Google prepping for Glass version 2.0 with new swap program for current Glass owners

Google indirectly announced today that it is updating its Google Glass wearable computer to version 2.0 sometime this year. The company revealed this juicy tidbit in a post describing some changes to its Google Explorers program. The Explorer program is for early adopters of Google Glass who are willing to wear and provide feedback about the wearable device . It’s available by invite only to US residents.

Google confirmed that current customers who bought their Google Glass device before October 28, 2013 will be eligible for a one-time swap program that’ll allow them to turn in their original Google Glass product for  the next version. This soon-to-be-released Glass version includes a mono earbud and adds support for prescription glasses and sunglasses.

Besides this free upgrade. Google Explorer program members will also get three invites that they can share with their friends. This allows three lucky people to buy a Google Glass device for $1500 and join the Explorers program. Anyone interested in Google Glass, either the current version or a future model?

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Google’s smartwatch to enter into mass production in coming months

It looks like there might just be some truth about the Google smartwatch rumor floating around. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google’s upcoming smartwatch is in the late stages of development and the company is in talk with Asian suppliers to begin the mass production of the device. 

Google’s smartwatch will be running on a stripped down version of Android with Google Now on top of it. The smartwatch will display all the relevant Now cards depending on the user’s location and time of the day. The smartwatch will also be able to communicate and connect with smartphones and display relevant notifications.

With its smartwatch, Google aims to fix two of the most common complaint of smart watches and other similar wearable technologies – poor battery life and their limited usefulness. The Internet giant has been working hard on reducing the power consumption of its upcoming smartwatch so that it won’t require frequent charges. With Google Now cards being displayed on the watch’s screen, there really is no need to question the usefulness of the device.

The smartwatch is expected to enter into mass production within months.

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How to change the default launcher in Android 4.4 KitKat

One minor change that Google has introduced in Android 4.4 KitKat is the ability to change the default launcher much more easily.

Up until Android 4.3, users would need to install a third party launcher on their device and then press the home button to select a default launcher. If they wanted to switch back to the old launcher, they would either have to uninstall the current launcher or go to Settings-> Apps, find the new launcher and tap the ‘Clear defaults’ option.

With Android 4.4, users can change the default launcher by going to Settings -> Home and then selecting the default launcher.  The Home sub-menu also provides users with the option to uninstall unneeded third party launchers. Considering third party launchers are among the most popular apps in the Play Store, this new change is a right direction in improving usability.

The new ‘Home’ option makes sense when you consider the fact that OEMs might need to ship the stock Google launcher in all Android 4.4+ devices, since it is now a part of Google Search/Apps.

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Google brings SMS integration, Location Sharing and more to Hangouts

Google has just concluded its Google+ event without announcing the Nexus 5 or Android 4.4 KitKat. However, the company announced some major new updates for Google+ and Hangouts. 

The company announced that it is finally bringing SMS integration to the Hangouts app for Android, along with support for location sharing and GIF support. Hangout users can now easily share their location with just a simple tap on Share button.

SMS integration has been one of the most requested feature to Hangouts so it is nice to see Google finally adding support for it. However, it was widely expected that Google would add this feature to Hangouts with Android 4.4 KitKat.

Google failed to mention if the update is going live effective immediately or over the coming few days. Nevertheless, we will link our readers to the APK once it is available on the Internet.

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Lenovo unveils two new Yoga tablets with up to 18 hours of battery life

Most of the companies that ruled the PC industry at one point of time are now entering the highly competitive mobile and tablet industry. Most of them, however, have met with little to no success. Lenovo has released quite a few Android tablets in the past but none of them stood out from the competition. 

The company is looking to change all that with its latest Yoga line-up of tablets. The new Yoga tablets have a subtle curve at its back to help in better handling and easier gripping.

The curve also hides a nifty kickstand which puts the tablet at a slightly higher angle, which should help in improving viewing angles and ease of use. Lenovo will be offering the Yoga tablets in 8 and 10-inch versions.

Sadly, Lenovo has skimped heavily on the internal specifications of the tablet. Both the 8-inch and 10-inch tablets sport a resolution of only 1280*800. They are powered by a heavily under-powered 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek processor as well.

