Android

Facebook announced today that it’s starting a beta program for its Android apps that will allow users to sign up to test and provide feedback on the latest build of the app before its released to the public.

Facebook is the most-downloaded app in the Play Store, so we need to make sure it works for everyone, no matter their amount of RAM, network conditions, or version of Android they might be using. Factors like data costs and network speeds are especially important to users, and we want to make sure we’re always optimizing their experiences. With so many use cases to solve, testing becomes crucial to ensuring positive, consistent experiences across Android.

While Facebook noted that it has been providing a beta of its Android apps to partners such as Qualcomm, HTC, Ericsson, Sony, Huawei and MediaTek over the last six months, starting today all users can now sign up to become beta testers.

If you’re interested in signing up, go join the newly created Google Group called Facebook for Android Beta Testers and allow your device to download the latest beta by selecting “Become a Tester” on Google Play. There’s also a Facebook For Android Beta Testers group on Facebook. 
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Google updated its Google Earth app for iOS and Android today with a few new features including a revamped interface that includes the left side panel it has been bringing to lots of its mobile apps.

Also new in version 7.1.1 of Earth is Google’s Street View feature, as well as improved directions and search with the ability to “visualize transit, walk, bike and drive directions in 3D while update search result list will let you browse search results quickly.” Google also announced that it is now making Google Earth available in over 100 countries worldwide:

Also with this release, we’re making Google Earth for mobile available in more than 100 countries worldwide, so you can start their virtual journey in Google Earth from almost anywhere on Earth. To unleash your inner explorer, check out your local Google Play store or iTunes to download the latest version of Earth for Android and iOS.

Version 7.1.1 of Google Earth is available on the App Store and Google Play now. 
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Since it was purchased by Google, Motorola has been undergoing a major shift as a company. We’ve seen very few devices released over the last year, and up until the D11 conference, everyone inside the company had been very quiet. As part of the overhaul, however, Motorola looks to have a new logo. The new logo made its first appearance on the site of Techweek, an event Motorola is co-sponsoring this week. Now, this does make us wonder if the logo is here to stay or if it just for the conference, but we’re inclined to say that it’s here for good. Companies don’t change their logos all that often, as they are not something taken lightly.

The new logo is much simpler than Motorola’s old look, which was a bolded, italicized “MOTOROLA.” Now, everything is in lowercase font with a much softer color. The classic red “M” is now the same color as everything else and is surrounded by a wheel of colors. The most notable change, however, is what is underneath. To show off its new bosses, Motorola is now advertising that it is “a Google company.” 
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Image via <em><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4466600/samsung-galaxy-s4-htc-one-google-play-edition-stock-android-review">The Verge</a></em>

As Google begins to accept orders of the recently announced ‘Google Editions’ of both the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, it’s natural for the first reviews to already have hit the web. The two devices are arguably the best Android phones on the market right now, and once Google announced these stock Android versions, everyone expected for them to get even better. The verdicts are in, and if you don’t want to check every site individually for a review,  we’ve got a roundup for you below.

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Google has officially listed both the Nexus Experience HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 for sale on the Play Store. The HTC One will run you $599, while the Galaxy S4 is slightly more at $649. Both of the devices will ship by July 9th running the latest 4.2.2 version of Android.

The HTC One will still feature the Beats Audio sound quality, while the Galaxy S4 still offers the ability to use a Samsung Flip Cover. So both of these devices still have some enhancements outside of normal Nexus devices.

For those unfamiliar, Google announced the Galaxy S4 running stock Android at I/O this year, and soon after, HTC confirmed that it too would be releasing a Google Edition HTC One. 
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Google has released an update for its Google Search app for Android that adds a host of new features purely for Jelly Bean users. First off, the app will now show you information about show you are watching via an internet connected TV. This feature is only available in the United States, however, and Google wouldn’t say when it is going to roll it out to other nations. Your device also has to be connected to the same network as your TV, which means you won’t be able to get show information while on the go.

