Category: Android

Report: Android Apps Might Soon Be Available for Windows Users

Windows Phones have been in the smartphone race since long, but their App Store is still remains constrained. Microsoft is committed to eliminating the glitch and is ready to offer its users the luxury of the Android app ecosystem. The company is reportedly working on a feature that will open the doors of the Android app store for Windows users.

A trusted blogger Paul Thurrot has commented on Microsoft’s plans that they might come out with at the BUILD conference scheduled for tonight. He revealed that Microsoft is likely to introduce a feature that will let users run Android apps on Windows 10 devices like smartphones, tablets and PCs.

This means the confined app network will now grow to the maximum by encompassing all the apps that are developed for Android till date. It will give a major push to the Windows Phone market, which was till date lagging because of its limited App Store.

It is still unclear how Microsoft will integrate the change. It remains to be seen if it will create a new app store for Android apps or allow support for Android stores by third-party developers. The move will help the company in the long run, but it is dubious how it will go with Microsoft’s Universal App strategy.

April 29, 2015
Google Gives Android Wear a New Look With the Latest Update

The search engine major is geared to update its smartwatch operating system that would bring Android-run watches a step closer to Apple Watch. Lately, Google announced to update Android Wear to bring a slew of new features that are simple, fast and would make Android watches convenient to use.

The foremost significant feature of the new update is the always-on mode that is now extended to the apps. With the update, Android Wear will support a low-power, always-on mode that would allow apps to stay in the background in black and white. The screen will remain on, showing just a minimal amount of data and will save the battery life as well. The feature is helpful especially with shopping lists, map directions, music controls and fitness apps. The screen turns back to full colour when the user is actively looking at it.

Google has reduced the dependability on your smartphone with the latest Android Wear update. The Android smartwatches can now operate independently “as long as your watch is connected to a Wi-Fi network, and your phone has a data connection.” Yes, the Android Wear now supports Wi-Fi. Users can move the smartwatch beyond the Bluetooth range of their handset, which was the only connecting medium until now. The Android Wear device will now receive notifications, send messages, and use all your favorite apps.

The fresh update will sort of change the way users interact with their smartwatch. Google has added a few gestures to improve usability. Now, one can scroll the screen up just by a flick of the wrist and don’t need to empty your hands to operate the watch.

The basic functionality of the watch has been simplified by bringing ahead the apps and contacts. Just touch the watch face and users can start send messages immediately and start apps.

Also, Google has added hand-drawn emoji support as a mode to communicate with your friends. Android Wear will understand the hundreds of different emojis drawn by you and send it via message or text.

The update will be coming over the next few weeks, starting with the new LG Watch Urbane. All the other Android watches will soon follow.

April 21, 2015
Hackers Bring Microsoft Cortana’s Android Cousin; Meet Portaña

Microsoft’s personal voice assistant Cortana to land on Windows Phone platform is far from debuting on Android devices, but a group of hackers based in Italy has made it possible. The group, who call themselves OrangeSec, claims to have ported Microsoft’s Cortana to Android. The new personal assistant is named as Portaña.

The hackers made some alterations in Cortana’s program and brought out a version compatible with Google’s operating system. The tweaked version is very much similar to Cortana, but has some limitations. The hackers admit that the project isn’t that impressive and requires users to stay online for work. The reason being, even though it is running on Android hardware, it is still communicating with Microsoft’s back-end servers with the ported interface. To cut it short, you cannot use it to integrate with Android devices like Cortana does with Windows. OrangeSec used combinations of hardware proxies, custom SSL certificates and DNS spoofing for making this project work out. For now, Portaña can communicate in Italian only.

OrangeSec unveiled their mod at the Droidcon 2015 and admitted it to be a concept only. Hence, there are lesser chances of OrangeSec coming up with an official release. It is rumoured that Microsoft is planning to bring the voice assistant for both iOS and Android, but it doesn’t seem to happen anytime soon.

Cortana is named after an artificial intelligent (AI) character from the famed video game Halo. The personality of the voice assistant is also derived from the AI companion of the game. Cortana also offers usual voice-assistance features like setting reminders and calendar, weather and traffic information, writing notes and messages.

