Reality Bites
A leaked product demo reveals a few great changes Google has in store for Gmail, including a redone action bar, a new conversation display, an improved search interface and a screen-friendly layout that automatically adjusts depending on your window size. More »
You may recall that we had kind of a big problem with Google+’s policy of not allowing pseudonyms. Well, Google just announced they’re finally going to open the doors for them, as well as Google Apps and brand names. More »
Continue reading Sony Music Unlimited arrives for Android tablets, bearing gifts of unlimited music
Sony Music Unlimited arrives for Android tablets, bearing gifts of unlimited music originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We love the non-traditional Swype keyboard for Android, but it has a few major annoyances—namely with the installation process of the free beta. Today's update fixes most of those problems, letting you update Swype automatically without losing any of your settings. More »
We’ve already gotten some information about which phones will be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich update and when, and we’re now starting to get some official word on tablet upgrades as well. Speaking with Pocket-lint, an ASUS rep said that the Eee Pad Transformer “will be getting [the] update to ICS,” but that the company “can’t provide a schedule at this stage.” Still no word from other Honeycomb tablet manufacturers, unfortunately, but we’ll keep you posted. Of course, this also leads us to believe that the freshly-unveiled Transformer Prime will likely have Android 4.0 right from the factory, but we’ll have to wait (presumably, anyway) until November 9th to know for sure.
ASUS says Eee Pad Transformer tablet will get ICS upgrade… sometime originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The original iteration of the Flashback Trojan was a nasty little bugger, quietly shipping your Mac’s details off to a remote server. This newly discovered variant is even worse. More »
We've been waiting for Star Trek-style Holodeck technology since, what, 1987? Microsoft Research has finally taken up the challenge and developed this—it's not quite a Holodeck, but it's tantalizingly close. More »
Whoa, Nelly! ASUS head honcho Jonney Shih just revealed the “next-generation Transformer tablet” here at AsiaD! It’s the same one that we saw teased just yesterday, and Jonney affirmed that it’ll ship with a quad-core NVIDIA chip, 10-inch display, mini-HDMI port, a 14.5-hour battery, an SD card slot and a top lid that looks precisely like its Zenbook line. Oh, and it’s 8.3mm thick, though Jonney didn’t specify as to whether that was docked or undocked (we’re guessing the former!). Naturally, it’ll ship with Android, and we’re assuming it’ll be Honeycomb to start. That said, Shih did affirm to Walt Mossberg that he expects Ice Cream Sandwich to hit tablets by the end of the year — “perhaps earlier.” Finally, we were informed that it’ll be called the Transformer Prime, and while a final ship date wasn’t given, we’re told to expect more news on that front during the November 9th “official reveal.”
ASUS’ Jonney Shih unveils Transformer Prime Android tablet: 10-inch, 8.3mm, quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lindsay Lohan has been taken away in handcuffs after a judge revoked her probation.
Netflix Android app adds support for Honeycomb tablets, extends reach to Canada and Latin America originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We had heard previously that you’ll get to play Battlefield 3 at a higher res on 360 if you install it to your hard drive, but it seems it’s a little more drastic than that. It’s more like if you want to play the default version of the game, you’ll need to install it. Says Patrick Bach to GamerZines:
The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don’t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive. So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a ‘standard-def’ version for the 360 if you don’t have a hard-drive.
It does make a difference, yes, absolutely.
I would say something like, “Well, I guess you should install it then,” but then I remembered that if you aren’t playing it on PC you’re a loser. And I mean that in all seriousness without a hint of irony or sarcasm.
Follow Phil on Twitter: @philrowen
A retired satellite is hurtling toward the atmosphere and pieces of it could crash into the Earth as early as Friday, the German Aerospace Center says.
We know that Samsung has the first crack at Android 4.0 with the Galaxy Nexus, but it’ll only be a matter of time before we begin seeing it show up on rival devices. HTC has already made an official statement on its plans (or lack thereof), and now it’s Motorola’s turn. Alain Mutricy, SVP Portfolio and Product Management, was in Germany talking up the European announcement of the RAZR, and slipped in a few details about Ice Cream Sandwich. Mutricy mentioned that while the company’s new flagship device was designed for Gingerbread, plans have been set to introduce the latest version of Android in the start of 2012, with a more precise date naturally on its way. Given past experience, however, it’s probable that the unbranded version of the device will get the refresh ahead of the Droid RAZR on Verizon, so US users may need to exercise a wee bit of patience here. Regardless, it’s time for the competition to step up — if the RAZR is next in line to get the OTA update, the Galaxy Nexus will have the spotlight all to itself for a fair amount of time.
Motorola RAZR to get updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Google Music may well be lacking a little spice right now, but here at AsiaD, SVP Andy Rubin just confirmed that his company’s “very close” to coming up with a digital download store, just as rumored earlier this month. Additionally, this service will even include “a little twist” of some sort, so we should expect something more than just an ordinary MP3 store. While record companies weren’t willing to bargain with the company in the way they were with Apple, Andy said he’s feeling mighty optimistic that Google’s “almost there” with ironing out the necessary deals, so Android fans should sit tight and keep an eye out for a launch soon.
Google’s ‘very close’ to launching a digital download store with ‘a little twist’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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[Thanks, Lorenz]
Continue reading ASUS hints at next-generation Transformer in brief teaser video
ASUS hints at next-generation Transformer in brief teaser video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
When Matias Duarte tried to unlock his Nexus Galaxy on-stage at today’s Samsung event things didn’t go so well. Some combination of his makeup and the lighting conspired to keep him from getting into his device, but after spending a little time with one ourselves we can confirm that it does indeed work — and quickly. To program the feature, go into the settings and it’ll train itself to recognize your mug. As it locks in a ring of circles frames your face and, hey presto, it’s ready. After that you set up a backup form of identification and you’re good to go.
