Category: Android

Google Translate for Android, Brings the Love for Handwriting in 13 new Languages including Punjabi, Gujrati and Arabic

Google’s latest translate app update will offer a lot of help to travelers and locals of the middle east and South Asia including India. With handwriting recognition added in 13 new languages including Arabic and Persian as well as Indian dialects like Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. You’ll also find support for Bosnian, Cebuano, Hmong, Maltese, Mongolian and Somali.

Google is constantly updating their language tools and it becoming easier and easier to communicate with people of a different language thanks to these updates. With handwriting support added, those from India who cannot type can now scribble directions to the nearest bar on this app. Lovely!

March 13, 2014
Dong Nguyen May Bring ‘Flappy Bird’ Back

Flappy Bird has enjoyed ample of attention ever since its demise on the App store and Play store. Creator Dong Nguyen, decided to take the game off the stores because it was to much for him. As per his interview with the Rolling Stone, he said “I was just making something fun to share with other people.”

[quote text_size=”medium”]I couldn’t predict the success of Flappy Bird[/quote]

On February 9, a new tweet was seen on Nguyen’s account. Reading ,”I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.” This tweet not only marked the end of Flappy Birds from stores but also worried players who were addicted to this game. Having said that, this message was retweeted more than 1,45,000 times.

Dong Nguyen says he never wanted that fame, he could not take it. However, after removing the game he says: ” I can’t go back to my life before, but I’m good now.” He has turned all offers down, that have come across to purchase this game. When asked if he will bring the game back in the stores ? “I’m considering it,” Nguyen said.

Irrespective of when Flappy Bird will go live again, it will surely be a success for both ends. Android users can still download the game(unofficially), but iPhone users still cannot reach it. If the game does return, it will bring joy back to the lovers, and to Dong Nguyen as he was apparently earning $50,000 per day with this game.

March 12, 2014
LG G Flex Review

LG has been an underdog in the mobile industry for quite some time. However, last year brought about a new beginning for the Korean manufacturer especially in the mobile space. LG broke the traditional association of “cheap products” when they successfully chased the market with a product like the LG G2.

The new G Flex is the company’s latest marvel and a first of a kind phone at that. The first phone with a curved display, a curved body and a curved battery. The G Flex is also capable of handling reverse tension of upto 40 kilograms and then returning to original state.

Specifications

[row cols_nr=”2″ bg_color=”e0fce0″]

[col size=”6″]

Display

Chipset

Battery

Camera

RAM

Storage

Price

[/col]

[col size=”6″]

6 Inch

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

3500 mAh

13 MP main / 2.1 MP Secondary

2 GB

32 GB

Rs. 63000 / USD 899

[/col]

[/row]

Build Quality and Design

The funny thing about the build quality of the LG G Flex is that on one hand, it has a brilliant build and design : it is the first curved phone, which flexes and returns to its original position. It also has great tensile materials that allow it to do that flex thing it does, including LG’s patented Plastic OLED (POLED) tech. However on the other hand, the phone is purely plastic, front to back, the Plastic Display adds to the plastic nature making the phone look : well not so premium.

[quote text_size=”small”]Curved and Flexible makes it unique![/quote]

The G Flex however due to its design can be mishandled quite a lot. It has a very damage resistant design, including the Gorilla Glass (er.. plastic) front, the self healing paint finish on the back that does a pretty decent job. You can however scratch the back if that what you are trying to do, dropping the phone on concrete can have bad repercussions.

Performance, Display & Multimedia

The G Flex is a refreshing change for Android devices, just like the G2 the G Flex is responsive and fast and hold down on the lag quite a lot. Apart from daily chores, it does a brilliant job in handling heavy games and performance apps, especially a few architecture and calculation apps we tried.

Even benchmarks are not a problem for the G Flex and you will find it hovering in the top range of the spectrum of devices. The graphics performance also takes a leap as it saves up on the lower 720p display. The limitation of the new “POLED” tech restricts the screen resolution to 720p and may be upped in the G Flex 2.

