In a quiet announcement, Google revealed that the Hangouts On Air feature of Google+ will come to an end on September 12. Google users will be steered toward YouTube Live instead.
Google Minus
Google is slowly taking Google+ apart. First, the company took Photos out and made it a separate product. Google+ Photos was then discontinued. Then Hangouts became a separate messaging app. Last year Bradley Horowitz confirmed that there would be a separate “Streams” app as well, but so far that seems to be unknown.
Now, Hangouts on Air, Google’s answer to Skype on the desktop, is now being shut down in favor of YouTube Live. YouTube Live itself seems to be a competitor to Periscope (maybe? I really don’t know).
Click Go live now or enter in details to schedule your event for later
Use Hangouts to broadcast live
Hangouts video chat isn’t entirely disappearing. Google is now favoring Hangouts for business/enterprise users, and Allo and Duo are for everyone else.
If you’re in the market for an e-reader that can do more than just about any other on the market, Samsung and Barnes and Noble may have just released a tablet that will strike your fancy. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A NOOK is a 7″ tablet with Barnes and Noble’s custom skin atop to give users a great book-reading experience.
Specs
7″, 1280 x 800 (216 PPI) display
8GB onboard storage
Micro SD card slot (up to 200GB)
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Main camera: 5MP, Front-facing camera: 2MP
FM Radio
So, this is by no means a powerhouse tablet. In fact, Barnes and Nobles doesn’t even list the processor so we’re going to guess it’s a pretty low spec’ed dual-core chip. You won’t be playing games on this tab, but that’s not what it’s designed for. If you’re looking for a good e-reader that will also run some social apps like Facebook and Twitter, this is in your wheelhouse.
While the tablet only runs Android 5.1, and that is disappointing, you will be interacting more with Barnes and Noble’s custom skin that sits atop Android. Barnes and Noble includes some nice features like profile support, an enhanced digital library, and B&N Readouts, which is designed to replicate the same feeling you get when you’re walking around a bookstore browsing. Readouts will also offer a daily section of quick reads that you can enjoy anywhere.
The Tab A Nook has access to a massive library of over 4 million books and after a software update slated for September, owners will also have access to Nook Audiobooks. The new Audiobooks service will give users access to over 80,000 audiobooks with almost 10,000 free titles. Users will also have access to an extensive collection of comic books, graphic novels, art, photography, travel guides and cookbook titles.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A NOOK will run $139 and is available today in stores and on BN.com. If you currently own a NOOK, you can upgrade to the Tab A NOOK for only $99 by trading in your current device or showing proof of purchase of any NOOK device at any Barnes & Noble store. For a limited time, those upgrading will also receive a free cover for their device valued at $40.
The question that a lot of smartphone and tablet buyers don’t usually think of, but one that is very important to your device’s performance. This is meant to be an informative introduction to GPUs in mobile devices, how to determine whether yours is any good, and why they are important in modern devices at all.
The GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit, is a specialized circuit that focuses on generating images for a device to display. Every modern mobile device has some form of a GPU to aid in generating images and computer graphics and is an essential part of every modern mobile device. Without it, high-performance games and elaborate user interface elements just wouldn’t be possible without seriously taxing your device’s CPU and battery.
The GPU works by rapidly manipulating the memory of a device to quickly and efficiently create images in a frame buffer, or a portion of RAM essentially dedicated to image processing, to output on a display. The GPU is also much better at processing large portions of data in parallel than a CPU and allows the CPU to work less to produce detailed computer graphics.
The GPU is something of an afterthought to most people when it comes to buying a mobile device. Many associate the GPU as a computer thing, with high-end graphics cards being an integral part of gaming PCs and high-powered workstations for decades now. However, mobile devices like your smartphone also contain a GPU as part of the chipset and are used just as often as a desktop grade GPU. Popular phone GPUs are Qualcomm’s Adreno series, the PowerVR series found in Apple phones, and the Nvidia Tegra line. Odds are, one of those three are in your tablet or phone right now.
Source: AnTuTu
A good GPU can usually be identified as having a large memory bus, 64 bit or higher, and a high memory clock speed. This, combined with the number of cores and units for rendering geometry and textures, signify the power of a GPU. For example, the new Nvidia Tegra X1 GPU has 256 cores, and a 64-bit memory bus that runs at 32000 Mhz.
