Google Announces YouTube Newswire to Sift the Wheat from the Chaff
YouTube is full of chaff. Full of it. Don’t believe me? Look here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here.
Much of that chaff comes in the form of ad hoc first-person video journalism. There is tremendous value in curating legitimate user-generated content, but with over 5 million hours spent every day on YouTube watching news, it becomes increasingly difficult to verify the legitimacy of a source. We often see more hoaxes than we do legitimate content. Thanks for that, Jimmy Kimmel.
To counter the threat of pervasive nonsense on YouTube, Google has just announced YouTube Newswire, a curated, verified channel of eyewitness news videos. Mountain View is partnering with News Corp subsidiary Storyful, a startup focused on providing accurate “stories worth telling” from social content. Based on that Mantra, ducks taking a bath with a capybara qualifies as a story worth telling on their own website.
Google forged a relationship with Storyful back in 2011 during the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo, and Storyful’s team of editors will be responsible for sifting through videos and embedding them from their original source (rather than ripping someone else’s YouTube video and reposting it, as is commonplace).
In addition, Google is forming the First Draft Coalition, which is an educational outlet staffed by various movers and shakers from social media journalism charged with teaching best practices to aspirant documentarians and video journalists.
Lastly, Google announced a partnership with the Witness Lab, which will ” produce a series of in-depth projects that focus on human rights struggles as seen from the perspective of those who live, witness, and experience them.”
All in all, you’ll still have all the cyst-popping videos you can handle, but Google is attempting to bring a little bit of order to the lawless wilderness known as YouTube, and when it comes to verifying the veracity of sources when discussing the important issues of the day, we’ll be the better for it.
Source: Google
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Epic wants to avoid making ‘terrible’ VR with Unreal Engine
Epic Games is a big proponent of VR, led by its Unreal Engine and the integrated resources it provides to developers. These tools are designed to be compatible with most existing hardware for virtual reality, including the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR. And to give you an idea of how strongly Epic Games feels about the technology, CEO Tim Sweeney told us earlier this year he believes virtual reality will “change the world.” On the ground at E3 2015, we sat down with Chief Technology Officer Kim Libreri and Unreal Engine General Manager Ray Davis to talk about the state of VR and where they believe it’s headed.
Both Libreri and Davis think it is key to have a set of standards for VR development, as it would make things easier for every developer, not only those who are interacting with the Unreal Engine. “We wanna make sure that, whatever platform developers choose to use, they’re well supported in UE 4,” says Libreri, who previously worked on visual effects for The Matrix franchise. Davis adds, “It’s always been sort of our [approach] with the engine. Even going all the way back to the original Xbox [360] and pushing back on Microsoft to make sure they put enough memory in it.” He says it’s also important to learn the lessons of what works and what doesn’t in VR and share that information with developers and companies like Oculus or Valve.
For Epic Games and Unreal Engine, one of the main focuses right now is to better understand input, motion-tracking and how those two elements work with VR experiences. “You know, we’ve got controllers on the horizon; things are gonna be really difficult,” says Libreri, “the first time that you got into a new generation VR experience with Crescent Bay or the Vive, you wanted to touch things.” That’s expected to be supported by Unreal Engine, along with whatever new methods of input may come up in the future. “We just wanna help sort of propagate people’s ability to evolve quickly,” he says about what Unreal Engine’s goal is in the VR landscape.
Davis also emphasizes that partnerships between manufacturers, such as Microsoft and Oculus, will be crucial going forward. Davis believes these types of collaborations could pave the way for VR projects that are actually a pleasure to experience. “It’s actually really, really great that they found that connection, because it’s really easy to have terrible VR experiences — it’s like the Wild Wild West out there,” he says. “On the PC front, having a good partnership between Rift and Windows 10 increases the chances that it’ll actually work consistently well. That’s always been the Windows problem; it’s such a wide-open hardware ecosystem, you don’t know what kind of drivers you have or the right GPU, all that kind of stuff.”
“It’s like the Wild Wild West out there.”
Libreri, for his part, says developers will benefit from creating snackable VR, rather than taking on large-scale projects from the beginning. “As we start to think about the evolution of the shooter game or the exploration/action/adventure game, the Uncharted for VR, I think that it’s better to experiment initially with smaller, digestible things,” he adds. “As a collective, we learn that language quickly.”
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Media Molecule’s ‘Dreams’ is for YouTubers and Twitch streamers
When Alex Evans, co-founder of Sony PlayStation first-party studio Media Molecule, announced Dreams onstage at E3 this week, there was a lot of confusion in the audience and on social media. And that’s okay, according to Evans. “What we wanted to do was get it out there and get people talking about it. And your staff are right to be scratching their heads. … If it’s on your radar, fantastic. Because it is hard to take it in. The main confusion I’ve seen reading on the net does seem to be that people are like, ‘Is it a movie maker? Is it a game maker? What is it?’ The communities will probably define that. But it’s absolutely a game. We are making games with it. What you will choose to make with it, what the community will choose to make with it — that’s the cool thing. We don’t know.”
