Leaked Images Reaffirm Sony's Smartphone Lens Camera Arrival
Source: http://gizmodo.com/leaked-images-reaffirm-sonys-smartphone-lens-camera-ar-1243764884
Sony has been as leaky
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
How Nokia Employees Are Reacting to the Microsoft Takeover
Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-nokia-employees-are-reacting-to-the-microsoft-takeo-1243832372
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are mixed feelings among Nokia employees—current and old—about the news that the phone manufacturer has been taken over by Microsoft.
NVIDIA-branded mystery tablet passes through Taiwan's NCC
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/new-nvidia-tablet-passes-through-taiwan-regulator/
Rumors have circulated of an NVIDIA-designed Android tablet, but there has been little hard evidence of its existence. Thankfully, NVIDIA just provided some clues of its own: as Blog of Mobile noticed, the company recently sent a self-branded P1640 tablet to Taiwan's National Communications Commission for approval. While the filing reveals few details of the hardware apart from the expected presences of Bluetooth and 802.11n WiFi, it's safe to presume that the slate uses an NVIDIA-made processor like the Tegra 4. The real mystery is the P1640's intended audience. When NVIDIA already has a Tegra 4 reference tablet, the new design isn't necessarily built for internal use; it could also be a developer device or a consumer product like Shield. It's not clear if or when NVIDIA will announce the tablet, but you can check out a second NCC photo of the gadget after the break.
Source: Blog of Mobile (translated)
Lenovo outs five new ThinkPads, including a 15-inch business Ultrabook
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/03/lenovo-thinkpad-t440s-t440-x240-s440-s540/
It was just last year at Engadget Expand that Lenovo teased the ThinkPad T431s business Ultrabook, and now it's already coming out with a follow-on product. The company today announced the refreshed T440s, along with the T440, the X240 (shown above) and two mid-range Ultrabooks, the S440 and the S540. In fact, though the S540 isn't the highest-end machine on offer here, even that's worth mention, as it's the company's first 15-inch Ultrabook aimed at businesses. (Guess that bigger-screen trend is going strong, eh?)
Diving right in, the 14-inch T440s represents a fairly modest upgrade, as the T431s already ushered in some fairly big design changes (buttonless trackpad, latchless lid, 180-degree hinge, et cetera). The T440s has all that too, except it makes the natural shift to Intel's fourth-generation Haswell processors, along with an optional NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M GPU (which won't be offered here in North America). The T440 is closely related, as you'd expect, with similar configuration options (optional touchscreens, up to 12GB of RAM and up to either a 1TB HDD or a 512GB SSD). The main difference is that the resolution on the T440 is also capped at 1,600 x 900, whereas the T440s goes up to 1080p. Also, the T440s is a good lighter than the T440 (read: half a pound less).%Gallery-slideshow73415%
HTC announces BoomBass Bluetooth speaker (hands-on)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/03/htc-boombass/
While we were playing with HTC's latest toys, the company let us fiddle with an engineering sample of the BoomBass. The weighty little cube is a Bluetooth 3.0+EDR speaker that pairs to your smartphone over NFC and offers a slide-out base to prop up your device for impromptu dance parties. The 1,200 mAh internal battery that promises nine hours of playback is charged with a microUSB cable, but unfortunately can't be used to give your phone an extra bit of juice. We know that the little cube will arrive partway through October, but there's no word on -- yet -- pricing, so you can keep yourself amused while we wait for a figure by flicking through the gallery of hands-on images we've got for you. %Gallery-slideshow77136%
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile, HTC
Monday, September 02, 2013
Five Best Alternative Texting Apps
Source: http://lifehacker.com/five-best-alternative-texting-apps-1229634486
If you send more text and photo messages with your smartphone than you actually place calls, you may already have a favorite free texting app or service that you prefer. After all, SMS and MMS cost money to send (and sometimes, to receive), and if you can do it for free using mobile data or Wi-Fi, why wouldn't you? This week we're going to look at five of the best alternative texting apps and services, based on your nominations.
Earlier in the week we asked you which alternative texting apps you preferred
WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging system that supports Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry devices, among others. The service is backed by hundreds of millions of active users, and allows you to send text, photo, and voice/video messages to individuals and groups for free using mobile data or Wi-Fi. As soon as you install it, the app compares all of the phone numbers on your phone against known users and adds your friends to your contact list. Messages to any other WhatsApp user are completely free (as long as you have a current WhatsApp subscription).
Like most services of this nature, WhatsApp cannot send or receive messages from non-WhatsApp users, and if you need to communicate with a friend who doesn't use WhatsApp, you're back to traditional SMS or MMS. WhatsApp is free to download and use for the first year, and you'll need a $0.99/yr subscription after that to continue using it.