The GPU of your device can also be measured in efficiency and power consumption, based on the size of the chip fabrication process. Any chip that is fabricated at less than 20 nanometers is generally smaller and more efficient than ones that are larger. Unfortunately, much of this information is not explicitly advertised and requires a bit of research but fear not, most if not all of the modern mobile GPUs in phones are more than capable of excellent performance no matter where they come from.
The GPU of your device is so important mainly because it makes games run more efficiently and makes them look better with higher resolution graphics and improved framerates, or how many frames per second the game runs at. Higher framerates mean smoother, faster games with less stutter or freezing due to load on the CPU. The GPUs of modern smartphones are capable of rendering 3D games and a lot of effects easily and this allows developers to make better looking and more complex games as a result. The GPU also aids the CPU in its workload and makes your device more power efficient and faster altogether.
So the next time someone comes at you with their phone attempting to boast it’s superior performance, you can grill them on how many cores their GPU has and feel triumphant as they flounder for the answer. I hope you find this introduction into GPUs helpful and informative.
First announced in July 2016, the Honor 8 is Huawei’s first flagship phone for the U.S. market. It’s finally available today, and brings great features to the Android arena.
The Honor 8 has several features that stand out. First, let’s talk about the camera. It’s a dual-lens system with one RGB and one monochrome sensor. The RGB sensor gives your photos bright, crisp colors while the monochrome sensor gives you sharp details and clarity.
Camera sensors work by capturing light into a grid of photosites, which are tiny cavities on the sensor. Color sensors work by capturing only one of three primary colors (red, green, blue) at each photosite in an alternating pattern called a color filter array (CFA).
A side effect of the CFA is that each pixel can only capture 1/3 of the incoming light, since any color that doesn’t match the pattern is filtered out. For example, any red or blue light that hits a green pixel won’t be recorded.
Additionally, at any given photosite location, one color is directly measure while the other two are inferred. This process of combining photosites to produce full color pixels is called demosaicing.
Unlike a color sensor, a monochrome sensor is able to capture all of the incoming light at each pixel regardless of color. Each pixel gets three times more light since all colors are absorbed. Monochrome sensors therefore don’t need demosaicing. This lets them record an image with a slightly higher resolution.
Body
The Honor 8 has a sleek, double-sided glass body. Beneath the surface, a special 15-layer process is applied to give the phone an “aurora effect” that reflects light. On the back of the Honor 8 is a fingerprint sensor around a button that promises instant access to the phone.
The button offers additional functionality, like clicking to capture a screenshot, double-clicking for the flashlight, and long pressing to launch favored apps. Your fingerprint data is encrypted and stored in the phone, but it’s unclear if it’s software- or hardware-based.
The phone also has a dual-SIM card slot. You can use two SIM cards with it, or one SIM card and one microSD card with support for up to 256GB of external storage.
Power
The phone has an octa-core CPU (4x 2.3 GHz Cortex-A72 & 4x 1.8 GHz Cortex A53). It also has a non-removable 3000mAh battery with Huawei’s proprietary power saving features. The battery includes fast-charge tech to recharge your battery up to 50% in 30 minutes. The phone has 4GB of RAM for high-speed access.
Price & Availability
Pre-ordering begins August 17-September 3 at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo Video and Newegg. You can also pre-order at Honor’s website. The Honor 8 is $399 for the 32GB model and $449 for the 64GB model. It comes in Sapphire Blue, Pearl White and Midnight black.
Best Buy will exclusively offer the Sapphire Blue model for the first 60 days. Customers who pre-order the phone will also get a $50 gift card from participating retailers. Visit Honor’s website for more information.
Finally, those who buy the Honor 8 can register the phone on Honor’s website to qualify for a one-time repair of any accidental screen or back-cover glass damage during the three-month cover period. This coverage period is in addition to the standard 12 month warranty.
Announced in May at Google I/O, Android 7.0 Nougat brings with it a slew of updates and improvements to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Android Marshmallow itself brought great features to Android. Android Nougat brings Android to another level. Let’s dive into each flavor of Android to see the changes that Marshmallow brought, and compare them to the big changes coming in Nougat.