A demo of the animate tool in Dreams
It’s clear from chatting with Evans and studio creative director Mark Healey that, much like the nature of dreams themselves, development of the title took on a stream-of-consciousness approach. Although the sculpting and animation tools were created first, Evan explains that the game engine is actually what ultimately ended up influencing its design. “If you watch the PS4 announce … it’s a very different engine than the one that we showed yesterday,” he says. “The visual look of the game actually changed drastically and improved what people were making when the engine changed. Weirdly, what you’d think is like where did the game idea come? Where did the mechanic come from? Actually, the engine’s ended up influencing that, the look of it. So it’s very kind of like [an] eat-your-own-tail sort of thing. It’s awesome, though.”
This E3 wasn’t even Dreams’ debut. Evans actually demoed the puppeteering aspect during Sony’s first-ever PlayStation showcase back in February of 2013. “That was early Dreams right there,” he says. “In fact, we’ve still got those assets kicking around. I mean, they’re all in the server.”
Evans continues: “We didn’t want to confuse people and kind of reference [that showcase] too heavily. But it’s totally the same lineage. And our process is sort of ‘explore to find the product’ kind of vibe. It was half tech led, half make it up as we go along… kind of find-the-game-within-the-game thing. So that was a stage. And if you rewatch it now, it’s 100 percent legit.”
Production on Dreams has been underway for four years now, but Sony and Media Molecule are staying tight-lipped about any release date, saying only to stay tuned for more news at Paris Game Week this October. That said, there is a possibility the title will be released in beta, as Healey says the studio wants to get it out “as soon as possible because we want the community to be really foundational in what it becomes.”
“Our process is sort of ‘explore to find the product’ kind of vibe. It was half tech led, half make it up as we go along.” — Alex Evans
In a way, Healey says that Dreams embodies the spirit of game jams: sessions where different artists and developers come together to brainstorm the creation of a game within a 24-hour time limit. “That sort of collaboration and that live aspect to it is really catered for in Dreams,” says Healey. “So if you’re a specialist; if you’re someone who thinks, ‘Well, I’m not just going to sculpt,’ you’re going to find people to team up with and make something. Or, if you’re more of an auteur, you can sit there.”
“You can be a game director,” adds Evans. “You don’t have to do anything. Because it’s all live, connected online. … We’re pushing collaboration as much as we can. So if you want to be in your bedroom on your own for three days and work on your magnum opus, that’s cool. That’s legit. But actually, it’s a much more welcoming world if you can go in and it’s like, ‘Hey! This dude over here is building skyscrapers.’”
“We’ve seen this with our previous project, LittleBigPlanet. There’s an important part of any community [and] that’s the sort of curators and editorializers and the people who are tastemakers. And this YouTuber generation … the world of Dreams is going out into the world of Twitch streaming and YouTube and live PS4 streaming with Share. And so we tried to build a lot of the creation sort of vibe into that world so people who are familiar with that world of streaming and Twitch and YouTubing and Let’s Plays and all that will be right at home. And if you wanna get your boss made, you could probably just go online and find someone who is good at that and be like, ‘Can you make this for me, please?’ So it’s collaborative.”
Media Molecule’s Mark Healey (at left) with Alex Evans
That underlying focus on community and feedback is a strong theme for Dreams. It’s an approach to game design that you don’t often see outside of Kickstarter-backed projects, like Keiji Inafuna’s Mighty No.9. Both Evans and Healy freely admit that they’re not quite sure what final form the game will take upon release and so they hope legions of YouTubers and Twitch streamers will help mold its direction. As Evans explains, “I think doing the beta, when we finally do it, it’ll just allow us to shape [the game]. So some of the questions we’re being cagey about is because I think we can allow the community through feedback to actually help us shape some of our stuff. We have a plan and we’re doing it, but it may be that we have to kind of turn twenty degrees to the left.”
“Dreams is going out into the world of Twitch streaming and YouTube and Live PS4 streaming with Share. So we tried to build a lot of the creation vibe into that world.” — Alex Evans
Evans and Healey weren’t quite so cagey when I asked them if Dreams would be a Morpheus VR launch title. Though the pair wouldn’t outright confirm it, Healey admits “it’s an obvious thing to do.” Adds Evans: “Let’s just say Anton Mikhailov, who helped build the first ever Morpheus prototype, is at Molecule now. … So I’ll leave it at that.”
Now about the mysterious gameplay: There’s a reason why Dreams‘ visual design shifts between the solid and the gauzy — an effect Healey likens to an impressionist painting — and that’s because progression through the game will mirror that of actual dreams. Healey says that players “can go from experience to experience in a very dream-like way.” It’s an effect he hopes will spur the community to experiment quickly with the create tools and stumble into new modes of play.
