The Google X Lab team has been on the energy drinks
You look SO 2014
Will the Google Glass
that hits the market actually be more enhanced than the Explorer
edition we're seeing at the moment? It's a solid theory, and might be
backed by word from Google that it's already working on the next
generation of Glass.
Glass isn't set to launch until next year but according to Technology Review,
Mary Lou Jepsen, head of Display Division at the Google X lab, said
that she and the team are busy working on preparing the next step.
Jepsen
spilled the beans at a MIT's EmTech conference, telling the audience
that the team was "maybe sleeping three hours a night to bring the
technology forward."
What's (s)he building in there?
She
also said that we may see what they're working on next year. Wait, the
same year that Google Glass is suppose to be made available? Hmmm.
We actually saw hints of a new Google Glass earlier this year when a patent surfaced pointing to a product that was designed more like an actual pair of glasses.
Before then we're expecting Google's smartwatch to touch down and we reckon it might be getting a heavy dose of Google Now.
Meanwhile, get some sleep Jepsen.
Putting the water-and-dust-proof GALAXY S4 Active through its paces
Stress Testing the GALAXY S4 Active
The rugged Samsung GALAXY S4 Active is the ideal all-action,
peak-performance smartphone for ramblers, mountain bikers, sailors and
fans of extreme sports.Not only that, this durable, dust-proof and water resistant phone is the ideal smartphone for the terminally clumsy!
Toddler
dropped your phone in the toilet? Hey, no problem! The GALAXY S4 Active
can be submerged in up to a metre of water for a full thirty minutes.
Here are another ten everyday situations in which the GALAXY S4 Active proves to be nothing less than a godsend
Situation 1: The Beer Test
The
first stress test does double duty as an amazing practical joke. The
execution is simple: you need a pub, a couple of not-too-tech-savvy
mates, and a pint.
Making sure that the charging port on the
GALAXY S4 Active is sealed (as you'll look a right fool if it's not),
casually drop your phone into your ice-cold beverage of choice.
Your
mates, if all goes well, will freak out that you've just ruined your
shiny new smartphone, which will make them look a bit thick when you
casually continue sipping. Added points for downing the drink, then
licking leftover froth off your phone!
Even though you probably wouldn't go for a swim in that, it's not a problem for the S4 Active
Situation 2: Let's Get Muddy
Sadly,
the world isn't just filled with beautiful, amber-clear liquids;
there's mud and grit out there too. The GALAXY S4 Active's IP67 rating
equips it to handle this big, nasty world; but you don't need to just
take our word for it.
One thing to look forward to from our lovely
British winter is the fact that you'll find the S4 Active stands up
rather well to muddy puddles – you know, the sort that mountain bikers
love to splash passers-by with. But now there's nothing you need to
worry about (other than getting your trousers dirty). Ok, so probably not the smartest idea in the world
Situation 3: Sauna Time
The
S4 Active isn't just equipped to handle wet and dirty conditions
though; it's also capable of performing perfectly well in extremely hot
and cold environments.
To test the former, why not try out a quick
sauna. Even in the baking heat of a hot wooden shed, the S4 Active will
outlast any mere mortal. Though watch out for those disapproving
glances from the other members of your gym! Treat yourself to a cold Pimms in our chill-test!
Situation 4: Chill Out
Nothing
does stress testing like going from the extremes of hot to the extremes
of cold (fun fact: this is how the military stress-test the electronics
that get bolted onto fighter jets).
Chill-testing the S4 Active
is both easy and rather pleasant (in warmer weather, at least): a couple
of bags of ice, a bucket and the handset in question are all that's
needed to prove that the S4 Active would handle the ski slopes with
aplomb.
Added bonus: once you've let the GALAXY S4 Active get
hypothermic for a half-hour or so, there's ice left over for Pimms.
Stress testing is very stressful, after all… Take some great shots with your S4 Active on the beach
Situation 5: The Beach
Most
smartphones are 50% silicone; so are the sand grains adorning Spain's
lily-white beaches, but that doesn't mean that they'll play nicely
together.
To prove that the GALAXY S4 Active is a few smarts above
other smartphones, a simple test is in order: a variation on the
classic seven-year-old's sandcastle, but with the S4 Active acting as a
neat supporting buttress in the very centre. Just remember to rescue it
before the tide washes the whole thing away!
Once it's free of the
sand, the GALAXY S4 Active will go straight back to normal (which is
more than you'll be able to say for your beach towel). Give your mud-spattered S4 Active a quick power wash!