The update also adds the ability to control your music via a voice actions and new voice action tips.

The full change log is below:

For Android 4.1+ (Jelly Bean):

• Information about shows you’re watching on your internet-connected TV (US only)*
• Saved offers when nearby a redemption location
• New voice action: play music from your phone or the Play Store
• Voice actions tips

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Earlier this month, we reported that Samsung would soon be bringing a version of its Galaxy S4 with faster data speeds to the market, and here it is. The company has officially announced a Galaxy S4 variant with LTE-Advanced data capabilities. The Galaxy S4 LTE-A will offer data speeds up to two times as fast as normal LTE. The device will be available in South Korea sometime this summer, as it is one of the few countries with LTE-Advanced networks in place. United States carriers plan to build up the infrastructure this year.

Samsung’s introduction of the GALAXY S4 LTE-A, the world’s first LTE Advanced-capable smartphone, is the latest expression of the company’s efforts in leading LTE technology. Samsung’s commitment to driving LTE adoption achieved its first milestone in 2010 with the launch of the Craft, the world’s first LTE feature phone, and continued in 2011 with the delivery of the Indulge, the world’s first LTE smartphone. In the last year, Samsung has also pioneered efforts to bring VoLTE network capabilities to users with the launch of the GALAXY S III LTE.

Design-wise, the Galaxy S4 LTE-A is virtually identical to the other models, but on the inside the device is much more powerful than other variants. The new Galaxy S4 variant is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, which should offer better performance than both the Exynos and Snapdragon S4 Pro variants.
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After launching a private beta of its new Google Reader replacement, Digg announced today that it is now rolling out the beta to all users signed up to test the new app. Digg just sent out the first batch of invites to the new web app, but promises it will be “adding users in increasingly larger batches.”

The app is still a work in progress and won’t get you every feature you might have had with Google Reader, but for now you can easily import your Google Reader content, use Google Reader-like shortcuts, and save and share to all the usual third-party services.

iOS versions of Digg Reader land for iPhone and iPad in the App Store sometime today, and Digg says an Android app will be available before the end of July.

Digg warns that the app is still very much in beta, but reminds us of a few features it plans to add in the coming months:
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Motorola officially announced the X Phone on-stage at the AllThingsD conference earlier this year, but left out many of the details, including the design of the device.  PhoneArena, however, has now gotten its hands on what appears to be the Motorola X Phone. We can’t tell all that much from the image, except that it appears to have a Motorola logo in the upper left corner and on-screen buttons. The screen is somewhere around the 4.7-inch mark, which falls in line with what we’ve heard before. This specific model is being tested on Sprint, according to the report, and carries the XT1056 model number. The device also appears to be running stock Android.

Earlier reports pegged the device as having a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, a 720p display, 16GB of storage, and a 10MP camera.

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside says the device will be released this October on all Major US carriers and will be manufactured in Texas.
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LG hasn’t revealed much about the Optimus G successor, but it has said that it will feature a Snapdragon 800 processor. The design, on the other hand, has remained a mystery. Notorious leakster @evleaks on Twitter, however, has now posted images of what appears to be the LG Optimus G2. The images show a series of slides about the device, but interestingly, the slides simply call it the LG G2, not the Optimus G2. This does fall in line with rumors we heard earlier this year about LG wanting to drop the Optimus branding from its high-end devices. 
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Following the original announcement of the Galaxy S4, Samsung stated that a developer edition variant would come soon after launch for both AT&T and Verizon, and it looks like one of those models is finally here. Samsung has quietly added the Black Mist Galaxy S4 Developer Edition for Verizon to its website. The device will run you a steep $649 and is exactly the same as the normal Verizon Galaxy S4 except for the fact that it comes with the ability to unlock the bootloader.

