The Motorola VivaLnk Make Temporary Tattoo Can Unlock Your Phone

Motorola has teamed up with a company called VivaLnk to make a temporary tattoo that can unlock a smartphone, no PIN required. Slap it on your skin, hold your phone up to it, and bam — phone unlocked.

Who needs gestural passwords or face recognition when you can unlock your phone like a time-traveling space wizard?

So how does it work? It’s an ultra-thin NFC circuit, wrapped up in medical-grade 3M adhesive that won’t (or, at least, shouldn’t) freak out your skin.

A 10 pack of tattoos will set you back $10 bucks. Motorola says these things should stand up to swimming and other exercise and should last for up to five days — so that 10 pack would optimally last you a bit over a month and a half.

Before you go and order a pack, there’s one catch: these tattoos only work with the Motorola X right now (because nothing helps test a wacky niche product concept like severely limiting the potential customer base). If you’ve got any other Android phone, you’re stuck unlocking your phone manually like a chump.

Read full Article…

LG G3 Specs Leak Ahead of Release: QuadHD Display, 13MP Camera

The LG G3 is set to be launched on Tuesday, May 27, but some of LG's international websites have killed the suspense by publishing the device's specifications a day early.

Droid Life has the details (coming from LG's Dutch site), and they're as expected: the LG G3 will feature a QuadHD (2560x1440 pixels), 5.5-inch display — the first high-profile Android phone to do so.

We also know the G3 will have a 13-megapixel rear camera, 2GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 801 processor, 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD memory cards), and a 3,000mAh battery.

Other features of note include a 2.1-megapixel front camera, "lightweight metallic design," wireless charging support and a 1W speaker.

We'll follow up after the device's official unveiling later today.

Image: LG

Read full Article…

Amazon Smartphone With 3D Display Coming This Fall, Report Says

Amazon's hardware efforts will soon extend into the smartphone space, with the ecommerce giant debuting a new handset this fall, according to a report.

Following years of rumors, supposed leaks and analyst speculation, The Wall Street Journal on Friday claimed that Amazon is planning to announce its own handset in June.

Citing people familiar with the details, the WSJ said Amazon has been demonstrating the smartphone for developers in Seattle and San Francisco in recent weeks. The developers were reportedly required to visit hotel suites with heavy security in place in order to view the demonstrations.

Slated to begin shipping toward the end of September,the phone will reportedly feature four front-facing cameras or sensors to track the user's gaze, and offer a glasses-free 3D-viewing experience.

Previous rumors of an Amazon phone have generally focused on its mobile ecommerce possibilities, but this report includes tantalizingly specific details. Sources said Amazon's first order of handsets will be for 600,000 units, with Japan Display serving as at least one of the device's component manufacturers.

Although some say Amazon may be playing too far outside of its core competency by offering its own hardware, the Kindle has turned out to be popular device. According to a January report by ad firm Chitika Insights, which tracked post-Christmas share changes for tablet usage in 2013, the Kindle Fire fared the best in terms of eating away at the iPad's dominance in North America.

Now, nearly seven years after the Kindle's debut, it appears Amazon is ready to take on the far more challenging task of duplicating its tablet's success in a crowded smartphone space.

The WSJ report added that production of the device is expected to begin at the end of April.

Read full Article…

Battery Prototype Recharges Smartphones in 30 Seconds

A battery that uses nanotechnology to charge your smartphone in 30 seconds may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie but an Israeli startup claims to have created just that.

StoreDot unveiled its battery charging prototype Monday at Microsoft's Think Next conference in Tel Aviv.

StoreDot's prototype is able to completely recharge a smartphone battery from 0%-100% in just 30 seconds. It relies on bio-organic nanodots, tiny conductive crystals that help enable rapid charging.

Currently, the device is closer in size to a laptop charger than a smartphone charger, but the company says it expects the final product will be about the size of a typical smartphone battery.

The charger is still a prototype, which means it will be some time before it is commercially available. The Wall Street Journal reports the company hopes to begin production in "late 2016."

