Sony Xperia Z3 now available for purchase through T-Mobile

While those who pre-ordered the Sony Xperia Z3 through T-Mobile are now finally enjoying their new smartphone, those of us who did not are now finally able to order online as the official purchasing period has begun. The new flagship device from Sony has been gaining good reviews and now you can get your own by signing up with the US carrier (if you aren't with them yet). While the device doesn't come anymore with the free digital copy of DriveClub (since it was only for pre-orders), the Xperia Z3 has so much going for itself.

The smartphone sports a 5.2-inch 1080p display and runs on a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 processor. It has a pretty impressive 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory, with space for more with its micro SD card slot. Mobile photography enthusiasts will have a field day with its 20.7MP main camera and the capability of taking videos with 4K resolution. Sony also has a whole slew of built-in photography and video apps to make your multi-media imagery all the more fun to use and share.

Even if you won't have DriveClub, Sony is throwing in a few freebies when you buy the Xperia Z3. You'll get 6 free movie downloads: 22 Jump Street, Amazing Spider-Man 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Captain Phillips, 30th Year Anniversary Edition of Ghostbusters, and Moneyball. You'll be able to download the films until February 28, 2015. And with the front facing stereo speakers of your smartphone, watching the movies would be a nice experience.

You will be able to purchase the Xperia Z3 through T-Mobile for $0 down and just pay $26.25 per month for the next two years. But if you want to pay for it in its entirety, it will cost you its full retail price of $630.

SOURCE: T-Mobile

Vietnamese video shows Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Gold edition

As it is, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has already been receiving rave reviews (and heavy marketing play) so it's not surprising that people are clamoring for more of it. But would you plop down a ton of cash for a 24-carat Gold edition of this fabulous phablet? That is a "dilemma" that might become a reality soon as a video from a Vietnamese tech channel seems to have outed a gold edition, but we're still not sure if this is a legit product or maybe someone is just wishing for something like it.

The Gold Galaxy Note 4 makes an appearance in the YouTube channel "SChannel" but since it's in Vietnamese, we're still not sure about the details of this product, or whether it is a real one at that. The only clue we have so far is that it has "Distributed by Golden Mobile" engraved on the side. Maybe it is a very special edition created only for Asian markets. Maybe it is an exclusive golden device that will be given as gift items. Maybe a third-party partner will be manufacturing it for a certain market. Maybe it's just the fevered imaginings of a Galaxy Note 4 fan who has a penchant for gold-plated phablets.

Whatever it is, based on the video, it sure is a beauty. Well, if you're into having golden devices that is. It shows off the Galaxy Note 4 in all its 24-K glory. But aside from the color, it looks like any other Note 4, black in the front and back but with its metal carvings being the one with all the gold. We assume also that it has the same specs as released by Samsung, with its 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 805 / Exynos Octa-Core processor, 3GB of RAM, 16MP main camera, among other things.

Pricing and availability of this supposed 24-K edition of the Galaxy Note 4 is unknown at this time. We sure would like to see Samsung confirm first if this is an actual product before we even start dreaming of owning this device.

VIA: G Games

SOURCE: Samsungviet.vn

Project Ara boots up! DevCon2 set for 14 January 2015

When Phonebloks revealed its vision last year, people swooned at the dream but they stopped at just that: a dream. A pipe dream even. But now, more than 12 months later, with Google also at the helm, that dream is almost a reality. Phonebloks went to Boston to visit NK Labs, the guys designing Google's Project Ara, to see how things are coming along with the prototype . And guess what? It works!

It's far from done, of course, but this is the first functional prototype of Project Ara seen in a form that closely resembles the vision that the likes of Phonebloks and Motorola, now Google, ATAP had for the modular smartphone. You plug in modules, functional components, as needed. For the first prototype, the modules consist of the LED display module, battery, application processor, loudspeakers, and a USB charging port. And voila! You get the first public demonstration of a Project Ara device booting up, caught on video!

Impressive and exciting as that may seem, there's still a bit of work to be done. In particular, in Spiral 1, the first iteration of the platform, there isn't much space left around for developers as the base modules occupy about 50 percent of the area. The much awaited Spiral 2 prototype solves that problem and gives developers much more room to play in and offer functionality to users. That prototype will be shown to the public for the first time at the second Project Ara Developer Conference next year.

Dubbed DevCon2, the conference will be held on 14th of January. More than just an update from Google's side of things, it will also showcase progress made on third-party modules for the device. A big and healthy ecosystem of such modules is necessary for Project Ara to truly take off. And perhaps more interesting to end users, Google plans on using the conference to reveal its 2015 market pilot for Project Ara, hinting that the first truly modular commercial smartphone might be in consumers' hands next year.

SOURCE: Phonebloks, Google

Story Timeline

• Project Ara at Google I/O: faster 3D printing, more space


• Future Project Ara iteration to get a custom Rockchip chip


• First working Project Ara prototype in December with Android L


• Project Ara modules to be hot swappable

Microsoft Health app goes live ahead of Microsoft Band

Everyone's getting into fitness these days, which is a good thing of course, from actual fitness companies to tech giants like Google and Apple. Microsoft, who is increasing its efforts at remaining relevant, naturally doesn't want to be left behind. It has been known, or rather leaked, that Microsoft is working on its own fitness-centric wearable, and part of that plan has already gone out today in the form of the Microsoft Health app.

As a fitness app, Microsoft Health might not be too impressive. You've got your usual assortment of activity and health tracking, including steps, calories burned, quality of sleep, and heart rate. There are also extra features like Guided Workouts, e-mail previews, and calendar alerts. Basically your essential functionality to monitor your moving, and sleeping, activities and progress.

