Google+ for Android updated with Auto photo editing features, improved location sharing, & related hashtags

Jordan Kahn

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Following showing off a redesigned three column version of Google+ for the web and new “Auto Awesome” photo editing features at I/O, Google is today bringing some of the new features to its Google+ for Android app.

The updated app, which should be hitting Google Play some time today, will include a number of new photo editing features including the new Auto Awesome effects, auto backup for photos, and other photo editing tools from Snapseed:

  • Auto Backup, to safely and privately store your photos as you snap them
  • Auto Highlight, to browse a selection of top shots from every set of photos you add
  • Auto Enhance, to make subtle improvements to the people and places in your images, automatically
  • Auto Awesome, to create fun new versions of your pictures (like animations and panoramas) based on the photos in your library

The updated Google+ for Android app will also offer improved location sharing with a new Locations section that lets you view your friends’ current locations on a map.

Lastly, after updating you’ll have the ability to access Google’s new intelligent related hashtags feature:

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LG claims 5-inch flexible, plastic phone display is unbreakable

Ben Lovejoy

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It’s always a dangerous claim to make, especially around tech journalists who like nothing better than to put such claims to the test. Sonim probably still regrets the time they invited BBC journalist Dan Simmons to try breaking their ‘unbreakable phone’: he did, and he did.

But LG is indeed claiming that its latest 5-inch OLED phone display – which looks similar to that in the Optimus G Pro – is not only flexible, but also unbreakable … Read more

Dell’s $100 thumb-sized Android PC to ship in July to developers, August-ish to consumers

Ben Lovejoy

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Project Orphelia, a thumb-sized drive that turns any display with an HDMI port into an Android PC, is to start shipping in July at a price of around $100, reports PCWorld. It’s similar in form factor to a USB key, and simply plugs into any modern TV or monitor.

The first units will be offered to developers, with consumers expected to be able to get their hands on one around August.

While the portability of the device is appealing, you’re still going to need a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to do anything useful with it, raising questions as to how well it can really compete with a tablet or ultrabook. But Dell says it is working on a “keyboard-like technology’ to go with it, and the ability to get the big-screen experience on any TV set for around a hundred bucks may sway some.

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Google Play, Verizon launch could boost Samsung Galaxy S4 sales past already high expectations

Zac Hall

Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung has proven almost effortlessly that the 5-inch smartphone has its place in the hands of the masses as it is on track to selling 10 million handsets in its first month, The Korea Times reports.

The company has plenty of room for sales to exponentially grow upward, possibly past their own already high expectations, as the smartphone that has taken the Android world by storm has yet to actually launch on Verizon in the States.

Verizon seems readily positioned to launch the Galaxy S4 as it announced earlier this week that it plans to sell the Samsung smartphone a week sooner than expected.

Samsung’s co-CEO Shin John-Kyun says the company expects the Galaxy S4 to be the fastest selling smartphone in the company’s history.

“We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model S3,” Samsung Electronics co-CEO Shin Jong-Kyun told reporters at an industry forum in Seoul, Thursday.

We got our hands on the Galaxy S4 last month for a review and gave it flying colors. Read more