“The only disadvantage is that the industry is not ready for it,” Dr. Doron Myersdorf, CEO and cofounder of StoreDot, the nanotechnology company behind the charger, told TechCrunch. "We are talking about a new type of materials that can be introduced into different types of devices."

The company hasn't revealed exactly how much the charger might cost, only that it will retail for roughly twice the amount of a typical phone charger.

Check out the video, below, to see the StoreDot's prototype in action.

VIDEO: YOUTUBE, STOREDOT

Read full Article…

Make Sweet Music With Any Object Using This Sensor

If you’re prone to drumming on your steering wheel, desk or whatever is in reach when listening to your jam, this device could up your percussive game.

To make a musical instrument out of the mundane, users attach the circular sensor at the end of the stethoscope-like device to the surface of any everyday object and it becomes imbued the power of music. Then, users plug Mogees into a mobile device's headphone jack and connect their headphones to the gadget to listen to the music they create.

Mogees works by employing a small, specialized sensor called a "piezo-transducer" that converts a vibration produced by tapping any physical object into an electric signal. That signal is then sent to a mobile device running the Mogees app (available for both iOS and Android) which turns the signal into music.

Users can select different options that will determine how a particular object sounds once the vibrations are converted. They can also switch between free mode — where the user can change scales and keys and improvise pieces of music — and song mode, which lets the user tap along with their favorite songs.

Bruno Zamborlin, a musician who performs with British experimental dance group Plaid, designed and created Mogees to provide a fun, plug-and-play experience, but also as a tool for music education.

"I have done several workshops in primary schools in the UK, using Mogees to teach key aspects of sound and music in the national curriculum, and the results have been terrific," Zamborlin said. "Kids really learned concepts about vibrations and acoustic properties of materials in a brand new, interactive and natural way. Mogees is not just an instrument for musicians — it's a tool for music discovery that everyone should have fun in using."

Zamborlin started Mogees’ Kickstarter campaign on Feb. 17, and has raised almost $20,000 of its $83,000 goal with 22 days left.

IMAGE: MOGEES

Read full Article…

HTC Will Fix Your Shattered Smartphone Screen for Free

HTC, the financially troubled smartphone maker that can't seem to buy a break despite building some great products, is getting a second job: phone repairman. The company just announced a new policy called HTC Advantage under which it will replace the cracked screen on any of its flagship devices for free. The policy also guarantees major Android software updates for two years.

Manufacturer repair policies are common (for example, AppleCare+ will cover iPhone damage for up to two years for $99), but they usually cost a fee. Wireless carriers and third parties like SquareTrade also offer device insurance policies, although they too have a monthly or yearly cost attached. HTC is one the only policies that comes at no cost, although it only covers the screen.

That's still a significant advantage, since screen damage is by far the most common type of physical damage to a smartphone — and by far the most deleterious to the overall experience. While many phones will continue to work with a cracked screen, a few won't (notably, the BlackBerry Z10), and a cracked screen will mar any screen imagery and text.

The policy only applies to HTC's latest "One" phones, including the HTC One, HTC One Mini and HTC One Max. To fix your phone, you'll have to ship the old one to HTC. You can either do so and wait patiently for HTC send the phone back to you at no cost, or you can shell out $29 for shipping, and HTC will overnight you a replacement phone, letting you send the broken one back once you have it. Your old phone's settings can be saved via HTC Backup software.

HTC also says it will guarantee that any phone covered by HTC Advantage will receive any major Android updates that debut during the two years after the device's official launch. However, the policy only considers new "dessert" names major updates, which means if a new version of Android keeps the same name (Jelly Bean, for instance, comprised Android 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) the subsequent updates may not apply.

Image: MANDY CHENG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Read full Article…

Leaked: HTC One Successor Reveals Dual Camera, Gold Finish

A leaked image of the successor to HTC's flagship smartphone, the HTC One, shows the device will have a dual rear camera and will be available in a gold finish.