A 3D-print of “David” the piano guy from Dreams
Evans elaborates on this: “You might be an FPS [first-person shooter] guy, so FPS is your entry. But as you’re playing the FPS, you open the door and it’s a fucking desert and you’re in Journey. You walk out and then you’re walking through the desert and then you see … a spaceship and you climb into it. … It sounds mad, but when you’ve framed it all as dream-like, actually you just get into it. The same way that when you’re in an actual dream in real life, you don’t question the fact that you walk out your house and you’re in the middle of the beach. … You know what I mean? That feeling.”
“You can share everything from an entire level to the smallest asset.” — Mark Healey
As for more traditional gameplay modes, Evans says that players can expect to see that bundled into the final product. Both he and Healey referenced the bubbles shown off at the end of this year’s E3 demo as a tease of what that “game-like content” could be. “At Media Molecule, we’re game makers so we’re making games with it. So there will be Media Molecule content there. The scope of that is to be announced. But it will be there and it will be good,” he says.
With LittleBigPlanet serving as the game’s spiritual predecessor, it should go without saying that Dreams is heavily focused on amassing a shared online library of user-generated content. “You can share everything from an entire level to the smallest asset,” says Healey. “You can make a pebble if [you] like and it could end up in everybody’s game or ‘dreams.’ And your name will be attached to that, however remixed.”
“David” the piano guy as seen in the E3 Dreams demo
If there’s any major takeway from what PS4 gamers can expect from Dreams when it’s finally released, it’s that Media Molecule is building a title for today’s connected culture of remixing, streaming and sharing. “Dreams is difficult to explain,” stresses Evans. “But I think once the community gets a hold of it, it’s really going to flower.”
[Images: Sony PlayStation/Media Molecule]
Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
Samsung announces a fix for wide-reaching Galaxy keyboard exploit
Samsung is finally responding to a major security bug that affects the keyboards on its Galaxy smartphones and tablets. The security firm NowSecure revealed the exploit earlier this week, which gives hackers the ability to execute code on Samsung’s mobile devices. Today, Samsung announced that it’s issuing a fix to its mobile security policies over the next few days. The company also stressed that it didn’t think the exploit wasn’t much of a threat, since it required a hacker being on an unsecured network with your phone. Also, the company’s Knox security software offers kernel protection to prevent malicious code from running. Still, this isn’t the sort of exploit any company can ignore, especially when a research firm has already detailed exactly how it works.
Samsung says most of its users have Knox enabled by default and will get a prompt to apply a new security policy automatically. The company is also working on issuing an expedited firmware update to protect devices that don’t have Knox enabled already.
You can make sure your phone is ready to receive the security update by following Samsung’s instructions below:
Go to Settings > Lock Screen and Security > Other Security Settings > Security policy updates, and make sure the Automatic Updates option is activated. At the same screen, the user may also click Check for updates to manually retrieve any new security policy updates.
So what happened? NowSecure noted Samsung’s implementation of SwiftKey’s predictive keyboard left a major opening for an exploit. The firm also made it clear the issue doesn’t affect SwiftKey’s standalone apps — it was entirely Samsung’s fault, since it gave SwiftKey’s keyboard privileged user status on all of its devices.
Even worse, TechCrunch notes that Samsung was warned about the exploit months ago by NowSecure. At the time, it told the security firm that a fix was already sent to carriers. But after NowSecure discovered Galaxy S6 phones from Verizon and Sprint were still vulnerable, it decided to announce the vulnerability at a hacker conference, forcing Samsung to respond.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Samsung
Fairphone 2 debuts with a modular design based on “social values”
Amsterdam-based company Fairphone has just released its new version of its environmentally friendly modular smartphone, the Fairphone 2.
Conflict minerals that are extensively used in the mobile tech industry have been the cause of concern for many welfare and human rights organizations due to the poor and extremely harsh working conditions that miners suffer from while mining them. Fairphone’s goal was to produce a smartphone with “social values”, supporting conflict-free minerals and a safe working environment at all levels of manufacturing.
Another particularity of the Fairphone 2 is its highly modular design that lets users easily unscrew the device apart to replace components by ordering new ones. The processor, camera, and even the microphone can be replaced on the Fairphone 2, which according to the company, allows users to keep their device longer by simply swapping parts when wanting performance improvements. Unlike Google’s project Ara, the Fairphone 2 looks like a traditional phone however everything can be swapped out kind of like a desktop computer.
