As well as trying to make significant inroads in the field of wearable technology with Project Glass, Google has also demonstrated how it intends to shake-up the smartphone world with Project Ara. In case you happened to miss the previous coverage, the Project Ara team is currently working on the development of modular smartphones, consisting of a skeletal backbone that can be upgraded by means of interchangeable modules. The product, which will likely be intended for the lower-end markets to start with, could eventually challenge the modern day smartphone as we know it, and today, some new images have emerged of the development process in full flow.
The new HTC One M8, as well as LG's G2 and G Flex handsets, all include a nifty feature allowing you to lock a device by simply tapping on a certain area of the display. Now, a new app released over at the Google Play Store offers something similar to those who don't happen to be in ownership of those aforementioned handsets, and so if you're looking for a cool new feature but don't feel like ponying up for new hardware, you may want to give this little utility a try.
Even though the Play Store is moderated to ensure that dodgy, malicious apps don't make it through the gates and onto people's devices, it's not a completely foolproof system. Virus Shield, a relatively new app that claimed to protect users from viruses and other such non-niceties, has scammed many folks out of their money because, at $3.99 a pop, it didn't actually provide any speakable anti-virus features. Although it has since been ousted by the search giant after being exposed, it remains to be seen whether the 10,000+ customers that parted with the substantial sum will see any kind of refund.
A set of internal documents has revealed that Google is all set to make an assault on the soon-to-be bloated set-top TV device industry. The internal Google documents reveal that the Internet services company is deriving inspiration from existing products such as the Roku, Apple TV and Amazon's new Fire TV to introduce an intelligent set-top box known as Android TV that will hopefully serve as a powerful alternative to the existing solutions on the market.
Just under a week ago, HTC took to stages in London and New York to announce their newest flagship smartphone, and upgrade to one of the most widely renown phones of 2013, the HTC One. After using the phone for roughly 7 days or so, it's fair to say that HTC has done a stellar job with the new M8. It feels like a similar phone to the HTC One M7, which is a very positive thing in this case. More aluminum has been used in the construction, creating a more premium feel. The edges of the phone have been rounded off, resulting in a better experience when holding the phone. If I happened to be suggesting improvements to the original HTC One, these are a few of the things I would have given.
Because of its open-source nature, Facebook has used Google's Android as its main breeding ground for experimental new mobile features and ventures. The introduction of Facebook Home / Chat Heads update, for example, brought a neat, integrated launcher that combined the social company's own IM service with the native Android SMS app. Such improvements appear to have been rolled out at the expense of enhancing the official Facebook app for Android, which has been left looking rather unkempt and in need of a visual makeover. An overhaul is on the way, though, and if you're willing to jump through a couple of hoops, here's how you can enable the new-look UI right now on your device.
Android's biggest weakness may be the huge numbers in which smartphones running the software have sold, but it's fairly safe to say at this point that phones and tablets running various flavors of Android are less than secure. In fact, the hacking of Android-powered devices is such a problem that it's been the beneficiary of plenty of attention from the security fraternity.
Losing your smartphone is never a pleasant experience. In fact, in most cases, it’s the worst kind of experience because you end up missing not just a valuable device, but also your contacts, your email, social networks, gallery, media and pretty much your entire digital footprint. There are, of course, fail-safe solutions available for almost every platform that you can employ to remedy some of the damage that takes place as a result of such a loss, but the device is still gone with little to no hope of recovery.
The Motorola / Google connection may have been relatively short lived and not exactly a perfect match, but it clearly gave Google a thirst for innovative hardware. That thirst is still being quenched today thanks to Project Ara and we can now get an additional insight of those involved with building the block based smartphone thanks to a new Phonebloks video.
Facebook's commitment to mobile has undoubtedly been questionable in the past. The purchase of Instagram and subsequent acquisition of WhatsApp has proved that Mark Zuckerberg's social network definitely sees native mobile experiences as of paramount importance to the company's immediate future. However, it's the continuing development of the Messenger app that manages to convince us that the small screen is extremely important to Facebook. It's only been a matter of days since Messenger was updated with a powerful group management system, but version 4.1 for iPhone and Android is already here, bringing with it the introduction of unlimited free voice calls via a Wi-Fi connection.
