Chrome Apps will be converted directly to iOS and Android apps (credit: Chromium)
Google has revealed that Chrome Apps will soon appear in the iOS App Store and Android Google Play marketplace, masquerading as native smartphone apps.
The initiative to get Chrome Apps on mobile platforms began today, with a developer preview based on Apache Cordova.
Chromium engineer Andrew Grieve described Cordova in a blog post as an open-source development framework for building mobile apps using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
The toolchain Google has introduced takes Chrome Apps and repackages them as native smartphone apps for iOS and Android, making it easy for Chrome App developers to re-release their apps on those platforms.
For developers' eyes only
In 2013 Google introduced a "new breed" of Chrome Apps that look and act like native applications and work offline across every desktop operating system.
Now it's applying the same principles to mobile platforms.
For Chrome App developers looking to get in on the mobile action, Google has provided a convenient developer workflow.
Google has also converted many core Chrome Apps APIs, including sign-in, storage, push messages, alarms, and more, to run on mobile devices.
Other APIs, like notifications and payments, are currently Android only, but will likely come to iOS at some point as well. Cordova features its own set of mobile APIs as well.
Google said it expects to continue to improve this toolchain as the developer preview gets going and it receives feedback from devs.
In the meantime, smartphone users can watch out soon for Chrome Apps to begin arriving in their respective app stores.
Don't miss TechRadar's updated Google Glass review - how does Google's wearable stand up to weeks of continuous use?
MWC 2014 is nearly upon us but Samsung couldn't wait to show off its heavily spoiled midrange phone, the Galaxy Grand Neo.
As we previously reported, the Galaxy Grand Neo was officially outed as a 5.01-inch smartphone featuring a 480 x 800 display resolution. Packed inside the nearly square–looking handset lies a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, backed up with 1GB RAM and 16GBs of storage.
The handset has a bit of girth measuring in at 143.7 x 77.1 x 9.6mm and a slog on the software side running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. On the backside you'll find a 5MP camera, meanwhile, in front is a simple VGA shooter.
Other specs for this understated phone include a 2100mAh battery pack and Bluetooth 4.0. With HSPA+ and GSM radios in tow – plus dual-sim card slots to boot - it's likely to come to every carrier under the sun, although data speed lovers will be sad to know there's no LTE here.
One of many
Samsung didn't attach any availability dates with the official announcement. However, we spotted the phone already up for pre-orders with a Netherlands retailer for € 260 (about $355/£214/AUS $405).
The price is a little inflated thanks to additional tax, but handset will run into plenty of competition at that price point. For slightly less screen real estate and a much lower price users should look to the Motorola Moto G.
Will the Galaxy S5 be Samsung's first 2K smartphone?
Samsung has reportedly confirmed that it's working on smartphone displays not just in the 2K range, but all the way up to 4K resolution.
This news comes out of the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's Semiconductor and Display Technology Roadmap Seminar 2014, as reported by Korea's media.daum.net.
Samsung's eventual adoption of 2K QHD 2560 x 1440 AMOLED smartphone displays comes as no shock, but it is somewhat surprising that the company would mention Ultra HD 4K phone displays this early.
The 2K screens could debut as soon as Samsung's Galaxy S5, which is expected to be announced soon - though that's pure speculation.
The future looks dense
Late in 2013 Samsung was rumored to be working on 4K smartphone displays that would debut in 2015, but 4K phones could be even farther off than that.
As G for Games points out, on a 5 inch display a 4K resolution of 3480 x 2160 equals a pixel density of roughly 820 ppi, and that's a lot of pixels.
But with even 2K smartphone displays still little more than a glimmer in most manufacturers' eyes, it will likely be a while before we learn about whatever meager advantages jamming so many pixels into so small a space could possibly produce.
Samsung also discussed future TV plans at the event, mentioning AMOLED TVs with UHD SHD 7680 x 4320 screens.
Don't miss TechRadar's updated Google Glass review - how does Google's wearable stand up to weeks of continuous use?
For serious iPhoneography (credit: Patently Apple)
Apple has patented and even created some strange, never to be seen things in the past. Its latest creation? Swappable and clip-on lenses for the iPhone camera.
