‘Nina’ takes voice assistants a step further

Nuance, the developer behind Dragon Naturally Speaking and many other voice operated technologies in consumer electronics, has created a voice-activated personal assistant which uses biometrics to uniquely identify a specific user.

This means that you’ll be able to tell your phone to do all sorts of things requiring secure identification by simply talking to your phone.
Unlike OS and device specific solutions such as Siri and S Voice, Nuance is launching a mobile SDK for Android and iOS, which developers can use to make their third party applications voice-operated.
Check out the video of Nina in action:

Samsung officially announces the Galaxy Note 10.1

After sending out a pretty obvious invite about its special event on August 15, Samsung has just officially announced the Galaxy Note 10.1.

This is the second appearance of the Galaxy Note 10.1 after it was returned to the R&D center for a specs update and now the tablet is as ready for action as it could be. It comes with Samsung's very own Exynos 4412 chipset with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, Mali 400MP GPU and 2GB of RAM.
As its name suggests, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with 10.1" screen, which as usual for the company's slates is of the PLS TFT variety. It features a resolution of 1280x800 pixels, making for a pixel density of 149ppi.

 

The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, all of which feature a stylus dubbed the S Pen. This time around though, the tablet offers a slot for the S Pen, instead of making you carry it separately.
Just like the original Galaxy Note, the 10.1 comes with some exclusive apps to take advantage of the stylus, including S Note, S Planner, Crayon physics, Adobe® Photoshop® Touch, and Polaris Office. There's also palm rejection support, so you won't hit any buttons by accident with your palm when drawing with the S Pen.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with a 5MP main snapper with LED flash and a 1.9MP font-facing camera for video conferencing. There's also a microSD card slot, and on the 3G models - a SIM card slot, as well.
Samsung also released a rather lengthy introductory video of the Galaxy Note 10.1 Here it is.

Steve Jobs was allegedly “very receptive” to the idea about a 7-inch iPad

Well, this comes as a personal surprise to me. After publicly mocking 7-inch slates at one of Apple’s earning calls, it seems Steve Jobs after all, approved of the smaller-sized tablets. This came out as part of the evidence, presented in court in the heated Apple vs. Samsung trial.

I’ve long dismissed all rumors of a 7-inch iPad Mini (iNotepad or whatever else it may be called), based solely on this past public statement by Steve Jobs that 7-inchers were no good. Period.
Well, it seems that the good old sport might have had a change of heart in his last months. We don’t know for sure whether a real product had come up out of this, but I’m already starting to think that we may as well see an iPad Mini announced this year, as plenty of old and recent rumors suggest.
Thanks to TheVerge.com, who have meticulously been documenting the high-profile hearings in the Apple/Samsung trial, we now know that the story went somewhere along these lines.
In January 2011, Apple’s VP Eddy Cue (pictured above) stumbled upon an article, written by a user, who picked a 7-inch Galaxy Tab after ditching his iPad. The article carefully examined all the advantages the 7-incher had over its bigger competitor.
Cue forwarded this article to Apple’s executive team — Tim Cook, Scott Forstall, and Phil Schiller — along with a note saying “I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one.” Eddy Cue even commented that he had tried a 7-inch Galaxy tablet and “found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7-inch. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable.”
Most importantly, he also explained that he’d “expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time.” You can read the original email here.
An interesting fact is that it was the Samsung legal team themselves who came up with this email as evidence (among many others) and presented it during the Scott Forstall hearing.
There you have it! Internally, Apple’s management had warmed up to 7-inchers so there’s no more grounds for us to deny the persistent rumors. So what do you say, will we see a 7.85-inch iPad this year or not?

The iPhone was born off the corner of a concept iPad's screen

The Apple/Samsung court battle is in its full swing and this week saw Apple's VPs Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall take the stand. Lots of intriguing information came out of their testimonies. To our greatest surprise not only was Apple already working on an iPad prototype when they went about conceiving the iPhone, but the first concept iPhone UI was born in the bottom corner of what was back then the iPad's prototype touchscreen.
Scott Forstall is Senior VP of iOS Software at Apple and he is one of the people responsible for the creation of all generations of iPhones, including the very first one.
In his testimony at the Apple vs. Samsung trial earlier this week, Forstall went on to explain how the first iPhone was born.

Reportedly, the engineers at Apple have been working on the iPad concept from as early as 2003 - that's fours years before the first iPhone was announced and seven years before the iPad itself was announced and released. Back then, they had set off to build "a beautiful tablet without a keyboard, without a hinge, where you have to fold it like a laptop."

