Android

Introduced this year at CES, Dell’s ambitious project of delivering Android 4.0 (or above) experience to any device that has a compatible HDMI port and a display has finally received a price and a release window. Officially known as Wyse Project Ophelia, the small dongle will be sold for no more than $100 and should be first launched this summer, in July. As the source states, Dell will demonstrate Ophelia on regular computer screens and 55-inch displays next week in Los Angeles, during the international Citrix Synergy conference. Afterwards, the first units will begin shipping in July to interested developers that wish to write Android applications for the device. Only in August will the project be available to a wider audience through various cable companies or telecom providers that may want to include Ophelia in their offers. After that, Dell will also sell it on their official website. Furthermore, Dell is also working on “a keyboard-like technology for users to type when Ophelia is docked to a screen.” What will Ophelia mean for the market? The Android-based dongle can solely boot Google’s platform and render content on any device that has a HDMI port, including projectors, TVs and computer displays. Once paired, Dell’s toy can offer direct access to Wyse PocketCloud, a smart cloud solution that can allow users to access their desktop from mobile devices. The dongle also offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Meant to be a cheap alternative to tablets and computers, Ophelia has the potential of transforming any screen into a full-state PC, used for gaming or content consumption. Future owners will have the possibility of downloading applications, movies or TV shows directly from Google’s Play store and stream content from Hulu and Netflix. Dell also states that a specific set of security features will be integrated in the package for better management. Especially aimed at IT administrators, the cloud client manager system will offer specialists the ability of tracking-down the location of the dongle, erase data in case of theft or even to monitor activity.

In 2012, Samsung began its familiarity strategy. It’s hard to miss a newer Samsung phone on the streets because they all have that definitive look. Plastic rounded body, usually in white, the devices were basically mini or maxi Galaxy S3 versions. This design philosophy was then transferred to Samsung’s tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0. Samsung is able to churn out a lot of devices aimed at a lot of niche markets and then observes to see which can become hits. This is of course how the Galaxy Note range came to fruition, but now Samsung is taking its familiarity strategy one step further. Galaxy S4 – the strategy continues The Galaxy S4 already incorporates many similarities with its sibling, the Galaxy S3, both in physical design and software. This means that there was already a familiarity from the S3, or any Samsung smartphone from 2012 for that matter, and people would be more inclined to buy something they were already familiar with. This was extremely successful for Apple’s iPhone as the device became almost synonymous with the word smartphone. Of course now the market is much more different. However Android still has a brand recognition problem. Surveys have shown that the Galaxy brand is becoming more recognised than Android, and this could develop into a problem for Google. Are people buying Samsung smartphones for the Google services, or the Samsung Galaxy brand? Galaxy S4 Mini – mini phone big plans Samsung gets it, there are some people who are simply not inclined to learn hand gymnastics, or prefer a smaller phone for other reasons. So with the Galaxy S3 Mini, Samsung attempted to accommodate those people, with a smaller version of the extremely popular Galaxy S3. Of course those in the know would remember that the Galaxy S3 Mini was merely a shadow of its big brother. But thanks to the familiarity and brand recognition it was a good seller. A good enough seller, it seems, that Samsung is interested in making a successor in the form of the Galaxy S4 Mini, or at least that’s what plenty of reports claim. What the Galaxy S4 Mini means is that Samsung sees a smaller form factor a big enough reason for people to choose a particular smartphone model, even if they have to skip out on the latest and greatest specs. That allows Samsung to leverage the S4 brand and enables it to sell a lot more smartphones than it normally could have, had it blessed the S4 Mini with a name like Galaxy Pop, for example. This leaves Samsung prone to its strategy backfiring, if Samsung is serious about the smaller form factor, why doesn’t it invest enough money to make the S4 Mini a legitimate competitor to the iPhone 5? That way Samsung could control all three points of the smartphone market in a three pronged attack. The Galaxy S4 Mini for the smaller form factor, the Galaxy S4 for the middlers, and the Galaxy Note 3 towering above the rest. Unfortunately if the rumored specs are anything to go by, the Galaxy S4 Mini will be nothing but a mid-range phone with a famous name. A smartphone with a great camera, there’s an S4 for that The S4 is no longer a single smartphone it seems, it’s a legion of handsets to cover your every need. So if you want to dump your DSLR, but simply aren’t satisfied with the pictures that smartphones produce, you should know that Samsung reportedly plans on introducing a variant of the S4 to please those who take pride in the pictures they take. Not a lot is known about the Galaxy S4 Zoom, but it is rumored to include a 16-megapixel camera with optical zoom. Whether or not the camera will be good enough to make people get rid of their DSLRs, is a question that is yet to be answered. Although, a purported photograph taken with the Galaxy S4 Zoom has made its way to the Internet and is down below for you to behold. A tweaker not a tweeter, there’s an S4 for that The Galaxy S4 Google Edition certainly raised eyebrows, and in some circles clouded the definition of a Nexus device. Sams

