With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!
Android Wear
Flopsy Droid bounces onto Android Wear devices
Android Wear bug prevents paid apps from being installed
Apps
Google Now voice media controls incoming
You can now easily correct a misheard word in Google Now with “no I said” command
Carriers
Verizon to offer Kansas and Missouri customers network test drive program
Gaming
Flopsy Droid bounces onto Android Wear devices
Samsung working with Oculus VR for its Gear VR headset coming in September
Phones
LG talks G3 design in latest video
Sony introduces the selfie-centric Xperia C3
ZTE unveils the nubia Z7, nubia Z7 max, and nubia Z7 mini
Project Tango
Google’s Project Tango headed to NASA space station
Smartwatches
LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live get the iFixit teardown treatment
Motorola site’s source code reveals the Moto 360 could be available in silver
Miscellaneous
Samsung plant in Brazil hit by robbers in $6 Million heist
Samsung’s Q2 profits dip, falling short of analyst expectations by nearly $1 billion
Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Daily Dose for July 8, 2014
The future of the smart car has been defined many different ways by many different people. Some people feel a smart car means more technology inside the vehicle, others feel it means the car can do more tasks on its own. Google’s co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have a clear picture of what the future of the smart car means. To them it means we’re done with vehicle ownership. Google is one of the biggest companies in the world that is the driving force behind technology and it’s future. Smartphones and computers are just the beginning and that’s become more clear with every passing day. As more and more information comes out of Google, we see the word “smart” being put in front of more things. Smartphone, smartwatch, smart-car and so on. However, only one of those “smart” objects will have the biggest effect on humanity and the world we live in-the smart-car.
The smart car is a project that seems miles away but is actually very close and Brin knows exactly what his intentions are with the project. “I hope that that could really transform transportation around the world, and reduce the need for individual car ownership, the need for parking, road congestion and so forth.” Brin details this future during a recent interview with VC Vinod Khosla. According to Brin, the world need only embrace technology to become more efficient. Brin details his idea like this, “With self-driving cars, you don’t really need much in the way of parking, because you don’t need one car per person. They just come and get you when you need them. You can also make much more efficient road use, if you–and this is not something we’ve developed yet, but it’s certainly been simulated by many. They can form trains. They can go high speed, perhaps much higher than our highway speeds here.”
Going from that description, Brin sees a world full of taxis, that are not driven by people, but that are smart cars. Imagine Lyft, but without the driver. “It’s also really nice to not have a steering wheel, not have pedals. Maybe the seats should face each other, things like that. I’m not sure that the traditional car designs are ideal for self-driving.” While there are many different benefits that would add a huge amount of efficiency to the world, the question is, how efficient do we want to be? Personally, there are times when I just want to go for a drive, take some roads that others don’t really travel down, particularly one with lots of turns and curves that make driving more fun. Ideally there would need to be a world where the two exist as options. The idea of smart-cars goes deeper than just a car that can drive itself. The future will always depend on humanity and it’s leaders. Where our leaders are concerned, technology may be moving too fast or going somewhere that could mean less opportunity for the people. Still, when it comes to the government, Brin and Page have opinions there as well.
According to Page, people can be made happy if given the necessities, “Housing, security, opportunities for your kids–anthropologists have been identifying these things,” Page continues, “It’s hard for us to provide those things.” Brin’s opinions on the matter throw the government right into the mix. “Tax more of the things we don’t want, like carbon.” The issue here is that the government doesn’t always play well with others, it may seem, at times, that the government is on a different page than the rest of us. Page says, “I do worry that when I look at the government–our interactions with governments around things we get interested in–spectrum or whatever–that it becomes pretty illogical.” One of the biggest obstacles that Google is facing is the many different versions and styles of laws around the world. It may seem that the level of political correctness has reached new heights. This includes laws that have been written and surpass 50 pages, which according to Larry Page is something that shouldn’t be happening. Page also feels that for every law that is enacted, there should be one that’s removed. If the world can meet together and come to the same ideas of laws and guidelines, maybe Google will get the efficient world they’re aiming for. Until then, we may be restricted when it comes to future technology and never actually reach that ultimate efficient world. The full interview has been embedded down below. Tell us, what do you think needs to change in order to bring the world to a new level of efficiency? Do Page and Brin have a fantastic idea of car ownership in the future, or do you still want to own your car? Let’s keep the conversation going, this is our future after all.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The post Tech Talk: What The Future of Smart-Car’s Means to Car Ownership According to Google appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
Whether you’re sending the device off to someone else or you simply just want a fresh start, users now have an easy way to perform a factory data reset on any of their Android devices, and that includes both Android Wear smartwatches. I have reset my own Samsung Gear Live once just after I set it up initially just get a wrap on it, and truthfully the process is pretty straightforward and really very easy. It’s of course a little bit different than how you might perform a factory reset with your Android smartphone or tablet, but in the end the basics are all the same. For the most part it just comes down to a couple of different steps due to the different software and interface.
