You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology new. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point.
This is the Daily Roundup on AkibaTech provided by @DSM_Corp, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Earlier Yesterday, Google unveiled Android Wear: a Nexus-like platform designed to power wearables, featuring contextual updates similar to Now and the same always-listening feature found on the Moto X. This mobile OS will focus on the smartwatch form factor for now, but Google says that’s just the beginning.
It looks like the rumors were true. An 8GB version of Apple’s iPhone 5c is available from several European carriers on multi-year contracts. And though the colorful handset has also arrived for Australia and China via Apple’s online store, we’ve yet to hear word of US availability.
Motorola’s new wearable, the Moto 360, takes smartwatch form factor back in time (har), boasting a seriously eye-catching design and circular watchface. Powered by Google’s Android Wear, owners can utilize the power of Now from their wrists. What’s more, this isn’t the Moto 360’s only design. It’ll come in a variety of styles once it launches this summer.
Sony’s officially jumping into the VR realm with “Project Morpheus.” Now just a prototype, the two-part headset has a 1080p display and packs a 90-degree field of view. And though it’s still unclear how the device will work with consoles, the hardware you see above will double as a developer kit.
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Just day after Nike launched the Fuelband SE, Adidas’ head of interactive, Paul Gaudio, has just announced a new smartwatch at GigaOm’s Mobilized conference in San Francisco.
And now Adidas has detailed its fitness smartwatch, revealed recently, named the miCoach SMART RUN, ahead of the Android-powered wearable‘s launch on November 1st. Designed to operate as a standalone fitness accessory, rather than demanding a permanent link to a smartphone, the miCoach SMART RUN runs Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 with a custom interface on a 1.45-inch transflective TFT LCD at 184 x 184 with a capacitive touchscreen. Three battery modes will be supported, differentiated by how frequently they collect health data from the various onboard sensors.
In casual mode, for instance, no health data is collected whatsoever, and the miCoach SMART RUN works just as a regular watch. Adidas claims its 410 mAh li-ion battery will last for around 14 days in that state, with a full recharge taking around four hours at most.
In marathon mode, meanwhile, the watch will capture data every five seconds, and last for around eight hours. In training mode, finally, data is logged every one second, and the watch can do that for up to four hours.
The Adidas miCoach SMART RUN sensors include GPS, an accelerometer, and an optical heart rate monitor from Mio. Together, they can log steps, heart rate, speed, and distance, with the miCoach SMART RUN giving suggestions on whether the wearer should speed up, slow down, or change their routine in another way using on-screen graphics, vibration alerts, and audio prompts courtesy of the Bluetooth connection to compatible headphones.
In addition to Bluetooth there’s WiFi for offloading logged data – including both health and location – to Adidas’ miCoach online system. That figures out customized training plans as well as recording completed workouts; it can also show anatomically-correct animations of different cardio and other exercises on the watch itself, to help get the most out of circuit training and reduce the likelihood of injury.
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Adidas smartwatch isn’t a small watch – with the strap it’s 263.1mm long, 48.4mm wide, and 15.6mm thick, not to mention 2.8oz in weight – but it’s made with high-quality materials. The strap is soft-touch silicon, while the bezel is stainless steel, along with the buckle and the side detailing. The backplate is magnesium, and Adidas uses Gorilla Glass for the touchscreen.
In storage side, you have 3GB of the 4GB of total onboard storage is dedicated to storing your MP3s, all navigated through Adidas’ customized UI which relies on simple swipes to move through an app carousel. The company is promising over-the-air software updates, too, and there’s a timer function out of the box.
The Adidas miCoach SMART RUN smartwatch costs a whopping $ 399 which isn’t cheap for a wearable device, but then Adidas doesn’t seem to be aiming for the mass market. “We’re not trying to make a smartwatch, per se, but the smartest running watch” Paul Gaudio, head of Adidas Interactive said.
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The strange appearance of a supposed Nexus 5 in the video presentation of Bugdroid “KitKat” for Android 4.4, gave ideas to S4Gru. The U.S. site had fun to go rummaging through the records of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC, roughly equivalent to french ARCEP) and found strange documents relating to an LG smartphone, the D820.