The Developer Edition is good for people who like to quickly hack and mod their devices, which is not easy with Verizon’s strict bootloader policies. Keep in mind that the Google Edition Galaxy S4 launches on June 26th and will also be hack-friendly, so it might be a better option for those on a GSM network and prefer stock Android.
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The final nail in the coffin of the Facebook phone seems to have been hammered into place as AT&T has sold the last of it’s HTC First handsets and has no plans to purchase any more, reports CNET.

AT&T had earlier denied that any plans had been made to discontinue the handset, but there had seemed little doubt about the handset’s future after the carrier dropped the price from $99 to 99 cents. Even Facebook itself went as far as telling users that the  front-end could be switched off …
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c0UEQXUNBto

BlackBerry already started providing enterprise management tools for iOS and Android devices through its BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 suite, but today it launched a new ‘Secure Work Space’ feature that will bring even better multi-platform device management and security to companies allowing iOS and Android devices in the workplace. The idea is to separate work apps and the user’s personal data:

Secure Work Space is a new containerization, application-wrapping and secure connectivity option that delivers a higher level of control and security to iOS and Android devices, all managed through the single BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 administration console… On a personal iOS or Android device, users with Secure Work Space get integrated email (with attachment viewing), calendar and contacts for productivity, as well as secure browser access to intranets and document editing capabilities with BlackBerry’s Documents To Go™. With corporate data separated and controlled within the Secure Work Space container, these standard apps can be deployed with confidence to any user, together with other apps chosen by the company.

BlackBerry noted that it is working with partner Box for the cloud aspect of the new service, while users interested in taking advantage will have to purchase a $99 per year, per device license to access the new Secure Work Space feature through Blackberry Enterprise Service 10. The big benefit, according to BlackBerry, is that users “no longer need to configure and manage expensive VPN infrastructures to provide mobile device access to data and apps that reside behind their corporate firewalls.”

A free trial is available here.

A new joint venture between Samsung and carbon fiber specialist SGL Group suggests that the company may be looking at the hi-tech material as an alternative to its traditional plastic handsets and tablets.

The cooperation is expected to provide a stable long-term supply of carbon fiber materials for Samsung and promote its use in various Samsung products and applications such as consumer electronics, medical devices and engineering applications. Carbon fiber materials from SGL Group will be preferred by the Joint Venture … 
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After several months of leaks and rumors, Sony has finally confirmed the Xperia Z Ultra at an event in Beijing. The device is packing a whopping 6.4-inch Full HD display with Sony’s Reality sensor, which the company says provides richer and wider colors. Sony says the device carries support for a stylus or any sort of pencil, which is an interesting feature. The company touts that it is the “world’s slimmest and largest full HD smartphone,” though coming in at 6.5mm and 212 grams, it’s not quite as thin as the 6.18mm Huawei Ascend P6  we saw last week.

Xperia Z Ultra features a 6.4” touchscreen Full HD display with Sony’s unique TRILUMINOS® Display for mobile, creating a wider palette of rich natural colours thanks to Sony’s BRAVIA TV expertise. The breakthrough technology includes X-Reality™ for mobile – Sony’s intelligent super resolution display technology which analyzes each image and reproduces lacking pixels to optimize quality for the sharpest videos. It analyses elements depending on the scene and adjusts them based on pattern, outline and colour composition. It also strengthens subtle patterns and accurately portrays their detailed feel, as well as reinforcing bold outlines. The large Full HD display has been optimised to experience at least 60%*** more of the screen than most other smartphones.

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The $99 OUYA Android games console that raised an incredible $8.5m on Kickstarter, and which started shipping to backers in March, is now available on general sale. Best of all, if you missed out on it on Kickstarter, it will still only cost you $99 from Amazon and other retaillers.

The OUYA is pretty much a Nexus 7 without the screen: a NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage with a USB port that allows both USB keys and external hard drives to be connected. It comes with a wireless controller with removable faceplates. Hook it up to your TV and the box outputs at full 1080p HD … 
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