New pics of HTC Desire Eye and its selfie cam leaked

One of the facts of digital life that we might not like but would probably have to accept is that this really is the age of the selfie. Just a few days away from its supposedly official reveal, new pics of HTC's new "ultimate selfie" phone, the Desire Eye, have been leaked once again. This comes on the heel of reports that the OEM's newest product (or products) will be focusing on the photo and video taking capabilities of the smartphone/s.

Late last week, details about the HTC Desire Eye were leaked by Upleaks, which have had a good track record when it comes to HTC devices. While reports show that it does have some serious hardware (Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, 5.2-inch Full HD 1080p screen), the ultimate feature of the smartphone is definitely the front-facing camera, or what is now known as the selfie cam. Both the rear and front camera will have a 13 megapixel resolution. The selfie cam will also have all the other features that the (formerly main) rear camera has, including auto-focus, flash, etc.

The new leaks also reveal that the HTC Desire Eye has IPX7 meaning it has protection from dust and moisture and can be immersed in about 1 meter of water for about 30 minutes. Of course the new smartphone will be running on Android 4.4.4 but it will also have a modified version of HTC's own Sense software suite, this time with version 6 already. They will also be releasing a new software that is specially made to create high-quality selfie photos and will also be available for other HTC products like the One E8, Desire 816 and the flagship M8, among others.

In keeping with the new focus of HTC products, there will be a new camera-related product that will also be reportedly unveiled on October 8. This will supposedly compete with the hugely popular GoPro mobile camera. We just have to wait a few more days to see if this is indeed the direction that HTC is going.

VIA: HTC Family

Story Timeline

• HTC might be going after GoPro's market [UPDATE]


• HTC Desire Eye leaked, with ‘ultimate selfie’ front camera

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3 Unique Launchers from the XDA Forums – XDA TV

There are many Launchers available for Android. There are very popular ones, like Nova Launcher. However, just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s the best. Each person’s preference is different as well.

In today’s episode, XDA TV Producer Jared shows off a 3 unique launchers from the XDA forums. He talks about SwiftOpen Beta, FlowHome Beta and SAO Launcher. So if you wanted to try a new unique launcher for your Android device, check out this video!

Links to the Launchers:

• SwiftOpen Beta


• FlowHome Beta Play Store


• FlowHome Beta XDA Thread


• SAO Launcher Play Store


• SAO Launcher XDA Thread

Check out Jared’s YouTube Channel.

The post 3 Unique Launchers from the XDA Forums – XDA TV appeared first on xda-developers.

Samsung Galaxy S3 given an Android KitKat lifeline

Not too long ago, Samsung made a decision that the international version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII (I9300) – one of its most popular phones ever – is not going to get an official TouchWiz Android 4.4 KitKat update. Cue the sound of millions of hearts of Galaxy SIII owners breaking, as most of them were really still hoping against hope that it would happen. Now the Galaxy SIII is given a lifeline through community development by “arter97”, an XDA Senior Member, with a port from a Korean SIII variant that had an official KitKat update.

Of course, there are a lot of AOSP ROMs that could give the Galaxy SIII a KitKat feel, but it seems like nothing beats the official TouchWiz look. The Korean variant in question was the E210S – with 2GB of RAM and LTE – was updated to Android 4.4.4, and this is what was ported for the I9300 international model. Take a peek at the screenshots below.

There were bugs that kept the port from being stable – SMS messaging issues, signal issues, and the like – but an updated version 2 has come out fixing those things. What is really notable about this port was that it was done in just a few hours, when Samsung was dillydallying over putting out a KitKat update because the Galaxy SIII international version had only 1GB of RAM. For comparison, we know of a lot of entry level phones that run KitKat smoothly on just 1GB of RAM.

If you want to join the fun, check out the original XDA forum thread here, and do tell us about your revived, reinvigorated Galaxy SIII. Version 2 of the build is now up, so it’s a much more functional port. We don’t have to remind you that backups are ALWAYS necessary, so don’t forget to do that before you go flashing your firmware.

SOURCE: XDA

HP 10 Plus tablet shows up at Amazon, no official announcement

It was a while back when we wrote about a bunch of tablets that HP was planning to launch – one of those tablets has dropped at the Amazon website with little in the way of a formal announcement. Looks like HP is trying to sneak the HP 10 Plus by us, although we don’t really know what good that will achieve.

The HP 10 Plus is one of the more robust tablets in terms of specs from that group we initially announced. The tablet features an Allwinner A31 ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core processor turning at 1Ghz, not really a solid choice for a branded tablet. At least it is supported by 2GB or RAM. The screen is a 10.1-inch Full HD display, and there’s a 5MP/2MP camera combo for those who can’t help taking pictures even with their tablets.

The curious spec is that the tablet only runs WiFi 802.11n, where most tablets, even the cheap ones will be a/b/g/n/ac. It’s not immediately clear why this is, but it can be that HP tried to cut some costs with this tablet. At least, the tablet runs Android 4.4.2 Kitkat – not the latest, but certainly better than the lower versions.

The tablet is priced at USD$279.00 at Amazon, a drop from the rumored USD$320 pricing that was initially bandied about. It’s not really a bad tablet, but the 1Ghz core speed on your quad-core processor is bound to affect the smoothness of processes and apps you run on the tablet. Check out the tablet at Amazon here.

VIA: Android Headlines

Story Timeline

• HP unveils four new Slate branded Android tablets


• HP to unveil the 3 new tablets with slightly confusing names


• HP unveils 11-inch and 14-inch Chromebooks for the holidays