Subscribe:

Ads 468x60px

Labels

Sony Xperia Z3 vs Samsung Galaxy Note: just as tall but narrower

If you aren't yet tired of seeing leaked photos of the upcoming Xperia Z3, here's yet another one. This time, however, the supposed Sony flagship is shown beside the first Samsung Galaxy Note, just to give you an idea of how big, or actually how not-big, the smartphone really is. Of course, presuming this is the real deal.



The original Galaxy Note was short by today's Note standards and measured 146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm. For some comparison, the current Galaxy Note 3 is taller but slimmer at 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3 mm, while the Galaxy S5 is both shorter and narrower with dimensions of 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm. In the picture above, the Xperia Z3 is noticeably a lot narrower than the Galaxy Note, giving hope that it will come in a somewhat more hand-friendly size than Samsung's S Pen phablet. That said, the current Sony flagship, the Xperia Z2, isn't exactly far behind at 146.8 x 73.3 x 8.2 mm. Chances are, the Xperia Z3 will be within the same ballpark.


Of course, that isn't the only area where the two might be similar. Aside from a slightly higher 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, the Xperia Z3 is believed to be quite similar to the Xperia Z2. Sony seems to have hit the peak of its smartphone camera technology, with the same 20.7 megapixel Exmor RS sensor it has been using since the Xperia Z1. One area where the Xperia Z3 could one up its predecessors would be with a 2K resolution display, though going with the more multimedia-friendly Snapdragon 805 would have been a better choice then.


While we have had numerous leaked photos that try to prove the existence of the Xperia Z3, the biggest mystery of all is perhaps the reason or nature of its existence. Sony has promised to refresh its flagship every 6 months, in line with other major manufacturers. But the Sony Xperia Z2, while not bad in itself, feels more like a simple incremental upgrade to the Xperia Z1 and these recent leaks give little hope that the Xperia Z3 will be any different. We do have barely 2 months to go before an expected IFA 2014 unveiling, and hopefully we'll see more promising signs before then.


xperia-z3-leaked-set-3-2 xperia-z3-leaked-set-3-3


VIA: Xperia Blog





Android Wear can light lamps and make you popcorn

OK, so maybe it won't directly make you some movie time chow, but your Android Wear watch smartwatch can at least turn on the popcorn maker to start the process. In fact, it can turn on and off almost any smart appliance, taking the new generation of smartwatches beyond the simple notification mirroring that Google has so far been demonstrating.



Google doesn't want an Android Wear smartwatch to completely replace your smartphone, that's for sure, but that doesn't mean you can't offload many of your smartphone's duties to your wrist. So far, Google's officially sanctioned demonstrations have shown Android Wear to be an extension of the smartwatch's notification system and a few other informational tidbits that utilize Google Now's access to the Internet. But Android users are a very creative bunch, so it isn't surprising to see some who have turned a smarwatch like the G Watch into the stuff of science fiction.


The video below demonstrates the combination of an LG G Watch running Android Wear, Tasker on the smartphone to control the smart appliances, and a new app called Tockle that lets G Watch owners trigger Tasker from the smartwatch. Given Tasker's almost limitless applications especially when paired with certain gadgets and appliances, this can turn a smartwatch into a practical control center for your entire smart house. There is a noticeable delay when trying to trigger Tasker via Google Now, but there is always an option to tap your way through the same tasks.




Of course, such things are really useful only if you have the appropriate pieces of equipment (read: smart appliances, plugs, and bulbs) to automate your house to begin with. The rest of the populace will most likely be limited to controlling their smartphones or other mobile devices that they can reach via Tasker. But you don't have to wait for a smartwatch to actually enjoy all that. If you don't mind hijacking Google Now's "note to self" trigger, you can also try to do something similar with Commandr, which also integrates with Tasker as well.


VIA: Android Police





ShortPaste app automatically shortens URLs for sharing

With more and more people browsing and sharing stuff from and on the Internet through mobile, it goes without saying that apps need to make the process of copying URLs and sharing them easier. One of the annoying things that users encounter is that the web addresses tend to be so long, that it occupies too many characters already and visually, it also looks not too pleasing to have many strings and slashes.



