BBM for Android and iPhone

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“BBM is a very engaging messaging service that is simple to use, easy to personalise and has an immediacy that is necessary for mobile communications,” said Andrew Bocking, executive vice president for BBM at BlackBerry. “With more than a billion Android, iOS, and BlackBerry smartphones in the market, and no dominant mobile messaging platform, this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers.”

BBM will be available as a free download for Android smartphones running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean on September 21 while BBM for iPhones running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will become available on the App Store on September 22.

Three-year Android user Youlanda Henry is looking forward to the messaging service because she simply wants to "see what all the fuss is about". She also added, "If they make BBM available for the rest of us, I am pretty sure there will not be much use for a BlackBerry smartphone in a few years, I am giving them until 2015."

For long-time BlackBerry smartphone user Candice Walton, who recently made the switch to an Android smartphone, she is looking forward to BBM becoming available.

"I am so looking forward to it, I am glad that BBM is coming to Android," she told Jamaica Observer. "Honestly I will no longer miss having a BlackBerry smartphone now that BBM is coming to Android."

Another Jamaican who described himself as a die-hard BlackBerry fan said, "I think it is a good thing for the application itself but not for the company, because they are giving up the only thing that gives them an exclusive share of the market. However, I still love my BlackBerry smartphone and I will never switch."

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Download iOS 7 For Android Devices

Want your Android to look like iOS 7? There's an app for that

"You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!" as Charlton Heston says at the end of Planet of the Apes, and we are sure that's exactly what thousands of Android users will say when they realise that they too can get in on the iPhone iOS 7 craziness that is going on right now.

READ: Apple iOS 7 review

For those Android users that are feeling a little bit left out by not having to download a new software update for their phone - just wait till Android 4.4 KitKat is here and all the "will my phone be eligible, or won't it" shenanigans - there are over a 100 apps in the Google Play Store that will let you skin your Android masterpiece to look a lot more "colourful" as Apple would say.
Go to the Google Play and search for iOS 7 and you'll see what on offer.

For our photos we've chosen iOS 7 Lockscreen Parallax HD (free) to get that start screen look just right and the iOS 7 Theme for Hi Launcher (free) a launcher for Android that lets you skin your phone to look like the new iOS 7.
The Google Play icon becomes the App Store logo while the Chrome icon becomes a iOS 7 Safari logo.
Of course it's all very superficial, and you'll still get all the Android features you know and love, but if you want to be part of the Apple pack, or just trick your friends into thinking you've somehow managed to get iOS 7 on your Android then there are plenty of ways to do it.
Just be ready for the backlash, traitor!

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• Source: Google Play

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Android 4.4 KitKat Update Leak Spotted

Thanks to a discovery inside the Google Chrome browser bugtracker, we now know that the upcoming Android 4.4 KitKat update is likely going to be coming to the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10, something that should not come as much of a surprise given that the two devices are still less than a year old.

Earlier this month, Google surprisingly announced Android 4.4 KitKat instead of the rumored Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie update as its next Android update, one that will come to replace Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The company did not unleash any details about Android 4.4 KitKat, only saying that it wanted the update to come to everybody.

Rumors remain fairly scarce though we are starting to see some details fall into place ahead of a rumored October 14th launch date alongside the Nexus 5 from LG. Rumors suggest that Android 4.4 could bring updates for older devices, fragmentation changes including screen resizing, Miracast updates, color changes and new notification widgets. None of those are confirmed yet, however.

Android 4.4 KitKat is expected to touchdown with a new Nexus 5.

What we are starting to see confirmed though are Android 4.4 KitKat updates. Earlier this week, we saw Pantech confirm an Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Vega Iron, a large-screen smartphone that was released earlier this year. And today, two more Android 4.4 KitKat updates were spotted, all but confirming updates for those two devices as well.

Thanks to Myce, a site that monitors open source projects, we now know that Android 4.4 KitKat will be coming to the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10. Buried inside the Google Chrome browser bugtracker are two references to an Android Kitkat / Key Lime Pie build KRS74B. The users that are in possession of these devices are asking for assistance with bugs for issues that are currently plaguing their unreleased software.

Nexus devices typically are supported for a number of years before Google drops support so it’s not surprising to see that the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 will be getting Android 4.4 KitKat at some point in the future.

It looks like the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 will get Android 4.4.

Typically, Nexus smartphones and tablets are among the first to get major software updates so we expect that the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 will get Android 4.4 KitKat shortly after it is announced.