The generation of voice assistants kicked off with Apple’s Siri, back with the release of iPhone 4S in 2011. Microsoft soon followed by launching its very own Cortana on Windows 10 PC and smartphones. Meanwhile, Cortana is officially limited to Windows Phone.

April 20, 2015
Lollipop-Based Cyanogen 12 Starts Rolling Out to OnePlus One Devices

Cyanogen 12 is officially out and is currently rolling out to OnePlus One devices first. The update for the rest of the devices will soon follow in the coming weeks. Cyanogen 12 brings Android 5.0 with Material Design language in all its glory on the modified OS.

It also brings a new App Themer feature that allows users to change the styling of the interface, including third party apps. Once updated, users can avail a vast variety of themes, both paid and unpaid.

Along with this, debuting for the first time is the new Cyanogen email, powered by Boxer. This version will be available for free to all Cyanogen OS users. The new Cyanogen mail brings features like Exchange Support, Multiple Account integration and canned responses for quicker replies. Boxer also added customization LED lights for email notifications. More news on the update will follow soon.

It is highly probable that the Yu Yureka devices may receive the Cyanogen 12 update next. Yu announced last month it would soon be releasing the update and have already started working on the beta version.

Till then, OnePlus One users, keep hitting that refresh button.

April 14, 2015
ASUS ZenFone 2 with 4GB RAM to Arrive in India on 23rd April

Finally, ASUS has put an end to all the speculations about the release of its next flagship in India. The Taiwanese electronics manufacturer has sent out media invites for the launch of ZenFone 2, that will take place on April 23 in New Delhi. The smartphone was first showcased at the extravagant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year.

As notified before, the device will launch in three variants in India. The dual-SIM handset stuffs 4G RAM, and unlike other handsets, ZenFone 2 offers an additional memory card support in spite of coming in three storage variants, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

The device flaunts an original ergonomic design and features a 5.5-inch Full HD (1280x1920p) IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3 coating. A 64-bit 2.3GHz Intel Atom processor Z3580 with PowerVR G6430 GPU is fitted to the device to give it a faster processing speed. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS with custom Zen UI on top. The smartphone features a 13MP “Pixelmaster” rear camera along with a 5MP selfie snapper.

On the connectivity side, ZenFone 2 comes with 4G/LTE support that offers faster data speed, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The device comes with Dual Active mode that allows users to have two active phone lines at the same time.

ZenFone 2 equips a powerful battery of 3000mAh and comes in five different colour options: Osmium Black, Sheer Gold, Glacier Gray, Glamor Red and Ceramic White. Meanwhile, there is no information about its pricing. More details will be unveiled at the launch event itself. And as always, we’ll be bringing you the latest updates.

April 8, 2015
Microsoft Developing a Windows 10 ROM For Android Devices

Microsoft has announced today that it will be bringing its premier operating system, Windows 10 to 190 countries around the world this summer. The company also hinted at plans to expand its market share in the portable devices market. Microsoft’s collaboration with Xiaomi also led to many speculations in the market as to how the Chinese smartphone powerhouse would play in Microsoft’s plan to expand its mobile market share. The details aren’t out yet, but it seems Microsoft is offering a ROM that will replace Android to make Windows 10 the primary OS of a smartphone.

Microsoft has announced that under its deal with Xiaomi, a select group of Mi 4 ‘Power users’ will get a chance to test the new Windows 10. Xiaomi made clear that it is not a partnership between the two companies, and Xiaomi is just “assisting” Microsoft in its efforts.

The new ROM doesn’t offer dual-boot solution, and Windows 10 becomes the default OS of the smartphone. It is comparable to the CyanogenMod or any other custom ROM. The ROM is basically designed to get Android users to try Windows 10 native user interface and the Windows-centric apps. This, Microsoft hopes will encourage the users the to switch from Android to Windows OS.

At present, Microsoft is testing the ROM in China but it is definitely planning on expanding its reach to other countries. It has started with Xiaomi as the company has a proactive user base that constantly sends back feedback through the companies portal. Microsoft will find it easier to gather suggestions and feedbacks through Xiaomi’s already available infrastructure.

Microsoft is trying hard to find takers for its smartphone devices. According to the last IDC listing Android is a behemoth in the smartphone market which controls 82.3 percent of the global smartphone market followed by Apple’s iOS which holds 13.8 percent while Microsoft Windows Phone OS accounts for just 2.7 percent at present.

