Amazon launches Prime Music in the UK
After previously opening the facility to customers in the US, Amazon has today launched its Prime Music streaming service in the UK. This feature is available to all subscribers of the company’s ‘Prime’ membership package at no extra cost. For those not already registered, it will set you back £79 per year and gets you movies, free deliveries and much, much more.
Just like Apple Music and Spotify, Prime Music offers its users unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs together with “hundreds of hand-built playlists” — so there’s bound to be something for everyone to enjoy. Customers also have the ability to download any song or album they’ve added to their library for offline playback.
If you’re based in the UK and would like to find out more about Amazon Prime Music — hit the source link below.
Source: Amazon
Come comment on this article: Amazon launches Prime Music in the UK
Samsung launches the Galaxy J5 in Germany for €235
Samsung has now launched its latest mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy J5, in Germany. The handset is currently available to purchase in either white or black colorways through Orange for €235 ($260) on a pre-paid tariff.
The J5 packs a 5-inch 720p display, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2,600mAh battery.
Out of the box the device runs Android 5.0 Lollipop skinned with the latest version of Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, which the South Korean manufacturer claims is the “easier way to use your device, giving you intuitive control over everyday tasks.”
By and large, the Galaxy J5 is a pretty solid mid-range device. If you’d like to find out more about picking one up in Germany — hit the source link below.
Source: Orange Germany
Come comment on this article: Samsung launches the Galaxy J5 in Germany for €235
Let’s talk about the OnePlus 2’s missing features
It would be easy to write this and beat OnePlus with its #NeverSettle hashtag, perhaps throwing in ‘And isn’t it ironic…Don’t you think?’ while I’m at it. But I won’t. Instead, let me say, that the OnePlus 2 boasts some high-end components, from the Snapdragon 810 processor, the 3GB/4GB of RAM, the super-quick camera to the 3,300mAh battery. That’s notwithstanding the amazing price of $329 for the 16GB and $389 for the 64GB variants. Fantastic prices, really. But, in reaching those price-points, what features did OnePlus leave out?
- Wireless Charging
- MicroSD Card (Although the OnePlus One didn’t have a MicroSD card slot)
- Quick Charge ( Any sort of quick charging technology)
- NFC
Each feature, taken on its own merit, has the ability to polarize opinion. For example, I don’t use wireless charging so it doesn’t matter to me that it isn’t present, but I have a friend that uses it every day, and considers it a must have feature.
You might say that the absence of any sort of Quick Charge technology doesn’t affect you in the slightest but are you ready to go back to needing 3 hours and twenty minutes to fully recharge the OnePlus 2? I get it that on the normal day, you will charge your phone while you are sleeping and wake up to a fully charged handset. But it’s on the abnormal days that we often make use of our smartphone’s ability to charge quickly, the days where we simply forgot to plug our phones into the charger, or if you live in South Africa, where the power grid often cuts out thanks to load shedding, you try to charge your phone when you can.
One of the possible reasons for the lack of a quick charge function could be the inclusion of the USB Type C socket, which is not to be confused with USB 3.1. The Type C socket that the OnePlus 2 has is basically a re-working of the USB 2.0 socket enabling it to accept a cable any which way. But because it’s a Type C socket, it might not be compatible with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology that requires a physical, compatible power controller. I’m sure we will hear more about this in the coming days. On the plus side, there is a 3,300mAh battery that should get most users through the day.
As for not having a MicroSD card slot, well, the OnePlus One didn’t have one either so it can’t really be classed as a missing feature. Is it something that some of us want? Yes, but on the flip-side, it’s also a feature that some don’t. If you previously bought the OnePlus One and found it lacked storage, then you should probably think of going for the 64GB variant of the OnePlus 2 instead if you are planning on changing up.
The lack of NFC is a tough one to call. OnePlus say that they dropped NFC from the phone because “We heard from a lot of users of the One and saw most of our users weren’t using NFC.” Granted, it isn’t a feature that many of us use, but it is something that some of us might hope to use with when Google finally rolls out Android Pay in the next couple of months. Other uses include using it for NFC tags, connecting to cameras to retrieve photos or connecting to speakers.
It isn’t quite as clear-cut as OnePlus make out. The omission of these features points to OnePlus stripping out unnecessary components to meet the desired price point. Which means compromising or settling for a phone that is good enough, rather than the 2016 flagship killer that it so desperately wants its followers to believe.
That all sounds very negative, I know, but I am finishing on a positive, I promise. While some of us will moan about the OnePlus 2 lacking a MicroSD card slot, wireless charging, NFC and any form of quick charge technology, there is a market for a high-performance smartphone with mostly high-end components at a reasonable price. What it boils down to really, is accepting the OnePlus 2 for what it offers for $329/$389 instead of what rejecting it for what it lacks.
Come comment on this article: Let’s talk about the OnePlus 2’s missing features
OnePlus aims for 1 million sales in India this year
Chinese manufacturer OnePlus may have just launched its new OnePlus 2 smartphone but the company is still relying on its first handset, the OnePlus One, in developing economies as it seeks to increase sales and market share. Outside of China, the Indian market is the third largest for OnePlus (after the USA and Europe respectively) and the company has major aims for the rapidly growing market.