The press photo, unearthed by @evleaks, looks very similar to an earlier image of an upcoming HTC device, codenamed H8. The new image comes without a name; @evleaks simply calls it the "All New HTC One, 2014," perhaps suggesting that HTC plans to name the device exactly the same as its predecessor.

We don't know very much about the phone's specifications, except for its focus on photography, thanks to the dual camera and dual flash setup visible on its back. According to the leak, we'll have to wait until March 25 until we find out more — the date on the device's screen in the photo.

Of course, the "new" HTC One could just be a doctored image; given @evleaks' good track record and previous leaked images on the same device, it looks like the real thing.

Image: @EVLEAKS

Read full Article…

Google Adds 'Relationships' Option to Voice Search on Android

Another piece of Google's voice search puzzle fell into place on Tuesday as the search giant announced that Android users will now be able to voice search on their smartphones by relationship terms in addition to name searches.

The update, as described by Google, will bring up any contact you've designated as having a particular familial connection to you in the "relationship" field in your contacts tool on Android. This additional functionality is meant to allow a user to now speak a phrase such as "call mom," or "text sister" to initiate those actions without the user needing to say the person's name as it's listed in their contacts.

In order to launch contacts on your Android handset via voice you first need to allow the Google search app to access your contacts and the profile information attached to each person or place.

However, during repeated testing of the update on a Moto G handset running Android 4.4.2, we were unable to get the relationship voice function to work automatically, despite a number of attempts using various listing configurations. Rather than simply recognizing the relationship assigned to the contact in the People contacts app, Google still asked "who is your brother?" prompting us to pick a contact to assign the designation of "brother."

Despite that, the system's "name" search by voice worked perfectly, which indicates that the update, which is being rolled out on Google's side, may be reaching some users sooner than others.

IMAGE: NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Read full Article…

Leaked Photos of Windows Phone 8.1 Update Reveal Notification Center

New leaked photos of the long-awaited Windows Phone 8.1 update reveal Windows Phone users may soon be getting a notification center, similar to the one in iOS and Android.

According to the screenshots, the notification center, which will be called "Action Center," will display customizable shortcuts to the device's system settings and collect notifications from apps installed on the phone.

The photos were first leaked by Winphollowers, and were later confirmed to be authentic by The Verge, who reported the photos came from an internal Microsoft presentation.

Rumors of a notification center in the 8.1 update first surfaced in June, when screenshots of an early version of Windows Phone 8.1, nicknamed "Blue," were leaked. Those photos, which reportedly came from an internal Windows Phone build, also showed a notification center and were also reported to be authentic by The Verge.

Subsequent photos leaked in September on an XDA-developer's forum also included what appeared to be a notification center, though both earlier leaks look different than those revealed Monday.

Further details about the Action Center, and other 8.1 updates, are expected to be revealed in April at the Build Developer's Conference in San Francisco.

IMAGE: WINPHOLLOWERS

Read full Article…

Report: Nokia to Launch Android-Based Smartphone in February

Before Nokia closes on its mobile business sale to Microsoft, the Finnish device manufacturer is reportedly launching an Android-based smartphone later this month. The phone is expected to launch at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, which kicks off in two weeks.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nokia has been developing an Android device while Microsoft worked out details of the transaction. In September, the companies announced Microsoft would be acquiring Nokia's mobile division and patents for $7.4 billion.

The Android device will target emerging markets and won't promote some of the key features typically seen on Google's Android platform, including the Google Play app store, the report said. Instead, think of this as an Android version of Nokia's low-cost Asha brand.

Nokia previously agreed to abandon its software efforts and use only the Windows Phone platform after the company was offered billions of dollars for marketing and development.

The news comes as Satya Nadella was named the CEO of Microsoft, replacing Steve Ballmer who announced last year he would be stepping down from the company. It might seem like an unlikely move, but the partnership could show how Microsoft will be flexible in how it aims to boost hardware sales.

Read full Article…

How the iPhone 6 Might Look With a Larger Screen

Apple might be rolling out a larger iPhone later this year, but designer Federico Ciccarse didn't want to wait to see what a big-screen iPhone would look like.

