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LG G2 User Manual Leaks, Reveals Removable Battery And Expandable Memory

LG hasn’t been shy when it comes to teasing its upcoming flagship G2. We’ve seen LG drop the ‘Optimus’ name from its marketing, unload various teaser videos, and even announce official cases. In addition, a plethora of leaked images and hands-on videos revealed its design and unique features – mainly the back volume buttons.

A new post on Nowhereelse, by the way of a user manual, confirms previous rumours and a few missing specs of the LG G2 :

– Android 4.3
– 5.2-inch display 1920 × 1.080
– 2.3Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with Adreno 330 graphics chip
– 2GB of RAM
– 32GB internal storage (no micro-SD slot)
– 13MP rear-facing camera
– 2.1MP front-facing camera
– uses a nano-SIM
– 4G/LTE capabilities
– back volume buttons
– 138.5mm x 70.9mm x 8.9mm thin
– 143 grams
– 2,610mAh removable battery

The manual appears to be legit and reveals the phone will be using the nano-SIM standard like the Motorola Moto X and the iPhone 5. This leak also gives confirmation of the 2610 mAh battery, which will also be user-removable.

The leaked shots show that the LG G2, or at least this Korean LG-F320 version of it, will measure in at 138.5mm x 70.9mm x 8.9mm and weigh 143g.

The LG G2 will officially be unveiled in New York on Wednesday, August 7th and we’ll bring you all the details.

[Via]

August 5, 2013
Report : Sony Xperia Tablet Z Receiving Android 4.2.2 Update

Even though the Sony Xperia Tablet Z was released in early July in India, it came preloaded with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, retaining some of the legacy Android tablet features that Google did away with in Android 4.2 and the Nexus 10.

It appears that some variants of the Tablet Z are already being updated to Android 4.2.2, though it seems that the Indian version is currently not among them.

The most immediately obvious change in Android 4.2.2 is the relocation of the onscreen navigation buttons to the centre middle on the Xperia Tablet Z, mimicking the Nexus 10. The notification bar has been moved to where phone users would expect it: the top of the screen. While this isn’t stock Android 4.2, it’s the closest you’ll find in a non-Nexus tablet.

It’s not clear what else Sony added to the new version, but one can expect standard features found in 4.2 like lockscreen widgets, performance improvements and a number of bug fixes.

August 5, 2013
Android 4.3 Will Keep WiFi Always On

The latest Google Android 4.3 upgrade brings all new features and also offers great performance. Google has also made a new change to the WiFi settings in Android 4.3.

To improve location accuracy and for other purposes, Google and other apps may scan for nearby networks, even when Wi-Fi is off ” – describes Google.

It has been seen that the new version of Android will keep the WiFi radio always on, even after the user has manually turned it off. This feature is probably designed to save one’s battery life instead of wasting it, given that the only other way for one’s smartphone to discern one’s location is to drain the battery using GPS.

To check and see whether your phone has this feature enabled by default (a number do not), you’ll have to navigate through the Android operating system’s settings. Here’s how:

Open up the Settings app and tap your finger on the Wireless and Networks option. Tap on the WiFi option, and then tap on the Menu button on your phone’s lower-right-hand corner. When the list pops up, tap your finger on the Advanced option. From there, you’ll want to make sure to check the “Scanning always available” option if you want to participate in the new Android 4.3 feature. Otherwise, if it’s checked, you need merely to uncheck it to ensure that “WiFi off” really means “WiFi off.”

However, many now expressed their concern that malicious applications might exploit this new functionality.

Various user reports indicate that this feature remains off by default when they’ve updated their devices to Android 4.3. That means, it’s more important that you know about this potentially useful setting than to freak out about it, but it’s also worth checking this, and many of Android’s other “Advanced” wireless configuration options, when you’ve upgraded your mobile OS.

Now will Google resolve this or add something to counter the issue is to be seen, but for the time being users must carefully read the application access and if they feel something suspicious they should avoid installing that application.

