Subscribe:

Ads 468x60px

Labels

Motorola trademarks Moto Maxx name

Let the guessing game begin! Over at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Motorola has filed for a trademark for a certain "Moto Maxx" name. Though the exact nature of the device is still unknown, the name has usually been applied to a smartphone. But what kind of smartphone will bear this already familiar brand?



This new-old name is actually a bit amusing, as it mixes up two of Motorola's smartphone lines. The "Moto" part has recently been reserved for Motorola's most recent standard bearers: the talented Moto X, the budget Moto G, and the "feature phone" Moto E. On the other hand, Motorola has this whole other world of Android devices with the DROID prefix, exclusive to Verizon's catalog. This includes, of course, the DROID MAXX and the DROID RAZR MAXX (HD).


That DROID line and particular the MAXX models have been known for their bigger than normal battery capacities. The DROID RAZR MAXX HD, for example, has a 3,300 mAh battery while the DROID MAXX has 3,500 mAh. The speculation is that this new Maxx will similarly brandish a long-lasting battery. The "Moto" part, on the other hand, could mean that this won't just be available from Verizon only and could be launched elsewhere too.


There seems to be many signs of activity from Motorola, but the company has been very silent about new devices. The Moto X is a year old now, uncontested in its position as flagship, a rare privilege for a smartphone in this day and age. There has been rumors of a Moto X+1 that has yet to materialize. And now we have this Moto Maxx trademark to stoke the fires. We could, however, be counting the days to Motorola's big announcement, if not this month, perhaps next at IFA in Berlin.


VIA: Droid Life










Snap Attack word-building tournament comes to Android

People who love word puzzles, are highly-competitive, and who have Android smartphones, listen up: Microsoft Studios has a new game especially for you. Snap Attack is the newest word-building tournament that doesn’t just let you prove that you’re a wordsmith that types fast but even lets you compete with people from around the world, who like you, would like to prove that they’re the best at this mobile game.



Snap Attack lets you play on one board with the same set of letter tiles and compete with players from around the world and see who can snap together the most words in two and a half minutes. You can rearrange and swap tiles out as many times as you want. The words can be read left to right or top to bottom and they of course have to be valid English ones to be able to get points. The more tiles you use to form a snap, the higher the points that you get.


After each round, the scores of all who joined in that board will be ranked and posted on a leaderboard, with the username and country of origin included. If you want to keep track of your scores and how you rank against others, you can sign in through Facebook or your Xbox account, if you have one. The app can also track your best statistics, like what was your highest score, your over-all points, what was your best Snap and other figures.


While some players are not that crazy about the 2.5 million points achievement goal, we’re pretty sure the more competitive ones will be dying to reach that level. So if you want to get addicted to another word game, you can download the app for free from the Google Play Store.




snap5 snap3 snap2 snap1


Hulu offers free content for Android users

Chances are, most of the video that you consume everyday very rarely come from a real movie screen or an actual television. With video-streaming services (both legit and the spurious ones) available left and right and for all kinds of gadgets, you would of course prefer to be in control of what you consume. Hulu has been one of the pioneers in on-demand video and now, an update for its Android app is offering users a chance to sample some content for free.



With thousands of classic, past and current videos on their database, Hulu has a veritable banquet of content just waiting to be gobbled up by pop culture enthusiasts. Selected content from latest and past episodes of current TV shows showing on networks will be offered for free when you download the Hulu app on your Android smartphone or tablet. Some of the free content also comes from other Hulu channels like Originals, Anime, Kids, Latino and Movies.


Aside from watching on your device, you can also stream the content on to other connected devices like smart TVs, game consoles and streaming players. You can also cast the videos from your phone or tablet to the larger TV screen by using devices like Chromecast, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4. Just like other streaming services, you can favourite videos you want to watch later, and if ever you had to stop watching, you can resume from where you stopped later on.