Android Marshmallow
The updates to Android Marshmallow fall under four categories:
Now on Tap
Smarter Batteries
Control & Security
Other
Now on Tap
Now on Tap is an improvement on Google Now. When you’re inside any app, you can hold down the Home button and Now on Tap activates. The system figures out what’s on your screen and provides relevant, contextual information. With this features, Google Now is more integrated into the Android system, instead of being relegated to one app or screen.
Want to go from getting a text about dinner to quickly ordering that dinner? In your text app, activate Now on Tap and see an OpenTable card for the restaurant that your friend mentioned in the text. Tap the card and you’ve got a reservation for two.
Smarter Batteries
With Doze, your Android phone can manage its battery life better. Doze is a set of rules that will automatically put your phone to sleep when you’re not using it. The feature kicks in when your phone is sitting still on the table. It doesn’t work when it’s connected to a charger (but then again, Doze isn’t needed while charging).
Unfortunately, this means that it doesn’t work too well while the phone is in your pocket. Doze doesn’t work if the gyroscope or motion sensors are active. But when it does work, almost every app goes to sleep. You’ll still get notifications from high-priority apps, like phone calls and text messages. This means that Doze isn’t meant to be a replacement for Do Not Disturb mode.
Another new feature of Android Marshmallow is App Standby. While Doze causes your entire phone to sleep while unused, App Standby shuts down apps that haven’t been used in a while. According to Google’s developer page, your phone considers an app “idle” unless one of the following occurs:
The app is launched by the user
The app has a process currently in the foreground (either as an activity or foreground service, or in use by another activity or foreground service)
The app generates a notification that users see on the lock screen or in the notification tray
The user asks for the app to be exempt from optimizations via Settings
Control & Security
Android Marshmallow gives you more control over app permissions. Instead of granting apps all permissions when you install them, you give them permission only if the app requests a certain feature, like accessing the microphone. It’s also easy to revoke permissions for apps, even apps designed for older versions of Android.
A new security feature in Android Marshmallow is system-level support for fingerprint sensors. If your Android phone has a fingerprint sensor, it’s easier to use it to unlock your device and require it for Play Store purchases. Since the API is open to developers, apps like password managers can add support for fingerprints.
Other
That’s not all though. Android Marshmallow has many more features, like Android Pay, adoptable storage, enhanced productivity, new Android Runtime, MIDI support, improvements to system usability, and more. Let’s explore a few of these bigger features.
Android Pay
Android Pay is a new payment system for Android devices. You can add credit/debit cards, loyalty cards and gift cards. In a store, you simply unlock your phone, hold it near a contactless terminal, tap on the screen and pay. At select merchants, your loyalty points and offers will be automatically applied.
Adoptable Storage
With adoptable storage, you can use an SD card and integrate it better with your phone’s native storage. When you format a card as internal storage, it will no longer be removable, so it’s better to add a big 64GB or higher SD card.
The SD card is formatted as a local 128-bit AES encrypted EXT4 drive and mounted as part of the system. Your phone then sets it as preferred storage and you get prompted to transfer your data over to the card. New data that is created will move to the SD card by default.
Android Runtime
Android Marshmallow introduces a new Android runtime called ART. A runtime is basically a way for apps to run on top of the Android OS. ART replaces Dalvik, the old runtime. ART is meant to boost the performance of modern Android phones and makes better use of CPU and memory capacity.
Dalvik is based on JIT (just in time) compilation. This means that when you run an app, the part of the code required for execution is compiled to machine code right at that moment. As you use the app, more code is compiled and cached. The system can reuse the code while the app is running.
ART is different in that it compiles Dalvik bytecode into a system-dependent binary. This means that all of the app’s code is pre-compiled when you install it. The app opens faster, and the native execution of the machine code uses less CPU resources.
Android Nougat
Android 7.0 Nougat brings powerful updates to Android, once again under four main categories:
Performance
Productivity
Security
Other
Performance
Doze gets better in Android Nougat. Now, instead of just putting your phone to sleep, it will completely eliminate background tasks whenever the screen is off. This means that unlike Doze 1.0, it will work when your phone is in your pocket, purse or backpack.
A big leap in graphics comes in the form of Vulkan. Vulkan API gives gaming developers control over the GPU. This gives games better graphics and smooth, fast performance. The Android runtime has also been improved so that app installation will be faster and the compiled code footprint will be smaller.
