Android

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Samsung today posted a series of ads for its new Galaxy Pro tablets and with them continues the theme of directly mocking Apple. This time the target is the iPad Air.  In one ad called “Multi User” (above), Samsung highlights the ability to have multiple user accounts on the Galaxy Pro tablet, a highly requested feature among iOS users that Samsung notes is still not available on the iPad.

Another ad, titled “Pixel Density” (below) takes on the iPad’s Retina display, claiming that the Galaxy Pro tablet has a better looking display due to a higher pixel density. Samsung’s Tab Pro 10.1 2014 tablet includes a resolution of 2560 x 1600 with a pixel density of 299 compared to the iPad’s 2048 x 1536, 264 ppi display. 
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=newNF1UsOcw&feature=youtu.be]

Where to start with this video?  The premise? Sure when you smash a smartphone with a hammer it is going to break. Not a lot of news there. Actually, this looked like a waste of a pretty good phone until the battery thing at the end happened.

Weird.

The early reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S5 are in, and the general verdict appears to be that it’s a very good phone – but perhaps doesn’t offer any really persuasive reason to upgrade from the S4.

Re/Code took the view that the waterproofing was the only real standout feature.

I’ve been testing the new S5 for a couple of weeks, and I like it, though I didn’t find it especially exciting or novel. In every major hardware area, it’s a very good phone, with a sharp, gorgeous screen that, at 5.1 inches, is a teeny bit bigger than the five-inch display on last year’s model, the S4 […]

Overall, the Galaxy 5S is a very good phone, but not one compelling enough for me to recommend that you buy it to replace last year’s Galaxy or the current iPhone. But there’s one caveat: If you drop your phone in water a lot, you want this one …

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Samsung has just announced its newest Galaxy smartphone, the Ace Style. The new phone includes a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, a 5 MP rear camera, and a 4-inch display.

The device also ships with 4 GB of internal storage and support for up to 64 GB microSD cards. In terms of memory, it includes half a gigabyte of RAM. Samsung’s custom Android skin, TouchWiz Essence, will run on top of KitKat, the latest version of Android.

The Galaxy Ace Style will be available later this month in gray and white. Samsung hasn’t provided any pricing details yet.

Android Police is reporting that Google is planning a new feature, known as Hera, for the next major version of Android. Hera is reportedly the company’s latest attempt to unify the experience that users have within all major Google services, including Android, Chrome, and Search on Android-powered devices. Hera looks to be based on a special Chromium build that is meant to run on Android and execute certain tasks though the web, as opposed to within an app.

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Cover, makers of a popular context aware lock screen app for Android, today announced that it is joining Twitter. The team didn’t disclose any financial details related to the deal, but said that it would be joining the Twitter team and continuing to offer its lock screen app on Google Play.

“Twitter, like Cover, believes in the incredible potential of Android. They share our vision that smartphones can be a lot smarter — more useful and more contextual — and together we’re going to make that happen,” the founders of Cover said when makig the announcement in a blog post today. They also added that Cover will be creating “something even better at Twitter” and would provide an update if things change regarding availability of the Cover app for Android. 
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Samsung took a big step into the health and fitness market with its Galaxy S5. One of the device’s main selling points is its built-in heart rate sensor. This new feature allows users to check their heart rate using the preinstalled S Health app, but the truth is, nothing special is happening here. According to Samsung’s official Galaxy S5 page, it’s the first smartphone with a built-in heart rate sensor, but technically almost any device with a camera and flash is capable of providing this functionality. The same sensor is found on Samsung’s new Gear smart watch lineup and certainly makes more sense ona wearable device, but unfortunately it’s nothing more than a gimmick on the Galaxy S5.

The heart rate sensor found on the back is no different than what many third party apps have offered for quite some time. Runtastic’s Heart Rate Monitor app is a perfect example. This app uses the LED flash and camera on almost any smartphone to read your heart rate, and it works surprisingly well.

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For years now companies have been claiming to that they make the perfect set-top box, with Amazon being the most recent to do so with its FireTV. Notably missing from this arm’s race, however, has been Google. The company was one of the first to offer a set-top box OS with Google TV, but the idea quickly failed and was never widely adopted. Over the past year, reports have started to emerge claiming that Google is plaining a reentrance into the set-top box market with an Android-powered set-top box. The Verge has now published an extensive report on Android TV, with screenshots of the actual interface and much more.

The report, which cites internal Google documents, claims that the idea is far along in development with major app providers already building for the platform as we speak. While Google TV was also based off of Android, this new revision is entirely rebuilt and is something very different. “Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform,” writes Google. “It’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction.” It will be “cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast.”

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Photo: ibtimes.com

CNET reports that over the past two months, “at least” five high-ranking executives have departed from Samsung’s US mobile business, also known as Samsung Telecommunications America, or STA. The report, citing “people familiar with the departures”, claims that the departures have included the head of national sales, the mobile devices product chief, and a key strategist for the company’s Galaxy tablets and Gear smartwatches.

Notably, these departures all come less than a year after Gregory Lee took the reigns as president and CEO of Samsung’s US mobile and electronics business. The departures also come in the midst of the company batting Apple in yet another patent infringement case.

