Android

According to a new report from Bloomberg, police in South Korea searched offices belonging to Samsung yesterday in a raid connected with an ongoing case related to whether or not Samsung was involved in the leaking of trade secrets. Police originally charged six employees from LG Display related to the theft of OLED technology from Samsung. Reports from last year claimed Samsung employees were fired in connection with leaking the technology, and today an LG spokesperson confirmed the latest investigation is related to its OLED TV panel technology:

“The latest investigation is related to large-sized OLED TV panel technology, but the police have made the allegation themselves,” Son Young Jun, a Seoul-based LG Display spokesman, said by phone today. LG said in July the information its employees were charged with leaking or stealing at the time was widely known in the industry and wasn’t considered to contain trade secrets.

Police in the South Korea wouldn’t comment on yesterday’s raid, but LG reportedly said “it didn’t report Samsung to police in connection with the current investigation.” 
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Last week, Facebook announced two new products to expand their reach in the mobile market: Facebook Home, a downloadable Facebook-intergrated skin for Android phones and the HTC Facebook First, the first official hardware by the company. The First is scheduled to be released April 12th for $99 exclusively through AT&T. Naturally, the First comes pre-loaded with Facebook Home.

Facebook Home is a downloadable launcher for Android phones only, and a few of its key features such as Chat Heads are getting much praise by reviewers. On the other hand, the First is being criticized for its lack-luster hardware such as the mediocre 5MP camera and lack of a dedicated shutter button.

If you want to read all about Facebook’s new duo of software and hardware, below is a round-up of some of the reviews from around the web…

Engadget:

The HTC First is compelling for two reasons. For Facebook fans, it’s now easier to maintain social connections with friends and family. For the tech-savvy crowd who has little interest in the service, the phone is a stock Android 4.1 device that comes with AT&T LTE, which is still something of a rarity. Including this opt-out was a smart move on Facebook’s part, because it’s difficult to recommend that consumers sign two-year contracts on an unproven product that depends so heavily on their engagement with Facebook. Worst case, it’s a decent mid-range phone for $99 on contract (or $450 without any commitment).
Facebook Home isn’t perfect, nor will it convince many non-Facebookers to start Liking and commenting with reckless abandon. But it’s aesthetically pleasing, and surprisingly polished for a 1.0 product.

CNET:
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If you don’t know by now, since early February Microsoft has been running its “Scroogled” smear campaign spending 7 figures on a series of print and online ads attacking various Google services. The ads originally focused on Gmail and how Google displays ads based on the content of user’s emails, but Microsoft’s latest Scroogled ad (above) takes on another Google app– Google Play.

The ad is currently featured on the front page of Microsoft’s Scroogled website and features a warning that Google passes off personal information about users to app makers without consent from users:

When you buy an Android app from the Google app store, they give the app maker your full name, email address and the neighborhood where you live. This occurs without clear warning every single time you buy an app. If you can’t trust Google’s app store, how can you trust them for anything?

We expect Google will be issuing a response to Microsoft’s claims shortly. Another Scroogled ad claiming Google Play sends personal data to app makers below:
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An updated Google Play with an image-centric design will be rolling out to all Android devices running Froyo (2.2) and up over the next few weeks, the Official Android blog confirmed. The redesign focuses on connecting ‘similarly themed’ content so apps, songs, and movies of the same genre are grouped rather than scattered everywhere.

Perhaps it’s too soon to  state this with any certainty — surely this update has been in the works for some time now — but we may already be seeing the influence of Facebook Home on app design, at least as it pertains to the use of larger imagery and simplified interface. Something to keep an eye on at the very least.

Almost 60,000 apps have been removed from Google Play, reports TechCrunch, in a move believed to be in response to the number of apps falling foul of the store’s anti-spam policies.
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I’ve been really excited to get my hands on the HTC One.

The world is chock-full of low-end — and high-end —  Android phones that are plastic and hard to distinguish from one another. So, as an iPhone user primarily, I liked the One’s obvious iPhone 5-like accents—which is seemingly A-O.K. by Apple, at least as evidenced by the global settlement and 10-year licensing deal reached with HTC last year—and entirely aluminum construction.

HTC’s flagship phone in 2012, the One X, earned critical acclaim from reviewers across the blogosphere, but the Samsung Galaxy S III and iPhone 4S overshadowed its launch. Now, one year later, HTC is up to bat again with the HTC One, but this time around, it faces nearly the same challenges in the Galaxy S 4 and iPhone 5.

Check out the full review below to see how the HTC One measures up.

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The HTC One is a gorgeous phone — even without the Lumia-esque colors, it’s still one one of the most attractive handsets on the market. It should really be no surprise, then, that HTC plans to expand the current color palette of, um, two, to encompass a brighter range of hues. This is the red version of that device — you may remember HTC accidentally posted a similar render when the One was first announced.

We would expect a slew of differently-colored Ones to hit the market as a way to keep the phone fresh; check out this post for some possible color schemes, although a two-tone design seems unlikely. For the best looking One, you’ll still need to shell out for some Colorware action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mx_GzNlQOxI

This video was released as part of the Home presentation and hit YouTube over the weekend. Having had another look at it, it reenforces my believe that this overlay isn’t for me. In fact, I was in the WTF camp since the Home screenshots were leaked.

BusinessInsider notes that it isn’t garnering positive feedback even on its own site. I tend to agree with this observation:

The ad’s intent seems to be to show that having Facebook Home means that no matter where you are, you’ll get all the wonderful, unadulterated weirdness of Facebook.

But it also gives the odd impression that Facebook Home will turn your life into a visual clown car, with an endless stream of trivia spewing randomly from your phone.