OnePlus India General Manager Vikas Agarwal revealed:
India is an important market for us. Outside of China, it is already the third largest market for us, after the US and Europe… We expect to sell one million units of OnePlus One and Two by December.
From day one, we’ve prioritised our product and our community above all else, we carefully listened to our users’ feedback and incorporated suggestions in building the OnePlus 2.”
The Indian smartphone market is one of the world’s fastest growing market and with over 19.5 million smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2015, the market has plenty of potential for OnePlus to tap into. OnePlus launched its first smartphone in India in December and has sold 250,000 units to-date and based on this, it’s fair to say that the OnePlus 2 will make up a large number of the 1 million sales target.
OnePlus’ latest smartphone certainly delivers on its aims of being the 2016 Flagship Killer, having picked up the mantle from the OnePlus One, which was the self-acclaimed 2014 Flagship killer. The OnePlus 2 brings the latest hardware including a Snapdragon 810 processor, a 3300 mAh battery and a 13MP camera with f/2.0 aperture, laser autofocus, 1.3µm pixel size and optical image stabilisation and combines these with future proofed specs such as 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, the brightest smartphone display on the market and much more.
The resulting handset has impressive specs but even more impressive is the affordable price tag; the OnePlus 2 will retail for $329 for the 16GB/3GB RAM version and $389 for the 64GB/4GB RAM model, which equates to €339 and €399 respectively. In India, the handset’s price tag reflects the company’s aims with the 16GB version retailing for Rs. 22,999 ($359) and the 64GB model retailing for Rs. 24,999 ($390).
OnePlus in video:
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Given the impressive price tag and the fact that the OnePlus 2 will be significantly cheaper than flagship rivals, the smart money would be on OnePlus achieving its sales targets.
Amazon Prime Music streaming lands in the UK
Amazon’s Prime Music service has been available in the US for a little over a month now and UK Prime customers can now enjoy ad free streaming too, as the service as just gone live in the country.
Amazon Prime Music offers unlimited, ad-free music access to over one million tracks, without any playback restrictions. There are also hundreds of handpicked playlists to choose from and songs can be downloaded to your smartphone or tablet for offline playback.
You will need to be an Amazon Prime member to make use of Prime Music. Fortunately, Amazon is currently offering a 30 day free trial, so you can see what all of the fuss is about before stumping up the cash. A yearly Prime membership currently costs £79, which includes unlimited one-day delivery, access to Prime Instant Video, Prime Music and unlimited photo storage with Amazon Cloud Drive.
Although its music library might not be quite as large as some other streaming services’, Amazon Prime’s range of features still makes it a competitive option, especially for regular shoppers.
Amazon Prime Music and Instant Video, as well as the fast delivery service, are also rumored to be heading to India later in the year.
If you want to sign up, click the big ol’ orange button below.
3DMark adds new mobile benchmark for OpenGL ES 3
3DMark, one of the industry’s leading gaming benchmark companies, has just released a new graphics benchmark for Android devices named Sling Shot, which tests your device against a range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and 3.0 API features.
The new Sling Shot benchmark is designed to put your smartphone through its graphics paces and consists of three different tests, two graphics scenarios and one physics test. The first graphics test puts heavy emphasis on geometry processing and only uses simple shaders, while the second test reverses the situation to stress more mathematically complex shaders. The physics test’s math is computed on your phone’s CPU.
Inside the test, you will find examples of the latest graphical effects included as part of the OpenGL ES 3.0 and 3.1 APIs. These include, surface, particle and volumetric illumination, depth of field, and bloom post processing. End results are displayed in a modified graph, which contains information about the frames per second, CPU clock speed, battery drain, and, perhaps most importantly these days, your handset’s temperature.
Most last generation handsets can run the ES 3.0 test, which runs at 1080p before being scaled to your actual display resolution. Newer devices, such as the HTC One M9 or Galaxy S6, can run both 3.0 and 3.1 options. Sling Shot using ES 3.1 bumps the resolution up to a full QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution before downscaling to your display’s actual size. This mode also makes use of more advanced Compute Shaders rather than Pixel Shaders for the first graphics test. Both modes can also be run “off-screen” using the Unlimited mode.
As part of the update, the benchmark suite now also supports Android TV devices so you can benchmark your set-top gaming performance, new UI changes for selecting your desired benchmark, and Russian localization.
The new 3DMark benchmark replaces the standalone Sling Shot app which was used for testing back in April and scores between the two versions are not comparable. You can download the 3DMark suite for free from the Google Play Store.
