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Om One stands out with a levitating Bluetooth speaker

With so many Bluetooth speakers available in the market, those who are not content with having a simple one would always look out for the most unique devices out there. The Om One Bluetooth speaker is ready to stand out from among the rest, as it has a levitating orb that would fascinate observers, while also providing sound quality that would rival the best ones out there.



It is not magic that makes the orb speaker levitate, but rather the simple power of magnets. A Neo magnet is located at the bottom of the orb, which in turn reacts to the electromagnet of the speaker base, making it float in the air just above it. You can connect the speaker to your phone, computer or wherever else you store your music, as long as it has Bluetooth 4.0. The speaker has “world class true stereo sound” and if you happen to have another levitating orb speaker floating around, you can pair them to give you an even better true sound experience.


You can also use the Om One speaker to pick up your calls just like a speaker phone, since it has a microphone built in. So you can pretend to be talking to a floating orb, just like what you saw in an old science fiction film. In terms of power, it claims to have improved battery life since it only uses 3 watts as opposed to most speakers that use around 10 watts.




The Om One speaker is also very portable so you can bring it anywhere you want and show it off to your friends. However, your desk or study table is probably the perfect spot for it, as it could also be decorative aside from functional. The speakers will be available later this year and is expected to cost around $179 in retail stores.


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SOURCE: Om One


VIA: SlashGear


HTC outs the One M8 PHUNK limited edition

What’s more premium than premium? Well, considering that the HTC One M8 is probably the best Android phone you can get out there (OnePlus One users might argue that, but nevertheless), a limited edition offer on HTC’s flagship might be the only improvement you can get barring a next-gen upgrade. So HTC gives you a limited editiom HTC One M8, with which it worked with Singapore-based art studio PHUNK to give it an… err, funky look.



PHUNK is HTC’s first partner for the “Here’s to Creativity” campaign they’re running this year. The plan will be to partner with studios such as PHUNK to give its handsets a sort of artsy creative theme. For the One M8, PHUNK is going with “Wonderment” as the theme. This now reflected in the laser-etched art design on the premium metal back of the One M8. Behold.


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No doubt about it, the design is an enhancement to an already premium-feel phone like the One M8. To partner your new back design, PHUNK also rolled out a couple of wallpapers to match. No sense in having a great design on the back and put your favorite LOLcat wallpaper upfront, right?


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So how do we get one? Not easily, wethinks. HTC reveals that there are only 64 of these babies created, hence the “limited edition" tag. From what it looks like, they might be given out as prizes for contests that HTC will be running. You may want to keep an eye out for those online ads that point to an HTC contest, because you might just be bringing home one of these funky HTC One M8’s.


VIA: SlashGear





Android chokes out the competition with 85% market share

Android is growing, no doubt about that. But just how much and how fast can still sometimes be quite surprising. The latest numbers coming from IDC reveal that Android smartphone shipments comprise almost 85 percent of the world's output, not an insignificant 33 percent increase from almost 80 percent from the same period last year.



Here are the raw figures coming from IDC. Android smartphone shipments totaled 255.3 million units. iOS, in contrast, shipped only 35.2 million, up from last year's 31.2 million. That said, the second quarter is noted to be Apple's weakest year after year, with figures picking up as new iPhones are announced. Android and iOS combined take up 96.4 percent of the market in Q2 2014. That leaves very little for other players. Windows Phone manages to remain at third but has sunk from 3.4 percent last year to 2.5 percent this year. IDC thinks there might still be some hope for Microsoft's mobile platform, with new devices, especially those coming from other OEM's. Meanwhile, BlackBerry's position has become even more precarious, with only 0.5 percent of the market left to it, down from 2.8 percent from the same quarter last year.


IDC makes a few interesting notes about Android's market supremacy. It attributes part of that success to Samsung, which still managed to make up for 29.3 percent of all Android shipments, down from 40 percent last year. These numbers show Samsung's unique position in the Android world and somewhat explains the company's desire to strike a name for itself independent of Google's platform. That said, it should also be a challenge to other Android-loving OEMs to step up their game and be ready to take Samsung's place should the Korean manufacturer become wayward. The other note that IDC makes is that 58.6 percent of Android smartphones shipped worldwide cost less than $200, a very lucrative market for the mobile platform that iOS has trouble entering. The Android One initiative unveiled at I/O 2014 last June could very well boost these numbers even higher in the coming quarters.


While we rejoice at Android's dominance in the smartphone market, we should also pause to think about possible scenarios that the future might hold. With a practical stranglehold on the market, Google is in the position to be the Microsoft/Windows of smartphones. Although Android's open source nature has checks in place to stop that from happening, Google has also been working to exercise more direct control and lock down some parts that it can, whether through code or through policies. And with 85 percent, expected to grow even more, in its hands, that is a frightening future that no one will want to wake up to.


SOURCE: IDC

VIA: SlashGear


Amazon Appstore introduces live app testing for developers

If you’re an app developer, you would always want to ensure that your product is fully tested before unleashing it into the market. Live testing is probably the best way for you to see if there are any bugs needed to be fixed or if your app is actually working properly. Amazon Appstore is now introducing Live App Testing for their developers, proof that they are indeed serious in getting through to mobile developers and the app market.



Simply put, Live App Testing is for an app to be distributed to several selected people who will be able to fully use the product as if it were already live. They will be able to use it not just on their Amazon Kindle Fire tablets and Fire Phone, but also on other Android devices. The developers have a portal wherein they need to upload their new app, but instead of directly publishing it, they can choose the live testing option and manually add the email addresses of the selected testers.


The selected testers will then receive an email with instructions on how to download the app. From then on, they will have the capability of using the app and all its features They can then give feedback to the developers as to the feasibility of the app or to spot several things that need fixing. What is not clear at this point is how the feedback mechanism works. Do they just reply through email or is there a link where they just upload their comments and Amazon manages all of these feedback?


