SwiftKey’s new keyboard corrects whole phrases
SwiftKey has a new Android keyboard that will autocorrect entire phrases. Named Clarity Keyboard Beta, it aims to constantly scan the last few words typed in order to offer better corrections than rival apps. Like other SwiftKey keyboards, it’ll also learn from your typing style, picking up on your most-used words and phrases.
As its name suggests, Clarity Keyboard Beta is still a work in progress. It’s the first product of a new initiative SwiftKey is calling Greenhouse, which should see a lot more experimental apps come from the company. We gave it a quick test and weren’t particularly wowed by its corrections, although that’s perhaps to be expected given the time it takes to learn your writing style.Despite SwiftKey launching on iOS last year, this beta is Android only for now. There are already some reported problems, such as compatibility issues with certain Samsung and LG devices, but SwiftKey is looking for feedback on the work in progress. It’s available as a free download from Google Play, so you haven’t got much to lose by giving it a spin.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Google
Via: Slashgear
Source: SwiftKey, (Google Play)
Yes, these tiny robots can (autonomously) move a car
A swarm of small robots developed by a team of European scientists can carefully extract and transport vehicles up to two tons in weight. These tiny machines and their larger deployment unit are collectively called Avert, short for “Autonomous Multi-Robot System for Vehicle Extraction and Transportation.” As the name implies, the system needs very little human input: it can scan the area and look for potential obstacles to plan its safest route. The deployment unit will then release the small robots, which attach themselves to the vehicle that needs extraction. As much as we’d love for Avert to rescue us from bad parking situations, though, it was specifically developed for use by law enforcement.
According to its website, Avert can help the police extract suspicious vehicles from within buildings and other tight places, or transport cars they suspect are rigged with explosives to a safer location. The team has been developing the system since 2012 and believes production can start as soon as 2016. For now, its members are busy showcasing the system in various conferences, including the upcoming International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2015) on May 26th to 30th in Seattle. You can watch Avert in action above, but folks who don’t mind parsing scientific lingo can know more by reading its paper.
Filed under: Robots
Source: Group of Robotics and Cognitive Systems, Avert Project, Angelos Amanatiadis
This is what the LG G4’s box is going to look like
style=”display:block”
data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8150504804865896″
data-ad-slot=”8461248232″
data-ad-format=”auto”>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
Can’t wait for the LG G4 to be announced? Do you need some juicy info to tide you over the next few hours? Well, you’re in luck, because we get to take a sneak peek at what the LG G4’s box is going to look like. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the box is relatively unassuming with only a sticker on the top of it to denote it as a box for LG‘s latest flagship device. If we take a look at the rear of the box, we get a look at some of the hardware that we have been expecting, like a Snapdragon processor, the 8MP front camera, 16MP rear camera and a 3,000mAh battery. Check out the leaked photos below:
As far as leaks go, it’s not all that informative, as we basically know everything there is to know about the LG G4 already, but as its announcement event bears down on us (4 and a half hours and counting), we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more tidbits before the fireworks start. Make sure you tune in to the livestream here at 15:00 GMT.
What do you think about the LG G4’s box? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: underkg.kr via Phone Arena
The post This is what the LG G4’s box is going to look like appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge come with exclusive apps and premium content via the Galaxy Gifts app
As is customary with every new flagship smartphone that Samsung releases, Galaxy S6 (reviewed here) and S6 Edge owners can look forward to getting their hands on some premium apps, services and content free-of-charge courtesy of its Galaxy Gifts app. We have the full list after the break.
The list of free apps and content range from a free Kindle book every month to an extra 100GB of storage via Microsoft’s OneDrive service as detailed below.
- Audible – Three months of Audible membership
- Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon – “Samsung Resource Pack” valued at 5,000 gold
- The Economist – Six months of digital subscription
- Endomondo – Six months of Endomondo Premium
- Evernote – Three months of Evernote Premium
- Fleksy Keyboard – Fleksy Keyboard and Modern premium themes
- Hancom Office 2014 – Office editor download for an unlimited period from Galaxy Apps
- The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth – “Samsung Resource Pack” valued at 100 Mithril
- Keepy – Six month Keepy Unlimited to save your kids art, school work, and mementos
- Kindle for Samsung – One eBook every month
- LastPass – Three months of Premium for U.S. customers and six monthsPremium for international
- Life360 – Six months premium service subscription
- Magisto – Three months of Magisto Pro HD
- NY Times Breaking News – Three months with a subscription
- OneDrive – An extra 100 GB of OneDrive storage for two years* Offer valid only on devices where OneDrive is preloaded
- PAC-MAN Friends – Samsung customers receive 30 cherries (plays)
- Parallels Access – Six month subscription
- Pocket – Six-month subscription to Pocket Premium
- Shazam Encore – Special ad-free version
- VSCO Cam – Download The Minimalist Collection, which includes 10 VSCOCam® presets
- Workout Trainer – Six months of Workout Trainer Pro+
Naturally, some of the free content is region restricted or dependant on whether an app was pre-installed in the case of the extra 100GB of OneDrive storage. All-in-all, the range of Galaxy Gifts has a market value of more than $500. If you have a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll find something useful in the package, all you have to do is open up the Galaxy Gifts app and check what offers are available to you.
