cheap cell phones-Tier Specs Android Phone Specs At $299

Not all smartphones are created equal, but the new OnePlus One (not to be confused with that other One, the HTC One) is roughly equivalent on paper with some of the most expensive smartphones in the world, albeit with a price that puts it much more within reach than most of those. The OnePlus One starts at $299 for a white 16GB version, and will also offer a 64GB variant in black for $349 when it goes on sale in mid-May. It’s a Nexus-killer, with more impressive specs at more affordable prices, running CyanogenMod for a highly customizable user experience.
The OnePlus One features a Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz quad-core processor, like the one powering the Samsung Galaxy S5, 3GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch IPS 1080p display protected by Gorilla Glass 3, a 13MP rear-facing camera supplied by Sony capable of recording 4K video and a 5MP front-facing shooter. It features a 3100mAh battery, offers dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, plus a wide range of GSM, WCDMA and LTE band support.
The phone isn’t without its downsides – the battery isn’t removable and there’s no microSD card slot for storage expansion, but the use of CyanogenMod as its OS is interesting in itself. OnePlus is founded by former Oppo VP Pete Lau, where he spearheaded preloading that Android fork on the company’s N1 flagship device. The One is emblazoned with the Cyanogen logo on the back, as well as an etched OnePlus mark too, and offers tons of customization options, open access and the ability to flash ROMs, SMS encryption and more out of the box.
The mid-may launch date is for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States. While it’s hard to crack the stranglehold of the top OEMs in the smartphone market, this upstart definitely presents a compelling case – we’ll have to see if that’s enough to rouse consumers from their current OEM comfort zones.

Don’t forget to leave your feedback under and observe us on Twitter or grow to be our Facebook fan for all the most recent updates!

Posted by: http://androidframes.blogspot.com/

Writted by: totor

rumored specs for the Galaxy K actually looks like a phone

The alleged Galaxy K

Remember the Galaxy S4 Zoom? The smartphone/camera hybrid landed last year with a… well, without a bang. Customers weren’t really swayed by the rather curious device, which combined a Galaxy S4 with a 10X optical zoom telescopic lens. But Samsung isn’t ready to give up on the concept just yet and will reportedly unveil its successor in less than a week, under the Galaxy K brand.
We already learned many of the Galaxy K’s specifications, but now we have two leaked shots suggesting that the device will actually lean more towards a smartphone, rather than a point and shoot camera, at least when it comes to its thickness.
The Galaxy S4 Zoom of last year was not only bulkier overall, but it also featured a protruding section that made it easy to handle, but also added a lot of girth to its profile.

The 2013 Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom

Now Samsung appears to have opted for a pebble-like shape for the device, with only the area around the lens (which itself appears to be smaller than on the first gen) protruding. And, while the first leaked image of the Galaxy K showed a Note 3-like texture, from these pics we can tell that the final product will adopt the dimpled finish found on the Galaxy S5.

The alleged Galaxy K

To recap, rumored specs for the Galaxy K include:

• 20.2MP sensor
• 10X optical zoom
• 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display, 720 x 1280 resolution
• Samsung Exynos 5 hexa-core, Mali-T624 GPU
• 2GB of RAM
• 2MP front facing camera
• Android 4.4 KitKat

Samsung will introduce the Galaxy K on April 29 at an event in Singapore, and that’s when we’ll find out just how much better the device will be compared to its predecessor. Fingers crossed!

Don’t forget to leave your feedback under and observe us on Twitter or grow to be our Facebook fan for all the most recent updates!

Posted by: http://androidframes.blogspot.com/

Writted by: totor

Crowdfunded Gadgets That Talk To Your Home And Charge Your Phone With Wind Power

Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a technology, media and telecom advisory firm, and founder of Backerjack. He blogs at Techspressive. Each week, Backerjack shares three tech-related products seeking funding. 

Talk to your home and have it listen and respond with ALYT

Part of the smart-home dream has always been being able to talk with a place of residence and trust it to control climate, security and sense problems. Of course, for as long as smart-home technology has been developed, it’s been reaching toward this goal without ever getting there.

ALYT is an Android-powered hub that looks like the solution to these problems. By being an open platform operating on just about every imaginable form of wireless data, ALYT allows for voice and video recognition to control virtually any aspect of a home – as long as developers create an app for it. Compatible with iOS, Android, Bluetooth, NFC, Z-Wave, 3.5G and more, the flexibility of the ALYT system opens it up to all kinds of innovative development.

Read More

Open-Me gives you 24-hour garage door access from anywhere

Homeowners constantly have to ask themselves questions about the state they left things in. Is the oven on? Is the front door locked? Did I close the garage door when I left? Now with a combination of some hardware and an app, that last question is a question no longer.

Open-Me is a sonar sensor that can be placed on a garage door that hooks up to a home Wi-Fi network. By checking the app, users can determine if their garage door is open by even as little as a foot, and open or close it remotely. Additionally, using GPS, the app can be adjusted to open automatically when the synced phone or tablet is within a user-determined distance, and to close automatically once that device travels outside of that range.

