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In a move for which no level of facepalm can suffice, the USPTO granted Apple a patent for a rectangle with rounded corners last week. Regardless of how ridiculous it may sound, sadly it’s true. According to patent no. D670,286, design rights for a “portable display device” with an external shape that is a rectangle with rounded corners are now owned by Apple.
See for yourself:
Note that only the solid line is part of the patented design; the dotted lines serve as mere reference, or more likely influence, to make it look more like a patentable product, but . . . READ ON »
The Samsung Galaxy Note II is the successor to the wildly popular Galaxy Note. The original Note was a giant-sized phone at 5.3” screen display, and the Note II is even bigger at 5.5”. The Note II was released to the international markets in August 2012. US release dates lagged somewhat, depending on carrier. For this review, we will be looking at the T-Mobile variant in particular.
Unlike the Galaxy S III, the internal hardware of the US market Galaxy Note II is largely shared with the international model, aside from carrier radio modifications and a few other minor details . . . READ ON »
I do realize that we are a little late in terms of reporting on this one, but truth of the matter is that we caught it pretty much the moment that it was originally posted. However, I could not really come up with a correct angle to tackle the article without sounding like a victim. As a little introduction to this, as you may already be aware, cell phone companies have various ways to track your every move. If you recall about a year ago, we uncovered CIQ, which was loaded on many devices and it could essentially rack . . . READ ON »
Since the ICS-based CM9, CyanogenMod has been shipping with some of its own apps such as Trebuchet Launcher and Apollo Music Player. This has continued with steady active development on the Jelly Bean-based CyanogenMod 10, as we saw a couple of months back with the excellent CM10 Messaging app. The latest CM app to join the list is the CyanogenMod File Manager.
Spotted in the latest CM10 nightlies, the CM10 File Manager app replaces the previously included OI File Manager and does so with authority! It is a full-featured, root-enabled file manager boasting an excellent Holo themed . . . READ ON »
Back in 2011, I was in a bar having a debate over whether Windows Phone 7 or Android was the better mobile operating system. It’s never a good idea to have those conversations, but the motto of alcohol is, “you wouldn’t do this sober.” During the debate, it was brought up that WP7 has support for Xbox Live. This brought me up short. Did Android have an app for Xbox Live? The answer was no.
Over a year later, Microsoft released Xbox SmartGlass along with Windows 8, giving Android users not only Xbox Live, but a plethora of other features. . . . READ ON »
Several pictures of the LG-built Google Nexus 4 have been showing up across the Internet. The featured image in this article really caught my eye because it shows the internals of the device relatively well. While this device has not yet been released, a lot can be said (and judged) about a device’s hardware, even without full board shots. Overall, it appears to show that LG’s build quality is considerably lower than that of the Samsung Nexus devices in the past. In this article, I intend to write about the design pros and cons of the highly anticipated Nexus 4.. . . READ ON »
Yesterday, we created of forums for the newly announced Google Nexus 4 and 10. For many, however, the real star of the show isn’t either of the two new devices, but rather the newly refreshed OS. Retaining the code name from Android 4.1, 4.2 is a revamped version of Jelly Bean. Despite the lack of name change, 4.2 offers various new and exciting features. Join us as we take a closer look at some of the highlights!
Photo Sphere and Camera UI Improvements
Not too long ago, Google gave us native support for panoramic photos with the launch . . . READ ON »
My wife and I thoroughly enjoy the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance. One of our favorite scenes is the following exchange between the two principal characters, Adele (played by Charlize Theron) and Rannulph (Matt Damon):
Rannulph: There something you wanted to tell me?
Adele: Well, I’m trying to think of how to say it, Junuh.
There is a purpose to this visit…
…and that’s to apologize.
I’m not an apologetic woman, it takes me longer to organize my thoughts.
I want to seem properly contrite for having gotten you into this match…
…but not seem what I did was
. . . READ ON »
OK. This isn’t exactly a weekly update, but the battle that seemed to be over just a little over a month and change ago is still seeing some remnants of action. 10/11/12 was a fantastic day for Android enthusiasts as well as Samsung and Google since the patent-based ruling over the Global Search feature on Android was overturned by an Appeals Court in the US. When this happened, we all saw a faint ray of light coming in through the iCloud and hoped that it was only the beginning of something good. As it turns out, over the last week . . . READ ON »
There has been a lot of discussion recently about Samsung and their lack of open source code for the Exynos processor on the Galaxy S2 i9100 and Galaxy S3 i9300. XDA-Developers is at the Big Android BBQ in Dallas, TX this weekend, and Samsung Developers is hosting a Q&A. We’ll be updating this LIVE, as often as we can and as the overloaded WiFi network allows. They have also let us know that they will be sharing news on Exynos and source code.
You can join in and view the event by visiting the live Google+ Hangout!
Post-Session . . . READ ON »
Manufacturers and developers have a long standing love/hate relationship that has kept the fragile ecosystem where we spend most of our free time intact. The dance beat is somewhat the same across all brands and, for the most part, all devices as well. Most manufacturers out there are held against certain standards (either due to their own internal procedures and codes or due to contractual obligations with carriers) that force them to do certain things on the devices they make that keep most of us away from exploiting them and unlocking their full potential. This comes in the form of . . . READ ON »
The main stream media outlets like to say that the tablet market is essentially the iPad market. They often ignore wonderful devices like the Motorola Xoom. They shrug off other devices with awesome features becoming something other than being a “big screen phone.” For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, with its IR blaster for controlling your entertainment system and the S-Pen for taking notes. The real issue with the Android tablet market is not the hardware, it is the software.
Google realizes this, and to get more people onto their Android ecosystem they want to change . . . READ ON »
There are very few times when we can literally jump off our seats when we read something coming out of the US courts, especially as of late with all the unfairness that has been witnessed in the case(s) of a certain Cupertino company’s crusade against a comparatively lesser known Korean company. Well, while tides are not exactly changing their course, at least we can see that some sense of justice still prevails among certain individuals who handle a third of the country’s government. These particular kudos actually go to the Appeals Court, and the reason is for reversing the decision . . . READ ON »
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