4 ways BlackBerry can be unique on Android
The case that BlackBerry should give up development of its own platform and switch to using Android is one that never seems to lie down. One of the pioneers of the mobile phone industry, BlackBerry followed in the footsteps of the others – Nokia and Motorola – who helped shape the industry but unlike its peers, BlackBerry refuses to go down without a fight.
Ever since the Apple iPhone came out, BlackBerry has dropped from grace as it failed to provide a touchscreen OS that could actually compete with Apple’s best. Since the launch of its BlackBerry 10 OS in January 2013, BlackBerry has been playing catch up and have turned to both the Amazon Appstore and Google Play Store to sway the perceived app gap.
Despite these moves, many people – myself included – still thought the company should move to Android and despite previously denying any of these claims, BlackBerry CEO John Chen seemingly confirmed a willingness to launch an Android smartphone, as long as any BlackBerry Android smartphone was still secure. Like Nokia, the company will want to be unique in the Android ecosystem so here are four ways that BlackBerry can adopt Android but still stand out amongst the OEM crowd.
1. BlackBerry Hub
The Android Notification Center has improved massively over the past few generations of the platform but the BlackBerry Hub on BlackBerry 10 (BB10) is still one of the best notification areas on any smartphone platform.
The BlackBerry Hub is a one-stop unified notification center that lets you access your email and SMS, see the latest from and update your status on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, connect via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) or other IM clients and see your upcoming calendar events in one single location.
What options does BlackBerry have for survival?
The key thing that differentiates the Hub over the competition is that it houses each notification individually and also displays them all in a single catch-all screen. The latter is great for seeing the latest updates at a glance while the former lets you dig into as specific type of notification (e.g. the calendar tab to see your schedule and events in detail at a glance).
Notifications from third-party apps are also displayed in the BlackBerry Hub and opening an SDK for the Hub on Android (plus making a version of the Hub available as a downloadable app) could result in a lot of awareness for the brand and its devices.
2. BlackBerry Messenger
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is arguably BlackBerry’s biggest asset and the Canadian company opened up its holy-grail to non BlackBerry users in September 2013. Since then, the Android app has been downloaded between 100 million and 500 million times and it has an average rating of 4.3 from over 5.1 million reviews.
Opinion: BlackBerry Messenger for Android delayed, but who cares?
The demand for BBM saw BlackBerry delay the rollout when a leaked APK resulted in millions of activations and a server load the company couldn’t have predicted. With an estimated user base of over 70 million users, BBM is a key part of BlackBerry’s offering and developing its Android ROM with BBM in mind could result in mass-appeal and demand amongst customers.
3. BlackBerry Enterprise Servers
A key element to BlackBerry devices for business is the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (more commonly referred to as BES). A few years back, businesses flocked to pay thousands of dollars to add the BES infrastructure to their businesses but since, Android and iOS have taken a large part of BlackBerry’s business customers.
BlackBerry Messenger for Android is too little, too late
As part of the restructuring of its operations, the Canadian manufacturer reduced the cost of BES and, at least in the UK, scrapped the previous requirement for a monthly subscription for each user. Some larger corporations are still heavily invested in the BES infrastructure and enabling BES to work with BlackBerry’s own Android devices could result in a new lease of life for existing architecture and persuading BlackBerry’s biggest customers to adopt its new non-BlackBerry OS devices.
4. Keyboard, keyboard, keyboard
The points above are all software related but there’s one main reason that BlackBerry didn’t fail, while the likes of Nokia and Motorola have all bitten the bullet; the physical keyboard.
Many people have adopted all-touch devices and an almost-total majority of handsets no longer come with physical keyboards, but there are a small contingent of users who would like to see an Android smartphone with a physical keyboard. We’ve previously seen companies like HTC attempt keyboard-laden devices with the HTC Desire Z and while that product certainly didn’t ignite the demand for keyboards, there’s definitely a case to be had.
BlackBerry Messenger to support Android Wear smartwatches soon
BlackBerry has a long-standing history with physical keyboard devices and while the company somewhat failed with its attempt to create a touchscreen only device that could rival the iPhone, this was mainly due to the software. BlackBerry 10 has evolved dramatically since its first iteration in 2013 and while the software somewhat works for QWERTY devices, the breadth of applications and functionality in Android could be the answer to bringing QWERTY keyboards back from the depths again.
Is Android the answer for Blackberry?
Like Nokia, BlackBerry has its own very loyal fan-base, which want to see the company reclaim its former glory. I personally used to be a major fan of BlackBerry devices and while I’ve made the switch to using touchscreen-only handsets relatively comfortably, an Android device with a QWERTY keyboard would definitely appeal to me.