Here are the specs of the Fairphone 2:
- 5-inch display (1920×1080) with Gorilla Glass 3
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor
- 8MP rear camera
- 32GB of internal storage with microSD card slot
- Android 5.1 Lollipop
- Dual-SIM support
Fairphone is a promising smartphone start up whose concept looks ahead of the smartphone industry, values social morals and ethics and by doing so, hopes to build a better future. The Fairphone 2 will be available in Europe starting Autumn 2015 at a relatively high price tag of €525. (partly due to the high cost of conflict-free minerals)
Pre-orders for the Fairphone 2 will open this summer.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Fairphone
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Deal: Baldur’s Gate, Sentinel 4: Dark Star and more are on sale in the Play Store
Looking for a few great games that will help kill some time? You might want to head over to the Play Store to score a few premium titles for cheap. A number of games are being offered at a discount today, but we’d say the best deal of the bunch is Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition. It’s currently available for just $4.05 (down from $9.99), which is one heck of a deal. Other titles available for a discount include the addictive strategy game Sentinel 4: Dark Star, the fantasy-filled BattleLore: Command, racing game Colin McRae Rally and the addictive puzzler Talisman Prologue.
If you’re interested, head to the Play Store links below to check out each title:
- Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition – $4.05 (previously $9.99)
- Sentinel 4: Dark Star – $0.99 (previously $2.99)
- BattleLore: Command – $3.99 (previously $9.99)
- Colin McRae Rally – $0.99 (previously $1.99)
- Talisman Prologue – $0.99 (previously $2.99)
We’re not exactly sure how long these deals will last, so be sure to download them sooner rather than later!
Review: Hands-On With Olloclip’s Telephoto + Ultra Wide-Angle Active Lens and Ollocase [iOS Blog]
iPhone camera accessory maker Olloclip has been producing lenses for the iPhone 6 since shortly after the phone debuted last year, but the company recently improved its product lineup with the addition new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases and a new Active Lens, which combines an ultra wide-angle lens with a telephoto lens.
Olloclip’s iPhone photography accessories are some of the most popular on the market because of their quality and ease of use, and the company’s two newest products are a welcome addition to the product lineup. The iPhone 6 Ollocase works perfectly with Olloclip lenses and the Active Lens is one of Olloclip’s most versatile lenses, useful for landscapes, selfies, portraits, and shots where you need to get just a bit closer to your subject.
Ollocase
Olloclip’s lenses don’t work with iPhone cases because of the way the lenses fit over the top of the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, leading Olloclip to create the Ollocase, a specialized case that does accommodate its lineup of camera lenses.
Olloclip first ventured into case making with the iPhone 5s, producing a two-piece plastic case that was bulky and overly complicated, but their new case for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is much, much improved, and it’s clear that a lot of thought went into the design.
It’s constructed from a thin polycarbonate shell that adds little bulk to the iPhone, and around the sides, it has a rubber bumper. The rubber bumper protects from minor drops and extends a bit past the display, keeping it from touching a table or desk when it’s face down. As a bonus, the flexibility also makes it easy to put on and take off if you like to swap cases often.
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What You Need to Know About Recent ‘XARA’ Exploits Against iOS and OS X
Earlier this week, researchers from several universities published a report exposing a string of security vulnerabilities in iOS and OS X. The vulnerabilities, all labeled as XARA weaknesses, let malicious apps approved on the Mac and iOS App Stores gain access to sensitive data like passwords.
The report details several methods that inter-app interaction services can use to access everything from the Keychain and Websocket on OS X to the URL scheme on iOS and OS X, giving hackers access to sensitive data, including information stored within third-party apps like 1Password, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Evernote, and more.
Following the release of the report, iMore‘s Nick Arnott and Rene Ritchie have taken an in-depth look at the XARA weaknesses in a series of posts on the subject, explaining exactly what they do, how they work on iOS and OS X, and the steps that you can take to protect yourself.
The first post from iMore gives a quick overview of what XARA is, explaining that it’s a group of exploits that use malicious apps to gain access to secure information by inserting themselves into the middle of a communications chain or sandbox.
OS X, not iOS, is primarily affected by XARA exploits, and the malicious apps are able to be distributed through the Mac App Store and the iOS Store. After being downloaded, an app using XARA exploits waits to intercept data. Ritchie explains how it works:
For OS X Keychains, it includes pre-registering or deleting and re-registering items. For WebSockets, it includes preemptively claiming a port. For Bundle IDs, it includes getting malicious sub-targets added to the access control lists (ACL) of legitimate apps.
For iOS, it includes hijacking the URL scheme of a legitimate app.
iMore‘s second in-depth XARA post, written by Nick Arnott, goes into even more detail on the XARA weaknesses and details how to determine if you’ve been affected. On OS X, checking for malicious keychain entries is possible by opening the Keychain Access app, clicking on an item in the list, choosing “Get Info” and looking at the “Access Control” tab to see which apps have access to the Keychain item.
As detailed by Arnott, the only XARA exploit that affects OS devices is the one that involves URL scheme hijacking, detectable by paying careful attention to apps that open via URL scheme, as they may look slightly different than the real thing.
