Sony silently launches the Xperia Z2 for sale in the US

Deciding to forego the experience that is U.S. carriers, Sony has just silently put the unlocked Xperia Z2 up for sale for American consumers. It’s about time. Say what you will about carriers, but without them subsidizing your purchase, you’ll need $700 to pickup your Z2 in black, white or purple.

Being that the current $699 price tag is a $50 discount from what Sony shows as the regular price, I would say hurry over to their site to order your Xperia Z2 right away. However, all three colors are back-ordered with no indication of a delivery date. There is also no news whether the rumored Verizon branded Xperia Z2 is still in the works.

Just in case you’ve forgotten what the Xperia Z2 is all about, that’s the one with the 5.2-inch TRILUMINOS display with Live Color LED technology. It hums along with the 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage with a microSD slot for extra space, running Android 4.4 KitKat. As the international LTE version, it has the expected cellular Band support for AT&T and T-Mobile, including LTE, which won’t work with Verizon. All of this will get you upwards of 19 hours of talk time on the 3200mAh battery. Be sure to check out our full review for more details.

For many, the best feature of the Sony Xperia Z2 is its 20.7MP Exmor R main camera. We enjoyed seeing its efforts on a developer unit in Tokyo early in the year. Especially as it showed off the ability to shoot 4K video. It has since found itself with a few awards for its photo taking abilities, including the auto focus burst mode HDR and face detection flash, not to mention some silly and fun companion apps.

Despite the lack of carrier influence, it appears the US Xperia Z2 will still come with a bit of bloatware. Users should expect to see Facebook, Google+, Hangouts, Twitter and XPeria Socialife pre-loaded on their new phone. At least your Z2 is still dust-resistant and waterproof.

Are you headed on over to the Sony website to order up your new Xperia Z2, or is it just a little too late with players like the LG G3 already shipping?

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Samsung will launch an LTE-capable Galaxy S 5 in India later this year

In India, Samsung’s Galaxy S 5 has lacked any type of LTE support, primarily because of Samsung using their in-house Exynos processors in the device instead of Qualcomm’s LTE-capable Snapdragon chips. While other manufacturers have launched smartphones that support India’s relatively small LTE market, Samsung has lagged behind the competition. That might change by the end of the year, however.

Recent reports say that Samsung will be launching a new SM-G900I model device, which will be a Galaxy S 5 with a Snapdragon 801 CPU on board. That particular CPU also happens to mean that an LTE modem will be in the phone, so customers will finally be able to pick between 3G and 4G options if they want to go with a Samsung device. Aside from the processor, all other specs of the phone look like they’ll be the same, including 2 GB of RAM, a 1080p screen, and all the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from Samsung’s TouchWiz.

This device will cost about $930, instead of $660 that the 3G-only model costs right now. Of course, the 3G model had a much higher price tag when it launched, and it’s steadily been coming down, so this LTE GS5 is likely going to follow that pattern in the next few months, too.

Either way, it’s great that Indian customers will finally be able to take advantage of their young LTE network with a Samsung device.

source: SamMobile

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Google working on fixing laptop battery drain bug in Chrome

A recently uncovered bug in Chrome showed that Google’s browser was unnecessarily using too much battery on laptop computers due to the way Chrome handled PC processors when it was idling. Chrome sets the processor tick rate at 1 millisecond, even when it’s just sitting in the background not doing anything, which can cause up to an extra 25% battery drain on some hardware. Other browsers, like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, keep the CPU tick rate at the default 15.625 milliseconds when it isn’t doing intensive tasks.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a new bug, dating all the way back to 2010 with a bug tracking thread from November 2012. While that’s a pretty long time for such a serious issue to go untreated, Google has made a statement that they’re working on fixing the problem and a fix should be out shortly.

Have you ever noticed a battery drain on your laptop when using Chrome?

source: PC World

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[New App] PixtoCam Allows You To Use Android Wear As A Remote Viewfinder / Shutter For Pictures Of Lego (And Also Other Things)

So, a tiny little screen thing that's kind of like a phone but not a phone and is also strapped to your arm screams for a few very specific uses, and one of them is a remote control for your phone's camera. We've already seen at least one Android Wear camera remote, but that one was more of a proof of concept than a full-fledged tool. PixtoCam takes the basic idea that's been around for longer than mobile phones and adds some notable improvements.