Read More

Trinity is a miniature wind turbine to keep your gadgets charged

We’ve all been there. Our phones die and we have no access to an outlet. When in public, there’s always the option of trolling for one in a Starbucks, but for those out camping or hiking, there’s little hope.

Trinity is a portable wind turbine power system with USB and micro USB ports. The micro USB port is used to charge the turbine before it can be uses with a 15,000 mAh battery. The mini turbine is powered by a 15W generator. It has three legs that fold out either into a tripod shape or flat on the ground. Trinity is white and the body is 12” long with 11” legs.

Read More

Do You Sleep Near Your Phone?

We all know we should avoid screens before bed and checking our email in the morning, yet many of us sleep with our phones right next to us. Do you?

Over at Apartment Therapy, Kim McCormick did a little experiment where she banished her phone from her bedside for one month, and actually had a positive experience:

While I expected to notice the change the most at night, the morning has been the biggest improvement. Using a dedicated alarm clock has actually helped me get up earlier. I'm hitting snooze less often; the alarm has only one, pretty annoying sound. But really, it's the peacefulness of letting my mind ease into wakefulness, rather than checking to see who's shared an interesting photo of flowers or dogs, that makes me happiest about reshaping my habits.

This isn't necessarily something everyone could expect from the same experiment, but it is an interesting thought. I sleep next to my phone every night and look at it first thing when I wake up, even though I know I shouldn't—and I don't even use it as an alarm. What do you do? Have you ever tried banishing your phone, and if so, how did it go?

Banishing My Phone from the Bedside: The Results, One Month Later | Apartment Therapy

Photo by Matthew.

View the Original article

What is your dream Project Ara phone?

In this Friday Debate, we talk about Project Ara, Google’s crazy modular phone concept that is rapidly turning into a real product. Despite the skepticism, Google seems to have figured out solutions for some of the biggest problems facing Project Ara, and, if everything goes to plan, the first commercial devices could become available next year.

The promise of a modular phone is to make it possible for users to select the components they want, bringing true customization to the hardware level. So, if you had the power to select the modules in your phone, what would you pick? Would you go for more storage? The best possible camera? No camera at all and a larger battery? What components you couldn’t do without?

Join us in the comments and answer our poll!

Robert Triggs

The great thing about Project Ara is that I’d probably end up designing a couple of configurations depending on how I wanted to use the handset. I can see myself having at least two Ara setups, one energy efficient design for use as a smartphone, and a more powerful design for when I’m sitting at home nearer a charger.

If I was designing my ideal practical smartphone, I’d try to cram in as many battery and memory modules is as possible, for music playback, etc. I’d be tempted to grab the biggest skeleton size simply so that I could have access to the most module spaces, but I guess that would also require a larger and more expensive screen. Perhaps the medium 3×6 size would be the sweet spot for me.

For other components I’d be quite boring, a modest quad-core SoC would suit me fine and I’d probably opt for a 720p display over 1080p simply to save on power consumption. No QWERTY keyboards for me either. As awesome as QHD displays and high performance SoCs are, for a mobile device I really just want it to last as long as possible without me having to set it aside to charge. I’d essentially design my Ara around battery life first, with performance adequate enough to playback videos, some basic games, and run Android smoothly.

Depending on component prices, I’d be tempted to try out some more experimental stuff too. Hopefully Ara will work with dual rear camera configurations so that I can try out some 3D image and video capture. I can’t really say that I’m interested in heart rate or fingerprint scanner modules, but I’d love for someone to make a gamepad that slots into a front module instead of a keyboard. Perhaps I should enter that idea into the Project Ara challenge!

So I guess my second device would be more of a gaming and media oriented machine. I could swap out the camera module for some extra RAM, and maybe even change out the SoC for something with a bit more grunt in the GPU department. You know what, they should bring out a cheap tablet skeleton too, so I could just swap my stuff over from smartphone to tablet when I get home.

Gary Sims

For me it is all about battery and storage. I think I would go with the biggest skeleton, but with only a 720p screen and a modest quad-core processor. An 8MP camera would be just fine and the rest of the space I would use to squeeze in as much storage and battery as possible.

If the modules are truly hot-swappable it would be quite cool to have at least two battery segments and an external charging systems that allows me to charge the batteries modules separately. I could then have 4 to 6 battery modules which I charge and hot-swap as each one becomes depleted. Since the phone would always have at least one battery pack connected the other one can be replaced without having to shutdown the phone. You could even do it while on a call!

Andrew Grush

As many times as I’ve written articles and opinion pieces about Project Ara, I’d say I’m very excited about the project’s future. As for what my dream phone would look like? Honestly I like powerful phones even if they are overkill, so odds are I’d go with the most recent Qualcomm SoC avaliable and would load up on the RAM, probably settling around 3GB.

Another major area for me would be battery life, which somewhat conflicts with my interest in having a high-end phone. So basically, I’d shove as big of a battery as possible in there without adding too much bulk or weight. I’d also be sure to carry an extra battery module with me for on-the-fly switching.

For most of the rest of the specs, however, I’d be a bit more modest.

