Android 5.0 Lollipop: What’s New and Updated

Android Lollipop

Google previewed ‘Android L’ at its Google I/O developer event in June, and since then, developers and consumers have awaited the final version, which was finally announced on Wednesday as Android 5.0 Lollipop ‘L’.
The company also launched the platform
lead devices for Android 5.0 Lollipop, namely the Nexus 6 ,Nexus 9, and Nexus Player.
Since the Android L preview earlier this year, Google has added several new features to the final release of Android 5.0 Lollipop.
While some changes are extensions of the themes introduced in Android L, some are relatively new, and other previously known features have now been detailed by the search giant.

Here are some of the biggest changes that Google brought to its widely-popular mobile and tablet platform with Android 5.0 Lollipop:

Material Design
First up is the ambitious Material Design. Remember when Google had introduced Android L saying that this next version will receive a complete visual overhaul for a consistent experience across devices? Well, here it is. Android 5.0 Lollipop features a cleaner, flatter design with a more fluid interface and animations.
We saw the revamped navigation and status bar in the Android L preview, and Google has stuck to the design but now the status bar can be coloured or kept transparent (depending on the
app) and features refreshed status icons. The ‘Quick settings’ menu has also been revamped, and includes new controls like
flashlight, hotspot, cast screen controls and more. Also new is the toggle for location services. The recent apps menu or task switcher now appears like a stack of cards instead of a list of screenshots of recently open apps which is cool.
Google explains the new Material Design for Android 5.0 Lollipop as “A bold, colorful, and responsive UI design for consistent, intuitive experiences across all your devices.
Responsive, natural motion, realistic lighting and shadows, and familiar visual elements make it easier to navigate your device.

Vivid new colors, typography, and edge-to-edge imagery help to focus your attention.”

Improved Notifications/ Lock Screen
Android 5.0 Lollipop’s lock screen displays richer notifications, and users can view and respond to messages directly from the
lock screen. In fact, Google has further gone ahead with notifications and included rich floating descriptive notifications on top of your activity. Users will be able to view or dismiss any
notifications without moving away from an activity.
Essentially, Google has provided better overall control for Notifications.

Users will be able to control notifications triggered by their apps, and choose to hide sensitive content, apart from prioritising or turning off an app’s notifications completely. Android 5.0 Lollipop users can also turn on ‘Priority mode’ via the device’s volume button and allow notifications from only certain people or apps to be shown – users can schedule when Priority mode turns on as
well. The feature also works as a Do Not Disturb mode as seen in Apple’s iOS, and allows users to also selectively silence notifications and calls on the Android device.
Importantly, Google has also now downgraded the priority that incoming phone calls are given, and users can now choose to answer the call, cancel it, or just continue to do what they were doing without waiting for the call to end.

Kill Switch and Improved Security
Android 5.0 Lollipop will come with an opt-in kill switch dubbed ‘Factory Reset Protection’, which will allow users to wipe out the device’s data on will. If a user activates this feature, they will be
required to enter their Google login to factory reset the device and it will only work when the phone passcode is enabled. Google
also says that new devices come with encryption automatically turned on to help protect data on lost or stolen devices. Google
had announced the feature last month, after Apple revealed its own version . Not much is known about this feature yet rest assured we will update you as it comes…
Users will also get an Android Smart Lock feature to secure their device by pairing it with a trusted device like a wearable or even their car, says Google.

New Messenger App
There is a new Messenger app that will be shipping with the Nexus 6 as part of Android 5.0 Lollipop It is said to be a more simplified of Hangouts, and is not a replacement for it, says a Google spokesperson, “Messenger and Hangouts offer users choice, each have their own benefits. Hangouts work great for cross platform (web, iOS, Android) and cross medium communications (video, voice,messaging, SMS).  Messenger will be specially designed to be a quick and easy way to send and receive SMS and MMS messages on Android Nexus 6 will come with both apps.

Device Sharing
Google has finally brought device sharing features that will help users share their Android 5.0 Lollipop device with members of their family and friends without worrying about access to sensitive content. Android 5.0 Lollipop features a guest user mode with custom options for access, as well as screen pinning that lets users fix in place the screen that’s displayed without allowing guests to go further. Interestingly, it has also introduced a new feature in Android L that lets users log in to another Android phone to access synced messages and content in case they forget their phone at home.
Battery Saver
Google has also added a new battery saver feature to Android 5.0 Lollipop, claiming to extend device battery life by up to 90 minutes. Android 5.0 Lollipop will also display the estimated time left to fully charge the device when plugged in, as well as the estimated time left on the device before the user needs to charge again.

