Watch Samsung UNPACKED 2014 – Galaxy S5 Unveiling Livestream
Samsung is about to show off all the juicy details for their next flagship phone, and while the look of the phone has already leaked, there’s plenty more to discuss. Let’s look at some phones and new Gear smartwatches!
Sony unveils Waterproof Xperia Z2 Smartphone & Tablet
A pair of exciting announcements from Sony out of Barcelona. Following in the wake of selling off their PC division, Sony is doubling down on their Xperia line up with the Z2 phone and Z2 Tablet, and happily both of these multimedia powerhouses will survive a swim.
Xperia Z2 Phone
It’s a power packed combo including all of Sony’s best gear. A 5.2″ HD screen is powered by a Qualcomm 801 quad-core, 3GB of RAM and a phablet-sized 3200mAh battery.
For Android photogs, Sony is packing a 20.7 megapixel 1/2.3″ sensor with optical image stabilization. That puts it firmly in Nokia Icon territory for light sensitivity and achieving shallower depth of field in photos and videos. It will also be capable of shooting 4K video, making it one of the more formidable combinations of optics and tech in the Android ecosystem.
Xperia Z2 Tablet
Pushing forward with slates, the Z2 Tablet features a 10.1″ “Full HD” Live Colour LED display, also powered by a Qualcomm 801 quad-core and a 6000mAh battery. Two models will be available, WiFi only and LTE.
Sony pushing gaming and multimedia, hopefully as a tease for future Playstation Now compatibility, are bragging on DUALSHOCK3 wireless controller game play. For work, they’ll have a custom Bluetooth keyboard cover and stand available for purchase.
Both the Z2 Tablet and Phone are waterproof, feature integrated noise reduction when using Sony ear buds, and they’ll also both be eligible for a special entertainment package including six Sony Pictures films, one of which is ‘Captain Philips’, and a 30 day free trial for Music Unlimited.
Both Z2’s will launch globally this March. Full press releases are below.
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Samsung Teasing Galaxy S5 in new UNPACKED Trailer
No shots of the phone, but a quick, driving montage of photos. Photos of hip people doing hip things. It’s always fun diving into some wild speculation (just seems to be the day for it), so what do you think Samsung is trying to tell us about their new flagship device? Any clues?
For one, I’m pretty sure they’re going to brag about their camera…
Nokia Shows Off Lumia Icon Smartphone, coming to Verizon February 20th
It’s official! The next Lumia headed to VZW will be branded “Icon” instead of some string of numbers.
Icon looks to bridge some of the new high power internals found on Nokia’s 1520 phablet with a slightly more phone-like form factor. The 5″ OLED screen is 1080p, and it’s packing the Qualcomm 800 quad-core we’ve all come to know and love in our high end phones. 32GB of storage will be on board with 2GB of RAM to keep all your apps fed. Best of all, Icon retains internal wireless charging based on the Qi standard, so no futzing with sleds or cases.
For you A/V freaks, the 20MP shooter from the 1520 will make another appearance, as will the high fidelity quad microphone array which allows for incredible sound and solid noise reduction on your videos.
Bridging the boxy design of the Lumia 928 with a slimmer Aluminum build and curved glass, it’s an attractive piece. Not as curvy as the phones we’ve used on AT&T, but distinctive and modern.
The phone will drop on February 20th for $199.99 with a two year agreement. Purchasing before March 16 will also get you a free wireless charging dock.
More info on Nokia’s site, or see their teaser vid below!
Windows Phone 8.1: Better file management, Universal Apps, and New Notifcations
Windows Phone is growing up fast.
Details on the new SDK for Windows Phone 8.1 have leaked on Reddit, and Twitter user @AngelWZR has posted screen shots from the developer emulator showing all kinds of fun new features for Microsoft’s phone update.
Highlights include fixes for my top two gripes! Windows Phone will now have separate volume controls for media and alerts. It’s can be a painful experience listening to music and then having an email alert go off on your headphones.
