Virgin Mobile debuts trio of “unlimited” rate plans
Virgin Mobile today rolled out three new “unlimited” rate plans for customers seeking service without long-term commitment. Essentially, the carrier scaled price points back five bucks each and tweaked the data allotments.
Indeed, the plans include unlimited talk and text as well as access to the unlimited streaming feature recently introduced. Playing music through services such as Pandora, iHeartRadio, or Slacker does not affect data consumption.
As of now, Virgin Mobile provides the following options:
- $30 for 500MB
- $40 for 4GB
- $50 for 6GB
Customers who need more data can purchase buckets in $5 (1GB) or $10 (2GB) increments. Whereas the $40 plan is a better value than its predecessor ($45/3GB), more data-heavy users will pay more in the end. Previously, 8GB would run $55 per month where it now costs $60 for the same amount.
Virgin Mobile operates on the Sprint network.
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T-Mobile is offering four lines of unlimited data for $150 a month
T-Mobile is in celebration mode. Recently in the “State of the Mobile Industry” report, T-Mobile got some really good news. OpenSignal, who conducts the report, concluded that T-Mobile is closing the gap on Verizon in terms of LTE coverage, while still offering the fastest LTE in the land.
To celebrate, T-Mobile is now offering one of their best plans ever.
A family of four can pick up unlimited data on each of their lines, and it will only cost them $150. If you want to add more lines with unlimited data, T-Mobile has even more to offer. Here’s how it shakes out:
Alternatively, you can also get in on a different T-Mobile plan that offers 2 lines and 10 gigs of data each (20 total), for only $100 a month. Also being offered is the 4 lines, 10 gigs each for $120 a month, which shakes out to $30 per line every month.
When you take into account that T-Mobile is reach about 97% of Verizon’s LTE customers, and all of these plans include programs like Carrier Freedom (T-Mobile pays reimburses your ETF), Music Freedom (select music streaming services don’t count against your data limit), Binge On (select video streaming services don’t count against your data limit), and Data Stash (rollover data of up to 20 gigs for a year), T-Mobile looks hard to beat.
Are these plans good enough to make you switch? Let us know down in the comments what you think of T-Mobile’s discounted family plans.
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Impress everyone with the Ultra-Stealth Nano Drone
Drones are all the craze nowadays. From an annoyed fisherman casting the perfect line to grab one out of the sky, to them appearing during NFL pre-season practices, they are cropping up more and more. On a lower level, there are many of these “pocket” drones that are making it easy for just about anyone to grab one.
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 Ultra-Stealth Nano Drone handles flips and stunts with ease while offering multiple flight modes for pilots of all skill-levels.
- Flies when you throw it in the air
- Built w/ 6-axis gyro technology & gyro calibration
- Performs 360-degree flips
- Flies in a pack thanks to its 8 frequency points
- Indicates what channel it’s on w/ LED lights
- Flies for approximately 4-8 minutes per charge
- Navigate tight areas w/ super sensitive control
You’ll receive the controller which 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 $40, AndroidGuys readers can now take this quadcopter for a spin for only $19.99, now with free 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!
AndroidGuys Deals: Ultra-Stealth Nano Drone
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Play Music podcasts section showing up for some users ahead of launch this month
As we found out yesterday, the Google Play Music podcast section might be launching later this month, if a quickly-deleted tweet from popular sports podcaster Bill Simmons is to be believed. Google announced the feature back in October but there has been no official launch date given for it. Nevertheless, some Play Music users are already seeing the new podcast section in the Play Music app.
It looks as though it is server-side A/B testing rather than the first stages of a wider rollout, as you would expect Google to make an official announcement to celebrate the new feature. We know Google has been roping into popular podcasters to sign up for its new podcast platform, and if A/B testing is underway it can’t be far away.
The feature is showing up in the latest version of the Play Music app available in Google Play, but it’s far from widespread at this stage. When you do see the feature, it will appear in the navigation drawer underneath the music library with the main interface divided into two sections: Featured and Your Podcasts. Everything is implemented in the same image-focused Play Music style.
Searching for podcasts isn’t exactly ideal though: the search feature searches all Play Music content, not just podcasts, so you’ll have to scroll down to the podcasts section of the search results. There are skip buttons for jumping backwards or forward in 30-second increments and when you subscribe to a podcast you can automatically download five episodes and set your new podcast notification preferences.
