Ever since Google launched the Android L developer preview at their I/O conference in June, users have been testing the L release on every device they can get it installed on. A team of developers over on the XDA Forums is adding a new device to the list, HTC’s original One (M7) flagship smartphone.
The port is still considered to be in the alpha stages, so you’ll find some hiccups, in addition to some other items that just don’t work. Some limited and reduced functionality is not unexpected, the Android L release is just a developer preview, after all, made to show off the newest looks and functions, not as a daily driver. The list of key functions not currently operating in the HTC One release include WiFi, Bluetooth, data, camera and sound. Like we said, not exactly a daily driver.
The HTC One (M7) is HTC’s flagship device from 2013. It’s 4.7-inch 1080p display with the Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB of RAM hit the market as one of the best Android powered smartphones of its time.
Android L is Google’s next OS designed to rock all of our mobile needs. If you have been out of the loop for a while, be sure to check out our Google I/O coverage, take a look at what Google’s Material Design has in store for us, and of course, head on over to the XDA forum to get your hands on the HTC One (M7) developer preview of Android L.
Will you guys be giving the Android L preview a go on your HTC One (M7)?
Google has slowly been adding in hints of Material Design into all of their applications, and everyone fully expects every Google app to see a facelift around the time that Android L gets released. We’ve seen a few leaks of some of these apps before, but next on the list is the Play Store itself.
Some leaked screens of Play Store listings show a much, much nicer interface for browsing apps, music, movies, and books. The tablet listings display the basic app information in front of a large header image that really creates a visually stunning look, although the picture is just a blank color for books. On a phone, the design is very similar, with the header appearing at the top of the information on screen. These large images can either be a poster for the app, movie, or album that you’re looking at, but in the case of apps, games, and movies, it can also be a trailer to show users what to expect. It puts visually appealing information front and center, which is great for users.
Below the images, the actual content and descriptions are getting some tweaks, too. The body of text that you’re used to reading over when installing a new app goes full screen, including the What’s New section, and the reviews section at the bottom is seeing a splash of color to make things a little more interesting. Below that, the content interaction section is a little different, with the Wishlist, Share, and Google+ buttons sitting below the reviews with newer icons.
Overall, everything looks like a very positive change, especially if you’re a fan of Google’s new Material Design. Although these images are pre-release leaks and might still change, I’d say we have a pretty good chance of seeing most of the overhaul make its way into the Play Store by the end of the year.
For the rest of the side-by-side images of the current design and leaked designs, hit the link below.
source: Android Police
Come comment on this article: Google Play Store may see a Material Design update
Verizon’s mysterious budget LG device, the G Vista, is slated to go on sale this upcoming Friday, July 18th. There’s still no solid word on pricing, but since it’s clearly modeled after the G3 with lesser specs, and Verizon is selling the G3 for $99 on-contract, there’s no way this device can cost too much.
As a reminder, we’re expecting the G Vista to launch with a quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU, 1.5 GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel rear camera and 8 GB of internal storage. It’s pretty likely we’ll see a lot of the G3′s great software features make its way onto the device, too.
source: evleaks
Come comment on this article: Verizon’s LG G Vista will release on July 18th
Ever since the first time most of us technophiles saw Google Glass, we were probably excited to say the least. At first you may have thought, “oh cool, a fun new toy.” That inward thinking response may have quickly turned into a whole lot more though as we began to see the potential in what Glass could do and how it could be used. The idea behind Glass was originally to deliver a way for users to have an immediately quicker process to grab the information they need, much like they might use Google Search for on their mobile devices. It has grown into much more than that now and we’re seeing all kinds of people use Glass for things we might not have imagined in the beginning like games, how to videos, travel experiences and sharing all kinds of memories. Glass is even now being used to enhance teaching in some universities, and doctors and surgeons are using it in hospitals.