[New App] PixtoCam Allows You To Use Android Wear As A Remote Viewfinder / Shutter For Pictures Of Lego (And Also Other Things) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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[New App] Craft With Android Wear Support Puts Minecraft Recipes Where They Belong: On Your Wrist

I must confess to a near-total ignorance in all things Minecraft. My basic understanding is that you punch trees, dig, run from exploding zombies, and out of that somehow comes a full-scale digital model of the starship Enterprise or the entire country of Denmark. But I do know that "crafting" is a big part of all that, and in order to effectively craft, you need to know what to start with and what tools to use.

[New App] Craft With Android Wear Support Puts Minecraft Recipes Where They Belong: On Your Wrist was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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US Judge Issues Warrant for a Gmail Users’ Emails, Sparks off Debate on User Data Collection and Privacy

An international debate on user data privacy and the authority that governments have for conducting rampant large-scale surveillance was sparked off in June 2013 when the then government contractor for the US Governments National Security Agency, Edward Snowden, had leaked confidential information to the media which outlined the Governments’ massive data collection and surveillance program. The wildfire that spread post the Snowden leaks has spread globally sparking off myriad debates on user privacy, data collection and the rights of individuals versus the governments’ claimed responsibility of ‘National Security’. Visit this link to know why the FBI wants to spy on your Gmail.

Another chapter in the debate has been added thanks to a federal Judge in New York, who has issued a warrant to prosecutors, and Google, to relinquish a Gmail users’ emails as part of a criminal money laundering investigation. The point of contention in this case is that several judges in the US have so far denied prosecutors broad-based access to a users’ emails on the basis that improper access to all emails – not just relevant ones – is actually a breach of the individuals’ right to privacy. Judge Gorenstein, however, has set aside this precedent to allow investigators access to a broad swath of emails, so that they may assess which ones are relevant to the case. Though it is commendable that the Magistrate has explained his stand on approving the warrant, there are several within the same community of judges who hold a different view of the matter. A case in point being the US Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which mandated Police to obtain a warrant for searching an arrested suspect’s cellphone. In a similar tone, a Magistrate in Washington DC had rejected a warrant for emails from a defense contractors’ Apple email account citing that the warrants were overly broad.

National Security and matters of criminal import are heavy concerns, however too much power in the hands of any authority would be put to undeniable misuse and an evasion of a person’s privacy. We believe a balance to both these views – Security vs. Privacy – is needed for a healthy society and a long debate will bring a mature solution to fruition. What’s your take on this? Do let us know in the comments below.

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HTC: Unlocked One M8 Phones Will Receive The 4.4.3 OTA Next Week, Next Release Will Be Android L

If you've got an unlocked/international version of HTC's One M8, you might be wondering when your next Android update is coming. According to HTC Vice President of Management Mo Versi, the answer is "late next week." The company is planning an update to Android 4.4.3.

@Kiamat @htcdev @JasonMacHTC @HTCUSA @htc Our target is late next week. Thanks.

— Mo (@moversi) July 19, 2014

So why not bump it up to the latest release, 4.4.4?

HTC: Unlocked One M8 Phones Will Receive The 4.4.3 OTA Next Week, Next Release Will Be Android L was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Verizon's Moto X And Moto G Are Getting Soak Tests For KitKat 4.4.4

Motorola's sale to Lenovo doesn't seem to have dampened its resolve for speedy Android updates. After upgrading the 2013 DROID line to the latest version of KitKat earlier this week, it looks like the Moto X and the Verizon-only version of the Moto G are getting ready for the same treatment. We've been sent alerts that some users are being invited to a "soak test" for Android 4.4.4, which means that a full rollout is probably a few weeks away at most.

Verizon's Moto X And Moto G Are Getting Soak Tests For KitKat 4.4.4 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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