Seamless Updates
Android N also introduces seamless updates. Inspired by how Chrome OS works, Android Nougat will have two system partitions. One will be online and used for normal system functions. The other will be offline and will be used for updates.
In the future, when you install a new system update, it will happen automatically in the background. The online partition will be running as normal so you can keep using your phone, while the update downloads to the offline partition.
Chrome OS filesystem, but Android N will be similar
Once it’s finished downloading, Android applies the update by simply switching partitions. The offline partition becomes the active partition and the online partition becomes the offline one. The black “Android is updating” screen becomes a thing of the past.
Additionally, the second partition gives you a failsafe in case of a botched update, like this: While running on System A, Android applies an update to System B. On reboot, the bootloader swaps partitions and tries to boot from System B. If it fails, you restart the phone and the bootloader switches back to System A. Android then connects to the internet and tries to fix System B by applying the update again.
Productivity
One of the more visible updates of Android N is the tweaked UI. The notification menu has instant control toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more. Notifications are more space efficient and collapsible. Multiple notifications from the same app are now collapsed into one notification, with the most recent one at the top. Users can also directly reply to certain apps from the notification.
Quick Switch & Multi-Window
Two multitasking updates are Quick Switch and Multi-Window. Quick switch lets you instantly switch back to your last app by double tapping the Recent button. There is also a Clear All button in the Recent menu. Then, when you press the Recent button inside of an app, you can select a second app to open alongside it in a split-screen view. You can drag and drop items between the two open apps.
PIP
With Picture-In-Picture, you can watch a video while using another app. Although it’s aimed more towards the bigger screen of Android TV, it does work on phones and tablets. First used in the YouTube app, it’s now open to all developers. Developers can choose when to trigger PIP mode, like these examples:
Your app can move a video into PIP mode when the user navigates back from the video to browse other content.
Your app can switch a video into PIP mode while a user watches the end of an episode of content. The main screen displays promotional or summary information about the next episode in the series.
Your app can provide a way for users to queue up additional content while they watch a video. The video continues playing in PIP mode while the main screen displays a content selection activity.
Security
Google adds major security enhancements to Android Nougat. With a new Network Security Configuration, app developers can customize network security settings without modifying app code and use a custom Certification Authority. The main features are:
Custom trust anchors: Customize which Certificate Authorities (CA) are trusted for an app’s secure connections. For example, trusting particular self-signed certificates or restricting the set of public CAs that the app trusts.
Debug-only overrides: Safely debug secure connections in an app without added risk to the installed base.
Cleartext traffic opt-out: Protect apps from from accidental usage of cleartext traffic.
Certificate pinning: Restrict an app’s secure connection to particular certificates.
Configuring a custom CA
Media Server Hardening
Android N also brings media server hardening. Google can stop bugs like Stagefright from becoming vulnerabilities by de-privileging and isolating media components from handling untrusted content. Mediaserver now adheres to the principle of least privilege.
Key Attestation
With key attestation, Android developers can make sure that the keys they use are valid and stored in the phone’s hardware-backed keystore, not in software. Only a small number of Android N devices can use hardware-level key attestation though.
File-Level Encyption
In previous versions of Android, the OS used block-level encryption to make the whole partition or storage device encrypted all at once. Now, with file-level encryption, your entire Android device is encrypted. When your Android device boots/reboots, it’s already encrypted. Only certain apps can be run in direct-boot mode.
This means that you can still receive calls and have alarms go off, but to do anything more you’ll have to unlock the phone, which then decrypts it. Once it’s unlocked, file-level encryption means that the user and apps have more control over how data is encrypted.
Scoped Directory Access
With this feature, developers have an easier way to have apps ask users for access to specific directories in external storage. The app won’t need permission for the whole volume or asking for folder permissions. For example, a photo app should only need access to the Photos storage folder and not the Music folder.
Other
A couple of other big features coming to Android N are Daydream VR and new Google Apps – Allo and Duo.
Daydream VR
Daydream is Google’s way of providing a unified platform for Android virtual reality devices. Since VR is resource-intensive, certain phones will be specially built to be “Daydream-ready”. These devices will have low-latency sensors, low persistence display and minimum CPU/GPU performance.
