Sony’s Xperia X hits the US on June 26, but you don’t need one
After a confusing introduction at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Sony is finally gearing up to bring its new Xperias — the Xperia X, X Performance, XA and XA Ultra — to the US this summer. Alas, the Xperia X is set to land here first (on June 26th for $550), though it’s arguably the least interesting of the bunch. It’s a handsome little phone and channels many of the Xperia Z5’s design and construction strengths, but after a week of using it, one thing is clear: There isn’t a great reason to actually buy one.
I’ve been playing with the 32GB Lime Gold version, because really — how often can you go out and buy a cute green phone? The correct answer: “Not often enough.” Sony went all out with the color too. In fact, the only splashes of not-green you’ll find are the silver Sony logo, a silver sleep/wake button and a sticker indicating the NFC touchpoint is next to the 13-megapixel front-facing camera. There’s a micro-USB port on the bottom edge (sadly, not everyone has embraced the USB Type-C revolution yet) and a nano SIM tray that also has a spot for microSD cards as large as 200GB.
Expandable memory is always a nice touch, but it doesn’t make up for the Xperia X’s two most troubling omissions. Unlike global versions of the Xperia X, the US model’s power button doesn’t double as a fingerprint sensor. And unlike the Xperia X Performance, which will hit the US on July 17th, the bog-standard X isn’t waterproof either. D’oh.
Speaking of mild disappointments, the Xperia X’s main rear shooter is a reminder that it takes more than just megapixels to make a good camera. The 23-megapixel sensor is quick to shoot and there’s virtually no downtime between snapping photos, but there’s some noise to be found in detail-heavy pictures — it seems like Sony’s software goes a little heavy on the processing. While there is a full Manual mode and camera effects like an AR mode and artificial bokeh available for download, most of the time you’ll be shooting in the Superior Auto mode.
As usual for smartphone cameras, the Xperia fares best in bright shooting conditions. Though colors are usually punchy and expressive, they can get washed out in harsh lighting. As you might expect, the Xperia X also suffers from blur and muddiness in dimmer light; indoor shots on a cloudy day came out a little hazy. On the flip side, though, the 13-megapixel front camera consistently churned out detailed selfies.
Those selfies look great on the Xperia X’s 5-inch, 1080p IPS LCD screen, by the way. That shouldn’t come as a surprise: Just about everything looks great on this display. More importantly, it’s absolutely fantastic in direct sunlight; the sweltering summer weather we’ve had in New York these past few days couldn’t keep the Xperia X from letting me see all the sweet, sweet social updates that make modern life a waking nightmare. Colors (including Sony’s custom wallpapers) look vivid, and blacks are surprisingly deep by default, too. Not your style? Fair enough: You can make colors look even more vibrant, or turn off image enhancements entirely. Nicely done, Sony.
So far the Xperia X feels like a mixed bag, but surprisingly enough it’s the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 that makes the phone feel so premium. It’s a hexa-core chipset in the vein of the classic Snapdragon 808, albeit with two cores clocked at 1.8 GHz and four clocked at 1.4GHz. Throw in 3GB of RAM, an Adreno 530 GPU and a relatively uncluttered version of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, and we’ve got a slick little package that never stuttered or felt sluggish during my week of testing. A brief aside: My only beef about Sony’s Android skin is that swiping down to search for apps from the launcher brings up a list of apps the phone thinks you should install, including a few sponsored options. Get. Out.
Anyway, there’s enough horsepower here to satisfy most people’s daily routines, but the Xperia X still lags behind last year’s Xperia Z5 when it comes to graphical performance. It feels a little weird to recommend a months-old phone over a brand-new one for mobile gamers, but that’s the long and short of it. On the other hand, though, battery life has been surprisingly good so far — I’ve been getting over a full day of pretty frequent usage out of the X, and it sat patiently on my desk for nearly three days waiting for me to do something with it before dying.