All that said, you can help protect yourself from URL scheme hijacking if you’re paying attention: When URL schemes are called, the responding application gets called to the foreground. This means that even if a malicious app intercepts the URL scheme intended for another app, it will have to come to the foreground to respond. As such, an attacker will have to do a bit of work to pull of this sort of attack without being noticed by the user.
In one of the videos provided by the researchers, their malicious app attempts to impersonate Facebook. Similar to a phishing website that doesn’t look quite like the real thing, the interface presented in the video as Facebook may give some users pause: The app presented isn’t logged in to Facebook, and its UI is that of a web view, not the native app.
Apple’s known about XARA for several months, and according to the researchers who shared the vulnerability with Apple, the company does appear to have tried to fix it several times without success. Avoiding the exploit is relatively simple, as Ritchie and Arnott point out. Avoiding malicious apps can be done by downloading software only from trusted developers and avoiding anything that seems suspicious.
For those interested in learning more about the XARA weaknesses, iMore‘s overview post on the exploit and the site’s more in-depth post are well worth a read.
Top Android Phones of 2015 (so far)
We’ve certainly had our fill of exciting Android releases thus far in 2015. When I look at all the differentiation between each manufacturers’ offering, I get reminded of Android’s newly established motto, “Be together. Not the same“.
Each flagship presented to us have strengths and weaknesses, making the designation of the “best phone” only apparent when resolving what best suits you. It is in this respect that we’ve compiled a rundown of the top phone options at the halfway point of 2015, in impression and comparison. Let’s get started!
New Flagships
Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
I think we can all agree this iteration to Samsung’s flagship brought the biggest change to design and build. And it was about time! Last year’s Galaxy S5 proved that Samsung could not keep recycling the same design and remain successful.
From the front, you’d be hard-pressed to tell that anything has changed. Samsung has retained the same button, earpiece, and sensor layouts as before. It’s only until you look at the sides and back where you notice a serious makeover. The metal frame around the device is a bit more refined than what we saw on the Note 4 last year, with subtle curves and a soft finish.
Gone is the plastic, removable backing we’ve always known. Samsung has succumbed to sealing the back for the sake of a premium build. A flat glass back is now present, with a neat color-shifting reflection effect as you tilt the device.
Samsung also took this opportunity to take the curved edge concept from the Note 4 Edge a step further and put it on both sides. Although it adds little to functionality, no one can deny it is certainty neat to look at, especially as content falls off the screen.
Under the hood we got another surprise, a home-brewed Exynos processor instead of the usual Qualcomm Snapdragon. The 16 MP sensor was upgraded to a f/1.9 aperture lens, resulting in great low light performance. Samsung’s TouchWiz UI has been toned down, and those lags and stutters are yesterday’s news. This thing is quick.
- Premium design and feel
- Arguably best phone display, with excellent outdoor visibility
- Arguably best Android camera
- Curved edge variant
- Refined fingerprint sensor
- Sub-par battery life
- No microSD support
- TouchWiz UI still present
- Expensive
HTC One M9
HTC has taken quite a bit of flak for what they delivered to us this year, and I won’t say it wasn’t well deserved. It’d make more sense to look at the One M9 as a One M8+, we don’t have much change.
It pains me to see that HTC is sticking with 5″ for the display. It is simply too small for a flagship in this day and age. And what makes it worse is that HTC shortly released the One M9+ with a 5.2″ display overseas soon after the M9 launch in the US.
It is also painful to see the infamous black bar (surrounding the HTC logo) still present. Bezel should be a sensitive subject when the speakers add so much of it. HTC should have worked to reduce it (perhaps a larger device could have provided the extra space for the circuitry).
But whatever negativity may befall the One device, it is still a solidly built, sexy slab of metal. This time around, HTC added a two-tone finish, for flare and jewerly-like attractiveness. The speakers underwent a dolby-surround upgrade. The Sense UI is still one of the quickest and is now on version 7.0, although the biggest software updates were home screen app location switching and control over theming.
The camera got both an upgrade and a downgrade. Upgrade in megapixel count, downgrade in quality. Reviews found that the Toshiba-manufactured sensor isn’t where a flagship should be. Not having OIS results in grainy shots, low light shots are fuzzy, and light balance is iffy (whites get overexposed in shots with dynamic ranges). It’s like HTC flipped their ideals from a couple years ago, when they held quality over MP count.
And where is that phablet!?
- Proven design and solid build
- Best smartphone speakers
- Fast UI
- MicroSD support
- Uh-Oh damage protection (free 1-time replacement)
- Exhausted look
- Primary camera can’t compete
- No wireless charging
- Bad power and volume button ergonomics
- Sense 7.0 doesn’t add much
LG G4
It’s a funny thing that LG has been creeping their flagship launches closer and closer to the Spring each year. They’ve refined the G-series into a very competitive device and want to play with the big boys. Like HTC, LG took the route of minor design changes. The G4 bears a striking resemblance to the G3 last year. The big differences to the design are the back covers, where we have either a diamond-texture plastic shell or leather. The plastic build is here to stay (perhaps to maintain the removable back cover for battery and microSD card access). Also, although subtle, the G4 got a little influence from the Flex line, with a slight curve on the chassis.
