Android

Healthcare seems to be one area in which Google Glass is just irresistibly great. Doctors, after all, aren’t unfamiliar with wearable tech to help them with their job; they already wear stethoscopes on a daily basis. Adding Glass to the mix brings new possibilities for more efficient patient care as well as a better work day for doctors, and Augmedix—one of the first Glass at Work partners—knows more about using Glass in medicine than any other company. Today, Augmedix announced that they’ve scored another $16 million in Series A funding.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung’s Galaxy A7 hasn’t exactly been a well-kept secret, with the first rumors starting in September of last year, followed by regulatory filings, but the device is now official – albeit with some details still not announced.

Samsung introduced the Galaxy A7, one of the slimmest Galaxy smartphones equipped with premium hardware for a superior social experience, expanding on the popular services provided by the Galaxy A5 and A3.

Topping out the mid-range A-series, the A7 has a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, a 13MP main camera and – in line with Samsung’s focus on social media – a 5MP front-facing camera for hi-res selfies (including voice-activated ones). It’s available in single- and dual-SIM models, the former getting a quad-core Exynos processor, while the latter gets an octa-core version …

Expand
Expanding
Close

A new research note from KGI indicates that Xiaomi’s Android upcoming smartphone, debuting January 15th, will feature a thin new form factor that the company says will be “as thin as a cicada’s wings,” in what could potentially become the worst product simile of the year.

While Xiaomi’s previous devices have been called iPhone clones, the new device, which KGI says could be called the “Xiaomi 4S” or “Xiaomi 5” will feature a vastly improved camera over Apple’s latest models, clocking in at 13 MP and featuring optical image stabilization.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The New York Times reports today that Google is preparing an update to its mobile Translate app that will include real-time detection and translation of spoken foreign languages. The online service recently got an upgrade to support a total of 90 languages.

The app will also reportedly gain the ability to use the camera to translate foreign signs in the real world. An exact timeline for when the update will roll out wasn’t given, but the Times says that most Android devices currently running the application will be able to use the new version as well.

Expand
Expanding
Close

CES 2015 was filled with a handful of surprises in the tech world. Sony took to the stage at its keynote on press day during the conference and announced a couple of additions to its tech lineup for 2015. The Smartwatch 3 Steel was unveiled along with a brand new Action Cam that shoots 4K video…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google might not have an official presence as an exhibitor at CES, but it does have its people on the ground checking out the new products from both its partners and competitors. That includes top Googler Sergey Brin who was spotted in the photo above via +Tim Moore on Google+.

Moore works with Rochester Optical, the company behind the lenses used in the Epson Moverio smart glasses Brin is trying in the photo. Rochester Optical also previously announced plans to build accessories for Google Glass as well, Google’s own smart glasses and competitor to the Epson Moverio BT-200 that launched last year for $699.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Dr. Joseph “Joe” Cohen has been a pediatrician for 15 years, and he saw a need in the medical workplace. Current EMR (electronic medical record) solutions are ridiculously expensive, antiquated, offer little support for pediatrics, and require hours of rigorous training before doctors can use them to efficiently document and organize patient information. Seeing this, Dr. Joe (as his young patients call him) developed a pediatric solution of his own, and deployed an early version in his own practice, Cedar Park Pediatrics, with the added bonus of bringing down the average cost of processing patients from $58 to around $20 per visit.

And while the system is of course platform-agnostic for the most part, Google technologies like Chrome and Glass are a key players in the kiddoEMR product despite downfalls that Dr. Joe says make the current generation of the latter completely impractical for the workplace. The system of course will mostly be interacted with via an in-browser interface on a desktop computer, but Glass provides some robust functionality that would make it a no-brainer for pediatricians. Doctors like Joe, though, need to be able to use their hands, and the old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words” is especially true when diagnosing patients.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung’s sleek mid-ranged Galaxy A3 and A5 handsets appear set for a European launch, as SamMobile spotted firmware for a range of European countries. The handsets have so far only been available in a handful of Asian countries … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

SamMobile is reporting that Samsung plans to launch a fully round smartwatch at Mobile World Congress next month. Not a lot is known about this new Samsung smartwatch, though. It reportedly carries the model number SM-R720 and is referred to as Orbis within the company.

