Google escalates war with Microsoft, Shutting down 3rd Party Google Voice apps on Windows Phone

nokia lumia 1020 google voice metrotalkThe cold war between these two tech giants is heating up fast.

Google is taking an extremely aggressive stance towards Windows Phone. None of Google’s services are currently officially available for Microsoft’s mobile operating system, and Google has been very vocal about not developing for the platform. Recently Google forced Microsoft to remove a nice and functional Youtube app from their Phone Store and replace it with a lame browser based version. Now Google has set their sights on 3rd party Google Voice apps.

As their Hangouts app looks like it’ll become the single backbone service for all of Google’s text, audio, and video communication they’ve issued a notice that all GV apps must be shut down by May 1st of 2014. Google Plus Product Manager Nikhyl Singhal had this to say: Continue reading “Google escalates war with Microsoft, Shutting down 3rd Party Google Voice apps on Windows Phone”

SomeAudioGuy Top 5 for the week starting Oct. 28th – Apple & Nokia reign supreme!

auto awesome google plus photo editing 3Yup. Apple and Nokia took our top spots last week in terms of tech coverage, with Google sneaking in at the last spot. What was most important to the readers of SomeGadgetGuy last week? Here’s our run down of the most read and most shared.

5. Google announces TONS of new features for Hangouts, Google Plus, Photo & Video sharing 

People still make jokes about G+ being a ghost town, but the insane number of new features and add ons for Google’s social backbone service caught a lot of attention this last week. Whether it was improvements to broadcasting video, or improving the look of your photos online, there was something for everyone during this morning keynote. And of course you can get in on the fun by adding me to a circle…

4. The iPhone 5S in Action! Testing the Speakers and Camera of Apple’s Newest Phone

apple iphone 5s gold speakers headphone jack audio quality review somegadgetguyIn covering smartphones, each review is now so large that we can’t do just one post or one video to fully explain a new device. These two videos are part of our standalone coverage of phone and tablet cameras and speakers. We here at SomeGadgetGuy have the most comprehensive collection of speaker and video tests on the web, testing performance in a variety of scenarios. The iPhone 5S is going to be a hot seller this year, so it’s only fitting you should be able to see how it performs against the competition!

3. Hands on with Nokia’s Lumia 2520 Tablet, 1520 & 1320 Phablets

nokia lumia 1520 hands on video youtubeNokia might be getting swallowed up by Microsoft, but they’re definitely going out with a bang. Introducing the first Windows Phone phablets and a new Windows RT Tablet (which looks like it’ll give the Surface 2 and iPad Air a run for their money), Nokia cemented their position as the premier Mobile Microsoft Manufacturer.

2. A MONSTER Video Review of the iPhone 5S from a Windows Phone/Android User

apple iphone 5s gold camera lens sensor dual LED flash review somegadgetguyBut camera and speaker tests aren’t enough for you folks! You want the FULL run down, and our number 2 story isn’t a surprise. A proper review takes time, and since we’ve had a little time to get to know the iPhone 5S, it’s time to share our experiences using Apple’s new premier handset. How does it stack up when reviewed by an Android user? Watch on friends!

1. Real Person Review: Tony Talks About His Nokia Lumia 925

nokia lumia 925 review (3) charging fatboy wireless somegadgetguyThese reviews are my favorite to write up. While it’s nice knowing what the techie folks think about new gadgets, it’s also nice to check in with “real people”, and see how these devices are working out for them out in the real world. My pal Tony writes up a great post on his experiences making the switch from an iPhone to a Windows Phone. It looks like you readers responded as it was our number one most shared story of the week!

We’re nothing without you readers, and we certainly can’t compete against the big blogs by ourselves. We always greatly appreciate not only the likes, but the sharing on social sites like Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. The more we get to talk with other tech fans, the better we get, and soon we’ll be able to reward that participation with some fun contests coming up soon! 

Thanks for reading, and if you feel we missed a big story this week, or you have a hot tip, please drop us a line on our Contact Page!

Weekly Tech Roundtable: Nexus 5, Lenovo Yoga, and #iVerge Outrage – Google Hangout Video!

weekly tech roundtableIt’s Saturday! Which means we spend the morning wrapping up all the week’s tech news. Catch opinions from the editors of Boored At Work, Mobile Burn, BWOne, and yours truly as we chat out this week’s headlines.

On the docket:

  • Nexus 5 is ALIVE
  • We ask for more Android 4.4
  • Lenovo’s Yoga bends and twists our opinions
  • What’s up with the PS4 and MP3’s
  • And The Verge wins our USELESS award of the week

Sit back and relax. We’ve got tech to talk!