Once it’s ready we found it takes only a second or two to recognize and unlock the phone, meaning this should be even faster than swiping or punching in an unlock code. But, you still will need to do that from time to time, either when the lighting conditions are less than optimal or, apparently, when you weren’t born with it and were relying a little too much on the Maybelline.
Continue reading Ice Cream Sandwich face unlock demo (video)
Ice Cream Sandwich face unlock demo (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung Canada stated in an email to us that the “The coolest Samsung smartphone will be coming to Canada soon”, but at the time gave no indication of what or when. Tonight, both the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich were revealed and looking incredibly impressive.
The official press release stated that this 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display beast will be “available in USA, Europe, and Asia beginning in November and then rolled out globally”. No word of Canada anywhere. However, posted on the official Google Mobile blog is a note from Andy Rubin, the “Father of Android” himself, stating that “Starting in November, Galaxy Nexus will be available in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Check out the Nexus website for a product tour and more info.”
No insight into which carrier(s) will be releasing this but November is in a few weeks!!
Source: Google
(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
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Remember the Droid RAZR? That’s so yesterday. Or, earlier today. Whatever. The point is, Samsung’s just busted out the planet’s first Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone here in Hong Kong, a few days late but hardly worse for the wear. The Galaxy Nexus (formerly referred to as the Nexus Prime) carries on the Nexus torch in spectacular fashion, and we’ve just spent a few quality moments with one here at the launch event. Design-wise, it’s clear that the Nexus S DNA is here, though the rear reminds us most of the Galaxy S II. Those who abhor physical buttons will also be delighted, and while we’d gotten used to the whole Power + Home for a screenshot on the GSII, Power + Volume Down works just fine on this fellow.
The 1.2GHz dual-core processor was startlingly fast. It actually felt a wee bit quicker than our Galaxy S II, and given that Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus were apparently built for one another, we’re assuming there’s some deeply ingrained optimizations to thank. Swiping from pane to pane was faster than its ever been on Android, and the new Roboto font actually is super eye-pleasing. The touch response of the capacitive buttons — much like those on the original Nexus One — take a bit of getting used to, and we had to mash ’em just a touch harder than we anticipated to elicit a response. [Update: turns out our demo phone was a bit of an early build; we touched another model later in the day, and our response gripes were gone. Perfectly responsive. Hopefully that’s the one that’ll ship out.] Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing worth noting. We’ve built our impressions after the break, replete with a video. Enjoy!
Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Nexus hands-on!
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video)
Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In Hong Kong today, Google and Samsung unveiled Google’s new flagship Android device, the Nexus Prime, a 4.65″ Super AMOLED-toting, 1.2GHz LTE and HSPA+ smartphone. However nice the hardware of the new device is, it is second to the fact that it is the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the newest build of Android that unifies tablets and smartphones under a single OS for the first time.
“People like Android, they need Android…but they didn’t LOVE Android,” said Google’s Matias Duarte in today’s presentation. To remedy this, Google has not only introduced new and practical functions to ICS, but gave it a slicker look, faster responsiveness, and some extremely impressive bells and whistles.
Here are 30 of the most interesting new features:
1. “Roboto,” Android’s own font
2. Even more live wallpapers
3. Newly-designed lock screen
4. Disappearing homescreen command buttons
5. Tabbed apps/widgets drawer similar to Honeycomb
6. Resizeable homescreen widgets
7. Redesigned foldering capabilities
8. Hardware accelerated 2D drawing
9. Wi-Fi Direct support
10. “Favorites Tray” at the bottom of the screen that travels across the different homescreens
11. Native Screen grab capability (Press Power+Volume Down)
12. Improved notification bar, customizable notifications
13. New Music player notification in tray controls player
14. Improved keyboard
15. Improved typing error correction
16. In-line spell check and suggestion mode
17. Cut/Copy/Paste similar to Honeycomb, but with animated dragging and dropping
18. Speech for text entry has been improved with no delay
19. “Face Unlock” facial recognition for unlock screen (Did not work in demo)
20. New Browser (Includes new tab management feature. “request desktop site” feature, syncs to chrome, save pages for offline reading)
21. New Gmail (New action bar with compose, search, labels, refresh; offline search by default that searches the last 30 days of email)
22. New Calendar with pinch-to-zoom
23. Updated all of the native Google apps: YouTube, Maps, Google+, Google Music
24. Mobile data usage metrics in system controls, allows users to self-limit their mobile data consumption, and track data usage down to individual app level
25. All-new camera app with slider zoom, facial detection, “zero shutter lag” speed, launchable from home screen
26. Photo editing tools in “edit” menu in the camera
27. Native panoramic camera shot, similar to Sony’s “Sweep” panorama
28. 1080p video capture, continuous focus, includes the ability to zoom while recording
29. Incredible new Time Lapse photography feature
30. New tile-based “People app” interface for contacts, very similar to Windows Phone
31. “Android Beam” NFC-based content sharing with multiple ICS phones (Web Addresses, contacts, maps, YouTube videos, app sharing)
Developers can get their hands on ICS right now to begin taking advantage of these new features, or to customize their existent apps and widgets to use the new UI components, styles, and of course the new font.
Consumers, however, will have to wait until November to get their hands on ICS, when the Nexus Prime launches worldwide.