For all it’s excitement with the mainstream tech crowd though, is Google Glass losing steam with the general consumer market? Glass has been in development for years and it has been a little over two years since it’s initial announcement, and currently Google’s heads up display of sorts is still in a beta phase. There is plenty of work to be done to get things to where Google wants them for Glass, how much time is too much time though before the average consumer that had any interest at all in this device decides to move on to another product that is already available? Don’t get me wrong, I myself am extremely excited about Glass and whether it takes 5 more months or another two years before a final revision consumer ready model reaches the market, I’ll have money set aside to get my very own pair. Not all consumers are as dedicated to a product though and for some the excitement begins to wither and die just a little bit with each passing day. The OnePlus One can be a great example of this although in a tad bit of a different scenario. There was plenty of hype about the phone early on but now that it has been a little past the perceived launch date, along with factors like the invite system, there are plenty of consumers who already lost interest.
The same could be said for Glass, although Glass seems to be having a slightly easier go of it because it’s in an entirely different class of electronic. It’s a wearable, and there aren’t as many wearables out there as there are smartphones, let alone very many devices that you can wear like glasses that do what Glass does. For this reason it may have not lost as many consumers interest as it would have if there were already a decent number of available products that did the same thing. Things like this must be food for thought though with Google and despite them running the risk of losing a potentially large chunk of interested buyers due to time waiting for the product to release, there’s something to be said for the path they’ve taken. They’re taking their time to make sure that Glass is absolutely everything that it can be and they’re not trying to cut any corners. The point of a beta phase like this or any other for that matter is to find out where they need to improve the product.
Sure, they could simply rush this to mass production and have it out before the end of the summer if they wanted to, especially now with how far Glass has already come. There are still glaring issues with Glass however that need to be addressed and Google knows it. They’re finding out from the people that are already using the device what they like and don’t like and they’re trying to improve their product in those areas and fine tune it to perfection. They want things to go as smoothly as possible when they launch it commercially and there’s nothing wrong with that. When you consider the amount of negative press it has already received over privacy matters, making sure that Glass shines in virtually every other area might not be such a bad idea, even if it is a rather lofty goal. Glass is unique and has tons of potential, but whenever Google decides to release it as a final product there will be more than a few things that the average consumer will be looking for. An affordable price, a design that isn’t too crazy and perhaps a little more socially acceptable, and enough functionality to warrant using it as opposed to just pulling out their phone.
The post Android Headliner: Glass Continues To Excite But Is It Losing Steam With Average Consumers? appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
While we’ve known about Android Wear for some time now, it’s only this summer that hardware running the platform has been getting to people’s wrists. Right now, the only two options are LG’s G Watch and Samsung’s Gear Live, with the Moto 360 not hitting shelves till later this summer. We reviewed the Gear Live a little while ago, and I’ve been living with the G Watch for a fortnight or so now. With a decent selection of smartwatches on offer from Pebble – including the classier Pebble Steel – Sony and Samsung, does Google’s own approach to the smartwatch (and its first new form factor since the tablet) have something better to offer? Let’s see if LG’s G Watch answers that question in our review.
Forget the software, forget the gadget side of things, the G Watch is essentially a piece of your clothing, even more so if you’re a regular watch wearer. As you can see, there’s really very little to the G Watch and well, there’s more a lack of design than anything else. Which I personally love. Design is all about personal taste and the black, digital, square look of the G Watch just ‘clicks’ with me. I like the fact that it’s non-descript and it lets your notifications stand out. I’m not a big fan of logos on devices and turning my wrist into some sort of advertisement for LG would turn me off (thankfully, Samsung takes this approach with the Gear Live as well). If you were looking for something that stands out, that looks somewhat traditional and will have people commenting on the look of your watch, rather than how much of a gadget it is, then waiting for the Moto 360 is for you.
As for the build, the G Watch is a steel sort of slab that’s completely sealed with no buttons at all (more on that later). It feels sturdy and it definitely feels well-made and worth the asking price. As it is a sealed unit, it’s water and dust resistant which means you can easily wash the dishes wearing this or happily get it wet in the rain. I wouldn’t recommend swimming or showering with the G Watch, but its IP67 rating says you could if you really felt the need to.