Source: Samsung Tomorrow
Come comment on this article: Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge come with exclusive apps and premium content via the Galaxy Gifts app
Here’s what’s inside the Galaxy S6 digital gift bag
Samsung is known for offering digital freebies to customers who purchase its premium devices, and the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are no exception. For the metal and glass devices, Samsung is offering free subscriptions and premium services that are worth $500 in total.
The selection of digital gifts includes subscriptions for publications like the New York Times and the Economist, in-game currency packs for games like The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth, and subscriptions for the premium tier of a variety of apps, including Evernote, Endomondo, LastPass, OneDrive, Pocket, Fleksy, and Audible.
You can check the full list here, along a description of each service. All the apps and services are available for download from the Play Store or Samsung’s Galaxy Apps store, meaning you won’t have to deal with anything you may consider bloatware.
Let us know if there’s anything on the list you find particularly interesting.
HTC to launch a mid-range phone designed for India in Q3
You’ve probably noticed that India has quickly risen to focus in the smartphone industry this year. The nation’s appetite for feature rich mid-range smartphones has already drawn in the cut throat Chinese manufacturers and the fact hasn’t escaped household brands either. HTC’s president of global sales, Chia-Lin Chang, has announced that the company will be introducing a new smartphone specifically designed for the Indian market later in the third quarter of 2015.
“We have a third-quarter plan for our global launch in India to introduce a device which is specifically designed for the Indian consumer,”
Speaking with ET Telecom, Chang stated that the Indian market is critical for HTC. HTC’s new mid-range smartphone will be priced at Rs 15,000-20,000, pitting the handset against the likes of Xiaomi’s popular Mi4 and the Asus Zenfone 2, and making it more expensive than the new Mi 4i, Moto G 2nd Gen and Huawei’s Honor range. The company may also be planning a sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone for the future, but it will take longer to reach the market.
“For Rs 10,000 and below segment, we will be going slightly slower because we want to ensure better experience,”
Chang also stated that HTC is looking into manufacturing operations in the country, but won’t make a decision until four to five months’ time. Interestingly, HTC currently holds a 6 percent smartphone share in the Indian market, which grows to a 19 percent share if you look at only 4G LTE devices. This new smartphone could help HTC break into the country’s top five manufacturers.
Less than a week ago, Xiaomi went to India to unveil its Mi 4i smartphone and yesterday Sony announced that it is looking to grab some share of the Rs 8,000-10,000 budget price bracket. India has quickly become one of the most competitive regions to do business, with manufacturers all looking to carve out a share of one of the next big mobile markets.
Korea report: Samsung trials new glass display production for the Galaxy S6 Edge
Various reports in the past week or so have pointed to growing demand for Samsung’s newly released Galaxy S6 Edge. However, the handset’s curved display is an expensive and difficult component to produce, which has led to some production shortages. Yesterday, the company was said to have opened up another production facility to help pump out the displays and Korea’s ET News now reports that Samsung is trialling a new glass production method to help increase yields and reduce costs.
According to the source, Samsung’s current production technique results in low yields and high costs, due to micro wrinkles that appear when the glass is heated, which is required to bend it around the curved display. Samsung has apparently changed glass cover production over to a new method at a factory in Vietnam. The new technique only heats up one side of the glass and therefore reduces the imperfections and saves on expensive polishing costs.
Turning to an IHS report released last month, the Galaxy S6 Edge’s display is by far the most expensive component in the smartphone, costing Samsung around $85 to produce. The new process is said to cut costs in half and could increase production capacity by somewhere between 60 and 70 percent. This could save Samsung a considerable cost per unit and should help reduce the current supply shortage.
.rvs_wrapper
width: 335px;
.rvs_wrapper.align_left
float: left;
.rvs_wrapper.align_right
float: right;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center,
.rvs_wrapper.align_none
width: 100%;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center
text-align: center;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center.cbc-latest-videos ul li
float: none;
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: top;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos:not(.align_none) ul li:nth-child(2n+1)
clear: both;
.rvs_title
font-weight: 600 !important;
margin: 0 !important;
.rvs_wrapper.align_right .rvs_title
padding-left: 20px;
.rvs_title a
font-family: ‘Roboto Condensed’;
color: #3a3a3a;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul
padding-top: 10px;
.rvs_wrapper.align_left.cbc-latest-videos ul li,
.rvs_wrapper.align_none.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 15px 0 0;
.rvs_wrapper.align_right.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 0 0 15px;
float: right;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 7px;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul li > a
font-weight: 400;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul li > a .yt-thumbnail
margin-bottom: 0;
@media only screen and (max-width : 480px)
.rvs_wrapper
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
#page .rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 7px;
display: inline-block;
float: none;
vertical-align: top;
At this point, it isn’t known when Samsung will be switching over to the new production method at its other factories or if these savings will result in a lower S6 Edge price for consumers.