If the the authorities documents tell us that the phone will manage the 4G, they are especially interesting in view of the famous KitKat video. The images shown therein including the back of a phone with a particularly wide for the camera sensor port side. Just as the one who stole the show at the mascot KitKat.
The image above, taken from a section detailing the device’s Qi wireless charging capabilities, shows the inside of the back cover. When comparing it to the phone revealed at the HQ slip-up, the two pictures line up incredibly well.
The D820 also features 7-band LTE, some of which are compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint (bands 2/4/5/17/25/26/41), CDMA / EVDO rev A, pentaband DC-HSPA+ and quadband GSM / EDGE, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac. That’s an amazingly healthy list of specs for your usual FCC submission, and the list of LTE bands is quite stunning as well.
If it’s not the Nexus 5, it’s certainly going to be one heckuva flagship. Question is, how much doubt do you have? As usual, we leave you with the docs for you in case you have a burning desire to do some digging yourself.
In other words, it would seem that Google has left – voluntarily or not – reveal the Nexus 5.
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Update: In one of the docs there’s: an admission that the phone is running firmware M8974A, and the software version listed is “aosp_hammerhead-userdebugKyeLimePieFACTORYeng.sangjoon84.lee.20130618.015154.” The firmware seems to indicate a Snapdragon 800 SoC, which wouldn’t surprise us in the least, and the software appears to suggest that it’s running KitKat (Key Lime Pie), weird typo aside.
Update 2: In a good catch by Brian Klug from Anandtech, the docs also clearly indicate that this device will have a 5-inch display (4.96-inch, to be exact), and measure 131.9mm tall and 68.2mm wide. Check out the screenshot after the break, and let us know your thoughts of the device.
We’ll keep you updated if we hear anything more concrete.
In the meantime be sure to check us out daily as we covering the event second by second.
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BBM has been always one of BlackBerry OS the most popular features, even before there was iMessaging, Viber, or WhatsApp. Today, at the company’s annual Blackberry Live 2013 conference, Company’s CEO Thorsten Heins has just announced that this summer they will make the trademark BlackBerry messaging service available as a standalone app for iOS and Android.
Initially, the BlackBerry Messenger or BBM, as it’s more commonly known, will only support BBM chats, multi-person chats, voice note sharing, and BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups to share calendar, photos, files, etc.
However, as Heins stated on stage, they have plans of making BBM as fully featured on those other platforms as possible. BlackBerry has plans to expand the functionality of the iOS and Android apps with some of the new BBM features such as Voice and video calls, Screenshare, and the just announced Channels. These will come as subsequent updates.
BBM Channels is a new way for BBM users to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about.
The BBM will be available to iPhones, running at least iOS 6.0, and to droids, running at least Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – May 14, 2013) – BlackBerry(R) (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) today announced plans to make its ground-breaking mobile social network, BlackBerry(R) Messenger (BBM(TM)), available to iOS(R) and Android(TM) users this summer, with support planned for iOS6, and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher, all subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. BBM sets the standard for mobile instant messaging with a fast, reliable, engaging experience that includes delivered and read statuses, and personalized profiles and avatars. Upon release, BBM customers would be able to broaden their connections to include friends, family and colleagues on other mobile platforms.
In the planned initial release, iOS and Android users would be able to experience the immediacy of BBM chats, including multi-person chats, as well as the ability to share photos and voice notes, and engage in BBM Groups, which allows BBM customers to create groups of up to 30 people.
“For BlackBerry, messaging and collaboration are inseparable from the mobile experience, and the time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service. BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, Software Product Management and Ecosystem, at BlackBerry.
BBM is loved by customers for its “D” and “R” statuses, which show up in chats to let people know with certainty that their message has been delivered and read. It provides customers with a high level of control and privacy over who they add to their contact list and how they engage with them, as invites are two-way opt-in. iOS and Android users would be able to add their contacts through PIN, email, SMS or QR code scan, regardless of platform. Android users would also be able to connect using a compatible NFC-capable device.