Today we have something pretty interesting for all you tablet lovers. A new slate that’s aiming to take on Google’s Nexus 7 has leaked, and you’re going to like the price. It’s called the Hisense Sero 7 Pro, from the popular Chinese manufacturer, and has everything and more the Nexus offers but for just $99. Read on for full details on this impressive and well-rounded budget slate. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because the Hisense Sero 7 lite was recently spotted at the FCC. The Chinese manufacturers first slate officially going up for sale in US markets. However, the Hisense Sero 7 Pro we have the exclusive on today is a much better device, offers more than the Nexus 7, is only $99, and was found available as we speak inside Walmart. According to our tipster the Sero 7 Pro rocks a 1.3 GHz Tegra 3 quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, and a 7-inch 1280×800 HD IPS display, just like the Nexus 7. Then what makes it even better is the micro-SD slot for expanding storage, mini-HDMI for video out, and dual camera. The Sero 7 Pro sports a 5 megapixel rear with LED flash, and 2 MP front, respectively. Running Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and full Google Play Store certification, this tablet is as well rounded as it gets for $99. That’s for sure. As you can see from the images provided, the build quality is decent, and our tipster claims it feels quite premium given the price. The Hisense Sero 7 Pro also comes with the usual array of senors and radios. WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, NFC, and a 4,000 mAh battery. Hisense offers TV’s here in the US, but this marks their first tablet aimed at the US market. Our tipster reports their USA website link on the box isn’t even active yet, which leads us to believe some Walmart locations are selling this device early. You can head to www.hisense-usa.com/tablets, but as stated, the page isn’t yet active. For now we’re looking for additional details, but you might want to run down to your nearest Walmart and grab this deal of a tablet. Who’s interested? Quad-core Tegra 3, 8GB storage, micro-SD and HDMI-out, not counting Android 4.2 Jelly Bean all for just $99. Let us know below! – Thanks Selim for the tip!

According to a GL Benchmark test, a device with the model number GT-P5200 is going to include a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 Clover Trail+ processor working with a PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. The GT-P5200 name seems to code for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, as the GT-P5100 was the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. There were reports earlier this month of the same device running a 1.6GHz processor on the AnTuTu Benchmark site, which matches perfectly with the current information. It is rumored that Samsung is working on three variants of this device, one coming with only WiFi capabilities, one with both 3G and WiFi, and another with 4G LTE and WiFi. We expect the device to launch with a 10.1-inch screen with a 1280 by 800 resolution. There’s no word yet on when the new Galaxy Tab will launch, and how much it will cost. Source: GFX Bench Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 rumored to ship with Intel processor Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more!

