Is your smartphone getting Android 5.0 Lollipop?

There’s a whole new look and feel to Android 5.0 Lollipop, courtesy of a concept called Material Design, it paints richer colurs, adds more depth and has more white space. Along with that, it also adds a new notification setup, offers new ways to multitask and has a new battery saving mode. Check out the Android 5.0 Wikipedia page to learn more about it.

Now the question is, will your device make it to the list where this update will be rolled out? We’ve compiled a handy  list, with all the devices that will get the new Android Lollipop update.

Did yours make it?

Google

Nexus 4

Nexus 5

Nexus 7 (2012)

Nexus 7 (2013)

Nexus 10

Google Play Edition

HTC One (M7)

HTC One (M8)

Samsung Galaxy S4

Moto G

Sony Z Ultra

LG G Pad 8.3

Android One

Micromax Canvas A1

Spice Dream UNO

Karbonn Sparkle V

Motorola

Moto X

Moto X 2nd Gen.

Moto G

Moto G 4G LTE

Moto G 2nd Gen

Moto E

Droid Ultra

Droid Maxx

Droid Mini

Sony

Xperia Z

Xperia ZL

Xperia ZR

Xperia Z1

Xperia Z1s

Xperia Z Ultra

Xperia Z1 Compact

Xperia Z2

Xperia Z2 Tablet

Xperia Z3

Xperia Z3 Compact

Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact

HTC

One (M7)

One (M8)

One mini

One mini 2

One Max

NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet

Xolo One

OnePlus One

Meet Xodium: A nerd's dreamphone

The OnePlus One was the best value for money mobile device of this year. Coming with the slogan 'Never settle' OnePlus was really aiming at taking the high end spectrum of the mobile sector with surprise & it did! The OnePlus One was a hit (except its invite-only system) & it led people to ask an important question 'Can a small time company can provide high specs at affordable prices, what is stopping the big name brands from doing so?' Actually, the big brands are scared of the Chinese duo, Xiaomi and OnePlus but they don’t seem serious about cutting them at source by bringing their own devices which can counter the rising Chinese brands. In fact, these are no small time threats for the established brands; Xiaomi has raced up to the top of the podium in China, throwing off Samsung in the India. This proves the fact that the company that offers maximum features at the lowest cost will win the market, and a new entrant is trying its luck with this philosophy.

With that same ideology in mind, meet Xodium, it looks like the brethren of Xiaomi and OnePlus. The phone sports top of the line features with pretty good looks and an innovative new user interface atop Android (no surprise here). Xodium’s spec sheet will blow your mind on the first look. The phone has the innards to take on the likes of even the Nexus 6!

The company's website claims the device can play 4K videos on its Quad HD display. The processor on the device is the top of the line, a quad-core Snapdragon 805 clocking at 2.7 GHz running the show and with 3GB of RAM, you know this bad boy is going to be fast.... really fast! It will available in two storage options, 32 GB and 64 GB. The bit that will make it really aspirational is the fact that it has expandable storage up to 128 GB also! All of the above is juiced up by a 3200 mAh battery. And to top it all off, it runs on a custom operating system called ‘xOS’ which is based on Android 5 Lollipop.

The display on the device is a delight, and maybe the biggest selling feature of the device. The 5.5 inch Super AMOLED display has a resolution of 1440×2560(2K) and has a pixel density of 534 ppi. This will make it by far the best display in its price point. The display is also protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3!

Just like the screen the device doesn’t shy up on the camera either. It has a 16 MP main shooter with optical image stabilization and is capable of 4K recording. On the front, you have a 5MP shooter with LED flash (like the HTC Desire EYE). The device lets you take images simultaneously while recording videos.

Xodium also has a wide range of sensors such as heart rate sensor, gestures, UV, compass, barometer and other usual sensors including NFC.

Now this phone one-ups the OnePlus One and the Mi4 in every side. On the website, the price is stated as $329 (Rs. 20,610) for 32GB and $379 (Rs. 23,742) for the 64 GB variant. This sounds like the sweetest music to any device enthusiast. But we can’t shake off the feeling that it sounds too good to be true. On the website, when you click the buy now button, you only get the option to pre-order by Bitcoin, which is regarded as unreliable way of making transactions. The PayPal option is currently inactive. The website claims they can ship the order anywhere for free which also sounds unreasonable. We would love for this device to be real, who wouldn’t, but we are not sending our hard earned money there way till we see a working device.