Situation 6: The Power Wash
Power-washing
your patio is once of those horribly boring chores that can be made
infinitely better by the misuse of expensive power tools.
Case in
point: proving the GALAXY S4 Active's water resistance by giving it a
thorough cleaning, but with a high-pressure power hose rather than a
gentle microfibre cloth. (Again, remembering to close that charging port
is probably a good idea). Aqua Mode is one of the real boons of the S4 Active
Situation 7: Underwater Photography
The
GALAXY S4 Active doesn't merely survive underwater; it keeps humming
along just fine. A good way to prove this is to take the S4 Active on a
little stroll down to the swimming pool.
Not only does the S4
Active stand up to a swim, but thanks to the exclusive Aqua Mode, you
can keep on a-snappin' with that 8-megapixel shooter till the, erm, fish
come home. The S4 Active is an excellent stand-in for a stick if you have to play fetch in a barren desert
Situation 8: The Dog Bone
The
execution of "Doggie Feeding Time", as this particular test is known,
is pretty darn simple: just pull up an image of a juicy, slobber-ridden
bone on that 5-inch Full HD screen, plonk it in front of Fido, and hey
presto, your dog's got a new chew toy, and you've got a perfect stress
test.
A dog's mouth is a double threat for the S4 Active –
circuit-killer slobber oozing from saliva glands, and those sharp
canines just begging to put a hole in expensive consumer electronics.
Thankfully,
the S4 Active passes both tests – the waterproofing keeps that nasty
drool at bay, and hey, Gorilla Glass 2 is named after an animal for a
reason. (Please note: while all the other tests here are based on
thorough testing of the S4 Active, this one is purely theoretical - we
didn't really give our S4 Active to a dog, and we don't seriously
recommend that you do either!). A mud-proof phone is pretty much essential at a music festival
Situation 9: The Festival
Lab
tests aren't any good without fieldwork; and for that, we hasten unto
Glastonbury, which probably holds the record for "easiest place on Earth
to ruin a fancy bit of technology."
With mud, enthusiastic ravers and portable toilets to contend with, any festival is a challenge for a phone.
But
the S4 Active is a perfect festival phone. As we showed above, mud's no
real problem; and as for the toilets, well, that IP67 rating should
keep the smell out. We hope. Added bonus: the orange model is pretty
easy to spot in a crowd. Breaking the S4 Active is like taking a smartphone from a baby. AKA very difficult indeed.
Situation 10: The Toddler Test
If
there's one test that should surpass all others, it's giving an
expensive bit of electronics to a toddler. You probably wouldn't trust
your little tyke with a regular S4 – imagine the potential for
crayon-encrusted Gorilla Glass, or ice cream pushed just so down the
headphone port.
The S4 Active, though, should be fine for a few
minutes' unsupervised playtime. That IP67 rating, as well as keeping
water and dust at bay, should keep all manner of yoghurt, finger paint
and other fluids out; while the Gorilla Glass 2 will stand up to even
the most serious Lego attacks.
The Galaxy S5's chip may be half the size and twice the power.It looks like Samsung might be working on a smaller, much faster and
much more efficient chip for the Samsung Galaxy S5, using its Exynos
technology to bring out a chip to rival Apple's powerful A7 found at the
heart of the iPhone 5S.Samsung
is said to be working on a 14nm (or 14 nanometre) chip for its new
flagship, which would be half the size of the 28nm chip in the Samsung
Galaxy S4, according to South Korean site DDaily, which is reporting that according to 'industry sources' Samsung is the tentatively-titled Exynos 6.
The
smaller size should cut the power consumption of the chip by a large
amount, and by using less power it also produces less heat, minimising
the chance of the Samsung Galaxy S5 overheating.
Smaller chips
have the transistors packed closer together, which means that they can
work faster and more efficiently, using less power.
Most
smartphones at the moment, including Samsung's, use 28nm chips and the
next logical step down in size would be to 20nm, but Samsung seems to be
skipping that altogether and jumping straight down to 14nm chips.
Out-doing Apple
This follows on from previous rumours
that the Samsung Galaxy S5 might use a powerful 64-bit chip. The move
to 64-bits holds advantages of its own, as it will be able to work with
more memory at once, allowing for devices with more than 4GB of RAM.
It's
also better able to multitask and can better tackle demanding apps and
processes than a 32-bit chip, improving performance in the process.
