Phones

HTC One Nexus & Galaxy S4 Nexus Pre-Orders Aren’t Worth It is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.The Samsung Galaxy S4 Nexus and HTC One Nexus have gone up for pre-order on eBay ahead of their arrival on the Google Play Store later this month. However, those in the market for the Galaxy S4 Google Edition or HTC One Google Edition should hold onto their money and simply wait for them to arrive on Google’s online shopping portal. At Google I/O 2013, Google failed to announce a new Nexus 7 or a new version of Android. Instead, the company showed off a brand new Samsung Galaxy S4, a Nexus version of the current model, that will be arriving on June 26th alongside a HTC One Nexus. The device will have many of the same specifications of the current Galaxy S4 including a 5-inch 1080p display and quad-core processor, but the device will also have some drastic differences. The Galaxy S4 Nexus has gone up for pre-order at eBay. The biggest is the inclusion of vanilla Android. Instead of Samsung’s TouchWiz, the Galaxy S4 Nexus will have pure vanilla Android. It will also come with an unlocked bootloader and it will get updates straight from Google, just like the Nexus 4. Same goes for the HTC One Nexus. It will sport similar hardware, but include vanilla Android and updates that come straight from Google rather than an individual carrier. The devices will be touching down later this month with expensive unlocked price tags. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Nexus will cost $650 unlocked while the HTC One Nexus will cost $600. And while they aren’t yet available on Google Play, those looking to shop early or worried about a sell out can order them right now. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Nexus has appeared for pre-order over on eBay with an asking price of $849. That’s $200 more than the price that Google will be charging. That alone makes this pre-order a pre-order worth avoiding. Consumers will also want to take into account that this device isn’t likely to sell out on the Google Play Store. The HTC One Nexus is up for pre-order as well. What this means is that buyers will be paying a $200 premium for a pre-order that doesn’t provide anything other than the ability to order the device early. What this means is that smart consumers will simply skip the pre-order offer and wait for Google to provide the device on June 26th. The HTC One Nexus is also available for $770 which is $170 more expensive than Google’s asking price. Again, interested consumers should be weary of the price. Those who have money to burn can go ahead and pre-order now, but know that both devices will be far cheaper when they arrive later on this month when Google releases them.HTC One Nexus & Galaxy S4 Nexus Pre-Orders Aren’t Worth It is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

iPhone 5S Blueprints Show What Case Makers Think Apple is Planning is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.Apple isn’t talking about the iPhone 5S design yet, but the next best thing is chatter from iPhone case makers who are already planning on an iPhone 5S that looks a lot like the iPhone 5, but with one change that could force anyone upgrading from the iPhone 5 to buy new cases. Last year we shared the iPhone 5 engineering sample which a case maker used to test the fit of new cases, and as we approach that same timeline with the iPhone 5S we are already seeing plans leak out that show what case manufacturers plan to do for the iPhone 5S. These specific iPhone 5S dimensions and specifications aren’t linked up to a specific source, but as we learned in our behind the scenes look at how companies prepare for un-announced Apple products — at a certain point the rumors align enough to begin planning cases. For the iPhone 5S, that time is now, at least at one “well-known third-party manufacturer,” who shared iPhone 5S blueprints with AppleInsider. iPhone 5S blueprint shows the design and dimensions one case maker expects from Apple. A set of images show the dimensions and expected iPhone 5S features, as well as  those for the iPhone Light, which is what this case maker is calling the iPhone Light. The iPhone Light is the rumored budget iPhone that Apple could use to gain a bigger foothold in emerging markets. The leaked iPhone 5S blueprints show the dimensions and thickness of the iPhone 5S and the budget iPhone. It’s not a surprise that the iPhone 5S dimensions are nearly identical to the iPhone 5. The only difference is the listed iPhone 5S thickness which is 7.70mm in the drawing compared to 7.60mm on the iPhone 5, but this may be a rounding error, and not an overall sign that Apple will make the iPhone 5S thicker. A case maker plans for an iPhone 5S with a pill-shaped dual-LED flash that could mean existing iPhone 5 cases don’t fit the iPhone 5S. The images of the back of the iPhone 5S blueprints confirm that case makers are at least planning on an iPhone 5S with a dual-LED flash. The image above shows a pill-shaped flash next to the camera, which is different than the circle flash on the iPhone 5. One common iPhone 5S rumor is a better camera and a new dual-LED flash. Apple offers a recommended keep-out area for the iPhone 5 flash, which is already tight on many cases. This area is supposed to remain clear of the flash to let it work without bouncing off a case. The image below from Apple’s iPhone 5 blueprint outlines the area that needs to stay open, and an example of how close some iPhone 5 cases already come to this area. Apple iPhone 5 blueprints outline safe keep out areas for the flash. With this in mind, existing iPhone 5 cases might not work as well as new ones that leave more room for the flash to fire, especially thicker ones like iPhone 5 battery cases. The cheaper iPhone Light is wider, taller and thicker than the iPhone 5S in these blueprints. If Apple plans to produce a cheaper iPhone it will likely appear in markets outside of the U.S. These are not as detailed as the iPhone blueprints Apple shares with case-makers after announcing a new phone, which show many more measurements and details, but they do offer similar information. This is what an official iPhone 5 blueprint looks like direct from Apple, offering details to case makers. The iPhone 5S is rumored for a fall release, with multiple sources pointing to September. If case makers are planning on iPhone 5S cases based on the current leaks, and with the uptick in iPhone 5S parts leaks, this timing fits past Apple launches. Read: Why You Should Wait for the iPhone 5S Case makers aren’t always spot on with their pre-release iPhone designs, Hard Candy cases made 50,000 iPhone cases for the wrong design in 2011, and incorrectly predicted the launch of the iPad 5 last week. Overall these case makers ke