Below are the full specs of both the tablets -:

• 1280*800 resolution for 8 and 10-inch models
• 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek processor
• 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, microSD card slot
• 5MP rear-camera
• USB On-The Go, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth
• Dual front-facing Dolby certified speakers
• 6000 and 9000mAh non-removable battery
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Lenovo’s software enhancements

Lenovo quotes the battery life of the tablets at a whopping 18 hours. The 8-inch Yoga tablet will set you back by $249, with the larger version costing $299. The tablets will be available in Best Buy beginning from tomorrow itself.

If you are in the market for a new tablet, don’t bother with these tablets. The new Nexus 7 from Google offers a much better value and performance is every possible way.

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Samsung ships 5 million units of Galaxy Note 3 in its first month

Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 3 back in September at IFA, this year. The company filled the handset to the brim with features and powers, which was evident from its hefty price tag as well.

Initial reports, after the device went on sale, suggested that the Note 3 is not doing as well as Samsung had hoped. However, today Samsung’s CEO, J K Shin, announced in a press briefing that the company has managed to ship more than 5 million units of the Note 3 within a month of launching it. The handset has received good market response, according to Shin.

Keep in mind that this 5 million figure is the unit that Samsung has shipped to carriers, distributors etc. all over the world, and not actually sold to end consumers. The final retail figure should be slightly lower.

Even then, the Galaxy Note 3 is doing exceedingly well. The Galaxy Note 2 took nearly 2 months to reach the same figure.

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Intel to start making quad-core 64-bit ARM processors from next year

Intel is the largest supplier of x86 based processors. The company has been, unsuccessfully, trying to enter the mobile market with its lower power Atom processors. 

Now, in a highly ironic move, Altera – Intel’s partner – announced at the ARM conference that the largest semi-conductor company in the world will be making its quad-core 64-bit ARM chips from next year.

“Altera and Intel are pleased with the early results of the relationship between the companies and this announcement from Altera is consistent with the agreement we announced earlier this year. We have said that we will be open to manufacturing competitive architectures and would evaluate them on a case by case basis,” said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.

Intel has always been ahead in the fabrication process compared to its competitors. While Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Samsung are using TSMC’s 28nm HKMG process for building their latest ARM chips, Intel is already using the 22nm fabrication process for its Haswell processors.

The bigger deal is that Intel is looking to open its factories to build chips for Apple, Nvidia and others to compete with its chief competitor – TSMC.

The chip that Intel will be making from next year won’t be used in smartphones or tablets, but in a device called field-programmable gate array. So, Intel won’t be directly competing with Qualcomm, Samsung and others directly, at least next year.

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Sprint’s Galaxy S4 Android 4.3 update is slowly rolling out

Sprint has started rolling out the Android 4.3 update for its variant of the Galaxy S4 from today. The update comes just a day after Verizon started rolling out the update for its variant of the Galaxy S4. 

Similar to the update for the Verizon’s Galaxy S4, the update will introduce Galaxy Gear and KNOX compatibility. The 538MB update also contains under the hood changes which will help in improving the overall performance and battery life of the handset. It also packs in the Android 4.3 goodies that Google introduced including OpenGL ES 3.0 support so games like Asphalt 8 should look visually better now.

There should be minor changes throughout TouchWIZ as well, but don’t expect anything major. The OTA update is slowly rolling out so you might not see the OTA update instantly.

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Google Glass accessory store silently goes online

A couple of days ago, Google unveiled the new version of Google Glass and extended its explorer program to friends of current Glass owners. Today, the company has silently brought online an official accessory store for Glass.

The store is present as ‘Accessories’ under the Google Glass help page and lists various accessories for the device, mono earbud, including chargers, swapping frames, pouches etc. The accessories, however, are pretty expensive with even the pouch costing $50.

Some users have reported that they have been able to access the store by going to https://glass.google.com/getglass/.

Currently, the store only has four items, but it paves the way for Google to directly sell Glass and its other accessories from this website.

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Android 4.4 KitKat details surface: Optimized for low memory usage, better wearable support and more

Here is a fresh new leak about Android 4.4 KitKat. As reported by Amir Efrati, Google’s next version of Android will help the company in resolving the fragmentation issue plaguing the OS and will be optimised to run smoothly even on low-end devices. 

From the leaked documents that Amir got his hands on, KitKat “optimizes memory use in every major component” and will be providing “tools to help developers create memory-efficient applications” for “entry-level devices with as much as only 512MB of RAM.