If you’ve had your fill of free content and want to move on to binge-watching complete seasons of your favourite TV shows, you can easily upgrade to Hulu Plus for $7.99/month. However, Hulu still limits its availability to the United States, so if you’re outside the country, you’d have to be content with using other video-streaming services (hopefully, legit right?) You can download the Hulu app from the Google Play Store.


hulu3 hulu2 hulu1


SOURCE: Hulu





Sony IFA schedule set, mysterious Xperia device leaked

August is here and that means ... starting the countdown to IFA 2014! Manufacturers are lining up to book their press events for one of the mobile world's biggest annual gatherings. Sony is definitely not going to pass up this occasion and has scheduled its conference well ahead of IFA week. Plus, a latecomer to this quarter's photo leaks. But is this the Xperia Z3 Compact or something totally different?



The rumored Xperia Z3 Compact is a rather curious device, if only for the fact that, if the device turns out to be real, Sony would have completely skipped one generation of "mini". However, considering how late it is already, it is almost more probable that an Xperia Z2 Compact will really never arrive. There have been various leaks, both of specs and photos, that point towards that possibility, but this new batch for the supposed upcoming compact flagship has us scratching our heads a bit.


The device showcased in this photoset does look small-ish, but some design details do not seem to match what we've seen before. The placement of the front-facing camera is different, for one, and the sides also look different. Could this simply be a variant or a completely different device altogether? It is possible though perhaps unlikely that Sony also modified the final design a bit. The specs that go with this leak are also quite different and almost sound to good to be true. The screen is a bit larger at 4.6 inches instead of 4.5, but the resolution is also considerably higher, jumping to 1080p from 720p. RAM has also been taken up a notch, now at 3 GB. These are definitely very high end specs, especially for a mini version of a flagship. Though considering how the Xperia Z1 Compact compares with other OEM's mini devices, it sounds almost plausible.


xperia-z3-compact-leak-diff-1 xperia-z3-compact-leak-diff-3 xperia-z3-compact-leak-diff-4


We might not have to wait too long to get the answers to all these questions. Sony has booked a September 3 event, most likely to reveal its second flagship for 2014, as well as, hopefully, this compact variant. Other awaited announcements include a next gen smartwatch. Maybe there's hope that this one will be using Android Wear, but that is quite unlikely as Sony has heavily invested on its own SmartWatch platform.


VIA: Xperia Blog (1), (2)





OnePlus rumored to ditch CM, OneWatch plans leaked

It is only normal for OEMs to try to differentiate themselves in a very crowded mobile device market, but sometimes not all their "exclusive features" are well received (hello Samsung). OnePlus, a young Chinese startup when compared with other players in the industry, is rumored to be preparing to stir things up a bit again, not only by launching a smartwatch of its one, but also by moving away from its current CyanogenMod-based ROM.



The role of CyanogenMod to OnePlus One's success, or at least its popularity, is a bit debatable. As a device, the One is definitely something already desirable, mixing high-end specs with a price tag half of other leading brands in the market. But hardware is only half of the story. By picking CyanogenMod, practically a ready-made Android flavor, instead of developing their own homegrown solution, OnePlus was able to iterate faster and put out a finished product sooner.


But CyanogenMod isn't exactly as popular as, say, TouchWiz or Sense. And its bias towards a more AOSP-like experience might not tickle the taste buds of OnePlus' target Chinese market, who flock to heavily customized skins like Xiaomi's MIUI or OPPO's ColorOS. There are, undoubtedly, some benefits to keeping things in house: tighter control, even faster iterations, and a more customized and targeted user experience. The question is whether CyanogenMod, whose new Theme Engine was probably developed with OnePlus in mind, can't provide those. If this rumor turns out to be true, OnePlus should expect some negative and very vocal feedback from those who rooted for the company precisely because of its ties with the custom ROM. That, of course, depends too if OnePlus considers them its target market or even a sizable portion of the market.


onewatch-1


The company is also rumored to be working on a smartwatch, with a leaked web page snapshot and design sketches to prove so. The OneWatch, as it is called, is shown to sport a similar circular face like the Moto 360, only smaller. There is also a note that it will be employing that coveted sapphire glass display for the smart timepeice. It will also use wireless charging and even have a curved battery hidden inside the wrist strap. Definitely sounds more like a wishlist, but OnePlus has proven that it is capable of making dreams come true. However, given the other rumor above, it might also be capable of striking out on its own, so the possibility of this smartwatch running Android Wear is still pretty much up in the air.