While I can appreciate the quality of the 1080p display on my Nexus 5, I feel that QHD has few real advantages and yet takes a hefty toll on battery life. So bottom-line, I’d opt for 1080p. Screen size? Somewhere around the 5 to 5.4-inch mark. I like big displays, but I still want my phone to be reasonably pocketable.

Storage would probably only need to be somewhere around the 16 to 32GB mark, since I rely heavily on the cloud for music and movies. I’d probably want microSD if at all possible though. Cameras would also be pretty ‘basic’, at least matching my Nexus 5. Honestly I just want image that look decent and can bring out my DSRL for those times when I want higher quality.

Of course, that’s just my dream phone. In reality, my Ara phone would probably be more akin in prowess to my Nexus 5 and I am most interested in Project Ara for one reason: I can slowly upgrade. As a family man, I have limited extra funds and so the idea of being able to upgrade key elements without getting a new phone every year or two is a big draw.

previous post

---

Android Pirate gets busted, agrees to go undercover for the Feds – but is this the right approach?

next post

---

Project Tango will power NASA’s SPHERES robotic platform, will launch into space later this summer

Turn your Amazon Kindle into a phone

Anthony Muzonzini 2014-04-15T20:10:23Z19 hours ago

Anthony Muzonzini

Currently living out in the East Coast. When not on the AndroidPIT grind you can usually find me turning up or play footie.

Calling and other phone features can be accessed using a Kindle Fire from Amazon. textPlus, the world’s leading Wi-Fi carrier is now offering downloadable mobile plans that come as an alternative to expensive mobile contracts, is now offering calling to the Kindle Fire.

Your Kindle Fire can now function as a mobile phone / © amazon

Using textPlus, users can have their Kindle device function as a phone without any contracts, data plans, or any hidden costs. This can help customers cut costs associated with communication dramatically using a Wi-Fi connection. Users can send inexpensive text messages within the United States and Canada for free and can make calls all around the world.

As an added benefit, textPlus also offers auto syncing across all devices which means your messages and calls are on all your devices. This is something that other competing services like Fongo have yet to implement into their apps so this comes as something that can differentiate their service from the competition. All texts and calls are free to other textPlus users as well.

"We're thrilled to be launching the next iteration of textPlus for Kindle Fire that truly turns Kindle Fire into a phone, making it easier and more convenient for our users to stay connected in non-traditional ways," - Scott Lahman, Co-Founder and CEO of textPlus.

The company provides free texting and calling to other 60 million textPlus users as well as inexpensive domestic and international calling. Users can use the service over any internet connection and the service can be used on a Kindle, a traditional Android device or an Apple device.

Will you be making use of this service? Please leave us a comment and tell us what you think about it.

Source: Digital Journal

 Previous

Get the Google Play store on your Kindle Fire

 Next

Android 4.4.3 update coming to Nexus line soon

View the Original article

Amazon Phone leak shows 6 cameras and 3D display

Loie Favre 2014-04-16T13:10:01Z2 hours ago

Loie Favre

Loie Favre is a Canadian-German, food-loving, live-music-craving globe-trotter. Coming from a humble background in the Canadian Prairies centred around nature and the Arts, she studied Translation and Languages in Edmonton. She left his home on the Pacific Coast of Canada, to seek her fortune in Berlin. She is now an Editor and Manager for AndroidPIT.com and is enjoying discovering about everything and anything under the sun about Android.

There have been rumors surrounding the possibility of an Amazon phone in the making for quite some time now and it looks like we have some new hard evidence. The biggest surprises of all are the six cameras and a partial 3D display. What might seem like absurd rumors, might actually be true.

© BGR

BGR was able to expose the first pictures of the supposed Amazon phone. Unfortunately the device was placed into a production case in order to not show the design, so we can’t say much about how it looks for the moment. The first thing we couldn't help notice though were not one, not two….but five front-facing cameras. Four of these have led to the rumor that this device will come allegedly with some 3D effects. What this exactly means and how far the feature will go is still yet to be discovered.

In terms of tech specs, at least one of the planned versions will come with 2 GB of RAM, a Snapdragon processor, a 720p display of 4.7 inches and a 13 MP main camera. Though this doesn’t say much, we are slightly taken aback by the meagre resolution considering the display was considered to be a central point in the creation of Amazon’s new phone. On the software side, it will without a doubt house the Firefox OS.

Further details will probably be dropped in the near future, but right now is a perfect time to ask you the readers the following question: do you think a 3D display (which actually isn’t a new feature) will be useful or rather a battery-draining gimmick?

