A Copy of this article was published in the The NerdMag Website
As per report. iPad Mini 3 will be
termed as ‘iPad Mini Air’. It seems like Apple is now using ‘Air’ term
in its variants names. Previously, we also learnt that 5.5-inch iPhone
would be called ‘iPhone Air’. The new iPad Mini will be thinner than the
previous iPad Mini 2 which was 0.29 inches. This will definitely make
the new variant lighter. Other details specify regarding the chipset and
the screen size. iPad Mini 3 will possible run on new A8 chip. The
screen size will be around 7.9-inches.
It’s quite early to say something
regarding the new iPad Mini 3. If things goes according to the plan,
still the release will be in last quarter of the year. Some reports also
say that Apple is now favouring iPad Mini 3 and iPad Air 2, delaying
iPad Pro or 12.9-inches iPad.
Microsoft may be in concern, what to bring this year. But well, this is
not a matter at all as far as Tech Giant Apple is concerned. This year,
Apple has got lot in its pockets. From revamped iOS versions to new
Macbooks, the Cupertino is set to launch all. Other than iOS 8, OS X Yosemite, iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 & iPad Pro, Apple may make iPad Mini 3 debut this year. The new report has come from GforGames. The report has also given some leaks regarding the new iPad Mini variant.
A Copy of this article was published in the The NerdMag Website
Quite often, IT companies surprise us with their decisions. Most
recently, Apple amazed all of us with its iOS 8 upcoming features.
Before that, Nokia (which is now NokiabyMicrosoft) left us in
many thoughts when it announced Nokia X series, running on forked
Android platform. There were questions, straightaway, by the critics
regarding the launch. Even, we were not able to understand the logic
behind this. Now, it seems Microsoft has admitted it a ‘miscued’ plan
and has decided to kill Nokia X series!
This is leaked by an internal memo of Microsoft. The memo claims that
Microsoft has put Nokia X development along with Asha and Series 40 in
‘maintenance mode’, means no more in development. Gradually, Microsoft
will kill Nokia X series, Asha phones and Series 40 during 18 months
period. Microsoft will replace these handsets with low, mid and high-end
Windows Phones.
Nokia X series was launched five months ago at MWC 2014. The company
introduced three handsets in the series i.e. Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia
XL. Later on, in June, Nokia X2 was also added. The introduction was
made during the partnership talks between Nokia and Microsoft. As per
Asha and Series 40, both are Nokia’s featured phones for small markets.
They will also be ended next year.
The announcement to kill Nokia X series has already affected the
sales of the handsets. Surely, this will result in minimizing the prices
of Nokia X series too. Moreover, there are also some words regarding
Nokia MixRadio service. The service is also now no more in development.
Microsoft plans to sell this service to a third party.
Microsoft is takings some big decision to increase its Windows Phone
OS popularity. The firm is already in talks with other OEMs to introduce
high-end Windows Phones in the market. But well, one thing that I have
noted, Microsoft is too slow in updating its Windows Phone platform. WP
8.1 has not been rolled out completely yet. It’s time for Microsoft to
speed up its WP updates and equip Windows Phone platform with all the
main features.
