Lenovo Tab 2 A8, A10 hands-on: cinametic sound on a budget

Here at MWC 2015, Lenovo is continuing its tradition of offering affordable choices for consumers who want or need a mobile device on the go. This year, it is outing two new Android tablets, the 8-inch Tab 2 A8 and the 10.1-inch Tab 2 A10-70. Don't let the lower price tags fool you, however. These budget beasts have been designed and equipped to deliver a more than decent multimedia consumption experience, thanks to their HD or Full HD screens and the addition of Dolby's Atmos technology.

The larger of the two, the Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70 stands 8.9 mm thick and weighs 500 g. It is powered by a MediaTek MT8165, a 64-bit quad-core CPU running at 1.5 GHz max. This is assisted by 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The screen is a decent 10.1-inch Full HD one with a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels. It has an 8 megapixel auto-focus rear camera and a 5 megapixel fixed focus front camera. The large 7200 mAh battery is advertised to handle up to 10 hours of continuous usage. The Tab 2 A10-70 only runs Android 4.4 out of the box. Storage is sadly a measly 16 GB. The tablet will be available in colors of Pearl White or Midnight Blue.

The Lenovo Tab 2 A8, on the other hand, has a screen measuring 8 inches with a 1280x800 720p resolution. It runs on slightly slower 1.3 GHz 64-bit quad-core MediaTek MT8161. RAM is also lower at 1 GB. For cameras, it has a 5 megapixel autofocus sensor on the back and a 2 megapixel fixed focus one for the front. The 4,200 mAh battery is said to last for an eight-hour work day. Unlike the Tab 2 A10-70, this one will arrive with Android 5.0 running on it already. The Tab 2 A8 also features a dual SIM slot setup. And though it is just as thick as its larger sibling, it is lighter at 330 g. There is more variation here too, with colors including Pearl White, Midnight Blue, Ebony, and Neon Pink. Storage space differs depending on the model, with 8 GB available for the black variant while all the rest get 16 GB.

Despite their differences, the two tablets share some things in common. Perhaps the biggest of them all is the inclusion of Dolby Atmos technology. This promises a more cinematic experience when it comes to enjoying audio from videos, whether you are listening over headphones or through a soundbar. This feature is quite rare for mobile devices of this price range. Both also come in Wi-Fi only and 4G LTE models, giving users their choice of connectivity, for a price, of course.

The first to arrive on the market will be the Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70, which will go on sale starting April at $199 for the Wi-Fi model and $279 for the LTE version. This will be followed by the Tab 2 A8 in June, which will come with price tags of $129 (Wi-Fi) and $179 (LTE).

With a capable MediaTek processor, decent quality displays, Dolby-certified audio, connectivity of your choice, and a price tag that won't burn a hole in your wallet, these two new Lenovo tablets are definitely welcome additions to the growing Android family.

Pay What You Want to Learn Elite Web Development Skills

Over the past 2 decades, we have come to rely on the internet for the majority of our communications, information, shopping, and much more. If the internet is going to be around for the long haul, wouldn’t it make sense to know how it works? If you have a message, then you need to know how to draw an audience via the web to hear it. That’s why Android Community Deals is pleased to offer the Pay What You Want: Learn to Design Bundle.

The Pay What You Want: Learn to Design Bundle is a collection of eight web design courses that offer more than 80 hours of content that will prepare you to design creative and responsive web sites as well as how to use popular Adobe design products such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and more.

Here’s how it works: You decide what you want to pay to receive a portion of the course bundle. If you choose to ‘Beat the Average Price’, which is just over $8.50 as of this writing, you’ll get the whole enchilada - all 8 courses - and the tools you need to master web development.

Plus, you can feel good that your purchase will go toward making the world a better place. That’s because 10% of whatever amount you agree to pay will be donated to Creative Commons, an organization that develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.

Prepare yourself for success. Get the Pay What You Want: Learn to Design Bundle, a value of $840, at Android Community Deals today.

Android Community Deals is brought to you in cooperation with StackSocial. Generated revenue helps fund this site. Deals are curated by StackSocial and are not representative of the opinions of the Android Community staff.

AutoWear is a Tasker plug-in for your Android Wear device

We’ve talked about all the wonderful things Tasker is able to do with your Android device here, here, and here – of course, with some investment of your time. The learning curve for Tasker is admittedly steep, but if you learn it, you can basically make your smartphone do anything (well, almost anything). This new plug-in for Tasker called AutoWear, as you may have guessed, will be able to make you do cool things with your Android Wear smartwatch.