August 5, 2013
Inventor Of Hashtag Chris Messina Leaves Google

As The Next Web reports, Chris Messina has left Google to join the digital collectibles platform NeonMob. The former developer advocate and UX designer for the search company announced in a blog post that he will be working to build the new startup’s community and service, something he describes as “an important, new platform for digital creatives and art enthusiasts.”

An advocate of open social Web technologies, Chris Messina had first joined Google to lead developer relations for the short-lived Google Buzz product. In recent years, he had worked on user experience design on the Google+ team.

Since creating hashtags back in 2007 as way of grouping online conversations, he’s spent his time focusing on design and the open web at Google. Perhaps more accurately, redesign. Chris Messina is responsible for the search giant’s revamped brand badges, profiles and +1 button, as well as helping create the Google Developers knowledge base.

Based in San Francisco, NeonMob is building a market for digital art. He will be the head of the company’s community and growth starting next week.

NeonMob describes itself as : NeonMob is a platform and community for discovering and collecting awesome, original, limited-edition, digital art. For those who grew up collecting comic books, cards, stamps, coins or other collectible paraphernalia, the concept of collecting online doesn’t stretch the imagination. The difference is, NeonMob is online, which makes finding fellow collectors and trading partners much easier – and on NeonMob, anybody can create stuff for others to collect!

[Via]

August 3, 2013
Google’s New Android Device Manager Will Help Locate Lost Phones

Apple’s Find my iPhone has been a very useful feature for those who frequently misplace their gadgets. Or, for those who just enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that Apple has a piece of technology dedicated to securing a lost phone.Android and iOS have been going back and forth battling over feature inclusions for some time now, and it looks like Google’s the follower in this case. The company just introduced the Android Device Manager, which as you may suspect, will help Android users track down lost devices in a similar manner.

If you discover you’ve lost your phone, you can go to any computer and log into the Android Device Manager, which will be part of the Google Play Store. All that is required is your Google account login, the same one you used to activate your Android phone.

Choose your registered phone and push out a signal to ring at full volume, even if your lost phone was last put on vibrate or silent mode. If this doesn’t do the trick, find the phone as a blip a Google Map.

If you discover that your lost Android phone is on the move and you don’t feel safe going into full-on vigilante mode (or are worried it will get turned off soon), delete all data on the device using a special built-in wipe mode in the Android Device Manager, to keep your data safe from prying eyes.

August 3, 2013
Google Play Edition Galaxy S4 And HTC One Now Receiving Android 4.3 Update

After updating all the Nexus devices this week, the two Nexus 7 tablets, the Nexus 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, search engine giant Google’s Android division on Friday rolled out the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update for the two Google Play Edition smartphones, the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4.

When Google announced the Google Play edition of the S4, they promised quick updated along with a stock Android experience. These are two of the main reasons to get these devices over their standard versions that come with OEM customizations and are bound to receive the 4.3 update much, much later.

These phones’ updates include most of Android 4.3’s key features—Bluetooth 4.0 and OpenGL ES 3.0 support among them—plus a few handset-specific enhancements. AnandTech reports, for example, that the Google Play edition HTC One’s IR blaster has now been enabled, as has Bluetooth pairing for the Galaxy S 4. Both phones were already using the new stock Camera app included with Android 4.3 on the Nexus devices, but they each come with a few minor cosmetic tweaks of their own.

Do you think Samsung and HTC will capitalize on this momentum to help them release the Android 4.3 update for their mainstream devices in a more timely manner? Let us know below!

[Via]

August 3, 2013
Blackberry A10 will be called Z30 according to Blackberry 10.2 files

Blackberry Aristo has always been referred to as the A10, but recent revelations by Crackberry team have found that the first big phone by the company will actually be called Z30. A few tutorial videos of the device running Blackberry 10.2 have also been found.