VIA: Talk Android, BGR





Runtastic Orbit tracks lifestyle 24/7 for a healthier you

With the advent of wearable gadgets, lifestyle trackers have become the new fitness craze among the health-conscious and the digitally-savvy. It may be hard to stand out of the competition with so many to choose from, but Runtastic Orbit makes a pretty good case for itself with its 24-hour tracking device and fitness monitor that may just integrate itself into your lifestyle.



Aside from the usual tracking of the steps, calories burned and distance, Runtastic Orbit’s three sensors can also look at other aspects of your daily activities like sleep tracking and even mood tracking. The information is shown on the device’s OLED display, which also shows you what time it is. You also need to sync it using Orbit Connect with your smartphone and the Runtastic web service so you can maximise all its features. The Runtastic Me app, which just received an update to run with this gadget, displays the information sent to it through low-power Bluetooth and it can also send back updates on your Orbit so it will stand as a second screen for the app. You can also view the information on the website so as to track your progress for your fitness goals.


me_connect_orbit-605x1024 me_mainscreen-605x1024 me_sleep_detail-605x1024


Wearing the Orbit 24/7 may seem like it will easily drain the battery, but the fitness band boasts of a 7-day battery life so no fear that you’ll have to spend part of the day attached to the charger. And if you’re also style-conscious and aren’t crazy about the idea of just wearing basic black and blue bands, it also comes in camo green, gray, magenta, orange, white and yellow. If you don’t feel like wearing it as a band, you can take out the tracker and put it on a clip and stick it wherever you want.



runtastic-orbit-bands-600x250



Runtastic Orbit is available for purchase through its online shop for $119.99 and will ship out starting August 11. It will also soon be at retail stores, although there are no details yet as to where and when it will officially come out.




VIA: SlashGear


Wunderlist 3: faster sync,pro features,public lists

List apps are a gift from digital gods, that is, if you’re a highly-organised smartphone owner. One favourite of list makers is the simplistic but feature-packed Wunderlist. And now that the makers of this productivity app have just released the updated Wunderlist 3, you can just hear the sighs of productivity-obsessed users as they create even more lists with the app’s newest features.



One problem with the Wunderlist 2 that they released ten months ago was that the syncing between devices and platforms wasn’t always that smooth. And as we all know, digital people rarely just use one device now to do all their productivity activities so that is definitely an issue. Wunderlist 3, which they say is their biggest update yet, has solved this problem with its Real-Time Sync. Based on their demo video, the edits and changes now appear instantaneously if you’re using a smartphone, a tablet and even a desktop.




Another major feature of this new update is the introduction of Public Lists. Before, if you wanted to share a movies-to-see list or a task list with a lot of people, you need to choose which names you wanted to share it with. But for some lists like “Top 100 songs of all time” or “Places to visit in Europe”, you sometimes want to share it with everyone you know. Now you can do so with the publish button (optional of course) and share it on your social networks. You can even add to your own wunderlist those public lists that you want to save, add or collaborate on a list, and unpublish it if you want. There’s also now a Conversation and Activity Center where you can see all the comments and updates on the different lists you’ve shared.




Some Wunderlist Pro features are also now available on the free app, like sharing and collaborating on a list with friends and uploading a file for reference. But there are still limits to these features while the Pro users still get unlimited access to all of these, including unlimited collaboration. The developers promise that there will also be new Pro-only features in the near future. You can download Wunderlist 3 from the Google Play Store.


SOURCE: Wunderlist


Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)