It’s easy to write off Sony as a smartphone also-ran, a company that could’ve been a mobile giant if not for years of questionable decisions. The Xperia X stands as a reminder that, even after all that, Sony still knows how to make a fine handset. That doesn’t, however, mean you should rush out and buy this thing. While there might have been production and supply issues at play, I’m a little disappointed we’re getting this model instead of the far more interesting Xperia X Performance, which comes out July 17th.
The price feels a little silly too: You could spend $549 on the really-rather-nice Xperia X, but the Z5 Premium and its heartbreakingly nice 4K screen will set you back just as much. Frankly, the argument to buy an Xperia X is pretty flimsy, but hopefully, it does well enough that Sony doesn’t change its mind about launching the phone(s) we really want later this summer.
Meet the wearable tablet you might use at your next job
There’s no way I would wear the Rufus Cuff wrist computer. After a few minutes with this 3.2-inch Android tablet strapped to my body, my wrist started to get all sweaty. It felt bulky, weird and to be honest, not very cool. But if the massive pre-orders are any indication, there is clearly a market out there. In particular, says the company’s CEO, Gabe Grifoni, in a few years something like the Cuff will replace the iPhone in your pocket and even be part of your next work uniform.
I’ll admit, I was initially dubious that a device that makes me feel like a less-cooler version of Leela from Futurama will be the first step of an inevitable wearable-computer revolution. But then Grifoni began telling me about potential industrial uses for the Cuff and it all started to make sense.
Employers believe that small Bluetooth-enabled Android tablets on their employees’ arms are a pretty good idea, according to feedback from the companies that have reached out to Rufus. With an app and a connected scanner, tasks like inventory, housekeeping at hotels and ticket-taking can be streamlined by freeing up the hands of the employees who would otherwise have to hold a tablet. The relatively low $300 price tag also means that smaller companies without the deep pockets of corporations could also get in on the action.
After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Grifoni started getting unexpected calls from businesses and their employees. “We were starting to get all these emails from warehouse workers and hotels.” he told Engadget. He says he’s talked to UPS and other companies about their employees using the Cuff in the workplace.
While the campaign generated $800,000 in pre-orders, Grifoni realized that enterprise is where all the growth is right now. But don’t worry, early adopters, the company will still sell the Cuff to consumers. Just beware that you’re not going to be rocking the latest generation of technology. Specifically, the pre-production unit I tried out had a 400×240 3.2-inch screen, which will look absolutely ancient next to your modern-day smartphone. Also, the 640×480 front-facing camera is guaranteed to make all your selfies look awful.
The actual bracelet portion of the device looks fine, though, and at least kept the Cuff mostly parallel with my arm. That said, while I would probably get used to having a computer on my wrist all day, it’s not something I’d look forward to. Did I mention it made my arm sweaty?
Grifoni predicts that wearable computers (not smartwatches) will be the norm in five to 10 years. We’ll get tired of pulling our phones out of our pockets and instead opt to have them visible at all times.
Maybe he’s right. It’s possible the future of mobile computing could be attached to our bodies. But even if he’s wrong, if he can get the Cuff into businesses and warehouses, it doesn’t really matter if the world’s population embraces tablets on their bodies in their free time because at work, some of us will get them with our nametags.
How to get your Android phone ready to sell
You’ve just bought the latest Android superphone so there are two things you need to take care of: firstly, you need to liberate your content and data from your old Android handset and secondly, you need to sell it, to liberate some cash.
Android offers plenty of options when it comes to transferring data between devices and in many cases you won’t need to do very much at all. The experience, of course, depends a little on how old your phone is, but this method should work for most people.
Backup, backup, backup
Before you wipe your old phone, it needs to be backed-up. There are a lot of manufacturer options, but the easiest is to use Android’s own backup system. Head into the settings of your own phone and there should be a backup and reset option in the menu.
Make sure this is turned on, and your phone will be backed up to your Google account, meaning that many of your settings and apps can be restored on your new phone when you sign in for the first time.
