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Huawei skips digits, Ascend Mate7 slated for Sept. 4

Huawei is jumping over numbers again. While the jump from Honor 3 to Honor 6 was believed to be motivated by the upcoming Apple iPhone 6 and next year's Samsung Galaxy S6, going from Ascend Mate 2 right to Ascend Mate7 is a bit more perplexing. Whatever the Chinese OEM's reasons may be, the Huawei Ascend Mate7 is coming next month at IFA 2014 in Berlin.



Leaked information about Huawei's next big, figuratively and literally, smartphone is a bit sparse but quite consolidated. They revolve around two variants, with one believed to sport a 2K resolution screen with 3 GB of RAM, while the other only has a 1080p display and 2 GB of RAM, both coming at 6 inches. Both variants will also be powered by the new Kirin 920 which Huawei flaunted inside the Honor 6 last June. There is believed to be a 13 megapixel camera at the back and 5 megapixels on the front.


The Ascend Mate7 might be interesting not in itself but by how much it might resemble some other high-end, and more expensive, smartphones. Previously leaked photos betray a design, specially with the rear cover, that looks eerily similar to HTC's finest. There is even talk of a fingerprint scanner on the back, similar to the HTC One Max. While that sensor seems to be mostly confirmed as coming, its placement is still uncertain.


The smartphone will also mark the debut of Emotion UI 3.0, the next major version of Huawei's custom Android experience. Like MIUI 6, which Xiaomi just announced earlier, Emotion UI, or EMUI for short, is switching to a flatter and more minimal look. Unlike MIUI, however, EMUI leans more towards the Android side of the spectrum, making the user interface uniquely Huawei's but still undoubtedly Android. Expect to see and hear more about Huawei's new baby come September 4, when the OEM unveils its latest products amidst the throng of competitors doing likewise.


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VIA: MyDrivers, Weibo


Xbox One SmartGlass beta: TV streaming, game recording

The Xbox One SmartGlass app beta version has received a major update to make your television, Xbox and your gadgets all the more interactive. While some of the new features will be rolling out first in regions where the upcoming Xbox TV tuner will first come out, it still is exciting to anticipate all these new functionalities when it eventually arrives for all other regions.



With the update, you now have the capability of streaming your TV content onto your smartphone or tablet through the Xbox One app (beta version, not the regular one). So even if someone is playing a game on the TV and you want to watch a particular show at the same time, you can stream it to your tablet or phone, and even change the channel or pause and resume it. However you can only do so if you have the Xbox TV tuner, which will be rolled out to the European market first. So sorry, US residents, this feature will not work on your app yet, since you’re missing that key component.


But worry not, there are other cool features in the update. You now have the ability to record your gameplay clips onto the Smartglass app and you can post this onto your Xbox Live activity feed if you want to boast about how well you played that particular game. You need to update your Xbox One system software as well, so you can now share and post activity feed items through your app and see all your activities on your profile.


Since this particular app is still in beta version, not all features might work as smoothly as expected. But if you want to try it out, you can download it for free from the Google Play Store (not to be confused with the regular app which doesn't let you try out the new features but is more stable)


VIA: Android Police





Qualcomm’s 64-bit Snapdragon 810 makes AnTuTu appearance

Judging from the focus on this feature, it looks like 64-bit computing might just be the next big thing for mobile devices – if the efforts from SoC manufacturers like NVIDIA and Qualcomm are any evidence. NVIDIA has the 64-bit version of the Tegra K1, and Qualcomm has the Snapdragon 810, with the latter now making an appearance at AnTuTu’s benchmarking databases.



The new SoC – earmarked with code number MSM8994 – is reportedly still in its testing phase, but what we see here is an unofficial sneak peek into what it looks like. The model is an octa-core chip – quad Cortex-A57and quad Cortex-A53 – with AnTuTu reporting some low speeds per core at testing phase (200 to 940.8Mhz). None of the cores are even breaking 1Ghz at this point, so we might still be seeing huge improvement in this aspect soon.


The test device is a strange one. It is yet unnamed, but what we know is that it sports a 6.2-inch 2560x1600 display being run by the SoC’s Adreno 430 graphics chip, backstopped by a whopping 4GBs of RAM on an Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS. Any guesses?


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This is clearly a developmental stage for the Snapdragon 810, and with NVIDIA already promising great leaps with its 64-bit Tegra K1, Qualcomm really needs to get this one together fairly quickly and efficiently. What will be the first Snapdragon 810 device? Tell us if you have any theories on this.


SOURCE: AnTuTu





Koush’s Mirror to Chrome now works with any device

Google has just added Android screen mirroring to Chromecast last month, but what if you didn't have the streaming HDMI dongle and only wanted to mirror to your computer? Koushik "Koush" Dutta's AllCast app and receiver duo might be your savior, but only if you had a Nexus 5. Soon, however, it will work with almsot any Android device you have in your hand.



AllCast is Koush's all in one Android streaming solution, encompassing both streaming select pieces of media to mirroring the whole screen. Last May, Koush announced a Chrome browser extension of his AllCast Receiver, which basically meant turning any computer into a makeshift Chromecast plus TV combo. In theory, you would be able to send your media or your screen to Chrome running on any computer (as long as they're on the same network of course). In practice, however, it's not so simple.