To begin, all you have to do is first wake up the screen, then either hold down the power button until you get your Android Wear’s device options like power on/off, airplane mode etc., or you can wake the screen, double tap the display, and scroll to the settings menu option. Once you’re inside settings regardless of the method you used to get there, just scroll to find the “reset device” option as displayed in the image above and tap on it. After you tap that option you will be greeted with a screen that asks you to confirm the reset device option. This is the point of no return so be absolutely sure that you want to reset your Android Wear. Once you confirm that you want to move forward, the reset will begin and then power cycle. Once it’s back up you’re all finished and you’ll be able to proceed with a fresh setup process.
The reset is also mostly capable via the voice options, plus a couple of screen taps. Begin by saying the “OK Google” command, and once Google asks you what you want to do all you have to say is “settings”, then scroll and navigate to the same menu option for resetting the device, then confirm. The process as you can see isn’t overly difficult by any means and should yo ever need to get this done you now know how.
The post How To Guide: Performing A Master Reset On Your Android Wear Smartwatch appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
Games are something of a wonderful past time, not just for the U.S., but for many nations around the world. Some of the oldest games are still played to this day and others that are relatively new are taking the younger generations by storm. There all kinds of games in different forms, ranging from board games and card games to video games. Some games are just for fun while other are high stakes and can be played for a potentially big payday. Slots games are probably some of the most well known games that can be played to potentially win some cash, and excellent slots wants to be the ones to provide those who seek a little fun and enjoyment with possible prize winnings a way to fulfill those wants.
Excellent slots have tons of digital slots games that can be played from either your computer or your mobile device, so long as you have an internet connection available at the time. There slots games are also available in a wide variety of different regions easily accessible from a pulldown tab in the top right corner of the page. Just click or tap on the tab, then select your appropriate region and proceed to pick the slots game that you wish to play.
Since excellent slots is all based online, it’s easy to play any slots games that you wish whether you’re at home or out on the town, and you can play at any time during the day with a slots game that’s as mobile as we are in today’s society. Just about everything can be found on our mobile devices now and that includes slots games of all types. Excellent slots also has tons of cool slots themes to cater to everyone’s specific tastes, like Iron Man and The Hulk for the superhero enthusiast, or even more classic slots themed games like The Pink Panther, The Mummy, Zeus, and even Bejeweled. No Matter what kind of slots games you’re into, excellent slots will have you covered with their huge library of playable slots games, whether you’re physically mobile or not.
The post Excellent Slots Is Your Ticket To Awesome Android Mobile Slots Games Day Or Night appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
Verizon has officially confirmed that they will be offering a test drive program for their network to customers in some states, similar to T-Mobile’s latest Uncarrier move. Apparently, Big Red has been quietly running this program for about a year in Kansas and Missouri. Customers were allowed to test out a smartphone or data device for a week to test if they liked Verizon’s service and network, although very recently that program has been limited to just data devices.
According to a Verizon Wireless spokesperson, they are planning on offering the test drive on smartphones again, but the program is going to stay exclusive to Kansas and Missouri for the forseeable future. The point behind the take-home test drive was to offer customers in select, rural markets a way to compare different carrier coverage without signing up for a 2-year contract or dealing with fees and charges. Since coverage in the midwest is quite a bit more spotty than what you’ll find on the east and west coast and more populated areas, it makes sense that Verizon would only offer the program in markets where they could stand to benefit from it.
If T-Mobile’s test drive program shows a definite increase in sales, you might see Verizon and AT&T follow with a nationwide program to compete, but until then, don’t hold your breath on this coming to other states.
source: Fierce Wireless
Come comment on this article: Verizon to offer Kansas and Missouri customers network test drive program
In an unexpected turn of events and without a single warning, Sony has just made the unlocked Xperia Z1 Compact available for USA residents. We never thought we would see it coming to the States, as a similarly specced, albeit larger Xperia Z1S was released for T-Mobile. What makes the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact so special, though?
This device is more than just another high-end smartphone. In fact, it’s a very special phone – it’s one of the very few powerful smartphones that cater to the smaller screen fans. The problem in the mobile industry is that most manufacturers really follow the “bigger is always better” law.