In 2004, Apple's top brass was having a casual conversation about phones and it came out they all hated their phones. So, in Scott Forstall's words, that got them wondering...

"Could we use the technology we were doing with touch that we'd been prototyping for this tablet, and could we use that for a phone... So we took that tablet and took a small scrolling list... We built a small corner of it as a list of contacts.... You could tap on the contact, it would slide over and show you the information... It was just amazing. We realized that a touchscreen of the size that would fit in your pocket would be perfect for these phones."

Apple did not invent the touchscreen phone by all means. Windows Mobile phones had touchscreens way before that. LG even claims the title for the first feature phone with a capacitive touchscreen - the LG Prada, announced days after the first iPhone but released way before the iPhone made it to the market.
Yes, the iPhone was not the first touchscreen phone around but it surely revolutionized the industry, eventually leading to the demise of physical keys and keyboards. And the most amazing thing is that not only was it born off a prototype tablet, but it was the iPhone eco-system that paved the way for the iPad, which along with other tablets is now revolutionizing the personal computing as we know it.

Chinese scientists develop chemical to make fingerprints glow

Chinese scientists have used a specially developed chemical formula in conjunction with an electrical charge to make fingerprints glow, allowing observers to distinguish a much higher level of detail than was previously possible. The technique, detailed in a paper published in the journal Angewandte Chemie last month, could aid forensic investigators in matching partial or smudged fingerprints to suspects, as well as stimulating the development of more accurate and reliable biometric security systems.
Developed by researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, the method takes advantage of a phenomenon known as electrochemiluminescence, in which application of an electrical charge causes a chemical formula to enter an "excited state," with the formula returning to its ordinary state by expelling the surplus energy as light. In this case, the fingerprint is first transferred to a metallic plate serving as an electrode, before being coated in the chemical solution. The fatty deposits that make up the print repel the solution, so when an electrical current is applied it shows up as a highly detailed negative.
Crucially, the resulting image is well-suited to being captured by CCD camera sensors, potentially making it much simpler for governments, police, and other law enforcement agencies to keep high-resolution digital fingerprint archives.

Xperia Ice Bean for Rooted Xperia Arc S

This is a ROM created to give the Xperia Arc S a nice Jelly Bean feel to it. It is extremely fast and has a very smooth UI

Although this ROM isn't a Jelly Bean ROM, there are many ported mods and apps that are fully functional on it. They include,

1. Google now
2. Jelly Bean Launcher
3. Jelly Bean Wallpapers
4. Boot Animations
5. Search Bar   etc.

The developer was also kind enough to port mods from the Sony Xperia S as well add lots of tweaks and mods to make this ROM very fast and almost completely bug free.
The developer of Ice Bean also advises that this ROM works best on unlocked bootloaders.

The other good news is that the developer plans to bring in new updates very soon.

This ROM works on almost all ICS kernels.

For Mods/ Downloads/FAQs/Video Reviews/and many more

Click

XDA

Finally Quad-core Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 hows what its capable of

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 got off to a rocky start after its official announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, after which it returned to the company’s R&D drawing board for a specs overhaul.

 And several months later, here it is – the brand new Galaxy Note 10.1 with more powerful innards ready to take over the tablet scene. Or so it thinks.
Here’s a quick rundown. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is powered by the same Exynos 4412 chipset with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor and Mali-400MP GPU found in the Galaxy S III. And thanks to the 2GB of RAM, you get a truly multitasking-ready device.
However, the news aren’t so rosy in terms of screen. It’s a 10.1-inch PLS TFT screen with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels. Samsung are not using a Super AMOLED panel and the resolution is nowhere near FullHD.
Despite this little nitpick, the Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with a ton of useful features such as a microSD card slot, LED flash for the 5MP camera and 3G connectivity. At the front, there’s a 1.9MP camera for video chatting.
But the pièce de résistance of the Galaxy Note 10.1 is its special stylus called S Pen. With its help you can quickly write down notes, draw a funny picture or even make advanced modifications to a photo.

The latter is done thanks to the Adobe Photoshop Touch app, which comes for free on the tablet. It takes the Galaxy Note 10.1 to a whole new level, allowing professional as well as regular users to make photo adjustments while on the go.
Measuring 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.9 mm and weighing 583 grams, the tablet is going to find a comfortable place in nearly every bag and you won’t break any sweat carrying it around.
Samsung has thrown in almost everything its got in terms of software. The Galaxy Note 10.1 runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz 4.0 sprinkled on top. It adds really useful features to the stock Android experience like Mini apps, useful widgets and a few essential Samsung apps like S Memo, S Chat and more.
Check out our Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 hands-on video below.