Google Play Store launched a similar program last year with its live beta testing and staged rollouts. But instead of adding the names and email addresses manually, developers could simply invite their selected testers to join the G+ group and from there, they will be given access to test the app. You could say the process is much simpler this way, but it’s still early stages for Amazon’s live testing capability so we can expect improvements later on.


SOURCE: Amazon


Google I/O 2014 attendees to get their Moto 360 soon

There were a few goodies given away at this year’s Google I/O Developers Conference, and a few of those who went were admittedly happy that they were given a choice of either an LG G Watch or a Samsung Gear Live to take home. The happiest, we think, are those who sat down for the keynote, who will be getting Motorola’s spanking new wearable – the Moto 360 – in their mail soon.



The watch hasn’t been officially announced yet, but of course, we all know about it. The shipping to the keynote attendees may well come in time for the “official” announcement. We have to wait and see if Motorola chooses to time it that way, but we see nothing that would say that they wouldn’t – it’s too great a marketing chance to waste.


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For everyone who attended the I/O 2014 keynote, September 4 is your day. But a couple of caveats, as seen in the official letter the good fellows at SlashGear received, the device will only be shipped to countries where the wearable is designated to launch. The letter also indicates a sort of “first come, first serve” mechanism in play, but the big thing is that if you live in a country where the Moto 360 is designated to launch, you’re in good shape to get it at that date, or thereabouts.


Most people were hoping for a global launch, but it seems that we won’t be getting that – at least not yet. We will have to see until the official launching of the newfangled watch-gadget how Motorola chooses to proceed. But in general terms, the Moto 360 may be very, very near launch date now, and we are all excited.


VIA: SlashGear





Samsung Galaxy Note 4 specs get leaked big time

We're just whittling down the days to IFA 2014 where Samsung will be baring it all about its latest products, particularly the Galaxy Note 4. And Indonesian online retailer, however, practically spilled all the beans about the phablet, revealing juicy hardware specs that is bound to make any smartphone aficionado drool with envy.



First, let's get to the display. It's a 5.7-inch screen, same as the current Galaxy Note 3. But while the size didn't increase, the resolution definitely made a jump, going from 1080p FHD to a 2560x1440 QHD resolution. That gives you a practical pixel density of 515 ppi. Of course, it uses Samsung's AMOLED tech so, aside from crisper images, blacker blacks and a wider gamut of colors, you can also expect power saving features to be available here, like the much advertised Ultra Power Saving Mode.


Going inside, we are met, unsurprisingly, with two variants of processors, both sporting the highest end CPUs. On the one hand, the SM-910S model will be hosting a 2.5 Ghz quad-core Krait 450 CPU, which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805. The other model, the SM-910C, has an octa-core setup with four 1.8 GHz Cortex-A15's and four 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7's. This is noted to be the Exynos 5433, most likely a variant of the new Exynos 5430 system-on-chip announced yesterday and used on the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. This chip boasts of a new 20 nm manufacturing process, which translates to an advertised 25 percent reduction in power consumption despite the substantial increase in raw processing power.


The memory is equally, or probably even more, interesting. Storage is at your usual configurations of 16, 32, and 64 GB capacities, with a microSD slot for added memory up to 128 GB. It is the RAM, however, that is more noticeable. The leaked specs put it at 4 GB. the highest so far found in any smartphone. On the one hand, it's not surprising considering its predecessor was the first to wield 3 GB of RAM. On the other hand, 4 GB marks the upper limit of what is normally accessible by 32-bit CPUs and operating systems. This could very well spark once more discussions and speculation about 64-bit chips.



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The rest of the specs are nothing to pan either. You have dual-band WiFi with WiFi Direct support, six bands of LTE, MHL 2.0 for video output, USB Host capability, a 16 megapixel rear shooter complete with OIS, and Android 4.4.3, not 4.4.4, out of the box. The price tag for this piece of hardware, at least in Indonesia, was marked at 9,499,000 IDR, converted to around $813. US prices will most likely be quite different, but the raw price is still a bit too steep. We'll see come September if this spec sheet will match what Samsung has on its side, but this seems to be as close as it gets to the real thing.


SOURCE: Erafone, phoneArena

VIA: SlashGear





Google Now offers flight alternatives, bakes in Field Trip

You’re just a few hours away from your flight to London, when suddenly, you received a notification that it has been cancelled. What do you do next? You are in a strange place and you don’t know anyone but would like to visit some landmarks or tourist spots. Who do you ask? Normally you would just google those information, but Google Now’s new updates allows you to eliminate a few steps in the process and brings you the info you need through its cards.



When a flight is delayed or cancelled and you absolutely still have to get to your destination, Google Now suggests alternative flights. Previously, it had the ability to scan your email for your flight details and gives you information the nearer your flight gets. So if it gets cancelled or delayed, it can suggest alternate routes or flights from other airlines that will eventually get you where you need to go.


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Meanwhile, Google has finally baked its Field Trip app into Google Now. Launched back in 2012, the separate app had the capability to give dining recommendations, historical information and trivia about the place you’re in, based on the user’s geo-location. When Google Glass came along, the app was able to maximise its potential as the info cards that popped out while using the wearable was definitely cool and useful. However, there are still just a few users of Google Glass, and so it got lost in the glut of location-based recommendation apps that suddenly sprung up.


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The integration of Field Trip into Google Now means that cards from its 200+ partners would show up on your page and suggest localised places and information, just like going on a, well, field trip. The stand-alone app is still available at the Google Play Store, in case you’d also like to give it a try apart from Google Now or if you have Google Glass.


VIA: SlashGear (1), (2)





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