Author: Jared Peters

HTC has announced their unaudited revenue for April 2013. While they did improve from March, bringing in $660 million, up from $540, this April was still quite a dip from April of last year, where HTC had $1.2 billion in revenue. Still, though, it’s easy to see that the HTC One is pulling its weight for HTC, and now that it’s launched in the US (which didn’t happen until late April) I think we can expect revenue to jump up quite a bit next month. HTC’s projected Q2 2013 revenue is $2.73 billion.

source: HTC

Come comment on this article: HTC slowly improving financially, releases unaudited April revenue

Sony has finally given US customers the chance to get their hands on the unlocked version of the dustproof and waterproof Xperia Z through Sony’s web store. It’ll run you $629.99, but that’s about average for an unlocked phone. Unfortunately, though, there’s no LTE on board like the Xperia ZL, but you will be able to use the phone on AT&T and T-Mobile’s HSPA+ networks. If you have to hold out for LTE, you may want to wait for T-Mobile’s rumored LTE version. If you’re ready to open your wallet, hit the link below.

source: Sony Store

Come comment on this article: Sony finally puts up Xperia Z for sale on US site

After Facebook bought Instagram, I think we all expected there to be a little crossover in features between both services. Instagram has already introduced a location service with their photos, and now they’ve debuted a photo tagging feature called “Photos of You.” You or your friends can tag each other in pictures, and there’s now a separate section of your profile where you can view photos that you’ve been tagged in. If this sounds similar to Facebook’s photo albums, well… That’s because it is similar to Facebook’s photo albums. Fortunately, you’ve got a few days before those tagged photos go public, so you can change your privacy settings to tone down who can see what or who can tag you in photos. Hit the link below to get the update and start checking it out.

Play Store Download Link

Come comment on this article: Instagram adds Facebook-like photo tagging features in update

Verizon has started rolling out a small Android 4.1.2 OTA update for Galaxy Note II users. While there’s nothing major in the update, you do get more applications added to multiwindow, as well as the ability to change your quick toggles in display settings. Verizon is also removing the Zappos app and throwing in a handful of bug fixes across several apps. Nothing major, but definitely an update worth getting. Hit the source below to get the full changelog from Verizon.

source: Verizon Wireless

Come comment on this article: Verizon Galaxy Note II receiving incremental 4.1.2 update

Motorola’s fabled X Phone is easily one of the most speculated about devices today. It seems like every week, a new rumor pops up, and it usually conflicts with the rumor we heard the week before. Google and Motorola have effectively kept this phone a secret by leaking out tons of mismatched information.

Today, though, we have more concrete X Phone information. As in, evleaks has kindly released some pictures of a phone, running Android on AT&T’s network with the model XFON on the back. Normally, these rumors are pretty hazy, but that’s pretty clear. The phone itself doesn’t really get too friendly with the camera, as it’s boxed in some kind of case, but the picture below shows a carbon fiber backplate with a model of XFON ATT, which suggests that it definitely won’t be a Verizon exclusive. The phone shows the AT&T SIM name in the status bar, as well as AT&T’s LTE icon, and a My AT&T app in the app drawer. Aside from that, the software seems pretty bone stock, which we would naturally expect from a phone co-developed by Google.

It’s also worth mentioning that this does appear to be three different devices, as noted by the differing Motorola logos on the top of the phone. If the phone is showing up in leaks like this, hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer for an official announcement from Motorola or Google.

source: evleaks

Come comment on this article: Motorola XFON leaks, shows AT&T apps installed

MediaTek is best know for producing inexpensive, quality processors for cheaper smartphones, and they’ve just announced another chip to their lineup. The MT6572 system-on-a-chip is a next-generation processor for entry level phones, many of which will likely be Android devices. It’s based on a 28nm dual-core A7 CPU and boasts clock speeds up to 1.2 GHz, and can handle up to 720p video playback, along with support for 5 megapixel cameras and 540 by 960 screens. As for connectivity, it has integrated HSPA+/TD-SCDMA radios.

Nothing ground breaking here, but it’s going to be a solid chip for upcoming entry level phones. Hit the break for the press release.