Microsoft has also talked about introducing advanced features which let users connect and work on their desktop and mobile devices seamlessly. If these features work in Microsoft’s favour, you can anticipate a rise in Microsoft’s smartphone market share because in the desktop OS space, Microsoft still rules with a comfortable majority. In fact, at present, the various Windows OS’s (Windows 7,8, 8.1) are running on over 69% of the computers while Windows XP accounts for about 19% of the global market. By offering unique interconnectivity features, Windows can attract its massive desktop user base to give its smartphone ecosystem a try.

March 18, 2015
‘FREAK attack’ Security Flaw Makes iOS and Android Devices Vulnerable to Hackers

Thanks to a newly discovered security flaw, millions of users surfing through mobile browsers of two top companies are now vulnerable to hackers. Codenamed as FREAK (Factoring RSA Export Keys) attack, the flaw allows hackers to intercept the electronic communication of Apple’s Safari and Andriod browsers from Google.

As of now, researchers haven’t found any evidence of the flaw being exploited by any hacker, but the companies don’t wish to take a chance. The internet search giant, as well as Apple, are working in a direction to fix it.

According to the researchers, the problem has its roots in a decade-old U.S. government policy that prevents consumers from having access to secure encryption.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Edward Felten” author_title=”Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton”]

This was a policy decision made 20 years ago and it’s now coming back to bite us.

[/quote]

The flaw is caused by poor implementation of the encrypted link between browsers and the websites visited by users. Researchers also found out that they could attack from websites that are considered secure, and make them use weaker encryption for easy hacking. These websites can range from official US government sites like Whitehouse.gov, NSA.gov and FBI.gov to banks.

Meanwhile, Apple has clarified that it will provide a software update to address the vulnerability by next week, while the former on will share the same through device makers and wireless carriers.

March 4, 2015
Spice Android One Devices to Receive Android 5.1 Update

It took a long while, but it is finally here. When the customers of the Android One devices bought their devices, they were promised immediate updates. Those updates have taken a long while now, but they’re finally here. Spice has announced that it will start rolling out Android 5.0 updates for its Android One devices.

Spice has said that it will start rolling out the updates in batches over the next few days. Spice has two Android One devices in its portfolio: Spice Dream Uno and Spice Dream Uno H. Both of them run Android 4.4.4 Kitkat out of the box.

Android 5.1 update takes care of all the bugs that were found in Android 5.0 and adds new features too. The 5.1 update offers a new silent mode; improvements in system stability; improved RAM management; fixes for sudden app closures; improved battery management; excessive consumption of network devices when used Wi-Fi fixed; fixes for issues with wireless connections; fixes for Ok Google function; fixes for notifications problems; some sound problems experienced by certain devices fixed, and changes in the Material Design colour palette.

There is no news yet on the date of arrival of the Lollipop update on other Android One devices. Google has already launched the Android One devices in Indonesia that run Android 5.1 out of the box. So it wouldn’t be long before the other Indian devices get their updates too.

March 3, 2015
Here is the New HTC One M9

While the world puts its eyes onto MWC 2015, HTC has basically stepped on board with an excellent start. HTC has launched and announced a bunch of new products, also showcasing their connected concepts which include Connected Home, Connected Life, Connected Entertainment and Connected Self.

The new HTC One M9 falls right into their connected formula and is not a whole lot different from the HTC One M8; it follows in HTC’s design lineage and adds a whole lot of new elements. HTC claims that the new design is inspired by luxury and mostly luxury watches.

The new HTC One M9 has a newer notched design and a two tone finish, the gold bezels on silver is their hero product and will be available globally, a new graphite and an all gold will be available in select markets. The HTC One M9 still has a IR blaster and the native TV app has been replaced by the Peel remote app. The phone supports TDD and FDD LTE across the globe so is essentially a 4G world phone, and should work worldwide if you buy it unlocked.

The Golden Edge Looks Better

Spec wise you don’t see a major bump up either. However a more powerful 64 Bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 runs this handset along with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. It sports a 5-inch screen with a 1920×1080 display. You do get micro-SD support upto 64 GB as well. Optics is where you see a major increase the new 20 MP shooter at the rear along with a 4 ultrapixel front camera make for a fashionable lot. The HTC One M9 also shoots 4k video natively and can parse it onto a class 10 card.