For the time being the display is pretty fantastic, the vivid colors and exceptional brightness put it in the top their in our list. If you ignore the resolution which effective is pretty alright, considering the size of the display you are bound to hold it further away. You will not notice the lack of 1080p, and if you do its purely an irritation in the mind .

Multimedia is a brand new experience, it fun even, simply because the curved display adds a strange magic to the viewing experience. The curve is pretty good and noticeable and anyone holding the device is impressed when viewing videos . The inbuilt sound may not be the top notch sound you would expect .

The G Flex captures and plays back 4k video, which allows you to zoom into videos without loss of resolution. A new tech also allows you to zoom into the sound of the area you zoom into. LG calls it Audio Zoom and shockingly it works well.

Camera

The camera on this handset seems less polished than one would expect. Images are shabby, and mostly end up shaky. The lack of image stabilization also shows its dark side. Unlike the G2 the G Flex seems to have a slow and shabby shutter and mostly translates to less sharp images in the end.

That all being said, its not a complete failure and one can really take pictures by being careful with the handset. On the plus side the sensor captures unaltered 4K video which is simply too good to talk about. Talk about portable Ultra High Def, the camera is highly capable and manages excellent video. There is some software stabilization which may not be very well appreciated but, applying stabilization in post works great and you can even select your areas from the 4k footage to make a nice 1080p video with the right kind of detail. Its like a lossless zoom in video. 4k Video is the future of mobile camera tech, we saw that at MWC, and the G Flex embraces it really well.

[quote text_size=”small”]G Flex embraces 4k Video as it’s the future[/quote]

Phone Networks and Battery Life

The G Flex is a great phone too, with an excellent grasp on network towers the G Flex is able to get network where most phones failed. We used the G Flex primarily while traveling for MWC and while most people struggled with network problems, we were pretty happy.

Battery life was also excellent, also possibly due to a great network antenna. The 3500 mAh battery is not only good on paper but also in real life usage. LG has managed processes and its display really well ensuring high battery life. Great apps like the power saver enhance the battery considerably and come out of the box. Oh and did we mention that he battery is curved!

Conclusion

The LG G Flex is a new age smartphone, it has all the matching pre requisites and it is a one of a kind device. It is not only curved, it flexes! The hardware is on the low side when compared to higher end of the spectrum, 720p display vs an 1080p and 2 GB of RAM vs 3 GB. However, those specs are arguably not needed.

While the performance of the phone is really on the happy side, the camera especially for stills is the sad side. Video, especially 4k is good and the phone networks are solid and battery excellent. The G Flex is large and not easily handled with one hand, even with large ginormous hands.

The G Flex brings in a new category, bendable phones, while its a step into the future we are not quite there yet and a long time from it. The design is unique and one of a kind, the build nice and resistance splendid. Honestly if LG made this phone slightly smaller we would have been happier, at 6 inches its more a mini tablet. So bring on the G Flex Mini and we we be happy soldiers.

Even though its priced high, its a new technology and may be worth the value for those who become first movers.

March 11, 2014
Android 4.4 Update Ends Samsung’s Benchmark Boosting

The past few months the folks at Samsung were accused of artificially boosting the benchmark performance of their high-end smartphones, by overclocking the CPU and GPU while the benchmark tests are running. With Android 4.4 KitKat, Samsung has ceased this behavior. The whitelists have been removed, the browser no longer detects SunSpider or Rightware’s Browsermark, and the phone doesn’t display unusual activity or processor clocks when benchmark applications are run.

While the phones do still perform better than their Android 4.2 running counterparts, that should mostly be a result of the under-the-hood improvements made by Google in the latest version of the mobile OS.