Quick Device Set Up
Google has introduced new ways for users to set up their devices with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Users can instantly set up their new Android phone or tablet by simply tapping it on their old device – though this requires NFC support. All apps from Google Play are also carried over on the new device, as long as the same Google account is being used.
Other new features in Android 5.0 Lollipop include the new ART Android runtime for improved application performance and responsiveness; support for 64-bit devices and SoCs; native 64-bit apps; improved hardware keyboard accessory support (including support for multilingual, emoji input, search key, and improved app and system key chords), support for 15 new languages (including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu); improved accessibility features (such as text contrast boost, colour inversion, and enhanced colour differentiation); improved audio, video, and camera capabilities, and improved Internet connectivity everywhere and with more powerful Bluetooth low energy

Keyboard
The keyboard app for Android L is stylish and colourful than it predecessor. Awesome swiping, improved personalized typing, improved dictionary and material design .  Good thing developers on XDA already ported it and it can work on devices running Android 4.1+ .Get yours here

APPLE and SAMSUNG again in court

The latest round in Apple and Samsung’s bitter global battle for supremacy in the more than $300bn smartphone market begins Tuesday in a courtroom a few miles from Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters.

 

In courts, government tribunals and regulatory agencies around the world, Apple has argued that Samsung’s Android-based phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints that some key Apple patents are invalid and Apple has also copied Samsung’s technology.

The two have each won and lost legal skirmishes over the last couple of years, and the companies appear oceans apart in settling their differences. Analysts predict continued litigation for months to come.

On Tuesday, the latest chapter opens in a federal courtroom in San Jose, California, where lawyers from the two companies and US District Judge Lucy Koh will begin picking a jury to calculate how much South Korea-based Samsung owes Apple for infringing Apple’s patents on 13 older Samsung smartphones and computer tablets.

Representatives of both companies declined to comment.

With Apple’s Cupertino headquarters about a 10-minute drive from the courthouse, potential jurors will be asked if any family members work for Apple and whether the company’s proximity will have any effect on their views of the case.

A different jury in August found that Samsung infringed six Apple patents to create and market 26 smartphones and computer tablets. The panel ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05bn.

Koh then tossed out $450m (£281m) of that amount after deciding the jury wrongly calculated damages for 14 products. Amid an avalanche of legal filings afterward, Koh reduced the damages at issue to $400m and the products to 13, then ordered a new jury to recalculate damages for those products.

Some four dozen people are listed on the trial’s witness list, many of them experts hired by Apple and Samsung to deliver damage estimates, which range from zero to more than the original $400m.

Despite the amount of money involved, the current proceedings are somewhat of a warm-up for a much larger trial scheduled for March. That trial will focus on newer products still on the market, while the current trial is a battle over products that are several years old and no longer sold in the US. More money is at stake, and Apple is asking that Samsung be barred from selling some of its current devices in the U.S.

In both cases, jurors will hear from experts opining on the global market and offering dramatically differing views on damages. In the current case, the jury will determine damages by deciding – among other issues – whether Samsung’s behavior actually cost Apple sales.

Whatever the outcome, appeals are expected.

“This trial is just about money. Though several hundred million dollars are at stake, that isn’t going to make or break either of the companies involved,” said Mark Lemley a Stanford University law school professor who specializes in technology issues. “But the trial is also the last step in getting this case ready for the inevitable appeal. … That appeal will have broader ramifications.”

Apple transformed the mobile phone industry when it started selling the iPhone in 2007, but its success was quickly imitated and Samsung’s smartphone shipments surpassed Apple’s iPhone sales in 2011.

According to research group IDC, Samsung shipped 81m devices in the July-to-September quarter for a market share of 31%, making it the world’s top seller. Apple is a distant second, having shipped 34m iPhones, for a market share of 1% over the same period.

Heatmap of smartphone Tweets shows iPhone dominance in wealthy areas

More than 280 million Tweets posted from mobile phones reveal geographic usage patterns in unprecedented detail.

Author Jason D. O’Grady for The Apple Core | June 21, 2013 — 03:11 GMT (20:11 PDT)

 

MapBox has posted an interactive Twitter visualization that shows a heatmap of smartphone Tweets by region, broken down by smartphone brand. It shows the iPhone (red) dominating in affluent areas and Android (green) in poor regions. Blackberry (purple) use is predominantly outside of major cities and in Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Pictured above is a map of Washington, Philadelphia and New York showing a heavy bias toward Tweets from iPhones.