Backup your photos and video
In many cases, it’s your photos and videos that you care about the most. Again, there are a wealth of options to ensure these don’t get lost. Using Google Photos gives you the option to backup to Google Drive, so when you sign-in on your new phone, all your photos are there. You have the option of full size, or reduced size backups.
Better still, you can choose the folder you want backing up – if you don’t want all those WhatsApp or Instagram photos, you don’t have to sync that folder.
You can also use services like Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive to back-up your photos, again letting you access them through the respective apps on your new phone.
Use device transfer tools
Android has a built-in content transfer tool, making it easy to move from an old phone to a new one. In this case, you’ll need to select the option on your new phone when you’re setting it up. This will let you pair with your old phone and transfer over a lot of the important stuff, like your account details.
Some manufacturers, such as Samsung, have their own content transfer tools – and often this can include things like SMS messages if you really want to keep a full history. Alternatively, you can try an app like SMS Backup if you want to move messages from your old phone to a new one.
Transfer your music
If you’ve been buying digital music and downloading to your phone, it’s often easy enough to download it again from the service you used before on your new device. However, if you transferred it to your device, you could sync it with Google Music, again meaning you can access it through your new handset.
Alternatively, you can upload music files to cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox, and download on your new device. If you’re moving big music collections, then having it on a microSD card is the easiest option, assuming both devices support external storage cards.
Wipe your handset
Once you are happy you have all the content from your old phone (and be sure to setup your new phone fully to check) you need to make sure your old phone is wiped clean.
Firstly, remove the microSD card as you will want to keep this and remove the old SIM too. Secondly, use the full reset option on your phone. Some devices offer an option to reset the settings without wiping the content. You don’t want to do that, you want to fully erase the content of your phone. In the Android settings you’ll find the option to reset and you’ll often have to confirm that you’re wiping the content too.
Make sure it’s properly wiped
You might just stop there, but it’s often worth re-accessing your phone to ensure it is actually wiped. You could connect it to a PC or Mac via USB and examine the files and folders to check that things like photo folders are empty to make sure.
Or, you can setup your phone as a new device again and use a wiping app, like AndroShredder. This will write over the blank space on your phone again to make it more difficult to recover data from it.
If you’re really keen, you can setup a new Google Account just for wiping data. Log in with this account on your old device so that your normal data doesn’t all sync again from your main account.
Sell your phone to get the cash back
Just because you’ve finished with an Android phone, doesn’t mean it is without value. You can sell it quickly and easily to get some cash back into your pocket.
Using a service like musicMagpie, all you have to do is head to musicMagpie.co.uk, enter the device you’re selling and the condition it is in and you’ll be able to see how much it’s worth.
Sending the device is simple as there are a range of free sending or collection options. You’ll then be paid on the day that musicMagpie receives your device, if you’ve opted for bank transfer. It’s as simple as that.
Want to sell your old phone? Check out Pocket-lint’s preferred recycling partner musicMagpie.co.uk / decluttr.com to find out how much money you can get for it.
HTC has stopped producing the Nexus 9
As has often been the case with larger Android tablets, the Nexus 9 never quite lived up to its potential. And, it’s relatively long in the tooth, first launching back in October of 2014. Google stopped selling the device about a month ago, and now HTC has confirmed that its days are numbered. While you can still buy most models of the tablet on HTC’s site, the company says that it is no longer manufacturing the tablet. Once the stock on HTC’s site and across various other random retailers runs out, that’ll be the end of the line.
That leaves the Pixel C as the only Android tablet Google itself is selling directly. Despite some flaws, that’s probably still your best bet for a large-screen Android experience right now — and Android N should fix many of the issues we had with the tablet. And, of course, Samsung still sells a dizzying array of Android tablets, from large to, well, larger.
Given the Nexus 9’s lifespan, it’s not at all surprising that HTC has stopped manufacturing the device. HTC did confirm that it’ll continue selling and supporting the device for the near future, but if you for some reason had your eye on it and never pulled the trigger, don’t wait too long.