Going back to the official launch date of Play Music podcasts, it’s feasible that Bill Simmons was given a heads up on the launch date because he has signed up to Google’s new podcast program. It’s also possible that he took a guess, but the fact that he later deleted the tweet implies someone at Google may have called him up and advised him to do so. Either way, keep your eyes peeled for the podcasts section in Play Music and let us know when you get it.
How do you listen to your podcasts? What feature would you like to see next in Play Music?
How to take better pictures with your Android smartphone
In today’s smartphone-centric world, everybody and their mom (quite literally) has a camera in their pockets at all times, and the end result is millions of pics splashed all over the web. Of course, anyone can snap a photo and share it with the world, but taking a good pic is another story.
We all think we can take nice pictures nowadays, but keep in mind photography is no easy skill to master. There’s a plethora of factors that go into shooting a good photograph, and the same general rules apply to any camera (if you want to excel, that is).
Things are a little different with smartphones when compared to a traditional camera, though. This is why we are giving you a comprehensive tutorial for making the best out of your smartphone camera. Let’s get started, shall we?
See also: Best Android smartphone cameras (February 2016)
Composition, composition, composition!
Composition is the #1 priority for taking a good shot. There is no way around it. I don’t care if your picture is perfect in every other way; bad framing will ruin your photograph. Sadly, there are way too many rules of composition to compile them in a post like this one. I mean, people go to college for years to learn this, but we will give you some general tips that will take you a long way.
Rule of thirds
If you take any photography class, this is more than likely the first rule of composition you will be taught. It’s really quite simple. Just imagine the frame is divided in 9 equal rectangles, with two vertical lines and two horizontal dividing the frame.
The idea is that your subject (by the way, always have a clear subject) should be mainly located towards one of the corners of the rectangle in the middle. Here’s an example:
By the way, most smartphones have the option to show a grid you can base your photographs on. The thirds are sure to be included in there, if yours has the option.
Oh, and one common mistake people make is that they leave a lot of dead space in order to keep their subjects in one of these corners. Remember, if there is nothing interesting in the rest of the photograph, the rule of thirds won’t help much. In those cases it’s better to close in on your subject.
Use lines
There are lines everywhere. Use them to your advantage. These can help lead to your subject. A cliche example is railroads, as well as bridges or roads, but really, there are lines everywhere.
Point of view
Anyone can stand in front of an object and take a shot, but quite frankly, that is boring. You have to find the right angle, and sometimes the right angle is not in the most conventional place. See a rock? Maybe you can climb it and see how things look from there. Or maybe you can get on the ground and shoot facing up. Anything, just make the effort to find the angle that most people won’t think of capturing.
Background
The background is just as important as your subject. Make sure it looks good; if not, at least keep it clean. Ensure there is no trash or obvious discrepancies. Watch out for points of escape (distractions) that will lead your viewers away from your subject. This would include bright lights or colors, as well as striking objects.
Lighting
Professional photographers are lighting experts. Really, that is all photography is about – working with light and trying to capture it with the sensor (or film). Be smart about the way you use lighting. Turn to a direction in which the light is hitting your subject better. In the case of a selfie, for example, face the light.
The issue with smartphone cameras is that they tend to have very small sensors. Technology is at a point where you can still take great photos… in daylight. But the sad truth is that having a small sensor will always mean lesser performance when the lights go off. Your smartphone camera needs as much help as possible. Turn on the lights, get a lamp close to you, or something.
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Stop using flash
Flash photography is very tricky. People spend years trying to perfect it, so for most casual users it does more harm than good to use the flash. Especially if you are going to be using a single-direction, low-quality flash like the ones you find in smartphones. They will usually mess up your highlights, blow up the shadows and create a very unnatural look.
I would just never use the flash unless you are in a very dark place with no artificial lighting to help.
Or use it smartly
With that said, this doesn’t mean you can’t use lights to improve your images. In fact, those who want to get creative can go all out and make images look stunning with the right knowledge and combination of lights. You could use soft boxes, flash, reflectors, continuous LED lights and more.
It’s really hard to go into detail about how these all work, but if you take the time to learn it all it will change everything you know about mobile photography. The guys over at Fstoppers actually made an amazing video on how they created great professional photos by using an iPhone.