A Copy of this article was published in the The NerdMag Website
After the rise of planet of apes, the director has finally carved the
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to the big screens. The director
accomplishes to do at least three things remarkably well that are hard
enough to pull off individually: Maintain a rumbling level of tension
without let-up for two hours, seriously rally on a very good first entry
in a franchise and produce a authoritative humanistic proclamation
using a ominously simian cast of typescripts.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up an intact decade after the
end of the earlier film, and the horrors of those tenyears have been
alluded to in the trailers by Gary Oldman’s character which is a wise
move. Starring impactful characters like Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason
Clarke, Judy Greer, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee this movie revolves
around a mounting nation of genetically developed apes led by Caesar, is
threatened by a band of human stayers of the shattering virus unbridled
a decade earlier. They reach a crumbly peace, but it proves
short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brim of a war that will
regulate who will arise as Earth’s dominant species.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is finally arriving in theaters on 11th
July. It was made on a comparatively limited budget. Dawn of the Planet
of the Apes is filled with incredibly powerful and divergent
personalities & remarkably many of its performances are digitally
constructed. Nothing can stop the hysteria train for Dawn of the Planet
of the Apes now, because it is described as everything from ruthless to a
true cinematic masterpiece, with splendidness.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up ten years after the end of Rise
of the Planet of the Apes. Human civilization has been emaciated by the
spread of the Simian Flu, which scrapped the population of humanity to a
mere shadow of its former self, even as Caesar’s community of
intelligent apes grew in forte. After years of sickness and in-fighting
among humans, the two tribes clash once more and must decide whether to
declare war or peace. Although the trailers and movie title have
already kind of given away the direction that they eventually find
themselves heading in.
Matt
Reeves’ phenomenal feature weaves the technological mastery of Weta
together with uniformly strong performances and an intellectual script,
for a film that is as opulent philosophically as it is aesthetically.
Though speckled with moments of flippancy, DOTPOTA is a thought
provoking and striking dialogue on the concept of trust which hits no
wrong notes. Full reviews for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes are almost
universally positive.
For more information visit IMDB – The Internet Movie Database.
A Copy of this article was published in the The NerdMag Website
Rovio recently released Angry Birds Epic
and now its time for the next Angry Birds announcement. Rovio has
announced yet another game in the series called Angry Birds
Transformers.
Angry Birds Transformers will feature Autobirds
and Deceptihogs. Rovio has partnered with Hasbro to feature Telepods in
the latest game. It is not the first time that Rovio has partnered with
Hasbro.
Later this year Hasbro will introduce a
product line featuring Telepods technology which will enable fans to
teleport their favorite Angry Birds Transformers characters into the
game and gain unique powers.
Rovio is releasing the
new Angry Birds games very quickly and people are loving it too. Rovio
introduced Telepods in Angry Birds Star Wars not a long time ago. And
now the latest game in the series, Angry Birds Transformers will also
feature Telepods.
The release date of game is not yet announced by Rovio. We’ll update you as soon as release date get announced.
A Copy of this article was published in the The NerdMag Website
Facebook Messenger has at last made its way to the iPad as well. Till
now it was only available for iPhone in iOS. Now it is the universal
iOS app. Facebook messenger is widely used by millions of people around
the World.
Facebook for iPad is specially designed for big screen.
It shows you the list of conversations as well as your current
conversation on the single screen. Messenger for iPad comes with most of
the messenger features for iOS including VoIP calling, Stickers and
group chat navigation. So you do not need to look for your phone to
reply to some message from your Facebook friend while using your iPad.
It also support the latest feature, The split screen camera and tap and
hold video feature. Facebook has not mentioned anything about Android
tablet version yet.
Facebook is entering into the messaging World very quickly. Recently
it has bought WhatsApp for more than $19 Billion, which shows how
desperate is Facebook to own the messaging World. WhatsApp has now over
500 million monthly active users whsich shows that how people are loving
it as a SMS replacement.
A Copy of this article was published in the The NerdMag Website
Fast & Furious has always been a joy to watch. Not only for car
lovers, but also due to the chemistry on the set of movie. Although
mishaps happened and we lost Paul Walker along the way. Although the
fictional Fast world turned upside down. But this did not stopped the production of Fast & Furious 7.
But
the question is, could Fast & Furious 7 be the gang’s final ride?
No one would have assumed that after the critically acclaimed and
financially successful Fast & Furious raced through multiplexes in
2013. On almost every level, the sequel looked like an upswing and Fast
& Furious 6 was primed to be a hit.