Viber
Viber may be a solid SMS replacement service, but it actually does more than just text and picture messages. It's cross-platform, and supports Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and more, and even features desktop clients for WIndows and OS X so you can send, receive, and keep track of your messages on your computer as well as on your mobile device. Viber also has millions of users, and in addition to text and photo messages, it allows you to exchange video and audio messages, and even place VoIP calls to other Viber users (Viber cannot communicate with non-Viber users). All of those communications are free—as long as the person you're talking to is also a Viber user.
When you install it, the app scans your address book for phone numbers (since all Viber users are registered by number) and syncs any other Viber users with your friends list. Viber uses Wi-Fi and mobile data, of course, and bypasses any SMS limits or costs imposed by your carrier. Viber is completely free and ad-free.
ChompSMS/Textra
ChompSMS and Textra are both Android only, from the same developers, but they're very different apps. ChompSMS is a simple, minimal, and functional SMS replacement service. Instead of sending messages through your carrier's network as SMS, Chomp uses its own network to send text messages to anyone you want—regardless of whether they use ChompSMS—for their own rates. The service is ideal for people who have pre-paid plans or who have carriers that make you pay a ton for text messages, and you can check their rates here to see if it would be cost effective for you to sign up. The upside is that you can send messages to anyone, no matter what service they use, but the downside is that it still costs money.
It's also important to mention that Chomp is really old and out of date—the developers may have abandoned it in favor of their new project, Textra. Textra is a bit more modern, supports MMS and group messages, and has more modern features, but it's really just a replacement for your existing SMS interface, as it sends messages through your carrier's traditional SMS and MMS channels.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook is closing on a billion active users, and Facebook messenger allows you to connect with any other Facebook user for free, bypassing traditional SMS and MMS channels completely. The Facebook Messenger app supports Android, iOS, and Blackberry, and essentially gives you a mobile version of Facebook messages on the go. You can use it to communicate with your friends on Facebook who are also using the app, or you can use it to send and receive messages with friends who aren't using Facebook at all. Facebook Messenger also has a Windows desktop client that allows you to keep up with the messages you're sending through Facebook without picking up your phone.
Depending on where you are, you can use Facebook Messenger with just a name and a phone number, and even if you don't have the app installed, you can respond to messages sent to you using Messenger by confirming your phone number with Facebook. The app supports text, images, and location sharing, and even Wi-Fi voice calls. It works best when everyone you know is also using Facebook Messenger (and won't cost you a dime if they are), but it won't stop you if they're not (in which case it'll route your message out to traditional channels).
Google Voice/Google Hangouts
Google Voice and Google Hangouts operate in very different ways, but we decided to combine them because Hangouts is very clearly the direction that Google is interested in going, and Voice may very well come along for the ride. Voice, among its many many other benefits, gives you a way to send and receive SMS messages without going through your carrier's SMS channels, see and respond to them on your PC in your Google Voice account. Hangouts on the other hand offers a completely data and Wi-Fi driven text replacement, which is more like a combination of IM, group texting, location sharing, photo sharing, and more, all available on your iOS or Android smartphone and on the desktop through any Google service or Google Talk.
While Voice can still handle calls, and those calls are completely free (within the US and Canada, international calls are subject to Google's rates, but are almost always lower than carrier rates), SMS messages sent to your Google Voice number live in Google Voice, and messages sent between Google Talk/Hangouts users stay in the Hangouts app. Both types of messages are available online, but most people consider it just a matter of time before they're merged, especially since Google Voice users can answer calls using Hangouts
There you have it. Now that you've seen the nominees, it's time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the community favorite.
Honorable mentions this week go out to Line, which is exceptionally popular in Japan, where it's based. It's not limited to Japan though—it has over 200 million users in over 40 countries, and offers free calls, text, picture, video, and audio messages. It supports Android, iOS, and Windows Phone, and also features desktop clients for Windows and OS X so you can keep up with your friends on your desktop while your smartphone is charging or away from your fingertips. It missed the top five by a few nominations, but those of you who nominated it praised it for its ease of use and personalization options.
Also worth mentioning is the previously covered
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it—it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com.
Photo by Melina Manfrinatti.