According to a report by Ars Technica:

Moving to Android 4.4, that strange CPU activity stops happening. Every single benchmark we ran prompted variable-but-normal fluctuations in CPU speed based on actual activity. Speeds would ramp up for a couple of seconds while the app launched, but once it became idle, the speeds settled back down to where they would normally be.

Compare this to the behaviour in Android 4.3 “where all four cores go right to the maximum speed of 1.9GHz when a benchmark app is opened.”

Benchmarks are useful tools, but they are not, or should not be, the deciding factor in purchasing a device anyway but we’re glad to see Samsung moving away from this behavior on older devices. The real test will come with the launch of the Galaxy S5.

March 5, 2014
Karbonn To Launch World’s First Android, Windows Phone Dual Boot Handset

Dual-OS phones running Windows Phone and Android are six months away from launch, according to the chairperson of Karbonn, which has apparently signed a deal with Microsoft to produce them.

It is reported that the dual-OS smartphones will be out by June and will target office-going professionals and ‘techies.’

“Microsoft has eased the regulations and is opening up its platform for other players. We signed the agreement two days ago and will launch a range of Windows phones in about three months” – Karbonn CEO Sudhir Hasija

Price is still a mystery and so are the specs; we can only hope this Karbonn will be a high-end device with Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip. While it may seem a bit surprising that Microsoft would agree to share space on a handset, Microsoft has been taking steps to make it easier for manufacturers to install their software. That includes support for Qualcomm’s Android reference designs which would allow a phone maker to use the same hardware for Android or Windows Phone devices.

Reports surfaced recently that it had asked HTC to combine Windows Phone and Android on one device as well.

March 3, 2014
Nokia X, X+ & XL Launched: Here is Everything You Want to Know

Ever since the birth of Android operating system, mostly all companies have opted this OS for their smartphones. Android can do better things than what Symbian did; but, Nokia as a company has never believed in the Android platform lately. However, the rumored Nokia X is now official and is the first ever Android smartphone for Nokia.

Talking about the specifications, the Nokia X and X+ sports a 4 inch IPS LCD WVGA display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The Nokia X series is powered by a 1 GHz Dual-Core Snapdragon processor and runs on a forked version of Android 4.1.2. The device is packed with a 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of internal storage, a microSD support of up to 32 GB. The Nokia X+ is packed with a 768 MB RAM and all other specs remains the same.

The Nokia X and X+ are equipped with a 3 MP fixed focus camera, with no secondary camera. Both devices have a 1500 mAh battery which should work well considering the specs they offer.

Nokia XL comes with a 5-inch 480 x 800 display, a 5 MP camera, a 2 MP front camera, 768 MB RAM and a 2000 mAh battery, all other specifications are same as on the X and X+.

Only one touch button is seen, which can be pressed once to go back and hold it down to return to the home screen. Software customization on the home screen and in the forked OS makes the Nokia X different. This forked version of Android looks like the Windows Phone tiles we are used to see on Nokia Devices.

This forked version of Android will not include Play Store or any Google App, like Chrome, Maps etc, however, it can still manage to run the Android applications you want. These X smartphones from Nokia will instead include, Skype, Here maps, Outlook and more services.

The Nokia X and X+ both shares the same look and are 10.4 mm thick, which is probably not the thinnest device we have known. While the XL keeping up to its name is 10.8 mm thick device. While Nokia and Microsoft deal is about to come in the picture soon, we doubt if Microsoft will continue the X family that Nokia has just started today.

The Nokia X will go on sale immediately, priced at EUR 89 in Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The Nokia X+ and Nokia XL are expected to be available soon, priced at EUR 99 and EUR 109, respectively.

Swiping across reveals the Fastlane feature, an option that is forwarded from Nokia’s Asha devices. However, it is disappointing to see these phone running on forked version of Android 4.1.2 which was launched in 2012.

Many of us have been waiting for an Android smartphone from Nokia, and today Nokia has ended the wait by launching 3 new Android running smartphones. While you wait for our hands on video do let us know what you think of these devices.

