Android

OTA starts rolling for the latest update previously only available with a manual install Well then, here's a nice surprise. Our unlocked Xperia ZL (that's the C6506 model) has just received a 66.1MB OTA update touting improved battery life, user experience and software performance. The update is to version 10.1.1.A.1.253, which is the build that has been available for a couple of days (according to Sony) but only via its desktop companion software. After quickly downloading, the update will install with just one more tap and indicated that it will take "about 9 minutes" to update (which seems about right). You'll still be on Android 4.1.2 and likely won't see any other cosmetic changes from what we can tell. We obviously haven't had enough time to evaluate whether or not Sony's claims of improved battery life and software performance are true, but we'll take any improvements they have for us. If you have an unlocked Xperia ZL, be sure to head into your settings menu and check for the update. More: Sony Xperia ZL Forums; Sony Support

Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 61. Don't forget - the Android Police Podcast's live broadcast is every Thursday at 5PM PST (www.androidpolice.com/podcast). The unedited video version of the podcast can be found here - and will likely include various verbal expletives, technical snafus, tangents, and probably a good 5-10 minutes of pre-podcast banter as we prepare. Watch at your own risk! Subscribe to the Android Police Podcast: RSS Feed iTunes Stitcher Radio The Cast Matthew Smith, Host Bob Severns, Editor, A/V David Ruddock, Co-host Cameron Summerson, Co-host Eric Ravenscraft, Co-host Ron Amadeo, Co-host THE OUTLINE Code Google There are nearly a billion Android devices activated. Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 59: Just As Slimy As The S3 [The Android Police Podcast] Episode 40: From Macaulay Culkin To S Pebble [The Android Police Podcast] Episode 28: Ermahgerd Erpl Mrps! [The Android Police Podcast] Episode 36: I Need Wolf Blitzer Now [The Android Police Podcast] Episode 61: NFC Tramp Stamp was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

A comment by ASUS Global on their Google+ could have hinted at a possible US-friendly ASUS PadFone Infinity to be announced at this year's Computex expo in Taiwan.

Today has been filled with leaks, tips, and news regarding Samsung‘s upcoming devices, and now we have one more. After seeing the Galaxy S 4 Active, reports on the Note III and more we’re now getting some details on their upcoming tablets. According to some new benchmarks the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be powered by an Intel processor. Intel has been working hard to get into the mobile game, but still hasn’t gained much ground even after all their efforts. That could finally be changing though with the new Galaxy Note 3 series from Samsung. We’re expecting 7 and 10-inch models as before, and reports have also stated an 8-inch Tab is coming too. While nothing can be confirmed, it’s possible these will all be powered by an upcoming Intel mobile processor. The new slate has been spotted at the FCC, and we even saw retail packaging at one point but Samsung’s yet to make anything remotely official. Now with these new benchmark reports however, we’re wondering what they have in store. According to GigaOM some new benchmark results from GFXBench and AnTuTu have been spotted with the slate being powered by Intel’s ATOM mobile processor, but we don’t have too many other details at this point. These same tests show the Tab 3 blowing past the Galaxy Tab 2 by massive margins, so this could be a pretty powerful set of tablets. Samsung could be saving their own Exynos 4 Quad and 8-core chips for the Galaxy S 4 and Note 3, while their tablets all come powered by Intel. Maybe this will finally be the push Intel needs to break into the U.S mobile market. SOURCE: GigaOM Story Timeline Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and Note III announcement expected during IFA 2013 Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 announcement expected "in the coming days" Samsung debuts Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 FCC filing appears ahead of May launch