Google also provided a schematic for a Daydream-ready VR headset. When a person uses one of these headsets, they can use a special Daydream controller to interact with virtual reality, instead of a trigger button on the headset itself. Android N will also have a VR Mode to easily switch into virtual reality without needing to take your headset off.
Allo & Duo
Google is releasing two apps to Android N called Allo and Duo. Allo is a messaging app with a built-in AI called Google Assistant. Users will be able to search the web, express themselves in new ways and talk to Google Assistant right within Allo.
New expressive features include stickers, Ink to draw on photos, and changing the size of chat bubbles. Allo also has a Smart Reply feature for quick replies on the go.
Google Assistant is a cross between Google Now and a chatbot. You can actually have a conversation and play games with Assistant. It also provides smart suggestions in your conversations.
For example, if you message your friend about having French food for dinner, the Assistant will proactively suggest French restaurants nearby. You can tap on the suggest to bring up restaurant cards that the other person can see too. Once you make a choice, you’ll see options to contact the restaurant, see Yelp reviews, and find it on a map without ever leaving Allo.
Finally, Allo has an Incognito Mode for end-to-end encryption for your messages. Unfortunately, the smart features of Allo like Assistant and Smart Replies won’t work in Incognito Mode, as they rely on machine learning and natural language processing.
With Duo you get a simplified video calling app. It’s a simple one-to-one app that “takes the complexity out of video calling”. If a call fails to connect or if the video is lagging, Duo will adjust the call quality to changing network conditions.
When bandwidth is limited, Duo will automatically reduce the video resolution to keep the audio going smoothly. Duo can also seamlessly switch between Wi-Fi and cellular connections like Project Fi.
There is a quirky feature called Knock Knock where you can see live video of the person calling you, even before you answer. This lets you know who is calling you at a quick glance and why they want to talk. Like Allo, Duo encrypts all of your video communications end-to-end.
Allo and Duo will be available on iOS as well as Android. Coincidentally, Google released Duo today on both platforms (they were previously unavailable). Download it here: Android | iOS
Conclusion
As you can see, both Android Marshmallow and Android Nougat bring fantastic updates. The release date of Android Nougat is still unknown, but will probably be announced in September or October, alongside the new Nexus phones. All of these new features will push Google and Android into a new era of mobile computing. And with Google Assistant, they are one step closer to the dream of Star Trek-like artificial intelligence.
Look, just because some of you have to go back to school soon, doesn’t mean that the summer is over. Based on some of the recent temperatures we suspect it will be quite a while until things have cooled down and we’re all back inside and bundled up. In other words, there’s still plenty of time left to hit the beach or a backyard pool to cool off.
If you’re looking to spend some time at the lake or some other water-based environment, you’ll want to pack a speaker that’s designed to handle the situation. You’ll want to pack something from Ultimate Ears (UE).
We’ve recently spent some time in the pool “conducting research” on the two speakers from UE. We’re happy to report that both of them handled dips and dunks in stride and kept the tunes coming. There are a few differences between the two, of course, but either of them is a perfect solution for customers looking for a waterproof speaker.
UE Boom 2
The larger of the two, the Boom 2 is a cylindrical speaker that doesn’t occupy as much as space a roll of paper towels. It’s designed to stand upright with power and Bluetooth pairing buttons at the very top. On the front face is where you’ll find the volume buttons.
Interestingly enough, the Boom 2 produces sound that seems to come from all sides of the speaker. Place it front and center on the patio, crank the music, and your guests will be dancing in no time.
Rather than go with a standard black or white color, UE designs the Boom 2 with vibrant colors that seem to pop and stand out. Moreover, it looks and feels like a party starter. The model we tested was Brainfreeze; other options include Tropical, Greenmachine, Cherrybomb, and more.
You might not suspect it by looking at it, but this speaker can withstand water up to one meter for thirty minutes. Yeah, that means your crazy friend can accidentally kick it over into the pool. It also means that a summer shower isn’t going to do anything to it, either.
The internal battery is rated to play back music up to 15 hours, but that depends on how loud you like the tunes. We were highly impressed with the life of the battery as it went all day long and had plenty left over. Charging from empty to full takes roughly 2.5 hours.
