Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will come with a USB Type-C connector
Having already heard that the OnePlus Two will come with the new USB Type-C connector, the next device to feature the new port technology is the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
We already know Samsung tend to like to experiment with the ports they put on their devices, and we’ve already heard before that the Note 5 may feature the USB Type-C.
USB Type-C is to become the next ‘standard’ for device connectivity and will see the MicroUSB become obsolete in devices. The benefits include, but are not limited to, reversible connection, faster transfer rate, and a unified port that handles multiple data streams. It’s clear why manufacturers are looking to move to this new standard.
The news comes from an unverified source who seems pretty confident that the Note 5 will have the USB Type-C connector, and adds to the increasing list of evidence that adds truth to this rumour.
Source Confirmed : Galaxy Note 5 Coming With USB Type-C
— Moroleaks (@Moroleaks) June 24, 2015
As with any rumour, however, this should be taken with a pinch of salt, but as the sources keep on coming in, the likelihood of this happening becomes ever greater.
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T-Mobile Simple Choice Plans Updated With 21 GB Soft Cap on Data Usage [iOS Blog]
T-Mobile recently edited the fine print on its 4G LTE Simple Choice plans to notify customers that there’s a 21 GB soft cap on data usage, reports TmoNews. Customers who exceed 21 GB of data usage during a billing period will see their data speeds throttled during periods of high network demand.
Unlimited 4G LTE customers who use more than 21 GB of data in a bill cycle will have their data usage de-prioritized compared to other customers for that bill cycle at locations and times when competing network demands occur, resulting in relatively slower speeds. See t-mobile.com/OpenInternet for details.
Prior to the explicit 21 GB soft cap, T-Mobile’s Simple Choice subscribers who used more data than 97 percent of other T-Mobile subscribers were seeing slower data speeds during times of network congestion. According to TmoNews, customers who exceed their data limits see considerably slower speeds in busy areas, sometimes lower than 1Mbps.
This change in fine print makes it clear exactly how much data you have to use in order to feel the pinch. Previously, the 97% marker was ambiguous at best. You have no idea how much data other customers are using, and so you will have no way of knowing if you’re in the top 3% of data users, or not. Now there’s a much clearer 21GB “soft” cap.
T-Mobile’s 21 GB soft cap is rather generous and is likely to affect only a small percentage of T-Mobile customers. Reduction in data speeds is only enacted when there’s network congestion, so affected customers will only see throttling during peak usage times.
Customers who use more than 21 GB of data in a billing cycle will be flagged as de-prioritized by T-Mobile and could experience slower speeds at certain times until a new monthly billing cycle begins.
App Store’s Emphasis on Chart Positioning Squeezing Out Developers and Media Publications
When the App Store launched in 2008, it provided an exciting new way for developers to distribute third-party apps and games on the iPhone. With the release of iPhone OS 2.0, developers were no longer constrained to web apps and could take advantage of the possibilities afforded through fully native apps. At the time, it was an exciting and opportunistic new chapter for iPhone users, developers and mobile gaming websites.
As the App Store continues to grow in size, however, the landscape has begun to change. While the App Store was once a relatively even playing field, with a balanced mix of indie developers, mid-size studios and large publishers, the storefront now suffers from increasing disparity, a problem that is suffocating for many developers, enthusiast media publications and the broader ecosystem.
Clash of Clans, Game of War and Candy Crush Saga are top grossing iPhone apps
The shift away from paid apps towards free apps monetized with in-app purchases or mobile ads has driven the popularity of addictive games such as Clash of Clans, Game of War, Candy Crush Saga and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, and the deep-pocketed developers behind each title will go to extreme measures to ensure their continued success, even including unthinkably expensive Super Bowl ads.
Eli Hodapp, Editor-in-Chief at TouchArcade:
“iOS gaming has since been pushed to two extremes: The giant, multi-million dollar studios of the world, and supremely tiny indie developers hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a surprise viral hit they built in their spare time. The mobile gaming megacorps are operating on a financial level that’s hard to even fully comprehend, quite literally advertising during the Super Bowl, while the one-man indie studios typically can’t even afford an artist to help them with a better app icon.”
The main issue is not that multi-million-dollar game studios are spending considerably more money than independent developers, but rather the underlying App Store methodology that creates the artificial race to the top in the first place: chart positioning. Ranking near the top of the charts is still almost a must in order to be discovered within a sea of nearly 1.5 million apps and counting… Read more 
Gameloft’s new strategy game Siegefall is now available in the Google Play Store
Siegefall, the recently-announced strategy game from popular developer Gameloft, is now available in the Google Play Store. This game in particular caught our eye at E3 2015 due to its impressive graphics and long campaign mode.
