At the heart of ZTE's next-generation smartphones will be Intel's dual-core Atom Processor Z2580 processor, the Chinese company announced this week.
This strategic partnership incorporates the fastest of the three Clover Trial+ CPUs announced at Mobile World Conference 2013, with a clock speed of 2.0 GHz.
That's significantly speedier than the last-generation 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z2460 processor that ZTE put into its first Intel smartphone, the Android-based ZTE Grand X IN.
At the same time, ZTE said that next-generation Z2580-based phones will be able to "deliver the same competitive battery life."
"The platform's dual-core processor with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology provides double the compute performance and up to 3x graphics capabilities over the Intel Atom Z2460 processor," said ZTE in a press release.
Four Leaf Clover Trail+ relationship
ZTE said that it will build off of the success of the Grand X IN, but didn't reveal whether or not its next-generation Intel smartphones will be Android-powered and has yet to announce any other specifications.
"The Grand X IN was ZTE's first flagship smartphone in Europe to feature Intel Inside," said ZTE Europe Mobile Devices General Manager Ao Wen.
"We've launched it successfully across Europe in strong cooperation with Intel, and as a result have significantly increased our brand awareness in these important markets."
Governments have been less than thrilled with the the Chinese manufacturer, but Intel seems smitten with its continued relationship with the company.
"ZTE is a fast growing global handset maker that strives to create products with features and capabilities that people care most about," said an Intel spokesperson to TechRadar.
"We share a similar goal in that our focus is on providing customers with compelling Intel technology options that ultimately translate into great products and user experiences."
Intel finally inside more smartphones
With the exception of the Grand X IN, ZTE has been using other semiconductor chipset makers for phones like the ZTE Grand S, ZTE Grand Memo and FireFox OS-running ZTE Open.
However, Intel is taking steps to rival Qualcomm Snapdragon and ARM Cortex processors and make itself a bigger player in the mobile space.
When TechRadar asked about the timing of its move, an Intel spokesperson said that "there is a tremendous amount of innovation happening in the market segment and the landscape is continually evolving."
"Computing is also becoming more and more prevalent in smartphones and we see this as a natural extension of Intel technology. We see tremendous opportunity ahead."
The Humble Bundle has launched its fifth Android-friendly event offering six popular indie games for a fraction of their individual retail price. In addition to working across Windows, OS X and Linux, the games will run on Google's mobile operating system, with three requiring Android 2.2 or higher and at least 2.3 for the other half.
You can view the full desktop system requirements and supported mobile devices for each game here. It's worth nothing that although the titles are technically available for Android, some of them have only just launched and may be a little buggy, but the developers are working on patches and you're encouraged to report glitches.
As of writing the average cash submission is $6.64, which will bag you all six items, including Dungeon Defenders with its DLC, Super Hexagon, Beat Hazard Ultra, Dynamite Jack, Solar 2 and NightSky HD, as well as soundtracks for all but Dynamite Jack. Several of the titles are pretty well rated with Metascores of at least 80/100 or better:
Even If you can only spare a buck, you'll still get access to everything but Dungeon Defenders and Super Hexagon, and you may already own the former from December's deal. As usual, all of the titles are offered in a DRM-free direct download or with Steam keys in case you prefer to keep your digital purchases under one roof.
While Apple is reportedly working on a fix to be included in its next software update, Samsung has yet to address this particular issue.
Emergency con-hacks
The bug was exposed by Sean McMillan on the Full Disclosure mailing list, where he detailed step-by-step just how simple it was to gain access to any Galaxy S3.
Though some efforts took more attempts than others, he was able to full open three separate S3s using a combination of button presses that anyone could easily memorize.
Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be an Android issue, and seems to be localized to Samsung's software rather than the widespread Google operating system.
TechRadar asked Samsung to find out if there will be a fix incoming, and will update this story when the company responds.
Valve CEO Gabe Newell told the BBC its upcoming Steam Box gaming system will be ready for testing within "three to four months". The Steam Box is Valve's answer to game consoles, with which it hopes to offer a "dumbed down" living room PC gaming experience before efforts by companies like Apple beat it to the punch.
Newell didn't share many specifics about the Steam Box, but said the company is still determining how much performance it can cram into its tiny PC-based game console. "There are noise issues and heat issues and being able to [deal with] that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it." Newell told the BBC.
The interview also indicates that Valve has been working on novel technologies, like a controller equipped with a heart rate sensor.
"If you think of a game like Left4Dead - which was trying to put you into a sort of horror movie - if you don't change the experience of what the player is actually feeling then it stops being a horror game," Newell told the Beeb. "So you need to actually be able to directly measure how aroused the player is - what their heart rate is, things like that - in order to offer them a new experience each time they play."