I know: “it’s an iPhone!”. The point is that the fundamentals of lighting are the same, and this happens to be my favorite video of its kind.
Keep an eye on your lens
Lenses can get dirty, scratched, cracked and more. These delicate pieces of glass are a key factor in your photography. It has been said time and again: the lens is actually more important than the sensor and body in your camera. And keep in mind your phone only has one lens! Make sure it’s always clean and try to protect it from damage to keep your images nice and crisp.
Go manual?
Most smartphones won’t allow you to change all the elements of your exposure triangle. But first… what the heck is the exposure triangle? Well, when taking a shot one of the main focuses is to get the right exposure. Getting the right amount of light in consists of three factors: aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
In a nutshell, the ISO determines your sensor’s sensibility, aperture is how open the light hole is, and shutter speed dictates how long the sensor will be exposed.
But we are not here to talk about the exposure triangle. You can do plenty of searches to learn all that. Instead, what we wanted to focus on here is that there are apps out there that will allow you to control as much as possible.
See also: 15 best camera apps for Android
My favorite apps are Manual Camera and DSLR Camera Pro. These will allow you to take charge and manipulate things like ISO, shutter speed, shooting mode, white balance and much more. Undoubtedly, it will be superior over the stock camera apps. They do both cost $2.99, but they are very well worth it if you are into taking full control of your camera.
Download Manual Camera
Download DSLR Camera Pro
Take advantage of HDR
Most modern smartphones can take advantage of HDR (High Dynamic Range). But what does that even mean? In the traditional sense, HDR is done by taking multiple images of the same frame at different exposure levels. These are then merged and balanced for perfect lighting. It’s great for producing images showing drastic difference in lighting in the same scene; for example, when standing next to a window inside a darker room.
It works a bit differently with phones, and it’s mostly done digitally, but the results continue to be great. Make sure you use HDR when the opportunity shows itself, it will make a huge difference when dealing with images displaying varying levels of light.
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Post processing
Editing is a whole other world, folks. It will also take a long time for you to really master your style, but you can get started by downloading a simpler app like Snapseed. Once you grow out of that application, you can get something more complex like Lightroom or Photoshop Express.
Something to stress is that you get in the habit of actually editing your photos. Most people just shoot images and share. Smartphone cameras are super smart, but they will almost never take the image the way you envisioned it. Edit it to make it perfect. After that, you can add filters if you so choose to.
Download Snapseed
Download Lightroom
Download Photoshop Express
See also: Top 16 Photo Editor Apps for Android
Stop using that fake blur… pretty please
You’ve probably seen those images. People add blur to their photos to try and imitate the bokeh you can usually get from DSLRs when using specific lenses in specific ways. Well, unless you are using something like Google’s camera app (bokeh emulated by moving camera during shot to detect distances) or a dual-camera phone, it will more than likely look horrible.
Not that blurry backgrounds are bad looking; they are gorgeous. The problem is that it’s hard to imitate if you don’t really understand the fundamentals of depth of field. People often blur things they shouldn’t making the image look extremely unnatural.
And even if you have previous knowledge in the topic, most times mobile software is not good enough to recreate the effect in a natural-looking manner.
Your images can look great without the fake blur, guys. No need for bells and whistles when you have taken a good shot. You would just be trying to make an image look interesting; something you won’t achieve with blur if your photo isn’t interesting already.
Stick with 4:3 aspect ratio
Most Android smartphone screens use a 16:9 aspect ratio, so it only makes sense that you use the same for your camera, right? Wrong! In essence, all you are doing by shooting at 16:9 is letting the camera crop the image.
Your camera sensor has a 4:3 ratio. This means that if you want to take full advantage of your sensor, you must switch to 4:3.
This way, your photo will be larger, which means you will get more pixels to play with, as well as a better way to fill the frame with great visuals. Still want a 16:9 ratio? No problem. Just crop it. It will take but a few seconds and you will actually get to pick how your image is cropped, instead of letting the phone do it.
Stop zooming
Well… stop zooming unless you have an Android device with actual optical zoom (like the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom). There are a few, but chances are you don’t have one of those. In which case, you should never zoom in while taking a photo with your smartphone.
Digital zoom does nothing but actively crop the picture you are taking. You can kiss picture quality out the door if you do this. Just get closer to the subject if you can. And if you can’t, we still advise that you shoot the whole frame and then crop later. You will still lose the quality, but at least you can play around with it more and make a more rational decision after the fact.