The ShortPaste app aims to make URL copying and sharing much easier. When you’re browsing on other apps like Chrome or YouTube or Tumblr, chances are you will come across content that you’d like to share on your social networks. You’re lucky if it already has the social media share buttons, but for those times when it’s not very share-able, then ShortPaste will come in handy.


There is no additional button that you need to press. Just use your Android’s native copy capability. It will then automatically convert your very long url into a shorter one when you paste it anywhere outside of your source. It supports such popular URL desktop shorteners like bit.ly and goo.gl. But as of now, it doesn’t have the customisable option that bit.ly is offering on its desktop version, although it would probably be good to have that someday, particularly for marketers and brand social media managers.




You can download ShortPaste from the Google Play Store. As it is still a relatively new app, you can follow its development over at its XDA page.


shortpaste7 shortpaste6 shortpaste5 shortpaste4 shortpaste3 shortpaste2 shortpaste1


MediaTek-powered Chromebook could mean cheaper prices

If you thought Google's Chrome OS-toting laptop wannabe's were dirt cheap, then wait for MediaTek to join the club. Recent commits to the open source Chromium source code revealed a MediaTek employee adding support for what could be a Chromebook running on its chips. But the question is, of course, whether it will actually be worth the price.



The current roster of Chromebooks are a mixed breed, with both ARM and x86, represented, the former mostly by Samsung's Exynos and the latter by Intel's whole range. For some reason, Qualcomm has not yet dipped its toes into this device line, probably not seeing much market demand for the Chromebook. Whatever its reason may be, its absence is an opportunity for rival MediaTek to make a name for itself there. A certain Nathan Chung from MediaTek submitted several patches that add support for a certain "moose board". Considering the context, it is speculated that this would be signs of an upcoming Chromebook powered by one of MediaTek's chips, usually the cheaper but less powerful option for OEMs.


This would somewhat be the opposite direction that Acer took recently. Last week, the manufacturer launched its Chromebook C720 series. What makes this Intel-powered device a bit interesting is that it trades power for price. Instead of a mobile Intel Atom or Celeron chip, it has a desktop-grade Haswell Core i3 inside, giving the configuration a bit more power than is normal for a Chromebook. That said, the price is also boosted, going up to $349.99 for a 2 GB RAM model.


MediaTek, on the other hand, is both famous and infamous for its cheap prices. It has allowed OEMs to put lower price tag than their competitors. Unfortunately, MediaTek's real-world performance hasn't exactly been impressive, though definitely not worse than other and even much cheaper brands. The low-powered budget Chromebooks might almost be a perfect fit for MediaTek, but Google has already shown that it plans to give the device line more things to do and it remains to be seen if MediaTek's chips will be up to the task. That said, there is also that mysterious MediaTek chip that could pretty much blow many of its rivals out of the water, but that too has yet to materialize.


SOURCE: Google Chromium (1), (2)

VIA: Engadget





Wear Camera Remote turns your smartwatch into a viewfinder

Just a few days after Google announced the integration of Google Camera and the Android Wear platform, developers are trying to make apps that would even improve that function. One of them is Wear Camera Remote, an app that doesn’t just turn your wearable device into a remote, but can also mirror your smartphone camera onto your smartwatch.



Seems like some of the OEM and app developers are looking at that segment of the market that love taking selfies. The Wear Camera Remote is designed for that purpose, so that users can control their selfie-taking moments remotely through the smartwatch. But not only can you use your device as a control, you can also mirror what your smartphone lense sees onto your smartwatch.


Some other suggestions for the use of the mirroring feature of the app is to check on your cooking pot while you’re doing something else outside the kitchen or even to watch your kids who are in the other room (for example, when they’re on a time out). As long as your smartphone or tablet is within Bluetooth range of your smartwatch that uses the Android Wear platform (Samsung Gear Live, LG G Watch, the upcoming Moto 360), then you’re good to go.