According to Patently Apple, the US Patent and Trademark Office just published 31 new patents filed by the smartphone maker. Out of this pile one of the more possible design dockets suggests Apple could add a magnetic ring mounting point for additional external lenses.
Supposedly this magnetic ring would allow user to attach an accessory with three swappable lenses on a pinwheel. This accessory might add a wide-angle adapter or a piece of glass for slightly zoomed in portraits. There were also illustrations that featured a telephoto lens that would stick out very far iPhone's back.
We've seen these add-on lens accessories before from multiple iPhone accessory makers. But we wouldn't put it past Apple to add its own slew of glass too just as it jumped into cases and iPhone bumpers.
Camera control
Beyond allowing users to attach different lenses, the magnetic lens could be charged with a small electric current to create a miniature magnetic field. The patent theorizes it could use magnetism to add optical image stabilization, autofocus, and zoom features to external lenses.
Autofocus is a must in the smartphone camera world and image stabilization has made it onto new handsets like the LG G2. However, adding lenses that zooms-in optically could bridge the gap between fixed focal length smartphone cameras and traditional pixel shooters.
Modular cameras
Take off the camera lens and the whole back (credit: USPTO)
In a slightly older patent from 2010 authored by Richard Tsai, who is now Apple's senior camera engineer, future Apple iPhones could have customizable lenses and detachable backs.
The new design could replace the traditional camera unit for a camera sensor with a removable back panel and optical components. The removable portion of the case includes the lens that could be swapped out for a different focal length or one with more features including zoom and image stabilization.
As we've said before cameras are getting better and they're going to be the real differentiator for smartphones in the coming year. It's rumored the HTC M8 will employ a dual-sensor camera for better focusing, meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is said kick things up DSLR resolution at 16MP.
Juniper estimates that total smartphone shipments in 2013 were 980 million, at rate of 39 per cent growth from 2012. It is estimated that shipments exceeded 280 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 alone.
Prize fruit
The report also noted that Apple posted a record of 51 million iPhone sales during the fourth quarter in 2013, an increase of 51 per cent compared to the fourth quarter in 2012. In spite of this, Apple's share price dropped by 5% following lowered sales expectations for 2014.
Elsewhere, it was reported that Nokia sold 30 million Lumia smartphones during 2013, over double the amount it sold in 2012.
Meanwhile, LG posted a record quarter with quarterly smartphone sales exceeding 13 million for the first time. Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE all increased their share of the smartphone market with combined sales of over 40 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Intel's funny wireless earpiece, known as Jarvis, will process your voice commands on device instead of using the internet and causing you to wait long, tedious seconds for your results.
The problem with most voice recognition services is that they have to outsource the actual work of figuring out what you've said to a more powerful machine elsewhere, using the internet to transmit it.
The time it takes to send your voice command off, process it and return the result is generally about the same amount of time it takes for you to get annoyed.
Cocker
But Intel says it has, with the help of an anonymous third party, created a processor/software combo powerful enough to translate the human voice but small enough to fit onto its Jarvis headset.
That means that while Jarvis works better in tandem with an internet connection and a phone or a tablet, it can also function on its own.
Intel is also trying to sell its small-but-mighty voice recognition tech to other companies, so we could soon see it popping up in other phones and tablets.
Will voice recognition be a big deal at MWC 2014? Here's what to expect
BlackBerry 10.2.1 is here, but can it breathe new life into the fruity phones?
BlackBerry's smartphone business may be dying a slow death, but the Canadian company isn't ready to bow out just yet, as it's continuing to support its customers with a new software update, bringing the BlackBerry 10 OS up to version 10.2.1.
The update is rolling out to customers around the world starting today and it brings a treasure trove of features and improvements to BlackBerry's beleaguered OS.
The new features include a 'picture password', which allows you to quickly unlock your handset by dragging the correct number over the correct part of an image.
There's also a new device and battery monitor, which provides CPU stats as well as information on battery life and storage.
Music to your ears
If you have a BlackBerry Z30, Q10 or Q5 and have been longing for an FM radio you're in luck, because the update adds one for those handsets, allowing you to listen to local stations without an internet connection.