During Google I/O last week, Play Music was updated to rival music streaming services like Pandora and Spotify. Google’s Play Music has proved to be a great service so far, but it isn’t going to appeal to everyone. That said, we’ve taken the liberty of putting together a list of some of the best alternative music streaming apps available on Android. As always, simply jump to the bottom of the article to see the video. doubleTwist with Magic Radio We reviewed Magic Radio in the past and we were very impressed with it. It’s a very well built personalized streaming app. It has number of cool features, including infinite playlists, podcast subscriptions, and the ability to stream music to a variety of devices, such as an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3. If you’re looking for ad-free high quality music streaming, Magic Radio worth taking for a spin. For a mere $3.99 per month you can enjoy Magic Radio’s massive library of 13 million songs. Pandora Pandora shouldn’t sound unfamiliar to you, as the service has been around for a very long time. It’s one of the most successful, well-known, and trusted music streaming apps in the world. It’s not just available on Android either — you can use Pandora on the web and on iOS too. Pandora has an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-use interface. While it’s a bit overdue for a new design, don’t let that stop you from enjoying Pandora’s very diverse library. The free version of the app will require you to listen to ads after every few songs, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s less than you’d hear on your average radio, and the company has to pay the bills somehow. However, if you’d like to get rid of ads and net yourself a handful of other features, Pandora offers a subscription service for $3.99 a month or $36 per year. Songza Songz is a well-known, but unique music streaming service. Unlike the other services on this list, Songza will provide you with a list of precompiled stations to choose from. So, if you’re in the mood for upbeat music while you’re going on a run, you’ll be able to pick a precompiled station that has, well, upbeat music. Unlike Magic Radio, Songza is free of charge. Since you won’t be paying for anything with this music streaming service, you’ll have to deal with the ads, which seem to be pretty out of the way, aside from when you’re choosing a station. Spotify Similar to Pandora, Spotify is another big name in the music streaming industry with a giant library of 20 million tracks. The big downside to Spotify is that it’s only integrated with Facebook. You can’t create an account unless you have a Facebook account. So that’s bad news for those who left Facebook in search of something better. Of course, we’d love it if we saw some Google+ integration with Spotify. Other than that, there’s a pretty nice desktop application to ensure that you can enjoy Spotify anywhere. Spotify has a number of subscription options, including a free one that has ads. There’s a $4.99 option that gets rid of the ads too. Of course, the free one and the $4.99 option only let you listen to music on your laptop or desktop. So if you want to listen to Spotify on all of your devices, you’ll have to opt for the $9.99 premium. uSound Player uSound Player is very different from the list on this list. uSound will let you search and play songs individually, which means you won’t be relying on any precompiled playlists. These songs can be streamed or even downloaded. If you want quick access to them, simply add them to your favorites list. uSound Player is free, so it doesn’t have any kind of radio streaming that you might find in Pandora and Magic Radio. If you’re looking for that type of functionality, it might be best to pass on this one. Of course, since it’s free, there’s really nothing to

Remember all that talk about flexible displays at CES this year? The concept has potentially quite large (mostly good) consequences for the mobile world, but till now, we’ve been waiting for a real example of it. Well, LG has shown off its take with a 5-inch flexible display at SID today and engadget has had a hands-on. The screen is made from plastic, rendering it effectively indestructible even to the clumsiest of owners and this durability appears to extend to impact and torsion use-cases as well. LG claims that they will be releasing a phone by the end of the year with this technology and that the flexible display on this phone  could be larger or smaller than the 5-inch OLED example on show. I don’t know if this will actually be the show-stopper we’ve been anticipating; sure the flexible display is essentially unbreakable, however, what it gains in durability and flexibility it might lose in tactile abilities. One thing is for sure, though, and that it’s a bloody cool screen. Hit the source link for more photos of the screen. What do you think of LG’s new flexible OLED display? Give us your opinion below. Source: engadget