Ciccarse created a series of concept photos that reveal what the iPhone could look like if it grows in size. Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Apple will launch two new iPhones in the second half of 2014: one with a screen larger than 4.5 inches and one with a screen larger than 5 inches. The current iPhone 5S and 5C have screens that measure 4 inches diagonally.

The picture below is Ciccarese's vision for an iPhone with a 5.5-inch display (1,568 x 878 pixels) as well as one with a 4.7-inch (1,338 x 750) display. The 4-inch iPhone 5S (1,138 x 649) is shown to the left.

The move from the iPhone 4-inch display would dip into the much-debated "phablet" category, a vague domain caught somewhere between a tablet and smartphone. It's either a category people love — or love to hate. But Apple competitors such as Samsung have successfully offered larger screen sizes.

Ciccarese opted to give his concepts a curved back, even though the Journal report indicated the coming models will be flat.

IMAGE: FEDERICO CICCARESE/GETTY IMAGES

Read full Article…

The Moto G: More Than Just a Budget Phone [REVIEW]

With Wednesday's news that Google is selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, it's very possible that the Moto G — the budget smartphone the company launched back in November — could be the last smartphone that ships under Google's tutelage.

If that's the case, Google can hold its head high because it has managed to deliver a budget smartphone that doesn't feel like a budget smartphone. Although I tend to think that the Motorola acquisition primarily strengthens Lenovo's ability to make inroads in the U.S. smartphone market, the Moto G is the type of product that could help Lenovo expand the Motorola brand overseas.

Good Specs At a Great Price

The most notable aspect of the Moto G is its price. The phone sells for $179 — unlocked and contract-free — for the 8GB variant. A 16GB version (which we tested) is just $199. There isn't an expansion slot to increase storage, so I'd recommend ponying up the extra $20 to most would-be-buyers.

It's natural to want to compare the Moto G to its similarly-styled big brother, the Moto X, but that's not really fair. The Moto X sells for $399 in the US (it debuted on the market at $599 in Aug. 2013) and will sell for around $600 in Europe when it finally makes its way overseas next month. That puts the phones in two different categories.

Even though it's priced for the budget market, the Moto G manages to pack in very decent specs.

It features:

> 4.5" 720p display

> Quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor

> 1GB of RAM

> 2070 mAH Battery

> 5MP rear-camera, 1.2MP front camera

> 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0

> HSPA+

That makes the Moto G much more similar to the Galaxy S3, a phone Samsung still sells for more than $179, rather than the budget-class Galaxy Duos 2.

Amazingly, however, the Moto G doesn't feel like a discarded phone from yesteryear. Most phones in its price range are similar to the Samsung Galaxy Duos 2.

One trade-off buyers will have to accept with the Moto G is a lack of 4G LTE. The Moto G does support HSPA+ — or faux 4G — but you won't get blazing connectivity.

In the past, I've been downright hostile towards non-LTE phones, but in the case of the Moto G, I'm willing to give it a pass. Why? Because the target market is Europe and Asia, where LTE isn't as big of a deal. Moreover, this isn't being positioned as a flagship phone (as the Nexus 4 was), which makes it more tolerable.

On the AT&T network in NYC, I found that the Moto G was perfectly serviceable as a smartphone to use on the go. I was able to send email, upload photos and videos to Instagram and download app updates with any real problems.

A Cheap Phone That Feels Premium

From a design perspective, the Moto G is a great looking — and feeling — phone. It shares many of the same design cues as the Moto X, including a curved back that feels great in the hand.

Unlike the Moto X — which has a unibody construction — the backplate on the Moto G is removable. That means you can customize the phone with different colored backs and flip covers.

Adding a touch of color to the Moto G really makes the phone come into its own. Basic backplates retail for $14.99 and a flip cover goes for $29.99.

The phone doesn't feel quite as high-end or premium as the Moto X or HTC One — but it feels like a solid, well-made phone.