XODIUM

The Mac Mini (Late 2014) has soldered RAM and CPU

After two years, Apple last week announced the refreshed Mac mini, alongside the new iPad and iMac models at an event in California. Those who had been waiting for Apple to unveil the new Mac mini were ecstatic... however, much of that excitement may die down after a teardown by iFixit revealed the decisions Apple had taken about the innards of the small form factor PC. Repair and teardown specialist iFixit on Monday published a full teardown of the new Mac mini revealing that Apple has soldered two components to the PC's logic board, ensuring that users are not able to replace them themselves. iFixit tore down the Mac mini 1.4GHz Core i5 and 4GB of RAM variant, and found that Apple had soldered the Samsung-made 1600MHz LPDDR3 RAM into its slot, unlike the previous model, as well as the dual-core Intel i5 4260U processor.

While user replacement of components is not extremely common, there are plenty of users out there that look to upgrade a machine when it reaches further along in its lifespan, and some replace the components on day one to save money on higher-specification models, whilst others just replace failed components themselves after the machine goes out of warranty. The fact that Apple has soldered the CPU into place will not really trouble most users, as CPU replacement is relatively rare, though the RAM being soldered into its slot will certainly affect more people who were hoping to upgrade the 2014 Mac mini themselves.

The iFixit team, which also rates the devices based on ease of repairability and other factors, suggest that the new Mac mini is more difficult to repair than the previous models. The team has given it a repairability score of 6 out of 10, which is notably lower than the previous Mac mini (2012), which had a score of 8 out of 10. It further notes that while the repairing of new Mac mini is little difficult than previous model, its "disassembly is straight-forward and simple" if the proper tools are used.



The new Mac mini comes in three models and is expected to be available via select authorised resellers in India this week. The new Mac mini model at Rs. 36,990 comes with a dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU running at 1.4GHz with a Turbo Boost speed of up to 2.7GHz and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000. It features 4GB of RAM and a 500GB 5,400rpm hard drive.

Another model, priced at Rs. 49,990, comes with a dual-core Intel Core i5 running at 2.6GHz with a Turbo Boost speed of up to 3.1GHz. This model has a 1TB Fusion Drive standard and ships with 8GB of RAM and Intel Iris graphics.

Lastly, the highest-priced model comes in at Rs. 69,990 and boasts of a 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU with a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 3.3GHz, 1TB Fusion Drive, 16GB of RAM and Intel Iris graphics.

Nokia Lumia is history, meet Microsoft Lumia!

The Nokia Lumia brand is no more as it will only be called Microsoft Lumia.

 However the Nokia phone brand isn't completely dead. Microsoft will continue to sell current Nokia Lumia handsets and provide the support that users expect. Features phones like the Nokia 130 will continue to be sold, we should also see new feature phones being introduced.



Tuula Rytilä, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Phones, gave an interview in which she detailed the future course of the Lumia brand. She points out that the rebranding is already underway with former Nokia-branded apps coming under the Microsoft umbrella. Similarly Nokia sites are in the process of moving to Microsoft.
Microsoft's strategy from its very inception is to put a PC on every desktop, now they will be focusing on a phone in every pocket. This comes on the back of record Lumia sales, so Microsoft has a decent chance of securing Windows Phone as the third horse in the smartphone OS game.

Google & HTC introduce the flagship Android 5.0 tablet: Meet the Nexus 9

A powerful new tablet has gone official. A tablet that represents an affordable stock Android offering but doesn’t compromise on the including the latest and greatest hardware either. Let’s take a look at it, shall we? 

To kick things of, the Nexus 9 rock an 8.9-inch display with a resolution of  2048 x 1536 (resulting in a 3:2 aspect ratio). A 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor coupled with a 192 Kepler GPU are the heart of this tablet. 8MP and 1.6MP camera combination are there on the front and back of this Nexus. There’s also 2GB of RAM, a 6700mAh battery, and 16 or 32GB of internal storage. The tablet will feature HTC BoomSound. Brushed metal sides are also present on the Nexus 9. And now to the killer feature, the Nexus 9 ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop with 64bit enabled!

