Google Android discussion - Page 27

Google has agreed to add protections around games' in-app purchases to ensure that children won't rack up unwanted charges on their parents' credit cards. The changes come at the request of the European Commission, which has been investigating the ongoing issue of unwanted in-app purchases and is today laying out a series of guidelines that it would like developers and app stores to comply with. Google has said that by the end of September, it will cease to advertise games as "free" when they include in-app purchases and that it will also require payment verification before each purchase. It's unclear if these changes will be exclusive to Europe, however.

On July 17 2014 13:40 icystorage wrote:
http://www.asus.com/Phones/ASUS_ZenFone_5/

what do you guys think about this?

On July 22nd NVIDIA will announce its own device, called SHIELD Tablet. It will be accompanied by wireless controller designed specifically for NVIDIA SHIELD family, meaning you will be able to control either SHIELD tablet or SHIELD console.

SHIELD tablet is 8 inch device with 1920×1200 resolution. It has 2GB RAM, Tegra K1 SoC with 192 CUDA cores, QuadCore 2.2 GHz A15 CPU. Tablet has dual speakers and 5 MPIX ‘selfie’ camera.

The SHIELD tablet will be available in two versions, the cheaper 16GB model costs $299 and it only has WIFI connection. NVIDIA will ask you for $100 more if you decide to get a 32GB model with LTE modem on board. The SHIELD controller costs $59, however I cannot confirm yet if it works with other devices (if it does, my XBOX360 controller will be thrown out of the window in a matter of seconds).

On July 20 2014 10:19 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Wow:



Specs:
+ Show Spoiler +

Source

The rumor is that eventually we're going to see Google Voice merged completely into Hangouts, and that's getting even closer to becoming reality.

To celebrate this occasion, Google is handing out free 90-day Google Music All Access subscriptions to anyone with a Chromecast who isn’t already an All Access member.

New Sony Xperia leaks – believed to be the Xperia Z3 Compact:

Anyway, according to the source, this model is reported to have a 4.6-inch 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, 3GB RAM, 20.7MP Exmor RS rear camera and stereo speakers. Take a pinch of salt with these specs as always.

It’s been expected for long that Samsung would make the Galaxy Note 4 official sometime in September around the time the IFA kicks off in Berlin, and now, the Korean media is offering a concrete date for the phablet’s unveiling. According to The Korea Times, Samsung will take the wraps off the Galaxy Note 4 on September 3, a day before the Galaxy Note 3 went official last year. We’ve been hearing from our own sources about the September 3rd launch date, and according to The Korea Times, Samsung will send invites to the press sometime “soon.”

Samsung is reportedly rushing things a bit in order to combat the iPhone 6, which is expected to bring a break in Apple’s tradition of putting a puny display on their flagship and take the competition to phablets from other manufacturers. This fits in nicely with earlier rumors that the Galaxy Note 4 might become available for purchase a few days before the Galaxy Note 3 did post-announcement, and a quicker launch would indeed be a good move on Samsung’s part if the company intends to do something about the decreasing profits it faced in the second quarter.

Updated Qi wireless charging means your phones won't have to be directly touching the charger

The new Qi v1.2 specification will enable wireless charging through even greater spans than before. The current Qi standard is capable of blasting power wirelessly through up to 7mm of space, but the new standard amps that up to 45mm (1.77 inches). This will make it much easier to embed Qi chargers inside of things (like desks, tables, cars, blocks of cheese, etc).

Qi 1.2 chargers and receivers will naturally be backwards compatible with Qi 1.1 devices, though like USB and Thunderbolt they'll fall back to the lesser of the parts involved. Even so, a Qi 1.1 receiver (i.e. the wireless charging-compatible smartphones you can buy today) will be able to participate in power transfer range of up to 30mm.

Tucked into the end of an otherwise unremarkable promo video for the G3 Beat is a fleeting glance of a new, unannounced variant of LG's latest flagship device. The phone is unapologetically labeled the G3 Stylus. It looks identical to the G3 save for a slightly larger screen and, well, a stylus. This is the first we've heard of this particular phone, though it's hardly a surprising addition to the lineup.

The video glimpse of the G3 Stylus is about three seconds long, but shows a phone with a stylus bay on the top right of the device. It's got the same layout and pseudo-metal build from the G3, with a screen that looks like it's somewhere in the 5.7-6.0-inch range, presumably competing with Samsung's Galaxy Note series. That's about it. The video was first spotted by Chinese technology site TechOrz.com.

The charger is unlike any that we've seen so far for a smartwatch. It appears to cradle the Moto 360 with the watch face pointing outwards – so, still looking at you while its charging – with the power cable plugging in round the back.

The images of the rear of the watch also show off what the retail units will likely look like round there, and there are a few more details than the ones we saw at Google I/O. Nothing out of the ordinary with things like "pedometer" and "water resistant IP67" or indeed that it is stainless steel. Check out the full gallery at the source link below.

It's been a few months since Google accidentally left the Stars bookmark management extension visible in the Chrome App Store. We had been hearing about the development of Stars for some time before that, so its appearance was not entirely surprising. However, Mountain View removed the listing and didn't mention Stars at I/O this year. Now Florian Kiersch has gotten a look at the updated version of Stars. It's clear Google is still making improvements to the service, but it's definitely not done yet.

The phone appears to retain the plastic back with leather-like texture but the sides look similar to the ones on the yet-unannounced Samsung Galaxy Alpha and appear metal.

There's a plastic-like inlay in the side-frame that seems to add more water to the frame being metal rumors. The S Pen holster is etched into the side of the phone and there's a microUSB 3.0 port at the bottom along with a speaker grille.

There's what looks like a hear rate monitor alongside the camera lens on the back. The display of the Galaxy Note 4 should be 5.7" once again but with an improved resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels (QHD).

HTC Nexus 8 leaks galore – Android L, Tegra SoC, and premium metal finish rumored

HTC’s Nexus 8 is expected to arrive with a 64-bit Nvidia Tegra processor, which is likely to be the Tegra K1 with Denver CPU cores, 4GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel rear camera with flash, a 1.6 megapixel front facing camera, and the usual assortment of NFC and GPS connections ... the tablet is expected to come with a 2560×1600 resolution display, and a metal chassis for a more premium finish.

However there is a catch. All this high-end hardware is expected to come with a slightly heftier price tag than the Nexus 7. Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research at IHS Technology, suggests that the Nexus 8 will ship in lower volumes than previous Nexus tablets, and will carry a more premium price tag to support the high-end hardware. It’s doubtful that the HTC Nexus 8 would retail for more than the Samsung Tab S 8.4, which costs $400, but it’s likely that the device will cost more than $300.

Google pushed a design-focused update to the Google Plus app last week, but there was a hidden treat inside – support for casting to the Chromecast.

The feature is quite simple – there is a new casting icon on the right-hand side of the circle selector dropdown. Clicking on it will launch a brief wizard, and after setup, you can begin flipping through your circle’s posts on your TV, either manually or automatically. Images are displayed full screen, with text at the top, and controls for navigating the stream at the bottom.