Samsung Project Zero 2 could be a larger variant of the Galaxy S6 Edge
We have been hearing rumours about Samsung’s Project Zero 2 for sometime now, and as it turns out that the code name stands for none other than the supersized version of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. If you remember, not so long ago, Samsung was using the codename Project Zero to refer to the Galaxy S6 before it became official.
According to reports, the SM-G928 (Project Zero 2) shares many of its specifications with the Galaxy S6 edge. In fact, the only differences between these devices are of display size and processor. The SM-G928 will have the same dual-edge display as the S6 Edge, but it will feature a larger 5.4-inch or 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen.
Another change will be a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chipset instead of the octa-core Samsung Exynos 7420 that the current flagship device comes with. Since the SM-G928 will be a bigger device – with its 151 mm length and 73 mm breadth, we are even expecting a bigger battery, at least 3000mAh.
Although its name has not been confirmed, people on the internet are assuming that it will be called the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. And just like the S6 Edge, it will come with a 16-megapixel primary camera with Optical Image Stabilization and a 5-megapixel secondary camera, 32GB on board memory, 3GB of RAM, 4G LTE connectivity and a fingerprint scanner. It indeed is a good news for those who refrained from buying the S6 Edge because its screen size wasn’t large enough for them.
Source: SamMobile
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LG Tribute 2 and LG Volt 2 now available through Boost Mobile
A pair of new LG phones are now available for Boost Mobile customers, including the Tribute 2 and the Volt 2. Both devices offer pretty similar hardware, with the Volt offering a slightly larger screen and battery.
Both phones are powered by a Snapdragon 810 CPU with 1 GB of RAM, and they both have 8 GB of internal storage (plus microSD card slot!) and run Android 5.1. The Volt sports a 5-inch display while the Tribute has a 4.5-inch screen, and the Volt 2’s camera shoots at a slightly higher resolution of 8 megapixels, beating out the 5 megapixel shooter in the Tribute 2. No major differences, but you’ll pay a $50 premium for that nicer camera and bigger screen.
The Tribute 2 runs $99, no contract required, while the Volt 2 will cost you $149. For what you’re getting, these are both pretty solid options, especially if you live somewhere that’s covered by Boost Mobile’s LTE signal.
source: Sprint
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Federal Railroad Administration to partner with Google on grade-crossing data
The Federal Railroad Administration and Google are entering into a new partnership to help make the roads just a little safer. As part of a project between the two organizations, Google will include grade crossing data in their Google Maps platform for all rail crossings in the country. More importantly, Google plans to add in audio and visual alerts for drivers using the navigation feature available on their smartphones.
According to the FRA, rail crossing deaths had been on a decline, from around 12,000 per year in the 1970s down to only about 2,000 per year more recently. However, in 2014 the trend inexplicably reversed with a 9 percent increase in accidents. These resulted in 270 deaths, compared to 232 in 2013, and 843 injuries. The FRA says grade-crossing accidents are the second highest cause of rail deaths after trespassing incidents.
The data being added to Google Maps will cover approximately 130,000 crossings on public roads and 85,000 crossings on private roads.
The FRA says they have also reached out to other mapping software companies like Apple, MapQuest, TomTom and Garmin to try to get similar data into their products along with the alert system.
Sarah Feinberg, the acting administrator for the FRA, says
“The vast majority of these accidents and deaths are preventable. In some cases, maybe a driver intends to beat the train, thinks they are familiar with the route or still have time to cross. But there are many cases where drivers lack situational awareness, because it may be dark or the route is unfamiliar.”
Feinberg says it made more sense to provide grade-crossing data to Google, and others, to be incorporated into their products rather than trying to get users to access it using the FRA’s own app.
Operation Lifesaver president Joyce Rose notes,
“It’s another tool in the toolbox to make the public safer. This is going to help raise awareness about where crossings are and, hopefully, remind drivers to act safely as they approach.”
source: The New York Times
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Google adding logo branding to app splash screens on Android
Google has added an interesting tweak to their current crop of Android apps; splash screens with the Google logo. If you’ve updated and used some of Google’s Android apps lately, you may have noticed a brief splash screen upon opening the apps. The screen is simple, displaying the app’s logo and Google’s brand logo at the bottom, but it definitely creates a slight delay when opening the app. That’s not a good thing.
Most of us want our apps to open as quickly as possible, but Google wants to give themselves and other developers a chance to push some brand recognition. They’ve even changed Android’s app developer guidelines to suggest making a brief splash screen while an app initializes, recommending a concise logo or tagline without flooding the screen with too much text.
It’s not completely clear while Google is doing this, although it could have to do with trying to maintain brand recognition and loyalty through Google services, not just Android. That is, after all, where Google’s actually making money off of this whole “smartphone” thing. So far there aren’t any other major apps that have followed suit, at least not that I can find, but if Google wants to set this precedent we might end up seeing this become common practice for Android apps.
Out of the apps I’ve tested, I’ve seen the splash screens on YouTube, Google Maps, and Google Drive. Gmail, Inbox, and Google’s Play suite of apps (Play Music, Play Games, etc.) launch straight into the application without any sort of delay. Resuming an app if you’re multitasking also doesn’t appear to have changed, so you’ll only have to see the splash screen if the app is starting up after being closed in the background.
With that being said, there’s a good chance that Google will update all of their apps to include this splash screen, and I just haven’t gotten those updates yet. You know how Google is with updates.