Get out there!
Photography is nothing but a recollection of your experiences. Get out there and enjoy life! It’s the only way you can really take outstanding photos. And now that we have given you some great tools to excel, you really have no excuses. The best part? You have a camera with you at all times!
What are your best smartphone-taken photos? Hit the comments and maybe share a link with us.
Android Marshmallow edges closer to “Pro Audio” with lower audio latency
Despite a number of smartphone manufacturers offering improved audio hardware in their latest smartphones, Android’s software latency has historically been very poor, preventing many professional audio applications from making their way to the hugely popular mobile platform. However, the folks over at Superpowered have gone back to have a look at Android Marshmallow’s round trip audio latency and there appear to have been a number of improvements.
Before we go any further, round-trip audio latency is very important for real time applications, as users don’t want to have to contend with a noticeable delay when recording, editing or playing back content. Round-trip refers to the time it takes for audio to enter the system, be put into software for processing, and then put back out from a speaker or headphone jack. Human delay perception ends at under 20ms (milliseconds), so the latency of any real time system should be below this figure, with 10ms being the target that is perceived as instantaneous.
Shutterstock You won’t be using Android for live music effects unless latency reaches less than 20ms.
Previous testing on Android KitKat and Lollipop devices revealed round-trip latency figures in the hundreds of milliseconds, resulting in a very noticeable delay and making the operating system useless for real-time applications. Even the best Android devices struggled to go lower than 40ms. However, Google has made some major improvements with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, allowing for figures in the sub-20ms range. The Nexus 6P clocks in at 18ms, while the Nexus 9 manages 15ms.
Google appears to have made two notable changes with Marshmallow: a smaller ring buffer size and a new professional audio flag feature. The buffer size has been chopped in half to 128 samples. A buffer stores a selection of samples before these are all sent off into the system together and a smaller buffer means that the whole system updates much more frequently. Buffers and batch processing are often more efficient than sample by sample transfers and processing, so there are trade-offs to find the ideal buffer size.
This smaller buffer saving halves the latency throughout the ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and AudioFlinger sections for both input and output paths, making a noticeable difference to the round-trip times. The graphics below show the audio paths and times recorded with the Nexus 9 tablet.
Android Marshmallow (API 23) also introduces a new FEATURE_AUDIO_PRO flag for developers to look for to reduce the audio output buffer size for the lowest possible latency. A look through Google’s documentation states that devices using this flag must offer 20ms or less round-trip latency and should aim for 10ms. USB audio class devices are also supported through USB host mode, so low latency USB add-ons are now also a practical possibility.
As an added bonus, Android now also supports MIDI as part of the Professional Audio package. Although, this hasn’t been implemented into the native layer. This flag marks a major effort to differentiate Android devices that are capable of professional audio applications, and is a major improvement over the FEATURE_AUDIO_LOW_LATENCY flag from the Gingerbread days, which offers at best a 50ms round-trip.
If you’re interested, Superpowered offers a very detailed explanation of how this all breaks down, including a look at the slightly different latency results when using built-in and external hardware. Android still has a number of issues, but the situation is gradually improving for real-time professional audio.
Previously we have seen that Google’s Nexus devices have been the better performers when it comes to audio latency and this latest testing hasn’t yet shown if these improvements can and have been applied to other Marshmallow powered devices. Google states that only the Nexus 5X, 6P and 9 are “Pro Audio” Nexus devices, so there are probably some hardware requirements in addition to Marshmallow’s software improvements.
Related: The great audio myth: why you don’t need that 32-bit DAC
Samsung, which offers its own Audio SDK to tap into low latency audio, will be releasing a Samsung Professional Audio SDK 3.0 with its upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone, which will hopefully match these Nexus results. We will just have to wait and see if other manufacturers support these improved features. Still, there are promising signs that Android may eventually be useful as a real-time audio platform.
Amazon brings its Alexa assistant to first-gen Fire TVs
Now that the 4K Fire TV has taken center stage, Amazon might be forgiven for showing a little less love for its older streaming devices. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case, after the online retailer begun seeding a new update that upgrades the original Fire TV to Android 5.1 Lollipop, equips it with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant and improves discovery.
