Apple expected to launch iOS in the Car auto integration next week

After announcing its iOS in the Car initiative at last year’s WWDC, Apple is expected to launch the program next week with partners Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, according to a Financial Times report.


carintegration gallery1 Apple expected to launch iOS in the Car auto integration next week


When it arrives, iOS in the Car will integrate Apple’s mobile OS with the in-dash displays and controls of supported vehicles, opening up access to Siri, iMessage, iTunes and Maps.


In addition to the aforementioned auto makers, Apple has also signed partnerships with companies like Chevrolet, Honda, Jaguar and Nissan.


Apple software to drive smart Ferrari [Financial Times]






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Imo to discontinue support for third-party messaging services on March 3 to focus on own platform

Imo messenger has announced plans to drop support for third-party services, such as Facebook and Google Hangouts, on March 3 as it redirects resources to its own platform.


Users will have until March 7 to export their chat history from third-party networks.


While Imo’s original mission was to offer an in-browser service that connected to all major IM services, the company has decided that building its own communication service will “make the biggest impact.”


Imo recently ramped up its video chat capabilities by adding WebRTC support to its service. The integration allows Web-based users to make cross-platform video calls without having to download a plugin.


Discontinuing support for all third-party messaging networks [imo.im]






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Reddit will donate 10% of its advertising revenue in 2014 to the top 10 non-profits chosen by its community

1265745 76281229 520x245 Reddit will donate 10% of its advertising revenue in 2014 to the top 10 non profits chosen by its community

Reddit today announced plans to donate 10 percent of its advertising revenue receipts in 2014 to 10 non-profits chosen by its own community. The company says no ad revenue will go excluded: everything from a $5 sponsored headline to a large ad campaign will be added together before one tenth is donated.


Reddit will ask its users to nominate non-profits at the end of the year and will then hold an election based off of eligible nominees. Funds will be distributed proportionally based on the percentage of votes given to the top 10 non-profits.


There is one important detail worth noting though: if the voting system is tampered with, Reddit reserves the right to choose the non-profits. Reddit may act as a democracy most of the time, but it’s still a business at the end of the day.


“Ultimately, it will be up to all of you what happens – if things go well, the community will be responsible for disbursing a very real amount of money to a set of causes of your choice,” Reddit CEO Yishan Wong said. “If it doesn’t go well – then we’ll simply just pick by ourselves.”


Wong made a point to emphasize that “this isn’t a game,” that this is “real money going to real causes doing real things in the world,” and urged Reddit users to “put aside the game-playing and be serious.” Reddit says it will fight rigging with its usual “anti-vote-manipulation” code, non-profit nominees will be limited to verified 501(c)(3) organizations, and poor suggestions will be filtered out.


Reddit has had financial issues trying to keep the site afloat as its userbase has exploded over recent years. In October, the Reddit community made an effort to raise money for the site via donations, and it looks like Reddit now wants to give back.


See also – Reddit’s 2013 stats: 56 billion page views, 731 million unique visitors, and over 40 million posts and Reddit offers free ads of 100,000 impressions each to the first 250 ‘deserving’ crowdsourcing projects


Top Image Credit: Eastop






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Pinterest now lets you create as many secret boards as you want

Pinterest today announced everyone can now create an unlimited number of secret boards. For those who don’t know, secret boards let you keep track of holiday gifts, plan a special event, or work on a project you aren’t yet ready to share with the rest of the world.


2014022801 Pinterest now lets you create as many secret boards as you want


In November 2012, Pinterest launched secret boards and we noted at the time that while you can keep them to yourself, you can also invite family and friends to pin with you, contrary to the name. That was just a test, however, and you could only have three secret boards in total. That limitation has now been lifted.


Image Credit: Alessandra Favetto






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BBM is getting photo sharing in multi-person chats, support for sharing larger files, and bigger emoticons

BlackBerry today announced a few new features BBM users can expect. Although it wouldn’t say when the new version would arrive, the company revealed BBM would soon support photo sharing in multi-person chats, larger file sizes, and bigger emoticons.


Up until now, BBM’s file sharing size limit was 6MB, but BlackBerry is increasing that limit to 16MB in the next release, so users can send bigger pictures, larger documents, and longer videos. BlackBerry didn’t detail much about the size of BBM’s emoticons, but claimed it was a change made “after feedback from you, our customers.”