BLU announces the VIVO 4.3 dual-core, dual-SIM smartphone

Following the (large) footsteps of the Studio 5.3 Android smartphone BLU Products announced the VIVO 4.3. The Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone offers dual-core, dual-SIM functionality, to go with good looks and low price tag.

The BLU VIVO 4.3 features a dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU and MediaTek MT6577 chipset. The GPU is PowerVR SGX531. There's a gig of RAM and 4GB of built-in memory which can be further expanded via microSD card.
One of the most pleasant surprises in the BLU VIVO 4.3's spec sheet is the presence of a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display with WVGA resolution. An 8MP camera with 720p video recording, 1600mAh battery and customizable Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich complete the highlights of the device's spec sheet.
The BLU VIVO 4.3 will hit the shelves of major US retailers in Spetember, priced at the sweet $249.99 without contract. Latin America and parts of Asia will soon follow.

AT&T HTC One X gets updated to Android 4.0.4

The AT&T version of the HTC One X is getting a new software update today that changes the software number to 2.20.502.7 and the Android version number to 4.0.4.
As of now, only one notable change is known that is brought about by this update and that is the change in behavior of the Recent Apps key on the phone.
You may be aware of the annoying problem on the HTC One X and the One S where, due to the lack of a hardware menu button, the OS would display a soft menu key at the bottom of the screen in apps that have not been optimized for the Holo theme. On the Galaxy Nexus this was not a big issue as there were already three keys down there but the One X has none on the display itself and this the menu key would be the only one there, taking up precious display real estate.
With this latest update, HTC now allows you to use the Recent Appe button as a menu button. You have three choices now. You can let it open the recent apps as it did before, make it open the application menu with a press and the recent apps list with a long press or vice versa.
It's a bit of a wonder why it took HTC so long to implement this, especially when they had a similar system on the One V. The One V did not offer a choice of options like this but it automatically hid the menu in every app and let you show menu options with a long press of the Recent Apps key.
Anyway, it's good that this feature was finally implemented as it was a major pet peeve for a lot of people. Hopefully, the international model will get this soon.

August 29 event confirmed to be a Galaxy Note 2 launch event

It was just a while ago that we reported that Samsung has been sending out invites for their Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 event in Berlin.

What was unknown in this mystery invite, however, was which product will be announced at this event, although it was generally speculated it would be the successor to the Galaxy Note.
Well, we don't have to speculate any more as a Samsung representative has revealed to Reuters that the next Galaxy Note will be announced at this event.
It seems strange that Samsung would be announcing an event so soon after their planned August 15 event, which was previously believed to be the Galaxy Note II event but now seems like would showcase the Galaxy Note 10.1, which has been waiting for an official launch for a long time now.
It's just a matter of couple of weeks now. We'll see how it goes and you can be sure to read it all here when it does.

First-gen Snapdragon devices not getting CyanogenMod’s IceCream Sandwich

The popular CyanogenMod ROM modding scene has officially dropped support for a wide array of devices running on the dated Snapdragon S1 chipset.

This means that devices running on the Qualcomm QSD8x50, MSM7x25, MSM7x27 and MSM7x27T SoCs will not see any builds beyond Cyanogen 7.x, which is based on Gingerbread. Or in plain words, no Ice Cream Sandwich by CyanogenMod.
The more popular devices which fall into the above criteria include the Nexus One, HTC Desire, HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Galaxy Ace and the LG Optimus One.
The Cyanogen team cite a lack of media libraries, compatible with ICS, as well as the workarounds required to make Android 4.x+ work do not result in a smooth-running experience. Simply put, the hardware just isn’t there.
The full list of devices dropped is:

• Google Nexus One
• HTC Aria
• HTC Desire
• HTC Droid Eris
• HTC Droid Incredible
• HTC Evo 4G
• HTC Hero
• HTC Hero CDMA
• HTC Legend
• HTC MyTouch 3G
• HTC Wildfire
• HTC Tattoo
• Huawei IDEOS
• Huawei U8220
• LG Optimus Chic
• LG Optimus One
• LG Optimus Hub
• LG Optimus Pro
• Motorola BACKFLIP
• Motorola CLIQ
• Samsung Galaxy Ace
• Samsung Galaxy Fit
• Samsung Galaxy Mini
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
• ZTE Blade

If you own one of the above devices, not all hope is lost, as the team promises to revisit the topic if a solution presents itself that allows the devices to pass the Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS), when running ICS. Meanwhile, you can try many of the experimental builds floating around xda-developers.com, although the CyanogenMod team recommends against this because such builds usually fail CTS, and as such may have issues with various applications.