LG will launch its first flat 55-inch OLED HDTV this week in Germany
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/01/lg-55ea8800-flat-oled-hdtv-ifa-2013/
While we're happy just to see a brand new display technology hit the streets, it was shocking to see LG and Samsung kick off the OLED era with curved displays. That's going to change however, as LG is bringing the 55EA8800 display to IFA 2013 this week with the notable characteristic of having a shape that's just like every other HDTV. That it's flat instead of curved also means this is the first wall-mountable OLED TV, and LG is topping off the experience with 2.2-channel "Canvas Speakers" integrated with a faux art mat behind the display itself. The art theme continues with a "Gallery Mode" that displays high res artwork from painters including Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, or ones personal family pictures. There's no word on pricing yet, but after its German introduction other markets are expected to follow -- check after the break for the press release and in the gallery for a few more pictures. %Gallery-slideshow77145%
Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD, LG
Source: LG Newsroom
Canon's Legria mini camcorder wants to be best friends with your social media (hands-on)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/canon-legria-mini-camcorder-hands-on/
It's a strange one. Canon's new pocketable camera certainly isn't your typical video camera. Aimed squarely at those looking to capture themselves, the Legria mini records up to 1080p video through a special wide-angle (170-degree) lens, ensuring you can fit your whole family (or dance crew?) into your clips. With a 180-degree flexible display on board too, you can adjust the camera's position as needed. When we tested an early unit in Canon's home turf in Japan, the combination of both a posable screen and a stand beneath the unit meant getting a good angle from the floor or work surface was a simple task. Behind that wide-angle f/2.8 lens, there's a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, mechanical shutter, Canon's DIGIC DV 4 processor and (in case you needed it) a 12.8-megapixel sensor for stills. Looking to improve your video coverage of, well, you? We've got more details and impressions after the break. %Gallery-slideshow76482%
Acer updates Aspire R7 with active pen and Haswell, brings touchscreens to the Aspire E Series
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/acer-updates-aspire-r7-active-pen/
Acer's announcing a slew of new products today at IFA, but it's also updating a few existing models with a greater emphasis on touch. In addition to getting the mandatory upgrade to Intel's Haswell processors, the Aspire R7 will now come bundled with an Acer active pen for use on the 15.6-inch, 1080p touchscreen. Given that the notebook offers four usage modes (including an "Ezel mode" and tablet mode), having this additional input option certainly makes sense. To help you take advantage of the digitizer, the company is adding several apps to its pre-load: MemoryBinder for drawing on top of your photos, ScreenGrasp for capturing images with the pen and Scrapboard for collecting images and ideas, much like Evernote. There's also AccuFinger, which Acer says helps you select tiny items on-screen when you're using fingers rather than the pen. As for availability, the new R7 will hit Europe, the Middle East and Africa in late 2013, with the base price set at €999, though we're not sure when to expect it stateside just yet.
The Aspire E notebook series is also stepping up to Intel's fourth-gen processors, and Acer's adding in new AMD options as well. The biggest update, though, is the addition of 10-point multi-touch displays to upcoming models -- you'll appreciate having the option to navigate Windows 8.1 with your fingers, after all. Finally, the Aspire E will be offered in additional colors; you'll have your choice of Keyboard White, Misty Silver or Piano Black for the 14-inch model, while the 15.6-inch version comes in Cherry Red, Clarinet Black and Steel Grey. (Piano and Clarinet Black options, oh my!) The Aspire E1 will be available in mid-October with a starting price of €399 -- no word on US pricing just yet.
Acer outs 27-inch WQHD touch display for รข¬799
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/acer-27-inch-wqhd-touch-display/
Acer certainly takes the cake for most product announcements before IFA's even officially begun. In addition to outing a new smartphone, tablet, all-in-one (and a few Haswell updates), the company is introducing a 27-inch WQHD display. The T272HUL's edge-to-edge, 2,560 x 1,440-pixel panel offers 10-point multi-touch, and the monitor's stand allows you to tilt the display up to 60 degrees. (It's also wall-mountable, if you're fancy like that.) A 2MP webcam and an integrated mic are also on board for video calls. Connectivity options include dual-link DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI and three USB 3.0 ports. The T272HUL will retail for €799 in September -- just don't look for this guy to hit the US.
Acer unveils 24-inch all-in-one running Android with a Tegra 3 CPU
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/acer-all-in-one-android-tegra-3/
Acer introduced its first Android-powered all-in-one earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, and it's following up with a second model here at IFA. The just-announced DA241HL is a 24-inch touch machine running Android Jelly Bean 4.2 with a quad-core Tegra 3 processor under the hood. Yes, you read that correctly -- that NVIDIA chip is usually found in mobile devices, but Acer's found a home for it in a decidedly larger package. The company says the DA241Hl is "designed to offer users the same familiar experience as with tablets and smartphones," which also explains the Android OS on board. Naturally, users have access to Google Play, and MHL connectivity means the AIO can act as a monitor complete with two-point touch. Acer will launch the 24-incher in October for €429 and up.