You start to see where the changes are when you breakdown the components. Although the screen is still a 5.5″ QHD display, the quality has been bumped up quite a bit, at least on paper. LG is using a brillant IPS “Quantum” LCD panel, with improved vividness, contrast, and color gamut. This is flagged as the LCD screen to rival Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen.
The other larger improvement was the camera. LG packed a lot of technology here to go with the 16 MP camera: OIS (in all three axis of movement, x, y, and z), laser autofocus, color-spectrum sensor (helps light balance), and tons of manual controls in the camera app.
- Fantastic display quality
- Powerful camera and control
- Swappable battery and microSD support
- Minimal bezel
- Leather option
- Plastic build
- Uses the Snapdragon 808 (not more powerful Snapdragon 810)
- No quick charging
- No wireless charging
- Unattractive UI
LG G Flex 2
The LG G Flex 2 had a quiet launch at beginning of the year. It predictably turned out to be a mash up between the original G Flex and the G3. What surprisingly took dominance was the screen size, reduced down to 5.5″ from the mammoth 6″ of the original Flex, not something we see happen often. LG has a sweet spot for 5.5″.
The banana-shaped chassis of course made a return, along with the self-healing backing. The internals got bumped up to our first spotting of the Qualcomm’s new octa-core Snapdragon 810 SoC. The camera and laser autofocus were retrieved from the G3. However, the screen was toned down slightly to a 1080P Plastic OLED screen, rather than the QHD IPS LCD of the G3.
- Head-turning curvature
- Speedy internals
- Proven camera and quick focus
- MicroSD support
- Cover seal-heals against lite scratches
- Lower resolution than other flagships
- More bezel than the G3
- Plastic, glossy build
- No wireless charging
Sony Xperia Z4 / Z3+ / Z4v
We weren’t sure if we would get anything from Sony in the first half of the year, as they were reportedly cutting down their mobile division and failed to make a usual flagship showing at Mobile World Congress this year. The Xperia Z4 got announced overseas, without a word on availability in the US. Then the Xperia Z3+ got announced, for the European market. The difference in naming prompted a head scratch. Did Sony think other parts of the world would be outraged to see this minor iteration be called the Z4, but it was okay in Japan?
So what changed versus last year’s Z3? Even more subtleties than we’ve witnessed before. The main upgrade was the SoC, to the latest Snapdragon 810. There were minor tweaks to the chassis: Front speakers were moved closer to the top and bottom frames, the charging port flap is gone, and thickness was reduced by 0.4mm. The battery was downgraded to 2,930 mAh (from 3,100 mAh on the Z3).
And to add to the messy fragmentation, Sony just announced a continuation of partnership with Verizon, with the Xperia Z4v. This variant tacks on a 3,000 mAh, wireless charging, and bump in resolution to QHD (I thought Sony made a stance against going higher than 1080P?). These additions expectedly took a hit on the sleekness, adding some weight and thickness, and to further tone down the appeal, Verizon has Sony throw in a plastic build.
Xperia Z4 / Z3+
- Proven design and build
- Top end SoC
- Leading camera
- Water and dust proof
- MicroSD support
- Very minimal change from predecessor
- Battery capacity decrease
- Unattractive Sony UI
- No wireless charging
Xperia Z4v
- Specs keep up with Z4/Z3+
- QHD resolution
- MicroSD support
- Wireless charging
- Slightly larger battery than Z4/Z3+
- Less premium build (plastic)
- Thicker and heavier than Z4/Z3+
- Verizon-only
Still Relevant
Moto X / Droid Turbo
Motorola did a great job last year delivering a successor to the original Moto X. They up’d the specs to “flagship” status and boosted customization with Moto Maker, where you could choose from three different back cover materials (plastic, real wood, or real leather) and a multitude of color accents around the phone, something no one else yet offers.
The screen size was a modest 5.2″ (AMOLED panel, 1080P), the latest Snapdragon 801 SoC for the time, and a very near stock Android experience. But alas, 2014 Moto X suffered from an Achilles heel, the camera. Although on paper it sounded decent, at 13 MP, f/2.25 aperture, and dual LED ring flash, in practice the image quality often left to be desired. So much so that Motorola admitted the fault and vowed to bring it next time. The battery capacity was also unreasonably low for the day and age at 2,300 mAh.
Soon after the release of the 2014 Moto X, Verizon debuted their exclusive Droid Turbo, which was essential a Moto X on steroids, without Moto Maker and with some pre-set Droid-themed materials and colors. Compared to the specs on the Moto X, the Turbo up’d the processor to the high-end Snapdragon 805, screen resolution to QHD, the camera to 21 MP, and the battery to a considerable 3,900 mAh. And they threw in wireless charging for good measure. It was certainly a top dog, but only for Verizon customers.