Via: CNET
Android doesn’t infringe on Oracle copyrights, jury finds
Google emerged victorious in court this afternoon, after a jury found that its use of Java APIs in Android doesn’t infringe on Oracle’s copyrights. The two companies have been battling it out over the past few years: Oracle originally sued Google back in 2010 because of how Java was integrated into Android. Oracle had a point though, as Google basically lifted entire portions of Sun Microsystem’s original Java code for Android. Google, meanwhile, argued that it was free to use the Java code since it was open to developers for many years. Another jury also ruled in Google’s favor back in 2012, but a federal court reversed that decision in 2014.
Basically, Oracle believes it deserves a slice of the mobile operating system’s profits. Had the trial gone the other way, Oracle could have asked for as much as $9 billion in damages, Ars Technica reports. The key with today’s decision is that the jury found Google’s implementation of Java to be “fair use,” which is good news to other developers working with open platforms.
Oracle didn’t waste any time commenting on the ruling, and it also says it’ll be appealing the decision:
“We strongly believe that Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market. Oracle brought this lawsuit to put a stop to Google’s illegal behavior. We believe there are numerous grounds for appeal and we plan to bring this case back to the Federal Circuit on appeal.”
And here’s Google’s take:
“Today’s verdict that Android makes fair use of Java APIs represents a win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java programming community, and for software developers who rely on open and free programming languages to build innovative consumer products
Android N could arrive on your phone sooner than you think
Google’s parent company Alphabet is reportedly stepping up its game to make sure operating system updates arrive faster across devices, which should start with Android N.
Currently the Android operating system can rollout quickly to gadgets running pure Android, like Nexus devices. Other handsets with their own user interfaces, like Samsung with TouchWiz, take longer to get the OS as an update. Sources of Bloomberg claim Alphabet is considering using a system to speed this process up.
Alphabet allegedly plans to publish a ranking system that promotes those who get the update rolled out quickest, but shames those who take too long.
Apple is the big competition here. Thanks to its more closed system, that only works on its own hardware, the latest iOS is on 84 per cent of handsets. Android, by comparison, only has its newest Marshmallow software on 7.5 per cent of Android handsets.
Since Google relies on getting its new software to users, via the updates, it’s important for the fragmentation of hardware to stop affecting software updates. This is also an issue for security which may put off some users entirely, especially after the Stagefright hack.
Google has reportedly already drawn up a list ranking phone makers by how up to date their security patches and operating systems are. That list may soon become public as a way to help speed up future updates. Even getting this threat in the media could be a move by Alphabet to prod manufacturers and networks.
Now we simply have to wait until the Android N update begins rolling out in the autumn to see if any of this takes effect.
READ: Android N preview: Everything you need to know
Google might name and shame slow-to-update Android vendors
Google has tried a few (mostly unsuccessful) strategies to get Android device makers updating their software in a timely fashion. Remember the short-lived Android Update Alliance? However, it might be trying something different: embarrassing those vendors into doing something. Bloomberg tipsters claim that Google has created lists that rank Android manufacturers based on the timeliness of their updates. They’re private right now, but the company is considering making them public to shame vendors that drag their heels — it’s hoping those brands too sluggish to make the lists will strive to do better.
Other work has been going on behind the scenes, too. Google has been asking carriers to shorten their notoriously long update testing cycles (Sprint has confirmed it, but Verizon reportedly has too), and it’s even pressing carriers to skip tests entirely for security updates. Google isn’t commenting on the leak.
It’s far from guaranteed that the lists will work, assuming they’re ever made public. The Update Alliance fizzled out as commercial realities (the cost of maintaining phones, and the desire to sell you a new phone instead) took over. What’s to say that a list with no direct consequences will do any better? However, there isn’t as much pressure to update as there was in the past. Google Play Services delivers many updates without having to go through makers or carriers, and numerous official apps get updates through the Play Store. This is more about going the last mile to both improve security and reduce the chances that hardware creators leave you high and dry.