See also – BBM for Android and iOS gets Find Friends feature to help automatically add existing users, invite others and BBM for iOS, Android updated with BBM Voice, Channels, location sharing and more






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FIFA 14 finally arrives on Windows Phone 8, five months after launching on Android and iOS

FIFA 14 has finally arrived in the Windows Phone Store, giving football (or soccer, for our American readers) fans the chance to kick off with over 600 licensed teams and 16,000 players.


It’s taken EA an awfully long time to bring the sports simulation title to Microsoft’s mobile OS, however. FIFA 14 launched on iOS and Android last September, which highlights the problem Microsoft faces in attracting not just high-profile apps, but feature parity and timely updates for Windows Phone 8.


45a2c8dd e837 4c0c a506 d6dd7ca4583e FIFA 14 finally arrives on Windows Phone 8, five months after launching on Android and iOS

FIFA 14 is free to download, but additional game modes such as Manager and Kick Off are unlocked with in-app transactions. With 33 leagues to choose from, the only question is: Who are you going to play as first?


➤ FIFA 14 | Windows Phone | iOS | Android






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Playable Game Boy costume turns you into a playable game boy

There are costumes, there are cosplays, and there are playable cosplays. Introducing the Game Boy cosplay, powered by a Raspberry Pi. Not only does it let anyone play Game Boy games on your person, but they can swap cartridges to switch games, just like on the real thing:



This video, which was only uploaded earlier this week, notes in the description that it’s a clip “of my friend.” The only previous information about this cosplay was a picture, apparently taken by the same person who uploaded it to YouTube, submitted to Reddit back in August. If you have any more information about the people behind the project, or how it works exactly, do get in touch.


Image Credit: Reddit






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8tracks announces official Xbox 360 app, 8 million monthly active users

Screen Shot 2014 02 27 at 8.29.50 pm 520x245 8tracks announces official Xbox 360 app, 8 million monthly active users

8tracks today announced that it is making an official app for its service available for gamers using the Xbox 360. Gamers with an Xbox Live Gold subscription are able to download the application today, which gives unlimited access to 8tracks playlists through the console.


You won’t need an 8tracks profile or subscription to download or use the application, but the service is much better with one since your playlists and liked tracks and followed artists on the service will synchronise to the console. 8tracks has included full Kinect support so the app can be used with voice controls or gestures too.


The app is entirely free and doesn’t require a 8tracks subscription to be used, just an Xbox Live Gold subscription (which is also required to use many other third party apps such as Netflix).


03558e16 6dc1 4d86 aff0 01be69a1bce5 8tracks announces official Xbox 360 app, 8 million monthly active users


8tracks also announced today that the service has reached 8 million monthly active users that are streaming 30 million hours. That’s up from 5 million monthly active users and 10 million hours of streaming the last time 8tracks announced numbers in 2012.


To download 8tracks’ new Xbox 360 app, simply go to the ‘Apps’ section on your Xbox 360 and search for 8tracks to install. Detailed instructions can be found on the Xbox website.






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Hipstamatic launches Oggl for iPad app, debuts SurfMode on iOS for browsing and AirPlay streaming

P1040389 645x250 520x245 Hipstamatic launches Oggl for iPad app, debuts SurfMode on iOS for browsing and AirPlay streaming

Hipstamatic today launched its photo-editing and sharing app Oggl for the iPad, alongside a handful of new features that makes viewing shots, previewing edits and monitoring user feedback simpler than before.


As you would expect, the iPad app allows you to browse more photos at once and also review individual shots in greater detail, due to the larger display in Apple’s slate. Otherwise it’s a familiar experience, with tabs along the bottom for accessing your collections and feeds, search, notifications and profile page.


feeds 520x693 Hipstamatic launches Oggl for iPad app, debuts SurfMode on iOS for browsing and AirPlay streaming The most notable addition for both the iPhone and iPad app is SurfMode, which gives you a smooth, moving mosaic of photos whenever you flip your device sideways. It’s not how I like to browse photos, but it works well on the iPad as a digital photo frame in your living room. To take the idea one step further, SurfMode can also be streamed to an Apple TV via AirPlay, for parties and special occassions when you want to have some photos on display.


Elsewhere there’s a new notifications ticker that shows how many likes, shares and favorites you’ve received recently, as well as revamped storefront to help you choose which filters to purchase next. While you’re shooting, Oggl will also show a live preview of your chosen ‘film’ and ‘lens’ before you take the shot, which is useful when you want to know if a subject or composition will work with a particular editing style.