Rumors suggest that the update could be announced as soon as October 14th, alongside a Nexus 5 and a new Nexus 10 tablet. That launch date is a day before a rumored Apple event for the iPad mini 2 and iPad 5. Neither event is confirmed.

Nexus 5 rumors suggest that the device will be made by LG and will come with upgraded features including LTE data speeds. Google’s non-LTE Nexus, the Nexus 4, has been discontinued on the Google Play Store.

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Angry Birds Star Wars 2 launches for Android

Angry Birds Stars Wars II is now available worldwide for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 devices.

Angry Birds Star Wars II follows the story of Star Wars Episodes I-III and introduces Angry Birds versions of iconic characters such as young Anakin, Jango Fett and Darth Maul.

Players can join the Pork Side and play as both the birds ad the pigs.  

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Download The latest Update for Youtube

YouTube adding offline viewing to mobile apps

Soon, YouTube is going to let you download videos from your mobile devices to watch offline. The company announced today that the feature would let users “add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable.”

Until now, downloading YouTube videos has been against the service’s terms and conditions, but the company has been relaxing the restriction. Last year the company began implementing pre-downloading of videos in its Android app, letting people finishing watch a video offline so long as they had started it online. We’ll have to wait to see exactly how this new offline feature works in comparison when it debuts sometime in November.

Update: Peter Kafka over at All Things D reports that videos can be stored offline on mobile devices for up to 48-hours starting next month.

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64-bit support coming to Android 4.4 KitKat?

New reports say that 64-bit support is coming to Android in the near future – maybe as soon as Android 4.4 KitKat – or at least that’s what a recent Intel presentation seems to imply.

The image above is taken from a presentation given by Intel at its Developer Forum last week, where the company talked about its computing plans for the future, touching on various operating systems including Windows and Android.

As you can see in the picture, 64-bit support is mentioned as an upcoming “enhancement” for Android devices that will have Intel chips under the hood.

While Intel didn’t specifically confirm that 64-bit support is coming to Android 4.4 KitKat, it would make sense to see that happen considering the recent interest in mobile processors with such powers.

Apple was first to announce a mobile device that will have a chip with 64-bit support – the iPhone 5S with an Apple A7 inside – but it won’t be the only company to offer such products.

Samsung has also confirmed that its mobile devices will support 64-bit processing in the future, and now Intel is apparently saying that its mobile chips are ready to do the same.

In fact, Intel’s current Bay Trail Atom chips “are certified as ‘Intel 64’ chips,” which means they’re ready to offer 64-bit support.

Not to mention that we already know ARM’s next-gen of mobile chips will come with 64-bit support.

Interestingly, during IDF 2013 Intel was joined on stage by Google, as Sundar Pichai himself made an appearance to talk about Chrome and Android. From the looks of it, the chipmaker is more and more interested to increase its presence in the Android ecosystem.

That said, don’t get too excited about 64-bit processing just yet, no matter how interesting it may sound – and we’ll have to wait a while to see whether Android 4.4 KitKat will indeed offer such functionality. But it seems more than clear that 64-bit chips will be found in more and more mobile devices in the coming years, so it’s logical to speculate that Google will be ready to support them with future versions of its operating systems.

Google is rumored to unveil the next Nexus smartphone alongside Android 4.4 KitKat on October 14.

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LG G Pad 8.3 release date at the end of the month; priced “very competitively” [Update]

The new LG G Pad 8.3 will be launching towards the end of the month at a 'very' competitive price.

At IFA last week, we got to spend some time with LG’s new tablet, the G Pad 8.3, and we have to say that we came out quite impressed. The G Pad 8.3 is solid and well designed, boasts a decent spec sheet, and some of its software features, like Q Pair, really add value for the user.

However, in the small tablet space (7 to 8 inches), there’s one aspect that can really make or break a device, and that is the price. The LG G Pad 8.3 will face off popular devices like the Nexus 7 (2013), which starts at $230, the Apple iPad Mini, which starts at $329, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, starting from $380. So, how competitively priced will the G Pad be?

Sources familiar with the matter told Android Authority that the LG G Pad 8.3 would be priced “very competitively”. While our sources couldn’t confirm the final price, they did say that it could be in the $300 range.