We're not finished yet; the company's rolling out three other desktops, all of which have a full HD 23-inch touch display. The Aspire U5-610 comes with your choice of Intel Haswell processors, along with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M GPU and up to 16GB of RAM. At €1,129 and up, it's the highest-end option of the group. The Aspire Z3-105, starting at €799, sports an IPS display and runs AMD's latest A series quad-core CPUs with Radeon graphics, and it brings the entertainment chops with Harman Kardon speakers and Dolby Home Theater surround sound. Both the U5-610 and the Z3-105 will launch in December. Finally, there's the Aspire Z3-610, which runs a Haswell processor with your choice of Intel graphics or an NVIDIA GPU. It will go for €799 and up when it hits the market in January. You'll find the press info for all four products past the break.
Acer announces 6-inch Liquid S2, 'first 4K-recording smartphone'
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/acer-6-inch-liquid-s2-smartphone/
Compared to many other companies, Acer's taken a rather cautious approach to super-sized phones. Its first attempt was the 5.7-inch Liquid S1, a rather straightforward Android handset unveiled back in June at Computex. The second time around, though, the company's taking a more ambitious approach, announcing the 6-inch Liquid S2 with 4K recording capability, a full HD IPS display and a Snapdragon 800 processor.
Acer's touting the S2 as the first phone to offer this 4K functionality, though all signs point to Samsung's next Galaxy Note shipping with the same feature. The device sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED ring flash along with a 2MP front shooter capable of 1080p video. The company's also loaded up the S2 with several software enhancements on the camera side. For one, a "quick first shot" feature lets you snap a picture right from the phone's unlock screen, and you have the ability to adjust focus and exposure separately. There's also a "favorite mode," which lets you create up to five profiles with customized settings and effects.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Acer
Oppo N1 will have a Snapdragon 800 to go with its swappable camera system
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/oppo-n1-will-have-snapdragon-800/
Oppo's N1 smartphone has been sitting on our watch list ever since we first got wind of its strange N-Lens camera add-ons, which will apparently offer a choice of zooms up to 15x. Now we can flesh out another key spec: the Chinese handset will run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor, which should more than cope with its equally unusual dual touch inputs and possibly help it to rival other imaging-centric Androids like the Galaxy S4 Zoom and Sony's upcoming Honami. The HSPA+ Snapdragon processor (MSM8274) was shown on a photo of the N1's internals that was "leaked" by an Oppo marketing exec on Sina Weibo -- and unless we're horribly, horribly mistaken, the photo also seems to show a microSD slot to store all those optically stabilized, 16-megapixel images. Barring other significant pseudo-leaks, you can expect the next big N1 update on September 23rd.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile
Source: Oppo N1 (Sina Weibo)
Meizu MX3 unveiled with Exynos 5 Octa, 5.1-inch screen, Wolfson audio and 128GB option
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/meizu-mx3-launched/
Ahead of main rival Xiaomi's big event later this week, Meizu has today unveiled its latest Android device, the MX3, at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. Like many recent flagship phones, this one finally breaks the previous 4.4-inch barrier to make way for a 5.1-inch display, though with an odd 1,800 x 1,080, 15:9 panel from Sharp and JDI to follow Meizu's string of odd aspect ratios. At the same time, the manufacturer has managed to keep the screen bezel at 2.9mm thick, making the carefully curved body 72mm wide (as well as 9.1mm thick and 143g heavy). This is apparently the result of Jack Wong's 30-plus handcrafted wooden prototypes, followed by some 3D scanning. Read on for more.
Update: Our hands-on post is up as well! %Gallery-slideshow77150%
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Meizu
Meizu MX3 hands-on: a significant improvement from the MX2 (video)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/meizu-mx3-hands-on/
Having sat through Meizu's entire launch event in Beijing, we have to admit: the new MX3 took us by surprise. We weren't expecting much after knowing some of the key specs from the leaks, and to be frank, the Chinese company lost its way with the MX2; but Jack Wong's team seems to have put its focus back in place with its latest flagship. First off, while the MX3 has preserved the predecessor's metallic-rim design, Meizu has now managed to refine the manufacturing process to remove all the sharp edges, and boy does that new body feel good. The TOL (touch-on-lens) display may look odd with its 1,800 x 1,080 resolution, but it looked good on the demo units, and that 15:9 aspect ratio has some advantage for web browsing in portrait mode.
There were many other features that we couldn't comment on based on our hands-on, such as the audio quality from the Wolfson chip and the image quality from the third-gen Sony 8-megapixel sensor, but the presence of these components suggests that Meizu may be headed back in the right direction. The number of improvements on the slick, Android 4.2-based Flyme 3.0 is also impressive, making it slightly more user-friendly (especially for first-timers) as well as more pleasing to the eye. It'll just take some getting used to with Meizu's own soft key approach (virtual buttons on a "Smart Bar" plus a capacitive home button). Much like the battery life and radio performance, we'll only be able to properly comment on the software part over an extended period of usage, so do keep an eye out for our MX3 review in the near future. Oh, and we have a hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-slideshow77154%
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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