UE Roll 2
Shaped like a flying saucer, this speaker is right at home floating in the pool. No, literally, it wants to be in the water with you. Included in the box is a blow-up raft-like accessory which keeps the speaker floating in the pool next to you.
Lightweight and rather unobtrusive, the Roll 2 can go anywhere you go, especially if that means under waterfalls and into lakes. The backside of the speaker features a bungee cord and clasp which allows for easy clamping to your backpack, swimsuit, or handrail. Strong and secure, it keeps the speaker snugly connected to just about anything.
The Roll 2 doesn’t put out quite the powerful sound that the Boom 2 does, but we were impressed nonetheless. Really, when you think about it, you don’t want overpowering music right next to you anyhow. Nevertheless, it’s a robust and clear experience that livens up any atmosphere. You won’t have to go above mid-levels for volume. Much higher and it drowns out conversation.
Like its sibling, the Roll 2 comes in pretty flashy colors which beg for attention. We tried out the Habanero model, but you can also pick up color combos such as Volcano, Sugarplum, and Reef.
Battery comes in at nine hours per charge with a longer 5.5-hour charge time. There’s enough juice to get through a typical shindig, but set aside more time for recharging.
In addition to the waterproof aspect of these two speakers, the UE devices also have a few other tricks up their sleeves. For instance, download the UE app and you’ll be able to pair them for a true stereo sound. Heck, pick any two UE models and they can pump out music together from upwards of 100 feet away from the source. Further, you can connect up to two source devices at the same time.
A recent firmware update for the Boom 2 lets you tap into Google Now and Siri capabilities. Yes, just like you would get from your phone. A quick press of the Bluetooth button lets you switch playlists without getting your Android wet. Oh, and we also love being able to tap the speaker to work with tracks. The internal accelerometer lets users pick up the speaker and tap the top to pause and play music. Nifty.
Where to Buy
The UE Boom 2 retails for $199.99 while the UE Roll 2 comes in about half the price, at $99.99. We are more than happy to recommend either one as you can’t go wrong. You’ll just need to figure out when and where you plan to use it. Go it alone and more intimate with the Roll 2 or double down with the extra features and louder sound of the Boom 2.
Alcatel continues to remind us why it is ranked fourth in the North American mobile market this week with the release of its new TRU smartphone. Like others in its growing Android portfolio, the phone is a low-cost alternative to flagships and high-end models.
The TRU will be released through the prepaid carrier MetroPCS for only $29.00. Surely, when many of you look at this device, you’ll think, “What is $30 really going to get me?” For starters you get a fully capable 4G LTE device with a 5-inch 480p resolution screen.
Other Alcatel Tru specs:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor
8 GB of expandable storage (Add up to 32 GB)
1 GB RAM
5MP main camera with auto-focus and 2MP front facing camera
2000 mAh battery
Android 5.0 Lollipop
The TRU looks to provide a unique experience in the photo department with Polaroid enhanced camera software. This will allow the user to both capture and then edit photos before sharing. Sure, it’s only a 5-megapixel camera, but it’s likely more than enough for the target demographic. And, really, what do you expect for a no-contract phone for less than the price of a decent steak?
While the Alcatel TRU may not compare with other devices being released this week (I’m looking at you Samsung), competition is not the point of this device. Alcatel has created a convincing package and a lot of value at only $29 for its TRU smartphone. Factor in the no long-term contract and service on the T-Mobile network, and you can see why Alcatel is making headway in the US.
Happy Tuesday, you lovelies. Are you loving life as much as I am? I just got the shipping notification for my Galaxy Note 7! I can’t wait to bring you guys my thoughts on the phone, some accessories, and whatever else may pop up! Are you getting a Note 7? After you read the rumors for today, head down to the comments section and let us know whether you’re considering picking one up or why you’re skipping it.
Today we have some news on a Samsung Galaxy phone with a MASSIVE battery and a beautiful new Xiaomi phone that may or may not have bezels. Let’s jump in.
Samsung’s biggest battery ever?
The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro?
FoneArena has been tipped off to what could be the Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro. Back in March Samsung released the Samsung Galaxy A9 in China with some impressive specs. The A9 has a 6″, 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 16MP main camera on the back, and an 8MP front-facing camera.