Read Next: Ready for a comeback: Hipstamatic’s CEO talks Oggl, subscriptions and backing Windows Phone 8


Oggl | App Store






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Chrome 34 beta arrives with responsive images, unprefixed Web Audio API, and hands-free Google Voice Search



Although the stable version of Chrome 33 isn’t out yet, Google has announced the release of Chrome 34 beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux. New features include the addition of responsive images, an unprefixed version of the Web Audio API, and hands-free Google Voice Search.


The full changelog for this release is as follows:



  • Responsive Images and Unprefixed Web Audio.

  • Hands-free Google Voice Search in Chrome.

  • Import supervised users onto new computers.

  • A number of new apps/extension APIs.

  • Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance.


Chrome 34 is set to launch in late March or early April. We’ll let you know when it’s available for everyone.


Top Image Credit: T. Al Nakib






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Instapaper for iOS now lets you send articles to your Kindle and stream videos via AirPlay

If you prefer reading on a Kindle to your iPhone or iPad, today’s Instapaper for iOS app update should suit quite nicely. Provided you have an active Instapaper subscription, you can now send your saved article to a Kindle device from inside the iOS app. Betaworks asks that you register your Kindle email address first with Instapaper, but otherwise it’s smooth sailing.


Version 5.1.5 of the iOS app also introduces Instapaper Daily, which we first spotted on the Web in December last year. The service highlights the most widely read stories on Instapaper and you can now access it from inside the Browse section of the iPhone and iPad app. It’s not as powerful as Pocket’s discovery features, but it’s still an effective way to track important stories.


insta1 Instapaper for iOS now lets you send articles to your Kindle and stream videos via AirPlay


Instapaper for iOS now supports AirPlay streaming too and features new gestures so you can quickly jump back to your saved items after finishing a paginated article. Finally, Betaworks has implemented renewable subscriptions so that premium users no longer have to submit new payments manually. Bliss.


Instapaper | App Store


Image Credit: Shutterstock






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Coinbase passes 1 million consumer wallets, 25,000 merchants, and 4,000 Bitcoin apps using its API

Coinbase today announced a new milestone: over 1 million consumer wallets, up from just 13,000 at the start of 2013. The company also revealed it is now seeing more than 25,000 merchants using its platform to attract new customers and more than 4,000 Bitcoin applications created using its API.


Without naming names, Coinbase also mentioned that recent issues in the Bitcoin community show that the virtual currency has a long road ahead of it. “We are fully committed to helping continue to bring the stability and confidence required to help ensure Bitcoin is as useful as possible for consumers, merchants and developers alike,” the startup declared. That’s a big promise for a big customer base.


See also – Coinbase releases an SDK to enable Bitcoin payments in Android apps and Coinbase launches point-of-sale app to let physical retailers accept payment in Bitcoin


Image Credit: George Frey/Getty Images






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The BBC’s proposed pay-to-keep download store for TV shows gets regulatory approval

Back in October, we reported on the BBC’s plans to launch a new platform for downloading TV shows. The BBC Store will be a commercial, online service, letting UK users buy TV shows to keep forever – like iPlayer, but for downloads.


Now, one of the final hurdles has been circumvented, with the BBC Trust officially approving the proposals. The BBC Executive has issued the following response:



“We’re pleased the BBC Trust have approved proposals for BBC Store and recognise the benefits it brings licence fee payers, those who want to own BBC programmes and the creative industry as a whole. We know people want to buy DVDs of their favourite BBC shows and BBC Store is a natural progression in a digital age. Along with our proposal to extend catch-up on BBC iPlayer from 7 to 30 days, this is great news for fans of BBC shows. We will share more details about next steps at a later date.”



There are no details yet on the exact format or structure of the service, how much it will cost, or when it will launch. But we are expecting more information in the coming weeks. What we do know, however, is that the BBC Store will be a separate, standalone service to iPlayer, which itself will remain funded by the licence fee.


You can read the full regulatory approval here.






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Facebook gives up on desktop apps: Facebook Messenger for Firefox will also shut down on March 3

144248231 520x245 Facebook gives up on desktop apps: Facebook Messenger for Firefox will also shut down on March 3

Less than 24 hours after Facebook confirmed it was shutting down Facebook Messenger for Windows on March 3, we’ve discovered the same kill date applies to Facebook Messenger for Firefox. It appears that the company is no longer interested in developing desktop apps.