If
all this is true then it then the Exynos 6 should be enough to out-do
Apple, which recently made waves with the move to a 64-bit chip in the
iPhone 5S.
Samsung will not only be able to match Apple with a
64-bit chip of its own, but actually one-up the Cupertino company with a
chip that's faster, cooler and smaller.
The move to 64-bit
architecture also opens the floodgates for more powerful Android
handsets with a theoretically almost unlimited amount of RAM in the
future.
Texting times Android KitKat
will let users decide what app to use for sending and receiving text
messages rather than automatically defaulting to the classic Android
Messaging app.
Once KitKat lands on Android handsets, users will
be able to choose a default SMS app for themselves from within system
settings.
The upshot for devs is that they need to adjust their hidden SMS APIs, for which full instructions are given in the blog post itself.
Getting set
In
the post, Android reps outline what devs need to do to ensure their SMS
apps are ready for the KitKat release, whenever that may be.
Previously apps were able to handle text messages in this way, but now that task will be set to one default app in the settings.
While
it doesn't contain any concrete information about when KitKat is likely
to launch further than "later this year", the post does "encourage"
devs to update apps "as soon as possible" which suggests that the
Android 4.4 launch will be soon.
Indeed, we're expecting KitKat to be unveiled this week alongside a new Nexus 5 handset.
New heights for NexusThe Google Nexus 5 has made an appearance on GFXBench, where it's completed two different benchmark tests with very impressive scores.The
first test, '2.7 T-Rex HD Offscreen', takes devices to their limits to
test their graphics performance and the Nexus 5 came away with a score
of 23.1fps.
To put that into perspective, that's an identical score to the Sony Xperia Z1, substantially higher than the Samsung Galaxy S4 (which averaged 17.2fps) and only marginally worse than the iPhone 5S, which completed the test with an average score of 24.7fps.
The
other test that the Nexus 5 has completed is '2.5 Egypt HD Offscreen'.
As with the first benchmark, it tests the phones graphics capabilities,
but it's not quite so intensive.
That's highlighted in the
59.2fps score the Nexus 5 received, which topped the Samsung Galaxy S4's
score of 43.9fps and even the iPhone 5S, which managed 56.7fps. Though
it did marginally worse on this test than the Sony Xperia Z1, which
scored 60.6fps.
Leader of the pack
The gist of all that is
that in terms of raw power the Nexus 5 looks set to sit at the top of
the Android pack when it launches later this year and it even sports a
similar level of graphics performance to the iPhone 5S.
That's not too much of a surprise, assuming the previous rumours
of it sporting a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 3GB of
RAM are to be believed. But given that it will presumably come with an
affordable price tag it's still pretty impressive.
The Nexus 5 is also thought to have a 5.2-inch screen and a glass back. It won't be long until we know how true all this is, as the latest rumours point to it being announced on 14 October.
Updated Here's what we know about Android 5.0 so far
Android 5.0 Lemon and Lime, perhaps?
Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7 in July of 2012.Two
more flavors of Jelly Bean were to follow: Android 4.2 was released on
13 November 2012, and then Android 4.3 arrived on 24 July 2013.
Throughout
the Jelly Bean reign, we've been gathering rumors of the next major
Android update, Android 5.0. The word was that this release was being
developed under the dessert-related codename of Key Lime Pie but then on
3 September 2013, Google announced that Android 4.4 KitKat would precede Android 5, so the Key Lime Pie name looks to have been ditched.
We're
still expecting an Android 5 release, of course, but with different
features, a new code name and a later release date than we were
originally anticipating.
The dessert-themed moniker that we assume
will begin with L is anyone's guess at this stage. Android 5.0 Lemon
Cheesecake or Android 5.0 Lemon Meringue Pie, anyone?
As we wait
on official news of that code name, as well as the Android 5.0 release
date and features, we can start to pull together the latest rumors from
around the web.
Android 5.0 release date
Until Android 4.4
was announced we had expected the Android 5.0 release date to be some
time in October 2013. We now expect to see Android 4.4 KitKat
launch during that month. In the face of that point release, we think
it's now likely that we'll see Android 5.0 shown in mid-2014, quite
possibly at Google IO, Google's annual two-day developer conference in
San Francisco.
That's a year on from when we had originally expected to see Android 5.0, which was at Google IO 2013, which took place from May 15 to May 17 2013. Given that Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at 2012's IO conference, it seemed reasonable to expect to see Android 5.0 at the 2013 event.