AutoWear is a plug-in for Tasker – most of the stuff in Tasker is plug-in based – and it gives your wearable device a set of automated features when your wearable connects with your phone (and Tasker). So this means that Tasker needs to be installed on your phone for this to work. Tasker is a paid download via the Google Play Store (see download link below).

With AutoWear, users can create triggers on the watch that will result in an action on your phone. For instance, you want to run your music app just by shaking the watch – no problem, task done. But fair warning, this isn’t going to be easy if you’re not familiar with Tasker – so it would be good to familiarize yourself first. That means you have to purchase Tasker and give it a little bit of attention. You can watch the video below to see how AutoWear works with Tasker.

Installing AutoWear is no easy feat as well. Make sure to follow the instructions. This app gives credence to working at something to get the reward at the end. When you get your smartwatch to do something cool with this, it will feel like a reward, we promise. AutoWear is free to try out at this point, but you will need to pay USD$1.69 after the trial period expires. Our next question, when the developer makes a plug-in for Android Auto, will it be called AutoAuto?

VIA: Reddit

DOWNLOAD: AutoWear / Tasker

Story Timeline

• AutoVoice Tasker plug-in blows Commandr out of the water


• Redditor creates a new Android game… using Tasker


• Push Tasker extension lets Pushbullet and Tasker do more

Mix like a DJ, mix free with djay Free

Algoriddim, makers of the relatively successful premium DJ app “djay 2”, have released a limited but free version of their music mixing app called “djay Free”. Being a free app, you know you won’t be getting the whole shebang of features and stuff – but you might be surprised that you’ll enjoy what’s included in the free package.

The free version features full support for Spotify music imports, allowing users who subscribe to the music service to pull in tunes over-the-air. That in itself is a big deal, giving users the whole Spotify library to choose from. Users who already have a premium Spotify account have a slight advantage here as well. Apart from that, you also get a decent feature list for mixing, for beginners or for hobbyists.

Also – as you can see in the video below – both free and paid apps have support for the Pioneer DDJ-WeGO3 USB MIDI controller, which means you can hook up your device if you have the equipment. The djay 2 app has also received some enhancements that will allow it to play nice with Android 5.0 Lollipop.

So whether you are a beginner, or someone who just likes to play music mixes, or even a hobbyist looking for a feature-packed DJ app – there’s bound to be something for you in the two apps. The paid app goes for USD$4.99 via the Google Play Store. Check out the download links below.

DOWNLOAD: djay Free / djay 2

Story Timeline

• Streamus extension brings YouTube Music to Chrome


• Sony Music Unlimited to end as partnership with Spotify begins


• Google Play Music bumps upload limit to 50,000

Level Up! The “Coming Soon” Edition

Greetings Gamers! It's been a while since we last had our weekly Android gaming recap and while there have indeed been a ton of new and updated games that have come our way, this time around, we're taking a different route. This time, we'll be taking a closer look at some of the games that have yet to come our way, very soon or not so soon, especially those from the big names in the industry. So get your pens and wishlists ready for this edition of Level Up, the ghost of games yet to come!

Final Fantasy Record Keeper (Square Enxi, DeNA)

We're starting off with a heavyweight immediately, because what could be heavier than the combine names of Square Enix and Final Fantasy. While the revered JRPG franchise has already made its way to mobile, from the very first all the way up to the sixth, even including FF IV The After Years, Record Keeper will still be a blockbuster. Sort of. That's because the game will let you experience again, or for the first time, the most memorable moments and characters of the entire Final Fantasy franchise. Now, before you start hyperventilating about seeing Cloud in all his 3D glory, be aware that this game will reduce all, and we do mean all, FF characters into pixelated versions of themselves. But if you're up for a walk down memory lane, whatever the graphics, then Record Keeper might have something for you.

Gameplay-wise, Square Enix isn't revealing much aside from the fact that it uses the somewhat turn-based Active Time Battle system. Players will half to fight their way through key moments in Final Fantasy history. It will be interesting to see how they have all lumped them together into a coherent tale.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper is set to launch sometime in Spring this year. The game will be free to play but, since DeNA is involved (and we'll see it again later), there might be some in-app purchases, contrary to Square Enix's usual setup.

Call of Champions (Spacetime Studios)

There was a time when Spacetime Studios was the studio for mobile games, particularly because of how it blazed the trail of MMORPG-like games like Pocket Legends and Space Legends. The studio came upon hard times and recently announced that, while most of its online mobile games will continue running, they will no longer be updated. The studio is refocusing its resources to an upcoming game that it just announced: Call of Champions.

