unlock my digital world: October 2014

October 20, 2014

Android 5.0 Lollipop - release date, features & update plans

Google has finally confirmed Android 5.0 'Lollipop', the biggest update to Android in years, will be arriving in the next few weeks. Announced earlier this week alongside the Nexus 9 tablet and Nexus 6 smartphone, both of which will ship with Lollipop out of the box, it's one of the most hotly anticipated Android updates ever and one that promises to give Google's mobile OS a major visual overhaul.
Lollipop, which was first announced back at June's Google I/O conference as Android L, will also introduce 64-bit processor support and make battery life a priority as it goes up against Apple's iOS 8.
Google has been drip-feeding new features and announcements over the past few months, but now that an official release is almost upon us, we've rounded up all the facts to let you know what to expect – and when you'll be getting it on your smartphone.

Android 5.0 Lollipop release date

Google made Lollipop official on the 15^th of October, confirming it would be available first on the Nexus 9. The 9in tablet can be pre-ordered now, with a launch date set for the 3^rd of November. The Nexus 6 smartphone will follow a few weeks later, with pre-orders starting in 'late October' ready for a 'mid November' release. The Nexus Player will follow at some point too, although there aren't any concrete details on the Mysterious Android TV set-top box.
Anyone with an older Nexus device such as the Nexus 5 smartphone, or Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets, will get over-the-air (OTA) updates 'in the coming weeks'. Google Play Edition handsets are also expected to get swift updates, and we're pleased to see the older Nexus 10 still getting some love from Google – even if it has now finally been discontinued.
According to AndroidPolice, the first OTA update will be released on the 3^rd of November, but only for the Wi-Fi versions of the 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. The Nexus 5 and two-year-old Nexus 4 will have to wait, as Wi-Fi and cellular devices take a little longer to develop updates for. This is only a rumoured date, although the site is confident in its two (anonymous) sources.

Can't wait? Get the Lollipop developer preview now

Although there's now only a few weeks more to wait before the official OTA release of Lollipop, there's nothing stopping you getting it today - if you own a Nexus 5 or Nexus 7, and you're prepared to get your hands dirty. The Android 5.0 Lollipop developer preview is available to download right now, for free. With a bit of fiddling you can even install it on handsets from third party manufacturers; there's already a custom ROM for the HTC One (m7) and others are appearing every day on the XDA Developer forums. However, if you aren't already confident with firmware flashing and custom ROMs we'd recommend waiting, to avoid bricking your handset.

Android 5.0 Lollipop updates for other phones

Major Android releases are always eagerly anticipated, which makes being stuck on an outdated version because your phone manufacturer doesn't plan on releasing an update even more frustrating. We've listed every major manufacturer's official position on Lollipop below, and while it's good news for HTC, Motorola and Sony, it's grim reading for Samsung and LG.

THE VOCAL

HTC has pledged to update both the current HTC One (m8) and last year's One (m7) within 90 days of receiving the Lollipop source code from Google. Considering that code was made available on the 17^th of October, that means HTC customers should get an update by the 15^th of January at the latest – assuming mobile phone networks don't slow down the process. The HTC One Mini and One Mini 2 will eventually get Lollipop too, but likely at a later date.
Motorola's strong ties to Google means it will almost certainly be the first manufacturer to get Lollipop updates on to customers' phones. It has promised to upgrade the original and 2nd generation Moto X (2014), the original and second generation Moto G (2014), and the Moto E, as well as the older DROID Ultra, DROID Maxx and DROID Mini, although there's no exact date for release yet.

Sony has made big promises for Lollipop; it plans to bring the update to every phone in the Z series, going back as far as the original Xperia Z. The rollout will begin with the more recent Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z2 devices starting early 2015, then eventually filter down the Z1 range and older Z-series devices.

THE SILENT

There's been no official statement from Samsung regarding Lollipop, meaning the only confirmed phone due for an update the Google Play Edition version of last year's Galaxy S4. It should get it in the next few weeks. Despite the silence, it's safe to assume the current crop of available handsets, including the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 will get an update eventually: according to Sammobile, both will get Lollipop in November.
Likewise, LG hasn't said anything about its plans for Lollipop. It too has a Google Play Edition device, the G Pad 8.3, which will get an update alongside Google's own Nexus range, but there's no news on when G3 owners can expect an upgrade.

Android 5.0 Lollipop Material Design

Android 5.0 Lollipop has over 5,000 new APIs ticking away behind the scenes, but the most obvious changes will always be the visual ones. The new 'Material Design' scheme is set to appear on every Google platform, not just Android. Apparently Google drew inspiration from pens and inks, with every icon and user interface element casting an accurate shadow to give a sense of depth. Everything animates as you touch it, with objects flying into view and tapped icons rippling like puddle.