It’s finally here: the OnePlus 2 is here for $389 USD
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It seems like forever that we’ve known about the OnePlus 2, but it’s finally been officially announced earlier today. Happening through an elaborate VR event, OnePlus announced two variants of the OnePlus 2, a 64GB version with 4GB RAM going for $389 USD, and a 16GB version with 3GB RAM for $329 USD – the 64GB version will go on sale first on August 11th with the 16GB version being released some time after that. For those of you who like numbers, here are the full specs of the OnePlus 2:
- Operating System: OxygenOS based on Android 5.1
- CPU: 64-bit Qualcomm© Snapdragon™ 810 processor with 1.8GHz Octa-core CPUs
- GPU: Adreno 430
- RAM: 4 GB/ 3 GB LPDDR4
- Storage: 64 GB/16 GB eMMC v5.0
- Sensors: Fingerprint, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity and Ambient Light
- Power: Embedded rechargeable 3,300 mAh LiPo battery, USB Type-C
- Dimensions: 151.8 x 74.9 x 9.85 mm
- Weight: 6.17 ounces (175 g)
- Wi-Fi Dual-band Wi-Fi: 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n and 5GHz 802.11a/n/ac
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1
- Cameras: 13MP rear with OIS with laser focus, 5MP front
- SIM: Dual nano SIM
- Connectivity US: GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz; WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/8; FDD-LTE: Bands: 1/2/4/5/7/8/12/17
- Connectivity International: GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz; WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/5/8; FDD-LTE: Bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20
None of that should really be a surprise given how much OnePlus themselves let on in the days leading up to today’s event. There are a few interesting notes however – the “button” that can be seen at the bottom of the device is not actually a physical button but a capacitive one; the border around it is to outline the fingerprint sensor. Unusually, the OnePlus 2 won’t have NFC built in, nor will it have wireless charging capabilities. And while OnePlus has shown itself to be one step ahead by putting a USB Type-C port in the OnePlus 2, it will be restricted to USB 2.0 speeds, not USB 3.0.
Of course, if you like what you hear, don’t forget that you will still need an invite before you can purchase a OnePlus 2. Feel free to register for one on OnePlus’ website, but we hear there are 300,000 people registered already.
What do you think about the OnePlus 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Android Police
The post It’s finally here: the OnePlus 2 is here for $389 USD appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Amazon Prime Music streaming comes to the UK
Hot on the heels of Apple Music, Amazon is launching its own music streaming service in the UK. Unlike Spotify, Rdio and most of its other competitors though, there’s no single price for Prime Music; to gain access, you’ll need an annual Prime subscription. The £79 fee comes with a host of other perks, including one-day delivery and Prime Instant Video, but it’s a key difference in the way Amazon wants to sell the service. Even if it falls a little short of its rivals, it might not really matter — Prime Music simply adds to the value of Prime and makes Amazon’s subscription more appealing to new and existing subscribers.
Amazon is boasting just “over a million songs” on Prime Music — a paltry sum compared to the 30 million plus on Spotify and Apple Music — along with other industry-standard features such as offline playback and curated playlists. Just like in the US, where it’s been available for over a year, you can access the service on a wide range of hardware too including iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Amazon’s Fire devices. Music streaming is a crowded space, but at least the company has a unique take; the service itself is unoriginal, but the pricing could make more sense for those already debating a Prime subscription.
Twitter welcomes interactive notifications on iOS devices
Twitter has upgraded its notifications for iPhones and iPads, making them interactive to enable quicker responses. For instance, if you get pinged about a new message while using another app, the improved notification box that pops up allows you to favorite or reply to that tweet without leaving the program you’re using. In addition, the latest version of Twitter for iOS adds a button next to your avatar when you compose a tweet, which gives you easy access to drafts you’ve never gotten the chance to publish. Don’t bother unearthing old stolen jokes, though — Twitter’s bound to delete them anyway. You can download the update right now from iTunes; it might not be a major one, but both features are clearly useful if you’re always in a hurry.
Source: iTunes
Samsung watch with limited version of Samsung Pay could launch on Aug 13
Samsung will reportedly launch a smartwatch alongside its Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus smartphones on August 13th according to a new report from the WSJ. The report goes on to claim that a limited version of Samsung Pay could launch alongside the new wearable ahead of a fully-featured rollout later in the year.
Samsung Galaxy S6 in video:
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Samsung has long been rumoured to be announcing two handsets and until recently, we expected this to take place at IFA in September but as it turns out, Samsung has bought the launch forward with an event planned for August 13rd ahead of a release just 8 days later on August 21st. The key reason for this is to beat the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus to market with Samsung worried that Apple’s new smartphones will negatively impact on sales of its new phablets.
The Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus have both paid plenty of visits to the rumour mill but just as exciting could be the new Samsung smartwatch, which has long rumoured to be the company’s first round smartwatch and is likely to debut as the Samsung Gear A. The Korean manufacturer confirmed as much in its Software Development Kit as it teased a round display and an entirely new interface designed specifically for round smartwatches.
Note 4 in video:
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According to the WSJ, the smartwatch could signal the launch of Samsung Pay (even in limited form) and at launch, it is expected to allow customers to pay for public transport rides. Future plans for Samsung Pay include paying for purchases in-store and one of the key differences between Samsung Pay and other payment solutions – such as Android Pay and Apple Pay – is that Samsung Pay works with 99% of existing payment terminals (even those that are not wireless-enabled).
Whether Samsung Pay is ready for launch or is still delayed remains to be seen but we’ll be there whenever Samsung does launch its new smartphones and services to bring you the information live. What are you most excited about? Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Gear A or Samsung Pay? Let us know your views in the comments below.
AIVAnet 