The battery on the inside is a 2840 mAh, bundled with Android 5.0.2 out of the box and the all new HTC Sense 7. HTC is touting excellent battery life on this iteration of the One.

HTC has also improved upon the camera app, allowing for better edits, filters and fun effects on the phone, along with a prismatic mode that indulges a trippy audience.

New Dot Case

Along with the HTC One M9, the company also introduced a flurry of cases, including a number of dot view cases. The new design has a transparent back and allows for more customization of what is visible from the dot matrix. You also have a fun game called dot-breaker included as a freebie.

New HTC M9 Cases

HTC has also made a rugged case with iP67 certification and 2 Meter drop resistance, giving you the rugged you have missed on the HTC One series in the past.

Rugged Case

Rugged Case back

Rugged Case

HTC One M9 Specs

March 1, 2015
Motorola Reveals Pricing of 2nd Gen Moto E in an Official Video

The Moto E was the first device in the Indian market that followed the high-specs-low-pricing business approach. It was the cause of a lot of hullabaloos in the affordable segment of the market that was ruled by Indian smartphone brands. The second generation of this popular device is about to see the light of the day and Motorola has unveiled the pricing of the new handset.

Motorola has already announced that the Moto E(2nd Gen) will offer 8 GB internal storage. There will also be an option to buy a 16 GB device. The company will be offering the device is 3G and 4G LTE variants.

The 3G variant will be priced at Rs. 6999. It will be powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 along with 1 GB RAM. The LTE variant, on the other hand, will get a 64 Bit, 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 processor. Both the new devices will run on Android Lollipop.

On the camera fronts, Motorola atoned for its sin of not adding a front camera in the first Moto E during the selfie age. This device includes a VGA camera, and the main camera too gets autofocus capabilities.

The price of the LTE variant hasn’t been specified yet, but it is expected to be somewhere near the Rs.8000 mark. Moto E now has several new challengers in the game that it began. Xiaomi Redmi 1S, the most prominent of all, has gathered massive recognition, and the Chinese company will also be launching the second generation of the device this year. With the amount of options available in the affordable segment, it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to this slightly updated version of the Moto E.

February 27, 2015
BlackBerry and Google Collaborate to Bolster Android Device Security

Canadian manufacturer BlackBerry has joined hands with Google to bring its security based expertise to the Android platform, a move that follows BlackBerry’s recent partnership with Samsung. The move will allow Google’s suite of mobile productivity tools to run on BlackBerry’s device management system.

Back in November, BlackBerry announced its partnership with Samsung and other top tech companies to expand its security based services beyond its own platform. The collaboration with Google is aimed at managing devices that come with Android for Work – an initiative from Google to securely classify and separate business from personal data and apps.

[quote text_size=”small” author=” Kevin Stadtler” author_title=”President of Stadtler Capital Management Llc. “”]

The partnership shows BlackBerry’s reputation for security is still strong. One shortcoming of the Android platform is security. They’re partnering with BlackBerry in order to directly address that.

[/quote]

The Canadian manufacturer has years of expertise in dealing with devices for corporations and entreprises. This move could strategically position the Android platform as a more prominent solution in the business sector.

Meanwhile, Google also announced partnerships on Android for Work with top companies including SAP SE, Samsung and SOTI Inc.

February 26, 2015
Android 5.0 Lollipop Update Now Rolling Out For Android One Devices

Google, today, has revealed that it has begun rolling out Lollipop update to a small number of Android One devices in India. This roll-out process will be gradual and on a weekly basis, hence only some randomly selected devices will get the update via OTA, with users on Wi-Fi having a better chance at getting these updates.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Ceaser Sengupta” author_title=”Google Product Management Director, in a Google+ post.”]

To those with Android One phones in India, here’s where we are with the over-the-air (OTA) update that will bring Android Lollipop to you soon. We’ve already started rolling out Lollipop to a small number of phones in India. This is a gradual process and so each week we’ll push the OTA update to more phones selected at random (pro-tip: connecting over WiFi will increase your odds). We thank you again for your patience, and please stay tuned for further updates.

[/quote]

It can be recalled that Android version 5.0 was launched back in November 2014, and the Android One users were supposed to be among the first few to receive this update. Unfortunately, that never happened and Lollipop is way past its scheduled time of arrival on the Android One devices.