Top devices in video:
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BlackBerry’s John Chen said he would only consider making an Android device if it were possible to secure the OS and herein lies both the problem and the solution. The problem is that Android is designed to be open-source and customisable by all, and it would be near-impossible for BlackBerry to ensure all apps in the store were secure.
The solution is somewhat simple and two-fold; first, BlackBerry devices would use a custom ROM that’s Google certified and designed to replicate BlackBerry 10 using Android as a base. This would allow BlackBerry to make the entire experience as secure as it liked but apps could be another issue; one solution to this is to work closely with Google to create a specific BlackBerry-certified category where the Canadian manufacturer is allowed to test and approve apps that are offered in that particular category. These could then be specified as the only apps approved for use by BlackBerry and available to download on BlackBerry Android devices.
There’s plenty of reasons for BlackBerry to both adopt Android, and not to, and it remains to be seen whether the company will actually go ahead with these plans. If it were able to produce a secure Android smartphone that offered BlackBerry services and apps, would you buy one? Or is BlackBerry’s time coming to an end? Let us know your views in the comments below and vote in our poll!
4 ways BlackBerry can be unique on Android
The case that BlackBerry should give up development of its own platform and switch to using Android is one that never seems to lie down. One of the pioneers of the mobile phone industry, BlackBerry followed in the footsteps of the others – Nokia and Motorola – who helped shape the industry but unlike its peers, BlackBerry refuses to go down without a fight.
Ever since the Apple iPhone came out, BlackBerry has dropped from grace as it failed to provide a touchscreen OS that could actually compete with Apple’s best. Since the launch of its BlackBerry 10 OS in January 2013, BlackBerry has been playing catch up and have turned to both the Amazon Appstore and Google Play Store to sway the perceived app gap.
Despite these moves, many people – myself included – still thought the company should move to Android and despite previously denying any of these claims, BlackBerry CEO John Chen seemingly confirmed a willingness to launch an Android smartphone, as long as any BlackBerry Android smartphone was still secure. Like Nokia, the company will want to be unique in the Android ecosystem so here are four ways that BlackBerry can adopt Android but still stand out amongst the OEM crowd.
1. BlackBerry Hub
The Android Notification Center has improved massively over the past few generations of the platform but the BlackBerry Hub on BlackBerry 10 (BB10) is still one of the best notification areas on any smartphone platform.
The BlackBerry Hub is a one-stop unified notification center that lets you access your email and SMS, see the latest from and update your status on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, connect via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) or other IM clients and see your upcoming calendar events in one single location.
What options does BlackBerry have for survival?
The key thing that differentiates the Hub over the competition is that it houses each notification individually and also displays them all in a single catch-all screen. The latter is great for seeing the latest updates at a glance while the former lets you dig into as specific type of notification (e.g. the calendar tab to see your schedule and events in detail at a glance).
Notifications from third-party apps are also displayed in the BlackBerry Hub and opening an SDK for the Hub on Android (plus making a version of the Hub available as a downloadable app) could result in a lot of awareness for the brand and its devices.
2. BlackBerry Messenger
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is arguably BlackBerry’s biggest asset and the Canadian company opened up its holy-grail to non BlackBerry users in September 2013. Since then, the Android app has been downloaded between 100 million and 500 million times and it has an average rating of 4.3 from over 5.1 million reviews.
Opinion: BlackBerry Messenger for Android delayed, but who cares?
The demand for BBM saw BlackBerry delay the rollout when a leaked APK resulted in millions of activations and a server load the company couldn’t have predicted. With an estimated user base of over 70 million users, BBM is a key part of BlackBerry’s offering and developing its Android ROM with BBM in mind could result in mass-appeal and demand amongst customers.
3. BlackBerry Enterprise Servers
A key element to BlackBerry devices for business is the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (more commonly referred to as BES). A few years back, businesses flocked to pay thousands of dollars to add the BES infrastructure to their businesses but since, Android and iOS have taken a large part of BlackBerry’s business customers.
BlackBerry Messenger for Android is too little, too late
As part of the restructuring of its operations, the Canadian manufacturer reduced the cost of BES and, at least in the UK, scrapped the previous requirement for a monthly subscription for each user. Some larger corporations are still heavily invested in the BES infrastructure and enabling BES to work with BlackBerry’s own Android devices could result in a new lease of life for existing architecture and persuading BlackBerry’s biggest customers to adopt its new non-BlackBerry OS devices.
4. Keyboard, keyboard, keyboard
The points above are all software related but there’s one main reason that BlackBerry didn’t fail, while the likes of Nokia and Motorola have all bitten the bullet; the physical keyboard.