EXCLUSIVE: Xperia SL poses for the camera, confirms known specs

We've seen the Xperia SL in leaked press shots showing its various colors, but now an anonymous tipster hooked us with the first live photos of the device.

Posing in its silver uniform, the Xperia SL (LT26ii) is known to be a slightly bumped version of the Xperia S. It rocks the same MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset, but with a processor overclocked to 1.7GHz instead of 1.5GHz.

Other than that, our tipster tells us its the same as the Xperia S. This means 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, sans microSD card slot. At the front, there's a 4.3-inch LCD display with HD resolution and the funky illuminated strip above which are the three Android keys (Back, Home, Options).
At the back, there's a 12MP snapper with LED flash. On the front, there is the same 1.3MP camera for videocalls. Happily, the Xperia SL will ship with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and not Gingerbread, as the Xperia S did.

We'll learn more information about the Xperia SL on Sony's pre-IFA event in Berlin on August 29th. There, the LT29i Hayabusa is also expected to make an appearance.
Thanks, Anonymous!

Source :

Samsung Epic 4G Touch receives Ice Cream Sandwich

Users of the Samsung Galaxy S II for Sprint, also known as the Samsung Epic 4G Touch, are reporting that they are receiving an update to Android ICS.
There have been reports of the IMM761.FF18 build being pushed to users for a few days now, and it seems there are enough people getting it to make the whole thing seem like a legit carrier-wide update.

If you own a Epic 4G Touch and haven't received an update notification yet, check for updates from your phones' settings menu.
The ICS build should improve performance and stability, as well as add improved multitasking features. Remember to turn on your WiFi connection for any OTA updates.

RIM unveils the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook, to hit Canada first

A new BlackBerry PlayBook has become official with some upgraded specs in tow.
Design-wise, RIM's slate looks the same and is running on the same Playbook OS as usual. It does, however, add LTE connectivity, a new dual-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz (previously 1GHz). The first country to get the 4G PlayBook will be Canada through Bell, Rogers and TELUS on August 9.

After Canada additional variants of the updated PlayBook will hit US, Europe, South Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The LTE-enabled BlackBerry Playbook will only be available in a 32GB variety. Despite the specs bump, we really don't get why RIM is still fixated on continuing with the Playbook fiasco.

Nexus Q: It’s a sphere!

It's great to be able to take your entertainment with you wherever you go, but sometimes you want to ditch the headphones and enjoy music with friends and family. So we’re introducing Nexus Q, which combines the power of Android and Google Play to easily stream music and video in your home—all controlled by an Android phone or tablet. Designed and engineered by Google, Nexus Q is a small sphere that plugs into the best speakers and TV in your house. It’s the first-ever social streaming device—like a cloud-connected jukebox where everyone brings their own music to the party. Available first in the U.S., you can preorder Nexus Q today from Google Play for $299, and it will ship mid-July.

If you own one of the 400 million Android devices out there, you already know that it’s much more than simply a phone or tablet. It’s your connection to the best of Google—all of your stuff and entertainment, everywhere you go. Now you have a new version of Android, more entertainment and a growing portfolio of Nexus devices to choose from—all available in Google Play. The playground is open.

Apple’s iPad dominates tablet market with record-breaking quarter, according to IDC

While Android was the undisputed ruler in the smartphone world, it’s a different story when it comes to tablets – Apple’s iPad had a record quarter and accounted for 68.2% of tablet shipments during Q2 of this year.

For comparison, the biggest maker of Android tablets is Samsung and their share is just 9.6%.
Going back to Apple for a moment, they beat their record Q4 2011 quarter despite shipments in mature markets losing some of their momentum, according to IDC. The other markets picked up the slack.
Samsung’s shipments grew by 117.6% and solidified its second place, even though they’ve got a long, long way to go before catching up with Apple. Amazon and their single Kindle Fire tablet are doing pretty good for themselves too, snatching a 5% share of the market – this is especially impressive because the Kindle Fire was only introduced in Q4 of last year.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Media Tablet Shipments, Second Quarter 2012