The first glimmers of a possible Steam-powered gaming console appeared in March of last year. Numerous rumors followed, including the addition of "Big Picture" mode to Steam -- a feature geared toward improving Steam's TV and controller experience. However, the Steam Box had been all but officially confirmed until January's CES where Valve and Xi3 joined together to showcase a fist-sized computer labeled "Piston".
Xi3 wouldn't discuss specifics, but we noted the X7A -- the company's offering slated to be the supposed basis for the Steam Box -- weighed in at $999 and featured a quad-core AMD APU, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and up to 1TB of solid-state storage. X7A connectivity and expansion features included an ethernet port, 1/8" audio in/out, SPDIF optical audio, four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, four powered eSATAp ports, two mini DisplayPort ports and a single DisplayPort/HDMI port.
Newell did not declare a price range for the Steam Box, but mentioned that Valve wouldn't be able to subsidize its hardware the same way game console makers do. Price "remains a major unknown" said Newell.
A new bug has emerged on the Samsung Galaxy S3, which when active, enables anyone to bypass the lockscreen with relative ease.
By tricking the smartphone into allowing you to enter the emergency contacts, the full device can be unlocked for anyone with bad intentions for your Galaxy S3.
Samsung isn't the first manufacturer to fall victim to a lockscreen busting bug, as Apple's iOS only recently went through a similar situation.
While Apple is reportedly working on a fix to be included in its next software update, Samsung has yet to address the issue.
Emergency con-hacks
The bug was exposed by Sean McMillan on the Full Disclosure mailing list, where he detailed step by step just how simple it was to gain access to any Galaxy S3.
Though some efforts took more tries than others, he was able to full open three separate S3s using a combination of button presses that anyone could easily memorize.
Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be an Android issue, and seems to be localized to Samsung's software rather than the widespread Google operating system.
TechRadar has reached out to Samsung to find out if there will be a fix incoming, and will update this story when they respond.
Google's latest Android usage statistics reveal that Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich and Android 4.1/4.2: Jelly Bean together have finally surpassed the older Gingerbread OS in usage.
Google tracks the devices that access Google Play within specific 14-day periods and regularly publishes the results on the Android Developers website.
The statistics published at the start of March peg Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with 28.6 percent of the Android world and 4.1/4.2: Jelly Bean with 16.5 percent. Combined, that's 45.1 percent.
In January, ICS and Jelly Bean users totaled just 39.3, with 2.3: Gingerbread hanging on to its lead at 47.6 percent. But the latest numbers show Gingerbread usage reduced to 44.2 percent, for the first time putting 2.3 in second place to versions 4.0 and above.
Android wars
Google regularly releases Android usage statistics so that developers can angle their apps to reach the most users possible.
In understanding which versions of the Android OS are on the most devices, app developers can better prioritize their updates.
In January it became clear that Jelly Bean was being adopted more quickly than Ice Cream Sandwich had upon its debut in 2011.
That continues to be the case in March; Ice Cream Sandwich users have actually dropped from 29.1 percent to their current 28.6 percent since January, while Jelly Bean rose from 10.2 percent all the way to 16.5 percent.
It seems plenty of devices are being upgraded from ICS to Jelly Bean, and Android users who trade up from Gingerbread are likely going straight to Jelly Bean as well.
Other versions of Android, including 1.6: Donut, 2.1: Eclair, 2.2: Froyo, and 3.1/3.2: Honeycomb, currently account for just 10.9 of total devices.
The European Commission has fined Microsoft €561 ($730 million) for not complying with a three-year old agreement to give Windows users a selection of alternative browsers. In 2009, Microsoft faced an antitrust case with the EU that suggested the company abused its position by forcing Internet Explorer on Windows customers, putting Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari and other solutions at a competitive disadvantage.
To settle that investigation, Microsoft agreed to show Windows XP, Vista and 7 users a ballot screen that contained a randomly ordered list of downloadable alternative browsers. That effort began on February 22, 2010, but Microsoft slipped up a year later when it shipped Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) without the ballot. The selection screen remained absent for 14 months and European authorities eventually took notice.
In a statement released on its site today, Microsoft blamed the mishap on an unexplained technical error, for which the company said it accepts full responsibility. "We provided the Commission with a complete and candid assessment of the situation, and we have taken steps to strengthen our software development and other processes to help avoid this mistake -- or anything similar -- in the future," the company said.
"Today's decision finds that Microsoft has indeed breached its legally binding commitments," the EC said. "Such a breach is of course very serious, irrespective of whether it was intentional or not, and it calls for a sanction. The Commission has therefore imposed a fine, as foreseen by the EU's Antitrust Regulation. This is the first time that the Commission has found a breach of legally binding commitments enshrined in an art. 9 Decision."