But
on 13 May 2013, we got our confirmation that there would be no serving
of Android 5 at Google IO from Sundar Pichai, Google's new head of
Android. Pichai told Wired
that 2013's IO is "not a time when we have much in the way of launches
of new products or a new operating system". Boo! "Both on Android and
Chrome, we're going to focus this IO on all the kinds of things we're
doing for developers so that they can write better things," he added.
Android 5.0 phones
Rumors of a new Nexus handset started trickling in during the third quarter of 2012, as we reported on 1 October 2012. There was talk that this phone would be sporting Android 5.0 but the handset, which turned out to be the Google Nexus 4, arrived running Android Jelly Bean.
While the Nexus 4 didn't appear with Android 5.0, speculation that we reported on 21 January 2013 suggested that the Motorola X
was the Android 5.0-toting handset that would be revealed at Google IO.
The Moto X wasn't on show at IO and instead appeared in August 2013,
running Android 4.2.2.
We also heard whispers that a new Nexus phone, most likely the Google Nexus 5, might be blessed with Android 5.0 and on 18 March 2013, supposed images of the Nexus 5 surfaced,
with the handset apparently being manufactured by LG. If the
accompanying specs, leaked along with the photo by the anonymous source,
are true, then the Nexus 5 will feature a 5.2-inch, 1920 x 1080 OLED
display, 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 3GB of RAM.
The latest speculation, which we reported on 13 September 2013, suggests that the Nexus 5 will now arrive sporting Android 4.4 KitKat.
Androids out in force at Google IO 2012If rumors that we covered on 30 May
are correct, then HTC will be bringing us an Android 5.0-powered
'phablet' in the form of the HTC T6 (now looking as though it'll launch
as the HTC One Max).
Featuring a 5.9-inch full-HD screen, the One Max will be squaring up against the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which broke cover at IFA 2013. According to tipster evleaks, the One Max will feature a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800
processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. With a rumored
release date of the end of 2013, though, it's going to arrive too early
to come with Android 5.0 out of the box.
Android 5.0 tablets
The original Nexus 7 tablet was unveiled at Google IO 2012, so we thought it possible that we'd see a refreshed Nexus 7 2 at Google IO 2013. The speculation earlier in the year was that Google would team up with Asus for this, as it did with the original Nexus 7. We expected an upgraded display on the new Nexus 7 tablet, while Digitimes reported that the 2nd generation Nexus 7 would have 3G service and range in price from $149 to $199.
The new Nexus 7
was a no-show at IO, but the Asus-built device was later launched by
Google on 24 July 2013, albeit running Android 4.3 rather than 5.
Samsung's Android 5.0 upgrades
Although Samsung is yet to officially confirm its Android 5.0 schedule, a SamMobile source is claiming to know which phones and tablets will be getting the upgrade. According to the source, the devices set to receive the upgrade are the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1.
Do note that this claim was made before Google announced Android 4.4,
so if it was ever correct, it's probably a lot less correct now.
As you'd expect, the S4 will be getting an Android update, but to which version?
Android 5.0 features
For 24 hours, it seemed as though the first kinda, sorta confirmed feature for Android 5.0 was a Google Now widget, which briefly appeared in a screenshot on the company's support forum
before being taken down. As it was so hurriedly pulled, many people
assumed it was slated for the big five-o and accidentally revealed
early.
As it happened, the following day, on 13 February 2013, the Google Now widget rolled out to Jelly Bean.
On 28 February 2013, we learned from Android Central
that Google is working with the Linux 3.8 kernel, which gave rise to
the notion that this kernel might power Android 5. One improvement that
the 3.8 kernel brings is lowered RAM usage, which would mean a snappier
phone with better multitasking.
On 13 June 2013, VR-Zone also claimed that Android 5.0 will be optimised to run on devices with as little as 512MB of RAM.
We're
now expecting that Linux 3.8 kernel to show up in Android 4.4, given
that Google's stated aim with KitKat is "to make an amazing Android
experience available for everybody". Android Geeks reported that Google Babble
would debut on Android 5.0. Babble was the code name for Google's
cross-platform service and app with the aim of unifying its various chat
services which include Talk, Hangout, Voice, Messenger, Chat for Google
Drive and Chat on Google+.