Moto X
- More customization than anyone else offers
- Near Stock Android experience, with useful Motorola enhancements
- front facing speaker
- Great starting price (currently at $299)
- Camera not in flagship league
- Small battery
- No microSD support
- No wireless charging
Droid Turbo
- Huge battery
- Huge ppi
- High-end SoC with 3 GB RAM
- Lots of megapixels
- Although a plastic build, some cool and unique back cover choices, like ballistic nylon
- Only for Verizon
- No on-screen buttons
- No microSD support
- No OIS on camera
- Still on Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Note 4 and Note 4 Edge
Samsung’s Galaxy Note series will always be highly regarded. The first Note started the phablet trend, back in 2011, when a 5.3″ screen was considered enormous. In the following years, screen size in other flagships began to grow aggressively, and soon the Note found itself in a good place, as the leader of the pack of pocket-busting phones.
The Note 4 brought the build improvement that Samsung started with the Galaxy Alpha and fully evolved to the S6 this year, with metal surrounding the phone. Else-wise, we got subtle refinements from the Note 3, still a 5.7″ display and a removable faux-leather back (sans the stitching). Samsung upgraded their brilliant Super AMOLED screen resolution to QHD, toned down the color saturation that had plagued their panels for quite some time, and backed it behind the latest Gorilla Glass 4. The Note 4 is still a speedy beast, with the Snapdragon 805 SoC on-board and 3 GB of RAM.
Samsung also took this opportunity to debut the curved screen we had been seeing in prototype form for quite some time. They curved one edge of the display down to the frame and called it the Note 4 Edge. This offering turned out to be more proof-of-concept, as it didn’t really add much value (and for a hefty price tag), but it was a start and great to see something different come to market. As for functionality, the Edge could treat the edge portion of the screen separately and give you different controls than on the main screen or tidbits of information.
- Brilliant and leading QHD display
- One of the best Android cameras
- High-end specs
- Unique S-pen functionality
- MicroSD support
- Edge variant that keeps you on the cutting edge
- Expensive
- Back cover still feels cheap
- Need special cover to wirelessly charge
- Speaker is still lacking
- Edge variant could use more functionality
- TouchWiz (nuff said)
Nexus 6
The Nexus 6 made such a stir in the Android community when it was announced. How could Google turn the Nexus line into a phablet-only club!? For better or worse, Google wanted you to just be open-minded. But then another aspect took a turn for the worse, the price. Since LG took the reins starting with the Nexus 4, the Nexus became the phone for everyone through its affordability. The Nexus 6 brought us back to the reality that if you want a premium smartphone, you gotta pay for it.
In terms of design/build, the Nexus 6 was essentially a blown-up Moto X, which wasn’t a bad thing at all. The curvy-ness of the Moto X served well for a phablet variant in the hand. Motorola nailed all the upgrades we would want from the Moto X: High-end Snapdragon 805 SoC, check. QHD display, check. 13 MP camera with OIS, check. Dual front-facing speakers, check. Qi wireless charging, check. Let’s just say, as long as you didn’t mind the price and ginormous size , this was a dream phone.
But not all was rainbows and unicorns (that is, other than the 64 GB White version at launch). The display looks great, but the visibility is poor outdoors. The Lollipop pain-points have been addressed with the 5.1 update, but the battery life still isn’t where it should be. And the camera could only be said to be decent at best, with struggles in low-light situations and an iffy camera app.
- Huge QHD AMOLED display with minimal bezel
- Stock and latest Android experience
- High-end specs
- Dual front-facing speakers
- Wireless charging
- Huge phone size, difficult one-handed use
- Hit or miss camera
- Poor outside visibility
- Battery life should be better
- No microSD support
Cost Friendly
Asus Zenfone 2
Asus has been in the smartphone scene for quite some time…it just wouldn’t be necessarily known because they have never made much of a dent in the Android world. That is, until the Zenfone 2. Asus has shifted their smartphone focus to value.
Similar to the Oneplus One strategy, the Zenfone 2 can be seen as a flagship at a budget price. We have a common 5.5″ IPS LCD display at 1080P, quad-core 64-bit CPU (Intel Atom Z3580 SoC), 4 GB of RAM, 13 MP rear camera with dual-LED and dual-tone flash, 3,000 mAh battery, 64 GB of on-board storage with microSD expansion, and Android 5.0 Lollipop, all for $300 (available via Amazon). Killer deal if you ask me. There is also a cheaper variant with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of on-board storage for $200 as well.
But do expect to see some some compromises. The quality of the display is just okay, the camera is not on par with the greats, and the Asus software is undesirable.