When it comes to the screen, I have to give Motorola kudos for managing to put such a nice display in such an inexpensive phone. At 4.5-inches, the Moto G is a tad smaller than the Moto X, but it has the same resolution. And while the Moto G is LCD (the Moto X is AMOLED), the screen looks great.

Colors are bright and look good from all angles and there is very little — if any — bleed. Moreover, the screen is is covered with Gorilla Glass 3, which means that the phone should hold up to scratches and light drops.

The loudspeaker isn't fantastic, but it's passable for making a phone all or playing a game. If you pop in some earphones, the sound gets much, much better.

Performance, Camera and Battery Life

I've been using the Moto G on and off for the last six weeks and it continues to surprise me with its versatility. It might not have the raw power of a high-end smartphone, but I've never felt like I had to wait on the phone.

When playing some games — such as Real Racing and Grand Theft Auto — the phone doesn't push as many pixels as you'd find on a Galaxy S4 or LG G2 — but the performance is still solid.

Despite having only 1GB of RAM, the phone handles memory quite well. Part of that may be due to some tweaks with Android 4.4 KitKat. One of the nicest surprises with the Moto G was getting an update to Android 4.4.2 just days after receiving my review unit. It's a testament to Motorola that it rolled out KitKat so quickly to this phone.

Aside from a few minor Motorola tweaks — the interface is almost pure Android. That goes a long way towards keeping the phone usable over time.

If there is any place where the Moto G feels like a budget phone, it's the camera. The 5MP sensor takes passable — but not particularly vivid or sharp — photos. The good news is that Motorola has brought its camera interface from the Moto X to the Moto G. I much prefer this to the stock Android 4.4 camera, and it t least makes capturing shots a bit better.

The same is true for video, which looks good in 720p, but lacks a sense of fluidity and color depth of better cameras. The Moto G's camera is certainly no worse than anything else in its class, but it's the one area that really signals that this is an entry level phone.

When it comes to battery life, I got great performance. Intense sessions of Candy Crush Saga didn't zap the battery any faster than any other phone — though that game is a battery hog — and I got great standby time.

An advantage of not having the LTE radio is that the phone sucks less power. I easily got through an entire day with the Moto G without feeling the need to plug it in. The battery isn't removable — but it charges fairly quickly. Because this is a budget phone, it doesn't come with a charging brick, just a USB cable.

Setting a New Budget Phone Standard

The Moto G isn't just "good smartphone for its price," it's a good smartphone, period. No, its specs won't match the latest and greatest offerings from Samsung, LG or Apple, but the phone is a great performer and has great battery life.

What I really like about the Moto G is that it doesn't treat budget smartphone buyers as second-class citizens. Too often, phones in this price range offer substandard experiences, further re-enforcing the tech gap between the haves and have nots.

That's why I'm interested in watching what Lenovo does with the Moto G once it takes over Motorola. Lenovo already has a strong presence overseas — especially in Asia — but products like the Moto G could really help set it apart from other phone makers, especially when it comes to price and performance. Whether or not Lenovo wants to continue in that direction is unclear, but I hope it continues making phones like this in the future.

The Lowdown

What's Good

> Fantastic Price

> Nice screen

> Good Battery life

What's Bad

> Mediocre camera

> No LTE

The Bottom Line

The Moto G is the best budget Android phone on the market, period.

Image: MOTOROLA

Read full Article…

Lenovo Buys Google's Motorola Unit for $2.9 Billion

Google announced on Wednesday that it has sold its Motorola smartphone business to PC manufacturer Lenovo for $2.9 billion.

Google closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola in 2012. Taking into account Google's $2.4 billion sale of the Motorola Home division to Arris in December of that year, that's still a $7.2 billion difference.

The loss represents a rare black mark on Google's otherwise impressive history of high-profile acquisitions, which includes YouTube, AdSense and Android. Motorola currently makes the Moto X and Moto G smartphones as well as the Droid Ultra on Verizon Wireless.

The buy will likely strengthen Lenovo's position in the smartphone market and pick up its presence especially in North America and Latin America.

