This is the Pill+, Beats’ first speaker since joining Apple
Its been a while since Beats revealed some new personal audio tech. To be fair, the company has been a bit busy getting settled in Cupertino and lending a hand with Apple Music. Now that the streaming service has launched, Beats is getting back to the speaker business. Its first completely new device since joining Tim Cook & Co. is the Pill+: a Bluetooth device for blasting your music. As the name suggests, the Beats Pill+ is a bit larger than the original Pill, yet much smaller than the Pill XL. The overall design is different as well, with a flat panel around the middle rather than a completely round pill-like shape. That change also makes the power and volume controls more accessible up top. Slideshow-326552
To handle the sound, the Pill+ has two-way crossover stereo tech, including custom-designed woofers and tweeters (two of each), that projects the audio and keeps things clear across genres. We haven’t been able to test that for ourselves yet, but on paper, this speaker looks like an improvement over the OG model that we weren’t too impressed with. If history is any indication of what to expect, there should be a solid dose of bass here. Beats says the Pill+ will keep the music going for up to 12 hours before needing a charge and the included Lightning cable and power supply can completely juice it back up in three hours. Similar to the Pill XL, there’s a group of LEDs that’ll keep you informed of the battery level and a USB jack will let you plug in your phone if it’s running on empty.
In addition to the speaker itself, Beats has a new companion app to make the most out of the purchase. There’s a DJ mode that’ll allow multiple phones/tablets/etc. to pair with the speaker so more than one person can control the playlist. It also helps you add a second Pill+ to either make the overall sound louder or to use ’em as a stereo setup with left and right channels. If you’ve already opened your wallet to buy Dr. Dre’s latest, you’ll have to wait until next month to drop $230 at an Apple store and other places Beats’ goods are sold.
ICYMI: HoloLens gaming, walking talking robot phone and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: The RoBoHon is a 7-inch tall smartphone robot that can also dance, walk and talk and basically simultaneously creep out and amaze all your family and friends. Microsoft is busy dreaming up the next HoloLens game that we really want to play: Code-named Project X-Ray, it sends robots to do battle with you, right in your living room. And a virtual reality headset app wants to help train surgeons in a way that doesn’t endanger any real people.
We also touch on the scout quadcopter that maps out terrain for its friend, a walking robot. Finally, we are rounding out the show with a Space Week nod for what an Italian astronaut regularly eats aboard the International Space Station.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Sony to let 10,000 Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact owners beta test Marshmallow build
It was only yesterday that Sony posted a list of devices slated to be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and now the handset maker is giving Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact owners the chance to beta test the latest version of Android on their handsets via its Concept for Android beta initiative.
Basically, the Concept for Android initiative is a beta program that will allow up to 10,000 Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact owners to test a build of Android 6.0 Marshmallow on their devices. Users in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom are eligible to take part. All you have to do is install the Concept for Android app on your Xperia Z3 or Z3 Compact and register your details.
“Rather than merely previewing a new software version, this is about a proof-of-concept way of working, whereby we build a new user experience – and more importantly, process – from the ground up, that will also allow us to be more responsive in developing and rolling out the Sony Android upgrades Xperia users want, more quickly.”
Remember, only the first 10,000 users will gain access to the proof-of-concept build of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, so if you own an eligible handset and want to take part, there’s no time to delay. If successful, you will be notified in the next couple of weeks. You can download the Concept for Android app by clicking the Play Store link below.
Source: Sony
Via: XperiaBlog
Come comment on this article: Sony to let 10,000 Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact owners beta test Marshmallow build
(Deal) Fly away with the SKEYE Pico Drone for only $34.99
If big things come in small packages, the SKEYE Pico Drone is a titan. At first glance, most will fawn over the cuteness of the tiny quadcopter but make no mistake, this baby can move!
Ready to fly out of the box, the adjustable gyro makes flight completely controllable. Its slight form factor means you’ll have access to areas where aerial maneuvers wouldn’t have been possible before. Nimble and agile, the Skeye Pico Drone handles flips and stunts with ease while offering multiple flight modes for pilots of all skill-levels.
- Control the flight easily w/ 3 levels of sensitivity
- Flip, hover & dive w/ the 6-axis flight control system
- Fly at night w/ built-in LED lights
- Store the drone inside its own controller
- Replace a broken rotor blade w/ one of 4 extras
You’ll receive a 2.4Ghz transmitter controller that makes operating the lightweight, yet stable body a breeze. Bring one of these to the office on Monday and you’ll be the talk of everyone around the watercooler (unless your office has a cat, that could get messy). Typically priced at $60, AndroidGuys readers can now take this quadcopter for a spin for only $34.99, now with international shipping!
You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals page. Backed by StackCommerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
The post (Deal) Fly away with the SKEYE Pico Drone for only $34.99 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Honor 7 to launch in India on October 15th for Rs. 22,999
Follow its successful launch in China and Europe, the Honor 7 is now heading to India with a not unreasonable Rs. 22,999 price tag. However, only the 16GB storage option will be available, the 32GB and 64GB models apparently won’t launch in the country.
