS, and managed to pack it in a chassis that is 6.4 mm thick without creating a bulge, something that you can’t say about some of the more recent flagships out there. Huawei also claims that this the world’s first four color RGBW sensor, which is supposed to provide for better brightness in high contrast scenes and increase low light performance. The shutter speed is reasonably quick, and you can also launch directly into the camera and take a photo in roughly a second, by simply double tapping the volume down key when the phone is asleep.
The camera application is no different from some of Huawei’s previous handsets, with there being a large circle shutter button, and the various shooting modes can be quickly toggled by swiping on the display in either direction. Apart from the more standard modes like HDR and Panorama are a few others like Super Night, for better night time shots, best photo, watermark, and all-focus, for adjusting the focus of an image after the fact. There is also a series of live filters available if you want to get a little fancy with your picture taking. Many of these features have been available for a while, but one new addition to the camera experience is called light painting, that lets you capture light trails created by things like moving cars, stars in the sky, or a simple LED bulb. The effect can be really cool, but does require very steady hands, or a tripod mount, to get the shot to look the way you might want it.
Image quality with this camera has been pretty impressive. Photos are sharp with plenty of detail even when zoomed in, and colors are very vibrant and saturated, with a pleasant amount of contrast to make the images pop. However, it does struggle a bit when shooting a subject against a brightly lit background like the sky or an artificial light source, which causes a lot of the detail in the foreground to be lost, but HDR usually does a great job of properly balancing out the shot.
Indoor shots are pretty good too, and still exhibit the same level of color and contrast as those taken outdoors, although it doesn’t seem to handle white balance quite as well. With optical image stabilization on board, low light photos are quite good, but saturation does get lost fairly quickly, and there is an increase in noise levels as expected, even if the post-processing seems to do a good job of cleaning most of it. The built-in Super Night mode is also capable of taking brighter photos in low light, but depending on the lighting situation, exposure times can get extremely long.
The 8 MP front-facing camera is also solid, and should make selfie lovers happy. The standard beautification mode is available, but Huawei takes things to the next level with a mode called Perfect Selfie. This mode allows you to dial in a number of beauty presets that automatically get applied each and every time you take selfie, making for a consistent look across all your self portraits, thus creating the perfect selfie.
Software
On the software side of things, the Huawei P8 is running Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, but you’d be hard pressed to realize this without going into the Settings menu, with the Emotion UI not adopting much of the material design aesthetics of Lollipop. For the most part, the latest iteration of the user interface is practically the same as previous versions, and will be familiar territory for anyone who has used it before.
The icons are colorful squares with rounded corners, and an application drawer is still not available, requiring you to depend on folders to keep things organized. Many of the staple features of the Emotion UI return here, including motion gestures to answer phone calls by simply raising the phone to your ear, shaking the phone to re-arrange the icons on the homescreens, and a one-handed mode to shrink the screen to a more manageable size. The theme engine is also available, that lets you easily change the look and feel of the UI to something that better suits your tastes. Options are somewhat limited though, but is something that will likely improve over time.
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There are a few new additions to the feature set as well. The first is called Speech Awareness, which is similar to the Moto Voice, but with its usage limited for now to locating your device or placing a call, and works quite well. The default phrase is “Okay Emy,” but can be changed to anything you like. The second is is quite an unique feature that Huawei is calling Knuckle Sense. The display is capable of sensing when you use your knuckles, allowing you to crop out specific areas of the screen to easily share or take a screenshot by double tapping. The feature does work but unfortunately, there is no way to disable it. On numerous occasions, it seemed to have trouble differentiating between my fingers and knuckle, resulting in it randomly turning on. This happened most often when wading through Youtube comments, but worse, while gaming, which was certainly frustrating to say the least.
Specifications
| Display | 5.2-inch IPS LCD 1920 x 1080 resolution, 424 ppi |
| Processor | 2 GHz octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 930/935 Mali-T628 MP4 GPU |
| RAM | 3 GB |
| Storage | 16/64 GB |
| Camera | 13 MP rear camera with dual OIS 8 MP front camera |
| Connectivity | HSPA, LTE Cat6 150/50 Mbps Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct Bluetooth 4.1, GPRS |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | 2,680 mAh |
| Software | Android 5.0 Lollipop |
| Dimensions | 144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4 mm 144 grams |
| Colors | Titanium Grey, Mystic Champagne (16 GB model) Carbon Black, Prestige Gold (64 GB model) |
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Pricing and Final Thoughts
The standard 16 GB version of the Huawei P8 is expected to cost €499, approximately $530, and will come in titanium grey and mystic champagne color options. The more premium 64 GB version will bump the price up to €599, or $650, with carbon black and prestige gold as the color options. The device will be launching in 35 countries later this month, with the UK one of the first. Although nothing has been confirmed yet, we’re expecting to see an official launch in the US in the coming months.