On the improvements front BlackBerry 10.2.1 allows you to swipe left to answer a call or right to ignore it, as well as adding new intuitive icons to the incoming call screen, making it easy to silence a call or message the caller.
You can also create SMS and email groups, open lock screen messages with a tap, pinch the BlackBerry Hub to filter messages, customise the available actions on the Quick Settings menu, save web pages for offline reading, choose which sources to sync a contact from, receive automatic software updates and if you have BES 10.2 you'll also gain extra security features and IT policies.
It's an impressive update for such a minor number jump and while it won't likely be enough to win many new customers it should at least keep existing users happy.
We are currently putting the UK version of the Motorola Moto X through its paces, and we will be updating this review with our findings very soon.
The Moto X is the first handset to come out of the collaboration between Motorola and Google, although here in the UK we were treated to the quite excellent Moto G before the X made it to our shores.
Google became Motorola's owner and parent company over a year ago now, which had many thinking that Moto would make the next Nexus phone. Instead we got the Moto X, a compact, stylish handset with decidedly mid-range specs.
With an emphasis on battery life, contextual services and easy one-handed operation, it seems Motorola has the iPhone 5C (and to some extent the iPhone 5S) in its sights, not the big screen powerhouses like the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4.
The Moto X is available on all the major networks, and can be picked up for free on two year contracts from £21 per month. If you fancy owning your Moto X outright you can lay down £389.95 for the handset.
The Motorola Moto X has a dual-core processor and 720p screen, lower than the quad-core and 1080p combo that the HTC One and Galaxy S4 have taught consumers to expect from flagships.
While it looks lesser on paper, will it really make a difference day to day? Motorola is betting on no. Instead of going for all the gigahertz, it's loaded the Moto X up with thoughtful features like hands-free Google Now voice commands, a clever notification system and camera access with the flick of wrist.
It's also claiming twenty-four hour battery life on a 2200mAh cell, thanks to those lower wattage internals.
Can services trump specs? Has Motorola built the best Android phone for the "everyman" user? Or will it be lost in a sea of bigger screen phones with bigger specs and bigger names? Only time will tell.
At 5 inches, the Moto X is diminutive compared to the current Android leaders. This is good news for anyone who's felt like the HTC One or Galaxy S4 were going to rip out of their pocket, or slip out of their hand. The X is also built from a polycarbonate plastic that gives it a different feel from other phones on the market.
Its materials make it feel dense and well built; it actually feels a little bit ceramic. It's a marked contrast to the Galaxy S4, which feels plastic and hollow - the Moto X feels solid and well balanced. Weighing in at 130g it's on the heavy side, but the weight isn't too much, and gives the phone a substantial, premium feel.
The rear of the phone is curved slightly, letting it nestle easily in your hand. My review unit was a white model, with a slightly holographic woven pattern. The Motorola logo on the rear is dimpled, giving your index finger a perfect place to rest.
Like an iPhone 5C or HTC One, the back is a little bit slippery, the only thing that detracts from a build otherwise perfect for one-handed use.
The Moto X's full measurements are 129.3 x 65.3 x 10.4mm. It's easy to operate in one hand, due to its moderate size as well as a power button and volume rocker on the right side, right where your thumb can get at them.
Those are the only physical buttons on the phone. They're metal and raised and therefore easy to press, but do feel a little bit loose in their sockets. Shake the phone and you can faintly hear them rattle; this is something I encountered on the last Motorola phones I reviewed, the Razr i and Razr HD, a slight annoyance that detracts from the otherwise excellent feel of the phone.
The Moto X has a sealed design, with no microSD expansion. That's a bit of a bummer, since you'll be shelling out £390 for the 16GB option (and even more for 32GB), with no 64GB model available. It has allowed Motorola to give its phone a pleasing unibody design, though.
Despite a seam running along the side of the phone, it feels like one solid piece of high quality plastic.
The phone's display is a 4.7-inch AMOLED display, with a resolution of 720 x 1280 and a pixel density of 312ppi. As I mentioned, that's a peg below the full HD 1080p resolution of the leading Android devices like the HTC One and Galaxy S4.