The EC can reportedly issue a fine as high as 10% of a company's global annual revenue but they are generally much lower. Intel holds the record for receiving the region's largest single fine after being hit with a €1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) penalty in 2009 for abusing its market dominance. However, with this week's €561 million sanction, the NYT says Microsoft has racked up €2.26 billion in EU antitrust fines over the last decade.
Google's latest Android usage statistics reveal that Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich and Android 4.1/4.2: Jelly Bean collectively have finally surpassed the older Gingerbread OS in usage.
Google tracks the devices that access Google Play within specific 14-day periods and regularly publishes the results on the Android Developers website.
The statistics published at the start of March peg Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with 28.6 percent of the Android world and 4.1/4.2: Jelly Bean with 16.5 percent. Combined, that's 45.1 percent.
In January, ICS and Jelly Bean users totaled just 39.3, with 2.3: Gingerbread hanging on to its lead at 47.6 percent. But the latest numbers show Gingerbread usage reduced to 44.2 percent, for the first time putting 2.3 in second place to versions 4.0 and above.
Android wars
Google regularly releases Android usage statistics so that developers can angle their apps to reach the most users possible.
In understanding which versions of the Android OS are on the most devices, app developers can better prioritize their updates.
In January it became clear that Jelly Bean was being adopted more quickly than Ice Cream Sandwich had upon its debut in 2011.
That continues to be the case in March; Ice Cream Sandwich users have actually dropped from 29.1 percent to their current 28.6 percent since January, while Jelly Bean rose from 10.2 percent all the way to 16.5 percent.
It seems plenty of devices are being upgraded from ICS to Jelly Bean, and Android users who trade up from Gingerbread are likely going straight to Jelly Bean as well.
Other versions of Android, including 1.6: Donut, 2.1: Eclair, 2.2: Froyo, and 3.1/3.2: Honeycomb, currently account for just 10.9 of total devices.
Following a wave of criticism over the licensing terms for the retail version of Office 2013, which essentially tied your version of the software to a single computer for ever, Microsoft has amended the agreement with a transferability provision to allow users to move the productivity suite to another computer up to once every 90 days. The change is effective immediately and covers Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, Office Professional 2013, and all of the standalone Office 2013 applications.
Under the previous terms, if you ever needed to reset your machine you could reinstall Office as well, but if died or got stolen, or if you simply upgraded to a new machine you couldn’t transfer the license even after uninstalling it from the old one. The only exception was if a computer had died while under warranty.
Microsoft clarified that these were the same licensing rights as the Product Key Card (PKC) version of Office 2010 -- those that come preloaded with new PC purchases and require users to buy a product key to activate. Of course, the problem is with Office 2013 you no longer have the option to choose between PKC or FPP (Full Package Product) and the only retail version available had been demoted to OEM status.
As you might expect there was some discussion about Microsoft using these ‘tactics’ to push its Office 365 subscription package, which allows installations on five machines plus select mobile devices for $99 a year.
Truth be told that’s not really a bad deal for households and small businesses that need to run Office on multiple computers, but for the rest of users the updated, consumer-friendlier agreement is welcome news. The price of your new or upgraded laptop won't include a whole new Office 2013 license as well.
Last month we also noted that the licensing restriction essentially meant a $20 to $50 price hike over the equivalent Office 2010 PKC editions. Now, you still don’t get as many installs as the pricier Full Package Version of Office 2010, but the transferability clause at least makes this a fairer proposition overall.
iTunes Store gift cards have been popping up in more places than milk and sliced bread in recent years, but if your loved one is an avid Android enthusiast that easy, versatile present idea goes out of the window.
Thankfully Google has remedied the ill preventing our generous gestures and (those of our own friends and family members) by bringing Google Play gift cards to the UK.
The cards, which can be used to purchase anything on the Play Store (apps, music, movies, books, magazines, etc.) have gone on sale for £10, £25 and £50.
Right now they're only available in selected Tesco's and Morrison's branches and will be rolling out to all of their locations around the UK in the coming weeks.
It seems likely that if they prove a hit with UK shoppers, then we'll soon be seeing the vouchers competing with iTunes for all manner of shelf space at a wide range of stores across the nation.
It’s already been a full year since Google announced they would be replacing the Android Market with a new service called Google Play. The new store not only replaced the old but expanded it by including eBooks, music, video content and more. To celebrate the service’s one year anniversary, Google is slashing the price on all sorts of offers in their online store.
The offers will extend throughout the week with what we assume is a different set of deals and offers highlighted on the main page each day. Today’s key offers are focused on music downloads, in-app purchases, new game features, free book downloads and discount offers.
