• android,  google,  tablet,  web os

    HP Announces the Slate 7 Consumer Tablet

    BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 24, 2013 — HP today announced the HP Slate7, an affordable Android Jelly Bean consumer tablet that provides customers with easy access to Google Mobile services.

    With a 7-inch diagonal screen and weighing 13 ounces, the HP Slate7 is an ideal trusted personal companion, featuring a stainless-steel frame and soft black paint in gray or red on the back. It also is the industry’s first tablet to offer embedded Beats Audio, for the best-sounding, richest audio experience available on a tablet.

    The HP Slate7 delivers the Google experience with services like Google Now, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive and Google+ Hangouts for multiperson video chat as well as access to apps and digital content through Google Play.

    “To address the growing interest in tablets among consumers and businesses alike, HP will offer a range of form factors and leverage an array of operating systems,” said Alberto Torres, senior vice president, Mobility Global Business Unit, HP. “Our new HP Slate7 on Android represents a compelling entry point for consumer tablets, while our ground-breaking, business-ready HP ElitePad on Windows® 8 is ideal for enterprises and governments. Both deliver the service and support people expect from HP.”

    The HP Slate7 joins the recently introduced HP Chromebook as part of HP’s push to offer access to the Google experience.

    For $169 dollars, I’d buy one to play with, but the real question I have is: will it run Open webOS?

    Read more on the HP Slate 7 website.

  • android,  galaxy note 8,  google,  samsung

    Samsung Announces the Galaxy Note 8.0

    SEOUL, Korea February 24, 2013 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced the launch of the 8 inch tablet, the GALAXY Note 8.0; a new era of intelligent Note technology set to re-ignite the mid-size tablet category that Samsung established in 2010. Providing unrivalled multimedia performance within a compact one-hand-grip screen, the GALAXY Note 8.0 has the power and advanced technology to evolve the tablet experience and ensure you achieve new levels of efficient multi-tasking while benefitting from superb voice call functionality. Furthermore, the intelligent S Pen brings together the latest innovation and the ease of using a traditional pen and paper; creating a sophisticated mobile experience that will enhance life on the go.
    “Back in 2010 the launch of the first Samsung GALAXY Tab with 7 inch screen opened a new chapter in the mobile industry. Now almost three years later, Samsung continues to evolve the sector that meets the demands of modern life.” said JK Shin, President of the IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.
    “The GALAXY Note 8.0 breaths fresh life into the category as it delivers the perfect fusion of portability and everyday productivity – the result is a pioneering, pocket-sized solution that enhances and enriches our everyday lives, whether at work or play,” added Shin.
    At the core of the GALAXY Note 8.0’s innovative solutions are beneficial functions, including multi-window options to split the portable 8inch screen and allow optimal access to a number of live applications; a new generation of Samsung’s intelligent S Pen with advanced usability; access to a suite of S Note templates and tools that allow you to create, edit, manage and share everyday documents; the Samsung “reading mode” technology to enjoy e books with optimized resolution, video and voice calls. In addition, a suite of exciting new content and services are pre-loaded for users at no additional cost including, for the very first time on Samsung GALAXY tablet, the innovative Flipboard, and Awesome Note.
    A smart diary for life on the go
    Slim and compact enough to become the perfect on-the-go work and play companion, the GALAXY Note 8.0 brings powerful performance and functionality to support even the most demanding of lifestyles. Designed to store and manage your personal and professional data efficiently, the new era device gives users the perfect pocket-sized hands-on organizational tool. Practical S Note templates and S Planner feature help to manage everyday tasks, including meeting notes, to-do lists and even personal diary entries. All content can be entered and updated with the finest of detail thanks to the evolution of the intelligent Samsung S Pen. Enhanced precision is offered with Handwriting-to-Text conversion and advanced Productivity Tools that support formula and shape recognition are now available at the touch of your S Pen.
    New content and services
    GALAXY Note 8.0 is packed with pre-loaded content and apps specifically for the value maximizing, mass multimedia consumer. Upgraded Chat-On provides easy instant messaging and group chatting in multiple formats – images, video, voice, contacts – for simple, enjoyable communication. Awesome Note, an integrated application that is introduced in android tablet for the first time with NOTE 8.0, is capable of unlimited note-taking uses including Memo, Diary and Must-remember lists. With Flipboard, your news, social network and other feeds come together in one stylish, flippable format so you can enjoy all your news and life’s great moments in one place. Flipboard developed a customized version of its application exclusively for Samsung that allows users to take the S Pen’s hover feature and preview article headers beneath Flipboard’s main screen tiles. Finally, Smart Remote, gives you a universal remote control and electronic programming guide allowing you to manage TV and video watching seamlessly.
    A new age of S Pen intelligence
    Optimized to aid personalized creativity, the Samsung S Pen has evolved to increase everyday usability and enhance creation expression. Embedded within the tablet, the S Pen is an extension of the GALAXY Note 8.0. Removing the S Pen from the device will automatically launch innovative features such as Pen Detection that will suggest adapted menus that it thinks you’ll need and Page Buddy, a feature that will intuitively activate your most recently adapted S Note home screen. 
    S Pen technology is now so advanced that it doesn’t even have to touch the screen. With Air View, the S Pen needs only to hover over the screen to see previews of videos, emails, photos and appointments on SPlanner without opening the file or application in full. S Pen Gesture allows images and content to be easily edited and cropped, whilst Paper Artist and Photo Note allow photos to be artistically personalized. 
    In addition, for the very first time in GALAXY NOTE category, you can use S Pen to control the physical menu/back buttons on the device with WACOM technology. 
    Maximizing mass multimedia consumption
    Creative multi-tasking with the GALAXY Note 8.0 is effortless due to innovative Dual View feature, two multi window options that seamlessly allow you to facilitate multi-screen usage. Dual View’s split screen accommodates optimal operation of different apps, such as launching the S Note on the web browser screen and allowing content to be resized, dragged and dropped as required. 
    Multi-tasking is extended to phone calls. Pop Up Note allows you to access S Note at any time to keep track of key actions and Pop Up Video ensures you can keep surfing the web whilst chatting – content windows can be easily resized by pinching to enlarge or reduce.
    Perfect info-tainment partner
    Packed with features to engage, entertain and excite, the GALAXY Note 8.0 supports your practical everyday needs. Reading Mode transforms the GALAXY Note 8.0 into an e-Book reader, provides the optimal reading conditions to ensure you can curl up and enjoy a good book. You can even turn it into a universal remote control with Smart Remote, to seamlessly manage TVs, set-up boxes, DVD & Blu-ray players.