© BGR © BGR

Via: Tech Crunch Source: BGR

 Previous

How to calibrate the battery on your Android device

 Next

How to protect your Android from the Heartbleed bug

View the Original article

Large Launcher Senior Phone

Large Launcher is a big, eyesight-friendly interface for smartphones, which helps the seniors using phone much easier!
The seniors deserve a better using experience of phones. You might need to install it for your parents or grandparents and keep them stay connected!
Super simple, only 2 actions: Click, Slide down/up!
Large Launcher was designed to make sure the seniors feel more joyful and stress-free to use smart phone as a best senior phone!
There is no fear of making a mistake and losing everything with simplest navigation.
There is no more worry about confusion, no complications.
Large launcher comes with large fonts and color-coded icons help to easily distinguish between items.
Every thing is not only large but also smart! It will be your best experience in your entire senior phones!
Large Launcher is obviously optimized for seniors:
- Easy to use
- All the needed functionality on one screen
- Simple Apps Organization, easy to access
- Larger fonts, easy to read
- Big buttons, as simple as only one touch
- Color-coded, easy to organize
- Simple UI, stress-free navigation
- Big Phone Dialer
- Big Message text
- Flashlight
- Smart Contact / Quick Dialing
- Current Weather Info
- SOS sending locations might save lives
Never need to look for a feature phone as a senior phone, no more extra fee on purchasing different functional devices for seniors.
Pick any android phone, and let Large Launcher helps to make it as a big phone, be your best senior phone ever!
Is there any senior in your family, or your friends? Remember to take care of those one you loved, easily and non-intrusively, share the care with them, let Large Launcher comes to help.
Now we support Languages: English, Chinese(Simplified), Chinese(Traditional), Spanish, Hebrew
You are welcomed to help us making more translations to server more seniors in the world, please contact us!

Size : 3.5M
Current Version : 1.5
Requires Android : 2.2 and up

View the Original article

The Best Actually Useful Phone Accessories

S

It seems like pretty much everyone makes a smartphone accessory of some kind. Most of them are terrible and don't work. But some of them are actually awesome. Let's cut through the junk and make a list of the best.

For whatever reason, ridiculous smartphone accessories have become nothing more than throwaway, check out lane junk that nobody really wants (most of which you can make yourself anyway). Yet, every once in a while something comes along that's actually pretty awesome. Instead of wading through the thousands of results on Amazon for smartphone accessories, let's cut to the chase and make our own list of the accesories actually worth your cash.

We'll get the list started with some of our favorites, but we're more interested in yours. Here's how to share your favorite accessory:

1. Enter one accessory per comment: This keeps the list simple to read so people can look through it quickly. Don't forget to include the price.
2. Include a product shot or video: You can grab a picture from the product site, don't feel obligated to take your own.
3. Try not to repeat accessories: If someone already suggested your pick, click the star to highlight it and then add your own experience to their thread if you'd like.
4. Tell us why it's useful: Tell us how this accessory is useful and how you use it.

With that, let's get started!

Photos by Popartic and nahariyani.

View the Original article

Microsoft Now Accepts Universal Windows Apps As Its Insta-OEM Kit For Windows Phone Goes Live

Starting today developers can now link Windows Store and Windows Phone applications to create the already-announced “universal” applications that Microsoft announced recently at its Build developer conference.

Microsoft is working to unite development for its two core Windows platforms, incentivizing developers to create apps for Windows by making it easier to target two separate audiences while reusing much of the code between the applications. Microsoft is in the process of harmonizing its stores, but that process is not yet complete.

The company will eventually bring the Xbox One, another Windows-based machine, into the universal app game. The gist of a universal Windows app, according to Microsoft, is that it allows consumers to snag an app once, and download it for all compatible Windows devices. As we know, the devices that will be compatible with the app varietal will grow.

This morning, Microsoft released Windows Phone 8.1 to developers. TechCrunch published hands-on notes of the new code, the feature set of which was detailed at Build.

Also out today for developers is the ability to reserve application names for Windows Phone applications. Previously, this was only available for Windows Store apps. Keep in mind the theme: Harmonization.

Over the weekend, Microsoft announced the consolidation of application pricing tiers to better match Windows Store and Windows Phone applications. This change will see the addition of $0.99 and $1.29 apps into the Windows Store.

Shifting gears entirely, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore announced today that the company’s OEM toolset to help manufacturers get up and running building Windows Phone handsets is live as well. You can’t do this in your garage, but the help could assist smaller, regional OEMs jump aboard Windows Phone. I suspect this offering is more enticing now that Windows Phone devices with smaller than 9″ screens are free.

IMAGE BY FLICKR USER MIXEvent UNDER CC BY 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN CROPPED) 

Why use a power saving mode when you can have a power saving phone?

Last week I compared the Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8's power saving modes. While I am relatively impressed by both, it's hard to get past the fact that they place some pretty severe limitations on your phone's functionality, for obvious reasons. One that that struck me, particularly about the S5's grayscale mode is that what it is doing is basically attempting to pull off what YotaPhone is already doing with their second e-ink screen.

When you look at the S5 and M8 power saving modes, the YotaPhone strides ahead. / © AndroidPIT

If you are not yet familiar with Yota Devices, what you need to know is that their phones are built around the idea of an always-on, secondary screen that can, in large part, replace what you normally do on the power-sucking main screen. Because the second display is an e-ink screen, like a Kindle, there are huge savings to be had on your battery life when you don't need to light up an entire LCD or AMOLED display every time you need to do something.

Considering the vast majority of the times we turn our devices on is for no particular reason other than to check if we have anything interesting to see or do there really is no point in lighting up the whole color display just for a look-see. Most of the time these compulsive interactions simply lead to us turning the phone off again after seeing there's nothing much going on after all. But what the YotaPhone allows you to do is casually check notifications from the e-ink screen without placing any impact on your battery or requiring you to even turn your main display on.