A screenshot that we were sent from a Google employee on 8 April
confirmed that not only was this unified chat service on the way, but
that it was called Google Babel not Babble. The service was to come with
a bunch of new emoticons and Google+ built-in so you can jump from
Babel chat to hangout. A leaked Google memo on 10 April provided a few more juicy details including talk of a new UI and synced conversations between mobile and desktop.
We've been fishing for info on BabelOn 10 May, we discovered that Babel would launch as Google Hangouts, and on 15 May we saw it come to life for devices running Android 2.3 and up. So much for it debuting on Android 5.
Following an 18 April tear-down of the Google Glass app MyGlass by Android Police, it looked as though there may be an iOS Games Center-like service coming to Android 5.0. Android Police found
references in the code to functionality that doesn't exist in Glass,
which suggested that developers accidentally shipped the full suite of
Google Play Services with the Android application package.
The
files in the package contained references to real-time and turn-based
multiplayer, in-game chat, achievements, leaderboards, invitations and
game lobbies.
As expected, we found out more about Google Play Games at Google I/O, but it's not an Android 5.0 feature after all as it has been made available already.
Android 5.0 interface
While
this is pure speculation, we're wondering whether Android 5.0 might
bring with it a brighter interface, moving away from the Holo Dark theme that came with Android 4.0.
Google Now brought with it a clearer look with cleaner fonts, and screenshots of Google Play 4.0 show Google's app market taking on similar design cues. Is this a hint at a brighter, airier look for Key Lime Pie?
Google Play is lightening up On
6 August 2013, we learned that Google had applied to patent a rather
cool piece of functionality whereby an Android user would be able to launch different apps by drawing different patterns on the lock screen.
If
this feature makes it into Android 5, we could be able to launch the
camera app by drawing one pattern and Twitter by drawing another.
Our Android 5.0 wishlist
While
we wait on more Key Lime Pie features to be revealed and scour the web
for more Android 5.0 news, TechRadar writer Gary Cutlack has been
thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.
Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...
1. Performance Profiles
It's
bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the
sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what
Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and
therefore power use, automatically.
We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.
Something
like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state
for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no
bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.
Some
hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the
excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd
be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.
Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.
Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE
2. Better multiple device support
Google
already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who
own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage
that are rather frustrating.
Take the Videos app which manages
your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one
Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that
same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet
mid-film.
You can switch between phone and web site players to
resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often
have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key
Lime Pie?
3. Enhanced social network support
Android
doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with
most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware
makers through their own custom skins.
Sony integrates Facebook
brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network
aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are
there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?
Yes,
Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are
many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better
"baked in" to Android.
4. Line-drawing keyboard options
Another
area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is
in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards.
HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of
line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your
words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.
UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2.
P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0
5. A video chat app
How
odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and
most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet
most ship without any form of common video chat app?
You have to
download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app
solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some
sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what
you're saying, Google?
6. Multi-select in the contacts
The
Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a
little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a
handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing
one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system
that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly
through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this
much easier.
Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list
7. Cross-device SMS sync
If
you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go,
chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point.
Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be
nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or
beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and
consistent access across multiple devices.
8. A "Never Update" option
This
would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we
could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd
rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.
Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the
update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured
version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still
using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a
year.Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change
9. App preview/freebie codes
Something
Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to
distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little
competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there
no similar scheme for Android?
It might encourage developers to
stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for
an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code
system.
10. Final whinges and requests...
It's be nice
to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by
most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a
huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through
and pick out what you need.
Plus could we have a percentage count
for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we
know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.
The latest Android 4.4 KitKat rumors suggest the coming operating system may be compatible across several platforms.
Piggybacking off the previous Android 4.4 KitKat log file leak, which revealed evidence of a Google Home app of some sort that may serve as a one-stop locale for all Google services, Android Police
has stumbled upon image evidence of such an app. The tech website
shared a heavily cropped screen capture of a prompt referring to the
“Google Experience,” which alludes to a launcher that may operate within
Android 4.4. The Google Experience, further evidence indicates, could
be a feature that extends outside of Android 4.4.
Similarly citing information derived from the Android 4.4 KitKat log file, tech website Myce
previously suggested that changes in the structure of app names
indicate that in Android 4.4 certain Google-specific apps would be
available in the Google Play Store to be downloaded independently from
the operating system.
The app names have gone from
"com.android.APPNAME" to "com.google.android.APPNAME," and Android
Police discovered the package com.google.android.gel, which it believes
could be the abbreviation for “Google Experience Launcher.” The GEL
abbreviation has reportedly surfaced in other sections of the log file,
including the aforementioned Google Home app. From this evidence, many
suspect that the Google Experience Launcher would open up the
prospective Google Home hub.