When Technology Evolves Faster than our Laws – Google Glass and Driving

google glass sunglassesCecilia Abadie has been in the news a lot this week. She was pulled over for speeding in California, and she was issued an additional citation for operating a motor vehicle with a video screen visible to the driver. That screen was the eye piece on her Explorer Edition Google Glass.

Following the letter of the law, this citation is valid, though Google Glass is a product which could help reduce driver distraction.

And now we stand at a legal crossroad. Laws can be handled with some flexibility, and many situations like this can be chalked up to “officer discretion”, but it’s not an institution known for rapid evolution. Changes to cultural perspectives in legal matters sometimes require generational time frames.

When positioned against the visceral pace of technological improvement,  it can often feel as if new laws are obsolete before they’re even implemented. Previous generations enjoyed more staged evolution to the tools they used. A person might go most of their adult life without radical changes to how work got done. Now we can expect a near fluid progression, sometimes software and hardware updates delivering near daily minor alterations to how our technology functions.

And now Glass is caught in the crossfire.  Continue reading “When Technology Evolves Faster than our Laws – Google Glass and Driving”

Google FOR REAL Announces Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat

Nexus 5This has been exhausting.  Trolling leaks and rumors, but it’s finally here and it’s finally real. Though I still don’t understand Google’s plan here, rolling out a device and a new OS without any kind of proper Keynote or event.

The Nexus 5 is now officially up on Google Play for your smartphone purchasing enjoyment. Pretty much all the rumors about this thing were true, which kinda takes some of the fun out of talking about smartphones.

nexus 5 - 2The $349 sports a 5″ 1080p screen, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a Qualcomm 800 series quad core processor, an 8MP rear camera with OIS, wireless charging, and should play nice on T-Mobile or Sprint’s networks. Add $50 and you can double the storage.

So continues the price disruption of the Nexus line. $349 for an unlocked premier handset rocking bleeding edge internals is entirely unheard of. This is not an “On contract” price. It’s $349 out the door. You own it.

Plus they also released this nifty video:

So there you have it folks. Was there any better day to unveil a phone running an OS called KitKat than on Halloween?  The wait was exasperating, I honestly didn’t know if we’d survive it, but we did.

More details on the Google Plus Devices Page.

Full PR after the jump:

Continue reading “Google FOR REAL Announces Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat”

Lenovo’s New Yoga Tablet Offers 18 Hour Run Time and Built in Kickstand

01 lenovo yoga tablet stand modeOver the last year Lenovo weathered the changing PC market better than any other manufacturer. Following Windows 8, the industry as a whole saw sales drop around 15%. Lenovo stayed pretty flat during that time, which is unprecedented performance during the release of something as unfamiliar as Windows 8. Products like the Yoga Laptop which swiveled into various usage scenarios. It’s no surprise they’re now the number one manufacturer of PC’s worldwide.

During that same time however, Lenovo shipped more tablets and phones than they did PC’s. They’re not as widely known here states-side for their mobile gear, but they’re looking to change that and crack this market like they did laptops and desktops. Unveiled last night, Lenovo took the wraps off the Yoga Tablet, and they think they’ve found A Better Way to use a mobile slate.

02 lenovo yoga tablet stand modeThe Android 4.2 tablets comes in two flavors based on screen size, a Yoga Tablet 8 and a Yoga Tablet 10. Both feature the same resolution 1280 x 800, and both will come in 16GB and 32GB models with the ability to add more storage via MicroSD. A fairly modest 1.2GHz quad-core was chosen, probably to keep cost lower, and should play well with the lower resolution screens to keep performance snappy and battery life high. Front and rear cameras are on board, with the latter utilizing a 5MP sensor.

02 lenovo yoga tablet cylinder batteryThe Yoga tablet design hinges on the cylindrical battery bulge running lengthwise down the tablet’s screen. This allows Lenovo to include a physically larger battery than most other tablets. It also allows for a swivel kickstand to be hidden into the back plate of the Yoga. The design is refreshing, as it gives you something to hold on to. Going from holding to propping it up, you can dial in specific angles, or turn it around for “Tilt Mode” where the tablet is easiest to enter in text, and it starts to look a lot like Apple’s Magic Trackpad.

03 lenovo yoga tilt modeBest of all, it’s that bulge which allows the tablet to run for up to 18 hours. Of all the hardware specs people might care about, performance and screen resolution, none of them mean much if your tablet is out of juice. “All day and then some” run time will be a welcome spec for many consumers. A nice side benefit, you can use the Yoga to charge your phone, simply great consideration for how tablets are becoming our preferred companion devices.

