The first 4K movies began rolling out to the U.S. and Canadian Play Store last December. Since then, Apple’s iTunes has also rolled out higher-quality films with a free upgrade for past purchases. Google might finally be expanding the content to other countries as the first 4K UHD movie in the UK is now available for purchase.
Following a premature rollout last month, 4K movies are now available in the Google Play Store. First launching in the US and Canada, 125 movies ranging in price from $7.99 to $29.99 can be rented, purchased, and streamed on select Android TV devices and the Chromecast Ultra.
After adding support for 4K HDR video earlier this month, YouTube is today launching support for 4K live streaming in both standard and 360-degree videos. The latter should be especially beneficial for VR, with more providers, like HBO, working on VR apps for Daydream.
With Google already selling its first 4K streaming device with the Chromecast Ultra, UHD content is starting to makes its way into the Play Store. The rollout is happening a bit prematurely, but it appears that 4K movies will start at $24.99…
It’s only been a few months since the arrival of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge on the market — and, more recently, the rugged S7 Active sibling as well — but while the rumor mill is in full swing regarding the ever-closer Galaxy Note 7, reports keep coming regarding next year’s flagship too…
There certainly is a lot happening in Samsung‘s hardware department. Following a general slowdown of the immense growth smartphones have enjoyed over the past lustrum in particular, OEMs are preparing for a new wave of next-generation devices.
Amid the numerous experimental projects the company is working on, however, we can expect that a more ‘safe’ Galaxy S8 will hit the market some time in the first half of 2017, and rumor has it that its display will move to a jaw-dropping 4K resolution (via KoreaHerald) …
After making a huge splash at this year’s Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona, the LG G5 is now available for purchase. Thanks to the handset’s modular design, which nabbed it an award for 2016’s best innovation of MWC, it stands out from the rest of this year’s flagship releases. Is the modular design enough to make the LG G5 a better buy than competing 2016 flagship offerings?
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As an “Apple guy” the HTC 10 has been the one smartphone that I’ve immediately identified with in the Android ecosystem. That’s not to say that there haven’t been other Android devices that I’ve enjoyed or wanted to use, but I’ve always connected with HTC.
That probably has something to do with the fact that the HTC Wizard was the first “smart” phone I’ve ever owned. That phone ran the now defunct Windows Mobile and featured a resistive touch screen. Needless to say, I’ve long been a fan of the Taiwanese company, and its passion and desire to put out well-designed products continues to resonate with me in 2016.
So it’s with great empathy and concern that HTC has been struggling as of late. To be honest, the HTC 10 feels like the company’s make or break — the major fork in the road, if you will.
It’s very possible that the HTC 10 will be the release that paves a path to one of two destinations. Fortunately, I can report that this is a phone that’s good enough to pave that path in the right direction. It’s a phone that lives up to its billing, and in many ways exceeds expectations. It’s definitely not perfect, but it’s the best-looking and most complete HTC offering that we’ve seen thus far.
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To reflect the recent expansion of its Google Cast streaming platform, Google’s Chromecast app is being renamed to the “Google Cast” app. Google is also announcing some new Google Cast-enabled speakers and TVs from Vizio.
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Intelligent Active mode has been a feature of Sony’s Xperia line for years now, but it looks like the Japanese company is just continually making improvements. Surely benefitting from the rest of the Xperia Z5’s camera enhancements, the below videos demonstrate just how good Sony’s SteadyShot with Intelligent Active mode is…
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Today we’re taking a look at Sony’s new and very ambitious Xperia Z5 Premium. This is the world’s first 4K smartphone, but do all of those pixels really make a difference? Every smartphone maker is constantly trying to one-up the next, but we may have gotten to a point where it doesn’t matter anymore…
YouTube has been beefing up the capabilities of its video player for quite some time now, and it first introduced 60 FPS support in June of last year. Now, some videos on the site seem to be able to play back not just at 60 FPS, but at 60 FPS in super high-def 4K resolution. It looks to be an experiment that Google is slowly introducing, as only a handful of hand picked videos are capable of this at the moment…
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TRENDnet 200 AV Nano Powerline Adapter Kit $20 shipped (orig. $50)
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HTC’s future imaging plans revolve around the selfie market and optical zoom coming to smartphones, according to the company’s camera expert Symon Whitehorn. In an interview with Vodaphone (via Android Central), Whitehorn made various points, including his thoughts on 4K in smartphones, future applications of optical zoom, and the importance of the front-facing camera in the company’s attempt to clench the “selfie market.”
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWasJhXZGlo]
Philips has just revealed some details of an upcoming 8000 series lineup of TVs for 2014, which will likely be the first lineup of Ultra HD TVs that hit the market running Android. Philips has three models running Android- Full-HD 8100 and 8200 Philips TVs and the Ultra HD 4K 8800 series— all of which come packed with Google Play store access and Google services like Chrome, YouTube, Google Play music and movies, and search.
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If there is one inescapable fact when buying the latest, greatest tech it’s that whatever you buy today will soon be made obsolete by something launched tomorrow.
Today’s flagship Android devices come with Snapdragon 600 or 800 CPUs. As of today, that’s old hat, as chipmaker Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon 805 Ultra HD replacement. This – together with its on-board Adreno 420 GPU – will play 4K video and run at up to 2.5GHz.
But even that may soon pale against the chip announced by rival chipmaker MediaTek (via Engadget) …
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Smartphone manufacturers are making it hard to keep up to date these days: just as we’d got used to enjoying the ability to record 1080p full HD videos, the first handsets capable of recording 4K video are emerging. Google added 4K video support to Android in the latest 4.3 version.
Acer is claiming that its 6-inch Liquid S2 will be the first, though as the phone is being officially unveiled at the IFA this week, it may have company from Samsung’s new Galaxy Note – also rumored to have 4K recording on board. The Acer also won’t be available in the U.S. at launch, with the handset hitting Europe first …
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MHLtech has just announced an upgrade to the Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) standard which will allow smartphones and tablets to output 4k video to a TV or monitor over USB cables, rather than the 1080p of the current standard. Devices will be able to transmit 3840×2160 at up to 30 frames per second.
MHL is likely to have a short-lived future, however. While it’s supported by the likes of Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony, and will likely be the only 4k solution in the short-term, wired connections feel rather quaintly old-school. Powering the phone via USB may be a small bonus, but the future is undoubtedly in video over wifi, with both Miracast and Apple’s Airplay standards getting all the love. Neither supports 4k as yet, but it can only be a matter of time.
The updated MHL standard will be available to manufacturers from next month.
Via arsTechnica
Google is clearly serious about its intentions to make a sizeable push into the living-room market, as Android Police spotted a small clue revealing that Android 4.3 has added support for 4k displays.
Google has added a new DPI category to Android: XXXHDPI. This is for screens with an approximate DPI of six hundred and forty. Did you think we were stopping at 1080p?
Android engineer Dianne Hackborn is quoted as confirming the intent behind this:
A typical use of this density would be 4K television screens — 3840×2160 …
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