The Nexus line-up of devices have already received the update back in November and manufacturers like Motorola, HTC and Samsung have already started rolling out the update to few of their smartphones.

As of now, the exact version of the Lollipop for Android One phones has not been revealed yet, but it most likely will be Android 5.1. There are presently three Android One devices in India, Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and the Spice Dream UNO. The owners of these low-cost devices will be pretty excited after this news.

February 24, 2015
WhatsApp’s Voice Calling Feature Now Coming to All Android Devices

A few days back it was being reported that WhatsApp was testing voice calling feature on select devices. The messaging giant is now all set to bring the feature to all its Android subscribers. This will be a fantastic news for the users but will also be a major cause of concern for the network operators who have already lost tremendous amount of SMS revenue to messaging apps.

The update seems to get activated when a user with voice calling capability calls his WhatsApp contacts. Once the update is activated, the user interface also changes to feature a separate voice calling screen. A phone icon also appears next to the WhatsApp contacts, and you can also see the call logs of your device.

It seems like the update procedure isn’t working for all users yet. There might also be a possibility that the developers might have restricted the number of people a person can invite by voice calling them. WhatsApp hasn’t officially announced the roll-out but with the number of devices supporting the feature, we can anticipate an announcement any time soon.

With this offering, Facebook owned WhatsApp will also direct an assault at voice calling apps like Viber, WeChat and others. You can even expect a backlash from the phone companies in the form of increased data pack costs. But no matter what, the 700 Million WhatsApp users are going to get a reason to celebrate real soon.

February 21, 2015
Apple Sued For Poaching Employees of Battery Manufacturer For its Electric Car

Apple has been in the news recently following the revelations that the company is working secretly on an electric car. The news has spread like wildfire and experts from all corners of technology are weighing the pros and cons of Apple’s decision. But between all the talks a battery maker is suing Apple for poaching their employees.

A123 Systems is a lithium-ion battery manufacturer based in the American state of Massachusetts. It makes batteries for electric vehicles, commercial vehicles, and for the business sector. In 2011, the company’s battery technology was used to create a 32 MW energy storage system that was the largest Lithium-Ion battery energy storage system of its kind in operation at that time. A123 had to apply for bankruptcy protection in 2012 following weak growth in the battery market and electric cars.

A123 makes batteries for vehicles to electric grids and claims Apple is stealing its employees to work on a potential electric car.

The company has now filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the technology giant has been actively pursuing its employees. A123 named five of its employees in the suit who have either moved to Apple or are in the process of transferring to the company. The company claims that the loss of the qualified talent adversely affects their business as they’ll find it difficult to find replacements.

Apple has not replied to the lawsuit as of yet. The company is said to have engaged hundred’s of employees on a secretive project that is codenamed as ‘Titan’. Apple is also said to have attracted auto professionals from Mercedez Benz and electric car maker Tesla. It apparently plans to bring out an electric car by 2020.

Apple’s competitor, Google, has already invested immense resources into the creation of its self-driving car ecosystem. Apple’s advent into the electric car market is encouraging as the electric car space needs a big boost. Tesla was seen as the only major player in the field, but with the addition of big name brands like Mercedes, GM and Apple, you should hope to see some real competition in this space.

February 20, 2015
Android One Smartphones Next in Line to Get the Lollipop Update

Google has posted a tweet that might lure customers into buying the low-cost Android One devices. Google India tweeted from its official Twitter handle stating that the company will roll out the Android Lollipop update for Indians in the coming weeks.

Android One users in India — you’ll be getting the Lollipop update in the next few weeks. @androidone

— Google India (@googleindia) February 4, 2015

At a time, when only 2% of the Android devices are powered by Lollipop after three months of release, it’s quite a move by the company. This announcement will please Android One users who have been desperately waiting for the update.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Android 5.1 Lollipop was spotted on Android One devices in Indonesia.

With Lollipop coming to Android One handsets, users will experience improved natural touch screen interactions. The Material Design gets more clear and bolder colours to the screen. Along with that, notifications pop up on the lock screen itself and facilitates dismissing them without unlocking it. Overall, it offers a bloatware-free and seamless Android experience.

February 4, 2015