One more important aspect of the G Watch is the standard 22mm watch fitting, which allows for straps to be put just like a “normal” watch. The Gear Live can do this as well, but where the fittings are on the G Watch mean you can pretty much find any strap you like and get a decent look out of it. It’s nice and easy to fit using standard springbars and your local jeweller (or your friend, Amazon) will have something for you. I went for a brown leather strap that’s pretty minimal with a nice touch of class. Having said that, the silicon band that comes with it isn’t bad at all, it’s soft and should fit the vast majority of wrists with no problems. My only complaints are that it would perhaps look better in black, rather than gray, and it collects lint and dust like a magnet.
(For the ladies out there thinking a square, bulkish watch like this might not suit, here’s an image of my girlfriend wearing it with the default strap.)
No matter if you choose the G Watch, the Gear Live or wait for the Moto 360 Android Wear is the same on all of them. Right now, Wear is well, a really good inbox on your wrist. It’s excellent at catching all of the notifications that come through to your phone and they carry across nice and quickly. No matter if it’s eBay, Facebook, Hangouts or your chosen SMS or messaging app they all just appear on your wrist. Which is great and all, but only a few of them have any actions available to them. Hangouts for instance, allows you to reply to the message and scroll back a little through previous messages, but you can only send an SMS using Wear and your voice, not an IM which is a little backward. Facebook, Twitter, other messaging apps are for the most pretty useless right now, with a prompt only to open the app on your phone (the equivalent on hitting the notification from your phone’s pulldown). This is of course up to developers to implement Android Wear support into these apps, Google can’t do everything and now that the full Android Wear SDK is available support should be trickling down steadily.
For Google stuff though, Wear has quite a few drinks up its sleeve. For instance you can ask the G Watch “do I need an umbrella?” and you’ll be given a look at the weather, swipe to the left and you’ll get a four day forecast. The same goes for Keep, you can set a reminder and even look at and tick off things from your to-do lists. Of course, the idea of talking into a watch is well, ridiculous. I’m a little bias on that front as here in Middle England technology isn’t exactly everywhere. The step counter is fairly accurate n my experience, but it took a little time to settle, at first it was wildly liberal with its steps and it’s since become more realistic, but a dedicated pedometer this ain’t.
As for apps, these are slowly appearing and we’ve already seen a Flappy Bird clone and Tic Tac Toe appear for distractions. However, nothing groundbreaking has hit the Play Store just yet and standalone apps are still fairly simple affairs like a calculator or an alert to tell you you’ve gone out of range (which should have been built in). There have been some watch faces hit the G Watch and other Android Wear devices, like my favorite so far, a beta version of the Awesome Clock Widget but it’s still early days for apps and faces alike.
To sum it up, right now Android Wear is in its infancy and while its toybox is great for notifications, there’s not much else in there. Which is a shame, but as with anything new, it’ll take a little time for apps to get better and offer some genuine use.
One of the biggest complaints I see is the idea of having one more device to charge at night, and unfortunately that’s true of the G Watch. Each day I put my watch on around 08:30 in the morning and by the time I take it off somewhere around 23:00, I’m left with say 30% or so battery life. So yes, you can get a full day no problem, but not much more than that. Thankfully, the G Watch is a joy to charge.
The included cradle is so brutally simple that it’s a wonder anyone went a different route (we’re looking at you, Samsung). It’s just a black rectangle with some pins sticking out that’s slightly magnetic. Just plop the G Watch in there and that’s it, you’re done. It even comes with its own microUSB cable and wall wart, something other smartwatches just don’t come with. It is a pain to charge these devices daily, but it’s made so easy here that simply placing it in its bed every night to not have your watch die the next day isn’t a big deal at all. We also have to remember that the G Watch is running a 1.2 Ghz CPU with 512MB of RAM, a standard LCD display that’s always on in some form or another all on a tiny 400 mAh battery.
As we said above, there are no buttons on the G Watch, but you can reset the watch and turn it off from the settings if you wish. To turn it back on again however, you need to plug it in to its cradle to get it to come back on. You can easily mute notifications at any time by just pulling from the time, which also tells you how much battery life you have left.