Perhaps more interesting is what the app almost doesn't mention: The Microsoft Band. This is the expected Microsoft-branded fitness wearable. Although there is no actual device yet at the time of this writing, this is confirmation that there will be one soon. From the feature set given above, one can deduce that the Band will also have a heart rate monitor. The app is cross platform, available also on iOS and Windows Phone, so you can expect the band to work with almost any device in the market. For Android smartphones, they should be running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean or higher. And it is courtesy of the iOS version that we are able to take a glance at what the Microsoft Band might look like.

It's not exactly impressive but is quite in line with almost every other smartband in the market today. The app notes that users will be able to personalize it, probably with color schemes or wallpapers. Aside from the time, there is a possibility that the display will also show notifications from paired smartphones. It will be interesting to see what other features Microsoft has for the wearable device and, more importantly, if it will be able to make a dent in a quickly saturating market.

Download: Microsoft Health on Google Play Store

Sideload Applications to Android TV Thanks to Chainfire

Android TV played quite a major roles at this year’s Google I/O’s keynote. We didn’t have to wait long to see the first Android devices designed specifically to work with TVs. One of the most exciting Android TV devices is the recently launched Google Nexus Player, which was introduced alongside Lollipop and other Nexus devices.

Google added a requirement that every existing application that is to work on Android TV must be declared as compatible by the app’s developer(s). Such a situation is far from perfect, because users often can’t use their favorite applications or games even if they actually work with Android TV but aren’t officially tested. Luckily, there are a few folks on XDA who routinely make the impossible possible. One of them is XDA Senior Recognized Developer and Senior Moderator Chainfire. His intervention was needed, and after two hours of coding, he wrote a launcher that allows you to sideload applications to Android TV.

With Sideload Launcher, you will be able to run some applications (not every app, since there are some compatibility issues with some) directly on the screen of your TV. If you own (or plan to own) an Android TV device, especially the Google Nexus Player or ADT-1, installing this launcher is a must.

You can find download links and more information by visiting the Android TV Sideload Launcher application thread.

The post Sideload Applications to Android TV Thanks to Chainfire appeared first on xda-developers.

Nexus 6 available for pre-order, immediately out of stock

The awaited Nexus day has arrived! Or has it? The Nexus 6, Google's first phablet and an acknowledgment of the ridiculed device size, has finally gone on pre-order from Google Play Store after a still unexplained delay relative to the Nexus 9 and Nexus Player. But alas, even then things are not so peachy. In less than 24 hours, the smartphone, both the 32 GB and the slightly more expensive 64 GB kind, have been marked as out of inventory already.

On one hand, it's not hard to see the Nexus 6 selling like pancakes. It has many things going for it, except probably the size. One, it's a Nexus device. Two, it's the first Nexus device from Motorola. This potent combination has led to a smartphone that bears the marks of a Moto X and yet has even more powerful hardware, like a 5.96-inch Quad HD AMOLED screen, a 2.7 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, a 13 megapixel f/2.0 rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization, and a 3,220 mAh battery with Motorola's Turbo Charging assist.

On the other hand, sold out in less than a day? Either Google has some serious supply issues, which is unlikely, or something else is up. Given that this isn't the first time this thing happened, we're just left wondering and scratching our heads as to the true issues behind this brief appearance. The Nexus Player similarly went through such a phase, but that was immediately attributed to the device's lack of FCC blessing. The Nexus 6, on the other hand, has been sighted there since Monday. Perhaps a new marketing strategy to drum up hype and anticipation for the smartphone? Hopefully not.

Regardless of the reasons, buyers who didn't make it through the extremely short window are left with no other recourse than to wait. For how long, only Google, and perhaps Motorola, knows. Any pre-order delay will likely cause a delay in shipping also. There are hopes that the Nexus 9 and Nexus Player, along with Android 5.0 Lollipop, will start shipping next week, but a mid-November date for all of these is starting to look more plausible.

SOURCE: Nexus 6 on Google Play Store (32 GB Midnight Black), (64 GB Midnight Black)

Story Timeline

• Here comes the Motorola Nexus 6 to offer more of everything


• Nexus Player back on pre-order, Nexus 6 starts October 29


• Nexus 6 drops at the FCC, should be shipping soon

YouTube offers live broadcast capabilities for Android mobile

App developers can now add another functionality for the apps they're creating as YouTube announced their WatchMe for Android project, where live broadcast capabilities can now be added within the app itself. Although still in the experimental stage, developers can access the project through GitHub and customize the WatchMe features for whatever you'll be using it for (let's hope not for nefarious reasons). Some brands have already applied this to their existing apps and it just might enhance even more your mobile experience.

This announcement is of course targeted to developers but its impact on the user when it will be applied is pretty interesting. YouTube creators who have been using the live broadcast feature on their own channels are familiar already with how this is useful for them as they either do their video demonstrations or share with the world their artistic talents. But now you will be able to do it within an app, on mobile, and with the ability to control starting, stopping, viewing and sharing from your Android phone.

Sony Xperia's Live on YouTube app has already been using this feature, allowing Z2 users to share their special moments live with the rest of the world or even with just select friends in a private mode. Meanwhile, HTC's RE camera, an accessory that you use to take videos together with your smartphone has also integrated live streaming into the app accompanying it.

The YouTube WatchMe for Android uses several APIs, like YouTube Data API v3, YouTube Live Streaming API, Google Play Services and Plus API. For developers to be able to use the app, they need to sync the GitHub repo, and then enable the APIs in the console and then do their other technical mojo. YouTube reminds users though that it is still in the experimental stage, so don't expect it to be smooth sailing all the time.

SOURCE: YouTube

Story Timeline

• Live on Youtube app updated, more Xperia devices supported


• HTC RE camera re-imagines the mobile camera experience