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Voice control? That's so 2010. The future of mobile computing is... well, I have no idea what it is, but Danish startup company The Eye Tribe would like you to think that it's eye tracking. And not the simple, on-off tracking demonstrated in the latest versions of Samsung's TouchWiz - their hardware can track eye movements with enough precision to replicate a finger tap or mouse cursor. Check out the video below:
Update: AT&T's LG G2 will go on sale on Friday, September 13th for $199.99 on contract, or $27 a month via the AT&T Next plan. The carrier will be accepting online sales on September 6th, tomorrow.
Upgrading to a new version of Android is always nice, but Nexus users (and just lately, Google Play Edition users) tend to become unwitting beta testers for a lot of apps. Case in point: MLB At Bat, the official news, scores, and video app for Major League Baseball's online subscription service. It didn't work for Android 4.3 users ever since the new version of Android launched in July, but according to the latest changelog, the updated app should be streaming video to everyone now.
Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has been getting a lot of ink as of late, but not for their hardware: former Googler Hugo Barra is now their Vice President of Global. The first phone to launch after Barra joined the company is the new flagship MI3, and it is a doozie. The device crams some of the best hardware available into a phone, but it's probably not leaving China any time soon.
Google's a little late with the Android platform distribution numbers this month. It might have something to do with a rather large announcement yesterday, involving a candy bar, a statue, and the announcement of Android 4.4. But the numbers were just posted, so let's have a look at 'em, shall we?
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a marble game (but not that kind of marble game), a rip-off of Kerbal Space Program, a reinvention of Sudoko, and a digital version of Paper Football. Without further ado:
Hey kids, do you remember the awesome Star Wars collectible trading cards from Topps? Of course you don't, and neither do I, because the shameless whoring of the brand has burned away whatever good memories of Star Wars I ever possessed. Here's Konami's attempt to wring a few more bucks out of science fiction's most used-up intellectual property with an almost certainly crappy free-to-play battle card game.
Update: Verizon has updated the page with a pre-order date: September 6th (Friday) at 9AM Eastern Standard Time. There's still no word on a price or release date for either device.
Samsung just announced its fall catalog at the Unpacked pre-IFA event. There are very few surprises: the Galaxy Note 3 is here with a new leather-style stitched design, the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and a revised version of the Galaxy Note 10.1.
Sony just got finished announcing its interesting and slightly goofy QX lenses, detachable camera modules that use your Android smartphone as a frame/control center/viewfinder, at IFA. But Amazon beat them to the punch: even before the announcement, Sony Alpha Rumors spotted the QX100 and cheaper QX10 on the ubiquitous retailer. They're available for pre-order now and set to ship on September 27th.
[IFA 2013] ASUS Expands The Fonepad Line With Fonepad 7, Re-Announces The Fonepad Note 6
ASUS Expands The Fonepad Line With Fonepad 7
ASUS is getting into the gigantic phone market in a big way. After their initial offerings in the Fonepad line (that's large, tablet-style phones, not to be confused with the docking Padfone) the company has announced a new model and at IFA in Germany, along with a previously announced but unreleased one. The Fonepad Note 6 (ME560CG) is a conventional "phablet" design, complete with stylus, which we saw back in June. The Fonepad 7 is a new, more downmarket device with lower specs.
[IFA 2013] Sony Debuts The Xperia Z1 Flagship, Complete With 20.7 MP Camera And 5" 1080p Screen
IFA is well under way in Berlin, and Sony is the first manufacturer to let loose with a volley of hardware clamoring for your bleeding edge dollars. The Xperia Z1 (nee "Honami"), the sequel to last year's flagship Xperia Z, was just revealed in Sony's press conference. It's a modest bump to most hardware with a massive, massive focus on the camera. As leaked in multiple reports, the Z1 sports a 20.7 megapixel rear camera, soundly smashing current-generation Android competitors.
[IFA 2013] HDMI 2.0 Specification Revealed: 18Gbps Data Bandwidth, 4K Resolution At 60Hz, Backwards-Compatible With Category 2 Cables
HDMI 2.0 Specification Revealed
The phones and tablets are about to start falling from the sky like rain at the IFA trade show in Berlin, but before we get to the juicy mobile hardware let's talk about something really exciting: cables. It's finally time for HDMI to get a major revision after the 1.4 spec from 2009, and the 2.0 release of HDMI adds some necessary enhancements to its bullet list.
Remember the allegedly hilarious video for "The Smart Cube" from last week, which toed the line between awkward funding campaign and a parody of awkward funding campaigns? We mentioned at the time that it was almost certainly an alternative marketing campaign for a Samsung product, probably the Android-powered Galaxy NX camera. There's no way to say this without sounding a little smug, so: yeah. It is.
European readers, no one could blame you for being a little miffed at Google when it comes to the Play Store. The company's focus on the United States is impossible to deny, especially when you look at the availability of carrier billing. But they're slowly, slowly rolling out the feature to more and more carriers and countries. Today Both Switzerland and Belgium get one carrier each added to the Play Store billing club: Swisscom and Mobistar, respectively.
Today Android has officially passed one billion activated devices, according to Google's Vice President of Android, Chrome, and Google Apps, Sundar Pichai. To help celebrate this momentous occasion, there's a new Bugdroid-themed statue hanging out at the entrance to Google's Mountain View campus.
Some video games are true works of art, immersing the player in deep, believable worlds, surrounding them with thoughtful characters, and tying it all together with organic gameplay to create truly immersive experiences. Some video games strap an AK-47 on a motorcycle and let you make "vroom vroom" noises while shooting more lead than the annual NRA duck hunt. Guess which category Super Psycho Cycle falls into.
If you're a dedicated follower of tech news, you've probably heard the big story from late last night: Microsoft is buying Nokia. Holy cow, Redmond has an end-to-end distribution model! This could finally make Windows Phone a competitor! The phone and tablet market is getting its first major shakeup since the rise of Android!
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Say whatever you like about Sony, but it's hard to deny that their high-end phones look great. Case in point: the unannounced Honami, which is almost certainly the successor to last year's Xperia Z flagship. The folks at XperiaBlog got their hands on a collection of official rendered press photos, and this thing looks fantastic.