At $300, the LG G Pad 8.3 would be priced quite reasonably for what it offers: an aluminum build, a crisp Full HD LCD display, and a fast Snapdragon 600 processor. Most importantly, it would be cheaper than both the iPad Mini (2012, and probably 2013 edition) and the Galaxy Note 8. The Nexus 7 (2013) is still cheaper, but the device is not accessible internationally at a good price point, like it is in the US and the other markets where Google sells it from the Play Store.

As for the LG G Pad 8.3 release date, our sources told us to expect it “towards the end of September.” We assume that LG will go for a staged rollout, so don’t expect to see the G Pad 8.3 available in stores worldwide this September. We officially know, however, that LG wants to offer the G Pad 8.3 in 30 countries by the end of 2013, which fits in nicely with a debut in late September.

Stay tuned for more coverage, and we’ll keep an eye out as more info on the LG G Pad 8.3′s release date and pricing becomes available.

Update: While our sources report that the LG G Pad 8.3 will be “competitively priced” and could be around $300, Chinese site Zol is now reporting that the exact price will be $299. Keep in mind that LG has yet to confirm device pricing one way or another, so it’s important to treat this claim as a rumor for now. If the G Pad really does come in at $299, LG’s latest tablet could end up as a major homerun for the company.

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CyanogenMod Accounts go live in latest nightly builds

In a Google+ post, CyanogenMod announced the availability of CyanogenMod Accounts in the next nightly builds of CM 10.1 and CM 10.2 released on September 10 and later. CM Accounts, that was announced a few weeks ago, will introduce the much-needed security feature that will give users the ability to locate, as well as remotely wipe, their device.

To add an account, all you have to do is navigate to Settings > Add account > CyanogenMod, and create an account or log in with your existing account credentials. Once signed in, you can use the Find and Wipe functionality here. The post also mentions that for those who may have built this application on their own, or flashed it from an older source, may be required to remove their account from the device and add it again.

While there are numerous third party track and wipe apps available, what differentiates this from other apps, other than the fact that it is included by default like the Android Device Manager, is the additional end-to-end encryption added by the developers, which means that only you can access the location tracking and remote wipe features, and since passwords aren’t stored on a server, there is no risk of a third party tracking you.

Using CM Accounts is completely free and optional, but is definitely a good idea to sign-up for, not only for the location tracking and remote wipe features, but also the fact that more features linked to CM Accounts will be made available over time. You can find the latest nightly builds here.

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Confusion clears over LG D820, a.k.a. the next Nexus (5)

A new FCC filing and @evleaks’ own retraction dispel the confusion around the device codenamed LG D820, which is not just an LG G2 variant after all.

The odds that the upcoming Nexus smartphone is made by LG just got better. Thanks to a newly discovered regulatory filing, we are now certain that the device with the codename LG D820 is not a CDMA version of the LG G2, as well known leaker @evleaks recently tweeted.

In case you’re not up to date with the story, here’s a briefing: last week, a device codenamed LG D820was spotted in an FCC filing, showing the telltale signs of a Nexus device. The filing seemed to back earlier rumors that LG is making the next Nexus based on the G2’s hardware.

Then on Monday, @evleaks tweeted that the LG820 is actually a CDMA variant of the LG G2, and not a Nexus. @evleaks based his assumption on a supposed database entry showing the D821 as a CDMA LG G2 variant. From there, he concluded that the D820 and D821 are variants of the same device. But there were problems with this theory, mainly the fact that the dimensions in the FCC D820 filing were not even close to those of the LG G2.

Now we can put the speculation to rest because the D821 device appeared in an FCC filing of its own, and it’s clear that it’s actually a GSM version of the LG G2. Moreover, @evleaks retracted his earlier 

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Virgin Mobile goes 'Supreme' with a new ZTE 5-incher

Virgin Mobile this morning announced the ZTE Supreme, a 5-inch smartphone running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. It's running for $299 on Virgin's no-contract plans, which start at $35 a month.

In addition to the 1280x720 display, the Supreme sports a 13-megapixel rear camera and is powered by a 2,500 mAh battery. It also comes preloaded with Real Racing 3.

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Thin, flexible, and a higher PPI than ever before: the displays of AUO at Touch Taiwan

Forget full HD and thin bezels, the displays our friends at Mobile Geeks saw during their recent trip to Taiwan blow anything you see now out of the water. Flexible, ultrathin, and with a pixel count double anything you’re looking at now. They also have deep viewing angles and colors that pop off the screen, leaving us wishing we’d see these in-hand sooner rather than later.