Compared side-by-side to the HTC One's 1080p display of the same size, the Moto X is noticeably less sharp. It really does take that sort of comparison to notice the difference though. While the One's mind boggling pixel density renders crisper text, and slightly nicer HD video, the Moto X's display is still far from fuzzy.
Colours are strong, a bit saturated, but never dull. The auto brightness regulates the display well in indoor light and in a dark room. It's no better at avoiding sunlight washout than iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4.
In the States Motorola offers customers its MotoMaker website, allowing them to customise their Moto X with a variety of colours, finishes and engravings. Sadly it has not made the transition to the UK, meaning you're stuck with black or white, 16GB or 32GB. Boring.
The Lumia 1820 looks set to be the most powerful Windows Phone 8 handset yet. (credit: Qxerro)
It looks like the Nokia Lumia 1820 could be a mighty powerful flagship phone - and we won't have to wait long to get our eyes on it.
FIrst up, reports believe that the 1820 will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, which is reason enough to get excited as it's the successor to the battery-friendly-yet-burly Snapdragon 800 doing the rounds in many of the current Android and Windows Phone flagships.
The 805 is capable of improving just about every aspect of a smartphones performance. It allows for a quad-core processor of up to 2.5 GHz and supports Ultra HD resolution on a smartphone. It also supports better graphics in games than the Snapdragon 800 and can even improve camera performance.
Ready to rumble
So it's a big deal and Nokia's adoption of it suggests that the company is serious about competing with top tier handsets from other manufacturers.
The rumour comes from sources in Taiwan's handset supply chain, which spoke to DigiTimes. Aside from a powerhouse processor the Nokia Lumia 1820 will also have a 5.2 inch qHD display and a 3400 mAh battery according to the sources.
Though while DigiTimes listed the display as 'qHD' (960 x 540), 'QHD' (2560 x 1440) seems more likely given that this is a flagship phone capable of supporting an Ultra HD display.
According to the sources the Nokia Lumia 1820 will be launched at MWC, as we'd previously heard, and will arrive alongside the 6 inch Lumia 1525 and the Lumia 1520V, which is apparently a variant of the Nokia Lumia 1520, with a smaller 4.45 inch screen and a 14 megapixel camera.
Is this Samsung's first Tizen phone? (credit: MovePlayer)
Samsung's first Tizen smartphone has appeared in a leaked photo, going by the name Zeq 9000 - but that's set to change.
The image was leaked by South Korean website MovePlayer, which revealed that the Zeq 9000 will apparently have a 4.8-inch HD display and a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.
It looks typically Samsung, with a dark textured plastic body with curved edges, and the home screen on the display looks distinctly Tizen. In other words, it looks believable - although we can't verify the authenticity of the leak.
It's said to be 136.1 x 69.1mm, which would make it slightly smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S4, though there's no word on how slim it will be.
Zeke after leak
The phone is currently known as the Zeq 9000, but the site suggests that the handset may be called 'Zeke' when it launches, because, according to MovePlayer's unnamed source, Samsung filed for the brand name in August.
As it's not clear where MovePlayer is getting its information from it's hard to say whether any of this is true or not, but the image of the phone certainly looks the part.
We should know soon enough as Samsung is expected to unveil its first Tizen phones at MWC 2014 in February.
There'll be plenty more to see at MWC. Check out our guide for what to expect.
The Nokia X Android smartphone is gaining more momentum every day, and we've now got another set of specs to attach to the handset.
Perennial mobile leaker @evleaks is at the centre of things again, posting up specs supposed linked to the Finnish firm's much rumoured Normandy device.
The tweet reads: "Nokia X: 2 x 1GHz Snapdragon, 4" WVGA, 512MB / 4GB / microSD, 5MP, 1500MAh, Nokia Store + 3rd party, dual-SIM, 6 colors" - which falls in line with specs leaked earlier in the week.
Déjà vu
These are similar specs to the current baby of the Lumia range, the Nokia Lumia 520, although the Nokia X looks set to pack less internal storage and a slightly larger battery.