APK referencing Google Experience Launcher Android Police Google Experience For Other Devices?
Google announced the name of its next operating system as Android 4.4
KitKat in early September, and other than a vague reference to reducing fragmentation within the Android line, the Mountain View, Calif., tech giant has not divulged any further information about Android 4.4.
“It’s our goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android
experience available for everybody,” reads the company statement. This
clue, coupled with the information from the log files and other leaks,
has led many to believe that one way Android 4.4 will bridge the gap
with previous Android versions is by having the most up-to-date
Google-specific apps available at the Google Play Store.
Such apps as the Google Calendar
have long made their way to the Google Play Store and have similarly
seen their package names change to the new com.google.android.APPNAME
structure. It is believed that since the “Google Experience Launcher” is
already being filed in this fashion, it too may be available at the
Google Play Store to be downloaded by non-Nexus Android users when
Android 4.4 releases. Possible Google Experience Features
As Android 4.4 KitKat and Nexus 5 leaks have surfaced in recent days,
many new features have now been linked to Google Experience or Google
Home. Tech website TuttoAndroid in particular has revealed a number of Android 4.4 features, which are reportedly specific to the Google Experience and listed below.
Many are certain these features will be seen in Android 4.4, but note
that with no confirmation from Google, things can change by the time the
system is released.
Transparent navigation and status bars in Google Experience.
Google Search/Now integrated within Google Experience.
Leftmost home screen reserved for Google Search/Now.
Google Search/Now has a “one-touch button to set a reminder.”
Google Search’s voice input prommpt is “kind of transparent on the bottom and floats instead of occupying the whole screen.”
Users can set up an unlimited amount of home screens (previous limit 5).
Users can set up an unlimited amount of folders (previous limit 16).
Widgets to be added from the home screen menu by long-pressing menu instead of from the App Drawer.
Do you think the ‘Google Experience Launcher’ will be featured on
Android 4.4 KitKiat as a cross-compatibility feature? Let us know in the
comments below.
I'm about to sell my phone, and I want to erase my data. Are the
built-in methods secure? Could someone with data recovery software still uncover my private information?
Sincerely, Total Wipe of the Phone
The good news is that, in general, most phones are pretty good at securely removing your data when you're done with the device. There are still some measures you need to take to protect yourself before you pass the handset off, though.
What Everyone Should Do
No matter what type of smartphone you use, there are a few basic things you should check outside of wiping your phone:
Remove your SIM card: While most of the data that you store is kept on your internal storage or micro SD card, it's still possible for contacts or call logs to be kept on your SIM card. The person you're selling it to has no need for this, so always be sure to remove it.
Remove your micro SD card: Similarly, if your phone has a micro SD card, chances are you don't really want or need to give it away. To truly ensure that the data on your micro SD card is secure, keep it to yourself.
Erase and format your SD card: If you absolutely have to include your micro SD card with your phone, then you'll at least want to erase and format it. You can usually do this via the Settings app. You can also do it by connecting it to a PC, but if you format it with the wrong file system for your phone, it might not recognize the card. Again, though, the best way to secure your data is to keep your card.
Assuming you've taken care of all this, the only thing that's left should be your device's internal storage. iOS and Android have slightly different ways of handling this, but both are mostly straightforward.
How to Securely Wipe Your Phone
For the rest of this, we're going to talk about how to secure your internal storage, but first it's worth explaining a bit about how flash memory works. As you're probably aware with normal platter hard drives, data isn't really erased when you delete something. The internal flash memory in your smartphone isn't quite the same. Because it's not a magnetic storage medium, the methods used to recover data on an old hard drive won't be the same as tools to pull from your phone. Among other things, this means that while rewriting data seven times is a standard method for erasing magnetic media, it won't do much to make your data more secure.
That being said, for most of the average user's needs, your phone already has the tools built in to securely erase your phone's data. If you carry military secrets around on your unprotected Galaxy S4, well...for starters, you probably shouldn't. But if you do, you should probably consult someone with a PhD in something before you lose your phone in a bar. Everyone else may continue.
iOS: Use the Default Erase Setting
For iOS users, your job is pretty simple. The iPhone has built-in options that securely erase your phone. On old phones, it goes through a long secure erase process, but on the iPhone 3GS and iOS 3.0, Apple moved to hardware encryption on its phones. From that point on, all data you store on the internal storage (which, aside from anything on the SIM card, is everything) is automatically encrypted. Your phone uses a device-specific key that's never stored anywhere but your handset.