1a


However, don’t expect high quality, HD-level type of images on your smartwatch. The frame rate is not of a high quality because of the overhead in the Android-sanctioned data layer. The developer is inviting users to “fork and hack at the code” so they are releasing the source code as well. You can download the app at the Google Play Store or download the APK.


SOURCE: Dheera.net


Now Browser is lightweight and wants to look Material

No, this isn't yet another port of an Android L app for non-Android L devices. Now Browser, which was also called Material Browser, is a totally new app that just happens to take its aesthetic inspiration from Google's latest design thrust. However, that name might be a tad deceptive, as the main selling point of Now Browser is that it occupies only 160 KB of your device storage.



Yes, that is certainly not a typo, and yet it may be presumed as one given how mobile apps these days tend to weigh in on the MB side of things. So definitely a critical app such as a web browser that takes very minimal space sounds almost too good to be true. Fortunately, it does live up to that reputation.


But lightweight need not mean light in features, as Now Browser is advertised to have almost all the features you'll need in the free version. That means even Flash is supported, but strangely disabled by default. .There is also Javascript support so you won't be left out of pages that make heavy use of it (like Google). It also has incognito mode for those more private moments. However, some speed optimizations are, unsurprisingly, hidden behind a Pro version that costs $1. The list includes web page compression, Javascript optimizations, and a yet unknown Now Browser Engine. That last feature, however, might be worth buying the paid version, as our brief hands on encounter with it proved Now Browser to be quite faster than Google's own Chrome browser, as seen in the Sunspider benchmark results below.


Now Browser Pro - Sunspider Chrome Browser - Sunspider


That said, there are a few things that Now Browser does offer that could make it an interesting alternative. You can use gestures to swipe through your browsing history, swiping to the right to go back and to the left to go forward. It also gives you the choice of setting your preferred search engine, from Google to DuckDuckGo to even Baidu. Perhaps the only problem with this browser is that, despite the name that implies affinity to Android L's fancy new look, Now Browser actually looks quite plain and not exactly Material-like. Then again, it's a very early version of the app, so there might be a chance that it could also leave up to its name in terms of design.


now-browser-2 now-browser-3 now-browser-4 now-browser-5 now-browser-6


Download: Now Browser (Material) on Google Play Store (Free), (Pro)

VIA: XDA


Dino Hunter now available at Google Play Store

If ever you get interested in a dinosaur shoot ‘em up game for your Android device, now is probably the best time as any to download “Dino Hunter: Deadly Shores” from the Google Play Store. From the same guys who want you to shoot up deer in Deer Hunter, this new game is a prehistoric hunting extravaganza for those who want to know what it felt like to hunt these huge lizards.



Not to burst your Jurassic bubble though, you will not be hunting the dinos with spear and stones, but with a kick-ass hunting rifle. The game mechanics are pretty easy. The game will provide tasks for you and your rifle to complete. It starts with killing a Velociraptor – you know, those intelligent smaller meat-eating lizards that you would have to kill before they kill you – and then the game moves on from there, until you're hunting a Tyrannosaurus Rex.




Of course, “kill one young stegosaur” may not be everyone’s cup of tea for casual gaming, and so we say up front that this – like the game’s predecessor Deer Hunter – may be an acquired taste. But hunting is a legit way of life for some, and putting majestic and huge dinosaurs on your screen is just a little bit cool. Of course, you get to upgrade your guns in game as well. One of the highlights of the game is getting absolutely awesome hunting guns.


dh1 dh2 dh3 dh4


But if you’re thinking that this is an Android port of the wonderful PC game “Carnivores” and its sequels, we’d advise you to not get your hopes up. It is one thing to go around hunting dinosaurs, but classic adventure game this is not. Still, if it works for you, then hey, it’s a free country – grab the game free at the source link. We do assure you that no dinosaurs were hurt in the making of this game. *wink*


SOURCE: Google Play Store





Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)