The series regained enough
of its footing to complete the movie, with a lot of moving parts. But
there is hopefully enough stability to give Walker’s character, Brian
O’Conner, a proper farewell. Will it be the finale of the Fast franchise
as well? For now, that is a question for another day. Let’s talk about
the release date of the movie, which has been delayed: Release Date:
The
date, as mentioned, has been changed. Even after the delay created by
the death of Paul Walker, Universal felt comfortable to announce April
10, 2015 as the release date of Fast & Furious 7. It has been now a
trend of the Hollywood industry system to push the “Summer” blockbuster
season a little earlier each year. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
is an example to that, which was released on April 4.
Maybe
Universal realized that the date can really help out for a sequel? And
maybe the seventh installment is farther along in production than was
believed. This is because the studio just announced that fans will get
to see the movie one week earlier. This means, Fast & Furious 7 will
hit the theaters on April 3, 2015.
For more details visit IMDB – The Internet Movie Data Base.
As per rumors, Microsoft is currently
working on 3D Touch user interface. The new touch interface will come
with APIs that includes gestures, side interactions and heat maps.
Third party developers will also be able to make use of this new 3D
Touch technology. Microsoft will unveil this new 3D Touch technology
with two handsets. The two 3D Touch phones, possibly Microsoft Mclaren
and Lumia 1525m will arrive later this year.
The
first one will release in October this year. The 3D Touch phone Mclaren
will feature some real powerful specs i.e. 5.2-inch quad-HD display
with 2560×1440 resolution and 20 MP camera. The 3D Touch device
will have internal storage up to 64GB. As per second 3D Touch phone,
Lumia 1525 is scheduled to launch at the end of the year. It will come
with 6-inch display and updated hardware i.e. Snapdragon 801 (as
compared to Lumia 1520). Most probably, Microsoft will equip this giant
handset with its new 3D Touch interface.
It
seems like this 3D Touch feature will only be included in high-end
Lumia devices so to justify their price. Both 3D Touch phones will be
pricy due to the 3D touch technology and high-end specs. Microsoft is
trying to provide all available latest features so that to remain in
competition with Android and iOS devices.
That’s all, we have at the moment! We will keep you aware of more updates as we get our hands on them! Stay tuned to TheNerdMag!
iPhone 6 rumors are in air now a days. This time in iPhone 6 rumor mill, battery capacity of Apple’s next flagship is leaked.
This
is going to be interesting not only for iPhone fan but other brands
fans as well. We know that iPhone 6 is coming in two screen sizes this
year. A 4.7 inch iPhone and a 5.5 inch bigger phablet sized iPhone.
Chinese media has some words about the battery capacities of both
versions of iPhones. According to Chinese media sohu 4.7 inch version of
iPhone will have a battery somewhere between 1800 mAh and 1900 mAh,
and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 battery will have a capacity of 2500 mAh.
These
batteries are greater than the currently available iPhones, iPhone 5S
and iPhone 5C. iPhone 5S has a battery of 1510 mAh while iPhone 5S has a
battery of 1560 mAh. But the Android smartphones with the same screen
sizes has much bigger batteries as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with 5.7
inch screen has a battery capacity of 3200 mAh. So questions remain the
same that whether iPhone 6 will impress users with its batteries?
Selfie trend is increasing day by day. As in Google I/O Google told us
interesting stats that about 93 million selfies are taken each day with
Android Phones. That is a counting just for Android phones. As selfies
are now being trend, different companies are making phone specially
designed for taking high quality selfies. Take Huawei’s latest flagship
P7 for example. It has a 8 MP front camera for taking great selfies.
Sony is also entering in selfie race and it appears that tomorrow it
will announce its latest smartphone Xperia C3. Xperia C3 is built
specially to take selfies as it appears from the tweet posted by Sony.
Tweet was “See your #selfies in a whole new light.”. It was posted with 2
more interesting hash-tags “#GetTheFullPicture #Tomorrow.” Which shows
that Sony might be unveiling its phone tomorrow. Pictures of phone are
added with the tweet claiming that phone will feature a self timer
feature with pre-flash. Moreover it will have voice and gestures
support. Sony selfie special phone will have a mid range hardware so it
wont be a flagship.