MarkWhittington writes "Politico reports in a June 18, 2013 story that House Republicans have added a Mars base to its demands for a lunar base in the draft 2013 NASA Authorization bill. Both the Bush-era Constellation program and President Obama space plan envisioned eventual human expeditions to Mars. But if Politico is correct, the new bill will be the first time an official piece of legislation will call for permanent habitation of the Red Planet. The actual legislative language states, 'The [NASA] Administrator shall establish a program to develop a sustained human presence on the Moon and the surface of Mars.'" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It sure doesn’t seem like many people have bought Lytro’s crazy light-field camera (the one that lets you focus your photos after you take them) — but if you’re one of those who did: go plug that thing in. Lytro has just released a firmware update that enables the camera’s dormant WiFi chip, along with an iOS app that lets you wirelessly access and share your photos. Oh, and it makes super trippy animated GIFs! Check out the demo we shot with Lytro’s Director Of Photography, Eric Cheng: (I’ll go ahead and forgive Eric for pronouncing “GIF” with a hard G there at the end. We all know it’s pronounced like “jiff”, despite what Alexia might say.) Even if you own a Lytro, there’s a pretty good chance you didn’t know there was a WiFi chip inside. Surprise! The company hadn’t really mentioned it much until now, as it previously served no purpose. When the FCC’s teardown of the Lytro revealed the chip shortly before the device’s release a year and a half ago, the company responded to inquiries about it with “Connectivity is important to us, and we’re working on it.” The Lytro Mobile app’s main purpose is to serve as an on-the-go interface for uploading, tweaking, and sharing photos from a Lytro camera without having to hook it up to a computer. All of your photos are pulled into the application over the air, where they can be geotagged, refocused and perspective shifted on a screen that’s a good bit more finger-friendly than the relatively tiny one found on the Lytro itself. New photos will show up in the app as you shoot them, with a transfer time of around 5 or 6 seconds. You can also peruse photos shared amongst the Lytro community. The company also confirmed to us that an Android app is on the way, though they declined to pin down a date for it. A WiFi-enabled syncing app for the Mac or PC, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be on their roadmap. Plus, as mentioned, you can make totally crazy looking GIFs. Check out these total dreamboat (*cough*) examples of my big dumb head recording the above video. On the left is the parallax shifting effect, on the right is the foreground/background refocusing effect (And in the center of each is my busted-ass iPhone cable): Once you’re on the new firmware, connecting your Lytro to your iPhone is pretty dang simple: you swipe up on the Lytro’s screen to bring up the taskbar, and hit the little WiFi icon to turn your Lytro into a hotspot. You connect your iPhone to the Lytro’s WiFi signal, launch the app, and you’re set. You can find the free Lytro Mobile app for iOS here.

Analysts haven't been too bullish on BlackBerry recently with one downgrading the rating on its stock to "underperform". But, it's not all bad news for BlackBerry, because a new report is saying that the company's projections for device shipments this year are on the rise, and BlackBerry is now expecting to ship 14 million devices in 2013...