As of writing, there are 11 different offers on the main page including a free download of Sweet Jane by The Velvet Underground, a free $15 gift card and free shipping in the US with your first order at Fancy, 50 percent off Kung Fu Panda and a free download of the pilot for Breaking Bad.
Other deals include $20 in free gift cards from Gyft, unique maps in Gnome Village and Royal Revolt and an exclusive in-game character in Yumby Smash. Users can also score 10 percent off a room booked with Hotels.com for a limited time.
It’s worth pointing out, however, that each category (music, movies, books, magazines, TV and games) all have special birthday offers this week so be sure to check each section for related deals and of course keep an eye on the main landing page for daily offers.
With the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch just days away, word comes that the Korean company is preparing to unveil a new 5.9-inch smartphone later this year.
This, indeed, could be the Galaxy Note 3, and with the source claiming that the new device will follow Samsung's habit of releasing a Note "in the latter half of the year", it's looking quite likely.
The source also claims that the alleged new phablet will have an AMOLED touchscreen, and will run on the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa eight-core processor that's expected to appear in the Galaxy S4.
Go big or go home
It's certainly a safe bet that the Note 3 will boast more screen real estate than its predecessors. The original Galaxy Note had a 5.3-inch display, which the Note 2 upped to 5.5 inches.
The Galaxy S flagship phone has also bulked up over time, with the S3 sporting a 4.8-inch touchscreen compared to the S2's 4.3-inch display.
That said, the Korea Times, which spoke to the alleged Samsung source, has been hit and miss over time, so keep one hand on the salt pot for now.
Are you getting excited about yet another iPad and iPhone update? Then you had better mark these months in your diary. Mashable is reporting that the iPad 5 could launch as early as April, with the iPhone 5S a few months later in August.
So what can we expect? Well judging by the leaked iPad 5 covers, the new iPad will share a similar design with the current iPad mini, also expect better cameras, faster CPU and more RAM. Oh, and the iPad mini 2 is also scheduled to pop up around the same time with a retina display, larger battery and a much larger price tag.
iPhone 5S rumors are a little more interesting with talk of a low-cost version with plastic body due around July along with a ‘regular’ iPhone 5S, with sales dates guesstimated for August.
On a personal note, I really hope Apple pulls something big out of the bag for both the iPhone 5S and iPad 5 as I’m getting kind of bored with their lack of innovation and slight spec boosts year in and year out. How about you guys? Agree or disagree?
When the iPhone 5 first appeared, pundits moaned about how it wasn't really much of a progression over previous iPhones, presumably because it wasn't a giant pyramid made from holograms.
In reality, there were some important changes: a widescreen display that was more vibrant; a faster chip (the A6) with superior graphics performance; and a better camera for stills and HD video recording.
Although all existing iPhone apps worked fine on the iPhone 5, it rapidly became obvious that for the best user experience, apps needed to be fully optimised for the new device.
In this post, we check out 20 of the best iPhone 5 apps for creating music and videos, editing photos, catching up on news, watching shows, being productive, and then having a break by slicing up giants, racing like a loon, and solving devious puzzles.
1. GarageBand (£2.99)
Software instruments on which GarageBand relies are notoriously processor-intensive, and so the iPhone 5's added grunt makes for a stabler, faster, smoother music-making process. The wider screen is also beneficial, giving you a few extra keys when composing and enabling you to see more notes when editing MIDI.
One of the more ambitious apps on the iPhone, iMovie is a movie-making studio in your pocket. The iPhone 5's camera is great for shooting HD, and iMovie enables you to rapidly edit your creations and publish them to YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook.
Photogene's interface is a mite quirky, but we prefer it to the rather opaque iPhoto for image-editing. The app includes a number of basic editing tools, export options, special effects and other features, and on an iPhone 5 it flies.
The iPhone 5 includes the best iPhone camera yet, but Apple's Camera app is pretty basic. Camera+ is therefore worth investing in if you're serious about iPhone photography.
You'll get access to touch exposure and focus, a stabiliser, a surprisingly reasonable digital zoom, in-app cropping and effects, timers and burst-shooting.
Apple's iBooks might play second fiddle to Kindle in terms of selection and pricing, but it offers a wonderful reading experience on the iPhone 5. The high-quality screen combined with its revised height (thereby providing more words per 'page') makes it a no-brainer free download.
Although perhaps better known on tablets, Flipboard is an essential download for iPhone 5 owners. With minimal set-up, it can become your personal news magazine, filled with beautiful imagery and engaging stories.
Again, the iPhone 5's taller screen enables you to see more of anything at any one time, and the device's A6 chip ensures perfect performance.
For any iPhone 5 owner wedded to text-based content, Reeder is a must-have download. The client works seamlessly with Fever, Readability and Google Reader, enabling you to easily keep up with your favourite websites. On Apple's latest smartphone, Reeder is blazing fast and looks wonderful.
