Android

Yet another lowered forecast for tablet shipments this year comes today from IDC following a similar move from Morgan Stanley earlier this month. IDC announced today that it’s lowering its tablet shipment 245.4 million units down from a total 260.9 million units, which is around 12.1% year-over-year growth for the category vs the 51.8% growth last year. We’ve seen how much growth potential there is for tablets vs PCs and smartphones, but IDC’s report notes that tablets might see increased competition from the phablet category this year. The report classifies tablets as smartphones with 5.5-inch to 7-inches and IDC thinks lots of consumers will second-guess tablet purchases and instead go with a phablet:

“Two major issues are causing the tablet market to slow down. First, consumers are keeping their tablets, especially higher-cost models from major vendors, far longer than originally anticipated. And when they do buy a new one they are often passing their existing tablet off to another member of the family,” said Tom Mainelli, Program Vice President, Devices & Displays at IDC. “Second, the rise of phablets – smartphones with 5.5-inch and larger screens – are causing many people to second-guess tablet purchases as the larger screens on these phones are often adequate for tasks once reserved for tablets.”

IDC notes that the share of smartphone shipments captured by so called phablets doubled from 4.3% in Q1 of 2013 to 10.5% in Q1 of this year. representing 30.1 million units shipped. “As large phones clearly impact near-term tablet growth, IDC expects the market to rebound by shifting its focus back toward larger-screened devices.”

There’s a lot of talk about HTC releasing a “Prime” variant of the One M8, but until now we haven’t heard much outside of rumors/speculation and some alleged renders leaked by Evleaks. 9to5Google has now learned that HTC actually has two new variants on the way, “Plus” and “Advance,” and it does have plans to release a version of its flagship M8 smartphone branded with one of those labels.

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Chrome Beta for Android was updated today with a slew of new performance features that should be welcomed by any user. Now available to download from Google Play, the 36th version of Mountain View’s portable browser brings improved text rendering to non-mobile websites and reintroduces Doodles to the new tab page. Chrome Beta users will also be treated to better suggestions for text entry, along with a several bug fixes and performance improvements. If you’ve already updated this app and are tinkering with its new features, be sure to let us know how it’s treating you and your device.

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T-Mobile has just sent out invites to its latest Uncarrier event. The fifth iteration of John Legere and company to shake-up the mobile industry will be held on June 18th in Los Angeles. The invite doesn’t offer any direct details as to what we can expect at the event, but does tease that T-Mobile doesn’t “play it safe and sound.” One possibility this time around, is that T-Mobile is partnering with some sort of music streaming service, hence the “sound” tease. AT&T is currently partnered with Beats Music, while Sprint is with Spotify. That would leave Rdio and Pandora as possibilities for T-Mobile.

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Google has just released an update to its Camera app on Android, as part of its “Update Wednesday” regiment. The update bumps the app to version 2.2 and adds several new features. One of the biggest new features is the ability to shoot photos in either 4:3 or 16:9 cropped resolutions. Although, it’s important to note that the cropping affects the total resolution of the image. So if you were to shoot in 16:9 on a Nexus 5, the resolution maxes out a 6MP. This changes depending on the phone you’re using, of course.

Google has also added the timer feature back to its Camera app with this update. The company removed it earlier this year, for some odd reason. The picture timer allows you to choose either 3 and 10 second timings for taking an image.

The update also adds new modes for shooting panoramas, including a fisheye setting. There’s also now a small settings icon on the first launch.

Google’s Camera update is available on the Play Store now.

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A new app for Google Glass has been released today, which essentially hopes to turn the head-mounted computer into a Karaoke machine. The real value that this app has — especially considering that Glass is still beta, and $1,5000 — can’t really be quantified at the moment, but there’s no doubt that the idea is intriguing.
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After almost being considered vaporware, the Asus PadFone X will soon be available for pre-order. Today, AT&T announced that it will exclusively offer the hybrid device starting on June 6th with financing options as low as $22.92 per month or $200 with a two year service agreement. These options include the smartphone and its docking station that takes the PadFone X from phone to tablet on the fly.

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A previous report claimed to reveal details and specs for Samsung’s upcoming “Galaxy Tab S” tablet, but today we get confirmation from leaked firmware for the device that it will indeed include a fingerprint sensor. SamMobile dug through the official firmware that leaked online earlier today and in it discovered proof of the fingerprint scanner through a number of screenshots showing how the feature works on the larger tablet.

It’s not surprisingly a similar process and UI to the Galaxy S5, but the firmware also revealed the Ultra Power Saving Mode that first made an appearance on the S5, as well as an improved camera UI and more. Head below for more screenshots. 
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Yesterday, we reported on a rumor from a Korean website claiming that the up-and-coming LG G Watch will include an embedded, unremovable SIM card. While nothing is conclusive, a dig through the FCC website has unearthed some documents making up a filing for what we believe is the upcoming LG G Watch, and—unsurprisingly—there isn’t any mention of Wi-Fi or cellular radios.
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Google this afternoon released a small update to its Text-To-Speech app on Android. The update bumps the app to version 3.1, and while it may not be the biggest update, it certainly packs some useful changes for a handful of users. The update adds support for selecting and speaking text in Polish, Dutch, and Russian. It also improves its already existing support for some English dialects spoken in India.

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Today, LG officially announced its new G3 flagship smartphone and of course it’s coming to America’s big four. The South Korean-made smartphone is set to release sometime this summer and it will ship with a couple of carrier specifics. Sprint will be the only US carrier to offer a gold variant of the handset, so if you’re enjoying emerging hue, you’ll have to ride with the folks in Overland Park, Kansas. T-Mobile and AT&T have confirmed that they’ll both carry the LG G3, with the former boasting an opportunity to win the device before its official release.

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LG has finally unveiled the upcoming G3. It’s possible that this will be the most leaked smartphone of 2014, but at least all of the specifications and features are official now. This device is definitely a big step up from the G2 and will be a strong contender against the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8. So what can you expect from the LG G3? Take a look at the full overview below.

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The budget tablet market has just gained a $110 contender from Toshiba and its offerings aren’t half bad. Today, the company announced the Excite Go, a 7-inch slab that features a 1,024 x 600 display, a quad-core Intel Atom processor, up to 16GB of storage space and Android 4.4 KitKat. While these specs may not knock your socks off, they’re fairly generous when compared to HP’s latest budget-friendly tablet, which ships with a similar asking price.

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