The second generation YotaPhone will change the way you use your Android smartphone. / © Yota

Pretty much everything can be pushed to the second screen as it arrives on your device, from email and notifications, to RSS feeds and social media streams. You can use it to store maps or directions, plane tickets, timetables, a photograph of your dog or spouse, a shopping list or any other kind of reminder you want to be passively in your face throughout the day, even if your battery dies. If you like to read on your smartphone, and I mean read anything, this is exactly the thing you've been waiting for.

Which brings me to the point of this article. With the demands that power-hungry displays, even more so now in the era of 2K displays, place on our batteries, we really need to start rethinking the way we use our smartphones. Combined with no major innovations on the battery chemistry front, our power needs are soon going to surpass what our batteries are capable of. The one gripe we hear consistently (and endlessly) is battery life. Sure, the Galaxy S5's power-saving algorithms from LucidLogix have already proven to be worth their weight in gold, but they are still a Band-Aid over a deeper issue: the way we use our phones and how much that impacts on our batteries.

Each device has benefits, whether via crippled access, grayscaled browsing, or e-ink reader. / © AndroidPIT

As we become more and more dependant on our portable devices and place increasing pressure on their ability to last throughout a day or more, something needs to drastically change. The days of casually turning on your display every fifteen minutes ''just to check'' need to come to an end. The problem is, they won't. And why should they? Our smartphones are our loyal sidekicks, and no one wants you to start ignoring them just to save on battery juice. Even if there's some great battery cases available and other ways to save on battery consumption, these are not solutions for everyone.

What the YotaPhone represents is nothing less than the turning of a corner. With a YotaPhone you don't need to radically alter the amount of attention you give to your phone or resist the urge to see what's happening throughout the day just so your dark-screened phone can make it to bedtime. That would be foolish. Instead, all you need to do is turn your phone over to stay up to speed without affecting your battery, only turning on that full color main screen when it is actually necessary. The only thing you need to do differently is learn to read in black and white. You know, how you always have.

The first-gen YotaPhone is a nice proof of concept, but the second generation is where the battle will be fought. / © Yota

Having said that, YotaPhone has a long way to go. The idea is sound and the implementation is actually really good. Sure, the first generation YotaPhone has taken so long to come to market that its 2013 mid-range specs aren't going to capture everyone's attention, but the second generation, coming later this year, is something to marvel at. So much so it received a lot of special attention at Mobile World Congress and for good reason – it truly looks like the maturation of the initial proof of concept that the first generation is.

All the important stuff you do on the main screen can be handled from the back. / © Yota

The slightly awkward blocky shape of the first generation has been replaced with smooth edges and nice curves. The rear screen is fully touch responsive and perfectly embedded in the rear of the device, so much so that if it is black you can't even tell there's a screen there. And the specs we're expecting to see are definitely this year's. The first generation may be a bit of a boutique item for the hardcore readers out there or gadget-obsessed geeks like myself, but the second generation – if it hits the market in a timely fashion – should open the floodgates to a revolution in how we think about power saving. Why have a power saving mode when you can have a power saving phone?

What do you think of YotaPhone? Do you think the idea is likely to spread or remain a niche feature?

View the Original article

Your phone has Heartbleed? Lookout’s Detector app can tell

Following this week’s discovery of the serious Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL, mobile security company Lookout released an Android tool that will help users detect the presence of the security vulnerability on their Android devices.

The Heartbleed bug allows malicious intruders to exploit a vulnerability in the OpenSSL library, thereby exposing confidential and encrypted data that were normally protected by SSL/TLS encryption.

Vulnerability detection

Lookout’s detector app can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store and does nothing else but identify the OpenSSL version being used on the Android device, check for the existence of Heartbleed, and, if it is present, determine whether Heartbleed is enabled.

The app, however, won’t tell the user if sites visited or other apps used are affected. The app doesn’t provide a fix either.

If the device is in the clear, the app will display “Everything is OK”. In the worst case, the user will see a red warning sign along with the confirmation “And the vulnerable behavior is enabled,” indicating that Heartbleed is present and is active or enabled.

Most others will likely get a yellow warning, indicating the presence of Heartbleed but assuring that, although it’s there, it’s not enabled.

User concern

Although the security flaw is primarily a server-side vulnerability, Android users worry about it because Android uses a version of OpenSSL. Devices running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean are vulnerable, but Google is working on a patch for that specific version.

Google assured Android users, though, that “all versions of Android are immune to CVE-2014-0160 (with the limited exception of Android 4.1.1; patching information for Android 4.1.1 is being distributed to Android partners).”

On the bright side, Lookout reports that it has not yet found cases of mobile devices exploited using the Heartbleed vulnerability. However, this is not good reason for anyone to be completely complacent.

Vigilance and looking out

One positive step that an average user may take is to check for software updates from the Android device’s manufacturer and to install them immediately, especially updates that patch the security hole. Another is to be vigilant and be on the lookout for notices and alerts from sites that the user has online accounts with. Affected sites may implement measures to remove the vulnerability and inform their users accordingly. Apart from these, there’s very little else that a user can do.