Z30 is said to be a big phone, the first ever by Blackberry, featuring a 5-inch OLED display with a pixel density of 295 PPI, 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, quad-core GPU, 2GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera and will have a microSD card slot that will be able to support 64GB of storage. Internally,N

Battery is said to be kept at 2,800mAh battery and will support NFC and wireless charging. The Z30 will be a bigger version of the Z10, that means a Z20 could be in the works to fill in the Gap.

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August 3, 2013
Xolo Play T1000 Nvidia Tegra 3 phone Unboxing and Hands On Review – iGyaan

August 3, 2013
Microsoft’s Augmented Reality Gaming Glasses Patent Revealed

Microsoft is jumping on the wearable display bandwagon, but don’t expect a Google Glass competitor. This week the company patented a head-mounted display aimed at bringing augmented reality to gaming.

The fact that Microsoft is planning to make AR goggles was leaked last year, when a 56-page ‘roadmap’ for the Xbox One (pictured below) found its way onto the Internet. Microsoft subsequently confirmed that the roadmap was genuine, but outdated.

Beyond mimicking some of the functions of Google Glass though it was never really clear what exactly the AR glasses, codenamed Fortaleza, were for.

“In one example, a potential player invitation program receives user voice data and determines that the user voice data is an invitation to participate in a multiplayer game,” the patent request continues. “The program receives eye-tracking information, depth information, facial recognition information, potential player head-mounted display device information, and/or potential player voice data. The program associates the invitation with the potential player using the eye-tracking information, the depth information, the facial recognition information, the potential player head-mounted display device information, and/or the potential player voice data.”

Apart from acknowledging that the roadmap leak was real Microsoft has never mentioned the glasses officially and it’s unclear if and when they will do so. Many of the projects rumoured in the roadmap have since been revealed by Microsoft, including new Kinect, Xbox One, and forthcoming entertainment services.

The patent though, which was only published yesterday, suggests the idea is still well underway.

[Via]

August 2, 2013
iOS 7 Beta 4 Fixes Charger Hack

Apple is said to have fixed a powerful charger-based hack, which previously allowed iDevices to be compromised by hackers using a modified power charger in under a minute.

As Reuters reports, Apple said the issue had been fixed in the latest beta of iOS 7, which has already been released to software developers.

“We would like to thank the researchers for their valuable input,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said. The researchers were Billy Lau, a research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and graduate students Yeongjin Jang and Chengyu Song.

Andy Greenberg, Forbes technology and information security reporter explains that the researchers took advantage of a security flaw in Apple’s developer model, which allows anyone with a developer license to install third-party apps on a registered device.

iOS 7 prompts a new warning message to the user when they plug their iOS device to any device that attempts to establish a data connection informing them that “Trusting this computer will allow it full access to your device and all its data.”

Of course, this leaves iPhones and iPads that won’t get the iOS 7 update vulnerable. According to the researchers, all other versions of iOS can be hacked in this manner.

However, end users will have to wait for iOS 7 before the fix arrives.

August 2, 2013
Microsoft Boosts Xbox One GPU Clock Speed

Microsoft will boost the clock speed of the Xbox One’s AMD graphics processor from 800 MHz to 853 MHz, Marc Whitten, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Xbox, said during the Major Nelson podcast. He also noted that game makers are now working with final Xbox One development kits.

Perhaps Xbox One engineers found that the GPU is most efficient at the said clock speed. The new “mono driver” is also a new “100% optimized for Xbox One” DirectX driver, Microsoft’s proprietary API.

In the podcast, Whitten also stated that Microsoft “dropped” the Xbox One GPU after E3 2013, allowing them to tweak and fine tune the hardware to match their vision of the experience that they wanted the Xbox One to provide the gamer/user with.

The Xbox One is slated to launch later this year, and the next-gen console will sport an 8-core CPU, 8 GB of system memory and a 500 GB hard drive. Sony’s PlayStation 4 will sport a similar system-on-a-chip architecture. Both semi-custom APUs will be manufactured by AMD.

The move comes after Microsoft’s console has been criticised for having significantly less raw performance compared to Sony’s PlayStation 4.