 

Mobile Devices is a map that reveals the information about phone brands that is stored when people use an official Twitter App and is hidden in the metadata attached to each tweet. Each brand of phone is a different color and can be independently toggled. The patterns of usage in each city often reflect economic stratification. For example iPhones, in red, are predominantly in wealthy sections of the city while Android phones, in green, have more coverage in poorer sections. On a global level, national trends reveal a complicated set of cultural preferences. (Tweets from web browsers and from other Twitter clients don’t appear on this map)

 

 

Related articles

• Map the iPhone Users In Any City, And You Know Where the Rich Live – The Atlantic Cities (theatlanticcities.com)
• Mapping iPhone And Android Users In A City Reveals Wealthier Areas [Image] (cultofmac.com)
• Twitter heat map shows iPhone use by the affluent, Android by the poor (appleinsider.com)

Alleged prototype of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 spotted

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 ‘leaked’ image (SamMobile | TechTastic)

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has been in rumors for quite some time now, even as Android fans anticipate its launch at IFA 2013 in Berlin.

SamMobile has now published some photos, which the site claims show the successor of

the Galaxy Note 2. The site has posted four photos in collaboration with TechTastic and it said that the pictures are of the Galaxy Note 3 prototype that is expected to be released later this yar.

Samsung had released the Galaxy Note 2 at the IFA Berlin last year.

The Home button of the device looks very similar to the Home button of the Galaxy Note 2. The screen of the phablet seems to have a thinner bezel than its predecessor. The display is full HD and the size

appears to be somewhere around 6 inches.

According to SamMobile, the device shown in the pictures is a prototype and not the fully ready Galaxy Note 3. The site could not confirm

anything about the exclusive S Pen feature of the Galaxy Note series.

There is no official word on the release of the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, but a few days ago, Samsung Kazakhstan’s website had published the device’s name in its one

of the documents accidentally.

The Galaxy Note 3 is rumored to be coming with 5.99 inch screen with full HD 1920×1080 resolution Super AMOLED display. The smartphone is expected to be powered by the eight-core Exynos 5 Octa or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 processor. Samsung may launch the device in two versions just like it did with Galaxy S4.

The phone’s functions will be supported by a hefty 3 GB of RAM, and users will be able to store a lot in the device, as it is said to have 32 GB of internal memory, as well as a microSD card slot.

Rumors also suggest that the phab

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let will sport a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, as well as a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

Related articles

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Release Date: September, Says Analyst (latinospost.com)
• Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Update Released In The UK (geeky-gadgets.com)

Apple’s next iPad mini 7.9 inch Retina display will be Samsung-made

Original Author: Shailesh Shrivastava

Apple and Samsung have been busy fighting many patent law suits for a long time, but when it comes to bringing a new device in the market, Apple always finds a reliable supplier in Samsung. A new report suggests that Samsung Display will supply high-resolution Retina displays to Apple for its upcoming next generation iPad mini.

Apple is expected to launch its next generation iPad mini later this year, and Samsung is expected to ship the Retina displays in the third and fourth quarter of this year.

The new iPad mini will sport 7.9 inch Retina display with 2048×1539 pixel resolution. The quality and resolution of the display will be the same as of the current full-size iPad.

According to a report published by a Korean news website, ET News, Samsung is also going to supply 9.7 inch Retina displays with narrow bezel for Apple’s fifth generation iPad.

Apple, reportedly, had been facing supply and quality issues from its display suppliers such as Sharp and AU Optronics. The report also sees this issue as the biggest reason of Apple turning back to Samsung for display panels even after the ‘supply chain change’ plans of Apple CEO Tim Cook.

In January this year, Apple was reported to be slashing the supply of 9.7 inch display panels from LG by 50 percent.

“Apple has reportedly decided to cut shipments for its 9.7-inch iPad products in the first quarter to as low as six million units, down from Apple’s originally estimated 12-15 million units, due to increasing popularity among consumers for the iPad mini,” a DigiTimes report said, citing unnamed sources.

However, the ET News report now suggests that LG Display had been continuously increasing its supply to Apple. LG Display is expected to be the first display panel supplier, but once Samsung Display starts shipping the panels, the competition between these two companies is going to be intense.

A report from App Advice had earlier suggested that the Retina display panels will be produced by Taiwan’s AU Optronics. “The 7.9-inch, 2048 x 1536, 324 ppi display panel that will be mounted on the iPad mini 2 is said to be already set for pilot production by AU Optronics,” the report stated. In addition, iPad mini 2 is speculated to feature an A5X dual-core processor as its quad-core graphics unit will be able to power the device’s Retina screen.

Related articles

• Apple’s Retina iPad Mini Is On Its Way (dailyfinance.com)
• Samsung to give Apple iPad 5 9.7″ and iPad Mini 2 7.9″ displays (thenewstribe.com)
• Apple iPad mini 2 LCD displays to come from Samsung (phonearena.com)