Expand
Expanding
Close

HTC has announced today that users of its RE camera will be able to live stream video to YouTube starting tomorrow. The company originally announced this feature when the GoPro-like RE camera accessary was unveiled back in October. Today, however, the company finally confirmed a hard release date for the feature.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Fifteen Google partners are handing out Android pins at CES 2015, meaning that the Mountain View corporation itself is not completely absent from the world’s largest trade show after all.

According to representatives from the partner companies in question, Google sent out several employees to CES booths yesterday to hand out plastic Android mascot stands and hundreds of pins. All of the companies Google has partnered with are showing off Android on their devices in some way here at CES, including Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Chevrolet, Dell, Hyundai, JVC Kenwood, Razer, Nvidia, Panasonic, Parrot, Intel, LG, Qualcomm, and Sharp.

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’ve seen several new Android phones debut at CES 2015 from Asus, LG, Lenovo, and Verizon announced today availability for one of the more interesting smartphones announced in 2014 with its launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge. First announced by Samsung in September of last year, the Galaxy Note Edge features a 5.6-inch quad HD super AMOLED display with a dramatic curve alongside the right of the phone for displaying notifications, controls, app icons, and more. Check out our hands-on video for the Galaxy Note Edge and read on for Verizon availability details.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung tonight has issued its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2014. The company says that it expects to, yet again, report a decline in operating profit and sales. Samsung estimates that its operating profit for Q4 2014 as 5.2 trillion won, or $4.5 billion. That’s a decrease of roughly 37 percent when compared to the $8.3 billion reported in Q4 2013. The number does, however, beat analyst expectations of 4.8 trillion won.

Expand
Expanding
Close

It is the second day of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and we’re back on the show floor to discover the diamonds in the rough. Noke, the world’s first Bluetooth-enabled padlock, is one of those hidden gems. Noke replaces the nuisances of losing your keys or needing to remember random combinations with convenient unlocking over Bluetooth technology when your Android smartphone is within close range.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Bloomberg reports that a Manhattan District Attorney is challenging recent moves by Apple, Google and other tech companies by suggesting government pass laws that prevent mobile devices from being “sealed off from law enforcement.” In an interview this week, the government official called it “an issue of public safety.”

Expand
Expanding
Close

It appears 2015 is going to be the first year that Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay finally start seeing more widespread attention, and Pioneer is kicking the year off with five new NEX receivers, three of which are compatible with Google’s Android Auto. We had a chance to see one of them in action at CES 2015, and while it was made clear that this was just demonstration software, the receivers are most definitely doing a great job of showing off Google’s car OS in a package that’s relatively affordable.
Expand
Expanding
Close

AT&T announced today a new plan feature for its mobile share value customers: shareable rollover data. The carrier says more than 50 million subscribers will automatically gain the benefit when it kicks off at the end of the month on January 25th. If this news sounds familiar, that’s likely because competing wireless provider T-Mobile became the first of the big four national carriers to offer rollover data with its “data stash” feature announced last month alongside a free 10GB data promo. Here’s how AT&T says its version of rollover data works:

Expand
Expanding
Close

As suggested last week, it seems that TCL, parent company of Alcatel Onetouch, has indeed purchased the rights to the Palm trademarks from HP and plans to launch new devices under that banner. What new devices, exactly, is still a mystery, however.

Today TCL CEO George Guo said that he believed the existing value of the Palm brand had piqued the company’s interest in acquiring the trademarks, though it seems it did so without much of a plan for the future. The executive said that the Palm name will be brought back to the market, but TCL is hoping that the public will provide ideas for products it can produce under the brand.

Expand
Expanding
Close