As the name might hint, this game is unabashedly a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena or MOBA. But do not be too quick to judge the game by its genre. Spacetime Studio claims to have ripped apart the MOBA idea and put it back together with the elements that make sense for mobile gaming. For example, you get only 5 minute skirmishes, which might be perfect for a coffee break. Heroes come fully equipped with the skills that you give them outside of battle, so that you don't waste time trying to unlock those within the 5 minute limit. Of course, you still get to customize your characters and get some epic loot.

The game does have some unique features, like an "Orb of Death" that you can push to your enemy's base for victory. Sort of like reverse football. As for heroes, there are 8 realms, each with 5 classes, giving you a total of 40 to choose from. The game will launch sometime this year for free but, given the nature of the game, do expect lots of IAPs.

Marvel Mighty Heroes (Marvel)

What if, instead of dishing it out on others, you dish it out *with* others? If teamwork is the name of your game, then Marvel's upcoming game might be more to your taste. Partnering with DeNA (yep, it's them again) this time around, Marvel is taking a different approach than what it did with Contest of Champions. "Chibi" characters, cooperative gameplay, and a lot more heroes and villains to fill your team. Marvel isn't saying much about the game just yet, but expect it to explode into Android sometime this year.

Read our write-up of Marvel Mighty Heroes

Stan Lee's Hero Command (F84 Games)

What if you're tired of the popular guys and gals in masks and spandex? Well, good old Stan Lee has just the thing for you. From the creative mind that gave birth to Spider-man and a whole host of other comicbook characters, most of them from Marvel, comes Hero Command. Stan Lee's, of course. This mobile game, which will be even more cutesy than Marvel Mighty Heroes, puts you in the shoes of superheroes you've never heard before, battling villains you never knew existed. These new characters have been lovingly crafted by Stan Lee himself just for this game, so don't be surprised if you don't recognize anyone. But then, that's the entire point of this fresh, new, and probably comical superhero game.

This game doesn't come from Marvel's shelves but from a relatively less known studio named F84 Games. Stan Lee's Hero Command will launch in just a few weeks, so be sure to check it out when it does.

Wrap-up

That's just the tip of the iceberg of games coming to us this year. But while we wait for these titles to appear on Google Play Store, don't forget to join us at our MWC 2015 tag portal for next week's coverage of the biggest smartphone show of the year!

HTC One M9: Definitely Better But So Much the Same

This is the new HTC One, the third in a line of phones got Android devices to up adopt metal finishes and just up their design game in general. The HTC One M9 is a great looking phone, as the Ones have been since the original in 2013. But when you get something so right the first time around, it can be more of a curse than a blessing.

Read more...

HTC One M9 vs One M8: the endless question of upgrades

It's that time of year again when we ask ourselves whether it's time to upgrade to the latest model. Those on HTC's flagships have it a little harder, as year after year the company puts out almost similar smartphone. To some extent, the HTC One M9 just unveiled at MWC 2015 is no different, present an almost incremental upgrade path. But looks, and specs, can be deceiving and our answer this year might very well be different than our last. Read on to see whether you should grab that shiny new One M9 or not.

Let's get straight to the specs. As mentioned in our hands-on, the hardware is a mixed bag. To put it in perspective lets put not just the One M8 but also the One (M7) side by side with this year's contender.

Almost immediately you will see that there is a big jump in components. The Snapdragon 810, with its 64-bit octa-core power, and the hefty serving of 3 GB of RAM will definitely leave the other two in the dust. The storage options might be a tad lower than we hoped, but it's still forgivable. It is perhaps the display that it the most disappointing here, with no improvement in three years. That said, 1080p is still pretty fine and a QHD resolution at that screen size might actually start to become more of a liability.

The most debatable part of this spec sheet, however, is the camera. While selfie-lovers will most likely enjoy the new 4 megapixel "UltraPixel" sensor, the rear camera is a bit of puzzle. HTC has indeed boosted it up to 20 megapixels but also left the f-stop a step lower at f/2.2. This combination will definitely need more real-world testing before we can accept HTC's claim that the smaller aperture is just the right one for the higher megapixel count.

But the One M9's appeal doesn't end at this spec sheet. It has a lot more going for it than just hardware components. The design, for example, has been refined and improved, taking the lessons from previous iterations and almost perfecting them. The BoomSound speakers have been gifted with Dolby Audio Surround, though you are unlikely to appreciate that unless you use the specially tuned earphones bundled with the device. Edgy edges and meticulously polished rears give the One M9 a better grip than before. And 21 supported LTE bands is no laughing matter either.

So, is the HTC One M9 worth upgrading, even from a One M8? This time, we can give a resounding yes. Unless you're quite attached to the DuoCamera gimmick of the previous generation, this year's new entry offers just enough upgrades to make it worth the jump, even if some parts, like the display, are left to stagnate.