Have you scanned your Android device for Heartbleed today? What result did you get? Does it scare you? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

previous post

---

Chrome Beta update brings undo button for closed tabs, and ‘some’ other stuff

next post

---

Region locking on the Galaxy S5 is a bit different than on the Note 3

Latest news on the LG G3 flagship phone 2014

Latest news on the LG G3 flagship phone 2014

Presently living out within the East Coast. When not on the AndroidPIT grind you can often discover me turning up or play footie.

Information on the latest flagship device to come from LG has not been as forthcoming as that of the recently released HTC One M8. That being said, there are still quite a number of people still excited to see what the new phone from LG which is slated to drop in Q3 of this year. The G2 is already a great device so the successor definitely has some huge boots to fill.

This year's flagships / © AndroidPIT/Sony/Samsung/Oppo/HTC/LG

As far as the G3 goes, we are almost certain that the device will have a 5.5-inch quad HD display along with a resolution of 1440x2560 pixels. The device is likely going to be water resistant and dustproof in order to be at a level pegging with flagships from other companies. The camera is a bit hazy as it may just be a 13 MP camera which comes with image stabilization but take this one with a grain of salt.

When we look at the specs under the hood, a lot of things are still up in the air. Rumours have been pointing toward a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 instead of the 801 version like we mentioned previously. Another option of LG may be a MediaTek processor, or perhaps even something made by the South Korean giant itself. With so many options, it really is anyone’s guess as to what will come under the hood of the device.

A new UI is also set to be introduced with this version of the phone and since there are going to be personalization changes coming along with the phone this makes sense. If the screenshot we have for you is the real deal then it should be a definite that LG has some UI changes in the pipeline. The current G2 interface seems quite similar to the TouchWiz one which is on Samsung devices right now.

Potentially, the new LG UI / © Phone Arena

In the new UI, the icons seem a lot flatter which is a trend that has been set by companies like Microsoft, Apple and more recently Samsung. Another interesting thing to look out for is whether there are changes that have been made beyond in the home screen UI. Perhaps this may finally be the year that LG manages to loosen the grip that Samsung has with its Galaxy devices on the Android market?

What do you make of the LG G3 and its rumoured options? Please go away us a remark beneath and we are going to get again to you.

Posted by: http://gosspot.com/

Writted by: totor

View the Original article

Command Pi Monitors Your Raspberry Pi from Your Phone 2014

Command Pi Monitors Your Raspberry Pi from Your Phone 2014

iPhone: In case you're searching for a lightweight and simple way to monitor your Raspberry Pi, Command Pi is a utility that allows you to monitor your Pi's reminiscence usage, temperature, and extra proper out of your iPhone.

To use Command Pi, you'll just need to make sure SSH is turned on for your Raspberry Pi, then enter the IP address and login to sync it up. Once that's set up, Command Pi can shutdown the Pi, restart it, or if you're running XBMC, restart that. You'll also see a few stats like CPU usage, memory, temperature, and MHz.

The one screen in the screenshot above is all you get, but it's all surprisingly useful. A few customers report crashing with the app within the iTunes evaluations, but I did not have any issues with it on an iPhone 5s.

Posted by: http://gosspot.com/

Writted by: totor

View the Original article

What do you really want in your new phone?

It has been a couple of years now since Flurry pointed out that smartphones, specifically Android and iOS devices, are the fastest adopted consumer technology of all time. Ownership may be reaching saturation in some markets, but that growth is still on the rise worldwide. Around one billion smartphones shipped last year and the total is likely to be even higher this year.

Since the first Android device landed in October 2008, the improvements to mobile technology have come thick and fast. We tend to take smartphones for granted, but the innovation has been astounding. That pace can’t be maintained indefinitely, every technology reaches a point where advancement slows.

How do manufacturers convince us to upgrade when our existing smartphones are still really good? What’s missing from your current device? Does the next round of supposed must-have features really grab you? What do you really want in your new phone? Let’s take a look at some specific developments in more detail and explore the downsides.

Bezel-less screens

We’ve taken an in-depth look at bezel-less smartphones before and there’s no denying that they look great, but how practical are they really? With a bezel-less design the likelihood of accidental touches when you’re handling the phone goes up. The chances of your screen being damaged if you drop it goes up and that’s potentially exacerbated by the fact that a case is going to cover the sides of the screen or make using the touch screen all the way to edge more difficult.

Curves and flexibility

The first round of curved phones with flexible displays has been gimmicky and disappointing. It’s going to be a while before we see something really awesome in this category. In the short term, flexible displays are about improving durability and enabling new form factors, but until the rest of the components are flexible too the possibilities are limited. A smartphone that can fold out to tablet size would be a huge hit, but who really wants a slightly curved display?

4K display

It’s not the first time we’ve asked do we need smartphones with 4K displays? The obvious answer is no, but the real question is do we want smartphones with 4K displays? We haven’t quite reached the limits of the human eyeball and many of us do occasionally hold our smartphone displays very close to our faces, so it’s conceivable that we’ll see an improvement in picture quality. Is that slight improvement in screen quality going to be worth the extra processing power and battery life required to run it?

