Google’s opening up its Early Access program to more devs
Google’s opening up its Early Access program today by allowing any developer to apply to let users beta test their apps.
The Early Access collection of apps had previously been restricted to 29 launch partners, later joined by more hand-picked companies. Now, anyone can fill out the form requesting inclusion, but that doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be successful.
In essence, it’s a win-win for businesses and users: offering beta testing to the public gives developers early feedback before apps launch and people get to test out earlier than normal.
Apps need to be running in open beta to be eligible for testers to download. Google says it’s the ideal way to bridge the gap between getting friends and family feedback, and truly objective input from potential future users.
Since launching the pilot program at Google IO in June, Google says Early Access apps have been downloaded more than a million times.
Watch Nintendo’s 3DS-focused Direct here at 10AM ET
Nintendo is giving some love to its handheld 3DS console at its IFA 2016 Nintendo Direct event this year. Expected titles include Shin Megami Tensei 4 Apocalypse, Yo-kai Watch 2, Pokemon Sun & Moon and more. We can also expect some Amiibo figurines that work with Nintendo’s New 3DS and New 3DS XL, or on the older models via a reader.
What we’re really hoping to see, however, is an appearance by Detective Pikachu, the Japan-only game that sees the Pokemon character make like Sherlock Holmes. Luckily, we won’t have to wait long to find out, as the Nintendo Direct show starts streaming on Twitch, or you can see it below at 10AM ET.
Source: Nintendo (Twitter)
‘Super Mario Maker’ heads to 3DS on December 2nd
Super Mario Maker is already a success on the Wii U, and now it’s making its way to the 3DS on December 2nd. Nintendo announced the handheld version during a 3DS-specific livestream this morning. Super Mario Maker on 3DS includes the full game plus the ability to share courses with your friends via WiFi or StreetPass. Players can even collaborate on incomplete courses to create friendship masterpieces.
Super Mario Maker landed on Wii U in 2015 and was a hit with fans and critics alike. Not only is Super Mario Maker an innovative title that’s great for livestreaming, it drives home how ridiculously hard it is to actually make video games.
#SuperMarioMaker for #3DS launches on 12/2! pic.twitter.com/zOPWhfLV0C
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 1, 2016
‘Yoshi’s Woolly World’ hits 3DS next year with an adorable Amiibo
Yoshi’s Woolly World is the next game in Nintendo’s Wii U library to make its way to 3DS, further proving that while the Wii U is a wonderful system, Nintendo is winding the console down to make room for the NX. The complete Yoshi’s Woolly World game lands on Nintendo’s handheld on February 3rd, and it’s bringing a friend along for the ride.
The 3DS version is technically called Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World. Poochy is an adorable pup that shows up in the game to complete levels on his own and help Yoshi by enlisting his secret-sniffing Poochy Pups. The 3DS version of Yoshi’s Woolly World includes new Poochy levels and, most importantly, it launches alongside the Poochy Amiibo figurine. Look at its happy little face. Let its soothe your soul.
If that didn’t work, please find solace in Poochy’s adorable booty.
We’re live from IFA 2016 in Berlin!
Like every year, we are back in Berlin for Europe’s biggest tech trade show, IFA. This year, as we previewed recently, expect to see many new devices from some of the usual suspects: Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, Sony and more. We’ve already checked out a number of fresh laptops, smartphones and wearables at the event, but that’s only the beginning since the show floor doesn’t open until Friday. Stay tuned, because there will be plenty of announcements to digest over the next few days. And you never know what kind of weird gadget we might find.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
ZTE’s Axon 7 Mini smartphone won’t wow you, but it’s cheap
ZTE’s Axon 7 was a surprisingly good phone which proved that the Chinese company is capable of delivering on its “affordable premium” promise. In order to capitalize on that success, ZTE is offering a cheaper, more petite version. The Axon 7 Mini will arrive stateside in October, and while US pricing hasn’t been announced, it will retail in Europe for EUR299. That’s about US$330, which is $70 less than the original, as well as the OnePlus 3 and Alcatel Idol 4S.