Fancy a custom ringtone? Android comes with a default selection of notification tones and ringtones that you can use to customize the way your phone rings with every notification. Adding, creating and assigning custom ringtones on your Android device is fairly simple. All you need are the following basic tools. 1. A File Browser App [...]How To: Create and Assign Custom Ringtones originally appeared on AndroGeek

In a weekly segment, I’ll be doing a roundup of the mobile technology news in India, including new device announcements and releases from Indian manufacturers, network carrier news, and anything else that captures the pulse of  the Android scene in India.  In today’s “Weekly News Roundup – India,” Micromax launches a new stylus-toting smartphone, as well as one for music enthusiasts, Panasonic enters the Indian smartphone market with a not so budget-friendly quad-core offering, the Nexus 4 is finally officially available in India, the Vertu Ti is released at the price point of a compact car, Notion Ink teases the Adam II tablet, and Vodafone launches new International Roaming plans. As you can see, there’s a lot to talk about. Let’s get started! Android Smartphones Micromax Canvas Doodle A111 Micromax continues to add to its Canvas smartphones portfolio, with two new additions this week. The first, called the Canvas Doodle A111, joins the exponentially increasing budget-friendly quad-core smartphones in the country, but will be offering something different from the rest, with the Canvas Doodle A111 featuring a stylus. Specifications of the latest Canvas smartphone from Micromax include - 5.3-inch display with 854×480 resolution 1.2Ghz quad-core Qualcomm MSM8225Q processor 512MB RAM 1.22GB available internal storage (4GB total), expandable via microSD up to 32GB 8MP rear camera, 0.3MP front camera 2,100 mAh battery Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Dual-SIM support Unfortunately, the specifications of the Micromax Canvas Doodle A111 aren’t up to the mark compared to the rest of the quad-core smartphones available in the country. Priced at Rs 12,999 (~$245), the availability of a stylus isn’t enough to recommend the Canvas Doodle over other similarly-priced smartphones. There’s no information yet on whether Micromax will be launching stylus-specific apps for the Canvas Doodle A11. If you’re interested in picking up the Micromax Canvas Doodle A111, you can do so from online retailers SnapDeal here. Source – Tech Tree Micromax Canvas Music A88 Micromax released a second smartphone this week, this time in association with JBL, a company well known for its audio products, called the Canvas Music A88. The specifications of the latest offering from Micromax includes - 4.5-inch display with 854×480 resolution 1Ghz dual-core MediaTek processor 512MB RAM 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB 5MP rear camera, 0.3MP front camera Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean 1,800 mAh battery Dual-SIM support Priced at Rs 8,499(~$160), the specifications of the Micromax Canvas Music A88 aren’t the best in its price range, but in this case, has a very specific music-oriented target audience in mind. The JBL association means inclusion of a free JBL Tempo headset, with Micromax also offering free unlimited music download from a database that includes over 3 lakh songs via the “MLive!” application. You can find out more about the Micromax Canvas Music A88, and even buy it online, from the Micromax website here, as  well as from online retailers Saholic here. Source – Times of India Panasonic P51 Panasonic is a well-known electronics brand in India, and the company has now decided to take a chance in the already overcrowded Indian smartphone market, with the Panasonic P51, announced at a launch event in Delhi this week. The specifications of the Panasonic P51 include - 5-inch IPS display with 1280×720 resolution 1.2Ghz quad-core MediaTek processor 1GB RAM 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB 8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera Android 4.2 Jelly Bean 2.500 mAh battery Dual-SIM support The Panasonic P51 comes with a free magnetic flip cover and a stylus, along with handwriting recognition support, and boasts more than decent specifications, along the lines of quad-core offerings from local manufacturers that fall in the R