Many smartphone owners would be lost without a Twitter client and Tweetbot is the best there is for iOS. The iPhone 5's taller screen improves the app from a usability standpoint, displaying more tweets and replies at any one time, along with giving the posting screen room to breathe.
BBC iPlayer has long been the standout on-demand TV app on iOS, and it's even better on the iPhone 5, where the picture fills the gorgeous widescreen display. It's also fantastic to see the BBC regularly trumpeting about AirPlay rather than, in the case of many of the corporation's rivals, hobbling it.
The Apple-created YouTube app was unceremoniously ditched from iOS 6, but Google rose to the challenge and created a replacement. On the iPhone 5, the tall screen's great for browsing, and when flipped 90 degrees, it's perfect for watching widescreen video. Like BBC iPlayer, YouTube also supports AirPlay.
Google's data was also ousted from iOS 6, with Apple instead using its own data, with - to be charitable - decidedly mixed results. This free app is a better bet; it's fast and beautifully designed, and the iPhone 5's bigger screen is handy for browsing and also checking out step-by-step directions. On the move, turn-by-turn on 3G also proves effective.
Apple's own Calendar app is fine, but Fantastical has two advantages: excellent natural input for events, and an emphasis on a list view, thereby making it easier to see upcoming appointments at a glance. Naturally, the iPhone 5 means being able to view more of these at once, which is fab (unless any of said events mention 'dentist').
With lots of people banging on about skeuomorphism in apps, it's perhaps surprising more products like Soulver don't exist. It rethinks and reinvents the calculator, making it relevant for modern computing, and the result is half spreadsheet, half 'back of an envelope'.
On the iPhone 4, it feels cramped, but on the iPhone 5 there's plenty of room for its line-based calculations.
Task managers are commonplace on iOS, but we have a real sweet spot for 30/30. It's beautifully designed, and the straightforward manner in which you can set up task loops makes it perfect for Pomodoro-style time management. IAPs provide extra icons or a thank-you to the author, and the iPhone 5 screen really shows off the sleek interface.
Apple's vision of the future is files existing within apps, which is fine if you only use few apps with few documents. For the rest of us, a file system is still required and Dropbox brings this to iOS. On the iPhone 5, the taller screen enables you to see more items at once, but even if Sir Jony Ive had given the device a two-inch square screen, we'd still be recommending Dropbox.
Swipey swordplay with RPG levelling up is what Infinity Blade II is all about. The visuals are gorgeous and the iPhone 5's full resolution is supported. Given the demanding nature of the app, you'll be grateful for that A6 chip, too.
The best arcade racer for iOS, Most Wanted is a stupid amount of fun as you speed about, smashing up cops, drifting for miles, and generally being a menace on wheels.
On slower hardware, though, dropped frames periodically pull you out of the experience; no such problems on the more powerful iPhone 5.
The perfect twitch arcade experience, Super Hexagon is a bit like playing a wire loop game in fast-forward while being flung about the place on a merry-go-round.
Although visually simple, the game is far more fluid on the iPhone 5 than other iOS devices, and the widescreen display keeps your thumbs out of the way as you wrench your tiny ship left and right, avoiding infinite walls of doom.
iOS isn't what comes to mind when you think of platform games, and virtual controls often make us shudder, but Beyond Ynth bucks trends by being brilliant at both.
This puzzler/platformer is all about helping a bug traverse 2D levels. Its method of travel: increasingly complex boxes. On the iPhone 5, the game looks lovely, your thumbs cover less of the screen, and you see a fraction more of what's coming.
The most atmospheric iPad game of recent times loses little in its translation to the widescreen iPhone 5. The demanding graphics means The Room's perfectly suited to Apple's newest smartphone, and the game is a masterpiece.
You're alone in a room with a strange box, left to become immersed in a creepy, frequently chilling few hours of discovery. Our advice: avoid the hints, wear headphones and play in a dark room. Just don't blame us when you leap out of your seat.
The Sony Xperia L could well be part of the mid- and low-end handsets set to join the flagship Xperia Z in the Japanese firm's line up for 2013.
Xperia Blog picked up the latest details on the Xperia L from a "reliable source" - although we're not getting carried away just yet.
The specs are hardly headline-worthy, but if the Xperia L does indeed sport a 4.3-inch 854 x 480 display, 1GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, microSD slot and an 8MP camera alongside a respectable price tag it may just have a chance.
Vital statistics
Apparently the source was also able to confirm the dimensions of the Sony Xperia L as 128.7 x 65 x 9.7mm, as well as noting the device will come running version 4.1.2 of Android Jelly Bean.
We'd expect its design to follow on from the fresh new look given to the Xperia Z, although at this time there has been no mention of the style of the Xperia L.