Come comment on this article: MediaTek announces dual-core MT6572 SoC for entry level smartphones

If you’ve been enjoying Google’s augmented reality game, Ingress, you’ll soon have the chance to invite some buddies to join the fun. The Ingress profile on Google+ has announced that all players over level 2 will be getting some invites to hand out to friends, which is great news for everyone. So if you’re already playing, get some friends on board. If you haven’t gotten an invite yet, now’s your chance to start bugging your buddies for one.

source: Google Plus

Come comment on this article: Ingress players level 2 and up begin receiving extra invitation codes

IDC has released their numbers for tablet market share in the first quarter of 2013, and it looks great for Android tablets. In the first three months of the year, 27.8 million Android tablets were shipped, up 247% from Q1 last year. The 27.8 million tablets also happen to make up 56.5% of all tablets shipped during the quarter, snagging the top spot from Apple. Apple’s share dipped to 39.6%, which is almost a 20% decline in market share from the previous year. While Apple didn’t ship less tablets, (they actually shipped almost 8 million more than they did in Q1 2012) there was a significant boon in the tablet market compared to last year, and a ton of those tablets ran Android.

Obviously, this just represents one quarter of this year, which a small slice of the pie. Android tablets have a ways to go, especially in popularity and app selection, before they can really penetrate the tablet market the way Android has done with phones. Still, though, grabbing up over half of an entire market in a quarter is a huge step in the right direction.

source: IDC

Come comment on this article: Android tablets pull ahead in Q1 2013, running on 56.5% of all tablets shipped

Smartphones with physical QWERTY keyboards are a dying breed, especially the ones with portrait keyboards. Despite that, AT&T appears to be planning on releasing the NEC Terrain to the masses, which is a candy bar style phone, complete with an unspecified Android version and a physical keyboard. It’s not exactly a visually appealing device, and there’s no official specs for it, but I could definitely see it as a cheap gateway phone for old Blackberry holdouts. (Believe it or not, they still exist)

We’ll just have to wait for NEC or AT&T to make this device official.

source: evleaks

Come comment on this article: NEC Terrain leaks, headed to AT&T with Android and QWERTY keyboard

If you’re the tinkering type and you’ve been eyeing the Galaxy S 4 on AT&T, you may want to rethink your options. According to Cyanogenmod founder Steve Kondik, AT&T’s S 4 does indeed have a locked bootloader out of the box. While the locked bootloader doesn’t necessarily mean custom ROMs and kernels won’t come eventually, it’s going to take a little longer than usual. Of course, with the inevitable popularity of the S 4, there’s likely going to be a crazy amount of dev work being done on the device right out of the gate, so an unlocking method will likely come along sooner or later.

I don’t expect this to make a huge impact on S 4 sales on AT&T, but for the modding community, it’s a bit of a let down.

source: Google Plus

Come comment on this article: Steve Kondik of Cyanogenmod confirms AT&T Galaxy S 4 ships with a locked bootloader

The best camera is the one you have with you and we pretty much always have our smartphones with us. With many Android phones, the camera alone will sell the device for some customers. Needless to say, there are plenty of apps in the Play Store that cater to all kinds of shutterbugs and their smartphone cameras for when the built-in camera application on your phone just doesn’t cut it. So, in this guide, we’re going to go over the best camera apps for your device.

Camera Zoom FX is one of the most popular camera applications on the Play Store and for good reason. It combines a full suite of extra camera functions with a ton of photo editing options for one of the most feature-rich applications you can find. If you’re looking for just a solid camera replacement, this app has everything you can think of. It fully supports the regular zoom of your smartphone’s lens, as well as your phone’s front-facing camera, and throws in lots of extra features your OEM camera software probably doesn’t have. Plus you won’t lose any control over things like your ISO settings, exposure, contrast, brightness, etc.

Camera Zoom FX supports complete hardware customization, so if you want to reassign your volume rocker to a dedicated camera button, you can. Maybe you don’t want to actually touch the phone to take pictures? There’s an option for voice activated shots. It’s also advertised as one of the fastest cameras for Android devices, as the burst shot mode takes up to 10 shots per second. In addition to the traditional burst shot, there are also time lapse shots, collage shots, and tons of live effects to stick on your photos. And if you’re the type who likes to share photos quickly with friends, there’s one-tap sharing to all of your favorite social sites.

Camera Zoom FX runs $2.99, but it’s more than worth the price for all the features. Best of all, there’s several add-on apps available for free from the developer to extend what the app can do.

Play Store Download Link

Pudding Camera is a unique camera replacement that lets you mix and match different kinds of film and camera to get a certain effect on pictures. There are 9 different camera types to pick from and 8 different kinds of film to use, which creates tons of different possibilities to make different or unique shots.

Different camera types take different shots. Your basic camera takes a standard 4:3 aspect ratio shot or you can use a 45mm snap camera with a 3:2 aspect ratio. There are also more creative and useful cameras, such as the motion camera, which takes four pictures of a subject moving across the picture. It then stitches all four shots together into a single picture. There are fish-eye lenses, panoramic shots, and other types of motion cameras.

