Amazon releases e-card app Surprise! in time for Christmas

Do you miss the good 'ole days when you would receive special Hallmark greeting cards during your birthday or Christmas or even just a random, romantic card from your special someone? But of course as with almost everything else that was analog, there is now a digital equivalent. Amazon announced that they now have an e-card app called Surprise! to help you, well, surprise your loved ones with an old school expression of affection given a digital touch.

E-cards are actually nothing new, as they have been around since computers were invented (we assume). But the world's biggest online retailer getting in on the game is news of course. What's more, you even have the option to add an Amazon Gift Card so that the recipient will be able to purchase whatever they want on their site (we see what you did there Amazon), without using their own credit card. You can also digitally gift wrap your surprise so that the recipient will still get a sense of excitement out of "unwrapping" your e-card.

You can personalize your greeting on the e-card, adding photos or a video, and for an even more personal touch, you can record an audio greeting, have a handwritten signature or even just type out your message. But if you're in a hurry and cannot be bothered, you can just send a Simple Surprise without the personalization options. The app will also be able to add special occasions from Facebook or your device's calendar and contacts to build your Occasion Timeline so you won't ever forget a birthday or anniversary or Christmas.

The app will also be able to sync with Amazon's Friends and Family Gifting Program. And if you're too forgetful, you can actually schedule your e-card and gift cards in advance, up to a year in advance. To download the app, you can get it from the Google Play Store or go to amazon.com/surprise to get a link to the app itself. For now, Surprise! by Amazon is available for US residents only.

SOURCE: Amazon

Bring Back Jelly Bean Quick Toggles to Your KitKat Xperia ROM

Newer doesn’t always mean better. This fits the Android OS perfectly with regards to some solutions that are in fact less polished than their older counterparts. For many, the quick settings toggles used in stock Jelly Bean ROMs for Sony Xperia phones were ideal, since they were available right after pulling down the notification bar. In KitKat, these toggles were moved to the separate tab, making access a bit more cumbersome.

With some willingness and a bit of free time, you can easily bring back the Jelly Bean-style quick settings toggles to your KitKat Xperia ROM. XDA Senior Member anagramgenius wrote a guide in which the whole process is explained in detail. The method demonstrated by anagramgenius uses Apktool and any text editor. If you have them, you are good to go!

Right after decompiling the SystemUI of your ROM, you need to edit a few of XMLs and compile the file back. Not a single line in Smali is changed, so you don’t have to be afraid of those nasty build errors. The whole process should take no longer than 10 minutes and the result is spectacular. You will re-gain the quick access to your most favorite settings which will come back right where they belong.

Learn more about the modding by visiting the JB style quick settings for KitKat forum thread.

The post Bring Back Jelly Bean Quick Toggles to Your KitKat Xperia ROM appeared first on xda-developers.

India bans Xiaomi sales and imports for patent infringement

Xiaomi has been hit with a sales and import ban in India. A court in New Delhi has banned sales and imports due to copyright infringement. The case was brought against Xiaomi by Ericsson India and Ericsson says that it has tried to get Xiaomi to license the standard essential patents it is using in its devices.

Ericsson says that Xiaomi wouldn't come to the negotiating table and it field charges as a result. The judge overseeing the case in India passed an ex parte order that bans Xiaomi from importing, selling, and advertising its smartphones in India.

This is certainly a blow to Xiaomi; India was its second largest market in the world. The judge also ordered customs officials to stop imports under IPR Rules, 2007. Xiaomi isn’t the first smartphone maker operating in India to lose a patent case to Ericsson.

A judge in India previously ordered Micromax to pay Ericsson up to 1% of the sales price of each device it sold in royalties after Micromax lost a similar case. Xiaomi has only been selling in India since July 2014, and already the country has become a very important market for the company.

SOURCE: Times of India

Tap2Unlock Brings Security to Tap2Wake

Android OS offers many ways of unlocking your device. Among the most popular are entering a pattern or PIN and face unlock. Although patterns and PINs can be pretty secure, there are still ways to improve upon them.

The Android kernel offers many functions that can be used even when the screen is powered off. Double-tap-to-wake is a common feature that can be found on many custom ROMs here at XDA. XDA Senior Member goutamniwas created quite an interesting method for screen unlocking using the tap2wake technology.

With Tap2Unlock, you can unlock your screen by entering a PIN code while your screen is off. This module splits the screen into four squares. Pressing the wrong pattern will light up the screen but disable touch, so the person who enters will not be able to use the phone. Entering the correct pattern will fully unlock the device.

This kernel feature can work with most currently available kernels built from source. The developer was kind enough to provide necessary patches that need to be cherry picked in order to make it work.