AFTV News reports that while the Fire OS 5.0.5 update is making its way to Amazon’s first-gen streamer, rollouts are traditionally slow and cannot be forced on devices themselves. It enables owners to press the microphone button on their Fire TV remote and ask for information, music, audiobooks, weather, traffic and sports updates. Alexa won’t be as powerful as it is on the Echo but it might stop users from taking out their smartphone to look things up.
The original FIre TV will be first to receive the update, but older Fire TV Sticks will get it too. Amazon has not yet noted the upgrade on its software update page, but the full details will become available as the company nears the end of its update cycle.
Source: AFTV News
London taxis must accept contactless payments from October
It’s official: London’s entire black cab fleet will be required to accept card and contactless payments from October this year. The new regulation received final approval from the Transport for London (TfL) Board today, after the authority and Mayor Boris Johnson championed the proposal late last year. Some of the capital’s Hackney carriages already take cards, of course, and apps like Hailo and Gett can simplify the payment process further where they’re supported. But, for a decent proportion of black cabs, cash is still king.
The new rule is intended to benefit both sides of the glass partition. Being able to pay for black cab journeys any number of ways is more convenient for passengers, and it should allow cabbies to better compete with operators like Uber, which can attribute its explosive growth, in part, to user-friendliness. Not every driver will welcome having their arm forced by TfL, however. While many volunteered their support for the plan during TfL’s consultations, the cost of equipment and card processing fees were among several concerns raised. Some also believed it should be up to the driver to decide what forms of payment they accept.
Steve McNamara, chief of The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, isn’t TfL’s biggest fan, especially when it comes to the authority’s regulatory stance on Uber. In response to today’s approval, though, he had nothing but kind words.
“We welcome TfL’s decision to make every black cab in London accept card payments, which will benefit customers and drivers alike. Most taxi drivers already accept card payments, but from October our customers can be certain that when they hail a cab, they are not only getting a safe, reliable and professional service, but will also be able to pay how they like, be it card, contactless or cash. This will make things simpler for customers and increase demand for drivers.”
Knowing you can use card and contactless payments in any black cab will be a win for passengers, but it’s not all good news. TfL has negotiated with card companies to ensure favourable transaction fees for drivers, so they’ll only take a nominal cut of the fare when someone decides to pay with plastic. However, TfL is scrapping the surcharge currently applied to card payments and instead introducing a 20 pence increase to the basic fare to cover this shortfall. From April this year, the minimum fare will jump from £2.40 to £2.60, regardless of whether you’re paying for your ride in cash or by any other method.
Source: Transport for London
Indycar driver tests smart shirt to track the perils of racing
Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo has revealed that it quietly tested its futuristic smart clothing during Indycar races last year. The firm teamed up with driver Tony Kanaan to create a version of its Hitoe garment that’s suitable for use in the sport. As before, the shirt is capable of monitoring its wearer’s heart rate and muscle activity, learning valuable insights on how the competition affects the body. For instance, Kanaan’s heart rate was found to spike when he brought the car to a stop, and while driving, had the same physical stresses as someone who was sprinting.
One of the biggest hurdles that NTT had to face was to create a version of Hitoe that was made out of Nomex, the sport’s approved fire-resistant material. In addition, the process of driving a car at such high speeds caused the shirt to collect a lot of junk data, thanks to the high g-forces and loud noises. It’s hoped that future drivers will be able to collect insights about their bodies on a regular basis in the hope of squeezing an extra one percent out of their bodies. Let’s hope that when these clothes hit the mainstream, they don’t wind up doing for shirts what New Balance sneakers did for non-runners…
Source: NTT
Square is selling its NFC payment reader in Apple Stores
Last November, Square finally got on with the times and unveiled an NFC-friendly reader, but it was only available on Square’s website. Now, however, it’s available in Apple retail stores too. This means that anyone can go into an Apple store and buy Square’s appropriately square-shaped wireless reader without having to order it online. As a reminder, the point-of-sale system is compatible with not only chip-enabled debit/credit cards but also NFC payments like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. And, of course, you can use it with the regular ol’ swipe and sign cards too. This isn’t the first time Square has partnered up with Apple; its previous card-reader dongle was available in Apple stores as well as its Square Stand register. The NFC-friendly reader does cost $49, but that’s a small price to pay if you’re a small business who wants more ways for your customers to pay you.
AIVAnet 