Many of us foresaw the demise of the Nexus Q, our media streaming friend from Google that never quite took off. This much was alluded to this week when Google announced its improved Google Play Music service, which does not support the Nexus Q as confirmed by Phandroid. If this already wasn’t a death knell for the Nexus Q, then news from the FCC might be another nail in the coffin. Liliputing has uncovered a FCC application that looks awfully like a replacement for the Nexus Q. Described as a “media player“, the only other information that can be divulged from this report is that the device is definitely from Google and that Google may have intentionally (or unintentionally) included a little easter egg; the device model is the H2G2-42. That first part, H2G2, was a common abbreviation for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and second half, 42, is quite simply the answer to everything. So perhaps this Google media device will solve all our media needs all at the same time… Perhaps we’re reading too much into it and it’s just a coincidence, but I’m not convinced Google ‘does’ coincidences. All the same, there’s very little go on right now regarding this media device, so just hang tight till there’s something more concrete. Share your thoughts on whether you think this will be Google’s new media player in the comments. Source: Phandroid, Liliputing

A few days ago, Google formally unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition with pure Android. It’s a modified version of the flagship Samsung handset that we first saw announced back in March, and it stands to offer the standard Nexus user experience. What does this mean for Google’s actual line of Nexus phones? Is the Galaxy S4 with pure Android meant to replace them? I’m not sure how long Google and Samsung sat through negotiations to try and get a product like this out the door. I think it may have been a long time coming. But it makes so much sense that you have to wonder, why didn’t they do this sooner? In fact, why don’t all Android phone makers release a Nexus-like device of their own? It simply baffles the mind. What we have with the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition is a device with absolute top-notch hardware paired with the best software that Android has to offer. It is, strictly speaking, one of the best Android phones ever — at least if you’re with T-Mobile and AT&T. The only thing that will keep it out of most people’s hands is its prohibitive price tag. And that’s where real Nexus devices have it beat. Still, it makes a truly compelling case for an upgrade or a switch. It’s exactly what a lot of people want: a top-of-the-line phone with the latest version of Android. And it will be updated to even later versions of Android when newer ones start coming out. If Google wants to stop making new Nexus phones like the highly rumored Nexus 5, then the Galaxy S4 with pure Android is the perfect excuse. The question is, would Google really go that far? State of the Nexus The maker of the current Google Nexus phone, LG Electronics, managed to snag a mere 3% of the global Android market in Q1 2013. This shows that adding high-end hardware and timely Android software updates together doesn’t always result in a killer combination. The Nexus 4 does have a few glaring faults — such as lack of microSD card support and lack of 4G LTE — that might have contributed to its weak sales. But it really should have sold more units and the bottom line is that it didn’t. Google’s end-game is, as we all know, to get Android into the hands of as many people as possible. So it makes sense for it to partner with the current market leader, Samsung. And as for why it was necessary to inject an already existing phone with Nexus DNA instead of delivering a new one with actual Nexus branding (which they’ve already done in the past)? Well, the Galaxy brand is a much bigger brand than Nexus. It has more clout, and might possibly lead to bigger sales which would then translate to Android getting into the hands of more and more people. There’s also the fact that the Galaxy S4 trumps the Nexus 4 in terms of hardware and sheer performance, which makes it a sensible candidate to become the latest Nexus model. The power of the Galaxy Google’s Nexus effort, as a whole, doesn’t appear to have been very successful. On the other hand, Samsung’s Galaxy brand has been a huge success. Only last week, an exec at Samsung declared the Galaxy S4 to be the fastest-selling Samsung handset ever. It’s on track to hit the 10 million unit sales point by the end of this month. And now we have this, a pure Android version of the same smartphone. Can you imagine what will happen next? In all likelihood, the standard Galaxy S4 — with TouchWiz and all — will go on to sell many millions more after the end of May. And all the other people who have been keeping an eye out for a true high-end phone with stock Android can now set their sights on the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, which of course in the end means even more sales for Samsung yet again. The mere existence of the Galaxy S4 Google Edition solves a number of problems all at once. It takes care of the Galaxy S4 storage problem because removing TouchWiz and all the extra software fea

