16
Apr
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LG Announces New York Event May 1 – Get Ready For The Optimus G Pro In The US

Posted by in LG, News, Optimus G Pro

If Samsung makes a UI overlay for Android, LG will make a UI overlay for Android. If Samsung starts making bigger phones, LG will start making bigger phones. And if Samsung announces its new flagship device at a big New York City event, you can bet LG is going to announce its new flagship device at a big New York City event. Yes, the time has come for LG to (almost certainly) reveal the Optimus G Pro for US carriers.

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The LG Optimus G Pro is very similar to the Note II in many respects. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, big honking 3140mAh battery, and a quad-core Snapdragon ARM chip.

16
Apr
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Google Updates Developer Guidelines For Tablet-Optimized Apps – Separate Screenshots And Verification Of Tablet UI

Posted by in Google, News, Nexus 10, Nexus 7

Google has been pushing developers to build tablet-optimized UIs for their apps since the Xoom was the hot new challenger to the iPad (haha). Okay, so that didn't work out very well, but with the release of devices like the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, devs are finally starting to see the value of building a great tablet experience. Of course, it's not like you'd know. The Play Store is terrible at showing off tablet UIs, but that's about to change. Google is updating the developer console to verify tablet compatibility and break up screenshots for tablet/phone interfaces.

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From now on developers uploading apps will have the option to verify they have adhered to the tablet UI guidelines for 7 and/or 10-inch slates.

16
Apr
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Motorola Design Chief Promises 'Just Right' Size Android Phones In 2H 2013, Shooting For Cross-Carrier Branding

Posted by in Google, Motorola, News

Ever since the WSJ dropped a hint about the mythical 'X Phone' back in December, the rumors have not stopped flowing. Which is great because, according to Motorola's CFO, the 18 months of product pipeline that Google acquired weren't exactly wow-ing anyone. However, according to Moto's design chief Jim Wicks, the next generation of hardware will be fantastic.

The handsets have been in the works for the last eight months (so since around August, for those counting), and will target the segments of the market that's looking for a "just right" screen size. Said Wicks:

"Certain people like a large screen, but there's a sweet spot for consumers that we're currently exceeding in the market.

16
Apr
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Google Improves Mobile Search With Easier Access To Rotten Tomatoes Ratings, Quick View Badges For Wikipedia

Posted by in Google, News

If you use Google Search on a mobile device, but prefer the web interface, then your experience just got a bit better today. For starters, if you search for Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see expandable sub sections with links to areas like movies that are in theaters. According to Google, "many sites" will have similar functionality.

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Additionally, for some searches, you'll see a blue "Quick view" badge that you can tap to get easy access to a Wikipedia page on the subject. This is different from the knowledge graph cards in that the button appears next to individual Wiki links no matter where they appear in the results.

16
Apr
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Verizon Announces RAZR M Software Update (Version 98.15.66), Brings Mostly Bug Fixes

Posted by in Device Updates, News, RAZR M

Verizon just announced a new maintenance update for the DROID RAZR M that brings various fixes to the device, including improved Wi-Fi connectivity, voice call volume, and visual voicemail connectivity. The camera's touch-to-focus is now also better, apparently, and the camera itself will take better low-light photos. Expect the update to roll out in the next week or two. You can see the complete changelog in the image below.

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The last update to roll out to the RAZR M was Android 4.1, back in November. It'll definitely be interesting to see how quickly Moto updates this handset (and others) to Android 4.2 in the coming year.

16
Apr
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AT&T Announces LG Escape Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) Update, Rollout Starts Today

Posted by in Device Updates, Escape 4G LTE, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

AT&T announced on its official blog that the LG Escape will be receiving an update to Android 4.1, and that said update should be headed to devices starting today. The first release of Jelly Bean includes things like expandable rich notifications, Google Now, and possibly some Project Butter smoothness enhancements (all LG handsets I've seen have them, at least).

AT&T's DriveMode app is also included in the update, so there'll be another piece of carrier bloat (arguably of the less than useless variety) in your app drawer.

AT&T Consumer Blog

16
Apr
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Schmidt: Android Reaches 1.5m Daily Activations, Facebook Home Is Exactly What Android Was Designed For

Posted by in Google, News

Back in September of last year, Google chairman Eric Schmidt told us that Android had reached 1.3 million daily activations every day. Today, he tells us that number is up to 1.5 million, which is actually not that staggering of an increase. Andy Rubin said the number was 900,000 per day in June of 2012, so the increase from there to September was much, much faster than the increase from September to now. Still, it's an impressive number on its own. Oh and the total number of devices activated will cross one billion in "six to nine months." Not bad.

And what's the secret to all that success?

16
Apr
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[Rant] Eric Schmidt Said Things (But Also Nothing) About Motorola's New Phones, Please Go About Your Lives As Normal

Posted by in Motorola, News, Rumors

This morning, at AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile conference, Eric Schmidt was interviewed, and that interview was livestreamed. During that conversation, he said three words that are now sweeping the web. Leading up to said words was a question about Motorola, and the future role it would play in the mobile landscape, and as a part of Google. Schmidt provided a meandering, broad-strokes answer that really isn't important, but then started talking about future products. During that brief (like, literally one sentence) comment, Schmidt stated that he had seen some of Motorola's new products, and that they were 'phenomenal,' and that they should be thought of as 'phones-plus.'

At this point, it would be quite easy to devolve into a thousand word or so speculative essay based on various alleged 'leaks' surrounding Motorola's new products (examples of which I fully expect to see later today and tomorrow), and cross-reference a half-dozen or so articles in which Dennis Woodside - Motorola's new CEO - talks about disrupting the industry and doing new and exciting things.

16
Apr
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PSA: AT&T And US Cellular Galaxy S 4 Pre-Orders Start Today At $199 (With Two-Year Agreement) For 16GB

Posted by in AT&T, Galaxy S4, News, US Cellular
Last Updated: April 22nd, 2013

The day AT&T and US Cellular customers have been waiting on for some weeks is here: it's time to pre-order Samsung's Next Big Thing. For a shiny new two-hundred dollar bill, you can secure the 16GB Galaxy S4 in either white frost or black mist on either carrier. And if you're on US Cellular, you get an added bonus: the company is throwing in a free S View flip cover to seal the deal.

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There is, however, one thing missing on the AT&T side of things: the 32GB version. The company confirmed that the 32GB variant would land at $250, but it seems to be MIA here on pre-order day.

16
Apr
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[APK Teardown] MyGlass v1.0 - Bluetooth Tethering, Google Voice Support, And Pushing Navigation To Glass

Posted by in APK Teardown, Glass, Google, News

MyGlass, the Google Glass companion app, has just hit the Play Store.  Since no one actually has a pair of Google Glass yet, no one actually knows what this thing does. To save myself from going crazy while waiting for my Glass email, ripping apart this new app seemed like a good distraction.

Permissions

The package name is "com.google.glass.companion," and, naturally, this release is version 1.0.0. MyGlass has a decent amount of permissions, here are a list of the most important ones:

  • Access Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (ACCESS_WIFI_STATE/ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE/CHANGE_WIFI_STATE)
  • Google Voice Send and Receive permissions
  • Full account access (GET_ACCOUNTS/USE_CREDENTIALS/MANAGE_ACCOUNTS)
  • Receive and send SMS and MMS
  • Full location access (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION/ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION)
  • Full internet access
  • Read contacts

So basically, it's a tethering app - a tethering app that Glass appears highly dependent on.

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