Google will retain majority ownership of Motorola's Mobility patent portfolio — one of the key reasons for the initial acquisition — but Lenovo will receive a license to this and gain about 2,000 patent assets. Lenovo will not be getting its advanced research unit, which recently launched an open hardware platform for building modular smartphones.

“Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem," Google CEO Larry Page said in a press release. "This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere."

Page further detailed in an official Google blog post it acquired the division in 2012 to fuel the Android ecosystem by creating a stronger patent portfolio for Google.

"But the smartphone market is super competitive, and to thrive it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices," he added. "It’s why we believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo—which has a rapidly growing smartphone business and is the largest (and fastest-growing) PC manufacturer in the world."

Page warned, however, that the move doesn't signal a larger shift away from hardware efforts.

"The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry," he said. "We’re excited by the opportunities to build amazing new products for users within these emerging ecosystems."

What it means

According to Frank Gillett, VP and principal analyst, at Forrester Research, the move makes Lenovo a company to watch and puts the pressure on others like HP, Dell, Sony and Acer.

"Buying Motorola Mobility is a much quicker way for Lenovo to access the premium smartphone market with a leading Google Android (not forked Android) offering than trying to do it with their existing design teams and brand reach," Gillet said. "Using Motorola, just as Lenovo used the IBM ThinkPad brand, to gain quick credibility and access to desirable markets, and built critical mass makes a lot of sense."

But he said the value is more in brand recognition "to achieve market recognition faster and expand the design and marketing team with talent experienced at U.S. and Western markets."

"Given Lenovo's ambitions to grow quickly in smartphones and become a top three global player, buying one or more established brands makes a lot of sense," Gillett added.

Image: NELSON ALMEIDA/GETTY IMAGES

Read full Article…

For First Time Ever, 1 Billion Smartphones Shipped in One Year

For the first time ever, one billion smartphones have been shipped in one year, marking a huge milestone for mobile.

According to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC), vendors shipped more than a billion smartphones in 2013, up 38.4% from the 725.3 million devices shipped in 2012.

"It's hard to find any other industry growing at such dramatic increases — the fact that we are seeing this heavy growth shows there is still a huge demand for smartphones," Ramon T. Llamas, research manager of mobile phones at IDC, told Mashable. "Only two years ago, we had half a billion units, so it's a testament to how popular smartphones are and how competitive the market is right now."

The top driving trends in smartphones are the growth of large screen size and cost.

"The phablet market — smartphones with screens that are five inches in size of greater — is only going to get bigger," Llamas said. "At the end of the last year, about 18% of smartphones were phablets, up from 7% from the year before, and this year it could hit 25%. That reveals it's still a niche market — large screens are not for everyone — but there is clearly a market for these things."

Llamas said the smartphone industry will likely continue to grow in the next year, but will slow down in the years to follow.

"Growth will plateau at some point. Probably not this year, but in the next five or six years," he said. "We've already reached saturation in the U.S., so there will be slower growth in the future."

Samsung was the clear leader in global smartphone shipments in 2013, thanks to demand related to the Galaxy S III, S4 and Note. Although Apple experienced record shipment volume in the fourth quarter, due largely to bringing its iPhone 5S and 5C devices to new international markets, the company had the lowest year-over-year increase of all leading vendors. Huawei ranked third for the year, followed by LG and Lenovo, despite not having a presence in North America or Western Europe.

Image: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/GETTY IMAGES

Read full Article…

Sony Turns Its Xperia Z Ultra Into a Tablet in Japan

Sony's 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra smarpthone is almost big enough it could be considered a tablet, right? Sony seems to agree, as it announced it will start selling a Wi-Fi only variant of the device in Japan.

The device is very simple to describe: it's identical to the Xperia Z Ultra, only without the cellular component.

This means it comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, an 8-megapixel camera, a Full HD display, Android 4.2 and water resistance.

The Wi-Fi Xperia Z Ultra will become available in Japan this week for ¥52,000 ($499). There's no word on pricing or availability in the elsewhere.