That keyboard case we saw a few weeks back is confirmed, magnetically securing itself to the Nexus 9 and offering adjustable angles of support, all ready to accommodate the workspace of your choice.

The new Nexus tablet will be available for pre-order on October 17. Color options will include black, white, and “sand.”

Source

Google & Asus introduce the flagship Android 5.0 media centre: Meet the Nexus Player

Along with the pure Android running Nexus 6 & Nexus 9, Google has the flagship Android TV powered home entertainment hub, they call the Nexus Player. This small console is designed to sit discretely alongside your home entertainment setup, offering access to your favourite TV shows and Android games.

 The Nexus Player was designed in collaboration with ASUS and acts a streaming hub for music, movies, and other videos. All you need to do is hook it up to your TV via an HDMI cable and start streaming your content over WiFi. The device runs Android TV based on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). Now because it is Android TV powered, the Nexus Player employs the Android TV functions shown off at I/O earlier in the year, including a TV optimized Play Store interface, 
content based search functions, and a gaming platform.

It is powered by a quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom processor with PowerVR Series 6 graphics, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.

The Nexus Player can also be used to cast your favourite entertainment apps directly from your Android or iOS device, Mac or Windows laptop, or Chromebook to the TV. Content also syncs across Android devices, so you can start a movie on your TV and finish it on your tablet in bed.

The Nexus Player console comes with a dedicated remote for selecting and skipping through your content. The remote is also voice activated, allowing you to make the most of Google’s search functions. 


For the gamers out there, a dedicated gamepad for the Nexus Player will be available for purchase separately.


The Nexus Player will be up for preorder for $99!

Google & Motorola introduce the flagship Android 5.0 smartphone: Meet the Nexus 6

As expected, a powerful new phablet has been introduced in the form of Google’s Motorola-made Nexus 6. The phablet represents an affordable (well, comparatively) - stock Android offering, one that doesn't compromise on the specs front either. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?

Here we’re looking at a 5.96-inch QHD (2560x1440) display, a 13MP camera sensor with OIS, a front-facing 2MP sensor, a 3,220 mAh battery, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, dual front-facing speakers, and more. There’s also support for Motorola’s Turbo Charger, which can give the Nexus 6 six hours of battery with just 15 minutes on the charger – impressive stuff. And just as expected, Android Lollipop runs the hardware

The Nexus 6 will be available for pre-order beginning later this month. Pricing is set to start at nearly $650 for the 32GB version, with blue and white color options. The 64GB model will run you just $50 more, coming in closer to $700....which makes me wonder if Google forgot if this is a Nexus or not!

Microsoft announces the biggest version of Windows ever, Windows 10

After months of anticipation surrounding the follow-up to Windows 8.1, Microsoft decided to jump and unveil Windows 10 at San Francisco. Scheduled to be released in 2015, Windows 10 brings a wealth of desktop-friendly features while promising a unified experience across smartphones, tablets, PCs and TVs. Microsoft teased the possibility of a more unified Windows earlier in the year, and Windows 10 seems to deliver on that promise by offering an app marketplace in which applications can be bought and updated across smartphones, laptops and tablets all at once. Windows 10 also has its eyes on the enterprise user, offering the ability to easily separate personal and business data.

Now, putting the main thing into limelight: Windows 10 itself

The return of the Start Menu

Windows 10 will mark the long-awaited return of the START MENU. No, this is not the Start Screen you saw in Windows 8 & 8.1... This is the Start Menu. But ofcourse, Windows 7 was released in 2009 and the world has seen great improvment in software designs, and Microsoft didn't just bring back the ageing Aero based Start Menu we saw in Windows 7.  The Windows 10 Start menu combines Windows 7's convenient column of app icons with a sidebar for Windows 8's refreshing, touch-friendly Live Tiles. There's also a "Me" tile at the top of the Start menu that displays whichever user is logged in (just like Windows Phone)

Multitasking

Multitaskers can look forward to Windows 10's new Task View feature, which lets you get a quick glance at all of your open apps in the vein of Mission Control in Apple OS X. The software will let you switch between multiple desktops just like the Workspaces in various Linux distributions, with a Snap Assist feature that lets you easily swap in apps from any of those open desktops. You'll also be able to snap up to four apps on the same screen. In another upgrade for power users, Windows 10 has beefed up the command prompt function, which now lets you paste directories directly using the Ctrl+V command.