- Great value
- “Sweet spot” display size
- Quad-core, 64-bit CPU, 4GB RAM
- MicroSD support
- Lots of back cover choices
- Mediocre display quality
- Mediocre camera quality
- Mediocre build quality
- Weak speaker
- Undesirable UI
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3
Acaltel is not a house-hold name in the smartphone world, but they have been around, slowly building their presence. They debuted the OneTouch Idol 3 this year, with very respectable specs for the asking price. Be sure to check out our review here.
Like the Asus Zenfone 2, we’re looking at a 5.5″ 1080P IPS LCD display, 13 MP rear camera, and plastic build. We start to see differentiation when we look more closely. The Idol 3 is powered by a more-common Qualcomm SoC, the Snapdragon 615 (octa-core, 64-bit, 2 GB RAM). The screen quality on the Idol 3 is unarguably bests the Zenfone 2, with more accurate colors and wider viewing angles. Acaltel put some focus on sound, with dual front-facing speakers (powered by JBL audio), something we never see on budget phones. The Idol 3 falls slightly cheaper than the Zenfone 2, at $249 (available via Amazon).
- Great value
- Fantastic display for a budget phone
- Octa-core, 64-bit CPU
- JBL front stereo speakers
- MicroSD support
- Plastic build
- Okay camera quality, no OIS
- Only 2 GB of RAM
- No quick charging
Moto G (2015) and Moto E (2015)
Motorola made quite a name for themselves in the budget sector, first with the Moto G, then followed by the even cheaper Moto E. At sub-$200 price tags, they wanted to cover a range of low budgets, with phones that only had what you needed to get the job done, without thinking poorly of them. Hence, the review process is different when you take a tour around the devices, and the question becomes, how much am I getting for my money?
Turns out, you get quite a bit. At $180, the 2015 Moto G gives you a 5″ screen with 720p resolution, quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC, 8 MP f/2.0 aperture rear camera, dual front-facing speakers, microSD expansion (up to 32 GB), and stock Lollipop (something you don’t see often).
At $120, the Moto E gets you a 4.5″ with 540×960 resolution, quad-core Snapdragon 200 SoC, 5 MP f/2.2 aperture rear camera, mono front-facing speaker, microSD expansion (up to 32 GB), and stock Lollipop. In addition, unlike the Moto G, the Moto E has the option for a better model, with LTE and a Snapdragon 410 SoC, for $150.
Something to note is that neither phones have NFC, so you won’t be able to utilize Android Pay to make in-store purchases with your phone.
Moto G
- Exceptional price for what you get
- Dual front speakers
- MicroSD support
- Stock Lollipop
- Plain design
- Camera and screen quality are just okay
- Only 1 GB of RAM
- No LTE option
Moto E
- Exceptional price for what you get
- Option for LTE and better Snapdragon 410 SoC
- Larger battery than Moto G
- MicroSD support
- Stock Lollipop
- Plain design
- Slightly worse camera and screen than Moto G
- Only 1 GB of RAM
- No camera flash
OnePlus One
I don’t think it’d be right not to include the OnePlus One. It almost falls in its own category, both a flagship and budget offering. When we first heard about this venture for OnePlus last year, we weren’t sure if it’d be successful. Not to mention that awful invite system.
Fortunately, OnePlus managed to make quite a name for themselves and a large fan base. The One was everything OnePlus promised. Well…except for all those different StyleSwap back cover options. Nonetheless, over time it has become proven to be able to stand up with all the rest, for half the price. And with recent price drop, it is made that more a consideration, especially when compared to new budget phones at about the same price.
To recap, we’re looking at the still capable Snapdragon 801 SoC, 5.5″ 1080P IPS LCD, 3 GB RAM, 13 MP f/2.0 (Sony IMX 214) rear camera, 3,100 mAh battery, and Android 5.0 Lollipop with either Cyanogen 11S or OxygenOS.
- Fantastic value, even today
- Great display size and quality
- Camera that beats budget offerings
- Large battery
- Bigger than what a 5.5″ device should be
- Dual bottom speakers are not all that
- No microSD support
- No wireless charging
- Back cover options promise fell through
The post Top Android Phones of 2015 (so far) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Sonos adds Spotify Radio support to its Android beta
Sonos owners are able to stream from an impressive collection of services using the company’s Controller app. If you’ve been listening to Spotify on any of Sonos’ speakers, you’ve likely noticed the streaming service’s Radio feature isn’t available. Well, that’s about to change. Starting today, the Sonos Android beta will include Spotify’s internet radio stream. Thanks to new tools for streaming services in the pending software update, companies like Spotify are able to add more features to enhance the in-home listening experience. In addition to adding radio, the beta also includes tweaks that make Spotify integration with Sonos more stable, so that when lots of users are streaming songs, quality won’t suffer like it did during the holidays. If you’re not willing to give the beta version a try, the update is scheduled to arrive for everyone later this summer.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video
Source: Sonos
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