“As our US business continues to diversify and expand, we will continue to build an industry leading organization with people who will contribute to even greater success for Samsung,” Samsung said in a statement. “Some have left voluntarily to pursue other opportunities, and we thank them for their service.”

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Even though the Galaxy S5 is only just now going up for sale through select third-party retailers, Samsung is already busy announcing a variety of accessories for the phone. As Android Central notes, the company has just announced wireless charging covers for the device.

There will be four different models of wireless charging case to choose from this time around. First is the the standard replacement backplate with a Qi charging module in it. This case will run just $30 and be available in black or white. Next up is an S-View flip cover, again in either black or white, that adds wireless charging capabilities to the device. Samsung hasn’t announced a price for this accessory yet.

All four of these cases will incorporate the gasket that makes the Galaxy S5 water-resistant. The design of the backs are also identical to the dotted-look of the actual backing. As you’d expect, the cases should be compatible with any Qi-based chargers.

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Apps have been adding support for Google’s $35 Chromecast everyday recently, with the likes of Vudu, JW Player, and BT Sport all joining the club. This evening, two new music services have added Chromecast support to their apps. Joining Pandora and Rdio, Rhapsody and Napster have both just announced Chromecast support for their Android apps.

Both apps received updates via the Play Store today that added the ability to Cast music to your Chromecast. After updating, you should see a new Cast icon within the apps. Tap the icon and the app will connect to your Chromecast and start playing music over whatever Google’s dongle is connected to.

Both services say that their iOS apps will receive Chromecast support later this month, but for now, both the Rhapsody and Napster updates are available on the Play Store.

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Verizon has started accepting pre-orders for the Galaxy S5, confirming pricing at $199.99 on a two-year contract (after $50 mail-in rebate), or $599.99 full retail without contract, with shipping from 11th April. These are similar deals to those already announced by AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.

Verizon has also extended its HTC One and Samsung ATIV buy-one, get-one-free deal to the S5 – though only if you sign a two-year contract for each … 
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q1JzJadgHY]

Ahead of the first Ara Development Conference on 15 & 16 April, Google has released a teaser video showing a few glimpses into the project to create a phone with swappable modules, allowing customers to configure a phone to order and update individual components at a later date … 
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In December, Google announced a new feature that further integrated Android apps into its Search products by showing links directly to apps in search results. For instance, if you searched for a movie to see, you had the option of opening the results in the IMDB app if you already had it installed on your phone. Basically, if you had an app installed all you had to do was click “Open in app” on the search results page and you’d go right to the relevant app. If a search included relevant apps from inside Google Play, you’d be able to quickly go to the Play Store and download it.

Today, Google has announced that it is further expanding this feature to support even more apps. Starting today, you have the ability to directly from search results into the following apps:

500px, AOL, BigOven, Bleacher Report, Booking.com, Eventbrite, Glassdoor, Goodreads, Huffington Post, Merriam-Webster, Pinterest, Realtor.com, Seeking Alpha, TalkAndroid, TheFreeDictionary, The Journal, TripAdvisor, Tumblr, Urbanspoon, Wattpad, Yellow Pages, Zagat, Zappos and Zillow.

The feature is being updated over the air, meaning that no app update is required and you should start to see changes in these search results very soon.

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Hot on the heels of adding an activity feed to the web version of the Play Store, Google is now quietly rolling out a new “People” section to the Play Store app on Android. While the activity feed on the mobile app simply shows you what you’ve recently reviewed, rated, and purchased, the People section shows you what other users have recently been into.

The People feed is integrated heavily with Google+ and allows you to quickly follow users and view the their full profile. The feed shows what others have reviewed, +1’d, or shared. It includes apps, music, movies, and anything else available on the Play Store.

The People feed is rolling out now to the Play Store app. The interface is accessible via the sidebar and should appear on its own.

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Yesterday we got a look at a beta version of the upcoming Gmail app for Android which includes new Travel, Purchases, and Finance categories in addition to the Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums categories currently available. Also present is a pinning feature for making emails of your choosing remain at the top of your inbox as well as a “snoozing” feature that allows you to delay an email for a set amount of time much like hitting snooze on your alarm clock. Within a slightly tweaked UI you’ll also notice a new toggle at the top of your inbox that allows you to switch between showing pinned emails and having them return to chronological order.

Our sources had previously told us about this update but without confirmation. We sat on the story. Now that we have some confirmation that this is coming, we can discuss the whole of what we’ve heard.
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Earlier this month some specs that looked a lot like a next-generation Galaxy Zoom camera phone device— a followup to last year’s Galaxy S4 Zoom— appeared in benchmark results. Today we get what might be our first look at the device with a new leaked image that popped up today on a sketchy looking blog that was discovered by PhoneArena.

While it does appear to be a next-generation Galaxy Zoom, the blog that leaked the image is referring to it as the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom. Perhaps Samsung has plans to change up branding this time around or we could still be looking at a codename of sorts.

The leaker also confirms the previously leaked specs, which include a much thinner and lighter design, a 20MP shooter, 10x zoom, NFC, Android 4.4.2, a 1280×720 4.8-inch display, 2GB of RAM and a Samsung Exynos 5 Hexa CPU. The image also shows what looks a lot like the faux-leather material that Samsung has used on a lot of its recent Galaxy devices like the Note 3. 
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