Many people have adopted all-touch devices and an almost-total majority of handsets no longer come with physical keyboards, but there are a small contingent of users who would like to see an Android smartphone with a physical keyboard. We’ve previously seen companies like HTC attempt keyboard-laden devices with the HTC Desire Z and while that product certainly didn’t ignite the demand for keyboards, there’s definitely a case to be had.
BlackBerry Messenger to support Android Wear smartwatches soon
BlackBerry has a long-standing history with physical keyboard devices and while the company somewhat failed with its attempt to create a touchscreen only device that could rival the iPhone, this was mainly due to the software. BlackBerry 10 has evolved dramatically since its first iteration in 2013 and while the software somewhat works for QWERTY devices, the breadth of applications and functionality in Android could be the answer to bringing QWERTY keyboards back from the depths again.
Is Android the answer for Blackberry?
Like Nokia, BlackBerry has its own very loyal fan-base, which want to see the company reclaim its former glory. I personally used to be a major fan of BlackBerry devices and while I’ve made the switch to using touchscreen-only handsets relatively comfortably, an Android device with a QWERTY keyboard would definitely appeal to me.
Top devices in video:
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BlackBerry’s John Chen said he would only consider making an Android device if it were possible to secure the OS and herein lies both the problem and the solution. The problem is that Android is designed to be open-source and customisable by all, and it would be near-impossible for BlackBerry to ensure all apps in the store were secure.
The solution is somewhat simple and two-fold; first, BlackBerry devices would use a custom ROM that’s Google certified and designed to replicate BlackBerry 10 using Android as a base. This would allow BlackBerry to make the entire experience as secure as it liked but apps could be another issue; one solution to this is to work closely with Google to create a specific BlackBerry-certified category where the Canadian manufacturer is allowed to test and approve apps that are offered in that particular category. These could then be specified as the only apps approved for use by BlackBerry and available to download on BlackBerry Android devices.
There’s plenty of reasons for BlackBerry to both adopt Android, and not to, and it remains to be seen whether the company will actually go ahead with these plans. If it were able to produce a secure Android smartphone that offered BlackBerry services and apps, would you buy one? Or is BlackBerry’s time coming to an end? Let us know your views in the comments below and vote in our poll!
BRAVEN starts shipping the BALANCE waterproof Bluetooth speaker
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My favorite portable Bluetooth speaker maker, BRAVEN, has finally launched the BALANCE line of water proof Bluetooth speakers. The new line brings active users a bit more style and slim line design than the previous waterproof line such as the BRAVEN BRV-X and BRV-1. They are a slimmer, lighter and range in color from traditional black and white to purple, red, pink and a neon yellow. They named the colors Raven, Alpine, Raspberry, Electric, Sunset, and Periwinkle. Target users are those who are active and more about fitness than about hitting a class 5 rapid.
“Music and fitness go hand in hand, they help you maintain a balanced mind, body and soul,” said Andy Fathollahi, Chief Executive. “The Balance is the perfect speaker for the active mobile lifestyle. It unites smart design with functionality by having a slim shape to fit into any bag or backpack and the power to get your adrenaline going.”
When the new speaker was announced at CES 2015, it carried a waterproof rating of IPX5, but has since been increased to IPX7. That translates to 1 meter underwater for 30 minutes before potential harm befalls the speaker. As with other speakers from the manufacturer this one boasts 18 hours of continuous playback from a 4,000 mAh battery that also allows you to charge your phone while on the go. It also offers a built-in noise-canceling microphone so you can keep your wet hands off your phone and still get calls.
As for size, you can get a pretty good idea of it from the images and the video. If you are more of a numbers person the BALANCE measures in at 4.96 x 8.23 x 1.85 inches and weighs 1.97lbs. The BALANCE line is now available for purchase and comes in quite a bit lower than the BRV-X at just $129.99 in any color. Direct yourself over to BRAVEN.com to get an order in so you can rock out worry free all summer long.
The post BRAVEN starts shipping the BALANCE waterproof Bluetooth speaker appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
HTC One M9 drops to $99.99 on contract through Sprint
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HTC has had a fairly rough couple of years. Many expected huge things to come when the One M9 was launched, but it didn’t seem to bring all that we had hoped. It still offers up some improvements over the One M8, but for many, just minor improvements and not the quality jumps they expected. It is still a heck of a device with plenty of things to love though. At launch, which was back in April of this year, the flagship came out swinging at $649.99 outright and the typical $199.99 on a two-year contract. You got a few perks, like the HTC Uh Oh protection, which is a pretty spectacular offer really. Two months after launch, it would appear that one carrier, Sprint, is trying to drum up more business for the device and themselves, by dropping the contract price.
