Carphone Warehouse is selling the BlackBerry Priv for £559 SIM-free
BlackBerry is enjoying a sort of renaissance thanks to the positive publicity generated by its first Android-powered smartphone, the Priv. Featuring a physical QWERTY keyboard that slides out, the Priv has seen demand outstrip supply, with direct orders from BlackBerry only shipping from November 30th. In the UK though, it’s possible to order the BlackBerry Priv SIM-free from Carphone Warehouse (CPW) with next-day shipping for £559 ($849).
If you’d rather take the Priv out on a 2-year contract, CPW’s recommended tariff is with Vodafone that involves a £54 upfront charge and £39 monthly, giving you unlimited calls and texts along with 6GB of 4G data. If you’d prefer not to pay any upfront charges, Vodafone is offering the handset free for £49 per month, giving you unlimited texts and calls and 2GB of 4G data. Naturally, the Priv is available on other networks via CPW. If you still aren’t sure about buying the Priv, don’t forget you can download its stock wallpapers from here to make your current handset a little more BlackBerry-like in the meantime.
Source: Carphone Warehouse
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An early build of Marshmallow found on a T-Mobile branded Galaxy Note 5
Right off the heels of a leaked Samsung roadmap for Android 6.0, an XDA user with a Galaxy Note 5 on T-Mobile was found running an early build of Marshmallow for the device. Considering that the Galaxy Note 5 is rumored to get Android 6.0 this December, this early build could have some credibility to it.
The XDA user isn’t exactly sure how he received Marshmallow on his device, noting that it could’ve happened during the time that his IMEI number was lost, thus confusing the OTA system. The build number for the firmware is MRA58K.N920TUVU2DOK, and it seems to have many of the features found in Marshmallow (e.g. the new permissions features), implying this isn’t a hoax.
Being an early build, the phone’s cellular radio doesn’t work, but this does indicate that Marshmallow could be available before the end of this year, as was gathered with the aforementioned leaked software rollout document for many of Samsung’s Galaxy devices.
Keep in mind that nothing’s official until we hear something from Samsung or a carrier, but it’s certainly hard to not get excited of how close this could be to hitting many of Samsung’s latest devices. Anyone excited for Marshmallow?
source: XDA Developers
via: SamMobile
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Sony updates the Camera app for the Xperia Z5 range, brings refreshed UI and other improvements
Sony has just begun pushing out an update to the camera app for its Xperia Z5 range of handsets. The updated camera app, or Camera 2.0.0 as it is called, can be found in the pre-installed ‘What’s New’ application. The update applies to the Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact and Z5 Premium handsets, and includes tweaks, bugfixes, as well as some new options.
A new user interface and the ability to change camera modes by swiping on the display, as well as more customization options by way of on-screen sliders are present in the new Camera app.
A common complaint of the Xperia Z5 handset was that the camera app took absolutely ages to open and often, by the time the camera app was finally ready, the moment had disappeared. According to some early updaters on XperiaBlog, this would seem to be much-improved thanks to the Camera 2.0.0 update, who are reporting that the camera’s opening time is greatly reduced.
If the updated Camera app isn’t available in your device’s ‘What’s New’ app just yet, you can always side-load it onto your device by downloading it from here.
Source: Sony
Via: XperiaBlog
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ASUS publishes plans for Android 6.0 on its smartphones
ASUS has become the latest company to publish its plans for rolling out Android 6.0 to its smartphones. Unfortunately, while ASUS has posted its plans for Marshmallow, there aren’t many handsets on the list.
Here’s the full list that’ll be receiving Android 6.0:
- PadFone S (PF500KL)
- ZenFone 2 (ZE550ML/ZE551ML)
- ZenFone 2 Deluxe / Special Edition (ZE551ML)
- ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE500KG/ZE500KL/ZE550KL/ZE600KL/ZE601KL)
- ZenFone Selfie (ZD551KL)
ASUS hasn’t providing any timing on when these devices will be getting Android 6.0, but hopefully it won’t be long. While ASUS has published Marshmallow plans for its smartphones, the Taiwanese-based company hasn’t mentioned anything about the latest version of Android for its ZenPad tablet lineup.
In related news, a document recently leaked, showing when the ETA is for Android 6.0 on many of Samsung’s popular Galaxy handsets. An early build of Marshmallow was even spotted running on a T-Mobile Galaxy Note 5.
It shouldn’t be long before Android 6.0 hits these ZenFone and PadFone handsets. Most of these devices are bought off-contract and can be updated directly through the manufacturer over going through the traditional politics and hoops of updating via carriers.
source: ASUS
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Graphene could bring night vision to phones and cars
Thermal imaging devices like night-vision goggles can help police, search-and-rescue teams and soldiers to pick out bad guys or victims through walls or in complete darkness. However, the best devices require cryogenic cooling, making them heavy, expensive and slow. Enter graphene, the semi-conducting material that’s 100 times stronger than steel — researchers from MIT have built a chip out of the material that may solve the problem. The resulting infrared sensors were small enough that they could be “integrated in every cellphone and every laptop,” according to the study’s co-author, Tomas Palacios.
Via: Scientific American
Source: Nano Letters
Scientists want to laser-heat stuff to ten million degrees
Researchers at Imperial College London believe that they’ve created a method that could prove critical in the search for unlimited clean energy. The team has produced a theoretical method that, at least on paper, is capable of super-heating an object to ten million degrees in a fraction of a second. It’s hoped that technology like this, if proven in the real world, will form a key component of a fusion reactor that’ll provide a warm light for all mankind.