Google made a lot of noise when it first announced the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, a Nexus-ified version of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone. We’ve already talked about why it’s a big deal and what it spells for the future of Google’s Nexus line of handsets. But one thing we still haven’t talked is the big one: is it really worth buying? Or are you better off spending your smartphone money on something else? Over the past week, many readers have commented to answer this exact same question. For some, the move to release the Galaxy S4 Google Edition is a step in the right direction, seen as something that might open the door for more existing flagship handsets from other big name OEMs to get the Nexus treatment. Others see it as entirely unnecessary, and that it somehow takes away from the Nexus name. It’s worth remembering that plain and bloat-free Nexus phones have existed before the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, and they are likely to keep on existing long after it. With that in mind, what is it that really sets this one apart and makes it worth buying? It’s not a Nexus If there is only one thing that you can take away from all of the Galaxy S4 Google Edition noise, it is that it isn’t a Nexus. Although it might as well be the Google Nexus 5, it technically isn’t even a Nexus device. The design is a pretty big indication of this — they kept the standard Galaxy S4 design, which means that the physical Home button right below the display is still in its place. There’s also the matter of the phone’s pricing. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition comes with a $650 USD price tag, which exemplifies pretty much the opposite of what the LG Nexus 4 stood to represent: smart and feature-rich yet very inexpensive. But then again, it’s not a Nexus The Galaxy S4 Google Edition offers support for external storage through a microSD card slot, has a removable battery, and works with 4G LTE. None of these things can be said of a real Nexus — that is, the Nexus 4. The Galaxy S4 is the superior handset hardware-wise in most every way. It is more expensive, as pointed out above, and it isn’t hard to see why because of the hardware features. But in terms of software, it should be on the same level as the Nexus 4. Do all those hardware improvements really make it worth the extra $300? Reasons to buy the Galaxy S4 Google Edition It’s actually more than just a matter of whether or not the extra hardware stuff makes it worth the additional $300. If you buy a Galaxy S4 Google Edition, you will get a fully unlocked GSM phone with an unlocked bootloader, which means that you will be free to use it wherever and however you like. Here’s a list of some of the things that make it worth buying: Stock and bloatware-free Android experience Software updates coming directly from Google itself More user-available internal storage space Full support from Samsung as part of the Galaxy brand It offers all of the above things and at the same time, it also retains the standard Galaxy S4′s best qualities. It has a bigger screen at 5-inches (higher resolution, too), a better camera, a more powerful processor, and longer battery life. If you’re still holding on to the notion that it shouldn’t be priced as highly as it is, consider that it’s priced the same way as other unlocked phones. Reasons not to buy the Galaxy S4 Google Edition And how about disadvantages to buying the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, are there any (besides the higher price tag)? As a matter of fact, there are quite a few. No TouchWiz features Internal storage is still maxed at 16GB Will only be released through T-Mobile and AT&T Only available in the U.S. (for now) It’s also worth pointing out at this point that new handsets with much better hardware than even the powerful Galaxy S4 are expected to come out later this year, such as the Galaxy Note 3, the Optimus G2,

If you love the Samsung Galaxy Note II and have been patiently awaiting additional details or rumors about the upcoming Galaxy Note 3, get excited. Today we have a juicy new report that has just surfaced showing the Note 3 running some benchmarks. More importantly the handset is also running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Head down past the break for more details. Leaked benchmark results are nothing new, and fake benchmark results are just as common. You can simply tweak the build.prop of your device to make it appear to run Android 5.0, or name your smartphone the Google Nexus X and more. However, when we see plain vanilla benchmark results such as what’s been spotted and shown below, our interest is instantly piqued. According to GSMInsider the benchmark we see below is of the unannounced Galaxy Note 3, listed as GT-N7200, and for those unfamiliar the Note II was the GT-N7100. Making this sound like the sequel to the device. The AnTuTu benchmark result reveals an unknown1.6 GHz processor, probably the Octa-core (8 core) from the S4, and if previous rumors are to be believed this could launch with 3GB of RAM. While we started above by mentioning how easy it is to fake these results, it’s worth nothing both the Note II and the GALAXY S 4 were launched with the absolute latest version of Android. Add in the fact that Samsung’s now working closely with Google on their Galaxy S 4 Google Edition, this could all make perfect sense. We’ve seen multiple leaks claiming a 5.9-inch display, and some even increasing to 6.3 and beyond. What we do know is that the device should be announced in late August for IFA 2013, just like the previous models before it. Hopefully it will also feature that unbreakable display technology we’ve been waiting for. SOURCE: GSMInsider Story Timeline Galaxy Note III screen size outed by Samsung Gamepad Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and Note III announcement expected during IFA 2013 Samsung Galaxy Note III to come with unbreakable plastic display Galaxy Note 3 leaks with 5.9-inch display, 8-core, 3GB of RAM [Updated] Galaxy Note 3 tipped to arrive with Samsung's familiar plastic design

Real world examples and practices from the Android design team make this session from Google I/O 2013 a must-watch -- even if you'll never write your own app. See how Android apps should look and act, and see what the folks behind Android say about why they should be this way. Whether you're into design, or just into great looking Android apps this one is a treat. Catch it after the break. read more

Come Thursday, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available on all four major U.S. wireless carriers. To celebrate, we thought we would hand out a whole bunch of cases and accessories for the device from our friends at Spigen.  We reviewed a couple of their cases already – the Ultra Thin Air and GLAS.tR – [...] Contest: Win 1 of 17 Galaxy S4 Cases From Spigen and Droid Life! is a post... Click the post title to continue through and join the conversation!