High-end specs are almost always paired with large screens, while those who prefer the comfortable, one-handed experience tend to be left with miserable specs. The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact breaks boundaries with a 4.3-inch display, yet the power to take on any of its larger brothers.
Those are some stunning specs! And this little guy can even go against today’s best smartphones with pride on its shoulders. In fact, it beats the Sony Xperia Z2 in benchmarks, a device that sports a superior Snapdragon 801 processor.
You can go ahead and read our full Sony Xperia Z1 Compact review to see all the details. We can tell you right now this is one hell of a smartphone, though. It will be a great fit for those looking for a capable phone without a gargantuan display and body.
Buy the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact straight from Sony’s website for $549.99. There is no longer a need to import it or get it from odd retailers. Who is signing up for one?
Has Google Now ever misheard a word you meant to say?
Chances are, it has. Although the service is pretty damn accurate, it’s still a developing technology and has a ways to go before being perfect. Google knows its product isn’t perfect, and in addition to improving voice recognition in Google Search, it has now added a “no I said ___” command for when the app mishears something you said.
For example, if you were to say, “Show me the nearest bars,” and Google heard, “Show me the nearest cars,” you could simply start up a new command and say, “No I said bars.”
Google Search would replace “cars” with “bars,” and continue the originally intended search.
This adds a very natural interaction to Google Now’s arsenal, and you can expect more commands just like this one to be added to the app in the near future.
Source: 9to5 Google
Come comment on this article: You can now easily correct a misheard word in Google Now with “no I said” command
Even though the whole “virtual reality” thing failed to catch on in the 90′s, it seems big name manufacturers are ready to (once again) bet big on VR headsets in the coming months. The whole trend was recently spurred by Oculus Rift who was able to show the world that VR — if done right — could be the next frontier of video gaming peripherals. After Oculus Rift was snatched up by Facebook (of all companies), we watched as manufacturers like Sony began showing off their own VR headset during this year’s E3 2014. It’s clear OEMs are taking virtual reality very seriously.
Enter Samsung who, rumors suggest has been working on a VR headset of their own. Despite coming equipped with a high density OLED display, the VR headset is said to undercut the competition on pricing. Other than working with Oculus Rift on the software side of things (while Samsung supplies the hardware), not many other details were know (like what the headset will actually look like).
Not to be confused with Samsung’s rumored Gear Glass headset, the boys at SamMobile have allegedly secured a render of what the headset could look like once it finally hits retail, along with the device’s official title: Samsung Gear VR. The headset, which according to the diagram features a touchpad on its side, looks not too much unlike a pair of underwater snorkeling goggles.
Similar to Google’s own Cardboard VR headset given to IO attendees, the bulk of the processing relies on a docked smartphone, utilizing all the sensors found on our modern mobile devices to help track head movement. There’s also a “see through button” on the side of the headset for a smartphone’s rear camera to peek through, providing wearers with quick glimpse of the real world without having to take off the headset (maybe to feature some augmented reality in the future?).
According to sources, Samsung is gearing up to unveil the Gear VR during this year’s IFA 2014 in September, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Should be an interesting show to say the least. If Samsung can hit a low enough price point, anyone thinking about giving something like this a spin?
Gamevil is by far one of the better game publishers out there for mobile, getting the largest portion of their fanbase from titles like Zenonia 1, 2, and 3 which are all action RPG games. Their upcoming title called Kritika Chaos Unleashed will be a hack and slash gameplay style Action-RPG,(returning to their roots)that has peppered elements of standard RPG like gameplay with leveling through experience gains and crafting of weapons, items and armor, as well as character upgrades through new active and passive abilities. The graphics are rather gorgeous with an Anime inspired art style, but the real visual winner comes from the attack and ability animations. When you unleash devastating attacks and string together perilous combos, your eyeballs are greeted with some pretty wonderful particle effects. Yes the character model and landscape graphics are well designed and look awesome too, but with Kritika Chaos it’s the little details that really make things stand out.
Kritika offers multiple character choices, most of which seem like they’ll be coming soon after release. I am personally playing a pre-launch build in which they’re not available. Currently playable characters are the Beserker which is kind of like a heavy damage warrior type, and Cat Acrobat which strikes me as more of a rogue type with lighter damage but much faster attacks and the ability to duel wield weapons like smaller daggers. The other classes will be an optional character creation pick for gamers in future updates after Kritika actually launches. Most of the gameplay is kind of like Dark Avenger’s hack and slash dungeon crawling, but as an improvement it actually includes dialogue for a little bit of a background to the game. It’s not just mindless hacking and slashing of monsters and other enemies, there is a story here. You’ll notice this come up at various points in the game via the cutscenes that pop up.