The video below highlights the displays at the AUO booth at Touch Taiwan earlier this week. The trade show, which (as you might imagine) centers around display technology, is in the heart of manufacturing country. Taiwan is the epicenter for both OEM and parts manufacturing, and the show definitely brings out the absolute best display technology imaginable.

AUO notes they don’t currently have customers for these displays, but that’s what trade shows are for. With technology like theirs, in a place like Taiwan, we can’t think it would be long until we start seeing them on real-world devices.

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Of course Samsung is going to use 64-bit chips in phones next year

Mobile boss JK Shin confirmed that some Samsung smartphones coming next year would be powered by 64-bit processors, though that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

The new iPhone 5s features a 64-bit processor, which is impressive, but it will be years until the jump to the new architecture proves truly useful. Yes, the 64-bit A7 chip is a good early start in the next growth cycle and is generally faster that previous 32-bit chips, but the main benefit of having a 64-bit chip on the iPhone – having more than 4GB of RAM – will not come into effect for years.

Of course, drab reality shouldn’t get in the way of good marketing, which is why I can’t blame Apple for touting the virtues of the first ever “desktop-class” 64-bit mobile processor. And, because Apple now has a perceived advantage in this area (at least in the eyes of less tech savvy customers), I expect marketers in the Android camp to eagerly jump on the 64-bit bandwagon in the close future.

Samsung is the first: co-CEO JK Shin told the Korea Times that the world’s largest smartphone maker would release the first devices running on a 64-bit chip next year:

Not in the shortest time. But yes, our next smartphones will have 64-bit processing functionality.
JK Shin

While from Shin’s statement, it may seem that Samsung is living up to its fast follower reputation, truth is the move to 64-bit architecture in 2014 has been planned for years and is in no way sudden nor surprising.

ARM released the 64-bit ARMv8 architecture in late 2011, and the British chip designer outlined itsroadmap for the 64-bit A50 chips due in 2014 just days ahead of Apple’s event. In this context, the fact that Samsung, and other ARM licensees, will have 64-bit chips next year is not really newsworthy.

SAMSUNG WILL PROBABLY OFFER A DEVICE WITH 4GB OF RAM IN 2014

There’s a big difference between Apple and Samsung, though. The Korean company already has devices with 3GB of RAM – the Note 3 and the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition – and is expected to offer a phone with 4GB of RAM sometime in 2014.

In other words, for Samsung, moving to 64-bit will have a substantial effect much sooner than in the case of Apple, which still uses 1GB of RAM on the iPhone.

Now for the big question – which Samsung device will be the first to feature a 64-bit chip? That depends on Google’s plans for 64-bit support in Android: 4.4 KitKat may or may not be the first version to support it.

That aside, analyzing Samsung’s cycles in both mobile devices and components, it seems likely that the first phone with a 64-bit processor will be the Galaxy Note 4. In my opinion, Samsung will stick with a 32-bit processor for the Galaxy S5, which is what JK Shin seems to imply when he says “not in the shortest time”

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More tablets to be shipped than PCs during last three months of 2013

According to new data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the number of tablets to be shipped during the last quarter of this year will exceed the total number of PCs (desktops plus laptops) shipping in the same period. But this doesn’t mean that more tablets are being sold then PCs, not yet. At the moment the predicted Q4 2013 tablets shipments are a bump in the road, a significant bump, but a bump none-the-less. It is estimated that total PC sales for the year will still exceed those of tablets, but tablets are catching up fast and by 2015 tablet shipments will overtake PC shipments.

Smartphones are continuing to sell in high volumes and IDC calculate that 1.4 billion handsets will be sold during 2015. Taking PCs (including laptops and notebooks), smartphones and tablets as a whole, smartphones account for around 69 percent of shipments worldwide while tablets account for around 14 percent. The remaining 17 percent are PCs. However over the next few years tablet market share is expected to increase while PC sales decrease. Smartphone market share is expected to remain constant but the actual number of devices sold will increase as the market size increases.

What is interesting is that the research shows that the key to further success in the tablet market will be lower-priced devices. The IDC forecasts that lower-cost devices will boost overall tablet sales and could also spark interest in new sectors like education. However the popularity of smartphones with screens over 5 inches could eat away at tablet sales as consumers choose to use one device, a 5+ inch smartphone, rather than a smaller smartphone plus a tablet.

What about you? If you had the money to buy either a laptop or a tablet, which would you get?