February 24, 2014
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Launched at a Price of 36,990 INR

Sony launched the little brother to its flagship Xperia Z1, the Xperia Z1 Compact at the CES 2014. The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact was expected to launch in the Indian market in the month of March, but the company has unvieled the device today at a price of 36,990 INR.

The Xperia Z1 Compact has powerful specs when compared to other devices in its category — like the HTC One mini, LG G2 Mini and Samsung Galaxy S4 mini — as it comes with a 4.3-inch display (1280 x 720 resolution), 2.2Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage and a 2300 mAh battery.

What makes it something to consider is that it continues the lines of bringing “the best of Sony” into every product as it sports a 20.7 MP rear-facing camera with the f/2.0 G Lens, plus a 2 MP front-facing camera, NFC, HD Voice and Qi wireless charging and LTE connectivity. Overall dimensions are 144.4 x 73.9 x 8.5mm and weighs in at 140 grams.

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact will be available in white, black, lime yellow and pink colors. However, the only disappointment is the price, as for this price tag, users can easily purchase the Xperia Z1 itself. What do you think ?

February 20, 2014
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo Launched in India At a Price of 40,900

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Note 3 Neo in India at a price of 40,900 INR. The company has also launched the Galaxy Grand Neo at a price of 18,450 INR along with the Note 3 Neo. The device will be available by end of this month while the Galaxy Grand Neo is already available in India.

The Galaxy Note 3 Neo sports a 5.5 Inch Super AMOLED HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The Galalxy Note 3 Neo is powered by a hexa-core processor dual-core 1.7GHz Cortex A15 + quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex A7. Galaxy Note 3 is packed with a 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable upto 64 GB. This new member in the Galaxy series sports an 8 MP primary camera with LED flash and BSI sensor, and a 2 MP secondary camera.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo has preloaded apps like ChatON, WatchON, Screen Mirroring, S Voice, S Health, Group Play, Smart Scroll, Smart Pause, Air View, Story Album and S Translator and more. The S Pen comes with Air Command and Easy Clip feature, and also supports Multi Window and S Note.

This new device shares some of the features seen on the Galaxy Note 2, the 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, screen resolution and the cameras. However, this comes with the look and most of the features seen on the Galaxy Note 3.

February 18, 2014
Android Gingerbread Users Will Soon be Able to Use BBM App

Blackberry’s Messenger app has been available on Android ever since its dramatic launch. However the BBM application was only available for users on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and above, but Blackberry clearly wants BBM to be used by all so the company decided to make the BBM app available for the Gingerbread Android users.

BlackBerry has just confirmed that the BBM app will also be available on Android Gingerbread in the month of February. Gingerbread takes 21 percent of over all Android platforms, and BlackBerry mentions in the blog that they are expecting lot of more downloads for the app after it is made available for Gingerbread.

[Source]

January 29, 2014
Opera App Store Reaches 200,000 Apps and 105 Million Monthly Visitors

Opera says its effort to build an app store are starting to show traction, with the site now garnering more than 100 million visitors per month with a catalog of more than 200,000 apps for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, iOS and Java.

As it stands the store currently plays host to over 200,000 apps and has also undergone a redesign back in 2013 which presumably helped play a part in seeing its user base grow. According to Lars Boilesen, the CEO of Software, “In just over two years, the Mobile Store has shown strong growth – from 18 million monthly visitors to 100 million, and has seen a fivefold increase in the number of apps offered. The compression technology in Opera’s browsers, combined with the broad portfolio of apps in the Opera Mobile Store across many different platforms, have resulted in massive adoption of the store worldwide.”

Users can access the Mobile Store via Opera’s flagship Mini, Mobile Classic and Opera for Android mobile browsers. The store has been proven as an effective mobile-content distribution platform in several of the world’s fastest-growing mobile markets including India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa

January 28, 2014
Samsung and Google Sign Global Patent License Agreement

Samsung Electronics and Google Inc. further extended their partnership with a global patent cross-license agreement covering a broad range of technologies and business areas.