There's no word on when the Sony Xperia L may be released, but some are suggesting it may appear with the slightly larger Xperia SP later this year.
Moving ahead with its plan to drop its own Presto rendering engine in favor of WebKit -- the same used by Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome -- Opera Software has released the first public version of its revamped mobile browser on Google Play. Besides packing a new rendering engine, the user interface has also been redesigned from the ground up, while some loved features from the desktop version are present as well.
The new version uses Android-native user interface elements but takes a few cues from Chrome as well, such as merging the URL and search bars into one. Opera's Speed Dial tab received a few tweaks as well, merging the concepts of quick links and bookmarks with the ability to group multiple items into a folder.
Other notable features include off-road mode -- a proxy-browser mode available in Opera Mini that uses server caching to save bandwidth -- a Discover tab that displays curated content from popular news sources, the ability to save pages for reading later even without a network connection, private browsing, pop-up blocking, a built-in download manager, and Opera Link for synchronizing bookmark and settings.
"There are countless hours that have gone into making this completely new, completely re-thought Opera for Android," says Opera Software EVP of product development Rikard Gillemyr. "I dare say that many smartphone users spend much more time using their web browser than any other app on their phones. That's why we have made our newest mobile phone browser more elegant and more beautiful than ever, while still packing so much functionality into it. Go ahead — take the Opera beta out for a spin on your Android phone and see for yourself."
To try out the new Opera browser for Android beta head over to Google Play or visit www.opera.com on your mobile phone. Android devices with “phone-sized screens” from version 2.3 and up are supported.
Does Project Glass represent the next big step in mobile communications?
When Google Glass was unveiled, the tech world instantly fell into two camps. Camp one was excited: we're living in the sci-fi future! Camp two, though, wasn't so happy. It's vapourware! some said, while others worried that Google just wanted to plaster ads on the entire world. Is either camp correct? Let's find out.
What is Google's Project Glass?
Google Glass is the attempt to make wearable computing mainstream, and it's effectively a smart pair of glasses with an integrated heads-up display and a battery hidden inside the frame.
Wearable computing is not a new idea, but Google's enormous bank account and can-do attitude means that Project Glass could well be the first product to do significant numbers.
That's because the prototype Explorer units are becoming an increasingly common site around San Francisco - and Google is even allowing competition 'winners' to pay $1,500 to get these early offerings.
What does Google Glass do?
The core of Google Glass is its tiny prism display which sits not in your eyeline, but a little above it. You can see what is on the display by glancing up. The glasses also have an embedded camera, microphone, GPS and, reportedly, use bone induction to give you sound.
Voice control is used to control the device; you say 'ok glass' to get a range of options including taking pictures, videos, send messages using speech to text, 'hang out' with people or get directions to somewhere. You access these options by saying them out loud.
Most of this functionality is self explanatory; hang out is Google's video conferencing technology and allows you to talk to a people over web cam, and stream them what you are seeing and the directions use Google Maps and the inbuilt GPS to help you find your way.
The results are displayed on the prism - essentially putting data into your view like a head up display (HUD). It's potentially incredibly handy.
What are the Google Glass specifications?
An FCC filing in the US revealed many potential details, suggesting that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth would be used to send pictures to the screen, whilst bone-induction may be used for sound, vibrating your skull to communicate the sound into your inner ear. It's not a new technology, but certainly does have critics who suggest that it falls short of traditional headphones.
We don't have a lot of the final details on specs just yet - but expect Google Glass to run modified Android, to sport a decent resolution camera with a decent lens and we'd be fairly certain that the microphone needs to be a good quality.
There will be a GPS chip, and the lightweight and flexible glasses design will come in five colours - Charcoal, Tangerine, Shale, Cotton, Sky. That's black, orange, grey, white and blue for anyone that prefers plain English over marketing speak.
I already wear glasses. Will Google Glasses work for me?
Yes. Google is experimenting with designs that will fit over existing glasses so you don't have to wear two lots of specs.
What is the Project Glass price?
The NYT again: according to "several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named," the glasses are expected "to cost around the price of current smartphones." So that's around $750/£500, then, possibly with the help of a hefty Google subsidy.
The latest hints definitely suggest a price that will make them attractive to technophiles.
The developer versions - traditionally more expensive that the final consumer units - were made available for pre-order for $1,500 (c£966).
As to WHERE you can buy the specs; online will be a certainty, but don't rule out Glass making a debut in a all-new Google Store, with the search giant apparently considering actual shops to showcase the tech to those who haven't been following every development.
Is Project Glass evil?
It could be. Google's business is about making money from advertising, and some people worry that Google Glass is its attempt to monetise your eyeballs by blasting you with ads whenever you look at something.