If Sprint’s Now Network is your carrier of choice, you will be happy to hear that the HTC One M9 has a 50% price drop on a two-year contract. That pulls it down to just $99.99 out the door. The full retail price still remains the same as would any payment or lease options. The pricing does have some limitations. It is only available online and as a new line of service. Sprint doesn’t offer up any details as to how long the price-cut will last, so if the One M9 is your target device and a 2-year contract is your thing, you better hurry.
Source: Sprint Via: Android Authroity
The post HTC One M9 drops to $99.99 on contract through Sprint appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Lenovo Vibe S1 passes through TENAA
Earlier today, an unannounced Lenovo-branded smartphone passed through China’s official certification database — TENAA. The mid-range handset, dubbed the Vibe S1, is believed to be targeted at the Asian market.
The S1 is rumored to pack a 5-inch Full HD display, a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 615 octa-core chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter and dual-SIM compatibility.
Anonymous tipsters claim that the device will be available in a multitude of different colours, including black, white, violet, blue, red, pink, purple and orange.
To view the full certification document over on TENAA’s website, hit the source link below.
Source: TENAA
Come comment on this article: Lenovo Vibe S1 passes through TENAA
Samsung France confirms that it will roll out the Lollipop update for the Galaxy Alpha
Earlier this week, Samsung France took to its official Twitter account to confirm that it will begin pushing out the much-anticipated Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update to all unlocked variants of the Galaxy Alpha in Europe next month.
The South Korean company announced that carriers are able to get their hands on the firmware now too, but it may take them significantly longer to start rolling out the OTA as the software will have to undergo operator testing before despatch.
The full changelog can be seen below:
- Material Design: You will quickly notice a whole new colorful look and feel to your device – from fluid animations to new application and system themes, colors and widgets.
- Notifications UI & Priorities: In order to alert you to the mosttimely and relevant information, the format and behavior of notifications have evolved:
- notifications will appear on the lock screen and are intelligently ranked by type and who sent them.
- you double-tap to open one, swipe left or right to clear one, or clear all notifications from the bottom of the list.
- you can set the priority and privacy of notifications for each application.
- very high priority notifications will pop up briefly over other applications so that you can take action.
- when you dismiss a notification on one device it will be dismissed on your other Android devices, if they are connected to the Internet.
- you can further tailor how notifications behave with the new Downtime and Ambient Display settings (see below).
- New Interruptions & Downtime Settings: You can tailor how interruptions behave, choosing to allow all, none, or only priority interruptions. You can personalize what counts as a priority interruption (reminders, events, calls, messages) and even tailor them to be from only contacts you specify. The Downtime setting will allow only priority interruptions during the times and days that you specify. e.g. allow only priority interruptions on the weekend.
- Recent Apps (Multi-tasking): The redesigned Overview space (formerly called Recents) will include both applications and separate activities within those applications. For instance, each open tab in Chrome will also appear here along with recent applications; both your Gmail Inbox and a draft email message will appear as separate cards. This provides a consistent way to switch amongst tasks.
- Flashlight: Lollipop includes a new flashlight option as part of Quick settings (swipe down with two fingers from the status bar to see it).
- Pin a view/app: Screen pinning allows you to keep a specific app or screen in view. For example, you can ‘pin’ a game and your child will not be able to navigate anywhere else on your phone.
- Battery: The Battery settings panel now shows an estimated projection for how much time you have left while discharging or charging. You can also enable a new battery saver mode that will save power by reducing performance and most background data operations to extend your battery life.
- Smarter Internet Connections: With Android Lollipop, your phone will not connect to a Wi-Fi access point unless there is a verified Internet connection. This feature improves hand-offs between Wi-Fi and cellular connections, helping to maintain your video chat or voice-over-IP (VoIP) call as you switch.
- Performance: Your phone now uses the new Android Runtime to help optimize application performance. After upgrading to Lollipop, your applications will undergo a one-time optimization process. Note that the optimization for ART requires more space.
- Security: Encryption can now use a stronger 256-bit key to help protect your data. Note that the stronger key willonly be used after you perform a factory reset on Android Lollipop. Otherwise encryption will continue to use 128-bit key. You can turn on encryption in the Security settings menu.
Be sure to check back as we’ll let you know as and when this update starts its roll out .
Come comment on this article: Samsung France confirms that it will roll out the Lollipop update for the Galaxy Alpha
Fitbit launches its range of fitness-tracking devices in India
Fitbit has teamed up with Amazon to launch its entire range of fitness-tracking devices in India. Starting today, all of Fitbit’s products are available to pre-order from the online retailer and are expected to leave the warehouse on Friday, July 3.