Due to technical issues, Koush ended up using the WebRTC protocol as well as the VP8 codec for mirroring to the Chrome browser. As he mentioned in his fiddling with the Fire TV port of his receiver app, WebRTC's performance was quite slow. But even more than that, the WebRTC/VP8 combo practically meant that only the Nexus 5 was supported, which severely limited its reach. Now, however, Koush rewrote the Mirror to Chrome feature on top of Broadway.js, a Javascript (technically, a C converted to Javascript) h264 decoder. By doing so, he is able to remove the WebRTC/VP8 requirement, meaning that the mirroring feature will be able to work almost any device.




Koush notes that there is still a bit of lag, which means it's far from perfect yet, though that's not really unexpected. Given how those apps are available for free and doesn't require the purchase of new hardware, it might not be a bad tradeoff. That said, this new feature does require an update to the app and Koush has not yet indicated when he will be pushing that out.


SOURCE: +Koush





Kiwi for Android Wear controls smartphone with gestures

If it’s always been your dream to control your smartphone with Jedi mind tricks, well you’re one step closer to that with a new app for your smartwatch. Kiwi for Android Wear allows you to control your smartphone through your wearable device not by actually touching it but through hand gestures that are set for specific actions. Yes, just a wave of your hand can now let you use your gadgets even without taking it out of your bag or pocket.



But don’t think that you can make your phone do whatever you want just like a Jedi master. For now, the gestures and resulting actions are fairly limited. You can set a hand gesture to dismiss calls that you don’t want to take by swiping left or right. You can also use a karate chop or an upper cut (maybe you need to study karate or some sort of martial arts before using this) to play, pause or skip tracks when using your phone’s music player.


While it is indeed a great app to have (if you have a smartwatch running on Android Wear, like the LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live, and soon the Moto 360), as we said, the functions are still fairly limited at this point. It also might not be compatible yet with Google Music if your smartphone is running on Android 4.4.4 already. But as the developer said, they will be coming up with more actions and motions soon.


So if you feel like doing some awesome mind control tricks on your smartwatch and smartphone (just make sure you’re not in public to avoid actually hitting people), get the Kiwi for Android Wear app. You can get it for free through the Google Play Store.


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Sony Xperia M2 Kitkat update now rolling out

The firmware update that will push Sony’s midrange beauty – the Xperia M2 – to Android 4.4.2 KitKat is now rolling out, though it has been noted that the update applies to a limited few so far. The Xperia M2 launched in February with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, although with its robust specs, it was expected that Sony would update to KitKat sooner or later.



The update seems to be confined to the D2303 LTE variant at this point. This international model is available in France, Ireland, Israel, Russia, Singapore and Thailand. No updates have been spotted for the D2305 and D2306 variants, as well as the Xperia M2 Dual models. But we assume owners of those models would probably wait just a small amount of time before the update for their phones roll out.


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The KitKat update on the Xperia M2 should bring a handful of new features and improvements to the handset, including several performance improvements, and a new navigation bar and task bar. The update also brings cloud print support, and improved SMS capabilities – like being able to set the Hangouts app as default for text messaging.


If you’ve received the update, tell us what you think about it in the comments section below. The generous and capable hardware of the Xperia M2 should be able to handle it, we think. But do tell us if there are any hiccups we – and the rest of the world – should know about.


VIA: Xperia Blog





MIUI v6 launched, goes flat and simple

Xiaomi has just released a major overhaul of its custom ROM, MIUI version 6. Calling it "visually stunning, stunningly simple", the Chinese manufacturer has opted to drop the aging skeumorphic design of the past decade and embraced the more minimalistic and flatter look. Just in time to catch up with iOS' own transition to the new design language.



Those who criticize Samsung's TouchWiz for being bloated and heavily modified should probably try to take a peek at MIUI and see how TouchWiz might look a tad less insane compared to it. To be honest, it is almost difficult to identify MIUI as an Android skin. In fact, one could probably say it looks closer to iOS than Android, which might have been the goal, of course. Or to be exact, it looks closer to iOS 6 and earlier, back when Apple, during Jobs' tenure, aimed for a visual appearance that mimicked the physical objects they represented. But Apple has gone away from that aesthetic and now MIUI has too.




MIUI 6 now adopts the minimalistic and flat design that is becoming pervasive in both mobile and web skins. Gone are the 3D buttons and raised icons, replaced by a more toned-down design and, in some cases, just text that are almost unidentifiable as interactive buttons. MIUI still sticks to the predominantly orange color scheme though, which serves to distinguish it a bit from certain similar themes and designs. Of course, Apple doesn't have the monopoly of flat design and Android itself has progressively been adopting such a language, especially with the most recent Material Design. That said, MIUI 6 doesn't even come close to adopting those principles and it is clearly evident that they are going their own route, which may not be a bad thing as far as its fans are concerned.


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The new version of the custom Android experience of course also brings some behavioral changes. The notification center, quick toggles, and search are now available from anywhere via gestures, even inside apps and the lockscreen. Power saving modes have been introduced, with options to schedule which modes are active at which times. The Mi Browser now syncs to the Mi Cloud so that you can seamlessly switch browsing between Xiaomi devices. The Phone app has also been given some teeth, allowing users to identify and block unwanted calls.




MIUI 6 is, of course, primarily available for Xiaomi's smartphones, particularly the Mi 3 and the newly announced Mi 4. The ports for supported devices haven't been updated yet and still remain at v5 and the MiHome Launcher has not yet been updated to this new visual style. It isn't known if or when these other download options will be available with MIUI 6.


SOURCE: MIUI


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