The first clue comes from the fact that Facebook has pulled its Messenger for Firefox page and its corresponding Help Center page – both now display a generic error. If you still have the add-on, which someone has reuploaded to add-ons.mozilla.org, an identical end-of-support message is displayed at the top of the application as the one in Facebook Messenger for Windows.


facebook messenger for firefox Facebook gives up on desktop apps: Facebook Messenger for Firefox will also shut down on March 3


“We’re sorry, but we can no longer support Facebook Messenger for Firefox, and it will stop working on March 3, 2014,” the message states at the top of the application. “We really appreciate you using Messenger to reach your friends, and we want to make sure you know that you can keep chatting and view all your messages on http://www.facebook.com. Learn more.”


Again, the “Learn more” link takes the user to a generic Messages page on Facebook’s Help Center where the only relevant section is how to uninstall Facebook Messenger for Windows or Firefox. The decision means that Facebook no longer develops any applications for the desktop.


While there was once talk of Facebook Messenger coming to OS X, such a move seems extremely unlikely now. For now at least, Facebook will likely focus on mobile, though we wouldn’t be surprised if it one day the company built apps for platforms that spanned a subset of desktop, mobile, and the Web (such as Windows 8 Metro, Chrome OS, or Firefox OS).


It’s just the traditional desktop that Facebook appears to have lost dismissed. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given how mobile-focused the company has become.


Mozilla and Facebook officially launch Facebook Messenger for Firefox in December 2012, meaning that when it’s killed it will have been around for less than 15 months. Facebook touted that the app let you IM your friends from anywhere on the Web while Mozilla was pleased it had such a great partner for the debut of its Social API for the Web. Yet when it comes to the desktop browser, Facebook will now once again point all users to Facebook.com.


Top Image Credit: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images






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Whistle adds Android support to its wearable activity tracker for dogs

whistle 3 crop 520x245 Whistle adds Android support to its wearable activity tracker for dogs

Now that humans have all manner of fitness bands to help us get in shape, it only makes sense that dogs get one too. Whistle has launched its activity monitor collar attachment for dogs on Android.


The $129 accessory loops around your dog’s collar and syncs up over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with the accompanying iOS or Android app. You can set daily goals for your dog’s exercise and receive notifications when it meets them.


Alongside the Android launch, Whistle has added several new features to the iOS version. The accessory is now able to break down activity into different categories, such as walking, playing and resting. Running and swimming are planned down the road. You can also now take advantage of Facebook and Twitter sharing if you want to show off how healthy your pet is.


whistle 1 220x390 Whistle adds Android support to its wearable activity tracker for dogs Whistle today announced a significant win on the distribution side after getting its device into PetSmart’s retail stores across the US and Canada.


I’ve been testing a Whistle on my dog for the past week. It’s definitely a fun accessory that lets you peer a bit into your pet’s world, but I’m not convinced it has enough functionality to make it worth the $129 yet, unless you’re a self-professed dog lover or a frequent traveler. I already know that my dog is active, and Whistle isn’t yet answering the questions I do have, like whether she’s getting enough (or too much) food and how her overall health is.


That said, there’s definitely a market for pet wearables, especially as the quantified self movement starts to bleed over into other aspects of our lives. Whistle’s still at an early stage of development, but it’s off to a running start.


Whistle






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Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth

Photo 19 02 2014 21 31 471 520x245 Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth

Remember Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe app? The multimedia, 3D beauty that redefined what an iPad book should look like? Well, as we hit the two year mark since its launch, publisher Harper Collins has rolled out the welcome mat for its follow up – Wonders of Life.


The Wonders of Life is optimized for both iPhones and iPads and, as with its predecessor, is based on the TV series of the same name, which was produced by the BBC and aired in early 2013. Based on our initial dabblings, we have to say – it’s pretty special.


The lowdown


In a nutshell, Wonders of Life takes you on a 3D tour of the world, serving up a visually stunning showcase of the coming together of science and nature.


Photo 19 02 2014 21 31 47 730x547 Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth


The app features thirty creatures and habitats, illustrated by more than one thousand images that let you zoom in and get up-close. But it’s the more than 2.5 hours of HD video that really set this apart.


Photo 27 02 2014 10 45 30 730x547 Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth


You can also unlock ‘bonus’ content by creating an account and signing in, which is basically more video. Interestingly, you can also access the full text from the TV series’ accompanying book, also called Wonders of Life.