Vendor	2Q12 Shipments	Market Share	2Q11 Shipments	Market Share	2Q12/2Q11 Growth
1. Apple	17,042	68.2%	9,248	61.5%	84.3%
2. Samsung	2,391	9.6%	1,099	7.3%	117.6%
3. Amazon.com	1,252	5.0%	0	NA	NA
4. ASUS	855	3.4%	397	2.6%	115.5%
5. Acer	385	1.5%	629	4.2%	-38.7%
Others	3,067	12.3%	3,668	24.4%	-16.4%
All Vendors	24,994	100%	15,042	100%	66.2%

ASUS more than doubled their shipments and even though they’re in fourth place with a 3.4% market share, they can expect better results in the third quarter as IDC’s numbers don’t reflect sales of the Google Nexus 7 tablet made by ASUS.
Acer completes the Top 5 tablet maker list – they used to be ahead of ASUS, but have dropped by almost 40% year on year, and will probably join that dreaded Others group unless they do something drastic in the coming year.
The tablet market as a whole saw healthy growth – about 25 million tablets were shipped worldwide in Q2 this year, up 66.2% year on year and 33.6% quarter on quarter.

Samsung starts 64GB NAND memory mass production for mobiles

The more internal memory mobile devices have, the better. But speed is just as important as capacity and Samsung are betting on both with its latest NAND memory chips.

 Currently entering in mass production, the new high-speed embedded memory (eMMC) flash chips will be offered in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB varieties. They'll be manufactured under the eMMC Pro Class 1500 specification, which boasts some... well, ballistic speeds.
Those flash chips are rated for speeds of 140MB/s read transfer and 50MB/s write transfer, which has never been achieved before. They are result of an engineering mix of a 64-gigabit NAND with a toggle DDR2.0 interface, all built using the 20nm manufacturing process. These chips are also the first of their kind to support the JEDEC e-MMC v4.5 specification.
Naturally, it'll be put into future premium smartphones and tablets. If we had to guess, we'd say the company's Galaxy Note 2 may be the first device to rock the new storage chip, but only time will tell.

Motorola announces Electrify 2 and Defy XT for U.S. Cellular

Motorola has announce two new Android smartphones - the Electrify 2 and the Defy XT - for the U.S. Cellular in the, well, US.

The Electrify is the successor to last year's Electrify, also known as the Photon 4G, but it is closer to the current Atrix HD. The two look a lot similar but the Electrify 2 cuts down on certain things. For example, it has a 4.3-inch qHD display compared to the 4.5-inch HD display on the Atrix HD. It also get a slower 1.2GHz dual-core processor (no specific ship mentioned but it's probably the OMAP 4430 from the RAZR).
Other features include an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, 1GB RAM, 8GB built-in memory, 8.4mm thickness, Keblar back, splash resistant body, Android 4.0 and 1,780mAh battery.
The Motorola Electrify 2 is now on sale for $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate. At that price you'd have to wonder why you would buy a phone that has less features than the Atrix HD instead of the Atrix HD itself, which sells for the same price on AT&T.
Moving on to the Defy XT, this one gets a 3.7-inch “high resolution” display, 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera, FWVGA (854 x 480) video recording, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM and the same rugged body that the Defy series is known for. Unfortunately, this phone will be launching with Android 2.3, Gingerbread, which is simply unacceptable today.
The Motorola Defy XT will go on sale tomorrow, although no price information is available at the moment.

Nokia's marketing stint for the Lumia 900 involves nail polish

Nokia has decided to boost the appeal of its Lumia 900 flagship in the United States in a rather unusual fashion. The Finnish giant has partnered with Duality Cosmetics to release its own branded nail polish, which matches the color of the pink Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T.

The campaign also included one-day only salons in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Denver, where those who are interested will be able to check out the pink Lumia 900 while getting their manicure done by a celebrity nail stylist. You can find out all the info on the official Facebook page of Nokia USA.
Naturally, Nokia have released a promo video to mark the occasion. Here it goes.

With Windows Phone 8 right around the corner and the Nokia Lumia 900 not scheduled for an update, it is understandable that the company is trying to move as many devices as possible. We can't wait to see how this marketing push turns out.

Samsung reportedly squeezed out 350 ppi out of an OLED display panel

It looks like Samsung is about to answer all critics of the PenTile natured displays of the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy S III in an adequate fashion. The Korean giant has reportedly squeezed out the jaw dropping 350ppi out of an AMOLED display with RGB stripe.

 The feat has been accomplished in laboratory test, via the application of fine metal mask technology, which is a departure of the, currently used by Samsung, laser-induced thermal imaging method.
Naturally, we hope that the new tech makes it to production as soon as possible. After all the possibility of 350ppi display sporting Samsung smartphone will surely be tempting to many.