So there you have it – an in-depth look at the Huawei P8! For the most part, Huawei has really hit it out of the park with its latest offering, despite some very minor software bugs. The design is elegant and well crafted, the camera performance exceeds expectations, and packs the right specifications under the hood to go toe to toe with the best of the Android world, all at quite a reasonable price. Huawei may have ditched the Ascend branding this year, but the P8 is certainly a capable smartphone that can hold its own against the competition.
T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 finally gets Android 5.0.1 Lollipop update
Following behind AT&T and Sprint, T-mobile has now started rolling out an update to Android 5.0.1 Lollipop for owners of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4! We were already aware this update was coming sometime this week, but thanks to numerous tipsters this morning, we can confirm the update is now live for some users.
The latest update packs the firmware number N910TUVU1COD6 and appears to be a 1085.68MB download. In other words, you’ll probably want to be on Wi-Fi, unless you have unlimited data.
As for what’s new here? As with the case of pretty much all Samsung devices that have moved from KitKat to Lollipop, the aesthetic changes here aren’t nearly as big as you’d see with a device running a stock build of Android, as TouchWiz covers up many of the expected Material Design tweaks. That said, there are still plenty of noticeable changes including Lollipop’s Smart Lock security feature, priority notifications, an improved lockscreen, and much more.
Keep in mind that this update is likely rolling out in stages, so don’t be too surprised if it has yet to reach your device. So how about it, have you received Android Lollipop on your T-Mobile Note 4 yet? If so, what do you think?
Thanks to all that sent this tip in! And a special thanks to John and Alfonso for the screenshots used above!
Leak points to Xperia P successor with high-end specs and a 4,240 mAh battery
Remember the Xperia P? We don’t blame you if you don’t. The device launched in February 2012 along the Xperia U and it was supposed to be the “middle child” in Sony’s NXT trio of devices. The mid-ranger received a tepid welcoming and it soon faded off the radar, especially after Sony adopted a brand new design concept with the Xperia Z.
Now if a report out of China is accurate, Sony could be resurrecting the Xperia P line in the form of the P2: a device sporting a similar design, top specs, and a massive 4,240 mAh battery.
The leak consists of an alleged render of the device, along with specifications and precise dimensions.
The Xperia P2 will reportedly feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage space, a 5.2-inch Full HD display, a 12.1MP rear camera, a 5.1MP front camera, and a positively huge 4,240 mAh battery.
If these specs are true and there really is a P2 coming, the device would be a dream machine for many users. That battery alone would put the Xperia P2 in very select company.
According to the leaked schematics, the device will be between 8.9 mm and 10.9 mm thick, suggesting there will be a curved back. It’s been years since any Android flagship went over 10 mm in thickness, but with a battery like that, the compromise may be worth it.
Now let’s talk design – the leak claims the P2 will feature a design that closely resembles the 2012 Xperia P (and S, and U), with a “chin” at the bottom separated from the screen by what appears to be a metallic strip. The big difference is the almost edge-to-edge screen, resembling the Sharp Aquos Crystal, with a slightly higher bezel at the top, hosting the front camera and a speaker.
Now, there’s nothing that screams “fake” about this leak, but we’re a bit skeptical that it’s real and accurate. Why would Sony reuse a three-year old design that has failed to really impress users the fast time around? And why would Sony complicate its life by releasing another high-end smartphone besides the Xperia Z4?
You could argue that Sony is just trying to shake things up, and that it hopes that a thick device with a massive battery will stand on its own and not cannibalize the Xperia Z line.
Or, this leak is just another wild goose chase.
Tell us what you think about this Xperia P2 leak? Credible or not? Would you buy it if Sony made it?
Grab it now before it’s gone: LIMBO is on sale for $0.99
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One of the most universally loved indie video games of the last few years is on sale right now – yes, LIMBO is on sale for $0.99 on the Google Play Store right now, so you’ve basically run out of excuses not to get this game. In case you haven’t heard of LIMBO until now, the brief description on its Play Store page is as follows: “Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters LIMBO”. LIMBO is a 2D platformer, one with such a unique art style and atmosphere that has had game reviewers high and low singing its praises. In fact, it’s review score on the Play Store is a staggering 4.8 (out of 5) with over 10,000 reviews, which isn’t exactly something to sneeze at.
Sure, games are a deeply personal experience, but if you’re looking for a unique gaming experience, one which takes you on a emotional and mysterious journey, LIMBO is definitely the game for you. Normally $4.99, you should definitely jump on this deal before it goes away – we’ve got the Play Store link below, but don’t be alarmed by the price on the link, it just hasn’t been updated.
If you’ve already played through LIMBO, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know your experience in the comments below.
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Discover Announces Apple Pay Support Beginning This Fall
Discover announced on Monday that cardholders will be able to use Apple Pay for contactless payments at participating vendors in the United States beginning this fall. Discover cardholders will continue to receive current benefits, including Cashback Bonus and the new Freeze It security tool that protects those that have temporarily misplaced their cards.
Developing…
AIVAnet 