On top of picking your specific camera, you can also change the film you’re using. Maybe you’re going for a really retro shot or you just want colors to pop more. You can easily switch to vintage film for an old-school look or vivid film to make things a bit more colorful. Combine all the different types of film with the camera selection, and you can easily spice up your average pictures.

Unfortunately, Pudding Camera can’t take video and you do lose some fine-tuning control in the settings that you normally get with your stock camera, but if you’re just looking for something basic that easily makes your pictures look a bit more exciting, Pudding Camera is worth taking a look at. Besides, it’s free.

Play Store Download Link

Retro camera is a great, polished camera replacement to get an old school feel to your photos, with six different cameras to select from. It’s a pretty specific app that really only does the old-school shots, so you wouldn’t want to use it as a complete camera replacement, but more of a complementary camera app to what you’re already using.

The interface is pretty simple and gives you a shutter button, a menu button to select a different camera, a toggle for color photos or black and white photos, an info button about your currently selected camera, and a gallery button. The entire UI changes depending on which camera you’re currently using, but the buttons more or less stay the same and keep their functions. Overall, it’s a really well designed app that’s a ton of fun to use, especially if you want the camera app to apply effects to your photos instead of manually doing the work post-shot.

If you enjoy sharing your photos with the world, there are also some links in the app to share your best shots to Retro Camera’s Facebook wall. Those photos are public for other people to look at, and you can check the wall to see what other people are taking pictures of. It’s a nice touch to add an element of social networking into a camera application.

Play Store Download Link

Maybe you’ve tried the other camera apps and you really just want something simple and straightforward to take pictures. Not too many unnecessary settings, no crazy filters, just a camera application.

Camera JB+ is the stock Android Jelly Bean camera for any Android device running 4.0.3 or higher. So if you’ve got a device that your OEM or carrier won’t update, or you’re stuck with an OEM skin but you want a stock Android camera experience, this is the way to go. It doesn’t include Photo Sphere, unfortunately, but it has all the same features that the stock camera does otherwise, including pinch to zoom, photo, video, and panoramic modes, and a burst mode. It also includes the ability to swipe left or right to immediately start checking out your latest photos.

The app does also come bundled with a small photo editor for your pictures. It doesn’t have as many filters and borders as some other apps, but if you’re just looking for subtle effects to touch up your pictures, it’s excellent. It can even trim videos, which is something none of the other applications can do. The app only costs $1.99, but there’s an older version of the Ice Cream Sandwich stock camera you can try out first if you’re still unsure.

Play Store Download Link

There are countless photography apps on the Play Store, and Google regularly shows off the best of the best. These four apps cover a broad range of what you can do with your smartphone camera, but there’s plenty more apps that specialize in certain kinds of pictures if none of these quite fit what you’re trying to do. Let us know in the comments if we missed one of your favorite camera apps.

Come comment on this article: Best Android camera apps [April 2013]

Sony has two flagship models slated for release later in 2013, and we’re finally hearing some details about the pair of devices. According to a device tester, the Togari device will sport a 6.44 inch, 1080p screen with a similar body style to the glass Xperia Z, as well as a white option, similar to the Z. The phablet could possibly be released in July in Japan, although there’s no word on when or if it would make it’s way to other markets.

The Honami is rumored to be a true Xperia Z successor, packing a 1080p 5-inch screen, dedicated Walkman audio chip, and a whopping 20 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. According to the device tester, it’s one of the most attractive devices Sony has ever made, trumping both the Xperia Z and the iPhone 5. Obviously, that’s pretty subjective, but exciting nonetheless. It could also possibly hit shelves in July in Japan. Impressively enough, both devices are said to be water and dust resistant.

Chinese site ePrice says Honami will launch in July, then see an international release within two months. ePrice also says Honami will use the impressive Snapdragon 800 chip, have 2 GB of RAM, and an embedded battery. We won’t know anything for certain until Sony takes the veil off the devices, but these are definitely phones you should get excited about.

source: Xperia Blog

Come comment on this article: Sony to release two flagship devices later this year, Honami and Togari

Huawei announced a P series of smartphones at MWC, and we’re starting to see some of those models show up across the globe. The latest model, code named the P6-U06, has recently been certified in China, and the profile shots show an extremely thin device, coming in at just 6.2mm. Aside from dimensions, we know it’s packing a quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a strange 5 megapixel front-facing camera. It also has GSM/WCDMA radios, so it’s definitely going to launch in Asian markets, but there’s no word on if it’ll come to other shores.

source: NowhereElse

via: Engadget

Come comment on this article: Huawei Ascend P6 shows up in Chinese certification with a 6.2mm body

Two new Kyocera phones have popped up, courtesy of evleaks on Twitter. The top phone is the Kyocera Elite, an Android powered smartphone packing LTE bands for Verizon. This is Verizon’s first ever Kyocera smartphone, and their first Kyocera phone since 2006. No word on specs, but I have a feeling it’s not going to compete with the Galaxy S 4.