Well for now as the Microsoft have full command over the Nokia and paid
their all dues so it was predictable that the brand would be renamed
now. Now by the end of 2014 you won’t see any more Nokia Lumia as they
would be changed to Microsoft Mobiles but strange
things is that Lumia would be cut down. We asked one of the officials
about the theory behind it and they said that Windows Phone smartphone
are known as Lumia not by Nokia.
If we see some of the fact about Nokia
before it was bought by Microsoft it wasn’t doing a good business at
all. At that time Nokia introduced their E and N series in market that
was not at all a success. And then Microsoft bought it. Initially it
didn’t give a good business to Microsoft too but then brand was
recognized by the people and Nokia was lifted by Microsoft. Nokia Lumia
series was introduced and the brand just surpassed all its boundaries.
When the decision of renaming the brand was
taken, the major question was how it would affect the Microsoft’s
market. If you manage to notice that if we talk about Windows Phone most
of the people call it Lumia, very less people say Nokia Lumia. So this
was it renaming Nokia to Microsoft was made final. And one Nokia makes
way for Microsoft Mobiles the Lumia branding will remain unaffected.
With green light on in United States and
Europe, Microsoft will soon try to rebrand the smartphone series as soon
as possible. But China where Microsoft’s smartphone are being
manufactured still have some paper work to do. So this can take a little
bit time but Microsoft is sure that at the start of 2015 there
smartphone will be carrying their name.
Suppliers are being notified that Microsoft
will be adjusting their product name and with no delay Microsoft will
be providing them with new smartphones and we are hoping that the rest
of the stock will be replaced by Microsoft.
Moreover, Satya Nadella CEO Microsoft told
that they have now got advantage like Apple to build software and
hardware all under one roof and control everything. This could boost up
company and the software developers.
SOURCE: The NerdMag
It’s been almost one month Windows Phone 8.1 Developers Preview is with us. Windows Phone 8.1
came on April 14, 2014 and just after 1 month and 1 day it received its
first update. Well to update your Windows Phone it is necessary that
you are using Developers Preview already and you are using Windows 8.1
already on phone. Not yet have WP 8.1 on your Windows Phones. No worries
catch it here.
When you are done updating your phone for the first time you won’t
notice any changes. But the purpose for this update is to improve
battery life and squashes some bugs. Before update your Phone will be on
version is 8.10.12359.845 and after update your phone will OS version
will be updated to 8.10.12382.878
For update first go to setting > phone update > check for updates there
will be update waiting for you. Grab it and install it. This update
will be downloaded and then ask you to install it. As it will be
installing you will notice it is taking much time. But don’t worry it
will do so. One more thing that you will notice will be app migration,
app migration means when your phone is updated when you will go on home
screen you will see app installing again. It will take 5 to 10 minutes
to install all of them.
According to Joe Belfiore this update fix tons of bugs and improve the battery timing as we mentioned it before.
So the mini version of big LG G3
is finally announced in China. In a trade exhibition, LG G3 Mini
is shown off. However for China, the handset is branded as ‘LG G3 Beat’.
It will be called LG G3 Mini when it releases in International market.
LG G3 Mini Details and Specifications:
LG G3 Mini comes with a 5-inch giant
display, the largest in any Mini version smartphone currently available.
Unless the size, the display quality has been really downgraded for the
mini LG G3 i.e. 2K IPS to 720p resolution. Other specifications of the
handset includes:
1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
2 GB RAM
16 GB Internal Storage (no mention of microSD expansion)
8 MP Rear Camera with new Laser autofocus feature
2 MP Front Camera
2,540 mAh Battery
Android 4.4.2
There are some features that are
exclusively for China i.e. dual SIM connectivity and support for
networks i.e. TD-LTE, FDD-LTE, CDMA2000 and GSM. As per new laser
autofocus feature, the technology is exclusively designed by LG. LG has
already introduced it in G3’s 13 MP camera. This technology enhances
your image quality with powerful focus. Seems like LG has added the
technology for G3 Mini’s 8 MP camera too. There are no words yet on the
release date for China market. However, the powerful LG G3 Mini will
cost around $400.
