Sunday, June 22, 2014

Samsung Galaxy S5 to get Android 4.4.3 Kitkat update in June?

The latest Android 4.4.3 Kitkat OS update will arrive for the Samsung Galaxy S5 this month and will come to the Galaxy S4 in July.
Reports claimed that Samsung is already gearing up for the imminent roll out of the newest Android OS update to its own line of handsets. The speculations deepened as the update already headed to the Nexus devices particularly in India.
Android Geeks leaked documents that revealed firmware codes: Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F and SM-G900H variants are G900FXXUOBNE6 and G900HXXUOBNE3 respectively, and Galaxy S4 GT-I9506 is I9506XXUQDNE4.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Console OS will let you run Android on a Windows PC or tablet

Toggling between Windows and Android on a single device? That sounds desirable enough maybe, especially the way Intel describes it, but the quest for a practical mixture of green and blue has had its hiccups. (And that's putting it mildly.) A new project has just arrived on Kickstarter, however, which takes a slightly different tack. It's called Console OS, and it's based on the premise that easy-to-use dual OS's don't need to be baked in at the factory. Currently under development by the same people who brought us the similarly-themediConsole.tv, this fork of Android 4.4 is designed to run as either a secondary or standalone OS. It claims to be equally at home in touch-based or mouse n' keyboard environments, with compatibility promised for a bunch of recent devices (including Dell's Venue 8 Pro, Lenovo's Miix 2 and Intel's NUC). What's more, since Console OS runs natively on Intel's x86 architecture, it also promises better performance than any virtualized or emulated solution.

Read more...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Microsoft launches Outlook Web App pre-release for Android, requires KitKat and Office 365 business

Microsoft today launched a pre-release of its Outlook Web App (OWA) for Google’s Android operating system. You can download the beta now from Google Play, if you meet the requirements.
OWA for Android will only work if:
Your device is running Android 4.4 Kit Kat or higher
Your mailbox is running on Office 365 for business (doesn’t include Office 365 personal, Office 365 Home, or Outlook.com).
Your device size is considered “small” or “normal” by Android OS (translation: no phablet or tablet support just yet).
Microsoft says the pre-release is to gather feedback, fix bugs, and generally make sure the app is ready for prime time. Only a few devices can use it now, with more being added “regularly”; in fact, you can vote to have your device added on OWA for devices.

The company is promising that the pre-release for Android lets you do everything you can already do on OWA for iPhone. The main thing it does differently is contact syncing: you can update contacts directly from the device’s address book and the app will make sure the changes apply to your Office 365 mailbox as well.

1Password launches completely redesigned Android app

There's no particularly nice way of saying it: for a long time, 1Password's Android app was one of the ugliest pieces of software on the entire platform. The password management tool has always been directed mostly at iOS and OS X users, so those versions of the app have received steady updates and fresh visual redesigns for several years running. But if you wanted to run 1Password on an Android phone, the experience was drastically different — and not in a good way.
To be clear, Android was never meant to be your primary avenue for using 1Password. Before today's long-in-the-works overhaul, the only option was a reader app that offered view-only access to the things stored in your 1Password vault: logins, accounts, credit cards, and so forth. At its core, the app got the job done if you needed to quickly call up a password on the go, and its developers deserve endless praise for maintaining 1Password's presence on Android for so long. It was a labor of love, and those aren't always pretty. This one was barebones in every sense. You couldn't even add a new password; doing so required turning to the iOS or desktop versions. And the user interface... well, just take a look.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Android 4.4.3 KitKat Update for Moto X, Moto G and Moto E

The Motorola Moto X, Moto G and Moto E will get the newest update for Android KitKat, KitKat 4.4.3,, the global rollout of which is currently underway.
The update will start to roll out to the three Motorola devices with the T-Mobile Moto X unlocked variant, Moto G unlocked variant and Moto E unlocked variant first in line. The Moto G model will be the U.S. online and Brazil retail model while the Moto E update will be for the U.S. and Canada variants.
The  Android 4.4.3 update doesn't have any big changes and improvements. It is known that  the Android 4.4.3 update is just an incremental update that comes with minor bug fixes.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Samsung And AT&T Resume Rollout Of Android 4.4.2 For The Galaxy S4 Active After 6 Week Hiatus

Back in April, owners of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active were treated to the ultimate tease when anupdate to Android 4.4 KitKat began rolling out, only to be put on hold a few days later. The only explanation was a claim that AT&T and Samsung were "looking into potential improvements." It looks like the time has come -again- for the S4 Active to make the jump to KitKat.