If you are a kernel developer, you can consider adding this to your project. If you’re just a user, you can also request the feature to be implement by your favorite kernel developer. You can learn more by visiting the Tap2unlock – a new tap2wake feature with pattern forum thread.

The post Tap2Unlock Brings Security to Tap2Wake appeared first on xda-developers.

Nokia’s HERE map app now available on Google Play Store

Nokia's HERE map app has been gaining ground as an alternative to Google Maps, but one thing that might have prevented more people from getting it for their smartphones is that you had to sidedownload it from their website. But all that is about to change as you can now download the app directly from the Google Play Store, although it is still in beta version.

Aside from this improvement to their service, they have also added 18 new countries and territories to their list of supported areas, bringing the total to 118 navigable countries. The new additions are Algeria, Angola*, Bangladesh*, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Iraq, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nepal*, Paraguay, Saint Helena, Senegal*, Sri Lanka*, Suriname*, Zambia*, Zimbabwe*. (those marked means not all roads are mapped out yet).

HERE has slowly become popular on Android devices because of its voice-guided navigation, as well as the ability to save maps offline, a handy tool for those who travel to other countries and are without data connection. Some recent updates have also updated the app to include public transit information so that the app can also be of use to those who commute rather than driving in private vehicles.

The update also brings a more stable version of the app, as well as the usual bug fixes, especially for the voice-related navigation features. If you already have the existing app, you don't need to uninstall your current app or reinstall your maps and voices. If you don't have it yet, you can download it for free from the Google Play Store. Just remember that it is still in beta version, so not all things might work as expected as of now.

SOURCE: HERE

Hangouts update: more creative interactions, suggestions

Text messaging is so early 2000s. These days, it's all about free messaging apps on your smartphones. With the popularity of such services as Viber, Whats App, LINE, Messenger and the likes, people are finding it more exciting to exchange messages with loved ones through these rather than the boring, simplistic SMS. Hangouts has been another popular messaging app, but some find it a little too staid or boring. But a new update aims to change that impression with new features that will make your interactions more exciting.

Stickers and fun emoticons are some of the ways that messaging apps have changed the way we communicate digitally. The Hangouts update adds 16 new sticker packs, including penguins, koalas, cats and other fun creatures, and they promise that more are coming soon. And if you want your video calls to be more "stylish", you can add filters like sepia, black and white, vignette, etc while you're doing the call.

It will be easier for your friends and family members (but hopefully not strangers) to find you on Hangouts as long as they have your number. And when you want to find out if your friends are actually online so you can talk to them, you can now look at the timestamp for when they were "last seen." Now when you want to hide from said friends, that is another question. Hangouts is also becoming "smarter" by giving your suggestions when you're chatting. Like when your friend is asking you where you are, it will give you options for answers based on your location.

Google says that they have a few more surprises that you can explore when you update to the latest version. The Android update started rolling out to users through Google Play Store yesterday, but the "last seen" timestamps will take a little bit longer to be incorporated in the app.

SOURCE: Google

TRANSFORMERS: Battle Tactics game to land on mobile soon

Transformers is one of the most beloved toy franchises in the world and of all time, so it isn't surprising that owner Hasbro would want to bring it to the growing mobile gaming industry as well. Teaming up with game developers ngmoco, the two will be bringing TRANSFORMERS: Battle Tactics to Android, and iOS, in 2015. But if you're thinking of an action packed game similar to Transformer titles on the PC and consoles, better think again.

As the name implies, this game is more about strategic thinking than button mashing. In fact, the game's description makes "strategy" the unequivocal theme of the game:

TRANSFORMERS: Battle Tactics is the exciting turn-based strategy game where players collect and assemble teams of iconic TRANSFORMERS characters and battle in strategic combat experiences with other fans in real-time.

As for who those iconic characters are, the game seems to mostly follow the Generation 1 (G1) roster, which includes the classic Optimus Prime and Megatron, though the list seems to extends a bit further down the timeline. For example, Arcee, the first female Transformer, is there. Superion is also depicted, which could hint that combiners are also present, though we shouldn't probably hold our breaths that we'd actually be able to combine Transformers into one, huge, badass robot.

Graphics wise, TRANSFORMERS: Battle Tactics might be a bit of a downer to hardcore fans. You aren't getting the robots in all their glory but are instead left with chibi (small) depictions. In fact, the style is reminiscent of Angry Birds Transformers even. The exact gameplay mechanics are also rather vague at this point, but fans will most likely keep an eye out for this one, even if just to see how it pans out in the end. The game will be free to play, with IAPs of course, and there are elements of online PvP.