If you think pop-ups are annoying in a web browser, imagine them in front of your face. The ADmented Reality spoof is one of very many parodies that made us laugh.
Some of the parodies actually make a good point by showing people bumping into stuff: heads-up displays can be distracting, and there may be safety issues too. Until Google ships its self-driving car, the thought of drivers being distracted by their glasses is fairly terrifying.
There are privacy implications too. Never mind your web history: Google Glass might record everything you see and do.
There is a red recording light, but the tech certainly raises some key debates that will become more relevant as this kind of technology surfaces. What are the repercussions from having everything you say potentially taped, turned into text and searchable? What are the repercussions for free speech.
All radically new tech brings new potential for evil. But you have to weigh that against the capacity for good and the progress it brings
Google Glass pre-order customers will get regular updates
Those people who paid Google $1,500 for the privilege of pre-ordering some Project Glass specs will be receiving "private updates" through Google+.
Anyone hoping that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will arrive sporting a new, brushed aluminium body at its launch event next week may be disappointed as the Korean firms sings the praises of plastic.
Y.H. Lee, Samsung's executive vice president of mobile business told Cnet that a key factor in what materials are selected for its devices is how efficiently it can be manufactured, with straight forward plastic the quickest and easiest medium to work with.
Another reason for opting for a plastic finish for its flagship devices such as the Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 is the durability factor it provides, allowing an additional level of bend and flex which you don't get with the more advance polycarbonate and metallic finishes.
I'm bringing plastic back
That said, Samsung hasn't exactly done a bad job with its plastic clad creations, with our own Phones and Tablets Editor, Gareth Beavis, declaring the Galaxy S3 had "a lovely back".
Although when you're going to be paying through the roof for a smartphone you want it to justify the price when you hold it in your hand - it's fair to say that the iPhone 5 exudes premium quality and we are also pretty smitten with the aluminium HTC One.
Samsung's range of top end handsets however fail to really hit the same premium heights, and while there's no questioning the power and features its phones pack, it does feel like the Korean firm is skimping on the chassis.
Lee didn't confirm that the Galaxy S4 would definitely sport a plastic chassis but that seems to be the case from the points that have been put across - unless Samsung is playing us in order to drop a big surprise at the official event on March 14, that is.
Either way, we'll be at the New York unveiling to bring you all the news and, of course, our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S4 review.
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Cliff Bleszinski, former game designer at Epic Games. During his 20-year tenure at Epic he was deeply involved in the development of Unreal and Gears of War game franchises.
The video game industry is just that. An industry.
Which means that it exists in a capitalistic world. You know, a free market. A place where you’re welcome to spend your money on whatever you please… or to refrain from spending that money.
Those companies that put these products out? They’re for profit businesses. They exist to produce, market, and ship great games ultimately for one purpose. First, for money, then, for acclaim.
And when those companies are publicly traded on the stock market they’re forced to answer to their shareholders. This means that they need to make a lot of money in order to increase the value of the shareholder’s stock. Every quarter.
Adjusted for inflation, your average video game is actually cheaper than it ever has been. Never mind the ratio of the hours of joy you get from a game per dollar compared to film.
To produce a high quality game it takes tens of millions of dollars, and when you add in marketing that can get up to 100+ million. In the AAA console market you need to spend a ton of cash on television ads alone, never mind other marketing stunts, launch events, swag, and the hip marketing agency that costs a boatload in your attempts to “go viral” with something. Not only is the market more crowded than ever but your average consumer has many more entertainment options than ever before in the history of humanity. (Hell, when levels are loading in our games my wife and I read Twitter and Reddit.)
Another factor to consider is the fact that many game development studios are in places like the San Francisco bay area, where the cost of living is extraordinarily high. (Even Seattle is pretty pricey these days.) Those talented artists, programmers, designers, and producers that spent their time building the game you love? They need to eat and feed their families. (Something that the hipster/boomerang kid generation seems to forget all too often.)
I’ve seen a lot of comments online about microtransactions. They’re a dirty word lately, it seems. Gamers are upset that publishers/developers are “nickel and diming them.” They’re raging at “big and evil corporations who are clueless and trying to steal their money.”
I’m going to come right out and say it. I’m tired of EA being seen as “the bad guy.” I think it’s bullshit that EA has the “scumbag EA” memes on Reddit and that Good Guy Valve can Do No Wrong.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of Gabe and co. and most everything they do. (Remember, I bought that custom portal turret that took over the internet a while back and I have friends over there.) However, it blows my mind that somehow gamers don’t seem to get that Valve is a business, just like any other, and when Valve charges $100 for an engagement ring in Team Fortress 2 it’s somehow “cool” yet when EA wants to sell something similar it’s seen as “evil.” Yes, guys, I hate to break it to you, as awesome as Valve is they’re also a company that seeks to make as much money as possible.