In Siegefall, the aim of the game is to control your army of specialized troops to try to take over as many regions on the map as you can. Your army can consist of sneaky rogues, horrifying trolls, heavy-fisted knights and even a ‘Hero’, which is basically a giant that’s much more powerful than everyone else in the army. Not only will you need to attack other regions, you also need to defend your own kingdom while building mines, sawmills and farms within your castle to keep your kingdom’s war effort running.
Check out the official launch trailer below for more details.
The game is free to download from the Google Play Store, and offers some in-app purchases to help advance your characters more quickly. If you’re interested, you can head to the Play Store link below to try it for yourself.
Download Siegefall from Google Play
In case you haven’t heard, Android Authority is now on Twitch! Our very own Joe Hindy will be streaming Siegefall later today on our new Twitch channel at 5:30PM EST (4:30PM CST, 2:30PM PST). If you’re interested in joining the party, be sure to download the Twitch app from Google Play to watch on mobile, and head on over to this link to check out the official Android Authority channel.
Can’t wait to see you all there!
Upcoming Axon Phone will be produced by ZTE for U.S. consumers
Ever hear of the Axon Phone or the company behind it? Neither have we or anyone else. Invites were sent out on Tuesday for event being held in New York City next month to showcase the mysterious device. It turns out, however, that the Axon Phone will come from a very familiar company as an exclusive device for consumers in the United States.
Sascha Segan of PC Mag did some digging and discovered that the Axon Phone belongs to ZTE. The device could finally be what gives ZTE a flagship in the country with its 4GB of RAM, dual front-facing speakers, and two cameras on the rear. And, by looking at the image above, we can see that Lollipop is present.
The Axon Phone will be detailed on July 14 in New York City.
Source: PC Mag
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Microsoft’s Office apps expand support to Android phones
Finally, Microsoft’s Office apps work seamlessly across Android phones and tablets. The company announced today that its Office apps gained support for Android phones after being in preview for five weeks. Testing was completed with nearly 2,000 different models in eighty-three countries. Feedback from thousands of users helped the service being fine tuned on the form factor.
The following are some of the highlights with Office for Android phones:
- On the go reviews and edits—I often need to squeeze in quick reviews in between appointments during the day. I can review documents in full fidelity, read comments and then easily add my own.
- Presenting from my phone—I love just bringing my phone to a meeting to present wirelessly. PowerPoint for Android phone gives me the same transitions, animations and design that I would have from my desktop, and I can even use inking to highlight important points while presenting.
- Quick access to my documents—I can quickly find the document I was working on in the office from my phone. It even shows me where I was last working. Additionally, while I am a faithful OneDrive user, I can also access documents stored in Dropbox, Google Drive or Box with our support for third-party cloud storage providers.
- Easy to get—We’ve partnered with over 30 global, regional and local OEMs such as Samsung, Sony, LG and many more, to pre-load these apps on Android devices. Many of these devices will be landing in retail stores later this year.
The update with support for phones is already active with the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps in the Play Store.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Office
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Z Camera & Private Gallery(Review)
With nearly everyone having access to a camera conveniently tucked away in their pocket or purse, it has become essential to have a camera that is productive, fast, and gives you multiple photo processing features at a moment’s touch. Z Camera is a light-weight stock camera replacement with customizable features, quick switching between photo, video, beauty modes, and the ability to hide photos in a private gallery.
Features:
- Amazing filter – Many filters available when photograph and photo-editing.
- Real-time filter – Preview your photos before you take photo.
- Fastest capture – Just 1s to capture photo after press the shutter button.
- Simple interface – Intuitive interface, and quickly switch to video and selfie.
- HDR – Open HDR to improve images captured in low light, and backlit scenes.
- Beauty selfie – Just one tap to beautify your photo.
- Private gallery – Keep your private photo safe.
- Video mode – Record video via front facing camera or rear camera.
- Photo Mode – Tons of options, you have the following features flash on/off, set a timer, front camera for selfies and wefies, and also a filter icon.
- Beauty Mode – Take quick “beautiful” enhanced images.
Z Camera has three capture modes: Video, Photo, and Beauty. By swiping your finger left or right, you have the ability to navigate effortlessly through the three modes. Also packed into Z Camera is a Private Gallery. To access the Private Gallery you have to open the Z Gallery that is downloaded along with the app. While in Z Gallery you have three tabs, “My Album”, “Other Album”, and “Private Album”. In Private Album, you are able to set a 4 digit security code in order to restrict access to the images stored in the Private Album.