This is a video tutorial on how to unlock your iphone 3g or 3gs on firmware 4.2.1 or 4.1 using redsn0w and ultrasn0w. The tutorial is easy but make sure to follow the steps carefully. Beware updating the baseband will void your warranty from apple so only unlock if its a must. this video is split in to two parts so make sure to click the annotation for the second part. Download redsn0w here: www.mediafire.com or here: blog.iphone-dev.org Download firmware here: www.felixbruns.de please comment rate and subscribe and thumbs up!!Source: hostgator.com

Yesterday, Verizon and @DroidLanding began teasing some sort of augmented reality game called D:COM – DROID Combat that involved warrior robots. In the past, we have seen nothing but contests for either current or upcoming devices from this Twitter account, some of which included augmented reality. So with little information available, other than a leaked [...] Verizon Posts Trailer for New... Click the post title to continue through and join the conversation!

According to a report by Myce.com, Android 4.3 versions JWR66D and JWR53F have been spotted running on Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices. If you break down the build numbers (JWR66D and JWR53F,) this is what they tell us: ‘J’ tells us that they are Jellybean builds from the second quarter of this year ‘R’ and the final number is x-th day in the quarter, in this case the 66th and 53rd. The final character remarks the build of the day, the D is the fourth build, the F is the sixth build of that day. What the ‘W’ means is so far unclear. This means both versions are from the end of May, beginning of June. Myce found traces of these new Android 4.3 builds by monitoring the user agent strings, which is used by browsers to identify themselves.  Thanks to their tracking abilities, they found the following strings with the devices they were running on respectively: JWR66D – Nexus 7 and JWR53F – Nexus 4. source: Myce.com The post New Android 4.3 versions found on Nexus devices appeared first on AndroidGuys.

People first played Scribblenauts on the Nintendo DS and declared: It was good. The series was then ported to consoles, the PC, iOS, and Android via the Amazon Appstore, and it was good. But there was a problem, who uses the Amazon Appstore? While people scratched their heads and terrorized the town in search of such a person, Scribblenauts Remix made its way into the Play Store. And low: It was still good.      Android gamers have been looking forward to this game for quite a while now, since even before its Amazon Appstore debut back in April. Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:[New Games] Scribblenauts Remix And Batman: Arkham City Lockdown Hit The Amazon Appstore Now, Google Play This Spring Amazon Releases Appstore SDK And In-App Purchasing API Developer ShiftyJelly: Amazon Appstore "Rotten To The Core" Amazon Appstore Updated To v2.2, Finally Lets You Tweak And Disable Notifications Scribblenauts Remix Finally Draws Its Way Into The Play Store, Available For $0.99 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

HTC Butterfly S Could Fly Past Verizon is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.The HTC Butterfly S made its debut today showcasing some powerhouse features. However, we didn’t hear about any carriers and from the looks of things, a Verizon HTC Butterfly S may not be in the cards as a noted HTC leakster claims that the carrier currently has no plans to offer the device meaning consumers may have to wait for a Droid DNA 2. Earlier today, HTC finally debuted its long-rumored HTC Butterfly S, a follow up to the original HTC Butterfly that emerged last year and found its way to Verizon Wireless as the Droid DNA, a device that is seemingly being phased out in favor of the new HTC One. The HTC Butterfly S may not be coming to Verizon. The device is an evolution from its successor, mixing old with the new. Specs include a faster Snapdragon 600 processor, a new Ultrapixel camera, and BoomSound front-facing stereo speakers which are all features found on the smaller HTC One. The device will also have 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage, and a massive 3200 mAh battery that is non-removable. It does, however, keep the same 5-inch 1080p display that was found on the original HTC Butterfly along with a design that appears to be a bit of an improvement over the original HTC Butterfly’s. @lange544 At the moment they don’t have such plans… — LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) June 19, 2013 Unfortunately, we haven’t heard much in terms of carriers though there are some rumors circling about. One suggests that the HTC Butterfly S will be heading to Sprint. If that’s true, the Now Network did not make that known today. We have speculated that it could be Sprint’s addition to the EVO family of smartphones though that remains unconfirmed. One place where it isn’t thought to be heading is Verizon Wireless, the carrier that hosted the original HTC Butterfly. According to @LLabTooFeR, the carrier currently has no plans to offer the HTC Butterfly S. That of course could change but at this point, Verizon customers interested in this device should start tempering their expectations.HTC Butterfly S Could Fly Past Verizon is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.