The changelog is a bit lighter than the one posted on the previous attempt. Still, the baseband and build numbers are different, so it's safe to assume something has changed. It's possible this was in response to some recently exposed security issues, including the Heartbleed bug, which was only discovered shortly before the rollout began.
This update will eventually auto-install on its own, but if you're eager to get it right now, just hitAbout device > Software update > Check for updates. If you already installed the previous update to 4.4.2, the update should come in at about 67 MB. Otherwise, the download may be as large as 841 MB. Regardless of size, you'll have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to start the download.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Moto G Receiving Android 4.4.3 KitKat OTA Update in India and Other Regions

The Motorola Moto G has according to developer and user reports started receiving the Android 4.4.3 KitKat update over-the-air (OTA), for both its single SIM international variant and dual-SIM India variant.
Motorola had earlier this week announced the start of the roll-out of the Android 4.4.3 KitKat update for its range of Moto E, G and X smartphones.

The good people at the XDA Developers forum have reported the the Android 4.4.3 KitKat OTA update for both Moto G variants is now rolling out, and have noted it to be 169MB in size, and bring the system version to 210.12.32.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Android 4.4.3 rolls out to Google, Motorola devices

Android 4.4.3 KitKat is starting to flavor several devices, at least those under the purview of Google.
As of Tuesday, the latest Android update had begun rolling out to the Nexus 5 phone and the Wi-Fi variant of the Nexus 7, along with the Google Play versions of Samsung's Galaxy S4, the HTC One M7, the HTC One M8, and Sony's Z Ultra, according to Android Police.
The latest KitKat update doesn't offer any major new features but does carry with it an improved dialer with a new interface and new colors designed to be more user-friendly, according to Motorola. The main goal behind the update, though, is to deliver bug fixes, security patches, and overall stability improvements. One major fix aims to resolve the battery drain that occurs as a result of camera use.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Apple’s iOS 8 Borrows Liberally from Android, and That’s Great

Don't call it a rip-off: Apple adds its own imprint on features that Android users have long enjoyed.
Apple gave its fans plenty to swoon over at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, but it also gave its haters a lot to sneer at.

Although Apple introduced each feature as if it was brand new, some of iOS 8′s biggest additions have been available in some form on Google’s Android platform for years.

To wit:

Interactive notifications will let users quickly respond to messages, accept calendar appointments, “Like” Facebook posts and more without having to enter the app itself. Android has offered these kinds of actionable notifications since 2012.

Apple will add a row of word predictions above its software keyboard, just like Google Keyboard for Android. iOS 8 will also support third-party software keyboards, which Android has always allowed.

Read more....

Monday, June 2, 2014

The Master Plan: Why Samsung Is Ditching Android

Today Samsung launched the first Tizen phone and it is a beast. It was a long awaited move. A carefully planned tactical counterstrike against Google GOOGL -1.02% in a bid to jump up the food chain. But Google is not the only target. Microsoft MSFT -0.39%Apple AAPL -0.69%, every smartphone, tablet, smartwatch and smart TV maker are also in Samsung’s sights. And with Tizen Samsung is willing to bet the company on victory .
The bada Story
Have you heard of bada? Unless you come from technology circles, the likely answer is no.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

HP brings Android to laptops with SlateBook PC

Customers have been telling Hewlett-Packard that they want laptops that run Android, so the company is rolling out the SlateBook PC to meet that demand.
The laptop will start at $399 and be available in August.
It has a 14-inch touchscreen and combines the familiar interface of Android on mobile devices “with the productivity of a notebook ... in a breakthrough design,” said Mike Nash, vice president at HP.
“It’s in a very new category. Customers told us they spend a lot of time on mobile applications.” Nash said, adding that he received many questions like “why can’t I access the Android ecosystem from the clamshell form factor?”
The SlateBook PC weighs about 1.7 kilograms, is 16 millimeters thick, has 64GB of storage, 2GB of memory, and a fully charged battery can run for nine hours. Thetouchscreen displays images at 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The laptop runs on an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, which is used in HP’s SlateBook tablets. The Nvidia chip has 72 graphics cores and can handle 4K video playback.