You can clearly see the design the look
of the handset resembles LG G3. Just like the giant, the mini version
really feels attractive and elegant.
Now the question is, will you pay $400 for such an eclectic mini handset? Have your views!
SOURCE: The NerdMag Samsung Galaxy S5
is the current flagship of World’s number 1 smartphone brand right now.
People love the Galaxy S series. A mini version of S5 called Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is official now and reportedly will be available in mid July.
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini has many same features as the original Galaxy
S5. The phone is packed with Quad-core 1.4 GHz processor.Display is 4.5
inch with a screen resolution of 1280×720 which gives a pixel density of
326 ppi. There is a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection to protect your
screen. Internal storage is 60 GB which is further expandable up to
64 GB with a Micro SD card. RAM is 1.5 GB which is enough for most of
the apps today. There is a 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus camera
with a single LED flash. Front camera is 2.1 MP. Other features of
camera includes Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama.
On the connectivity side it has LTE which support download speed of 150
Mbps. The Galaxy S5 Mini runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box.
Like the original Galaxy S5, Galaxy S5 Mini has IP67 dust and water
resistant certification. Which means your phone is water resistant up to
1 meter and 30 minutes. And like the original Galaxy S5, all the
software utilities are found in the Galaxy S5 like Ultra Power Saving
Mode, Private Mode, and Kids Mode.
According to reports, Samsung Galaxy S5 mini would cost €479.
Source: The NerdMag Let’s take it a year back, when hTC
was at its downfall and nothing looked right for it. Then something
happened, a miracle! That miracle was the HTC One. The phone which was
phrased as “beauty with brains”. Now comes the HTC One M8, a phone powered to limits and designed to a premium feel.
The HTC One M8 has been updated in every
nook and corner. Not only has it upgraded its hardware but the design,
the feel, everything now feel much better (except for the name).
Design:
As you may have guessed from the introduction, the phone has a very premium feel. Ranging from the hardware to its looks.
The Company took a great deal of not
letting the people down. And it is successful in achieving that goal.
The HTC One (M8) is next-version of the HTC one. By that I mean that the
HTC One (M8) a replica of the HTC One, more or less. The most
significant change is the metal coating which has been upgraded from 70%
to 90%, precisely. And also the back and edge curves of the phone.
Holding the phone is a pleasant experience, all together. Now let’s talk
about the hand-feel of the HTC One M8. The phone is relatively larger
than its predecessor, reason being the 5 inches screen. And also the
speakers, but both of them are worth the design.
On the other hand the 3.5 mm jack goes
at the bottom along with the charger. Which does make it difficult to
use the phone while listening to music in portrait. But here’s the big
thing! The HTC One (M8) comes along with an additional space for the
micro SD card.
The top of the phone consists of the
power button which is easy to access. To add to the plastic-metal
discussion, the top of the phone is made of plastic to support the
antenna and the infra-red control for multimedia devices.
Blinkfeed:
Blinkfeed of the HTC One (M8) has been a
pleasure. There are updates in the blinkfeed too. Now accessing your
favorite topics is easy as compare to the blinkfeed which landed with
the hTC One.
Another great news is that the HTC One
(M8) packs a 2600mAh battery as compared to its predecessor, which
consisted of a 2300mAh battery. Not only that, but under-the-hood, the
HTC One (M8) has been powered by the Snapdragon 801, which combined with
the 2600mAh battery is a very good combination to save battery.
Camera:
The camera on the phone has greatly been
improved from its precursor. Although the megapixels are same but the
quality of the camera has gone up a notch.
Interface and Tap-to-Wake:
The interface of the hTC One M8 is as
good as the hTC One. The Android 4.4.3 works as a charm on the phone.
