Technology Updates

Earlier this week  Google announced Android Wear , the platform that's going to bring  Android  to more wearables in the very near future. Along with the announcement, it also released a developer preview of the operating system for developers to begin working magic with. Naturally the preview included an emulator for devs to preview their work on. It didn't take long for the emulator to be extracted and turned into an installable APK for Android devices. What this means for curious Android users running  Android 4.4  and above is that you can install the Android Wear launcher on your device right now. As  Android Police  reported last night, the launcher isn't a complete replacement for your current launcher. Instead, it's more of a brief preview of how Android Wear will handle notifications. Swiping up and down on the screen will allow you to scroll through your current notifications. A swipe to the left will reveal options to for hand...

HTC Butterfly S  and Sony Xperia Z Ultra get Android KitKat Two popular Android smartphones has been brought recently to the latest version of the OS - 4.4 KitKat. Sony has launched the official KitKat update for the   Xperia Z Ultra   phablet. The first device to get it is apparently the C6833 LTE model in Hong Kong. The new firmware is available only over the air for now, but we expect Sony to launch it soon via its PC Companion. We also hope other markets will be joining Hong Kong soon enough. HTC has also begun seeding the Android 4.4 KitKat update for the  Butterfly S . The smartphone  received Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Sense UI 5.5 in January, but it seems HTC has been already working hard on the KitKat firmware. The KitKat update will bring on your Butterfly S the latest Android OS, Cloud Print Service, Security enhancements, new Bluetooth profiles, but will remove the support for Adobe Flash in the default web browser. Bummer indeed, but it...

The Nexus 5 smartphone has been noted to be affected by a new battery drain issue, which Google claims is due to high CPU usage of the 'mm-qcamera-daemon' process that leads to the battery dying sooner than expected. A Google Project Member on the Android Open Source Project forum, replying to 'Issue 60058: mm-said, "We believe we have fixes for the current high CPU reports on N5 (Nexus 5) due to mm-qcamera-daemon, and they will be included in the next maintenance update." qcamera-daemon cpu usage' post  However, the project member did not provide an estimate for when the maintenance update will be rolled out for the Nexus 5. The Google employee said, "Unfortunately, I can't provide an estimate for when the maintenance update will be ready, due to all the testing we need to do for this and other fixes. Until then, rebooting the phone is the only way to stop the high CPU usage/lack of camera function once it starts." Accord...

Google Nexus 6 Smartphone Built by LG – A Low-Calorie LG G3? Reports suggest Google will once again be teaming with LG to build its Nexus 6 Smartphone this year, which will apparently materialize as a stripped-back version of the LG G3 flagship For fans of the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 Smartphones, this weekend brings delightful if not entirely surprising news. Reports are doing the rounds that Google has once again decided not to tinker too much with a winning recipe and will thus be sticking with LG for the unannounced Nexus 6 Smartphone, which is apparently scheduled for a July launch. This time around, we have the folks atGizmodo Germany to thank for the good news, which largely confirms what the majority of us had assumed all along. Some had insisted that Google would tap into its Motorola wing to put the Nexus 6 together, but the smart money had always been on another LG collaboration and it’s looking like this will indeed be the case. In terms of exactly what t...

No more Nexus 7, Google Nexus 8 coming in July with Android 4.5 OS   MORE: Google | Samsung Google  might put brakes on the Nexus 7 tablet from this year. The company is rumoured to be working on an 8-inch tablet as the successor to the successful Nexus 7 launched in 2013 and 2012. Now according to a report in the  Digitimes  which refer to sources in Taiwan, Google will team with Asus for the new Nexus tablet that will sport an 8-inch display screen (instead of 7 inch). The report based on sources related to supply chain makers says “Google has been developing an 8-inch tablet to avoid price competition in the 7-inch segment.” This tablet might come for a launch at the end of April with two million units for shipment in the initial phase. The report also lays out the reason for this move as not great sales performance of the Nexus 7 inch tablet in 29012 and 2013. The information can just be a rumour. We will however look at a...

Google Nexus 7 Specifications: The New Nexus 7” Android Tablet Introducing From Google The New Nexus 7” Android Tablet Introducing From Google Specifications  Size and Weight 7.87 x 4.49 x 0.34 inches 0.66 pounds Operating System and Processor Android 4.4.2 (Kit Kat) Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, 1.5 GHz Battery Life N/A talk time 15 days standby time Camera, Photos and Video 5 Megapixel Camera Memory 2GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage (actual formatted capacity will be less) Connectivity 4G Capable 4G LTE Capable Audio and Multimedia T-Mobile TV GPS and Apps GPS enabled International UMTS: Band I (2100);UMTS/HSPA+: AWS Band IV / 2100 / 1900 / 850;Band II (1900);Quad Band GSM;LTE A world of entertainment with Google Play Nexus 7 is great for gaming—and so much more. Dive into the world's largest e-books collection, listen to millions of songs, discover tablet-optimized apps, and immerse yourself in thou...

Android 4.4 KitKat OS  Experience: Everyone was expecting Key Lime Pie to serve as the delicious moniker for the next version of Android. Google surprised us all by bucking tradition and releasing Android 4.4 under the name KitKat. Version 4.0 started life as  Ice Cream Sandwich , but the last three decimal additions came under the  Jelly Bean  banner. This new version was obviously deemed different enough to snag a new nickname, but not different enough to merit a jump to version 5.0. That 0.1 bump hardly does it justice. Don't be fooled: this is an important step up for Android. KitKat is super-smooth, the UI is refined and elegant, there are improvements to the long-neglected calling and messaging side of the platform, a new focus on productivity, and your fortune-telling digital assistant is brought front and centre as Google Now reaches maturity. General surprise in the tech world wasn't just based on the erroneous supposition that Key Lime Pie h...