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Intel Baytrail vs. NVIDIA Tegra 4: too close to call

The NVIDIA Tegra 4 chipset has had some trouble catching on. While the Tegra 4 is snappy, OEMs are favoring the likes of Qualcomm, or making their own chipsets. Intel also looms on the horizon, and recent benchmarking shows their new 22nm chips are primed to keep pace with the Tegra 4.

In Geekbench testing, the Intel Baytrail T chips (byt_t) were nearly identical to the Tegra 4 in single and multi-core scoring. Both ran a variant of Android 4.2 — 4.2.2 for the Intel chip, 4.2.1 for NVIDIA — and similar amounts of memory. The Baytrail T was clocked at an impressive 2.39GHz, whereas the Tegra 4 was checked at a respectable 1.9GHz.

Perhaps the real turning point was multi-core floating point operation, where the Intel chip simply blew the Tegra 4 away. When it came to single-core operation, the Tegra took the edge, but only slightly. The Baytrail chip also outclassed the Tegra 4 in memory processing.

With Qualcomm letting loose the Snapdragon, and Intel announcing Baytrail alongside a slew of new Chromebooks today, Tegra 4 implementation seems highly unlikely at this point. NVIDIA may have the Shield and Tegra Tab to showcase their wares, but other OEMs are simply looking elsewhere.

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Sony Rolling out Jelly Bean 4.1 Update for Some Xperia Phones

Sony Mobile says that it has started rolling out the maintenance release for Xperia S, Xperia SL & Xperia acro S smartphones to fix some bugs.

After making Android JB 4.1 available for these smartphones, the company  received feedback on a few issues within the build, which they say they have now fixed, and also made a few other improvements.

As usual, timing & availability of the updates may vary by market & mobile network operator.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 hands-on

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Putting an end to another series of rumors, Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Note 3. As the name would imply, this marks the third-generation for the phablet and this time around we are seeing the continued support for the S Pen as well as goodies such as a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display and quad-core processor. And just as the leaks and rumors were suggesting, that processor will vary by market.

The Note 3 will arrive running Android 4.3 and just like they increased the size of the display — the also upped some of the other specs. The Note 3 will have 3GB of RAM, a 3200 mAh battery, up to 64GB of internal storage and a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera. While much of the specs have been bumped and the display is larger, Samsung managed to have the Note 3 come in a bit slimmer and lighter (as compared to the Note II).

The Galaxy Note 3 measures in at 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3 mm with a weight of 168 grams. The back cover is still able to be removed, which means the battery is still able to be swapped out if needed, however those moving from the Note II to the Note 3 will notice a difference on the backside. Samsung has added a leather-textured, soft-touch back panel. This leather back cover does make the handset a bit easier to keep tight in hand and otherwise the Note 3 is outlined with metal-finish edges.

Shifting back to the front of the device and that display is one that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Again, the display measures in at 5.7-inches. Overall the display has good viewing angles as well as great colors and strong brightness levels. In addition to the 13 megapixel camera on the back, that one brings an LED flash and the ability to capture 1080p video. The Note 3 also has a 2 megapixel front-facing camera.

As far as the connectivity goes, those looking towards the Note 3 will find LTE (Cat 4; up to 150/50Mbps down/up) with support for up to six different bands for the various markets the handset will be available. There will also be HSPA (up to 42Mbs) along with WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE. Other items here include NFC, an infrared blaster and a variety of sensors to include accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope, proximity, barometer, temperature and humidity.

The storage options go up to 64GB with stops at 16GB and 32GB. The handset will also have a microSD card slot for anything additional. Aside from the changes in the hardware, perhaps one of the bigger points here comes in with the S Pen. The Note 3 will have a palette of options (called Air Command) that opens when you remove the S Pen from the slot or when you hover and click on the pen’s side button.

The S Pen options in that palette include Action Memo, Scrapbook, Screen Write, S Finder and Pen Window. Samsung also made some improvements to S Note and Multi Window and the handset will arrive with support for Samsung KNOX and Find My Mobile. Some other software related goodies include My Magazine which is similar to Flipboard and an improved Group Play.

Shifting away from the device and we find a new windowed case that has a rather large opening on the front. This gives access to the touchscreen and allows the user to see notifications, browse the calendar, run apps and more. This case will be available in a variety of colors and with interchangeable back panels. There will also be some without the front window opening.

Finally, Samsung has said the Galaxy Note 3 will be coming to more than 140 countries. Availability will begin from September 25th and the US release is expected “later this year” with carriers to include Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular. And as one would expect, the price has yet to be revealed.

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