KitKat will also add support for three new sensors to the OS – geomagnetic rotation vector, step detector and step counter. With these sensors, Google’s upcoming wearable technology devices like Glass and smart watch should be able to provide better and relevant information to its users. These sensors should also help in boosting the usability of fitness tracking applications currently available on the Play Store.

Google is also looking to give NFC and Wallet another lease of life. With KitKat, developers will be able to emulate physical cards without a secure element that is currently required for Google Wallet to work properly.

The company will also include an IR blaster API so that OEMs like HTC and Samsung don’t have to use their own widely different solutions on their devices. Finally, Google will also be adding proper Bluetooth HID and MAP support with KitKat allowing Android devices to be compatible with more Bluetooth enabled devices like Keyboards, game controllers etc.

Considering that Google’s tagline with KitKat is to “make an amazing Android experience available to everybody,” the above information seems pretty spot on. Google is expected to unveil Android 4.4 KitKat and Nexus 5 today, without holding any event.

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Nexus 5 torn down before its official unveiling, confirms 2300mAh battery

We are just hours, or maybe minutes away from the official Nexus 5 launch. However, the Nexus 5 leaks keep flowing in at full flow. If you were tired with all the image and specs leak, here is something new for you. Someone managed to get their hands on the Nexus 5 and has done a complete tear down of the device. 

The teardown reveals the sealed battery, the pretty thick camera module and the uniquely round earpiece. Below are some of the high resolution images of the device in all its naked glory.

You can treat your eyes to some more high definition tear down images by heading over to this website.

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Google launches Nexus 5 on Play Store for $349/$399, ships in 1-2 days

After numerous leaks, Google has finally gone ahead and unveiled the new Nexus 5. While it was widely expected that Google would be holding an event, the company decided to unveil the handset without holding any event. 

The leaks have already provided us with nearly everything that is to be known about the Nexus 5, including its full specs and pricing.

The full spec of the Nexus 5 are as follows -:

• 69.17mm * 137.84mm * 8.59mm, 130gms
• 4.95-inch 1080p True-HD IPS LCD display
• Snapdragon S800 processor clocked at 2.26GHz
• Adreno 330 GPU clocked at 450MHz
• 2GB of RAM, 16/32GB of internal storage
• Dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS,
• LTE bands – 1/2/4/5/17/19/25/26/41
• 8MP rear facing camera with Optical Image stabilization
• 1.3MP front camera
• Accelerometer, GPS, Compass, Proximity, Gyroscope, Pressure, Hall effect
• Ceramic power and volume buttons
• 2300mAh non-removable battery, Up to 8.5 hours of browsing time on Wi-Fi
• Wireless Charging

The highlight of the Nexus 5 is Android 4.4 KitKat, which sports a brand new launcher with quick and easy access to Google Now. Google has also updated the Camera app to take advantage of the improved camera system in the Nexus 5, including an HDR+ mode.Other enhancements include Hangouts app with SMS/MMS integration, enhanced Touch feedback, a full screen mode for an immersive reading experience and more.

Google has also drastically reduced the memory footprint of the OS as well as all its core Google apps, in a bid to make KitKat run smoother on low-end devices.

Compared to the Nexus 4, Google is going release the Nexus 5 in a much wider market. The handset is already up for sale, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the United States, Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea for $349 for the 16GB and $399 for the 32GB version. The handset will also be coming soon to India, and will also be available at all the major carriers and retailers across the world including Amazon, RadioShack, Sprint, T-Mobile and Best Buy.

Nexus 5 (32GB, White) - $399

Nexus 5 (32GB, Black) - $399

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More Android 4.4 KitKat details and screenshots leak

The Nexus 5 leaks are getting pretty annoying right? Fear not. We have something new for you. A dude over at Reddit managed to get his hands on the Nexus 5 and has posted screenshots of Android 4.4 KitKat running on the device. 

The screenshots show off the new launcher, the always-on listening ability as seen on the Moto X and the new Widgets screen. The dude has also posted screenshots of the new home screen dedicated exclusively for Google Now. You can find all the screenshots over on this Reddit thread.

The dude also answered some questions about the device, which provide quite a lot of information about the device and KitKat. Below is a tl;dr version of all the answers for some of the most asked questions -:

Uses micro sim, kernel is 3.4.0, “Ok, Google Now” listening is present and works with screen off, you will have to swipe up when you use google now while the screen is off, the display is very good, the camera is acceptable and the OS experience is smooth and very responsive.