All improvements have been made to better the under-the-finger
experience of the user.
Now HTC has always been strong on the
lock screen part of the interface. Same goes with the HTC One M8. The
phone allows third party applications on its lock screen seamlessly.
Another great feature of the hTC One M8
is tap-to-wake. More like the feature in LG’s G phones. The tap-to-wake
features allows you to wake and turn off the phone just by double
tapping on the screen. Just like the power button, but this is more
convenient as you don’t have to search for the power button now and
then.
Gestures:
Apart from the double tap feature there are 4 more features of its locked screen. Which are:
Swipe left to go to homescreen
Swipe right to go to Blinkfeed
Swipe from the HTC logo to up to initiate the last app you were using
Swipe from above to initiate voice call
Performance:
The performance of the phone is just
flawless. As mentioned earlier, the phone powers a Snapdragon 801
processor along with a 2G.B ram on top of Android 4.4.3. Enough said!
Final Words:
The hTC One M8 is a spectacular phone
with great looks and performance. Not only that, but the camera is also a
pleasure to use. Although the direct competitors such as the Galaxy S5,
the iPhone 5s and the LG G2 may be better in some areas of the phone
but none beats its premium look and design.
Source: The NerdMag
Samsung has introduces its new breed of Galaxy series smartphones for
the people who do not want to spend a lot on smartphones. The four
phones are Samsung Galaxy Star 2, Samsung Galaxy Ace 4, Samsung Galaxy
core 2 and Samsung Galaxy Young 2. All smartphones run Android 4.4.2
KitKat out of the box and Samsung’s TouchWiz Essence. which is the light
version of original TouchWiz. Below are the details about all four
phones.
Samsung Galaxy Ace 4:
Galaxy Ace 4 comes with a 4.0 inch display with a screen resolution
of 480×800. Under the hood is a dual core 1.2 GHZ processor. Internal
storage is 4 GB which is further expandable up to 64 GB with a Micro SD
card. Ram is 1 GB. There is a 5 MP auto focus camera on the back which
is capable of recording 720p@30fps videos. Camera supports Geo-tagging,
face and smile detection and panorama. A front facing VGA camera is also
there. Galaxy Ace 4 supports LTE. It will be available for €219.
Samsung Galaxy Young 2:
Galaxy Ace 4 comes with a 3.5 inch display with a screen resolution
of 480×320. Under the hood is a single core 1 GHZ processor. Internal
storage is 4 GB which is further expandable up to 32 GB with a Micro SD
card. Ram is 512 MB. There is a 3.14 MP fixed focus camera on the back
which is capable of recording VGA@24fps videos. Camera
supports Geo-tagging. There is no front facing camera. Galaxy Young 2
supports 3G. It will be available for €99.
Samsung Galaxy Core 2:
Galaxy Ace 4 comes with a 4.5 inch display with a screen resolution
of 480×800. Under the hood is a quad core 1.2 GHZ processor. Internal
storage is 4 GB which is further expandable up to 64 GB with a Micro SD
card. Ram is 768 MB. There is a 5 MP auto focus camera on the back which
is capable of recording 480p@30fps videos. Camera supports Geo-tagging,
face and smile detection and panorama. A front facing VGA camera is
also there. Galaxy Core 2 supports 3G. It will be available for €179.
Samsung Galaxy Star 2:
Galaxy Ace 4 comes with a 3.5 inch display with a screen resolution
of 480×320. Under the hood is a single core 1 GHZ processor. Internal
storage is 4 GB which is further expandable up to 32 GB with a Micro SD
card. Ram is 512 MB. There is a 2 MP fixed focus camera on the back
which is capable of recording VGA@24fps videos. There is no front facing
camera. Galaxy Star 2 only supports 2G. It is not priced yet.
SOURCE: The NerdMag
I guess it’s time to replace your Android phones now.