Source: Bloomberg
Samsung denies giving up on Android Wear for smartwatches
Hold your horses, folks: Samsung hasn’t officially broken with up Android Wear just yet. A recent report from Fast Company cited unnamed Samsung executives who said the hardware giant wasn’t working on any Android Wear smartwatches, and didn’t plan to develop any new ones either. Sounds like a pretty emphatic answer, but Samsung disagreed when asked for comment:
“We disagree with Fast Company’s interpretation. Samsung has not made any announcement concerning Android Wear and we have not changed our commitment to any of our platforms.”
Yeah, not exactly the most compelling response, is it? Still, it adds a little color to what seemed like a black-and-white situation — Samsung hasn’t officially given up on Android Wear yet, but it might not make another Wear watch, either. The future, as they say, is still unwritten.
Of course, what made Fast Company’s report so compelling is just how plausible it was. After all, if you’ve been keeping tabs on the rise of Android Wear, Samsung bailing on the platform wouldn’t be a stretch. The company launched its first (and only) Wear watch at Google I/O two years ago, and it immediately failed to capture people’s imaginations the way wearables like the Moto 360 did. Even when it was brand new, the Gear Live felt more like an experiment than anything else — Samsung launched three Tizen-powered watches before it, and went full speed with Tizen after. Hell, the relatively recent Gear S2 actually wound up being pretty impressive. Didn’t see that one coming.
Tizen offers its share of advantages — those unnamed Samsung execs said it was more power-efficient, and would bring some cohesiveness to the company’s wearables lineup. More importantly, though, Tizen gives Samsung something it lacks with Android Wear: control. While the Android Wear 2.0 update packs some long-awaited improvements, device makers still can’t customize a Wear watch’s software as extensively as they can Android on a smartphone. That means Android Wear’s core aesthetic remains out of their reach, making hardware design and component choice the main differentiators between models. With Tizen, Samsung has fuller control over hardware and software, and it’s that unity that might — might — give Samsung something of an edge as the wearable war rages on. Then again, Android Wear enjoys much more popularity as a platform, and Samsung might not be done trying to capitalize on that yet. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Google stops selling the Nexus Player
The writing has been on the wall for a while, but it finally happened: Google has stopped selling the ASUS-made Nexus Player through its own store. Google hasn’t said what prompted the move, but it tells us that you’ll have to go to the handful of third-party retailers still stocking the Android TV box if you just have to get the official experience. Otherwise, you’ll have to either get a third-party device like the NVIDIA Shield or a TV set.
It’s not surprising that Google would give its puck-shaped player the chop, though, and it’s not just because the gadget is a year and a half old. Simply speaking, there isn’t as much need for the Nexus Player to exist these days. There are many more Android TV and Google Cast devices hitting the market this year, and Chromecast has arguably done a better job of bringing Google’s vision into the living room. We wouldn’t rule out a sequel, but there isn’t as much pressure to create one as there was a couple of years ago.
Source: Droid-Life
‘Romancing SaGa 2’ is out for mobile devices this week
Square Enix has been hard at work this year bringing titles we previously thought may never see the light of day in the west to mobile devices. The latest to join the ranks of mobile ports is Romancing SaGa 2, a port of the cult classic Super Famicom game from 1993.
While there have been rumblings and an official announcement indicating that Square Enix had planned to bring the venerable role-playing game to mobile devices, an official English trailer has just been released. There’s also a date to go along with it. You’ll be pleased to know, dear RPG fans, that you can pick it up as early as May 26th for both iOS and Android.
The enhanced port will include updated visuals, a New Game Plus feature, additional character classes, and even a gardening mini-game, as if there weren’t enough to do before. It’ll set you back $17.99, but it’s well worth investigating if you’re invested in the traditional JRPG scene, especially as it’s only just now receiving an English translation 23 years after it first debuted in Japan. Unfortunately, we won’t be receiving the Vita release Japanese consumers got, but hey — mobile is a start.
Via: Polygon
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