When supported iOS devices wipe your phone, what's really happening is that the hardware-specific encryption key is securely wiped. Everything else on your phone is left an unintelligible mess, even if someone were to use a fancy forensics lab to physically examine the memory chips which 99% of you will probably never have to deal with.
So what do you need to do to securely erase your phone? Just head t
Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings.
That's it. On any iPhone including or following the iPhone 3GS (as well as all iPads and any iPod Touch 3rd Generation and later), this will use the hardware encryption method described above. It will be very fast, yet still leave your data secure. For any older devices, the process will actually take a lot longer, as iOS will overwrite all of your data with random information to prevent it from being read later. Either way, though, this should be as secure of a wipe as you can get.
Android: Encrypt Your Phone, Then Erase
Android phones are set up a little differently from iPhones (shocker, I know), and they vary somewhat from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, in general the default options are mostly secure. We talked with Android security researcher and Elite Recognized Developer on XDA jcase and he gave us a few pointers in the right direction.
Unlike the iPhone, Android encryption is not done on a hardware level. For starters, this means if you want to have your phone encrypted, you'll need to enable it manually in Settings. This process will take a while and, from then on, you'll need to enter a PIN when you first boot your phone (not to be confused with your lock screen PIN). It can also cause some slight performance decreases, so keep that in mind. This process also can't be reversed without wiping your phone, so consider carefully before you commit.
Now, on Android, you have two options for wiping your phone: you can either do a factory reset (located in different places depending on your phone, but should be under something like "Backup & reset") which will wipe everything you've ever stored in any user-accessible area of storage. For most people, this will be enough to ensure that no one will be able to access data you've ever stored.
How effective a basic wipe is can depend on how well the manufacturer implemented its factory wipe. When we spoke to jcase, he said that some manufacturers' methods can still leave behind recoverable data. Additionally, if you root your phone and use a custom recovery, wiping via the recovery might not do everything properly.
While, ideally, you shouldn't have to overwrite your phone to erase data using a factory reset, if you're unsure or want to be extra safe, encrypting your phone (usually found in Settings under "Security") before wiping it can provide some reassurance. Just be aware that it may be redundant on certain phones. Still, better safe than sorry.
Of course, the last line of defense before you sell your phone is to vet your buyer. If you're using a CDMA device, be sure to deactivate your phone with your carrier before handing it off. And while you're at it, make sure you've taken care of your phone and are selling it for as much as possible. Alternatively, there's the ultimate security tool if you're worried about someone pulling data from your phone: don't sell it.
Too many iOS and Android apps are hard to use due to poor design -- follow this advice to make sure your app isn't one of them
A while back, I complained about mobile apps that went bad
due to poor user interface makeovers, such as the Associated Press' AP
Mobile, PRX's Public Radio Player, and Gannett's USA Today apps. Media
companies -- which really should know better -- seem to be especially
prone to bad mobile app design.
Good design is important for any
application, despite what years and years of bad apps from vendors and
IT shops have led us to believe. In the mobile context, good design is
even more critical because the small screen and unsteady operating
environment makes it even harder to use an app, which good design can
overcome.
What
can developers do about it? And what should users look for? I spoke
recently with Michael Griffith, creative director at Bottle Rocket Apps,
a mobile app development shop whose apps include the nicely designed
NPR News app. He had a set of 10 principles and recommendations that if
followed should lead to better apps -- especially better mobile apps.
1. Don't simply port what you have to other platforms (iOS to Android, Web to iOS, Android to BlackBerry, and so on).
The look and feel should honor the target platform, which users chose
for a reason. Also, capabilities may also differ based on what the
platform offers, so developers need to decide when the platforms are too
usefully different to deliver the "same" app across them and do related
apps instead.
For corporate apps used in multiple contexts and
devices, Griffith notes the degree of standardization should be greater
than in consumer apps, so users can do what's familiar across all
devices they might be provided in the course of their work, assuring
them they can do what they need regardless of device and reducing
learning time. In this case, the app is the center of the user
experience more than the device is. (By contrast, the device tends to
be the center of the user experience in consumer usage.) You still must
honor fundamental UI assumptions of the platform in the app's basic
interactions -- such as access to menus. 2. Take advantage of mobile (especially smartphone) constraints to think creatively.