I briefly played with the Axon 7 Mini and found it to be a capable variant for the price, but altogether unexciting.
Like a fun-sized candy bar, the Mini resembles a compressed version of the original Axon 7. They both have the same handsome design and feel equally solid and smooth. The new phone also has dual stereo speakers that ZTE said are actually louder.
The similarities end there, though. The Mini has a 5.2-inch full HD display compared to its big brother’s 5.5-inch 2K screen, leaving it with a lower pixel density (424 ppi). That’s still pretty decent, and I didn’t notice a huge difference between the two device’s panels.
ZTE didn’t just shrink the Axon 7’s display and price; you’ll also find a smaller battery (2,705mAh vs 3,250mAh) and less-sharp rear camera. Despite the loss of megapixels, the Mini’s 16-MP camera still took decent pictures that looked crisp and vibrant. The camera up front retains the same 8-MP resolution, and delivered selfies that were clear and bright. In low light, though, the Mini’s single-tone LED flash may lead to less accurate colors than the Axon 7’s dual-tone light.
The biggest trade-off ZTE had to make to bring the Mini’s price down was in the processor. Instead of the premium Snapdragon 820 that powers the Axon 7, the smaller phone is equipped with a lower-end Snapdragon 617 chip. It also offers less RAM and storage (3GB and 32GB respectively), but I didn’t notice any lag during my time with the phone.
The Mini will also take a longer time to recharge than the original, since it supports Quick Charge 2.0 instead of the newer 3.0. This means it’ll get to 46 percent in 30 mins of charging versus 83 percent in the same time on its larger counterpart.
Overall, the Axon 7 Mini is an affordable phone worth considering, especially for those who don’t want a hefty handset. And at about $330, it could be the best phone for the price. But ZTE isn’t really surprising anyone here. Releasing two sizes of a flagship is basically an industry standard at this point. We’re far more interested to see what ZTE will produce out of its attempt to crowdsource a mobile device through its Project CSX campaign, where the company will let the public submit and vote on ideas for a mobile device that it will produce by 2017.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
Your vote will make ZTE’s crowdsourced device ideas a reality
ZTE isn’t wowing anyone with its new Axon 7 Mini phone, but it does have a far more intriguing device up its sleeve. The Chinese company shared some updates on its Project CSX campaign, which is an effort to crowdsource ideas for a groundbreaking mobile device. Starting today, you can start voting for one of the top 20 ideas in the company’s forum.
Since the campaign opened up for submissions at the beginning of the month, it has received about 300 ideas from all over the world.
The device isn’t confined to just phones. It can be anything mobile, as long as it’s affordable and uses technology that’s realistic within a year. Some of the more intriguing proposals that ZTE’s vice president of product planning and technology Jeff Yee shared include a Bluetooth glove that can move your fingers to teach you how to do things, such as play the piano or guitar. Some others are less novel, but make a lot of sense, such as a smartphone with an embedded solar panel to draw power from the sun.
ZTE will pick three of these ideas on Sept 11 for phase 2 of the campaign, which lets the public submit technical drawings for the selected proposals starting Sept 12. Come October, the company will pick the final designs for users to vote on, and the people behind the entry with the most votes will win a trip to CES 2017 in Las Vegas.
It’ll be interesting to see what Project CSX results in, and if the eventual product will help ZTE create something truly compelling. The company has committed to bringing the device to fruition by 2017. In the meantime, you can submit your ideas or keep up with the wild suggestions over at ZTE’s forums.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
Sony’s Xperia Ear voice assistant arrives in November
When Sony announced its Xperia X family of smartphones earlier this year, it also snuck in a quick mention of a curious device called the Xperia Ear. When paired with a smartphone via Bluetooth, the wireless earpiece is said to let you tackle all manner of tasks by issuing verbal commands. We’re talking dictating messages, searching the web, getting directions, checking your schedule, the weather, the news — all that stuff. Sony hasn’t really talked about the thing since, but today at IFA it revealed the accessory will launch this November “starting in select markets,” though its price is still a mystery.