The ad was created by agency Wieden + Kennedy, which also did “Chairs.” Facebook spends very little money on TV advertising — why should it, it’s owns its own audience of 1 billion people after all — and thus needs its ads to go viral in free online video media.

I like two things about Facebook Home. If I want to go into Facebook, it is a nice interface. Also, if I want to clean up Touchwiz or Sense, Home is a good way to put a mostly stock Android build on a phone.

But this commercial only reinforces exactly why I wouldn’t want Facebook owning my phone experience. The big question is: Is this anyone’s ideal phone experience?
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Samsung today announced the latest addition to its midrange lineup with the ‘Samsung Galaxy Win’, a new device that appears to step things up in the specs department compared to what we are used from Samsung’s middle range line. A cross between older Galaxy devices and a bit of the refined Galaxy S4 design, the Galaxy Win actually sports some rather impressive specs for a device that we assume will land somewhere in between the S4 and Samsung’s cheaper, low-end Galaxy devices when it eventually gets priced.

Inside the Android 4.1-powered Galaxy Win you’ll find a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch display, a 5-megapixel main shooter, 8GB of onboard storage and a large 2,000mAh battery.

In addition to its Continuous Shot, Best Photo, and color effects features baked into the camera, Samsung will also include an “Easy Mode” homes screen, smart alerts, and motion UX:
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Update: …annnndddd it has been disabled serverside:

https://twitter.com/paulobrien/status/321283016582369282

https://twitter.com/paulobrien/status/321341520005455873

If you’re keen to try Facebook Home, and are brave enough to install pre-release software, MoDaCo has the files available for download

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HTC’s profits dropped 98% year-on-year, reports Bloomberg, with first-quarter results of just $2.8 million. HTC had been planning to launch the HTC One last month, but shortage of camera components forced a delay, with the handset now expected to launch later this month.

The choice of HTC for the first ‘Facebook phone’ and anticipated profits from the delayed HTC One may explain the relatively small hit to the company’s share price.

Here’s Google’s statement on the Facebook Home overlay:

“The Android platform has spurred the development of hundreds of different types of devices. This latest collaboration demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Android so popular. And it’s a win for users who want a customized Facebook experience from Google Play — the heart of the Android ecosystem — along with their favorite Google services like Gmail, Search, and Google Maps.”

Does Google want this? No, they do not. But Mountain View lets (encourages?) their OEMs and carriers to mess with the pure Android experience, so they have to let Facebook do it too if customers so desire. And, why not? In the most recent versions of Jellybean, you can make Google Currents your lock screen. OEMs have long had access to the way your home screen looks. Why shouldn’t other vendors have access to these functions?

The real question is: what happens in the unlikely event that this takes off and people find value in Facebook’s Home? You know Facebook is going to continue to push Google out of the way and people will use Google services less and less, which is the whole point of Android.

I imagine Google will come up with some other Home-type of function with a lot more Now and + integration than currently exists…one that would delete the Facebook Home in the install process. This of course will be bundled with every Gmail, Maps, Yahoo, Plus, and Talk update so that it is almost impossible not to install.

Get the popcorn ready. (Image via Fortune.com)

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As expected, after showing off the new Facebook Home platform for Android phones, Mark Zuckerberg handed the stage over to HTC executives to unveil the first device that will officially run the platform— the HTC First. The device will come in four colors and will be available on AT&T’s 4G LTE network when it launches with Facebook Home preinstalled late this month.

AT&T will start taking pre-orders for the device starting today, and the HTC First will be available on April 12 for $99 exclusively through AT&T. Zuckerberg also hinted the device would be available through other partners in the future including EE and Orange.

On top of the HTC first, Facebook told us Home will be supported on the HTC One and Galaxy S4 in addition to the “HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III and Samsung GALAXY Note II.”

You can also check out our rundown of the Facebook Home platform.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep_DSmSRwE]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is live on stage in Menlo Park, Calif., and he just unveiled his company’s new home on Android: called “Home”.

Facebook clarified that it’s not building a phone directly, nor is it building an operating system, instead the company unveiled “Home”. Home is for Android devices, and it is literally the home screen and “soul of your phone,” as Zuckerberg explained. Home is also “family of apps.”

9to5Google posted the first look at “Home” yesterday, but Facebook just gave a quick run down as to what the interface can really do.  For instance: Cover feed, a window that replaces the lock screen and home screen, allows users to navigate by flipping through, double tapping, etc.

Users can double-tap to “Like” a post and comment right from the home screen, and they can tap their own face and swipe to get to apps. Users can also swipe up to see their favorite apps in the launcher. There’s even a screen containing all apps, so they can drag their favorite apps to the launcher. Meanwhile, notifications come from people and not apps. Each notification has a person’s face, and users can collect all notifications in a stack and either swipe or save them.

Facebook also announced a new messaging service called “Chat heads” that works with both Facebook messages and SMS. A chat head appears with in the upper right, where users can tap on them, move them, or stack them. Tapping will bring up messages.

Facebook will launch Home via Google Play on April 12, with download availability coming for tablets in a few months. Facebook will maintain Home “just like the regular Facebook app,” and it promises to issue updates at least once a month with new features.

Only a few devices are ready for launch, including: the HTC One X, One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, and eventually the HTC One and the Galaxy S4. There’s even a “Facebook Home Program” for phone manufacturers, and HTC, AT&T, Samsung, Sony, etc., have all signed up.

Zuckerberg just handed the stage over to HTC executives to unveil the first device that will officially run the platform— the HTC First. More details on Home are in the press release and videos below.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stage in Menlo Park, Calif., this morning to show off his company’s “new home on Android,” and you can watch a live stream of the event in the widget above.

The video should auto-play around 10 a.m. PST.

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