The Honor 7 bridges the gap between mid and high-end handsets. It features a 5.2-inch 1080p display, Kirin 935 octa-core processor (with eight Corex-A53 cores), 3GB of RAM, LTE support and a microSD slot for an extra 128GB of storage to build on the rather limited 16GB of internal memory.
Honor 7 in video:
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The handset also features some nice extras. There’s a 20 megapixel rear camera with phase detection auto focus and f/2.0 aperture. The phone also comes with an 8 megapixel front camera, 3,100mAh battery and a fingerprint scanner that can apparently detect your fingerprint in 0.5 seconds.
If that isn’t enough, the phone also equipped with a customizable hardware key, quick charging that will take you from 0 to 50 percent battery life in just 30 minutes and a reverse charging feature to juice up your other gadgets using the Honor 7’s battery.
For the techies: Huawei Honor 7 implements novel approach to camera processing
The Honor 7 will be available from Flipkart starting October 15th, in your choice of Mustery Gray and Fantasy Silver color options. The handset will retail for Rs. 22,999 and there’s also gifts from partners including Freecharge, Hungama, and Yatra worth up to Rs. 14,000 thrown in too.
Check out Sony’s Marshmallow beta for Xperia Z3
Earlier this year Sony announced a new beta scheme called Concept for Android, which allowed Xperia users to trial software builds for their smartphones as they went through the various concept stages. Having allowed users to trial Lollipop, Sony has now decided to allow users to trial the Android Marshmallow update.
Sony Xperia in video:
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Like the original initiative, Sony is using the concept to help design and form its Marshmallow update from the ground up based on a few fundamentals: prolonged battery life, smooth and fast performance, a sleek user interface and Sony’s apps and experiences. Sony says that it hopes to use the beta to be more responsive in developing and deploying updates to the Android OS for its Sony smartphones.
The initiative is open to 10,000 users of the Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact users in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. If you have one of these devices, head over to the “Concept Sign-up” app (which is only available in these countries) to sign up for the trial but remember, its limited to just 10,000 places so you’ll need to be quick.
Were you part of the original trial and do you plan to sign up for this concept? Let us know your views in the comments below guys!
Lumo’s running shorts fix your form to avoid injury
Lumo is a wearable company that’s already conquered the world of bad posture, so now it’s moving on to helping runners avoid injury. The company is launching the Lumo Run, a pair of shorts with a small plastic doodad on the waistband that can monitor your biomechanics as you sprint around the block. Biomechanics, if you’re not a runner, is fancy talk for our cadence, stride length and pelvic rotation — all factors that you’d otherwise have to visit a specialist running center to learn more about. It’s a similar set of tools that Myontec offer with its MBody fitness shorts, although that product will cost you the better part of $1,000. By comparison, Lumo’s offering will retail for just $149 when it lands in the Spring of 2016.
As you run, the companion app will push detailed stats to your smartphone including how long your feet are touching the ground, your braking and bounce. In addition, the software can push audio coaching to give you on-the-fly advice on how to improve your technique and avoid pulling a muscle. If that sounds like something that you think will help you stick to that New Year’s Resolution, there’s some hefty pre-order discounts available. If you want to grab the male version of the gear, you’ll be able to grab it for $99, while the female capri pants edition is priced at $119 for a limited time only.
UK pricing for Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4, Lumia 950 phones and other goodies
It’s fair to say that Microsoft’s latest launch event was its most interesting for a long time. We finally learned that Hololens will be made available to developers early next year, clapped eyes on the first flagship Windows 10 phones, checked out the updated Microsoft Band and met the Surface Pro 4. Then the company surprised us all with the unveiling of its first laptop: the Surface Book. Microsoft is wasting no time in getting some of these to market, so you might be wondering how much each of them will cost. As always, we’re more than happy to be your guide.
Surface Pro 4
By now, you should know what to expect from Microsoft’s Surface Pro lineup. The Pro 4 is slightly thinner than its predecessor, but offers around 30 percent more power. With its 12.3-inch display, it comes in 0.3 inches bigger than the Surface Pro 3, but the footprint remains exactly the same size thanks to a smaller bezel.
The new display uses Microsoft’s PixelSense technology: a super-thin optical stack that hosts over 5 million pixels. It supports 1,024 levels of pressure with the new pen (which now has an eraser) that can attach to the side of the Surface magnetically. A sixth-generation Core Intel processor (up to a Core i7) powers the hybrid, paired with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Pre-orders are already open and you can see the pricing breakdown below.
| RAM | Storage | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core m3 | 4GB | 128GB | £749 |
| Intel Core i5 | 4GB | 128GB | £849 |
| Intel Core i5 | 8GB | 256GB | £1,079 |
| Intel Core i7 | 8GB | 256GB | £1,299 |
| Intel Core i7 | 16GB | 256GB | £1,449 |
| Intel Core i7 | 16GB | 512GB | £1,799 |
Surface Book
Undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the day was the Surface Book, Microsoft’s first homegrown laptop. The company calls it a laptop at least, but being a Surface device, it’s still possible to detach the touch- and stylus-friendly display from the keyboard to use as a tablet. The keyboard element isn’t just a well-crafted peripheral, though, as buried within is the NVIDIA GeForce GPU and various other components that contribute to the Surface Book’s total computing power. Microsoft wasn’t shy about pitching the premium device as the “ultimate laptop,” claiming several times it’s twice as fast as Apple’s MacBook Pro. That level of performance wrapped in a silver magnesium chassis doesn’t come cheap, though, with the base model (128GB SSD/8GB RAM/Core i5/Intel HD graphics) going on sale for $1,499 when it launches in the US on October 26th. Pricing goes all the way up to $2,699 for a 512GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, a Core i7 chip and an NVIDIA GPU.