Rather than being a simple conduit for Google Now, the earpiece employs what Sony calls its “Agent” to be your personal, in-ear assistant. Otherwise, all we know about the device is the claim it has a full-day battery life, and that it’s light enough to wear comfortably for that long. Oh, and that it’s probably not the best thing to listen to your tunes on, since it only fills up one earhole.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
Source: Sony
Microsoft’s Sunrise calendar app gets a stay of execution
When Microsoft made a final appointment to terminate Sunrise on August 31st, fans of the app were discouraged. Not only were they losing their favorite calendar program, but Redmond has not integrated very many features into Outlook as it promised when it purchased the app last year. However, it has now decided to delay Sunrise’s shut down. “We have chosen to wait a little longer in order to deliver a few more Sunrise-inspired features in Outlook,” a spokesperson told PC World .
Last year, Microsoft promised to leave Sunrise on the market “until its features are full integrated into Outlook.” However, a lot of the coolest functions, like integration with social media and productivity apps, and “interesting calendars,” have yet to appear in Outlook. The app was supposed to be shut down yesterday, but if you already have it on iOS or Android, you can continue using it for now. However, “once [the extra] features are released, the Sunrise app will officially be shut down,” it said.
Source: PC World
The Xperia XZ is the 2016 flagship phone Sony should’ve made first
Let’s not mince words: Sony’s smartphone might be on the upswing, but the company still needs a hit. With any luck, the new, unlocked Xperia XZ can change all that. It runs with the same Snapdragon 820 and 3GB of RAM as the earlier Xperia X Performance, but Sony squeezed that horsepower into a new beautiful new body and added a few tricks for good measure.
I have to hand it to Sony — the XZ feels incredible. It retains the sort of monolithic look and water resistance of other Xperia smartphones, but the edges of its metal-and-glass body are much rounder. The design is almost reminiscent of Nokia’s old Lumias, which is one of the highest compliments for a phone’s design I’ve got. If nothing else, I hope this take on the Xperia design language sticks around for a long time. The rest of the XZ is a little more prosaic: familiar chipset aside, it has a 5.2-inch 1080p display that looks just as good as Sony’s screens usually do, along with a 2,900mAh battery that Sony says is “optimized for all day use”. Throw in 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a microSD card slot and a USB Type-C port and you’ve got the Xperia XZ in a nutshell.
Exactly how interesting people will find that nutshell is the big question. If there’s a standout feature here, Sony is convinced it’s the camera. The XZ is fitted with a 23-megapixel Exmor RS sensor, not unlike the one in the X Performance. Rather than just transplant that camera from one device to another, though, Sony added a laser autofocus system to help the XZ find its targets faster and a sensor that simultaneously captures RGB and infrared images to make sure we’re getting consistently accurate colors and white balance. Meanwhile, there’s a 13-megapixel camera sitting above the display, which captured frankly great-looking selfies even in a room with bad lighting.
The improvements don’t end there, either. The camera now shoots 4K video, a feature that was conspicuously absent from the X Performance. Sony’s mobile team also worked with the people behind the company’s Alpha SLRs to improve the image stabilization here too, though we’ll see how well those claims bear out soon.
At the end of it all, I’m still pretty skeptical. Sony basically made the phone the X Performance should have been, and there’s really nothing wrong with that. This new industrial design is amazing. The camera is shaping up to be pretty impressive. Sony’s software is… well, that hasn’t changed much, but it has its fans. There’s a lot to like here, but whether or not lots will like the XZ is up in the air. (Hopefully its price tag isn’t quite as absurd — the X Performance was a fine phone but a terrible deal.)
What really concerns me is that with the XZ, Sony’s philosophy seems more focused on fixing oversights than pushing envelopes. For what it’s worth, the Sony staffers I spoke to while playing with the XZ seemed scrappy and bullish on their work — they know it’s going to be an uphill climb, but there was no indication that anyone had given up the fight. Between that and the XZ’s overall quality, Sony fans should feel (very) cautiously optimistic.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
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