Another interesting tidbit shared by the dude is that KitKat will be coming with a full online backup solution, something like Apple’s iCloud. Google will, apparently, also include 100GB of free storage space on Drive for 2 years.

Google is expected to unveil the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat today, so it won’t be long before we get to know about the all the new features included in the OS.

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Verizon blames Android 4.3 Jelly Bean for the delay in certifying the Nexus 7. Wait, what?!

Verizon is America’s largest wireless operator. Often called “Big Red” due to their logo, they have some of the best coverage in the country, though not the best speeds since their network is obviously more taxed. Curiously, when Google announced the 2013 Nexus 7, they said it would work on every network in the USA, including Verizon. Fast forward to today and that’s obviously not the case. Big Red is incredibly stubborn, to the disappointment of many, about letting Google’s popular tablet run on their network. Why?

Here’s the full statement that was issued to Android Police yesterday:

“During the certification process for the Nexus 7, Google, Asus and Verizon uncovered a systems issue that required Google and Asus to undertake additional work with the Jelly Bean OS running on the device. Since Google was about to launch its new Kit Kat OS, rather than undertake this work, Google and Asus asked Verizon to suspend its certification process until Google’s new OS was available on the Nexus 7.”

Yes, you read that right. Despite the Nexus 7 working flawlessly on every other network in not just the United States, but the entire world, Verizon says they’ve discovered an “issue” so grand that they’ve decided to wait until KitKat was out to begin the certification process.

Translation: You’re going to have to wait even longer now to get a Nexus 7 to work on Verizon, so you should just switch to another operator like T-Mobile or AT&T. You might not get the best coverage, but let’s be serious, chances are you’re rarely going to take your Nexus 7 out of the house. And if you do, it’ll be to take it to somewhere where there’s WiFi.

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Nexus 5 camera samples surface

The 8MP optically stabilised camera on the Nexus 5 is one of the highlights of the device. This is the first time that Google has actually used a decent camera system on a Nexus device.

According to Brain Klug of AnandTech, the Nexus 5 uses the Sony IMX179 CMOS, with a 1/3,2-inch sensor size. The individual pixels are 1.4um in size, which along with OIS should help greatly in low-light situations.

So, how good is the Nexus 5′s camera? While reviews of the device are not yet out, some camera samples are already available, thanks to Anirudh Dewani of Google.

I am no pro-photographer so I cannot comment on the images above. The low-light images do, however, look pretty impressive to my naked eye.

You can find more camera samples of the Nexus 5 here.

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Download: Android 4.4 KitKat Wallpapers

With the Nexus 5 factory image up for download from Google’s website, developers and tinkerers have started getting dirty with it. Someone from XDA downloaded the image and has extracted all the new wallpapers from the GoogleHome APK. 

There are 8 brand new wallpapers in Android 4.4 KitKat, of which 2 are landscape in nature and the rest being abstract.

You can download the above wallpapers at their full resolution by opening them in a new tab, and then use the Save Image as option by right clicking on the image.

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HTC One developer edition to get the Android 4.4 KitKat update within 30 days

HTC has been consistently rolling out software updates for the One. The company recently started rolling out the Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5 update for the Intentional variants of the device.

The company has also been very transparent with the end users, informing them of any delay in its roll-out process. Today, the company confirmed to Engadget that it aims to roll out the Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Google Play edition of the One within 15 days.

Google Play edition devices are not updated by Google, but by their OEMs itself. A 15 day turnaround time for the KitKat update is not too shabby, in my opinion. However, the impressive part is that the company is expecting to roll out the Android 4.4 KitKat with Sense update for the developer edition of the One within 30 days, while all the North American SKUs (all carrier variants) will get the update within 90 days.

It is truly refreshing to see HTC be so transparent with the end users regarding its update schedule. Hopefully, the company will be able to keep its word and won’t have to delay the KitKat update for any reason whatsoever.

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Download: Google Hangouts v2 APK

While Google is yet to roll out the new Hangouts v2.0 update, it has included the app in the factory image of the Nexus 5. Once the factory image went live, it was just a matter of time before someone extracted the APK and uploaded it for all Android lovers. 

The folks over at Phandroid are the good samaritans here, and have extracted the APK from the factory image. The latest version of Hangouts comes with SMS and MMS integration, Location sharing and GIF support.

The APK can be downloaded from here and will work on all Android 4.0+ devices

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Check out the easter egg in Android 4.4 KitKat

Google has always included a nice easter egg and a hidden animation in all its Android releases. Android 4.4 KitKat is no different, with not one or two, but three different hidden animations. 

