Are you a BBM user? If you are, an incoming update might just make you smile. According to Blackberry, they’re making some important updates to BBM, offering larger file sharing and new features for group chats. Though still not a world-beating messaging service, these tweaks bring BBM closer to their peers when it comes to being a fully functioning messaging app.
BBM users will soon ahve the ability to share photos in a multi-person chat. This has been a function we’d long wondered about, and Blackberry says it’s one of their most requested features. The file size for sharing is also being bumped from 6MB to 16MB. That should help when you’re sending big pictures, or want to attach an Instagram-sized video.
If you like your emoticons, Blackberry promises the update will make those bigger, too. Though they didn’t detail just how much bigger emoticons would or wouldn’t be, they are bumping the size. That will make older eyes happy.
There is also no timetable for release of this update, but we anticipate it coming pretty soon. An announcement is usually a precursor to rollout shortly thereafter, but with Blackberry, you never know. They had issues releasing the app proper, pulling it from the Play Store shortly after release. While these are needed tweaks for BBM, they still don’t bring the messaging service quite up to par with the likes of Google’s Hangouts. Incoming BBM features have long been a staple of Google’s messaging platform.
Source: Blackberry
Via: Engadget
This time last week we were looking forward to seeing what would come out of Mobile World Congress. We were still trying to decipher what would end up having been rumor and speculation, and what would actually come to be. As it turned out, the announcements were plentiful, including some from HTC, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony, and Nokia.
The travel time for the Android Community team has come to an end, and we've had some time to do a bit more thinking about the announcements. Nate hit the highlights from the show earlier in the week, just as we were getting ready to board the plane and fly back stateside, so instead of rehashing those thoughts, we'll simply point you to that post (just in case you missed it the first time around).
We do want to touch briefly on Nokia though. Based on rumors we were expecting to see the Nokia X, an Android handset. Nokia surprised us with another model, the bigger X, however we aren't entirely convinced this is what everyone had been hoping and waiting for. Having spent some hands-on time with both models of the X during the show we can say this -- the hardware is nice, and we look forward to spending a bit more quality time with both of those devices.
The catch here, we aren't convinced these are the Nokia Android devices anyone had really been hoping to see. Taking a line from Star Wars IV: A New Hope, we are reminded of the Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi line about how "These aren't the droids you're looking for." Trying to stay positive though, while we suspect these may not be the Nokia Android handsets everyone had been waiting for, we are rather curious to see the crowd reaction once they begin to arrive in the public space.
Otherwise, on the topic of Mobile World Congress announcements -- what we saw were nice steps. Sony had some good stuff, as well Samsung. And HTC introduced the Desire 816, a mid-range flagship. The Galaxy S5 is a nice iteration from the Galaxy S4, but it may not be a device lots of people feel they simply must have immediately. Needless to say, Samsung will likely still sell many millions.
The other was Lenovo, and while their tablet, the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ wasn't anything different to see -- as compared to the previous model Yoga Tablet 10 - they did seem to upgrade the key components. To that point, we look back to our original Yoga Tablet review, and then look to this new model -- Lenovo hit the highlights including the display and processing power. This Lenovo tablet sure has a unique look, one that took us back initially, but it proved to be a nice user experience for many reasons. We look forward to testing the 10 HD+ in the not to distant future.
Looking outside Mobile World Congress coverage and some of the highlights included the Samsung 64-bit chipset news, talk of a Google Play Services update that will deal with malware, the Google+ image editing, the Google Now launcher, and the possibility of a Motorola smartwatch coming later in the year.
We are also going to do a bit of teasing here. We traveled with a Kindle Fire HDX (for in-flight entertainment) and have some thoughts on that, as well, some additional thoughts on the Omate TrueSmart. We have a review upcoming for the Garmin Vivofit, and a newly announced handset from LG. We also promised, and will deliver some further thoughts on the SCOTTEVEST gear we spent a week wearing in Barcelona.
We have to remember one thing when talking about any gadget -- just because you may hate it, that doesn't mean it isn't a perfect device for someone else. While some may criticize smartwatches, or the Omate TrueSmart in particular, I am thinking it may be a good running partner. It is a bit early to get super excited here, however I did take the TrueSmart out for its first run this morning. And at risk of offer the spoiler in the beginning, it seems to have performed rather well.
First though, something needs to be said. As we learned a while back, the TrueSmart does not ship with the Google Play Store. That brings this, my usage from earlier today was solely dependent on having already installed the Play Store on the watch. I will talk about that process in future posts, but suffice to say, the Play Store can be run (rather easily, and with success) on the TrueSmart.
Anyway, one thing you'll likely learn about me -- I am a runner. Because I often run distances that take me well away from my home, I prefer to run with a smartphone for emergencies. Also, that same smartphone provides me with entertainment through DoggCatcher and Audible, and also tracks my runs with RunKeeper. Those apps, amongst others, have all been installed on my TrueSmart.
A bit about the experience from this mornings run though. The watch has an AT&T StraightTalk SIM, and when I set out for the run the watch was fully charged. The SIM was active, in that mobile data was on. Also, Bluetooth and GPS were turned on. The watch was paired with the Jabra Sport Wireless Plus headphones, and I listened to an audiobook that had been downloaded to the watch. The GPS, obviously, was active for the purpose of using RunKeeper.
Bottom line here, the Bluetooth experience was solid and RunKeeper tracked my entire run without issue. Perhaps key here, the battery life. As mentioned, the battery began at 100 percent. The end had the battery sitting at 72 percent, and for reference, this was for a run that lasted 1 hour and 7 minutes. Again, this may not be the watch for everyone, but for the purpose of this post I am looking at the Omate TrueSmart as a replacement to some of the current devices specifically being targeted towards runners.
What’s the saying? Oh yeah: You can lead a Developer to a smartphone, but you can’t make them use the weird OS you put on it. That goes for any device, and the newest “Android” handset, the Nokia X, has already been rooted and flashed with a custom ROM.
Who’s got these things already, you ask? Developers, of course. The Developer-only (for now) Nokia X devices have already been shipped, and giving Developers a device means they’re going to tinker. Using Framaroot, one Developer has easily made the Nokia X their own. Sounds ho-hum, save for one thing: Google Services.
The Nokia X does not ship with Google services, meaning buyers lose out on all sorts of things that make Android great like Maps or Search. The current method of providing apps to the Nokia X is for Developers to submit their Android apps to the Nokia store, which Nokia says can usually be done without any rewriting of code. Third party apps are great, but some just can’t stack up to Google’s offerings.
While the Nokia X doesn’t pack much in the way of specs, we find a different reason to raise an eyebrow here. First, we love a good root story. More importantly, if KitKat is really meant to be optimized for lower-end devices, what better example than the Nokia X? We’re hoping a root/KitKat duo will show us just how low KitKat can really go. At 512MB memory and 4GB Memory with a 1GHz Snapdragon, the bar is set really low.
Source: XDA Developers
Via: Ubergizmo