Air Force uses its secretive space drone to test futuristic propulsion system
Ask someone in the street what they know about the Air Force’s top-secret space plane and you’ll probably wind up getting pinched by the NSA. Nobody can claim to know much about the X-37B, beyond the fact that it’s the force’s long-term space vehicle, capable of staying in orbit for more than a year at a time. In the run up to the craft’s next jaunt around the planet, however, someone has let slip the details of an experiment that it’ll be carrying out. According to Spaceflight Now, Air Force officials have revealed that the autonomous drone will be used as the test-bed for a new type of Hall effect thruster.
Now, the biggest problem with spaceflight is that the more fuel a craft carries, the heavier it is to launch. Since it costs roughly $3,000 per pound to put objects above the atmosphere, equipping a shuttle or satellite with enough gas to get around is prohibitively expensive. A Hall thruster lets small craft scrimp on the fuel costs by electrically charging super-light Xenon particles. This mix can then produce a weak but constant source of propulsion, perfect for making small adjustments to your trajectory in space. The trade-off, of course, is that the mix isn’t strong, so the thruster has to burn for longer in order to do the same job. Imagine it a bit like trying to push a gondola with a twig: it’s lighter in your hand than a pole, but it’ll take you a lot longer to get somewhere.
If the X-37B is testing a top-secret, souped-up version of this technology, then it’s easy to speculate that the Air Force is working on a spacecraft that can stay in orbit for longer and cost significantly less to launch. That same hardware would also be invaluable for scientific and commercial satellites, each one struggling to balance out the competing needs of cost, weight and fuel efficiency. Now, don’t go telling any of your friends this, or you might find yourself being snatched from your bed at night by shadowy operatives in dark suits.
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Source: Spaceflight Now
Could it be true: The Sony Xperia P2 is a sexy looking, beast of a flagship device
style=”display:block”
data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8150504804865896″
data-ad-slot=”8461248232″
data-ad-format=”auto”>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
Despite how much of the Sony Xperia Z4 had leaked before its official announcement, we were still kind of surprised that it was announced as a Japan-only device. A global release of the device was hinted at, though we kind of assumed it would just be the same device with a slightly different configuration. However, a rumour has dropped today that this device isn’t simply going to be the same, but a completely differently designed device called the Sony Xperia P2. As the images below no doubt point out, the Xperia P2 is actually a fantastically good-looking device (if true) and harnesses its screen-to-bezel ration far better than the Xperia Z4 (a long time criticism of the series).
The rumour goes on to detail the specs of this Xperia P2 which includes a Snapdragon 810, 3GB RAM, 5.2-inch 1080p display, 12.1MP rear camera, 5.1MP front camera and 4,240mAh battery. That’s a very impressive resume, and one that we’d gladly take – the step down in rear camera is notable, but if it gives birth to that device, we’ll take it. Of course, this is all just hearsay right now, so make sure to take this all in with a grain of salt, but a global Xperia device is due for launch at the end of May, so we’ll just have to wait this one out for a little longer.
What do you think about the Sony Xperia P2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: TalkAndroid
The post Could it be true: The Sony Xperia P2 is a sexy looking, beast of a flagship device appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
The countdown begins: Watch the LG G4 announcement on this livestream
style=”display:block”
data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8150504804865896″
data-ad-slot=”8461248232″
data-ad-format=”auto”>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
It’s now just under 5 hours till the LG G4 announcement that many people have been waiting for unveils the LG G4. LG has teased almost everything there is worth teasing about the LG G4, not least of all its brand new camera and option of genuine leather back cover. But the time has almost come when all will be official, and all will be clear. To keep the anticipation going, LG has put a countdown on the G4’s product page, and we’re assuming when the clock strikes zero, a livestream will be available for all to take part in this momentous occasion.
Watch the LG G4 announcement livestream here
For those around the world, the time you’re counting down till is 15:00 GMT. There’s not much we don’t know about the LG G4 thanks to a series of leaks over the last few weeks – we know it’s probably going to have a Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB RAM, 8MP front camera and 16MP rear camera, and 3,000mAh battery. LG has already unveiled its 5.5-inch Quad HD display, which surpasses the LG G3’s display in almost every measurable characteristic, and its UX 4.0 running on top of its Android Lollipop base.
Are you excited for the LG G4 announcement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: LG via Phone Arena
The post The countdown begins: Watch the LG G4 announcement on this livestream appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
AIVAnet 