ChromePIE Xposed Module Gives Rooted Users Customizable Swipe-In Controls For Chrome was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Sunday, September 7, 2014
ChromePIE Xposed Module Gives Rooted Users Customizable Swipe-In Controls For Chrome
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Facebook Messenger Update Adds Text And Doodle Editing For Local Photos
Facebook Messenger Update Adds Text And Doodle Editing For Local Photos was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Samsung Gear Live First To Receive Android Wear OTA Updates
Another day and once again we have more Android Wear news coming down the wire. Over the last few weeks we have been inundated with Wear and wearable news including multiple new products on the way. Wearable news has become so prevalent recently that we have even heard an announcement from HTC that they are not making a smartwatch. Normally a company not making a product would not be news, but this just highlights how popular and topical wearables are at the moment.
Ignoring all the upcoming releases we have recently reported, those who already own a smartwatch (most likely the LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live) would probably want some good news or at least news in general. So hear you go guys. Yesterday we reported David Singleton Engineering Director of Google’s Android Wear Division had advised Android Wear devices are set to receive some awaited updates before the end of 2014. For those of you who might not have heard of Android Wear, this is the operating system which has been specifically designed for smartwear or wearable technology such as smartwatches, bracelets and the like. The platform was launched at Google’s I/O event back in June and initially launched with Samsung’s Gear Live smartwatch and LG’s G Watch smartwatch. Since then a number of other manufacturers including Sony, ASUS and Huawei have all announced their intention to launch a device running on Wear.
In terms of the promised updates, the first update is expected to include support for on-device GPS. This in effect will aid users in terms of measuring distance, speed tracking and similar. There is also expected support for Bluetooth headsets to allow offline music playback from your smartwatch which actually sounds quite neat. The second update is expected to include support for downloadable custom watch faces. In short once this update rolls out users will be able to customize the information shown on the watch face. Not to mention the number of both official and unofficial third party custom faces which are likely to hit the market soon. Although, the news of the updates was only recently reported we are now receiving early reports that the first update (Android Wear 4.4W.1) has starting rolling out. At the moment we can only confirm the Samsung Gear Live is currently receiving the update making it the first device to receive the treatment. It is currently unclear if this update does include the GPS functionality although improvements to the voice action features are being noted. If you are a Gear Live owner then you should have already seen the update but if you haven’t then don’t worry. It should reach you soon enough. For LG G Watch users, you should also receive the update in due course as Google are expected to release updates to all Android Wear devices regardless of manufacturer.
The post Samsung Gear Live First To Receive Android Wear OTA Updates appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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[Weekend Poll] Did You Buy A Moto 360?
If you're in one of the eligible countries, you're probably well aware that the Moto 360 has begun shipping, so we want to know if you bought one.
The Moto 360 is easily the most anticipated Android Wear device to date, and possibly even the most awaited smartwatch. Its semi-circular display and very modern but still watch-like design have been huge factors here - I would definitely agree the 360 is still the best-looking smartwatch we've seen, even compared to concept hardware.
[Weekend Poll] Did You Buy A Moto 360? was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Olloclip Release Lenses for the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4
On Thursday, Californian-based Olloclip announced the release of the Olloclip 4-IN-1 Photo Lenses accessory for the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 handsets. The Olloclip is a popular camera enhancing accessory for various Apple products and it’s great to see the company diversify into the Android sphere. The accessory consists of four feature lenses, fisheye, wide-angle and two macros, a 15X magnification and 10X magnification. Olloclip have engineered a quick-change system that is similar to that available for a digital SLR camera but still fits into pockets, purses and hands. Olloclip have patented the design, which allows the lenses to slide across the camera on the back of the device. The fisheye and wide-angle lenses are adjacent to one another and the macro lenses are revealed by unscrewing either the fisheye or wide-angle lense. Each Olloclip lens unit is constructed out of aircraft-grade aluminium containing advanced coated glass and multi-element optics. You can check out Olloclip’s video here:
Click here to view the embedded video.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 already have an impressive main cameras, but let me go over these devices again. The S4 is Samsung’s 2013 flagship handset, based around either a 1.9 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor or a quad core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15, quad core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 Exynos 5410 CPU, 2 GB of RAM and a 5.0-inch 1080p AMOLED screen. The main camera is a 13 MP unit. The S5 has been upgraded in most respects, packing a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 CPU, 2 GB of RAM, a 5.1-inch 1080p AMOLED screen and an improved 16 MP rear camera with a very quick autofocus time of just 0.3 seconds and software-implemented image stabilisation and Selective Focus, to name just two features. The Olloclip is a great way to take advantage of the Galaxy’s already creditable camera skills, because it doesn’t change any of the camera software on the handset. Anything that you can do with the Galaxy without the Olloclip accessory, you can do with the accessory. This of course includes panoramics, dual shot mode and on the S5, recording 4K ultra high definition video.