The folks over at Android Central have shot a video showing off the the new hidden animations.

If you own a Nexus 5, head over to Settings -> About Phone and tap on ‘Android version’ a few times. Once the animated logo appears, long press on the screen and another animation with Android wrapped in KitKat will appear. Another long press, and you will get a grid of icons containing all the desserts after which different versions of Android were named.

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CyanogenMod 10.2 M1 build based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean now available for download

Before the CyanogenMod team starts shifting its focus on Android 4.4 KitKat, it has decided to start roll out the first Milestone build of CM10.2, based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. 

The M1 build is just the CM’s way of branding a build for each device as a bug-free extremely stable daily driver level. However, since this is not the final CM10.2 based build, there might be some minor bugs lurking around, but nothing too serious to affect usability. If you have been running an older version of Cyanogen, like say CM10.1.3, you can safely flash this M1 build on top without the need to format your device.

Over the coming few weeks, the CyanogenMod team will be focusing on Android 4.4 KitKat so development for the CM10.2 branch will slow down a bit. However, as always, the CyanogenMod team will release a stable CM10.2 build for all its supported devices before completely jumping to the KitKat branch. The team will also provide more information on which all devices it will support with KitKat down the line.

Head over to get.cm to download the CM10.2 M1 build for your device.

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How to install Android 4.4 KitKat on your Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 and the other Nexus tablets are expected to get the Android 4.4 KitKat update over the coming weeks. Hopefully, Google will roll out the update available by the middle of next week itself.

However, if the wait is too much and you are itching to get your hands on Android 4.4 KitKat, fret  not. An AOSP based KitKat ROM is already available for the Nexus 4, so you can enjoy the latest version of Android on your handset right away.

Before you jump to the installation steps below, make sure that the bootloader of your Nexus 4 is unlocked and you have CWM recovery installed. If you are using TWRP recovery, download ROM Manager from the Play Store and use it to install the normal CWM recovery. Also, make sure to backup all your data since installing this ROM will wipe your data partition.

Step 1: Download the Android 4.4 KitKat ROM and the Google Apps package and transfer the zip files to your device.

Nexus 4 KitKat ROM - Download

Google Apps - Download

Step 2: Reboot the handset into Recovery mode. If you don’t know how to do that, use Quick Reboot from the Play Store.

Step 3: Since the CWM version you are using is non-touch based, you will need to use the Volume keys to navigate around and the Power key to select any option. Navigate to the “wipe data/factory reset” option and select it by pressing the Power key.

Step 4: Now, select the ‘install zip from sdcard’ option and select the Android 4.4 KitKat ROM you transferred to the device in Step 1.  Once the ROM has been installed, select the Install option again but this time select the Google Apps ZIP file.

Step 5: Once the installation is complete, reboot the device to enjoy Android 4.4 KitKat. Keep in mind that the first boot can take up to a few minutes.

If for some reason the device is stuck on the boot animation screen, repeat the above steps again. If you are still facing any problem, drop in a comment and we would be happy to help.

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Did Google just leak the Nexus 8?

Remember how Google accidentally posted a video to YouTube that featured a guy taking a photo with the then unannounced LG Nexus 5? Well, it’s happened again. The search giant with a public relations department that doesn’t seem to respect embargoed information has uploaded some Play Store promotional material that features a woman using a tablet that looks nothing like anything we’ve seen before. It’s got a hint of the Nexus 7 design language, but the bezels are practically nonexistent on the side.

Could this be a photo of a generic black rectangle? Ron Amadeo from Ars.Technica, who I personally have a ton of respect for, offers a theory that Google didn’t use a placeholder in the photo above, but that what you’re looking at could be the actual Nexus 8.

Why would Google come with a Nexus 8? To better compete with the iPad, and to distance the Nexus 7 away from phablets. As someone who owns a 5.5 inch smartphone, I can tell you right now that I have zero interest in a 7.0 inch tablet. Hell, after spending a month with the Mega 6.3 in my pocket, I came to the conclusion that there’s no space in this world for 7.0 inch tablets and that Samsung or Google or whoever should come out with a 5.9 to 6.1 inch phone and call it a day.

Circling back to the Nexus 8, that’s just a theoretical product name. There’s no word on specs, price, release date, anything, so don’t get your panties in a bunch just yet.

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