We’ve addressed the battery life and how the G Watch looks, but what about the arguably most important part, the display? Well, the G Watch’s display is a bit of a mixed bag. We’ll start off with the good, in that the 280 x 280 display resolution is fairly crisp, viewing angles are pretty great for a watch, and the colors are fairly vibrant. It’s very responsive as well, very rarely did I have to press multiple times to get the display to respond, but I did have to be accurate when hitting things like the archive button in GMail.
While it’s all fun and games indoors, the G Watch falls apart in the sun. I recently spend 6 months or so wearing a Sony SmartWatch 2 day in, day out and while that smartwatch had some shortcomings in a lot of areas, I could always see the display in sunlight. It was easy to read and the brighter it got, the brighter the reflective display got. The G Watch however, is useless in its sleep mode and while things get better when you wake it up, it’s still pretty poor. The display gets nice and bright and all, but the glare from the G Watch’s glass face is just awful, it’s glare city with this thing and that’s a real shame as the display underneath is pretty good, even if LCDs are awful in direct sunlight.
I led in this review with a picture of the weather card on the G Watch showing a nice, 15 degrees (that’s Celsius, folks) and the G Watch is just that, sunny with a few clouds here and there. It’s nice, it’s comfortable, but it could be a whole lot better. The skies aren’t completely clear and it’s not that exciting right now. However, the hardware is good if not a little bland, and with more apps and better support for Wear, the G Watch will get better in time. Right now though, it’s not the second coming of the smartwatch we all thought it would be. The Moto 360 will surely offer much better hardware and by then more apps will be available.
If you want a smartwatch for notifications and maybe a little light utility, then the G Watch – and Android Wear – have a lot to offer you, but otherwise it’s not that exciting and not really that useful. Yet.
The post Featured Review: LG G Watch appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
A little worried about what is to come in terms of weather when out and about? MyRadar Weather Radar for Google Glass can help with that. The new Glassware gives users an easy way to see a live forecast without having to take out a physical device and moving through an app. Specifically, it uses a user’s current location rather than having to pick and choose one. So if rain is coming, you can make sure to get some cover in order to protect the very expensive wearable.
To activate the Glassware, you just have to ask it to “Show the weather” and the radar is brought up. Immediately after, the live forecast is displayed. It is animated and shows just how dense the coming storm will be. The MyRadar Weather Radar Glassware is free, but it does not yet work nicely with the mobile app.
Source: Google Glass
Via: 9to5Google
Come comment on this article: MyRadar Weather Radar provides Google Glass with a live forecast
Google Glass hasn't exactly set the world on fire, but it wasn't meant to. It and other projects under the "Google X" team were designed to be experimental, and we're still months away from seeing it hit a retail market at the very least. Even so, the news that one of the original architects of Glass is leaving for the distant shores (if not the greener pastures) of Amazon is a little disheartening.
Babak Parviz, The Guy Behind Google Glass And The Smart Contact Lens, Leaves Google For An Expedition To Amazon was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
While Google might not have designed Android Wear to mimic your smartphone’s interface, that hasn’t stopped developers from doing what they do best and bringing an Android app launcher directly to your wrist. Wear Mini Launcher for Android Wear allows you to swipe right from the top left side of your smartwatch to display an app drawer with all of your locally installed applications. From there, you can scroll up and down as you would on your smartphone or tablet drastically reducing the amount of time to find and open an app. The default way to launch an app with Android Wear involves using multiple touch commands or voice commands. While the voice commands are completely hands free and easy to use, it can take can take approximately 7 seconds to launch an app versus approximately 2 seconds with this new launcher.
If you’re rockin’ the LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live, I recommend you give Wear Mini Launcher a try. You won’t be sorry.
When we first wrote about Quantum Paper (the internal name for the material in Material Design), we noted that Google was anticipating a series of updates to its own apps between the introduction and completion of the new design direction - updates which would bring the apps a bit closer to the new design style in a progressive fashion, so that the apps wouldn't undergo fundamental transformations overnight.
Looking back, it is now obvious that Google+ was our first taste of material design, followed by Google's editing apps like docs and sheets.
Exclusive: Google Prepping Play Store Update That's One Step Closer To Material With Beautiful New Listing UI was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