If you have any Google apps on your phone, test them out and see if a splash screen is showing up for you. Let us know which apps are affected in the comments.
source: Forbes
via: Pocket Now
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The 1998 ‘Battlezone’ remake is getting remastered
The trends of remaking and remastering classic games just kicked into overdrive. Rebellion (best known for its Sniper Elite games) has revealed that it’s developing not just a virtual reality version of the original Battlezone, but a refresh of the 1998 Battlezone title for PCs — yes, it’s a remake getting a remaster. It’s too soon to know what this new version will entail, although it’ll probably be fun if it maintains the ‘original’ mix of tank-based action, real-time strategy and an alternate-history space race. Let’s just hope that someone doesn’t try to re-do the remaster a decade from now… that would be a bit much.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Rebellion
Google Hangouts for iOS gets a redesign, better performance
Frustrated with the Google Hangouts app on iOS from time to time? Us too. Mountain View updated the mobile software today with a refreshed UI and more. First, you’ll likely notice the new coat of Material Design paint that tidies things up a bit. Heck, even the dialer got a redesign. There’s also a new quick compose button that allows you to quickly send messages to the folks you chat with often. Access to images from the gallery, camera or emoji library is easier too, and you can now send multiple photos at once. The update includes the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, and the latter hopefully remedies a few of the headaches some of us at Engadget HQ have been experiencing lately. The goods are available now at iTunes, and the Android version is said to arrive shortly.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Google
Via: Sky Ortiz (Google+)
Source: iTunes
Awesome HD aircraft wallpapers
Who knew a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber could weigh 158,100 pounds? The darned thing is supposed to be stealth, but that is part of what make aircraft so cool. Growing up in the 80’s and watching the movie Top Gun, hundreds of times, turned me into a huge fan of the F-14A Tomcat.
Here is a selection of 15 aircraft wallpapers for your mobile devices.
Aircraft wallpapers
AndroidGuys does not own any of the images posted here. If you own the rights to any of the photos in this gallery and would like credit, please let us know….
If you see a wallpaper that belongs to you and you would like to receive credit, I would love to give it to you! Just drop a comment in the section provided below with some proof (You know, just so we don’t have people claiming things that are not theirs…) So, please choose those that you like and enjoy!
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Meet Soundtrap, a cloud-based, multi-platform, music recording studio
Earlier today, Soundtrap, a multi-platform, cloud-based, music recording studio came out of its beta into stable. The company of the same name states that it works on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and Chrome OS.
In a statement, Soundtrap CEO Per Emanuelsson explained,
“This is the only online music recording studio where you can start making a song on your Chromebook or Windows machine, invite a guitarist friend who is using a Mac, find a new keyboard player to work with who is using an iPad from the other side of the globe and finish the song with a great vocalist on the street using an Android smartphone.”
The platform was developed using just HTML5 technology, and it is written in Google’s DART language. It uses the Web Audio, Web MIDI, and WebRTC APIs.
In order to access it, start a browser and log in to the site. Here, you can choose from up to over 50 virtual instruments, 1,400 royalty free music loops, and 25 real-time effects. A built-in video window allows collaborators to work together live. Additionally, musicians aren’t limited just to the above since they can record audio from physical instruments.
Soundtrap’s solution is quite user-friendly (See this video for a demonstration). In fact, it already has a presence in the K12 and higher education markets in the United States.
The basic plan is free and will get you 480 music loops, 5 projects, and 125 instruments. Subscriptions to the service start at $3.99 a month with the second, more expensive option being $7.99 per month.
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Supreme Court inaction is good news for Oracle in case against Google
Since 2010 a lawsuit between Oracle and Google has been wending its way through the court system as the two tech giants battle it out to determine whether Google will have to pay Oracle for the use of Java code in the Android operating system. The latest stop was the Supreme Court where Google hoped the justices would hear an appeal concerning the ability of APIs to be copyrighted. The justices declined to take action to overturn a May 2014 appeals court ruling that favored Oracle.
At the appellate court level, the justices had determined that 37 APIs were entitled to copyright protection. Until then the concept of APIs being protected by copyright had been unsettled. Given how the software world is moving increasingly to the use of APIs to enable interactions between different systems and programs, the ruling could have a far-ranging impact.
Even though the Supreme Court let stand the ruling that APIs are protected by copyright law, Google has a separate argument pending in which they argued that even if the code making up the APIs were subject to copyright protection, Google could still use it without paying a fee under fair use provisions. The original jury trial was deadlocked over the fair use argument and the issue still has to be retried.
At stake is $1 billion that Oracle claims Google owes for the use of the Java code in Android.
source: Wall Street Journal
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Uber strikes deal to acquire a small piece of Microsoft Bing
In a transaction confirmed by both companies, Uber is buying a portion of Microsoft Bing that focuses on image collection data and activities. As part of the transfer of that portion of Bing, Uber will be adding around 100 employees moving over from Microsoft.
The transfer includes engineers who were working to get image data into Bing Maps and are largely credited with being responsible for the 3D, aerial and street footage. The fact that Uber may be interested in this type of data should not be surprising given the business they are in and likely points to future enhancements. Source also believe the transfer includes intellectual property, specifically all of the images and related data, that had been produced by the Bing business unit, presumably with Microsoft retaining a license.
There has been some chatter about how this transfer fits in with the larger Microsoft strategy. Some worry that it may indicate a lack of commitment to Bing on the part of Microsoft while others think it is a good sign that Microsoft is focusing on their core products. For their part, Microsoft says their commitment to Bing is primarily as a search platform and not necessarily smaller component units like this mapping section.
source: TechCrunch
Come comment on this article: Uber strikes deal to acquire a small piece of Microsoft Bing
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