Right now there doesn’t seem to be any pressing need to break past full HD 1080p resolution, but we’re already seeing 2K displays, so it feels inevitable. As more 4K content is produced and we get used to higher resolutions in our TVs and elsewhere, then perhaps it’s something you’ll want on your smartphone, but today it feels like overkill.

Biometrics

Do we really need biometric security on our smartphones? The Touch ID feature on the iPhone 5S inevitably ignited this topic, even although the Motorola Atrix featured a fingerprint scanner a couple of years before, and now Samsung has added it to the Galaxy S5. A PIN is actually pretty secure, but most people don’t use one because it’s an inconvenience. The fingerprint scanner is supposed to solve this and provide a quick and easy way in, which is fine when it works, but hugely frustrating when it doesn’t. That’s why both systems have a backup PIN entry option.

What do we really want?

When manufacturers push time, money, and effort into new headline grabbing features are they diverting resources from the things we really want? Technology doesn’t advance without R&D and we know early adopters often get burned, but today’s gimmick can develop into tomorrow’s must-have feature, so we have to accept a bit of this if we want advances.

There are a handful of things that we can probably agree we all want in a new phone and they really haven’t changed much over the last few years.

More battery life

It still tops the polls as the biggest issue most people have with their smartphone. Batteries have grown bigger and there have been significant improvements in software efficiency, but thanks to bigger screens, spec bumps, and more features it doesn’t feel as though battery life is any better. We don’t necessarily need bigger batteries and we certainly don’t want the bulk that would inevitably add, but there are other ways to tackle this issue.

Continued improvements to wireless charging and the addition of solar panels, maybe through solar cells in the screen, could provide a boost without the convenience hit. A method of fully charging a smartphone battery much more quickly would also have a major impact. What if you could charge your battery in less than a minute? There has been research in these areas, so it would be nice to see a big manufacturer pursuing them.

Better camera

We’ve had a megapixel war and cameras have improved dramatically since the earliest examples on mobile phones, but there are two areas that could use more attention. We want smartphone cameras that can capture a decent shot instantaneously. No wasted seconds as you open up the camera app and wait for the focus, by which time you’ve missed it. We also want better low-light performance. Cameras are still a big differentiator for smartphones, which is great because it drives innovation, but there’s still room for improvement.

Extra storage

The disproportionate expense of extra onboard storage in smartphones is truly annoying. Why do manufacturers over charge us for built-in storage? Is it just because they can? The limitations and potential problems with microSD cards make them an imperfect solution. There is an argument that the platform providers are deliberately trying to push us into using cloud storage and this would suit the carriers too because you’re more likely to use your data allowance. Is there a good reason that we don’t have 64GB smartphones as standard? Looking at the most extreme example, the difference between a 16GB iPhone 5S and a 64GB model is $200.

What else do we want?

Everyone’s wish list is going to be slightly different. The move towards more rugged phones that can withstand dust and water is good. It would be nice if they could withstand drops without a case as well, but that clashes with making devices thinner and increasing the body to screen ratio.

As screens get larger, and we watch more video on them, better speakers would be welcome. The audio quality on most smartphones lags way behind the visual quality and we don’t want to have to wear headphones all the time.

Call quality, Wi-Fi speeds, the ability to maintain a signal, and improved GPS are all issues that crop up all too often on modern smartphones. They should handle the basics properly.

What do you think? Are you tempted by new developments on the horizon, or do they feel like gimmicks to you? If you could cut out a feature like biometric security and take a discount instead would you do it? Would you prefer incremental improvements to the main existing features over something entirely new? Post a comment and weigh in.

previous post

---

Sales of the HTC One (M8) could boost HTC to 3% global market share

next post

---

Motorola Moto G – How to take a screenshot

This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: Amazon FireTV, Windows Phone 8.1, And The New Start Screen

Another week has come and gone, and with its close, we offer you this Friday Gadgets podcast.

Today we’re talking about Microsoft’s introduction of Windows Phone 8.1, as well as their re-introduction of the much beloved and never-forgotten Start screen. Plus, Amazon launched a brand new media console called the FireTV that includes gaming functionality.

I know, it was a big week.

We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of the TC Gadgets Podcast featuring John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook, and Darrell Etherington.

Have a good Friday, everybody!

We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern and noon Pacific. And feel free to check out the TechCrunch Gadgets Flipboard magazine right here.

Click here to download an MP3 of this show.
You can subscribe to the show via RSS.
Subscribe in iTunes

Intro Music by Mendhoan.

Windows Phone, Android And iOS Enjoyed A Holiday Bump In The U.S., BlackBerry Cratered

During the November to February period, Windows Phone, Android and iOS picked up market share in the U.S. smartphone game.

Windows Phone grew the most in real percentage terms — 0.3 percent — and in terms of relative percentage growth — 9.7 percent more share compared to its previous tally of 3.1 percent. That pace of growth, while better than holding fast for the holiday season, does indicate that Microsoft’s ability to increase its market share in its growing home market remains limited.