If you’re using an Android phone that is less than three years old,
it could be broadcasting the names of every Wi-Fi network you have
connected to. A new investigation was conducted by Electronic Frontier
Foundation traced the behavior to a feature called Preferred Network
Offload (PNO) introduced with the Honeycomb OS.
What the PNO does it that it periodically blasts out a list of named
networks the phone has previously connected to. It happens even if the
phone in sleep mode. If the name of the previously used Wi-Fi include
specific places, like “TheNerdMag HQ network” or “Josh’s Apartment”,
these name or list could potentially give away a person’s movements and
activity. Which could be really helpful to track down someone, even with
their GPS off.
But if you just got all worried about it, there a cure. Just to
“Advanced Wi-Fi” settings
Disable the “Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep” option
This would stop the PNO from checking for networks in sleep mode.
This also has another advantage. You’ll probably see a slight uptick in
data and power usage.
EEF has asked Google to address the data leak at an OS level, but the response is as follows: “Since changes to this behavior would potentially affect user
connectivity to hidden access points, we are still investigating what
changes are appropriate for a future release”
iOS users should not be alarmed that much. Devices running iOS 6, 7
or 8 are not affected by the bug. Although, EFF reported some date
leakage in iOS 5 devices. Laptops that are running on OS X or Windows 7
are also potentially affected. Though they do not consist of the certain
Sleep Mode protocol. The date leak was projected to be much more
limited.
Now that we all are aware of the situation, change what seems necessary, either it’s your phone or your Wi-Fi settings.
San Francisco, CA – June 25, 2014 – Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd., and
Google announced that a part of the Samsung KNOX technology will be
integrated into the next version of the Android. The next version of
Android, which was previewed today at Google I/O, will include a number
of new features for enterprise users and IT administrators, such as a
separate container to manage and secure business data. This new
experience will also provide business users and IT administrators with
the ability to adapt to evolving enterprise mobility trends. The
announcement is great news for Samsung KNOX related Independent Software
Vendors (ISVs) and developers who can extend potential target market to
a broader Android community with minimal implementation effort.
“I am very pleased and welcome this ground breaking partnership with
Google. As a driving force of Android powered mobile devices, Samsung
is in a unique position to meet the rapidly evolving mobile security and
privacy needs of Android users,” said Injong Rhee, Senior Vice
President of KNOX Business Group at Samsung Electronics. “We are
delighted with the opportunity to work with Google to help build
Android’s enterprise eco-system and establish Android device as the
leading choice for businesses. This represents an amazing transformation
in workforce mobility.”
"Samsung has been pioneering to bring Android to the enterprise. We
are grateful for their contribution to the Android open source project,”
said Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of Engineering, Android. “Jointly we are
bringing enterprise-grade security and management capabilities to all
manufacturers participating in the Android ecosystem."
The goal of this unique collaboration is to address the evolving
needs for a resilient and secure mobile platform. At the same time it
ensures that the end user privacy and experiences are not compromised,
so users can enjoy the same Android experience for work as they do for
personal use. Along with this effort to expand into the enterprise
mobility market powered by the Android platform, Samsung will continue
to provide the advanced, differentiated, and comprehensive enterprise
mobility solution for enterprise customers.
Samsung KNOX is currently the only Android provider of defense-grade
and government-certified mobile security complying with key US
Government and Department of Defense (DoD) initiatives and other
standards for mobile device security. This enables its deployment in
government and other highly regulated enterprise environments. The
Samsung KNOX platform received the STIG approval from the US Defense
Information Systems Agency to use in US DoD networks in May 2013 and was
upgraded to STIG version 2 in April 2014. UK government also recently
published End User Device (EUD) Security Guidance for Samsung KNOX on
using select Samsung Android devices. Additionally, MDFPP Common
Criteria was certified for KNOX embedded devices such as Galaxy S5 and
Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) in May 2014 and Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3,
Galaxy Note PRO in Feb 2014 each.