The home screen, lock screen, settings pull-down menu, main settings page and even the onscreen navigation buttons have received a makeover. Lollipop will also include new system widgets to match the design scheme. Finally, every Google app will be redesigned to match the new look, with some having already been upgraded in time for the developer preview release.
The notifications system has been completely overhauled for Lollipop as well. Currently, Android users have to unlock their device to check, respond to or dismiss notifications, but with Android L they will be able to do this from the lock screen. They will appear as a stack of Google Now-like cards, which can be scrolled through rather than flooding the screen. Each one has an in-line preview, giving context.

Android 5.0 Lollipop features

Lollipop isn't all about looks; it will also include lots of clever new features. Personalised unlocking is one of our favourites. Essentially it makes your smartphone or tablet search for familiar Bluetooth gadgets, Wi-Fi networks, locations and even voice imprints to deactivate any lockscreen protections, letting you jump straight into your phone when it knows you're nearby. If the device can't detect any of these metrics, anyone trying to use it will be presented with the standard lockscreen.
The recent apps page will become the recent content page, displaying all your content in one list of Google Now-styled cards. You'll be able to jump between apps and the web, with links in Google search results jumping straight from the browser into the relevant part of an app. Although not strictly built into Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google will also be giving its mobile webpages and search an overhaul in time for its release. The Material Design will be carried across, along with smooth animations and a slicker interface.

Google will be updating its stock Android keyboard for Android 5.0 Lollipop, adding more personalisation and scrapping the individual tiled keys - instead each letter will sit on a flat background, which should make it easier for those with larger fingers and thumbs to type quickly. Also set to arrive are a Do No Disturb mode, which automatically deactivates all notifications and audio during set times, support for Bluetooth 4.1 and a completely redesigned Audio backend with support for USB audio devices.

Android 5.0 Lollipop performance

The biggest back-end change is the move from the Dalvik runtime to ART. Part of the operating system at a basic level, the ART runtime supports ARM, x86 and MiPS instructions, and a mix of AOT, JIT and interpreted code. Essentially Android now speaks a lot more languages and will work on more CPUs than its predecessor. This alone could improve performance by as much as twofold over Dalvik, without developers making any code adjustments.
DirectX 11-level graphics will finally make their way to Android using the Android extension pack. This set of APIs support advanced effects such as tessellation, geometry shaders, texture compression and compute shaders, and have the potential to put mobile devices on par with games consoles and PC games.

Android 5.0 Lollipop battery life

Google has concentrated on improving battery life in Lollipop with Project Volta. Similar to how Jelly Bean's Project Butter was an effort to make animations feel smoother and more responsive, Project Volta includes a new battery historian to better visualise battery discharge. This will help users work out what a device was doing at any given point in a battery cycle to find out which apps are draining the most power.
A battery saver mode will be included in stock Android for the first time with Lollipop, after being a common tweak for third party manufacturers. It will activate automatically when your battery drops below a certain percentage, downclocking the CPU, disabling extra features like location reporting and dimming the display. Google says a Nexus 5 running Lollipop gets around 90 minutes of extra use over the course of a typical day, without actually changing how a customer uses their phone.

Source: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/phones-tablets/1401595/android-50-lollipop-release-date-features-update-plans

October 17, 2014

Samsung’s Superior Note 4 Smartphone Gives Glimpse of Computing’s Future-NYT

OCT. 15, 2014

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 phone includes a stylus, a handy tool for interacting with the device’s large display. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Farhad Manjoo

In 2011 Samsung unveiled a smartphone so big it looked as if it must have been a joke, a mistake or a turn toward conceptual art.

With a screen measuring 5.3 inches diagonally, the device, the Galaxy Note, was met with instant and slightly unhinged criticism.

A writer for the Boy Genius Report, an industry blog, called the Note “the most useless phone I’ve ever used,” adding, “You will look stupid talking on it, people will laugh at you, and you’ll be unhappy if you buy it.”

The critics were wrong.

Samsung went on to sell millions of the huge Note; and its successors, the even larger Note 2 and Note 3, became some of the best-selling smartphones of the last few years. The Note also spawned dozens of copycats, making for an entire new category: phablets, or smartphones almost big enough to be considered tablets.

Today, just about every smartphone manufacturer — including, at long last, Apple — makes a phone as big as the Note, and plus-size phones are threatening to overrun both the smartphone and tablet business.

So the Note has become a watershed device; along with the original iPhone and iPad, Samsung’s phone is one of the most important and influential digital inventions of the last decade.

Now there’s a new Note, and it is better than ever.