An example is for an app to use facial recognition to auto-crop on the
central focus of image rather than manually build all the views in the
app's asset library. Anticipating all the sizes and crops is a daunting
task, and storing them in the app only makes it fat, which clogs
devices' limited storage space and consumes a lot of bandwidth during
app updates. 3. Take advantage of mobile capabilities not available on a PC. For
example, use the camera to snap images or "signatures," or location
services to narrow down suggestions such as in search or suppliers. Use
those sensors, especially where their additional data can reduce user
and/or app background effort. 4. Design accessibly.
It's common to see young designers use small text and tight layouts
that are hard for older users to read and accurately tap. Avoid the
Retina effect: Just because there are now smaller pixels that make text
technically readable at even smaller sizes, if you're much past the age
of 35, human eyes still can't read such minuscule text. Use adaptive
design instead, such as preferences over text size that adjust the
layout accordingly. The new text-size API in iOS 7 should reduce the burden of that coding for iPhones and iPads.
5. When showing mockups and prototypes to clients or users, do it on the device the app will run on.
A PDF or Photoshop mockup on a large computer screen simply doesn't
reflect the look and feel of a smartphone or tablet, nor are the
interactions (such as touch, swipe, and type) the same. What looks and
works right on a big screen with mouse and keyboard may feel horrible on
a mobile device's small touchscreen. Likewise, what works well on a
mobile device may function poorly on a computer screen, causing users
and client to reject good options. Show your comps and protoypes in the
actual context. 6. Beware metaphors. There are
fewer universal graphical metaphors you can count on people
understanding -- the old analog images (TV screens, radio controls, tape
players, cameras, filmstrips, LPs, rotary dial, pilot lights, and even
CDs) are not operationally familiar to younger generations, even if they
may have seen them in an older movie. Although iconography thoretically
allows for more universal design, many of the analog bases for the
icons are becoming less and less familiar, confusing users. The use of
text may be better, even if localization is required -- Apple's apparent
conclusion, judging by iOS 7. 7. Beware oversimplification, where everything (color, weight, texture, and so on) looks the same. Too simple is as confusing as too complex, as both lead to difficulty in centering user focus for the task or content at hand. 8. Design apps, not applications.
The more complex an app, the harder it is to use and navigate,
especially in the smartphone context of on-the-go, uncertain environment
(where users could be standing, sitting, or jostling, as well as
working in dim light or bright light). If you have a lot of
functionality to provide, consider breaking it into a set of related
apps, each focused on a core functionality. This "don't overload the
app" notion can be tough to explain to clients, especially given the
pressure to "do more" in each revision, but it's essential that apps
don't become unwieldy or confusingly complex. (Griffith suggests you
cite the line "Freedom of choice is what you get, freedom from choice is
what you want" from the band Devo's iconic "Freedom of Choice" song.) 9. Design for layers of experience.
First-time users should feel something special and immediately valuable
when they launch your app. Subsequent users should discover more
utility that is easy to access. People using the app regularly over time
should get deeper functionality to make even more sticky and useful.
Flipboard is a good example of that approach, Griffith notes. 10. Make data travel to the user in context.
Techniques include motion and transitions to enrich the user
experience, and push the value to the user rather than force the user to
look at it. Leave a way to go deeper for those who want to, rather than
overwhelm people with information by default.
New hardware and software shown in the latest round of Nexus leaks
There's a new batch of Nexus pictures floating around today, showing what's purported to be the Nexus 5 from LG complete with plenty of looks at Android 4.4 KitKat.
The images, taken in Italy and displayed on the Android
website, show us a look at the lock screen, the home screen, and a look
at the apps of the Nexus 5. Of course, this leads to speculation of
exactly what we're seeing, and things like a Tap to Pay mode in the settings and transparent status and navigation bars have a lot of folks excited.
Just as interesting is some testimony from the leaker themselves. The
Nexus 5 is said to be fast and smooth, with KitKat being a "lighter"
version of the OS that helps in the performance department. Dual stereo
speakers are acknowledged in the bottom portion of the device, and the
camera is said to provide excellent image stabilization.
Combined with the rumors of a reveal next week, things should start
getting exciting right about now. The changes and new hardware look
pretty interesting, and we're hoping for an official announcement soon.
As things stand now, the only people that really know anything are the people not saying anything.
Hit the break to see the rest of the images, and check out the source link for their take on what they are seeing.