    You can read the full press release on the Samsung Mobile website.

  • android,  google,  google play

    Google Play: App Ecosystem or Security Risk?

    Just saw this over on AppleInsider:

    “[A story run by Australia’s News.com.au] outlined a recent policy shift at the Google Play online software and media store run for Android users, which now forwards developers the personal information of buyers, including their neighborhood and email address. The sharing of customers’ data is not outlined in either Google Play’s Terms of Service or in the company’s privacy statement.”

    Um, it’s stories like this that make me glad I don’t use a Google Android phone as my day-to-day device.

    [Via AppleInsider.com…]

  • charger,  google,  nexus,  pre,  touchstone

    Google Nexus 4 Wireless Charger

    Google has launched a wireless, inductive charger for the Nexus 4 smartphone.

    “Charge your Nexus 4 wirelessly with this Qi inductive charger. Its angled surface provides easy visibility of your phone while charging. This elegant device was designed specifically for your Nexus 4 — no clunky add-ons or accessories needed.”

    The Nexus 4 Wireless Charger can be purchased now, directly from Google at the Play Store.  As indicated by the name, the charger will only work with the Nexus 4 smartphone, which can also be purchased directly from the Google Play store.  The 8GB Nexus 4 will cost you $299, while the 16GB version goes for $349.  Neither phone requires a new service contract.

    I’m glad to see Google releasing this charger for the Nexus 4.  It was one of my favorite features of my Palm Pre back in 2009 and one of the features I long for as a built in option on my Apple iPhone.

    Available in black, the Nexus 4 Wireless Charger looks very similar to Palm’s Touchstone charger for the Palm Pre an other webOS smartphones.

    [Via BGR.com…]

  • android,  emulator,  google,  mac os x,  windows 8

    Run Android Apps on Windows 8, Surface

    Software developer BlueStacks has created an “app player” for Windows and Mac OS X that allows you to run Android phone apps on your Microsoft Surface, Windows PC (beta) and Mac OS X (beta) computers.

    Their “layer cake” emulation module is the glue that holds everything together.

    “Over 5 million people around the world use top apps like Angry Birds Space, Kik Messenger, Where’s My Water and more on their laptops with BlueStacks. It took 10 engineers two years to build the complex “LayerCake” technology that enables this to happen – but you get to experience it free while in beta. You can download App Player now at BlueStacks.com.”

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbE5Vz2QiCY]

    Download App Player from BlueStacks.com.