Unfortunately, we have neither a UK release date nor any rough pricing for the Surface Book just yet. That said, using the prices of the Surface Pro 4 on both sides of the pond as a guide, we expect Microsoft’s “ultimate laptop” will start at around £1,200 when it eventually comes to the UK.
Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL
With the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, Microsoft has finally launched high-end Windows phones worth taking a look at. The Lumia 950 features a 5.2-inch Quad HD AMOLED screen, Qualcomm’s hexa-core 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 20-megapixel camera with ZEISS optics (f/1.9 aperture lens and optical image stabilization), 32GB of storage, and it can be charged wirelessly or via its USB Type-C port.
It should come as no surprise that the Lumia 950 XL is a tad bigger than its counterpart. The XL comes with a 5.7-inch Quad HD AMOLED display and features a quad-core 2GHz Snapdragon 810 chipset with 3GB of RAM. Other than that, it shares the same features as its smaller sibling. Another bonus is the fact both devices have microSD slots, include removable batteries, and come in black and white.
| 32GB | Release date | |
|---|---|---|
| Lumia 950 | £500 | November |
| Lumia 950 XL | £549 | November |
Lumia 550
Microsoft also added another handset to its mid-range Lumia portfolio: the Lumia 550. It comes with a 4.7-inch 1,280 x 720 display (315ppi), a quad-core Snapdragon 210 processor and 1GB of RAM. The handset also features Cat 4 LTE (up to 150Mbps), 8GB of internal storage (with microSD support) and a 2,100mAh battery. Microsoft says it will be its most affordable 4G phone, but it’s not saying how much it’ll cost in the UK. The $140 US price converts to around £91, so we expect you’ll be expected to pay roughly £100 for the Lumia 550 when it launches in December.
Microsoft Band 2
While the original Band was useful, it certainly wasn’t the best-looking wearable we’ve seen. Luckily, Microsoft appears to have taken feedback on board and has responded by launching the Band 2, a more comfortable, curved wearable with metal accents, extra sensors and new app functionality. The Band 2 is already up for pre-order for £200 ahead of its November 19th launch.
Facebook brings Messenger’s doodle trick to its main app
Next time you upload a photo on Facebook via the iOS or the Android app, you’ll see a “Doodle” option at the bottom right next to another fun feature called Stickers. It’s identical to the doodle icon you see on Messenger when you attempt to send an image, giving you an easy way to scribble and draw on pictures before uploading them to your account. You can choose colors by tapping the rainbow slider at the edge of the display and adjust the width of the pen by dragging a finger from the slider towards the middle of the screen. We don’t see a new update on iTunes or Google Play, and we didn’t have to download and install anything to get the feature either. You’ll likely just find the button on your app these coming days as a nice surprise.
Via: TheNextWeb, GeekWire
Makerarm wants to 3D print, plot, and carve its way into your heart
If you want to do 3D filament printing, resin printing, carving, plotting, laser etching, and fabrication all at once, that’d get pretty expensive. However, there’s now a product called Markerarm that does all of that. It mounts on your desk to let you make nearly anything and will even assemble all the parts. At least, that’s the theory, because as a Kickstarter campaign, it’s not a real product yet. Still, it shows lots of promise. Unlike a similar product, the Flux 3D printer, it’s a free-swinging arm, meaning it can build fairly large objects and has more functionality with all its interchangeable heads.
Specifically, it can 3D print with both filament and resin, do light-duty milling, and carve plastics, wood and soft metals. Other functions include pen plotting, laser engraving on materials like wood and leather, picking and placing (using suction cups, electromagnetic heads or grippers), assembly with heads that can glue and screw, and PCB fab with automated soldering. It also has a large work area (15.7 inches long by 31.4 inches wide by 10 inches high), can auto-level itself, is trainable and can work in collaboration with other Markerarms.
With all that, you can have it make complex objects — the company’s video shows it building an entire (rough-looking) laptop, for example. To aid in that process, it comes with its own software and includes a one-year subscription to Autodesk’s Fusion 360. To mitigate risk, the company worked with Dragon Innovation — the company that helped Pebble, Makerbot and others — to ensure the product is Kickstarter-ready.
That said, such products are complicated to build. For instance, the aforementioned Flux printer is now several months behind its original shipping deadline. If you’re willing to risk it, you can order a unit starting at $1,399 with a single tool head, or spend up to $2,199 to get a Makerarm and all the heads. If the company hits its full $349,750 goal — which seems likely at this point, with $63,000 already in the kitty — you’ll receive your unit on the projected October 2016 delivery date.
AIVAnet 