Also unlike Dark Avenger, there is plenty of more depth in other areas as well. There is an in game guide character that talks to you as you play, which makes for a nice additive. There’s also tons of gear from multiple tiers and quality ranks, from common to legendary, all which can be enhanced for a more powerful version of the original drop. The particle effects come into play here too. As you enhance your weapons, you’ll notice that the graphical effect of the “aura” around it evolves with a look that becomes more menacing. One downside is that your character’s gear doesn’t seem to change as you upgrade or swap it out, short of the weapons you have equipped. The only way to change your characters look is through “avatars”, which are basically different skins for each character you have.
There’s tons more involved with Kritika too like weekly challenges through monster waves with global rankings. At the end of each challenge period, your ranking will reward you with a certain amount gold, determined by your standing on the leaderboard. It’s easy to raise your rank as you can just continue playing through the Wave levels, but each time you play takes away one gem currency that replenishes over time, so you can only play the wave level so many times in a given day. There are various ways to gain gear or “loot drops”, whether it be from drops off enemies during a level or through the chests that you can open after acquiring the appropriate keys. Keys can also be found on enemies just like loot, and loot is displayed at the end of each level. You can also go into your inventory from the main in game menu(Home)and see which gear is new as any items you didn’t have prior are marked until you tap on them. There is a nice little tutorial that you go through during your characters first few levels, which is helpful since there’s a lot of stuff to become familiar with. Gamevil is also holding a pre-registration in which you can acquire some free in-game gear like a unique avatar, which you can sign up for here so you can claim your free character avatar once the game launches officially. The supre rare avatar skin is guaranteed and will be the bonus item, and you’ll also get an awesome item of unknown origin(limited)if you pre-register before the launch on July 15th. Over all the game is wild and full of action and hell of a lot of fun, and hopefully we’ll see some official Bluetooth gamepad support thrown in the mix.
The post Gamevil’s New Action RPG Kritika Chaos Unleashed Launches July 15th appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
Warranties and insurances usually keep us away from tinkering with our devices’ hardware, but many of you want to know just how easily repairable these expensive gadgets are. We gotta give it to the guys at iFixit, who will tear down any device they can get their hands on. This time it’s the Android Wear team’s turn to show their internals!
The LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live are the first Android Wear smartwatches to be released, making their teardowns a no-brainer for the electronics repair-centric website. These teardowns show us how easy it is to fix a device, and it seems the new Android Wear units are doing great in this department!
It turns out both devices are relatively simple to take apart and reassemble, which is impressive for a device with such limited space. The LG G Watch got a 9/10 while the Samsung Gear Live got an 8/10 (with 10 representing the easiest to repair).
The biggest challenge was removing the screen from the chasis, as it is fused and glued into it. Samsung’s device was taken off another point because of the addition of multiple PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). These will make it more of a hassle to repair the unit.
Ultimately, these devices really impressed iFixit, as well as us. For being so compact and water resistant, these Android Wear smartwatches hold up pretty well in hardware accessibility. The bands are easily removable and the backs are held by simple screws.
Batteries are easy to remove as well. LG only attached it with a screw, and Samsung went as far as adding a “pull” tab. These devices are quite the repairer’s dream… unless they have to fix the screen. Sadly, screens are what usually go first.
You can read more about the specific steps and the tools needed by heading to iFixit’s LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live teardowns. How many of you would consider fixing a smartwatch yourselves? Would these iFixit scores make you feel more confident?
Let’s face it. People lose their smartphones all the time. It happens, no matter how much we hate to admit it(because it’s usually us that’s doing to the losing, or maybe someone we’re close to)and smartphone theft is just as bad if not worse. What’s a person to do when either of those scenarios come up? Well hopefully you would have taken steps to make sure that anything important is backed up just in case, you know.. like a regular backup once or twice a week. On top of that it couldn’t hurt to have some security measures in place either. There are tons of apps that can get this job done, with features ranging from device tracking to remote wipe and lock functions. An app called Theftie aims to take a slightly different approach, and help you catch thieves red handed should your device turn up missing.
Theftie is pretty much just like it sounds, an app that can take a picture of the person’s face who stole your device. An incognito selfie more or less using your device’s front facing camera. Secret selfies of a would be criminal who thrives on stealing smartphones isn’t the only feature offering from Theftie, it too like other apps in this category can provide the user with a remote lock functionality just in case you need it.
