Samsung Pay doesn’t work on rooted phones
Bad news, power-users: if you habitually root every smartphone you put in your pocket, you won’t be able to use Samsung Pay. Users participating in the South Korean trial program have learned that devices with unrestricted access to the file system have been blocked from using the service. “Access denied,” reads the app’s error message. “Samsung Pay has been locked due to an unauthorized modification.”
The restriction is an absolute bummer, particularly in light of the fact that Google Wallet doesn’t mind root at all. To be fair, Samsung Pay is a little more complicated — it makes uses MST (magnetic secure transmission) technology to trick older pay terminals into a traditional credit card swept through its magnetic card reader. This makes Samsung Pay more versatile than NFC-only payment solutions, but also adds a new vulnerability.
The company seems to be playing it safe for now. With any luck, Samsung will lift the restriction before the service launches world wide.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Samsung
Via: Phandroid
Source: SamMobile
Let’s talk about smartphone colors
I’m sure everyone has a recurring pet-peeve with phone launches. One could be storage size. Another could be compromising battery capacity for thinness. Well, mine is COLORS.
Before you turn away to avoid hearing more from a crazy person, hold up. Seriously. We’re humans, we like to express and differentiate ourselves. I mean, speaking of Android itself, consider all the customization we can do.
But then when it comes to phone hardware, we are too often just stuck with two choices, black or white. Yes, flagships tend to throw in another, like gold or a different shade of grey, but come on.
What’s worse is that sometimes OEM’s display several color at their launch, but you can’t get them! For instance, the Xperia Z3 launched with four color options, but you could only get black at T-Mobile (for the Verizon Z3v, only black or white). Remember that emerald green S6 shown at the launch event? It is so scarce it might as well not exist.
What may be even worse is releasing a sweet color months after the phone’s release! Such as these:
Droid Turbo, sapphire blue
HTC M7/M8, red (and blue)
Note 4, pink
And do you remember the S5 coming out in electric blue as a Best Buy exclusive? That’s like kicking somebody when they’re down.
Now, to give the manufacturers the benefit of the doubt, they don’t know how successful the phone will be. So I can buy that they prefer to be cautious. We also don’t know the manufacturing cost associated with throwing in another color. Nonetheless, I feel that color is important in the appeal of a device and should not be overlooked.
This is the part where I give Motorola a shout out, for evolution of Moto Maker:
Are you annoyed by continual color limitation as well?
The post Let’s talk about smartphone colors appeared first on AndroidGuys.
‘Half-Life’ barely runs on a smartwatch
We were getting a little tired of playing Doom on every household appliance known to man, office printers and even inside the game itself. That’s why it’s a nice change to see that it’s now possible to play Half-Life on your Android smartwatch, thanks to software modder extraordinaire Dave Bennett. He’s been able to squeeze SDLash3D, an open-source emulator for some of Valve’s early titles, onto the LG’s first generation G Watch. Unfortunately, playing the title from your wrist is problematic, since the frame rate can dip down pretty low and the small screen doesn’t leave you a lot of room to use the soft controls. Still, anything’s better than having to bum around Knee-Deep in the Dead for the millionth time when we’re bored on a bus.
Filed under: Gaming, Wearables, Software
Via: Kotaku
Source: Dave Bennett
Introducing Epic App Battles of Android: streaming music apps
Google Play is a paradise of both free and paid apps. As of February 2015, Google Play passed 1.4 million available apps for download. There is a myriad of apps and services to choose from and sometimes it takes a little trial and error to find the best one.
That’s where Epic App Battles of Android comes in. We will analyze the most popular apps in a particular category, compare them head to head and whittle them down until we find the best app in that category.
We are going to start off with streaming music apps. After careful consideration, we have taken the top music streaming apps on Google Play and narrowed it down to 8 apps. There are a few apps that we had to exclude, because of limited availability in the US market and exclusivity to a particular brand.
Epic App Battles of Android line up
When we created our line up, we tried to match up the competitors with their strongest rivals in both features and reputation.