A full list of the products, together with their respective prices, can be seen below:
- Fitbit Zip – Rs. 3,990 ($62.75)
- Fitbit One – Rs. 6,990 ($110)
- Fitbit Flex – Rs. 6,990 $110)
- Fitbit Charge – Rs. 9,990 ($157)
- Fitbit Charge HR – Rs. 12,990 ($204)
- Fitbit Surge – Rs. 19,990 ($314)
- Fitbit Aria – Rs. 9,990 ($157)
If you live in India and have been meaning to pick up one of the above devices, hit the source link below to visit Fitbit’s store over on Amazon.
Source: Amazon
Come comment on this article: Fitbit launches its range of fitness-tracking devices in India
The next Ubuntu phone is here, but you’ll need an invite
Another Ubuntu phone, another unusual launch. After the BQ Aquaris E4.5, which debuted with a series of online flash sales, Canonical is following up with an invite-only handset built by Meizu. Yep, the same Meizu that once hoped to release an Ubuntu phone in 2014. The new MX4 “Ubuntu Edition” has been available to developers in China since May, but starting tomorrow you’ll be able to order one in Europe too. At least, you will if you’re lucky enough to receive an invite. Canonical and Meizu aren’t revealing how many will be available each day, so you’ll just have to visit their teaser site, complete the “origami wall” and hope for the best. The company is also staying tight-lipped about whether the invite system will eventually be dropped and if the MX4 will later be sold in other markets.
Just like the Aquaris E4.5 and E5, the €299 ($345) MX4 is a modified version of an existing Android handset. It boasts a sharp 5.36-inch display, an octa-core MediaTek 6595 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 3,100mAh battery. For photo-fiends there’s also a 20.7-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5-megapixel selfie snapper. On paper it’s a competent mid-range handset, but there’s little here to grab the attention of power users.
At MWC we were a little underwhelmed by the device, especially in comparison to the ambitious Ubuntu Edge. Canonical has been slow to develop its software and what was once an intriguing platform is now up against Android Lollipop and iOS 8 — not to mention their fast-approaching successors. Some of the ideas around Scopes — categorised home screens that aggregate content from multiple sources — feel fresh and unique, but it’s hard to see how they’ll appeal to anyone beyond the hardcore Ubuntu crowd. Canonical seems to have accepted this, as it’s calling tomorrow’s launch a “journey” rather than a “day one volume play.” Maybe the company is wise to keep its expectations in check, but after two and a half years we had hoped the platform’s launch would pack a little extra punch.
Filed under: Cellphones
Microsoft’s Office apps officially launch for (some) Android phones
Right, well that was fairly quick. Microsoft gave us a taste of how its Office apps would look on Android phones in a preview just last month, and now they’re ready for public consumption. Word, Powerpoint and Excel are available for your delectation — for free, no less — in the Google Play Store right now, just with one big caveat. Those pesky prior limitations are still in effect here, so don’t expect to run these things on a phone without at least 1GB of RAM and anything older than Android 4.4 KitKat.
That, sadly, leaves a decent chunk of Android users out in the cold. According to Google’s own developer dashboard, only a little more than half of Android’s current userbase meet the software requirements for editing spiffy looking spreadsheets on the fly, and that’s not even factoring in the (honestly minimal) RAM limitation at play here. Remember: KitKat was designed to run well even on devices with as little as 512MB of RAM. Everyone else will have to cling to Google Docs, for better or worse. If you’ve mucked around with Office for Android tablets in the past, you won’t find too many surprises here: all the bright colors and touch-sensitive menus are back, and you’ll be able to share your creations via OneDrive, Dropbox and as plain ol’ attachments. Not a bad way to appease your productivity addiction, no?
Filed under: Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Google Play Store
Amazon Prime’s first wave of HDR videos is here
Determined to watch streaming video with the maximum color range possible? You now have your chance. As promised, Amazon Prime Instant Video is now offering high dynamic range (HDR) videos to American customers. Watch the first season of Mozart in the Jungle on the right TV (currently, that means one of Samsung’s SUHD models) and you should see more vivid colors as well as a greater level of detail in highlights and shadows. The move is as much about bragging rights as anything else — Amazon is beating Netflix to the punch, and HDR doesn’t automatically make everything better. It also won’t help much if you’re in the UK or have the ‘wrong’ TV. All the same, this is a big step forward for internet video quality.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Samsung, Amazon
Source: Amazon
AIVAnet 