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Todoist adds productivity to your wrist via Android Wear

Among the many justifications for Android Wear and smartwatches, getting prompted about your appointments and due tasks rank high, next to a call or message notification. Popular todo list app Todoist, which has been included in Google's 2014 Top Apps, is taking that goal to heart. The latest update to the app brings support for Android Wear, but the integration with your smartwatch does more than just tell you when you're task is due.



Of course, notifications will be where Todoist's Android Wear support will get used the most. But with the service's wide array of notification options, which include location-aware reminders, those notifications become even more meaningful. Walking by the supermarket? Todoist will make your smartwatch vibrate to remind you to buy eggs. As with any Android Wear app, Todoist interaction, in particular providing text input, happens through voice commands. Just say the magic phrase "OK Google, start Todoist, add task" and you're well on your way to productivity heaven.


One interesting and admittedly quite ingenious feature is sending lists to your Android Wear smartwatch. From your smartphone or tablet, simply pick any Todoist view and send the whole list to your smartwatch. That todo list will appear in the same correct order on your wrist, making it easy to flick through items without having to dig out your phone. Perfect for hands free shopping!




This is what Todoist lead Android developer Gonçalo Silva has to say about the new features:



“Wearables are revolutionizing the way people use technology. Being at the forefront of this revolution means you completely understand the platform and optimize extensively for it– this is exactly what we've done with Todoist. Gorgeous, glanceable information with very low interaction, right on your wrist. So much power in such a small form factor. We love it!”



Todoist Android Wear support should be starting to roll out to users but don't sweat it if it doesn't immediately reach your phone or your smartwatch. Of course, you will need an Android Wear device to take advantage of these new features, but that really isn't a requirement to enjoy the productivity benefits that Todoist has to offer.





Pebble now has Android Wear support

Pebble is a week early in giving digital presents to their loyal users who tether their smartwatches to Android devices. Version 2.3 now gives you the ability to reply and act on notifications from apps that have Android Wear support and it will give your Pebble a whole new lease on its digital life.



If before your Pebble can only view notifications from the apps, you can now respond to several actions, which some of them cannot be done by Android Wear smartwatches. If you receive a message on Hangouts and you want to respond just by sending an emoji (which is how some people communicate now), then you can now do it on your Pebble device.




If you and your friends are on SquareCash and one of them needs a few bucks from you, either as payment for something you bought from them or as a loan, you can also now send it through your Pebble. Your friend has to request the money from you and through your smartwatch, you can approve it (or reject it, if you're not feeling that generous). The actions are baked into the apps if they're already supporting the Android Wear platform, so no need to make extra work for developers.




To access and beta test Pebble version 2.3, all you have to do is join their Beta Testing Group and you will be given free access to the APK. They also have a few job openings for developers as they try to expand their teams and consequently, their services as well.


SOURCE: Pebble


T-Mobile Announces Un-carrier 8.0 – Data Stash

Remember the days when we waited till 7pm to start calling our friends? Or the days of being careful who to call because they weren't with the same phone provider you were? Or constantly keep track of how many minutes we had left before the bill cycle ended? You get the point. Today we're still worrying about the same thing but with data. T-Mobile has introduced a new concept of data rolling over and it's called the Un-Carrier Data Stash. Data Stash lets you save your unused data and re-use it at a later time when you do need it.



With Un-carrier 8.0, you get to keep your unused data and actually bank it into what is known as the Data Stash. The unused data stores up to a year from the month it rolls over allowing you to tap into it when you're running low on your current bill cycle. All unused data will be rounded up to the closest megabyte and there is no limit to how much you can store. You also start off with a hefty 10 GB of free data - that's good for every line in the family. All this data includes 4G LTE.


According to T-Mobile, Data Stash is free. There is no charge for any current or new customers - this includes individuals, families, and businesses. However, you do have to be on T-Mobile's postpaid Simple Choice plan and buy extra high-speed data for your smartphones or tablets.


Most phone providers require us to buy some sort of data plan when we're signing up for a 2-year contract to get that new smartphone. The downside is that not everyone uses the data and some of us are even sold into buying more than we even need. By the end of the bill cycle, all that unused data that we paid for vanishes and we start over. It's unfair and frustrating knowing that we cant keep what we paid for. Data Stash will be starting in January 2015 and as stated by T-Mobile - continues to expand and improve on its network.


SOURCE: T-Mobile





Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft now out for Android tablets

One big problem we all had with Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft card game was first that it was only for tablets, and second that it was only out on iOS (so that meant the iPad or iPad mini) – so, “no, thanks”. Good thing that they understood how big a market there was for Android tablet users, that now the hugely popular card game is now out for Android tablet devices.



The rollout to Android tablets began in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, but is now available globally, as Blizzard has announced. The app will now be available globally via the Google Play Store, with a later rollout for the Amazon Appstore for Android.


Blizzard is putting out some bonus love for you early adapters as they will be giving out a pack of free “Classic” cards for you to use in game. To redeem your free pack of cards, you just need to complete a game of Hearthstone in any mode – be it on Play, Arena, or Practice mode, win or lose. Pretty nice, huh?


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So if you have your Samsung Galaxy Tab S out, go give this one a go. It should be nice. Then tell us all about it in the comments section. You don't own an Android tablet? No worries, Blizzard is also bringing the game to Android phones soon!


DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store

SOURCE: Blizzard





Honor 6 Plus out officially as Huawei climbs the high-end niche

The Huawei Honor 6 Plus, after a number of leaks that teased us about its purported high-end features, has finally launched in China. The smartphone is undoubtedly Huawei’s proof that it can make a flagship-level device at a price so much lower than other manufacturers, and it highlights a dual 8MP rear camera setup, somewhat similar to what HTC had done with the One M8.



Let’s get right on to the meat of the stuff. The Huawei Honor 6 Plus has a big-ish 5.5-inch IPS display that shows visuals at 1080p. This screen is powered by Huawei’s very own proprietary Kirin 925 chipset – which has an octa-core processor in a big.LITTLE layout, four Cortex-A15 and four Cortex-A7 cores. This is backstopped by a Mali T628-MP4 graphics chip and an ample 3GB of RAM. The Kirin 925 chip also allows for LTE Cat.6 connectivity at 300Mbps download speeds. All of these run on a skinned Android 4.4.4 Kitkat OS called EMUI 3.0 (or Emotion UI 3.0).


Huawei says that the rear 8MP dual camera setup allows for more detail (more pixels) in your images, especially night images. Taking cues from HTC’s playbook, Huawei's dual-lens setup allows users to refocus photos, adjust their simulated aperture (from f/0.95 all the way to f/16) and apply all the filters you want (tilt shift, sketch, comics, etc.). The front-facing camera also has an 8MP resolution.


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If you have this device in your hands, you will at once appreciate the metal frame around the unibody design. Clearly a huge effort has also been given to slimming down the Honor 6 Plus at 7.5mm – one of the slimmest phones around. On the right side of the frame you will see the dual SIM slots, and a microSD slot that allows the 16GB or 32GB internal storage to be expanded to 128GB. Finally, the device also sports an 3,600mAh battery, which will presumably allow you a day and a half of usage without charging.


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The Huawei Honor 6 Plus is out to the market in two flavors (all in China as of now) – a dual-SIM single LTE model, which is priced at around USD$323, and another dual-SIM version where both slots support 4G LTE, which will cost around USD$404. Take note that the pricing – given the flagship level specs – is still way lower than most flagship level devices.


SOURCE: Huawei





OnePlus and Wave brings MaxxAudio technology to the One

More often than not, the audio that comes from our mobile phones is not something to sing home about. Something is lost in transferring sound technology to our small and compact smartphones and tablets. OnePlus, the makers of the elusive the One has now partnered with Waves Audio to bring the Maxx Audio technology and make your One sound better.



If you're not familiar with MaxxAudio, it is a technology used by some headphones, speakers and Bluetooth speakers that enhances the psychoacoustic sound by making the bass deeper, the highs clearer, and the volume levels louder than the usual. The result is a more immersive sound whether you're jamming alone on your headphones or playing music from your speakers at a party. So imagine that kind of sound power on your mobile device and that is what OnePlus and Wave are promising to deliver.


The MaxxAudio will be custom tuned for the speakers of the One as well as their Silver Bullet earphones and the JBL E1+ headphones, in case you feel like listening to your jams on your own. There are also 10 equalizer presets for different kinds of music that you might listen to, like classical, jazz, rock or R&B. You will also be able to control the amount of bass, treble and volume balance that you want to flow through the speakers or headsets.


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Cyanogen Inc, the parent company of OnePlus, will be bringing the major update to the One by January next year, so you have to be satisfied with your ordinary sounding mobile phone speakers until then. Steve Kondik, the CTO of Cyanogen claims that they have tried to perfect the AudioFX app and the software integration to bring an unmatched sound quality on audio devices.


SOURCE: OnePlus


OnePlus One “mini” leaked, Dec. 17 event teased

The OnePlus One is a device that is almost characterized by contradiction. Labeled as the "flagship killer", the smartphone did arrive with high end specs and a price to die for, but it also ended up being widely unavailable except from invites. And more recently, just when it launched in India, it saw Cyanogen practically withdrew support for its OS for devices sold in India. Despite that, it seems that the Chinese startup wants a repeat, but this time in a smaller scale.



Leaked photos have started to appear of what is reportedly the OnePlus One Mini, a variant of the flagship that is smaller in more than just the size. Naturally the full range of specs isn't yet available to us, but it will supposedly bear a 5.0-inch screen, compared to the 5.5 inches of the original. Hopefully, it will at least be 720p in resolution, which might very well be the case considering OnePlus' motto of "Never Settle". That said, they will be settling for something less in line with the reduced size, like a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 which, though slower, at least boasts of an octa-core arrangement and 64-bit architecture. An interesting feature is that both front and back cameras are noted to be 8 megapixels.



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As to when this device will make its debut, there is some speculation that it will happen tomorrow, December 17th. The startup has been teasing its Wednesday event over several social media networks. Of course, it isn't spilling everything, other than that it has two new products to reveal to its fans. It does, however, hint that at least one of them will be related to fitness and health. Judging by recent trends, it might very well be a smartwatch or at the very least a smart fitness band.


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Whatever it will be, the industry will most likely be keeping an eye out for this rather intriguing company. Despite the initial, and some would contend still ongoning, popularity, OnePlus is currently facing quite a number of challenges, both from within its own fanbase as well as its partners. These two new products might be the break that OnePlus needs to put it back on the chart.



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SOURCE: Google+, Weibo

VIA: GSMArena


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