BBM has more than 60 million monthly active customers, with more than 51 million people using BBM an average of 90 minutes per day. BBM customers collectively send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps. Almost half of BBM messages are read within 20 seconds of being received; indicating how truly engaged BBM customers are.
Today, BlackBerry also announced BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow customers to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about. BlackBerry plans to add support for BBM Channels as well as voice and video chatting for iOS and Android later this year, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play.
If approved by Apple and Google, the BBM app will be available as a free download in the Apple(R) App Store(SM) and Google Play store. Additional details about system requirements and availability will be announced closer to the launch.
The Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4, the Snapdragon 600 one, got a software update and while we felt like a new battery test was in order. A lot has changed since we released our first test and we were curious to find out how it has affected the smartphone’s power autonomy.
After the update, the battery life of the phone did improve overall. Here are the new results. Note: the old results are marked in yellow.
Talk time saw a massive improvement of just over 4 hours, putting the I9505 Galaxy S4 close to the top of this chart. We have rarely seen better performances and it’s quite unlikely you’ll deplete your Galaxy S4 battery just by talking.
Talk time :
Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS) 21:18
LG Optimus G Pro 20:45
Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX 20:24
Motorola RAZR i 20:07
Sony Xperia SP 19:49
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 18:03
Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 16:57
Sony Xperia Z 16:03
LG Optimus G 15:30
Sony Xperia ZL 15:22
Nokia Lumia 720 15:17
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 13:53
Pantech Burst 4:46
Surprisingly, web browsing started killing the battery faster after the update – an hour and twenty minutes faster to be specific. At 7 hours and 24 minutes, the new Galaxy S4 result isn’t bad, but it’s no longer one of the best.
Web browsing :
HTC One 9:58
Apple iPhone 5 9:56
Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS) 9:12
Apple iPad mini 9:05
Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 8:48
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 8:42
Nokia Lumia 810 8:20
Asus Padfone 2 8:20
Nokia Lumia 610 8:01
HTC One X+ 7:56
Sony Xperia E dual 7:42
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 7:24
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 3:01
Video playback compensated with an improvement of just over 2 hour, once again putting the Samsung Galaxy S4 close to the top. With this improvement, the Samsung flagship managed to overtake the iPhone 5 and the even the Galaxy Note II.
Video playback :
Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS) 16:35
Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX 14:17
Apple iPad mini 12:51
Samsung Galaxy Premier 12:51
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 12:30
Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 11:27
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600) 10:16
Apple iPhone 5 10:12
HTC One 10:02
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III 10:01
Nokia Lumia 710 3:27
Standby power usage doesn’t seem to have changed much, but the (mostly) improved performance in the individual tests did push the endurance rating up to 69 hours (up from 63 hours). The Samsung Galaxy S4 was one of the most solid performers when it comes to battery life and it’s now even better.
By the way, we’re running our battery tests on the Exynos 5 Octa version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, that’s the I9500, and we’ll report back when they’re done. Those Cortex-A7 cores better justify the existence of the I9500 as the Cortex-A15 and PowerVR SGX544MP3 don’t really offer all that great performance boost.
With more than 200 million users worldwide, Viber’s also taking this day to announce what it is referring to as the biggest update to the service yet.
Viber has just been outed for Windows and Mac PC’s, bringing the popular cross-platform VoIP service to desktops.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Skype, Viber now gives users the ability to place calls not only to other mobile users, but also to desktops.
For starters, the Viber for Android and iOS applications have both been on the receiving end of a pretty meaningful refresh, following the recent introduction of VoIP calling on older versions of BlackBerry OS. An all-new desktop app will, as of today, also be available to Viber users on a Mac or PC (Linux coming soon, we’re told), packing in most of the features the service is well-known for but in a less-mobile form.
Setting up Viber Desktop uses the same process that the popular mobile app uses, with your mobile number being used as your unique user ID. Your contacts who have Viber are automatically added from your contact list, and are seamlessly synced between your mobile and desktop versions.