“This agreement with Google is highly significant for the technology industry,” said Dr. Seungho Ahn, the Head of Samsung’s Intellectual Property Center. “Samsung and Google are showing the rest of the industry that there is more to gain from cooperating than engaging in unnecessary patent disputes.”

This new agreement covers Samsung’s and Google’s existing patents as well as the ones that will be filed over the next 10 years. This agreement allows Samsung and Google to get access to each other’s patents portfolios, which might lead to focus more on product innovations than on filing lawsuits.

“We’re pleased to enter into a cross-license with our partner Samsung,” said Allen Lo, Deputy General Counsel for Patents at Google. “By working together on agreements like this, companies can reduce the potential for litigation and focus instead on innovation.”

January 27, 2014
Motorola Moto G Hands On

The Motorola Moto G is one of the most widely anticipated smartphone in India, with no firm release date revealed yet. We managed to get our hands on one.

In terms of hardware, the smartphone sports a 4.5-inch HD display with a 1,280×720-pixel resolution and 329ppi. Powering its insides is a quad-core, 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, Adreno 305 graphics, and 1GB of RAM.

There is a 2070 mAH battery inside, but unfortunately there is no expandable storage. At the back of the Moto G there is a 5 MP camera and a 1.3 MP camera at the front.

The Motorola Moto G has proven to be hugely popular in the regions that it is already available, and is set to reach other countries shortly. No pricing has been revealed yet. You can check out the hands on video at the top.

January 18, 2014
Dropbox for Android now allows Folder Sharing

If you just updated your Dropbox app on your Android device, you will be happy to know that you now have the ability to share folders. The new update allows users both invite others to shared folders and manage the relevant permissions. The new in-app purchase will also allow users to upgrade to Pro accounts via Google Play. Dropbox will bring the functionality to iOS soon.

[Dropbox Blog]

December 18, 2013
Skype 4.5 for Android Tablets Brings Video Calls Anywhere and More
Skype has again updated its Android application specially for tablets. The company seems to have focus on optimizing its application for Tablet users. The Skype 4.5 for tablets brings some new features like picture in picture window and new pinch to browse feature.

Skype is the first Android application to offer a picture in picture window that lets you see the video call even when you switch away to other applications. Which means, users can simply use the tablet for anything, surfing the web or playing games while the video call is still active. Skype is trying to create the Snap View type of experience that is currently used by Windows 8 users.

On the other hand, the company has also added a new scrolling feature to jump from one contact to another quickly. Users now just have to pinch the contact list to zoom out to an alphabet and tap on the letter to jump to that section. The company claims that this is alot faster than actual scrolling.

Alongside the addition of these two new features, Skype has also added some improvements to this version:
- Improved Video Instant Messaging functionality overall, including fixes on latest Samsung phones
- Added compatibility for the Hudl tablet
- Fixed crashes on the Nexus 5
- Drop down filter selections on the people tab are now persistent
[Skype]
December 14, 2013
Gmail for Android Gets Updated With Universal Attachment, Vacation Responder and More

Smartphones are full of applications, and almost every morning we get an update for one or other applications. Following the tradition, Google today updated its mailing application for Android, Gmail is now updated with some more features.

Gmail application for Android has now got additional useful features. Today’s update add features like Vacation Responder, which can be set using the application from the mobile itself and will notify everyone who sends you an email that you are out on an vacation. Furthermore, Google has also added an universal attachment feature which will allow users to attach any kind of file through email(documents, PDFs, zip files).

Other features include enhanced performance of the application on low memory devices. Google has also update the application adding an option to print your emails, but this option is however available only to users on Android KitKat. The update is spreading gradually, so be patient for your turn.

[Gmail]

December 12, 2013