Samsung also offers a comprehensive KNOX management and application
store service. In addition to the Samsung KNOX components found in this
next generation Android platform, Samsung will keep developing
specialized proprietary services such as KNOX EMM and KNOX Marketplace.
Android is the most popular mobile operating system available right
now. Apple’s iOS is at the distant 2nd place. Today in Google I/O Sundar
Pichai showed us some interesting stats about the Operating System.
Shipment
of Android is increasing day by day. In just last single quarter of
last year 340 million Google’s OS powered phones were shipped. Android
is not only about the smartphones. Today about 62 % of the tablets also
run on it and it is for the first time that Android tablet market has
grown this much. And now, 1 billion users use their Android device
everyday. That is about 1/7 of World’s total population. Not to
mention the most popular app store, Google Play Store. It has seen 236%
growth in app installs last year. Play Store has now more than 1 million
apps and some of the apps has reached a download count of 1 billion
downloads. Like recently Google Maps has passed 1 billion downloads
on Play Store. Talking about tablets, more than 42 % of YouTube views
came from Android tablets this year. This figure was 28 % last year. Taking
selfies is also a common thing now. 93 million selfies are taken each
day with Android powered device. And people take 1.5 trillion steps each
day with their Android phone. These are the interesting stats about World’s most used mobile Operating System.
So after two years, Apple has decided to add a more variant in iPod touch 5th generation product line. The new iPod touch will come with a rear camera. The 16 GB iPod touch will be made available in 6 different colors i.e. black, space grey, pink, yellow, blue and red. Even with the return of rear camera, the revised 16 GB model will price $30 less than the previous one i.e. $199. The new iPod will hopefully release in next week on Tuesday.
It seems like Apple is now making
low-end devices for developing markets. About two weeks before, Apple
rolled out cheaper iMacs too. Apple’s new iPod touch will possibly have
these specs:
Both giants Google and Microsoft intends to incorporate the kill switch feature in their upcoming OS versions i.e. Android 4.5 and Windows Phone 8.1. As per some of the details from PC World,
the kill switch feature will allow the users with stolen devices to
claim their device as ‘missing’. After verification, they will able to
disable it from being used. The stolen device will begin demanding some
specific credentials hence restricting the access.
Apple brought Activation Lock feature in iOS 7 about a year back. The feature has really proved a blessing in disguise for the Police. A recent report of NYTimes
has confirmed the decrease in iPhone theft incidents since the feature
is brought in. The anti-theft feature let you lock the phone and erase
it contents so to make it useless.
We all have seen constant improvement and
development in Android. Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony etc. all have played
their parts in showing the best of Android. Earlier this month it was leaked that Google
is going to change its Android logo. And confirming this leak Google
revealed its new Android logo at Google
New logo is completely different from the old one that is used for 5 and
half years now. It has now all the lower case letters and has more softer and friendlier feel.
Google has been perfect with its Nexus line
ups. They have shown complete vanilla Android with maximum hardware and
minimal price.
Google TV was first launched in 2010, with its apparent reason to turn
your television into a smartphone, is now firmly in the past. Google has taken thins up a notch at Google I/O developer conference.
With the great success of the Google Chromecast, Google has officially
revealed the Android TV. The TV is living atop of Android L. Android TV
will run on hardware a la Google TV and set-top boxes like the renowned
Apple TV and Roku and consoles. But this has an added focus on gaming.
Entertainment being the top most priority these days, the software
surfaces content from the Google Play Store and requisite partners like
Netflix and Hulu. Based on what you prefer, it also gives you
recommendations. Search is also synced into the experience. This happens
by using Google’s Knowledge Graph to provide relative information to
your favorite programs. The software can also be controlled by the
Android Wear watch
Android TV is the rekindled version of your home’s largest screen by
Google. And the benefit is that it’s considerably sleeker and more in
line with the competition has to offer. Like the Fire TV, devices will come with a controller, and gamers will
be able to play multiplayer games online and earn achievements via the
Google Play Games network.