Image: SONY

Read full Article…

New Sony Smartphone Will Record 4K Video

An upcoming smartphone from Sony, codenamed "Sirius" or "D6503," will include 4K video recording, Xperia Blog reports.

The Sirius, which looks like a clear successor to the Xperia Z1, will come with Android 4.4.2 KitKat and an advanced camera hardware and software that's capable of 4K video recording. It also has a feature called "Timeshift video" that records high frame-rate video and applies slow motion effects to it.

The phone will include something Sony calls "Smart call handling," which lets you handle upcoming calls without touching the phone's screen if you bring the phone to your ear, you'll automatically answer the call, and if you shake it, you will reject it. Finally, if you place the device face down, it will set itself to mute. We're very interested to see how this works in practice; any feature that can remove a step or two from call handling is very welcome.

Other features of note include double tap to wake the screen, a built-in answering machine, new personalization options and smart backlight control.

There are a couple of other innovations on the hardware front, including stereo speakers (on top and at the bottom), which could be a big improvement over Z1's somewhat unimpressive sound.

Read full Article…

Blackphone Could Be the First NSA-Proof Phone

An upcoming smartphone called Blackphone aims to put privacy in your hands, protecting you from anyone wanting to snoop into your private data — even the NSA.

A Switzerland-based join venture between Silent Circle and Geeksphone, the project is backed by several important figures in the fields of computer security, including Phil Zimmermann, creator of data encryption protocol PGP (Pretty Good Privacy).

Blackphone is powered by a "security-oriented" Android build called PrivatOS. It's carrier- and vendor-independent, and enables users to make and receive secure phone calls and video chats, exchange secure texts as well as transfer and store files.

Exact specifications of the phone haven't been revealed, but Silent Circle CEO Mike Janke claims it'll be a "high-end" smartphone.

The No. 1 priority of Blackphone isn't its specs, however: It's protecting users' privacy, claims Zimmerman.

"Blackphone provides users with everything they need to ensure privacy and control of their communications, along with all the other high-end smartphone features they have come to expect," said Zimmermann.

The two companies behind the project make an interesting match. Silent Circle is a U.S.-based company focused on encryption; Geeksphone is a Spanish company behind Firefox OS developer devices.

Blackphone will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Feb. 24.

UPDATE, Jan. 15, 12:01 p.m. ET: Silent Circle's CEO Mike Janke told Mashable that the project will be "open source all the way," and confirmed that the Android OS build that the phone will run will be open source as well.

The company has been criticized before for not providing access to its products' source code in a timely fashion. The company has since published some of its source code on GitHub.

"It may take us a few months to put it all out there, but it will be," he said.

The company is withholding any other details on the project until the phone's launch at MWC.

Image: Blackphone

Read full Article…

HP Launches Two Huge Smartphones in India

Hewlett-Packard announced two extra-large smartphones Wednesday, both "phablet" devices for the Indian market.

Originally reported by Re/code, the devices will be called Slate 6 and Slate 7 and have 6- and 7-inch screens, respectively. Both phablets will run Android 4.2.2 and have a quad-core processor, 16GB of storage with the option to expand that with MicroSD memory cards.

But don't expect them to hit U.S. shores anytime soon, as these babies will first be available in India.

"Consumers are looking for a way to consolidate devices. We think there’s an opportunity to enter a growing market where there’s an unmet need,” Ron Coughlin, vice president of HP's consumer PC business, told Re/code.

Both devices will hit store shelves in February at a yet-undisclosed price.

HP abandoned the smartphone business a few years ago, but rumors of the company's plans to launch Android smartphones and tablets intensified in 2013. Now that the cat is out of the bag, the main question is: How big are HP's plans for Android?

In any case, these two phablets definitely aren't the last such devices HP plans to launch. “I won’t say where or when, but you can expect us to do more in the coming months,” said Coughlin.

Update: Shortly after the initial Re/code report, HP officially announced the two phones.