Continuum  

Microsoft showed Windows 10's new continuum feature, which is designed to automatically alter the OS when you switch modes on a 2-in-1, such as the Surface Pro 3. For example, clicking the Start button with a mouse and keyboard attached will open the classic-style desktop Start menu, while doing the same in tablet mode will bring up the Windows 8-style full-screen Start menu with large Live Tile icons.

Guardians of the Galaxy (Movie Review)

Taking place during Marvel’s Phase 2 time frame, While being pursued by fellow law breaker Yondu (Michael Rooker), Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) seeks an orb that is being hunted by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) a psychotic Kree who is hellbent on wiping out Xandar, the home world of the Nova Corps lead by Nova Prime (Glenn Close).  When Quill discovers who Ronan the Accuser is and what he plans to due with the orb he makes an uneasy alliance with Rocket, Groot, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and attempts to stop Ronan from destroying the galaxy.


I know this sounds really silly and it is hard to follow, at first, but, this movie is amazing.  The score of the movie, the characters, it’s funny but also serious when it needs to be.  These characters are very interesting, each bringing their own to the eventual team that is building and a fan can’t help but get giddy at the thought of The Guardian’s of the Galaxy with The Avengers.  My only real gripes about it are in fact the villains, which are extremely weak.  It’s amazing to me, even after all this time, Marvel has yet to produce a satisfactory villain besides Loki, and this is really troublesome considering the big baddie Thanos makes his first real appearance and everything is anchored around him. I mean, Ronan just walks around, giant hammer in hand, spitting out the typical bad guy and although there are times he is scary, it takes away when you make a villain too bad ass.  There is a scene where he and Drax square off and it is completely uninteresting because 

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill

Despite this though, everyone is good with what they’re given, but every, and I do mean everyone is playing second fiddle to Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper).  Barely recognizable in his New York style accent (the character in the comics talked in a British one) Cooper steals every scene his ‘in’ and shows everyone who the real star of the movie is.  His stature as a character grows even more by his friendship with Groot (Vin Diesel), a walking sentient tree who can grow and shrink at will and it pretty much like the baddest thing walking through the galaxy.

If you are questioning whether you should go see this movie or not, to put it simply, if you enjoy the Marvel movies, loved The Avengers, and are invested in this cinematic universe then yes, go see it.  It’s a really fun summer movie and an amazing first entry to sequels that will get better.

Everything you need to know about the Xiaomi Mi3 and how it stacks up against its Indian competition.

So if you'r in the market to buy a smartphone and you have a budget of about Rs. 15,000, many might recommend you to opt for the Motorola Moto G or the Nokia Lumia 630 & more recently, the Xiaomi Mi3. You might raise an eyebrow when you look at the name Xiaomi, not only because it is new to India, but also because it is Chinese. In India, we've seen Indian based OEMS use MediaTek chipsets and other low quality stuff to make smartphones that look on the specifications sheet like a higher end smartphone. 

Well, Xiaomi is not one of them. Xiaomi smartphones, even though reasonably priced, are exceptionally built with premium materials (metal in the case of the Mi3) and use premium components like Quallcomm Snapdragon or the Nvidia Tegra chipsets, Corning Gorilla Glass, etc. If you look closely, the Mi3 uses the same components which were used in last years and this years flagships. 