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The new desktop version coincides with version 3.0 of the popular platform, which adds significant updates to the mobile (Android, iOS, and BlackBerry) versions of the app, but also include video messages, enhanced photo support, a new voice engine, and support for some 20 languages overall.
VIBER RELEASES DESKTOP VERSION – YOU’LL WANT TO SIT DOWN FOR THIS
Leading Free Messaging And VoIP Platform Unveils Windows And Mac Versions With Video Calls; Launches Version 3.0 Of Its Platform, Completely Redesigns Viber for Android, Supports Eight Additional Languages And Announces It Has 200 Million Users
LONDON – May 7, 2013, Viber, the leading mobile communications platform offering free messaging and HD-quality phone calls, announces today the release of Viber Desktop for PC and Mac. The new versions seamlessly integrate with existing mobile versions of the app and provide the same super-simple setup process that uses your phone number as your ID.
The company also announced today that it has over 200 million users across the various platforms that it supports.
Viber has revolutionized free messaging and VoIP on mobile with its popular app for leading platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and others. Now with the release of Viber Desktop, users have one easy-to-use and always available solution for free messages and calls.
One of the strengths of Viber is its easy activation process. The company has replicated the same process with Viber Desktop. As soon as you enter your mobile number and a confirmation code which is sent to your mobile Viber app, you are ready to go! All of your mobile Viber contacts are instantly and continuously synced from your mobile Viber to Viber Desktop.
Viber Desktop and the latest versions of the Viber app were designed from the ground up for individuals using Viber on multiple devices, so you can always use the app that’s right for you, whether at home, in school, at the office, or on the go. Viber offers far more flexibility than any similar product. Some of the key combined features include:
Seamlessly transfer calls between Viber Desktop and the Viber app with one click or tap
Received and Sent messages are shown on all devices, but will only “beep” on the device you are currently using
Messages and conversations you delete from one device will be removed from all devices
On top of this, Viber Desktop is Viber’s first application to offer video calls. With this new beta feature, users can now make desktop-to-desktop video calls to other Viber users.
“People spend a substantial amount of time on their smartphones,” said Talmon Marco, CEO of Viber. “However, a lot of that usage takes place at home or in the office, where they have laptops or desktops close by. With Viber Desktop you always get to use the most convenient device. You can seamlessly switch devices while messaging and even transfer calls between your mobile and desktop.”
The release of Viber Desktop is part of the roll out of Viber 3.0, the next major version of the platform. The 3.0 release includes major updates to both the Android and iOS versions of the app, as well as a new version for BlackBerry that ensures voice calling as well as compatibility with Viber Desktop.
Viber for Android now features a completely redesigned “Holo” interface as well as numerous Android specific optimizations.
Both the Android and iOS versions were not only designed to ensure seamless communication with the new desktop version but also include a host of new features.
Key highlights of the new versions include:
Video messages
New stickers
Last online status
Enhanced photo experience
Performance improvements
New voice engine
Android version security fix
On top of this, Viber now speaks your language, with support for eight new languages and 20 languages overall. Supported languages include (new in Bold): Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
About Viber:
Viber is developed by Viber Media, a pioneering mobile messaging and VoIP company. Viber lets everyone in the world connect. Freely. Viber users can send free text messages, photo messages, share locations anywhere in the world, and make free, HD-quality calls on iPhone®, Android,™ Windows Phone, Blackberry®, Windows®, Mac, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Bada devices over 3G/4G or WiFi connections. With more than 200 million users in 193 countries, Viber is constantly innovating by introducing new platforms and adding fun new features including stickers and emoticons.
Facebook Home is a new way to turn your Android phone into a great, living, social phone. We all want to share and connect.
“That’s how we discover new information and build meaningful relationships.”
But today, phones are built around tasks and apps. To see what’s happening with your friends, you pull out your phone and navigate through a series of separate apps.