They’re just way better at their image control.
Making money and running a business is not inherently evil. It creates jobs and growth and puts food on the table. This country was built on entrepreneurship. Yes, there are obvious issues around basic business ethics (Google “Pinto Fires”) and the need for a company to give back to its community, but that’s not what this blog is about right now.
People love to beat up on Origin, but they forget that, for a good amount of time, Steam sucked. No one took it seriously for the first while. When Gabe pitched it at GDC to my former co-workers years ago they came back with eye rolls. (Who’s laughing now? All of Valve.) It took Valve years to bang their service into the stellar shape that it is in these days. Yet somehow everyone online forgets this, and they give EA crap about trying to create their own online services. Heaven forbid they see our digital roadmap for the future and try to get on board the “games as services” movement.
I remember when the rage was pointed at Epic when we allowed users to purchase weapon skins in Gears 3. I replied to an enraged fan on Twitter that “You’re more than welcome to not buy the optional cosmetic weapon skins that will make you more visible to the enemy.” And you know what? In spite of the uproar, people still bought plenty of them. (I’ve seen the numbers.)
If you don’t like EA, don’t buy their games. If you don’t like their micro-transactions, don’t spend money on them. It’s that simple. EA has many smart people working for them (Hi, Frank, JR, and Patrick!) and they wouldn’t attempt these things if they didn’t work. Turns out, they do. I assure you there are teams of analysts studying the numbers behind consumer behavior over there that are studying how you, the gamer, spends his hard earned cash.
If you’re currently raging about this on GAF, or on the IGN forums, or on Gamespot, guess what? You’re the vocal minority. Your average guy that buys just Madden and GTA every year doesn’t know, nor does he care. He has no problem throwing a few bucks more at a game because, hey, why not?
The market as I have previously stated is in such a sense of turmoil that the old business model is either evolving, growing, or dying. No one really knows. “Free to play” aka “Free to spend 4 grand on it” is here to stay, like it or not. Everyone gets a Smurfberry! Every single developer out there is trying to solve the mystery of this new model. Every console game MUST have a steady stream of DLC because, otherwise, guess what? It becomes traded in, or it’s just rented. In the console space you need to do anything to make sure that that disc stays in the tray. I used to be offended by Gamestop’s business practices but let’s be honest… they’re the next Tower Records or Sam Goody. It’s only a matter of time.
Remember, if everyone bought their games used there would be no more games. I don’t mean to knock you if you’re cash strapped – hell, when I was a kid and I had my paper route I would have bought the hell out of used games. But understand that when faced with this issue those that fund and produce those games you love have to come up with all sorts of creative ways for the business to remain viable and yes, profitable.
Saying a game has micro-transactions is a giant generalization, really, it is an open ended comment. What can you buy? Can you buy a cosmetic hat? Or can I spend a buck to go to the top of the leaderboard? Can I buy a bigger gun? What about gambling? (It’s like saying a game is open world; that could mean GTA, Assassin’s Creed, or heck, even Borderlands.) Which one do you actually mean? Do Zynga’s practices often feel sleazy? Sure. Don’t like it? Don’t play it. Don’t like pay to win? You have the freedom to opt out and not even touch the product.
If you truly love a product, you’ll throw money at it.
No one seemed too upset at Blizzard when you could buy a pet in World of Warcraft – a game that you had to buy that was charging a monthly fee. (How dare console games have steady cycles of buyable DLC!) When I was a child and the Ultimate Nintendo Fanboy I spent every time I earned from my paper route on anything Nintendo. Nintendo Cereal. Action figures. Posters. Nintendo Power. Why? Because I loved what Nintendo meant to me and I wanted them to keep bringing me more of this magic.
People like to act like we should go back to “the good ol’ days” before micro-transactions but they forget that arcades were the original change munchers. Those games were designed to make you lose so that you had to keep spending money on them. Ask any of the old Midway vets about their design techniques. The second to last boss in Mortal Kombat 2 was harder than the last boss, because when you see the last boss that’s sometimes enough for a gamer. The Pleasure Dome didn’t really exist in the original Total Carnage. Donkey Kong was hard as hell on purpose. (“Kill screen coming up!”)
I’ve been transparent with most folks I’ve worked with in my career as to why I got into this business. First, to make amazing products – because I love the medium more than any. Second, to be visible. I enjoy the notoriety that I’ve managed to stir up. And finally, yes, to make money. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it sure is a nice lubricant when you can take that trip you’ve always wanted or feed your family or pay your bills on time.
And that brings me full circle to my main point. If you don’t like the games, or the sales techniques, don’t spend your money on them.