Also leaked is the Kyocera XTRM that’s heading to US Cellular. From the name, we can tell that it’s going to be a sturdy, rugged phone. No word on specs there, either, but as with most other rugged Android phones, they’re usually pretty modest devices. We should be hearing a bit more about both of these devices in the coming weeks, and we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as anything comes up.

source: evleaks

Come comment on this article: Two new Kyocera phones leaked, Elite for Verizon and XTRM for US Cellular

HP has finally released their slightly underwhelming tablet through their website, modestly priced at $169. For that price, you get a dual-core processor, Beats Audio, and a 1024 x 600 resolution 7-inch screen. At that price, I think it’s competing a little too closely with the $199 Nexus 7,  but it does offer what appears to be vanilla Android 4.1 and a nice design, so if you’re trying to stick to a very specific budget, the Slate 7 might be your device.

Anybody planning on picking one of these up?

source: HP

Come comment on this article: HP’s Slate 7 now available online for $169

Not too long ago, an unlock tool was released for some Motorola devices that used Qualcomm processors. Well, it turns out that unlocking hack still works on newer Qualcomm devices, including the variant of the Galaxy S 4 with the Snapdragon 600 chip.  So if you’re planning on picking up a new Galaxy S 4 this weekend, you won’t have to wait for a root method.

The downside is that there are no stock images or custom recoveries available for the device yet, so if you brick the device in the root process, you’re completely out of luck. OTA updates will also likely mess up root. Fortunately, it’s a pretty safe bet that this is going to be a popular device, so it shouldn’t take long before some recoveries and ROMs start popping up. Until then, though, root at your own risk.

The method is the same as it was for the Motorola unlocking. You’ll need to download the package at the XDA link then follow these instructions.

1. Extract the entire contents of the zip file.
2. If you are using Windows, ensure you have installed the latest Motorola USB drivers available for your phone.
3. Ensure your device has been rooted and you have a working installation of “su”.
4. Ensure USB Debugging mode is enabled on your device.
5. If you are using Windows, navigate to the extracted directory and execute “run.bat”. If you are using Linux or OS X, navigate to the extracted directory in a terminal and execute “./run.sh”.

source: XDA

Come comment on this article: Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S 4 rooted on launch day

Qualcomm’s insanely powerful Snapdragon 600 chip has found a home in many flagship devices, including the HTC One and some models of the Galaxy S 4, and as far as benchmarks and performance goes, it blows everything else out of the water. At this point, it really doesn’t seem like a mobile CPU could get any better. Well, according to Qualcomm, their Snapdragon 800 chip is going to be better. The next flagship SoC is slated to hit mass production in late May, although there’s no word on when it will appear in consumer devices.

The Snapdragon 800 bests the 600 by featuring new Krait 400 architecture, which can maintain a steady clock speed of 2.3 GHz and packs Adreno 330 graphics, which is capable of 4K, 30 FPS output. Needless to say, the Snapdragon 800 is going to be hard to top.

source: Engadget

Come comment on this article: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 to hit mass production stage in late May

We’d heard reports about Android-powered notebooks that would be shipping later this year, and Intel has taken the stage to shed some more light on those Androidbooks. According to Intel, these new notebooks will be very aggressively priced, coming in at just $200, and many of them are definitely going to be running Android instead of Windows 8. And yes, these are touchscreen PCs that Android can completely take advantage of, complete with Intel’s Atom CPUs that have performed extremely well in benchmarks.

Intel’s executive vice president, Dadi Perlmutter, said many of these notebooks will likely be “convertible” notebooks; they can essentially be a tablet or a laptop, depending on what the user needs in a particular circumstance. Perlmutter did also say there will be higher end Android notebooks running on Intel’s Core line of processors, as well as the cheaper Atom processors.

source: Cnet

Come comment on this article: Intel to power Android Notebooks, says they’ll be priced as low as $200

Research firm IHS has released their predictions for shipments of wearable, high tech glasses, like Google Glass, and it’s definitely a positive outlook. According to the firm, they believe up to 9.4 million units could be shipped between 2012 and 2016. They only expect about 124,000 units of Glass to ship this year, but they see the demand for devices to accelerate by 250% next year, and if Google plays their cards right with development and advertising, they could ship over 6 million Glass units in 2016. The firm does warn, however, that price may be the Achilles Heel of Google Glass. Hit the press release below to check out the full details.