You’ll also see that location tracking services are present, and should you need to grab anything important from your device after it’s already gone(because you forgot to a routine backup.. tisk tisk), you can also send sensitive data that you want to keep to your Google Drive account so you don’t lose it for good. Having both these features available remotely can come in handy but hopefully you won’t have to use them. To round up this completely free security application, should you have a short moment of pure ignorance and misplace your device(hey we all do it, no judgement here)you can manipulate the phone to ring continuously until you find it. This also serves as a great tool to annoy the hell out of thieves if you’re certain your device was stolen, which is exactly what I would do personally. Theftie also supports remote device wipe features, just in case. If you’re interested in giving Theftie a try you can do so for free, just hit the Play Store link below to grab it and install.
The post Caught Red Handed; Theftie Takes Incognito Selfies Of Smartphone Thieves appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
While the HTC One M8 and the Motorola Moto G GPe editions are still available to buy,(probably because they’re still relatively new offerings), today Google has officially pulled three previous GPe devices from the “devices section” of the Play Store. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra, HTC One M7 and the LG G Pad 8.3 tablet have all been pulled out of the listings, so if you wanted one of those it seems you have missed the boat, at least when it comes to getting it straight from Google. There’s always the chance you could stumble upon someone selling it through Craigslist or Ebay. The Samsung Galaxy S4 GPe model is still listed however it is and has remained out of stock since Google no longer had any to sell. We’re guessing this will get pulled soon too, and perhaps replaced by a Samsung Galaxy S5 GPe model.
The Galaxy S4 GPe has been out of stock for the past few weeks or so, which could mean that it will still end up getting re-stocked at some point or perhaps Google has another reason for leaving the listing up. We’ll try not to read too much into it as there isn’t any factual evidence to support any of our wildest theories, but we won’t rule out that Google may be looking to either eventually get rid of the GPe devices down the road, or if they’re simply just removing the older models due to successor replacements. There hasn’t really been any evidence to back rumors about the GPe devices going away either, so most likely we’re just seeing Google completing a little bit of digital summer cleaning from the device page.
Even though some old GPe classics have left our presence and moved on to greener pastures, the good news is that now there’s room for what may be coming next. Who knows what exactly that might be but rest assured that whatever it is, and if Google does have devices planned to take over that previously owned real estate, they will probably be just as awesome as what came before it. Hopefully. Do you currently own one of the GPe devices that are now gone from the Play Store? If so how do you like compared to the original non-GPe models?
The post Google Pulls Multiple Devices From The Play Store Devices Section appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
Following the announcement and shipment of the LG G Watch, it’s quite surprising to already find out that a developer has already put in the time and effort to build a custom ROM for Android Wear. More specifically, this custom ROM is available for the LG G Watch and was created by developer Jakeday. The developer is known for building custom ROMs that are slightly modified versions of the current OS. He pretty much provides people with a ROM that will improve performance on their device defeating any issues that may plague it at that very moment in time. With Android Wear being available to the world, Jakeday is right on time with a custom ROM to fix any issue that people will soon have once they receive their smartwatch in the mail.
The Custom ROM that jakeday has built is called Gohma. Now remember, the ROMs that this developer builds are just a slightly modified version of the software. There isn’t anything fancy about the ROM. Unlike other custom ROMs like CyanogenMod or Paranoid Android, you won’t be able to tell if the device has the custom build. So whats the point of using this ROM? Well the improvements of course. Once you have installed the ROM on your watch, you will be able to notice the incremental improvements made to the software. Improvements such as less lag while swiping between screens and a better battery life are some of what we know so far. Jakeday says there are “other surprises” when you install this ROM, so who knows what he really has in store for us other than minor improvements.
Unlike the installation process of an Android ROM, you do not need to flash the device into recovery. To install this ROM, all you need to do is open the ZIP file on your computer and follow the readme.txt. For step by step directions you can go here. It should be pretty easy to do on your own and probably wouldn’t take too long. If you are interested in downloading the custom ROM and installing it on your G Watch just follow this link. If you end up installing the custom ROM on your G Watch, tell us what it was like and if you found those “other surprises” that Jakeday claims that come with the build.
The post Developer Creates First Custom ROM for Android Wear Called Gohma appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
Last month, we reported that the Xperia Z Ultra, LG G Pad 8.3, HTC One M7, and Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition devices were all appearing as out of stick on the Play Store for several weeks. Today, Google officially removed the Z Ultra, G Pad, and M7 from the Play Store, and they no longer appear under the Google Play Edition devices section.
The remaining three phones are the One M8, Moto G, and Galaxy S4.
Google Officially Pulls Xperia Z Ultra, One M7, And G Pad 8.3 GPE Devices Off Play Store, Galaxy S4 Still Out Of Stock was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