Via: Imperial College
Source: Nature
Germany scales back its spying while other nations want more
The UK and other countries might be pushing for greater spying powers than they’ve ever had before, but don’t tell that to Germany — it’s doing just the opposite. The country hopes to ban its intelligence agency, the BND, from indiscriminately spying on European Union citizens or organizations. Effectively, it’ll give the EU the same privacy rights as it would offer people within its own borders. The proposed law will limit digital snooping and wiretaps to extreme situations, such as when there are suspicions of terrorism, organized crime or broken arms embargoes. It also explicitly forbids spying on allies’ institutions (ahem, NSA) and economic espionage.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Inforadio (translated)
T-Mobile adds Music Unlimited, Data Maximizer features to MetroPCS plans
T-Mobile has kicked the week off by giving its MetroPCS prepaid brand a handful of new features. Much like it does for its tier-one services, the MetroPCS arm will give customers the ability to stream music without impacting the data plans.
Starting Thursday, November 19, the Music Unlimited feature will let subscribers stream all the music like from any of 33 music streaming services without touching the data pool. Among the services are Pandora, Spotify, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio and Apple Music.
Moreover, the Data Maximizer options lets users watch considerably more video (up to three times as much) without worrying about data. Similar to the recently announced BingeOn stuff for T-Mobile, this is a proprietary system that optimizes video to run at 480p (DVD quality).
In addition to gaining new goodies, the MetroPCS rate plans are getting a shakeup, too. Family plans of two or more lines will have the following options:
- $25 / month – Unlimited talk, text & data with 1GB of 4G LTE data for each line, with Data Maximizer
- $35 / month – Unlimited talk, text & data with 3GB of 4G LTE data for each line (up from 2GB), now with Music Unlimited, Data Maximizer
- $45 / month – Unlimited talk, text & data with 5GB of 4G LTE data for each line (up from 4GB), now with Music Unlimited, Data Maximizer
- $55 / month – Unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data on your smartphone + 8GB of Mobile Hotspot tethering for each line (up from 6GB), now with Music Unlimited, Data Maximizer
Single line plans will be nearly identical to the above, however they’ll run $5 more per month.
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LG’s Lucky LG16 smartphone costs less than $10 at Walmart
What would you regard as a cheap smartphone? It all depends on your circumstances, some would consider the Moto G 2015 to be a cheap handset, whilst others would be looking at a price in double figures as a good start. What about under $10? You may think its crazy, but LG’s TracFone Lucky LG16 costs just $9.82 from Walmart. Really. And if that isn’t enough of a bargain for you, shipping is included free of charge.
For under ten bucks, you aren’t going to get a whole load of bells and whistles, but you do get full access to Google’s Play Store. Let’s take a look at what the TracFone Lucky LG16 brings to the table.
Specifications:
- Android 4.4 KitKat
- 3.8-Inch TFT display (320 x 480 resolution)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 Dual-core processor @ 1.2GHz
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB Internal storage
- MicroSD card support (up to 32GB)
- 3MP Rear camera
- 3G network
- Bluetooth 4.0 / WiFi
- 1,540mAh battery
It’s just $9.82 off-contract, which includes shipping. As a throwaway or emergency backup handset, it’s going to be tough finding something as cheap and with as much functionality as the TracFone Lucky LG16. It’s sold out for the moment, but you can sign up for stock alerts on the Walmart website.
Source: Walmart
Via: MotherBoard
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Tim Cook Says Apple Won’t Create ‘Converged’ Mac and iPad
While the iPad Pro further bridges the gap between iOS and OS X, and notebooks and tablets as a whole, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told the Irish Independent that Apple is not interested in creating a “converged Mac and iPad.”
“We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” said Cook. “Because what that would wind up doing, or what we’re worried would happen, is that neither experience would be as good as the customer wants. So we want to make the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world. And putting those two together would not achieve either. You’d begin to compromise in different ways.”
Instead, Cook said Apple wants to create the best possible Mac and iPad, suggesting that both products have a strong future. The chief executive is “bullish” about the reverse of declining iPad sales in recent quarters.
“It’s true that the difference between the X86 [personal computer] and the A-series [Apple iPad architecture] is much less than it’s ever been,” says Cook. “That said, what we’ve tried to do is to recognize that people use both iOS and Mac devices. So we’ve taken certain features and made them more seamless across the devices. So with things like Handoff we just made it really simple to work on one of our products and pick it up and work on the next product.”
Last week, Cook rhetorically questioned why anyone would buy a PC anymore — excluding the Mac, which he says is not the “same” — and said the iPad Pro will serve as a replacement for a notebook or desktop computer for “many, many people.”
“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?” […]
“Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones.”
Many early iPad Pro reviews described the tablet as a powerful creative canvas, but not quite a true PC replacement. Benchmarks found the iPad Pro delivers MacBook Air-class CPU performance and MacBook Pro-class GPU performance.
MacStories editor Federico Viticci, as someone who uses iOS as his main computing platform, felt otherwise. “I don’t see myself using a Mac as my primary computer ever again,” he wrote in his iPad Pro review.
Cook also provided a non-comment about Apple’s rumored electric vehicle plans, emphasizing “a need for a focus on user interface.”
“I don’t have anything to announce about our plans,” he says. “But I think there’s some significant changes in the automobile industry over the next several years with electrification and autonomous driving. And there’s a need for a focus on user interface. And so I think there’s a lot of changes that will go on there.”
Follow our iPad Pro and Apple Car roundups for the latest news about each topic.
Tags: Tim Cook, Mac
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