The Olloclips cost $69.99 for both the S4 and the S5 version. As befits the slightly larger size of the S5 compared with the S4, that particular Olloclip is a little bigger but both weigh less an an ounce. The accessory is available to pre-order online from from their website and currently only in black. Olloclip do not yet have a confirmed shipping date but should be ready in mid-September. And as I see it, $70 is not much to pay for some clever enhancements to the camera, but what do you think? Hit us up in the comments below or in your favourite social network.
The post Olloclip Release Lenses for the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4 appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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Google’s Project Tango Tablet makes an appearance at the FCC
Project Tango is one of Google’s more esoteric and interesting special projects from the Advanced Technology and Projects group, or ATAP, formerly a division of Motorola. The project is aiming at increasing the contextual awareness of our mobile devices by giving them the ability to interpret the world as we humans do, that is, in three dimensions. ATAP has been working with research laboratories, universities and industrial partners across the world, working in the field of robotics and computer vision with a focus towards mobile devices. There are two Project Tango devices, the first is a customised ‘phone and the second is a 7.0-inch tablet released as a Tablet Development Kit. Today’s story concerns the later tablet device and although we’ve covered the announcement of the Project Tango tablet built by LG, now it’s been through the FCC. We had heard that a Tango device will be released to the general public in 2015 but it was unclear if this would be a new device or not. It’s now looking like it’ll be the 7.0-inch tablet design as this is the model that’s been through the FCC.
Let’s take another look at this Project Tango tablet, which carries the model number NX-74751. As a point of interest, this happens to coincide with the USS Yellowstone, from the Star Trek Voyager series. One of Google’s ambitions is to make computing as easy as we see in the Star Trek universe (and we are getting there, if you’ve interacted with an Android Wear device, right?). Anyway, back on topic the Tango tablet has rather monstrous specifications but a definite shortage of Photon Torpedoes. The tablet comes with a quad core 32-bit 2.3 GHz Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, stereo speakers and a rechargeable battery of around 6,500 mAh. There’s a 7.0-inch screen and it’s powered by Android Kit Kat. In terms of specialised cameras and sensors, the Project Tango tablet has a front facing 120-degree camera, a rear mounted 4 MP camera complete with infrared functionality, a 170-degree motion tracking rear camera and an integrated depth sensor. The device also comes with high speed 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy and a 2G / 3G / 4G modem. So although it’s designed for 3D mapping, it will play nicely with Android Wear devices!
Google’s own documentation states that these sensors can make over a quarter of a million 3D measurements every second, updating position and orientation information in real time. Of course, here’s where the Tegra K1 comes into play as this mobile processor uses the same GPU (graphic processor unit) architecture as desktop systems. The K1 has 192-programmable GPU cores, which the Tango tablet puts to uses for the 3D modelling. Some of the proposed ideas of Project Tango include painting a 3D virtual battlefield in your living room, creating interactive, large scale tours for presentation purposes by estate agents and interior designers. Not to mention how much mapping data Google will acquire through having these devices out in the field… we may soon be seeing an impressive increase in the accuracy of Google Earth. Let’s see if the scary $1,024 price tag is reduced.
The post Google’s Project Tango Tablet makes an appearance at the FCC appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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Moto X’s Front Facing Speaker vs HTC’s Boomsound
One of the things that Motorola added onto all of their phones, starting with the Moto E earlier this year, was a front-facing speaker. Now the Moto E and the new Moto G do have front-facing stereo speakers, while the Moto X just has a single front-facing speaker at the bottom. But it is a quite loud speaker, and we decided to compare it side-by-side the front-facing Boomsound speakers on the HTC One Remix, since that was the device that we had at the time.
Motorola stated that their speakers did go through a lot of testing, to get them just right. And after having spent a few days with the Moto X and using it’s front-facing speaker, I must say it’s a pretty damn good speaker. Even if it is only one speaker. I happen to think the Moto X’s speaker is better, but not everyone agrees with me. And I’m perfectly fine with that. As we usually say in the tech community “to each their own”. Every one has an opinion and feel free to have one.
In the video, that is down below we compare the speaker(s) on the Moto X (2014) and the HTC One Remix. We play Eminem’s Legacy for about 15 seconds on each device (hopefully YouTube doesn’t remove the video for that). Both are at full volume as well. So you can see which one is the better speaker. But if you are like me, you probably don’t use the speaker too much and just plug in headphones anyways. But I thought everyone would like to see it in action.
So check out the video down below, and let us know what you think about the speaker on the Moto X. Do you think it’s better than HTC’s Boomsound? Let us know in the comments below.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The post Moto X’s Front Facing Speaker vs HTC’s Boomsound appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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