Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 4.7 available this Friday in the US and Canada, priced at $180

While Alcatel isn’t one of the most popular smartphone brands out there by any means, much of the tech world was blown away when the Idol 3 5.5-inch was released earlier this year, packing excellent specs and a killer price tag that rivaled devices like the Asus ZenFone 2 and the Motorola Moto G series. Now Alcatel OneTouch is back once again, this time launching the 4.7-inch version of the Idol 3 for the US and Canadian markets. The smaller variant will go on sale starting August 14th – this Friday – at the price of just $179.99.

The Idol 3 4.7 is a far amount cheaper than its bigger sibling, but it does make some sacrifices in terms of specs and features to get there. While the design is very similar with the same front facing speakers and camera, the 4.7-inch display is of the 720p variety as opposed to 1080p in the Idol 3 5.5. The processor is also less beefy, as the 4.7-inch variant being powered by a Snapdragon 410 with just 1.5GB of RAM. Other specs include 16GB storage with microSD, a 13MP rear cam, 5MP front cam, and a 2000 mAh battery.

Like the Idol 3 5.5-inch, you can expect a stock-like software experience based on Android 5.0 Lollipop with a few extras thrown in. You will be able to use the phone on AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks (and compatible MVNOs) in the US, and most Canadian carriers should play nicely as well.

With the same price tag as the newest version of the Moto G, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 4.7 is a well priced handset, but only time will tell if it can find the same level of acclaim as its bigger sibling.What do you think of the 4.7-inch model, anyone planning on picking it up?

OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan – everything you need to know

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Today, the Khronos Group, an open consortium of leading hardware and software companies, has announced its new OpenGL ES 3.2 specification and more details on its cross platform Vulkan graphics API. So here is everything that you need to know about the group’s latest graphics APIs and features.

OpenGL ES 3.2

Starting with the new specification, OpenGL ES 3.2 aims to bring another step forward in mobile graphics capabilities and quality by absorbing Google’s Android Extension Pack (AEP) functionality into the core of OpenGL ES..

If you recall, the AEP was announced with the launch of Android 5.0 Lollipop and brought along a selection of graphical technologies to the mobile OS via extensions to OpenGL ES 3.1. The introduction of OpenGL ES 3.2 builds on the previous release to open up new graphics functionality to make full use of future mobile and automotive hardware.

OpenGL ES 3.2 boasts a small number of improvements over last year’s OpenGL ES 3.1. Both make use of similar features from the AEP.

From the AEP, OpenGL ES 3.2 compliant hardware will support Tessellation for additional geometry detail, new geometry shaders, ASTC texture compression for a smaller memory bandwidth footprint, floating point render targets for high accuracy compute processes, and new debugging features for developers. These high-end features are already found in the group’s full OpenGL 4 specification.

High quality graphics effects are also part of the standard, with Deferred Rendering, physically-based shading, HDR tone mapping, and Global Illumination and reflections made available, bring desktop-class graphics to the core of OpenGL ES and mobile devices.

Jargon aside, this essentially allows for better looking mobile titles on supported hardware, including but not limited to the features seen in the impressive looking Rivalry Demo built in Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 (above).

Vulkan – the cross platform API

If you have been following desktop graphics technology lately, you’ve probably heard a lot about the low-level hardware access and performance improvements being touted by next generation graphics API’s like Microsoft’s DirectX12 and Khronos’ Vulkan.

By reducing driver overheads and improving multi-threaded CPU usage, Vulkan is promising notable performance improvements alongside the latest graphics features. The growth of multi-core mobile SoC designs could lead to notable performance gains in the mobile market.

A load of companies are actively working within the group, and cross platform support will benefit a great deal of the participants, as well as consumers.

The other part of Vulcan development is to offer a single unified API for desktop, mobile, consoles and other embedded applications. Vulkan supports Windows 7, 8 and 10, SteamOS, Android, Samsung’s Tizen spin-off, and a selection of desktop Linux distributions.

The introduction of Vulcan will do away with ES and desktop versions of the API by unifying the two, simplifying cross platform development and opening up new possibilities for developers and gamers alike. The most recent versions of OpenGL ES are pretty much considered a subset of the main OpenGL API now, making cross compatibility much more feasible.

“Hardware and software companies need an open 3D API to maximize market reach and minimize porting costs, and Vulkan is being forged by a broad consortium of industry leaders to do exactly that,” – Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group.

Vulkan will support hardware that is compatible with at least the mobile OpenGL ES 3.1 API through to the desktop OpenGL 4.5 specification and higher. However, hardware across these different platforms have different capabilities and API support levels, so we won’t necessarily see complete feature sets shared across all platforms.

Instead, Vulkan defines and implements features at device creation time, and platform profiles can be specified by Khronos and other parties. This will allow developers to target specific platforms using the same API, with features being split up depending on the hardware. For consumers, this will hopefully increase the availability of cross platform titles, as development costs will fall.

Vulkan open source tools

Along with the new graphics features, Khronos is introducing its SPIR-V intermediate language for shading language flexibility. The key SPIR-V tools are open source, which includes translators for GLSL, OpenCL C and C++ and an SPIR-V assembler/disassembler.

The open source Vulkan test suite is leveraging and merging with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) drawElements Quality Program (dEQP) framework and is designed to allow developers to offers a greater level of feedback and to be able to make contributions to resolve cross-vendor inconsistencies.

In summary, the introduction of OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan will bring performance and graphical improvements to Android gamers, as well as opening the door for new compute solutions for more complex processing tasks. There’s an equally large focus on making cross-platform development less expensive and less time consuming to implemented too, which also trickles down to benefit us customers.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait for new mobile hardware before users and developers can make the most of many of these enhancements. The first specifications and implementations of Vulkan are expected later this year.

Hangouts 4.0 begins rolling out to Android

Forget Update Wednesdays, Monday morning is apparently where it is at. Google Hangouts 4.0 for Android is now official and is rolling out from today. The new update brings several enhancements to the table, including a more responsive redesign that fully embraces material design. The new app features a compose button that makes it easier than ever to start group or individual conversations, and you’ll find the entire experience is also faster and more battery life friendly than ever before.

Overall design and responsiveness are the biggest perks in Hangouts 4.0, though Google is also adding group MMS using Google Voice, better Android Wear integration, and new Outbound Caller ID in the Hangouts Dialer.

Here’s the full list of key changes, for those curious:

• Hangouts is sleeker. Now updated with material design, Hangouts has a new look and feel: items respond to your touch in more intuitive ways and transitions between tasks are more fluid.
• Hangouts is simpler. The new Compose button makes it easier for you to start a new group or conversation. Our streamlined contacts list helps you find the right person quickly. And attachments have been revamped and simplified, so sharing—of emoji, GIFs, your location, even multiple photos at once—is a snap.
• Hangouts is faster. Whether you’re sending a quick message or video chatting with family, you don’t want hold-ups. We’ve been obsessively fixing bugs and speeding up message delivery to make Hangouts faster and more reliable. Bonus: less battery consumption.
• Make affordable calls from the Hangouts Dialer, now with Outbound Caller ID (so your friends won’t get any more calls from the great “Unknown”).
• Receive and reply to group MMS messages in Hangouts using Google Voice.
• Use Hangouts on Android Wear when you really have an eye on the time (just say, “Ok Google, send a Hangouts message,” into your watch).
• And if you’re not around but want friends to know what’s on your mind? Custom status messages are back.

At the moment, we don’t quite have an APK, though we’ll try to update this post with a link if and when that surfaces. Anyone get their hands on Hangouts 4.0 yet? If so, what do you think so far?