What do you think? Who will emerge victorious in the epic battle for streaming music supremacy? Are we missing any of your favorite apps? Take our poll and let us know in the comments.
<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/8976778/”>Which streaming music service is the best?</a>
The post Introducing Epic App Battles of Android: streaming music apps appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Z E1: a connected high-quality camera with interchangeable lenses
Small cameras are convenient, but they are often very limited. A new Kickstarter project aims to change this standard by offering a product that is portable, yet offers the advantages of a full-sized, expensive camera. They call it the E1 by Z, and it looks rather promising.
What makes the Z Camera’s E1 special is mostly its small profile, which makes it an amazingly convenient tool. Despite its size, the E1 manages to pack some great specs inside. For starters, it sports a 4/3 sensor size, which is only a step below APS-C sensors (what you find in lower-end DSLR cameras). This will result in quality you could never get out of a point-and-shoot camera.
The sensor is only part of the equation, though. Most photographers (whether professional or amateur) can attest to the fact that glass is the most important factor. Quality lenses can improve your images immensely, and the E1 can compete with the best in this department. This camera features a micro four-thirds mount that supports auto-focus capable lenses from Olympus, Panasonic Lumix, Leica, Sigma and others.
Inside you will find a 2000 mAh battery that should offer plenty of photographs per charge. When recording at 4K, it should last about 80 minutes while not using WiFi.
Video recording modes:
- 4K 4096x2160p @ 24 fps
- UHD 3840x2160p @ 30 fps
- FHD 1920x1080p @ 60 fps
- FHD 1920x1080p @ 30 fps
- HD 1280x720p @ 60 fps
- 848x480p @ 30 fps
Connecting the Z Camera E1 to your smartphone
This camera wouldn’t really make it to Android Authority if it wasn’t smart in some way. The E1 is not only awesome for its size and performance. This little guy is also a very well-connected device, featuring both Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi support.
The camera can be controlled by smartphones with a very low 200-300 millisecond latency. Once connected, the user can control, live stream or manage the camera’s settings without even touching it.
Pricing and conclusion
The guys at Z Camera have priced this camera at $699, but of course, those who pledge on Kickstarter can catch a better deal. Most early bird specials are gone, but as of now you can still get an E1 camera for $599. Pledging more can also get you a 14 mm f/2.5 Panasonic lens. Units should tart shipping this November, so you also won’t have to wait forever to see your money turn into an innovative gadget.
I really want to like this project, but I am an image kind of guy, and the Z Camera crew was awfully quiet about photo quality. Video seems to be great, but I would like to learn more about the camera’s performance when taking still shots. They didn’t even mention the megapixel count, which is a bit odd.
Are any of you signing up? It does look like a great portable video-focused camera!
Visit the Z E1 Camera Kickstarter project!
Skype update improves ‘Recent’ tab, online status notifier and more
Skype continues to be one of the most popular instant messaging and video calling services. It’s an important software for many companies and individuals, especially since Microsoft acquired it in 2011. The Redmond giant has made a plethora of improvements since then, but I think we all agree Skype’s Android app is still in need of some work.
The latest update to the application brings it to version 5.6 and offers a few welcomed UI improvements. For starters, the ‘Recent’ tab has been revamped and can now fit more conversations in the provided space. This will allow users to go through their threads without dealing with the hassle of excessive scrolling.
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margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 50%;
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margin-left: 0;
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In addition, round avatars and online status information now appears on all screens. Lastly, there was an adjustment to the color of the chat bubbles, making it easier to read and distinguish text. As it goes with most updates, Skype also managed to squeeze in a bug fix here here and there. Gotta keep things running smoothly!
These are not exactly huge updates, but they will make a difference for frequent Skype users. We know many of you are fans of the video calling service, so head over to the Google Play Store and get your update. I just downloaded mine and everything seems to be working to perfection. Hit the comments to let us know if everything is working fine with you!