We could be seeing the Pro version of the phone launching in India soon with that aforementioned 5000mAh battery. FoneArena’s leaker states that phone is “A series pro device with 5000mAh battery” and will cost roughly with the Galaxy A9 does in China.
It’s a bummer to see these phones only released in foreign markets, but they can be imported for a price. The rumored price at launch will be 35000 Indian Rupee (INR) which translate to about $520 at the time of publication. If you’re looking for an alternative to the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy Note 7, but love Samsung phones, this may be one you might consider bringing over to the states.
Xiaomi’s curved Mi Note 2
It seems that curved displays are the way the phone manufacturers are headed. Samsung started the trend with the Galaxy S6 Edge and have continued on with several models featuring curved displays since. There was even a rumor that Samsung would only employ curved displays from here on out in its Galaxy lineup!
Xiaomi appears to be joining the trend if the leaked photos of the Mi Note 2 are any indications. In the picture above you can see that the Mi Note 2’s edges are slightly curved in much the way the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is, rather than the more defined curves of the Galaxy S7 Edge. This leads to phones appearing to have zero bezel, which looks fantastic.
The Mi Note 2 is also said to have 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a 4000mAh battery, and will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821. The curved display will be 5.7″ and come in at a resolution of 2560 x 1440. It’s been about 18 months since we’ve seen the Mi Note debuted so we expect to see the Mi Note 2 hitting shelves (or online stores) soon.
That wraps it up for today! What do you think of Samsung and Xiaomi putting out these new superphones? Would you consider importing one? Let us know down in the comments what you think about these phones or if you plan to pick up the Note 7.
Google announced Allo and Duo way back at I/O 2016 in May. Designed to either simplify or complicate Google’s lineup of messaging services, depending on how you look at it, the new apps were only teased at the time and set for a later release.
Well, the day has now come for Duo.
Duo is a 1 on 1, end-to-end encrypted, video chatting application that aims to make video calls as easy as possible. Duo doesn’t rely on people to sign up with another service, all you need is your telephone number and you’re in. You can reach anyone else using the app based solely on their number. No searching, no scanning your Facebook contacts. It just works.
Not only is it easy to make a video call, it’s easy to maintain that video call once it starts with Duo. The app will automatically adjust video quality based on network quality so you won’t get choppy video on slower networks. Resolution is lowered to keep the framerate high and Duo can switch between WiFi and a cellular network without dropping a call.
One of the standout features during the unveiling at I/O was “Knock Knock”. The feature allows the call recipient to get a live preview of who is initiating the video call. Google says it wants this feature to help calls feel more spontaneous, but we can definitely imagine some hijinks using this feature. And, unfortunately, Knock Knock is an Android-only feature. Sorry iOS friends.
Google began the rollout of Duo today for both Android and iOS and it will be live worldwide in the next few days. Check out the Play Store listing, App Store listing, and Google’s Duo Page for more information. If you’re unable to download it from the Play Store, it is also up on APK Mirror.
LG recently announced that its newest flagship phone – the LG V20 – will have a Quad DAC (digital to analog converter).
What is a DAC?
A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is a type of processor used in digital media players. It converts digital information (binary 1s and 0s) into an analog signal. The signal is sent to your headphones or a headphone amp. An analog signal is “any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity.”
Sounds confusing, but it just means that an audio analog signal is electrical voltage that represents sound waves. Analog signals are smooth and continuous, while digital signals are discrete like a stairway.
A high quality DAC ensures that the music you listen you will sound just as good as when it was first recorded. “Quad” DAC is a proprietary improvement on a regular DAC that LG has developed.
LG says that their Quad DAC can reduce up to 50% of ambient noise levels. Videos taken with the V20 can “capture the roaring sound of waves crashing on a beach or conversations among two individuals at a noisy party.”
Juno Cho, president of LG Electronics said:
“Higher quality audio is simply the natural evolution of the smartphone, as the industry moves toward a more holistic multimedia consumption experience. We’re pleased to continue this long-term partnership with ESS and bring best in class audio to LG V20 users.”
Of course, to get the best listening experience out of the V20, your music will have to be in an uncompressed file format, which would make an entire article in itself. Here’s a great article that explains them.
For now, just know that this new technology will make your LG V20 sound great.