That Microsoft needs to reach 10 percent market share has become a mantra. At its last pace, it would take the company 22 quarters to hit that mark, or five-and-a-half years. That’s a bit too long. Microsoft ended the period with 3.4 percent market share.

Android grew by 0.2 percent to 52.1 percent market share in the U.S., while Apple picked up another 0.1 percent to end up with a 41.3 percent share.

If the top three grew, what fell? BlackBerry. During the period, the company lost 0.6 percent market share, or 17 percent of its former tally to end at 2.9 percent. So BlackBerry started the holiday season ahead of Windows Phone in the United States and ended far behind it.

A small victory for Microsoft, and a real one.

Call it stasis in motion: things are not changing much. Apple and Google run the show, Microsoft wants more of the action but remains a minor player, and BlackBerry continues to fall from the sky, on fire and visibly disintegrating.

IMAGE BY FLICKR USER Kenneth Lu UNDER CC BY 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN CROPPED) 

Make Your Phone Automatically Dial Someone's Extension

We don't remember phone numbers too often nowadays because our smartphones remember them for us. But what about when you need to dial an extension, too? Rather than write it down in a note, Yahoo! Tech reveals a simple way to make your phone do the work for you.

1. Enter a phone number in the dialer like you normally would.
2. Tap and hold the * key until you're able to select a comma (,).
3. After the comma, add the extension.
4. Save the number into your contacts.

The comma creates a pause so your phone won't dial the extension immediately. Save it in your contacts and save yourself some time. The Yahoo! Tech article uses the iPhone as an example, but this trick actually goes way back, so it should work on just about any phone you have.

How to Automatically Call a Number with an Extension on Your iPhone | Yahoo! Tech

View the Original article

You Can Now Create Windows And Windows Phone Apps In One Go With Microsoft’s App Studio

Microsoft’s App Studio service is fun. At launch, it supported the creation of simple Windows Phone applications so everyone could get their hands dirty and build something. The service has been upgraded throughout its life, and today picked up a key update: The ability to create a combined Windows and Windows Phone application in one go.

Here are a few slides that would help you display, in brilliant colors, the latest TechCrunch content on your Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 device:

There are a few more steps, but you get the idea. (Sadly, 8-year-olds outdev me.)

The above fits into Microsoft’s news today concerning universal application development that will see Windows 8.1 and Windows apps share code between them, user interface tweaks to better fit disparate screen sizes aside.

Shared code lets developers move more quickly, likely making Microsoft’s increasingly unified platforms more interesting. App Studio has been brought into line with the current Microsoft developer toolset in terms of code reuse.

As a final note: I like App Studio, but for a non-commercial reason. By making app development approachable for all, even if only in its most lightweight fashion, Microsoft could be helping the younger generations get excited about writing code.

Google Shows A Glimpse Of How Its Modular Phone Moonshot Is Progressing

Google has released a video (embedded below) showing a glimpse of what’s going on behind the scenes at Project Ara, one of the hardware shunkworks projects coming out of its Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP). The ATAP group is also working on a 3D mapping handset which Google showed off in February, called Project Tango.

Project Ara is the codename for the modular phone concept that Motorola was working on, and which Google retained when it sold the rest of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo.

As Google’s moonshots go, Project Ara is relatively tame — compared to Project Loon‘s connectivity balloons, say. Or the biggie, Calico: Google’s attempt to hack death.

But deconstructing the complexity of a smartphone and refashioning it as a bunch of swappable components which can be slotted together in various custom combinations by the user is clearly no cake walk.

Nor is getting people to grok the concept of speccing out their own phone in hardware terms. (Although, really, when you think about it, the modular hardware concept is much like the modular software that users are now very comfortable with — aka apps.)

Designing an interface to explain the modular smartphone concept to users is something the video touches on, with an Ara configurator app shown to be in the works. ”We’re really trying to make this interface as simple as possible, and as spacially intuitive as we can,” says Eric Gunther, co-founder of SoSo Ltd, an interactive design studio that’s working with Google’s ATAP on the design of this app.

The connecting force Google is going to use to bind all the phone blocks in each modular device is magnetism. Or “electro-permanent magnetism”, as the video puts it — which presumably means the magnetism is switched on when you want the device to stay together, and off when you want to swap out components.

Making sure those connections are robust enough for everyday use is going to be a key requirement of the Ara project. Things fall apart, sure; but smartphone owners aren’t going to want their phone to do so in their jacket pocket.

The video also includes a view of the metal exoskeleton where prototype modules are being tested by the ATAP team:

Plus, there’s a glimpse of how different size configurations of the modular device might look in terms of end-user design —  with phablet, standard and small handsets being specced out – albeit, in render form at this nascent stage:

The most interesting thing about the video — which very much has the feel of a crowdfunding pitch video you might find on Kickstarter or Indiegogo — is that Google is clearly continuing to put marketing muscle behind Project Ara to try to get outsiders excited about the prospect of a modular device.

It’s running a two-day developer conference for the device this month, which likely explains the release timing of this video.

The conference is the first in a series planned for this year, with the first event focusing on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers’ Kit (MDK) — to get developers building Ara modules. More events are planned, so expect more details about Ara to keep dropping, piece by piece.

Source: Engadget