Image: HP

Read full Article…

For a Guy With Startup Roots, Kickstarter Offers a Second Shot

Launching a Kickstarter project is always a leap of faith. That especially holds true for Marc Barros, who launched a campaign for his new product on Tuesday — a smartphone lens attachment called Moment.

This is Barros' second commercial venture after he was let go from Contour, a company he founded while still in college. If you haven’t heard of Contour, that’s probably because its efforts have been largely drowned out by the marketing fusillade from its competition, GoPro.

Contour, which began its life as VHoldr, was part of the original wearable camera wave in 2008, much like the much more well-known GoPro. The product recorded in HD, saved to SD cards, offered waterproof case accessories and had an app and social network. Contour struggled to compete with GoPro and its popular Hero cameras, eventually deciding to continue the fight without Barros.

Now Barros, who wrote about his dismissal and the aftermath on his website, is again ready to try his hand at entrepreneurship with Moment. He's not straying too far from his roots, either.

"I believe in the Kickstarter concept: Getting to customers earlier. It's a little terrifying because you're showing prototypes," he said. To build his new product and company, Barros recruited some former Contour coworkers, and some with a few years' worth of experience making cinematic lenses.

The result is Moment Wide and the Moment Tele, capable of 2x zoom. The lenses, which work without special cases, are machine barreled and relatively large for a mobile phone lens attachment.

Moment lenses attach bayonet-style to a special mount that you must actually glue to your iPhone. Barros explained that it’s not permanent rubber glue, though; you can remove it if you want. But Barros does not envision taking the mount on and off.

The mount is actually a plate that runs the full width of your iPhone, but only goes as deep as the first edge on the back of the phone. Barros said the mount is thin enough to fit under your case. (There's also an Android option.)

The lenses also appear larger than competing 3-in-1 lenses from Olloclip. That company’s multi-purpose lenses include wide-angle, fisheye and macro in one attachment. Barros claims his lenses maintain image quality to the edge of the lens and the resulting photo, while Olloclip’s drops off significantly. Of course, there is no way to verify this claim without testing the product.

Image: Moment

Read full Article…

Neptune Pine Is an Android Phone in Watch Form

Most smartwatch companies are almost certainly trying to produce the slimmest, best looking watch possible. After all, we’re expected to wear them all day every day, something that’s not going to happen if it looks like a great, big wart on your wrist. But what if design comes so low on the to-do list, it was only discussed just as everyone was going to lunch? The answer is, you end up with the Neptune Pine.

The Neptune Pine started life as a Kickstarter project at the tail end of last year, and after being successfully funded, the team brought it to CES 2014, where we got a hands-on demonstration. The Pine was hard to miss as we wandered into the, “Wrist Revolution,” section, as it was the biggest product there by miles. If we were Neptune, we’d have employed some pro-wrestlers to demo the Pine, as it’s surely only their wrists which will have a hope of making it look vaguely sensible. Instead, the sweetest, but smallest person available showed the watch off.

It. Is. Gigantic. Ever seen those images comparing the planet Neptune to Earth? That’s how the Pine looks when put next to something like the Pebble. It’s hard to get an idea of just how big it is from the pictures, but balance a pack of 20 cigarettes on your wrist, and you won’t be far off. You’ll also get fewer weird looks if you go out in public like that. Looking at it positively it’s not heavy, but it makes up for that in ungainliness.

The selling point of the Pine, and undoubtedly what drove it to Kickstarter success, is that it’s an actual phone. It runs full Android, takes a SIM card, runs Google Play, has up to 32GB of memory, and a 5-megapixel camera. The Pine’s party trick is the removable face. The entire 2.4-inch screen section unclips from the strap, and you then use it like a tiny smartphone, right down to a miniature QWERTY keyboard. Provided you go slowly, it works shockingly well, and overall the interface is really snappy; but we’d be too self-conscious to use it.

So, the Neptune Pine is either a ridiculously large watch, or a stupidly small smartphone. We can’t think of a situation where we’d want either one.

Image: Neptune Pine

Read full Article…