Spurred by Google Glass, IHS Forecasts Nearly 10 Million Smart Glasses to Ship from 2012 to 2016

LONDON (April 24, 2013)—Initiated by the arrival of Google Glass and magnified by Google’s efforts to promote application development for the product, the global market for smart glasses could amount to almost 10 million units from 2012 through 2016.

Shipments of smart glasses may rise to as high 6.6 million units in 2016, up from just 50,000 in 2012, for a total of 9.4 million units for the five-year period, according to an upside forecast from IMS Research, now part of IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). Growth this year will climb 150 percent to 124,000 shipments, mostly driven by sales to developers, as presented in the high-end outlook in the attached figure. Expansion will really begin to accelerate in 2014 with the initial public availability of Google Glass, as shipment growth powers up to 250 percent, based on the optimistic forecast.

Smart glass products like Google Glass are wearable computers with a head-mounted display.

Google Glass this month began shipping to application developers who registered as early backers and paid the $1,500 price tag. This is expected to spur innovations in applications that should take Glass from early adopters to the mass market. As the developers get to work and Google encourages venture capitalists to back them, shipments will begin to surge to high volumes, according to the upside forecast.

However, the success of Google Glass will depend primarily on the applications developed for it. If developers fail to produce compelling software and uses for the devices, shipments could be significantly lower during the next several years.

“The applications are far more critical than the hardware when it comes to the success of Google Glass,” said Theo Ahadome, senior analyst at IHS. “In fact, the hardware is much less relevant to the growth of Google Glass than for any other personal communications device in recent history. This is because the utility of Google Glass is not readily apparent, so everything will depend on the appeal of the apps. This is why the smart glass market makes sense for a software-oriented organization like Google, despite the company’s limited previous success in developing hardware. Google is betting the house that developers will produce some compelling applications for Glass.”

The glass is half full

According to the optimistic scenario, developers will succeed in producing augmented reality applications for smart glasses that provide the user with information that can be safely and conveniently be integrated into casual use. Such applications typically are known as augmented reality, which involves adding a layer of computer-generated data to real-world people, places and things.

“The true success of Glass will be when it can provide some information to users not apparent when viewing people, places or things,” Ahadome said. “This information may include live updates for travel, location reviews and recommendations, nutritional information and matching personal preferences, and previous encounters to aid decision making. The upside for smart glasses will arise when they become a powerful information platform. In many ways, this is exactly what Google already does via other mediums, and also is why the upside scenario seems more likely.”

Broken glass

Under a more pessimistic scenario, IHS forecasts that only about 1 million smart glasses will be shipped through 2016.

According to this outlook, applications for smart glasses will be limited to some of those already displayed by Google in its Glass marketing. These include scenarios where smart glasses become more of a wearable camera device than a true augmented reality system. In this case, smart glasses will be mainly used for recording sports and other non-casual events, like jumping out of a plane, as demonstrated at the Google I/O developer conference in 2012.

However, Glass will face competition from alternative wearable camera devices already in the market, such as GoPro Hero or Recon MOD Live.

While the wearable camera market was worth more than $200 million in 2012, it is not the multibillion-dollar market that smart glasses can achieve with wider applicability.

“The less frequently consumers interact with any personal communications device, the less valuable it becomes,” Ahadome observed. “If smart glasses become devices that are used only occasionally, rather than all the time, they become less attractive and desirable to consumers.”

Come comment on this article: Smart glasses like Google Glass expected to ship 9 million units by 2016

Just because Google Glass hasn’t officially been released yet doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on what the next version will be like. According to a new patent filed by Google, the next generation of Glass will have a more traditional look, like what your sunglasses look like today. The patent describes a “near-to-eye display with diffraction grating that bends and focuses light,” and it gets even more complex from there. However, it more or less describes a device that looks like normal sunglasses instead of the bulky Glass model Google is currently working with.

Obviously this should be taken with a grain of salt, as this is just a patent for something Google can potentially work with. I don’t expect Google will want to obsolete their current version of Glass within six months, and I seriously doubt the necessary hardware is even there for them to do that if they wanted to. This stuff is years down the road, at least. But hey, a little speculation never hurts.

source: US Patent Office

via: Unwired View

Come comment on this article: Next iteration of Google Glass may look like traditional sunglasses with two see-through displays