“We asked ourselves if sharing and connecting are what matter most, what would your phone be like if it put your friends first? ”
The answer is Home. Home isn’t a phone or operating system, and it’s also more than just an app. Home is a completely new experience that lets you see the world through people, not apps. Cover feed :
From the moment you wake up your phone you become immersed in cover feed. Cover feed replaces the lock screen and home screen. It’s a window into what’s happening with your friends – friends finishing a bike race, your family sharing a meal or an article about your favorite sports team. These are the beautiful, immersive experiences that you get through Home.
You might have missed these updates before, but now they’re a central part of the Home experience. Since Home is both your lock screen and home screen, the content comes right to you. You can flip through to see more stories, and double tap to like what you see.
Cover feed is for those in-between moments like waiting in line at the grocery store or between classes when you want to see what’s going on in your world.
Chat heads :
With chat heads you can keep chatting with friends even when you’re using other apps. When friends send you messages, a chat head appears with your friend’s face, so you see exactly who you’re chatting with. Messages reach you no matter what you’re doing – whether you’re checking email, browsing the web, or listening to music.
You can move chat heads around and respond to messages. And since SMS is integrated into Facebook Messenger for Android, chat heads include Facebook messages as well as texts. Notifications :
Cover feed is great for seeing everything going on in the world. But when something happens that’s more important and directed at you, like a friend posting on your timeline, you’ll receive notifications with their profile pictures.
To open notifications, just tap them. And if you don’t want to deal with them right now, you can just swipe to hide them and keep flipping through cover feed until you want them back.
Apps :
It’s as easy to get to your apps in Home as it is on any other phone. Swipe up to see your favorite apps in the launcher. There’s also a screen containing all of your apps, and you can drag your favorite apps to the launcher.
Facebook Home works on Android devices such as : the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III and Samsung GALAXY Note II. Home will also work on the HTC One and Samsung GALAXY S4, and on more devices in the coming months.
Facebook Home will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12 in the US. And will initially be available for download in other countries shortly after that.
Home will also be available pre-installed on phones through the Facebook Home Program. HTC and AT&T are the first companies working together to deliver a phone with Home. It’s called the HTC First and it goes on sale April 12. You can download Home for free from the Play Store starting April 12, or purchase a phone with Home pre-installed. The first phone to come with Home is the HTC First, which goes on sale in the U.S. on April 12.
“We designed Home to be the next version of Facebook. But we also wanted to do something more. We wanted to reimagine the way we all use computing devices to make us more connected and bring us closer to the people we care about.”
HTC and Facebook have just announced officially the First an Android device, a new smartphone that puts Facebook influence front and center and comes exclusively on AT&T’s network. Despite its name, the First isn’t the first device that Facebook and HTC have partnered on it – back in 2011, HTC released the ChaCha, Status, and Salsa, all of which had special Facebook integration. But the HTC First have more than just it’s moniker, it comes with Facebook’s new Home launcher out of the box, offering a much richer Facebook experience than the earlier efforts.
The HTC First will come in four colors: red, light blue, white, and black. It has a very minimal design, and the overall shape is a generic rounded rectangle.
Side specs the HTC First :
4.3-inch Super LCD display (1280 x 720).
Below the display there are three capacitive buttons.
Cameras on the front and back. 5-megapixel unit with an f/2.0, 28mm lens, while the front camera is a 1.6-megapixel sensor.
Powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.4GHz Paired with 1GB of RAM.
It also has 16GB of internal storage.
2,000mAh battery.
The First supports AT&T’s 4G LTE network and will be available April 12th for $99.99.
Interested customers will be able to pre-order it starting today. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that the device will also be released on Orange and EE in Europe, though a release date was not provided.
We’ve all heard plenty of rumors about today’s event, but now it’s finally time to learn exactly what Zuckerberg & Co. have in store for us. Join us for our live coverage of the Facebook event!
Unlike yesterday’s image however, today’s images reveal the Facebook device’s Facebook Home UI of its Android OS.
The photos of the device reveal a minimalist UI with full-screen imagery, and stock Android icons. The app drawer on the other hand, reveals buttons for instant access to Facebook status updates, photo uploads, and location check-ins.
The HTC First with Facebook Home will set todat at 1PM Eastern Time (US Time). Be sure to tune in for the full scoop on both the device and its UI.