Next-gen Moto X leaks hint at a big screen and a front flash
Motorola just can’t keep its next-generation smartphones under wraps, apparently. Both Peru Android and Google+ user Paul Faz have posted photos that reportedly show the third-generation Moto X in considerably greater detail than earlier leaks. For a start, this is a beast of a device — while it’s unclear just how big that display is, Faz pegs it at 5.5 inches. In other words, Motorola might be headed into LG G4 territory with a big screen in a relatively compact body. Also, the shots support rumors that Motorola would join the likes of HTC by including a front camera flash for those nighttime selfies. It’s not totally certain that you’ll see this device at Motorola’s July 28th event, but it’s at least plausible.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Lenovo
Via: Droid-Life
Senator Lindsey Graham takes a meat cleaver to his flip-phone
Billionaire and presidential candidate Donald Trump has begun to heat things up for his opponent Senator Lindsey Graham. At a campaign stop in South Carolina, Trump gave out Graham’s private cell phone number to the public, rendering it useless.
What is one to do with a cell phone that continues to get called by numbers across the country, haunted with strange voicemails and text messages? Well, with the help of the IJReview, Graham has a few ideas, which involve golf clubs, blenders, fire, and more.
Click here to view the embedded video.
And that’s how you put your trusty flip-phone to rest. Surprisingly, Graham has acted calm about this ordeal, and now he is trying to decide which smartphone to get next.
One thing’s for sure: he won’t be giving his private cell number to too many people, and especially the Donald.
source: IJReview (Twitter)
via: Engadget
Come comment on this article: Senator Lindsey Graham takes a meat cleaver to his flip-phone
CHOETECH Qi Wireless Charging Pad Review
One of the features I was most looking forward to when purchasing my Samsung Galaxy S6 was the wireless charging capabilities. It’s so convenient being able to just place the device down on a charging mat and have it charge. That also enables me to neatly hide the connecting USB cable permanently and not have it wave about when I’m trying to locate it in the dark.
One such charger is that from CHOETECH and their Qi Wireless Charging Pad; of course, it does support more devices than the Galaxy S6 – any with Qi actually – but this review was written with the experience of a Galaxy S6.
The charging pad itself is black in color and is a very neat oval shape with a micro-USB port on the rear shorter edge. This sets the charging pad up at a nice angle to place your device on the nightstand next to you and be able to conceal the cable behind it. The CHOETECH Qi Wireless Charging Pad also has a blue LED light to indicate when a device has been successfully placed on the pad and a charge is being sent to the battery. This is a nice way of subtlety indicating that the charging pad is actually working. Unfortunately, this blue LED light and the way it sits on your side table does mean that you have a bright blue light shining in your eye all night long.
One other issue, as shown from the image above, is that it does pick up dusts and marks quite easily. In the two weeks I reviewed the product, with it sat on my side table, it managed to pick up all kinds of prints and marks from the various things placed near it, as well as excess dirt on the phone. It’s not too hard to clean, so really not a huge problem in the wider picture.
I would have liked the CHOETECH Qi Wireless Charging Pad to support Samsung’s FastCharge technology to mimic the charging time I can get out of the official Samsung charger, but understand this is very vendor and device specific.
Otherwise, the charging pad is a very solid, capable, and nice looking device that will reliably charge your Qi-enabled device without any issues. Just be sure to clean it once in a while.
The post CHOETECH Qi Wireless Charging Pad Review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Sony is testing a ‘stripped back’ version of Android
If you’ve ever wished that Sony would ditch its custom Android interface in favor of Google’s ‘pure’ experience… well, you’ll want to book an impromptu Scandinavian vacation. Sony is launching a 500-person Swedish trial of Concept for Android, a “stripped back” take on Android 5.1 for the Xperia Z3 that looks and feels like the stock Google interface while including Sony’s more popular apps and features. If you’re fortunate to be part of this test run, you’ll both improve the software itself and shape Sony’s overall strategy — it’s moving toward development based on “real user input” that will hopefully lead to more meaningful upgrades. And don’t despair if you don’t get in right now. The company is promising trials for more areas and more devices if this catches on, so you may still get a sneak peek at Sony’s Android plans.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony
Source: Sony Mobile Blog
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