Lenovo saw fit to add in front facing stereo speakers, always a nice touch for audio junkies like myself. I’ll be curious to see how they perform when I get my hands on one later. The cylinder houses the power button one end and the headphone jack on the other.

With some many manufacturers targeting “premier” experiences, it might strike some as odd that Lenovo is building their Yoga line around some fairly mid-range specs. The aggressive prices points make a lot of sense in this space however, and Yoga Tablet 8 will start at $249. Impressively, Yoga Tablet 10 will only creep up to $299.

Lenovo’s design aesthetic here strays farther away from the traditional slate than any other slab I’ve seen recently, and that might be enough to improve Lenovo’s mindshare here in the USA. You can catch Lenovo’s Yoga keynote after the jump.

04 lenovo yoga hold mode

Continue reading “Lenovo’s New Yoga Tablet Offers 18 Hour Run Time and Built in Kickstand”

Google announces TONS of new features for Hangouts, Google Plus, Photo & Video sharing!

morning with google plusA whole suite of new features for the folks using Google Plus!

In the Hangouts app, users will now be able to share location with a simple button press. I’ve been in situations where people have asked “where are you” and now a simple tap can share a Google Map location with them.

hangouts where are you location sharingWhat most people have been itching for though is SMS integration, and now the Hangouts app is including the ability to add text messaging to chat.

For people broadcasting with Hangouts on Air, you’ll now have the ability to plan a Hangout ahead of time, and this will create an event page you can use to promote the Hangout. It’s a nice one-piece solution as we’ve been doing this manually to share our Hangouts with people online.

hangout spotlight background blurNew broadcast tools allow hosts to control the microphone volume of HOA participants. Increase or decrease their chat volume, and now we can finally remove someone from a Hangout. This is welcome control for those of us trying to create professional videos during live broadcasts.

For standard Hangouts video calls, users now have more creative tools to play with, like blurring the background behind themselves. Also we’ll be able to see animated gifs, for all our stop motion photo animation needs.

Moving to Google Plus, over 1.5 BILLION photos are uploaded every week. Google will be unleashing new organization and editing tools to help back up and share your experiences.

auto awesome google plus photo editing 3Photo scanning will allow for searching the content of a picture without tags. If there are pics of your dog un-tagged, searching for “dog” on G+ will bring up your pet pics. New photo editing tools can help improve the look of your pics. Either via “Auto-Awesome” or Snapseed integration, you’ll be able to touch up your pics before sending them out. Snapseed is introducing a new HDR filter to help improve pics which might be a bit under or over exposed.

auto awesome google plus photo editing 4Auto-Awesome will now track through multiple exposures to create animated gifs, composite images, or use the new Eraser tool to eliminate moving objects from your photos. Say you have a series of shots from a vacation, and someone walks in front of your frame, Eraser can scrub that distraction out of your shot. This’ll pretty much encourage people to take series of photos for every set up instead of just one pic and done.

auto awesome google plus movie editingLastly a new auto movie feature is being added. Collecting all of your pics and vids from a time or place, Google will auto-magically combine them all and add background music to present you a share-able highlights reel of your latest adventure. Users can manually edit elements, or select themes which will change up the music, editing, and effects.

If you’ve been jamming on G+, there are going to be a bunch of new features to play with. You can catch the whole announcement video below!

Google Stock Price Breaks Records and $1000 a Share

google stock price 1000 dollars somegadgetguy investingWell I suppose we all know who the “Big Bad” is now…

Google announced a pretty strong quarter during their earnings call yesterday. Even with somewhat weak performance from Motorola, Goog generated $14.9 Billion in revenue which represented a 12% increase over Q3 2012. This amounts to $2.97 Billion net income for the quarter (also an increase over last year), and Google announced they’re currently sitting on about $56 Billion in cash.

Investors seemed to appreciate this news, and in after hours trading, Google’s stock broke 1000 points for the first time in the company’s history. At the time of this writing, they’re currently up 120 points from before the earnings call, trading around 1010. Remarkable stock performance, leaping 13% over a period of less than a day.

Their current strategy, moving ads to mobile devices, incorporating more ads on mobile services, would appear to be paying off. It would also appear that some of Google other services like Google Apps (designed to compete against Microsoft’s business offerings) might be showing signs of life.

Now Google stands as one of the few companies which will cost you over $1000 to buy a single share of their stock. I totally should’ve bought in earlier… Sigh…

(via Google Investor Relations)