For getting started, the Snapdragon 800, the heart of the Mi3 is the one of the fastest chips available. It sports 4 Krait 400 cores clocked at 2.3GHz coupled with an Adreno 330 GPU. In comparison, the Moto G and the Lumia 630 have a Snapdragon 400 which has 4 Cortex A7 cores clocked at only 1.2GHz, coupled with an Adreno 305. Well, I don't need to explain anymore, but for the rest of the specs, here you go (courtesy gsmarena.com)

The screen on the Mi3 is way sharper (at 1080p compared to 720p or WVGA) & is of better IPS quality. The battery is also larger, almost 1000 mAh larger. All of these characteristics of the Mi3 not only give it an edge above the phones of its price bracket, but also an edge above the high end smartphones where it rightfully belongs.

So are you going to buy the Mi3?

  

The Apple iPhone 6 might be Apple's first 2GHz iOS device

Apple has been known for producing anaesthetically pleasing smartphones which have an easy and intuitive user interface.....but, they disappoint the geeky people like me. Lets take the iPhone 5s. It uses a dual core cpu in a day of quad and even octa core cpus. The screen is a mere 4" diagonal when all flagships have a 5" screen. And taking about screens, the screens of those smartphones have a resolution that is twice or even four times the screen resolution of the iPhone. There are many more like the camera being just a 8MP shotter and more but with this latest leak about the iPhone 6 & more specifically the Apple A8 SoC, we think Apple has finally heard our prayers.

Leaks say that the chipset (Apple a8) is said to be made using a 20nm process, and it will still be 64-bit, as is the A7 in the iPhone 5S. The new SoC will stick with a dual-core CPU like its predecessors, though we will apparently see Apple breaking the 2 GHz barrier. This would be a first for the company's phones.

However, it's still unclear just how much the A8's CPU will go past that threshold, if at all. So it could get 2 GHz as its maximum frequency, or more than that.
This should obviously result in a performance boost for the new handset, since the iPhone 5S has a CPU clocked at 1.3 GHz.

TSMC may be involved in the production of the A8 chipset, probably alongside Samsung (Apple's traditional supplier).

Source

Google announces the future of Android: Meet Android L (Developer Preview)

Google has announced a developer preview of the upcoming Android L release. Previous the search giant would unveil a new version of its platform at the I/O event, making it available for download almost immediately. Now, we've got a developer preview that will only serve for developers to play with and optimize their apps with the actual public release coming later on.

The Android L (final name and version number yet to be confirmed) brings various changes to the UI, with refreshed status bar, dialer and just about every other system apps. Google has also redesigned the transition animations so they look cooler and more natural.

The notifications have been enhanced and are now available on the lockscreen. You can either tap a notification from there and be taken to the app responsible for it, or you can swipe it right off.

The Chrome browser, which has been the default Android browser for some time now has been upgraded as well. It offers a new fluid design with the different parts of its UI changing size to give you easier access to the most relevant options. Its performance has also been tweaked and the GUI rendering has been fixed at 60fps making scrolling around appear extra smooth.

 The new runtime environment in the L release is ART, launched as an alternative to Dalvik in KitKat. ART allows apps to run faster and is compatible with ARM, x86 and MIPS architectures. In addition to performance gains, it also provides better memory benefits and is supports 64-bit.
   

Performance isn't the only thing Google wants to improve with the L Release. The battery performance is also important and to make it better, Google introduced Project Volta.
There's a new Battery Saver mode, which can tune down the CPU, turn off the phone's radio and as a result extend its power autonomy. On the Nexus 5, for example, this should earns you 90 minutes additional usage time.
    

Another major change Google introduced is a separation between personal and work data. No modification to existing apps is needed, Android will keep the data separate and secure. Company IT admins will be able to bulk deploy apps to employees.
Samsung contributed a lot of what it developed with KNOX but the feature will work on devices by any manufacturer. Best of all you don't need Android L, this feature will be brought to any Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above.

Android L also unifies the fitness tracker experience into one app, Google Fit (hi, Apple HealthKit). It will pull data from sensors in your phone, your smartwatch and other wearables. Nike Fuelband is one, but Adidas, Motorola, LG, Bais, Polar, RunKeeper, HTC and even Intel will be bringing supported devices.

Google Fit will track steps, your sleep and other health metrics. Apps will be able to request access to this data, but it's up to the user to allow it.

The factory images for the Android L release on the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 are available. Over the air updates for end-users will arrive in the Fall.