If I said the words “random gun generation”, what game does that make you think of? For many of you gaming folk, it would probably remind you of the triple-A title Borderlands, but after this reading about this new Kickstarter project, you might start associating that phrase with a game called Moon Rift. Moon Rift is an RPG platform shooter game being developed by one Sam Hutcher for Android, iOS, PC and Mac. Although he has been developing games since he was 9, Moon Rift is his first foray into the big leagues, and for something being completely made by one person, it’s a pretty impressive effort. Have a look at one of Moon Rift’s early footage videos here. As you can see from the video, the game features some pretty funky graphics and music, and gameplay looks to fulfil the “platform shooter” tag. The story behind Moon Rift is that a cataclysmic events causes shards of a broken Moon to crash on Earth and cause, well, cataclysm. The levels and guns in the game are created randomly, and also features to possiblity of upgrading both your own abilities and the abilities of your weapons. Sam is asking for a pretty meagre $6,000 to complete his project by November this year , quoting that he’s only asking for the bare minimum to complete Moon Rift and is already almost halfway to his target. Despite the recent controversies over big name projects and the age old dilemma of project delivery, Moon Rift appears to be in good hands and definitely looks to be on its way to successfully being completed. We were lucky enough to catch up with Sam earlier for a short interview: AndroidSPIN: Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into making games Sam: Well I’m 23 years old and I’ve been making games since I was a little kid. I always loved video games so when I was 9 I went to an actual video game making camp, I pretty much haven’t stopped since. Moon Rift will be my first release though and I’m very excited! AndroidSPIN: What’s Moon Rift about and how did you come up with the idea for it? Sam: Moon Rift to me was really just making a game I wanted to play, I wanted to be excited and surprised by it so most of the game is procedurally generated. In fact, the reason it’s a shooter is because guns had the most to offer when it came to random generation. The story focuses around a shattered moon that throws the world in to turmoil, so you have to go and collect the fragments to fix everything. AndroidSPIN: So the gist of Moon Rift is that bits of the Moon explode and crash onto Earth causing all sorts of shenanigans. Is the game going to have a hard and fast linear story, or is it going to be a bit of a world exploring game? Sam: The idea for the story, I’m a little embarrassed to say, was pretty last minute, the game was at a point where it was ready for a campaign but it didn’t have a title! I had a vague Idea of where I wanted the game to go but it wasn’t until then that I hammered out the details. AndroidSPIN: I love your art-style! Are there any games in particular that you’ve drawn inspiration from for your art-style? Sam: I really like the idea of exploration, I always liked having options when playing other titles so choosing what levels and where you go will be a part of the game. The story itself though will be pretty linear, the way it’s working right now is kind of the way Mario collects stars in Mario64. The more fragments you collect, the more areas you’ll have access to. AndroidSPIN: As an Android blog, obviously we’re very interested in the Android version of the game. You’ve mentioned that you’ve adopted a dual-stick control scheme for Moon Rift, but will there be any additional touch-based controls incorporated into the gameplay? Sam: Probably not, I was debating a simple version, akin to a point and click but it doesn’t really fit with the game. It’s weird now that the game i

Just a day after Sony threw developers a bone by posting the Android Open Source Project code for their flagship Xperia Tablet Z, the industrious folks at CyanogenMod have one-upped them with a release of their own. Both a release candidate (RC) and a test build of CyanogenMod ROM 10.1 (Android 4.2) have been posted to the download site, ready and waiting for you to flash to your unlocked tablet. It's no surprise that CyanogenMod is supporting the Xperia Tablet Z; Sony has been historically friendly with the developer community, and in any case, the 1080p tablet runs on the same chipset as the more far-reaching Xperia Z smartphone. Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:CyanogenMod Team At It Again - Nightlies Arrive For Several Xperia Devices New CyanogenMod 10 Monthly Build (M2) Available To Download, Now Compatible With 25 Devices [Update: Galaxy Tab 8.9 Too] Official CM9 Nightlies Arrive For The International Galaxy S III CyanogenMod Announces New Monthly M-Series Releases, Begins By Offering Up CM10 M1 For Select Devices CyanogenMod 10.1 Release Candidate Rolls Out For The Sony Xperia Tablet Z was written by the awesome team at Android Police.