The Galaxy Note 4, which goes on sale this week, is superior to just about every other phablet on the market. Its only real competition is Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, which has a more intuitive interface. But the Note 4 has at least a half-dozen clever features that should prompt even the most die-hard Apple fan to begin salivating.

Among them: The Note 4 has a sharper, larger display; the ability to charge its battery to half-full in just 30 minutes; and a series of on-screen features that make it easier to use in one hand.

Also, like previous versions, the Note 4 has a stylus, which Apple fans have long argued was proof of its inferiority. They’re wrong; despite Steve Jobs’s objections, the stylus is a handy tool for manipulating such a big phone, and after using the Note, I often found myself missing it when I went back to the iPhone.

With the Note, Samsung is aiming for something transformative, a device that is more than just a big phone: The Note 4 feels like an ambitious effort to reach for the future of computing, in which our phones are more useful and powerful than PCs, and in which we barely bother with any other kinds of computers.

Granted, the Note 4 is far from perfect; in true Samsung fashion, a lot of gimmickry can be found in it, and several features seem half-baked. The heart-rate monitor is pointless, and the fingerprint scanner isn’t nearly as good as Apple’s. But if you can overlook the rough edges, you’re left with a truly useful machine.

Any assessment of the Note 4 must begin with its stunning display.

Even though the Note 4 is just about the same size, over all, as the iPhone 6 Plus — it’s about 5 millimeters shorter than Apple’s device, but a millimeter wider and thicker — Samsung has packed a slightly larger display into the Note than Apple does into its giant phone. Even though the screen is only about 6 percent larger than the iPhone’s, it’s a noticeable pleasure, like an extra inch of legroom in coach.

And the Note’s display is not just bigger; it is also better. DisplayMate, a company that performs technical tests on digital displays, recently called the Note 4’s screen “the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested.”

Though DisplayMate also found the iPhone 6 Plus’s display to be very impressive, it gave the Note 4 the edge because of a couple of technical advances, including what Raymond Soneira, DisplayMate’s president, called “significantly better color accuracy.”

To my eyes, the Note 4’s screen did look better than Apple’s — sharper, more vivid and just generally delicious, the kind of screen you don’t mind staring at.

The Note 4 runs Android, Google’s mobile operating system, but like most Samsung phones, it has been dolled up by TouchWiz, the company’s horrendous homegrown user interface.

For the most part, TouchWiz isn’t pretty; it is a mess of garish colors and unintuitive gestures, and until you get accustomed to its quirks, it will seem to add unnecessary steps to just about every common task.

The surprise, then, is that for the Note 4 Samsung has built several useful features into TouchWiz that collectively recognize an important truth about phablets: We use them in different modes.

Sometimes, we use them as phones, or quick-hit devices to use on the go, when we need to scan email or look up directions. Other times, we use them in deeper ways, to go through morning mail, plan a day in a calendar, take notes while on a phone call or watch a show.

Samsung has smartly built its interface to facilitate either of these ways of using a phablet. Apple’s big iPhone, by contrast, does not appreciate these two modes; you use the iPhone 6 Plus pretty much as you would any other phone.

For use as a smartphone, Samsung has come up with a few tricks that make the phone easier to use in one hand.

The best of these is the side-key panel, a pop-up menu of useful icons that sits on the left or right side of the screen, right under your thumb.

A menu of useful icons that appears on the side of the screen make one-hand use easier. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Need to go to the home screen, the previous screen or see all of your open apps? On the iPhone those commands require stretching your thumb down to the Home button or all the way across the screen. On the Note 4, with the side-key panel, they’re all available with just a tap under your thumb.

Samsung has spent most of its effort improving the phablet’s second mode, its capacity for deep, two-handed tasks. Previous Note versions allowed you to place multiple apps on the screen at the same time. The Note 4 expands this feature, letting you place apps in small pop-up windows of any size you wish, pretty much like on a desktop PC.

The stylus, too, contributes to deeper productivity. It lets you select text and click on links with more precision than your finger can muster, and it can turn every screen into a notepad for your scribbles.

I admit I had to go through a lot of trial-and-error to figure out where the stylus and multiple windows would be useful, and at first blush, they both feel like pointless gimmickry. Eventually I did find some interesting uses. Managing my calendar and email at the same time, on the same screen, was far easier than popping back and forth between the two.

Samsung’s labyrinthine interface does not make the Note 4’s utility obvious, and even if it did, there would be a learning curve to grasping its unusual powers. That’s why Apple’s phablet is far easier to use. But if you’re patient, and you want a glimpse of the phone of tomorrow, you should take a look at the Note 4.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/technology/personaltech/samsung-galaxy-note-4-review.html?emc=edit_ct_20141016&nl=technology&nlid=32663937&_r=0