What do you think of Microsoft upgrading the Xbox One’s GPU? Does it matter to you at all? Why or why not? Let us know below!

[Via]

August 2, 2013
Leaked : Images Of The Porsche Design BlackBerry Z10

Guess what? BlackBerry may be working again with Porsche Design on a special version of the Z10 smartphone. If we can learn anything from the past, the upcoming (presuming it actually launches) Porsche Design BlackBerry Z10 will be one expensive device, reserved for the few willing to pour out couple of grands for their smartphone.

Pictures surfaced online this week showing that BlackBerry and Porsche Design will once again come together and release a follow-up to the elite priced P’9981. Additional info has now been leaked that reveal the Porsche Design BlackBerry Z10 variant will come to market by the name of Porsche Design BlackBerry Z10 P’9982 – not so much of a stretch. In addition, similar to the previous model, the P’9982 will sport a unique BlackBerry 10 UI and come with upscale stylings that include stainless steel casing and leather.

The pictures below are from a early prototype and rumours are that we’ll see this launch in “the middle of next year” for about $2,000. Though the pictures look convincing enough, information about the naming, OS and price is purely speculative.

[Via]

August 2, 2013
Jelly Bean Now On 40% Of Android Devices

Each month, Google posts the breakdown of its Android versions, ostensibly for developers to see which ones they can target with their apps.

As of August 1st, over 40% of users run Jelly Bean and, combined with Ice Cream Sandwich, 63% of users run phones with Android 4.0 or above. While this is not necessarily the target we’re looking for — over 90% of iOS users run the latest version, according to Apple — it indicates that Google has largely stabilized the fragmentation issue.

Gingerbread is holding fairly steady at 33%, dropping only 1.1% from the previous month. In fact, Ice Cream Sandwich also dropped from last month as more devices were upgraded to Jelly Bean, both in the 4.1 and 4.2 flavours. Google’s now next-to-newest version, Android 4.2, is only running on 6.5% of devices, and some of them would have been upgraded to 4.3 in the past week or so.

Unfortunately, Android 1.6, 2.1 and 2.2 still exist, though their numbers are dwindling as users replace their phones with newer models.

The big takeaway from this is that developers can now soundly target Android 4.0+ without worrying that they’re alienating the entire ecosystem, something that couldn’t be said a year ago.

August 2, 2013
BBM Beta testing for Android and iOS Begins (All slots full)

A few folks lucky enough at the BlackBerry’s Beta Zone have been given the ability to test out BBM Beta for Android devices. Once registered at the beta zone, all one needs is an Android Device running Android 4.0 and up.

The program is not available for everyone, but if you have received an email like the one shown above, you’ll find it available under Eligible Programs. Much like it will be when it goes official, the beta version of BBM for Android requires v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich); while the BBM beta for iPhone requires iOS 6 as a minimum requirement.

[Via]

August 2, 2013
Report : Apple will use Samsung Retina Display in the next iPad Mini

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Apple has chosen Samsung to supply the displays for the next generation iPad Mini, which will also boast a retina resolution. As originally imagined, Apple was intending to only employ LG and Sharp for the supply of the LCD panels, but the it seems due to lack of supply, the displays have been also ordered from Samsung’s display division.

Apple has often been known to test components before confirming the final elements of the build. Earlier reports had stated that Apple will not launch an iPad Mini Retina this year, but if the present report is to be believed, not only will Apple Launch a iPad Mini with a high resolution Retina Display, they will also employ their arch nemesis with the job of providing hardware for the unique build.

Apple has tried to completely block off purchasing from Samsung, but the korean giant is probably the only producer of high quality panels that can be produced at an economical and profitable price. Apple presently gets their displays form AU Optronics, who have clearly stated

We cannot take [Apple’s] orders because our rate of output efficiency is too low to be profitable, the company doesn’t make a profit from manufacturing the current iPad Mini’s screens. – said an AU Optronics manager.

In these desperate time it appears that Apple might just have to buy a LCD technology company, but unfortunately for them none are for sale.

August 2, 2013