Zero Team was very thoughtful to incorporate a Private Album. It’s awful when you let someone look at your photos and they continue to scroll past what you intended them to view, and the Private Album keeps their eyes off of those pictures that you don’t want them to see. Although, the Private Album should either be hidden or have an option to long press a title or a section in the app to activate it.
It is never a good idea to easily display Private Album; that’s why the Google Play Store is full of dummy cover apps that allow you to easily and securely hide your photo/video contents. Luckily, Zero Team has baked this feature into Z Camera.
Another complaint I have is the watermark. I was misled by what the watermark feature was. I just assumed that the watermark would allow me to easily have my name or hashtag placed on my photos. I was wrong, the watermark is Z Camera’s name. It would be a very useful feature if Z Camera allowed you to create your own watermarks. This would be a great feature to easily take and post watermark images to your social media networks.
After using Z Camera, I was really impressed with the ample selection of filters that I could quickly apply to my images. Although, after taking images, I realized the quality of the photos came out grainy and had a lackluster pop. I took photos with and without filters and the quality and colors were not comparable to my stock Samsung Note 4 camera.
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With the plethora of alternate photo apps available, Z Camera doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Although, it will give you multiple filter options and a different look from your stock camera. Z Camera is useful and allows you to take photos or videos quickly although more isn’t always better.
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Choose Your Own Android Phablet Giveaway
It’s time to leave the kid’s table and upgrade to something a bit formidable. With today’s Choose Your Own Android Phablet Giveaway, we’re giving you the chance to step up to the major leagues.
One winner will choose between a Google Nexus 6, LG G4, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, OnePlus Two or an LG G Flex 2. All brand new and ready to impress anyone who might feast their eyes upon it. One of these phone/tablet hybrids is already be calling your name. Can you hear it?
There’s no purchase necessary and no complicated forms to fill out. All you’ll have to do is visit our giveaway page and submit an entry for your chance to take home a free big-boy toy. It’s as easy as that. Plus, sharing with your friends via social media gains you more entries. Good luck!
Check this deal out, and many others at deals.androidguys.com!
The post Choose Your Own Android Phablet Giveaway appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Facebook Messenger no longer requires a Facebook account
Some people simply refuse to use Facebook for many reasons like privacy, a massive time drain, and internet trolls. With 1.4 billion active users on Facebook and over 600 million active users on Facebook Messenger, many people are left out of the giant network simply because Facebook required you to create an account with verified personal information. Just last year, Facebook removed chatting from within their social media app, and moved it to standalone Facebook Messenger, as they saw Messenger was a product all on its own, mostly likely stemming from the buyout of WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars. Facebook Messenger is currently the second most active chat app, following WhatsApp who has 700 million active users. This move by Facebook should open the Messenger app up to the millions of people who refuse to use the social media’s primary asset which should boost their user base.
This new feature is available to the United States, Canada, Peru and Venezuela and all you need to do to sign up for Facebook Messenger is to provide a phone number.
Here’s how it works:
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On the Messenger welcome screen, you will now see an option that says “Not on Facebook?”
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From there, you can sign up with your name, phone number and a photo.
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iOS 9 Policy Change Prevents Advertisers From Seeing Installed Apps on User Devices
Apple is planning to introduce some important new policy changes that will extend its user privacy protections, reports The Information (via Business Insider). With iOS 9, Apple will no longer allow advertisers to access app download data for ad targeting purposes, meaning companies will not be able to see all of the apps that are downloaded on a user’s device.
Currently, companies like Twitter and Facebook are able to see which apps you have downloaded on your iPhone or iPad, sometimes using that information to deliver targeted ads. In The Information‘s example, Facebook and Twitter might use your app data to see that you have a lot of games downloaded, offering up an ad for a game you don’t yet have installed.
Advertisers are misusing a communication API in iOS called “canopenURL” to get the app download data, something that will no longer be possible when iOS 9 is released in the fall.
When introducing iOS 9, Apple was careful to point out the lengths it went to in order to protect user privacy in new iOS 9 features. On stage, Craig Federighi repeated a statement that’s often come from Apple executives – we don’t want to know your personal information. New Siri and Search features are entirely anonymous, not associated with an Apple ID, use a randomized identifier, are not linked to other Apple services, and are not shared with third parties.
Apple also introduced a new VPN extension API and added Content Blockers for Safari Extensions on iOS, opening up a way for extensions to block cookies, images, ads, pop-ups, and more.
iOS 9 and the new privacy features will be available to the public in the fall.
AIVAnet 