    [Via BGR.com…]
  • amazon,  android,  app st,  apple,  ea games,  games,  google,  ios

    Real Racing 3 Will Be Free, Multi-platform on Feb 28

    Electronic Arts will be launching Real Racing 3 for free on February 28 for Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets as well as in the Amazon App Store.

    From the Firemonkeys Forums:

    “Today we announced Real Racing 3 will be free. And yes, Real Racing 3 was designed from the ground up to be a free to play experience. We are so excited about this game and wanted it to be accessible to everyone so we didn’t want there to be any barriers to entry. This accessibility is also what drives the awesome new Time Shifted Multiplayer feature, in that you can play competitive multiplayer with anyone any time, and they don’t need to be online with you at the same time.” 

    “At launch we have 46 licensed vehicles covering 3 classes, a 22 car grid, real world tracks, 8 varied event types and 900+ events. This means hundreds of hours of gameplay for free making this one of the most expansive games ever on mobile. We plan to continue to add more free and exciting content with every update.”

    Bloomberg has this to add:

    “Electronic Arts will appeal to a wider audience of casual players by making the “Real Racing 3” multiplayer game free, said Nick Earl, the company’s senior vice president for mobile and social game development.” 

    “Electronic Arts Inc. will offer free downloads of its newest “Real Racing” title as the second- largest U.S. video-game publisher works to draw the increasing number of gamers using mobile devices.”

    The draw, I think, for this game, is the offline multiplayer mode that will allow you to race against your friends at different times.  Might be worth a test drive.  I’m not a big racing game fan, even though I own both Real Racing HD and Real Racing 2 HD.  (I bought them when they were on sale in the iOS App Store.)

  • gmail,  google,  ios,  productivity

    Mailbox Has Landed in the App Store, Reservations Rolling Out

    Earlier today, Orchestra Inc’s new productivity app, Mailbox, landed in the App Store and reservation requests started rolling out to people who have been (digitally) standing in line to get their download and activation.

    Mailbox is an email client for iPhone that integrates task management for a truly unique and refreshing approach to managing your Google Gmail email account and the tasks that need to be taken care of as a result of the email.

    Orchestra describes Mailbox this way:

    “It’s how email on the phone should work: Mailbox checks your email from the cloud and delivers it to your phone with lightning-fast speed. A colorful swipe-based UI makes processing a delight. And unique “snooze buttons” let you put off messages until later.  

    Mailbox makes getting to zero—and staying there—a breeze. After you experience a clean inbox, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.”

    Mailbox will work like you would expect an iOS mail client with a threaded message view that looks clean and easy to read.  The neat twist comes in when you are in the inbox view where you can swipe messages left to right to mark that message as “done”.  Additionally, you can manage messages in your inbox like a to-do list and “tag” messages as tasks to be followed up on later that day, later that evening, tomorrow, someday (my favorite), a date you specific, etc.  Want to see Mailbox in action? Hit up the video at the end of this post.
    This really does seem like a cool way to approach your mailbox, especially if you are a “Getting Things Done” kind of person.
    Mailbox is a free application today.  The plan is to keep the app free and in the future there will be paid set of premium features that you will be able to upgrade to.
    While the app is free to download today, according to Orchestra, clients will be rolled out based on a first come, first served reservation system.  As of about 5:30pm eastern time today, I was 134,171 in line. There was another 215,781 in the queue behind me.
    For more information on Mailbox, head over to the Mailbox website. If you are ready to download Mailbox, and reserve your spot in line, head over to the App Store.

    [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/54553882 w=500&h=281]

  • android,  chrome,  google

    How To Access Hidden Full Screen Web Browsing In Chrome Beta For Android

    When Google announced that it would begin offering a Chrome for Android Beta Channel, we knew that Google would be updating the app regularly and also add new features for users to test. One of the new feature, however, is not official and is well hidden by the Chrome Beta for Android. That feature would be full screen Web browsing and here’s how to enable it.

    [Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net…]

  • android,  apple,  google,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  microsoft,  office,  office mobile

    Microsoft Office Mobile Coming to iOS, Android Early 2013

    The Verge is running a breaking story that Microsoft will be releasing versions of the new Microsoft Mobile suite for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and Google Android devices in early 2013.

    “Microsoft’s Office for iPad, iPhone, and Android is a reality. Although Office Mobile has been rumored and reportedly spotted in the wild, Microsoft has remained persistently quiet about its plans for the product. The Verge has learned through several sources close to Microsoft’s plans that the company will release Office versions for Android and iOS in early 2013.”

    [Via The Verge.com…]