We’ll also see radically improved file management in WP8.1. As it stands now, WP8 handles files much like the iPhone does. You don’t really have access to one central app where you can see file location. Now, like on Windows 8 and RT, WP8.1 will allow the new OneDrive app to manage cloud storage and local storage. We’ll also see improved support for memory cards, support app installation on removable media.
We’ll also see significant improvements to other services like NFC, screen sharing on TV’s, and WP8.1 will allow for 3rd party messaging apps. Alongside improvements to the actual phone OS, Microsoft is pushing forward with universal app support, so new apps being developed can work on both Windows Phone and the Metro interface for Windows 8. We knew this synergy was coming with the future Threshold update, but it’s exciting seeing pieces falling into place now. Right now apps don’t travel between phone, tablet, and computer, and I don’t want to have to buy Halo multiple times to play it on all of my various screens.
Best of all, Microsoft has stated that all WP8 phones will be eligible for the 8.1 update. This is a great step forward for the platform, as even the most entry-level phones like the Lumia 520 should be able to benefit from some of these updates.
The actual 8.1 update is rumored to arrive in April, which means we could see much stronger competition from this third place platform later in the year. See some more screenshots of WP8.1 in action below!
AT&T Next early phone upgrades now available to all customers!
It has been fun recently watching cell phone carriers do a little more sparring for our business.
AT&T’s version of the fast phone upgrade is now available to all customers, even those already signed on to a two year contract. NEXT allows users to swap to a newer phone for $0 down after being in good standing for six months.
To see if you’re eligible dial *NEW# from your phone, and it’ll check your upgrade-ability. If you’re a phone junky who always wants to have the latest and greatest, AT&T might be making this process easier for you to stay bleeding edge.
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User Experience: Google vs. Microsoft – A Battle of Apps
I totally understand healthy competition however what about user experience for Windows Phone 8 users that would like to use Google powered apps such as Google+, Google maps, YouTube and Google Hangouts.
Back in October Google decided to pull it’s access key from Microsoft’s official YouTube app leaving us with a barebones user experience. Luckily there is YouTubeHD that gives us a great YouTube experience. As far as maps go, gMaps is right on the mark for all your navigation needs, if you’re not a fan of HERE maps. Gchat is a great instant messaging app for your Google+ friends and contacts in your Gmail. As far as Google+ and Google Hangouts go, the apps I found did not work very well. All of the Google+ apps I tried were just shells or opened up in the browser and anytime I tried to upload photos using these Google+ apps it never worked. Speaking of browsers, I did download the UC Browser and if you like Google+ this is about as close as you will come to a Google+ app like experience. The UC Browser will let you upload photos to your Google+ account.
Finally Google Hangouts. I have tried some of these apps and there were pretty poorly designed. A friend of mine asked me how I felt about this seen as they know I really like using Google+ over Facebook. It’s a little disappointing that there is no official Google apps for us Windows Phone 8 users. The developers of these third party Google apps really took the time to give us a close Google experience.
Whether you have iOS, Android, or Windows Phone 8 I would think we all would be in the same boat and want a great user experience. Sure Microsoft and Google may never get along but they really should think of us consumers. We buy all our everyday items from reading reviews or past purchases. I wish these two giants would just drop the “I am better than you” buffoonery and really think of the consumers who buy their products. I have had both Android and WP8. 6 months ago Juan was kind enough to tell me about the Nokia Lumia which I now use. It was definitely different going from an Android phone to a Windows Phone. I read reviews and watched videos on the Nokia Lumia 521. It’s a great work horse of a phone.
Though I do miss the official Google apps that are available on Google Play. I was even thinking of contacting Rudy Huyn who is the developer behind the super rad 6tag Instagram app to see if he would make a Google+ and Google Hangouts app for us Windows Phone users. Maybe start a Kickstarter to raise some funds for him to develop some sweet Google apps for us. Even if Google seems intent on shutting down 3rd party app development.
So Google and Microsoft it’s a new year and both of you really should get along and collectively collaborate on apps to make a better and brighter user experience for all. Can we have official Google apps brought to the WP8 community? What do you say Google and Microsoft?
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