Photo 27 02 2014 10 55 57 730x547 Wonders of Life for iOS takes you on a spellbinding tour of planet Earth


Covering everything from freshwater caverns and insects that walk on water, to the Great White Sharks that live around the South Neptune Islands, Wonders of Life really is a treat of an app.


Available now for $1.99/£1.99, Wonders of Life was built by The Other Media, the same team behind Wonders of the Universe, on behalf of publisher Harper Collins.


Wonders of Life | App Store






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Google debuts online education tool Oppia to help anyone create interactive activities for teaching others

95920158 520x245 Google debuts online education tool Oppia to help anyone create interactive activities for teaching others

Google today launched a new online education tool called Oppia, currently an open source project with the goal of making it easy for anyone to create online interactive activities that others can learn from. Called explorations, these activities can be built and contributed to by multiple people from around the world through a Web interface, without any programming required.


Here is how Google describes its latest venture:



Oppia does this by modeling a mentor who poses questions for the learner to answer. Based on the learner’s responses, the mentor decides what question to ask next, what feedback to give, whether to delve deeper, or whether to proceed to something new. You can think of this as a smart feedback system that tries to “teach a person to fish,” instead of simply revealing the correct answer or marking the submitted answer as wrong.



And in typical Google style, here’s the YouTube video:



Google says Oppia does more than just present content: it gathers data on how learners interact with it and offers it to exploration authors so they can fix shortcomings in an exploration. For example, if many learners are giving an answer to which an exploration is not responding adequately (for example, the difficulty changes abruptly, or the next question appears to be unrelated), an author could create a new learning path for it. In this way, the exploration continues to get better.


Here’s Oppia’s current feature list:



  • Learners receive personalized, customizable feedback after submitting answers

  • Explorations are embeddable in any webpage

  • An online analytics dashboard that allows explorations to be improved easily over time

  • A full online editor GUI

  • A comprehensive extension framework allowing straightforward integration of new interactions and classification rules

  • Parameters can be associated with a learner in order to create a richer interactive experience

  • Collaborative creation and editing of explorations with version control

  • (in progress) Responsive UI for mobile devices


Unfortunately, there’s no indication of the amount of resources Google plans to dedicate to Oppia. The disclaimer “Oppia is not a Google product” seems to suggest the company is hoping a community forms and takes over.


Google’s reasoning for why Oppia exists is simple: the company believes online education can be delivered via more than just video, audio, and text. In learning, feedback is key, and as the company says: “one does not learn to play the piano by watching videos of many virtuoso performances.”


Top Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images






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Livefyre pushes the limits of its technology with Oscars red carpet photo booth that tweets for fans

At Awards V2 520x245 Livefyre pushes the limits of its technology with Oscars red carpet photo booth that tweets for fans

Livefyre’s #MyOscarPhoto Academy Award photo campaign offers a good look at the power of its platform and its ability to use technology and social media to connect fans with their favorite celebrities.


Award shows are becoming a prime site for testing offline-to-online social integrations. Twitter, for instance, has been taking its 360-degree Vine booth and Twitter Mirror around to red carpet events like the Golden Globes and the Grammys. Livefyre is upping the stakes at this year’s Academy Awards.


When it debuts this Sunday, the #MyOscarPhoto booth will take selfies tweeted by fans, display them at a rate of 10 images per second next to a celebrity, snap a photo with a slow motion camera, and then tweet it back out to individuals. It’s a clever trick that gives users a neat point of contact with a movie star while using technology to make the experience seamless for the performer.



The sheer ambition of the setup got our attention, so we chatted with Livefyre CEO Jordan Kretchmer to learn more about how Livefyre built the booth.


“It’s definitely the most interesting thing I’ve ever worked on,” Kretchmer said, adding that it was also the most intensive.


To build the booth, Livefyre tapped its StreamHub platform to aggregate all the user photos from Twitter. It then reworked an Image Gallery app to enable it to stream those photos onto a TV in 10-second bursts at 10 frames per second. An algorithm then uses histogram analysis to take the resulting video file and chop it up into frames for each user. Each image is then rematched with the metadata from users’ original tweets and combined with the celebrity’s name. In the final step, human moderators double-check the automated work before approving the images to go back out as tweets.


Here’s a mockup of what the resulting photo will look like when it’s tweeted:


In twitter feedV3 730x607 Livefyre pushes the limits of its technology with Oscars red carpet photo booth that tweets for fans


The whole interaction is hardly deep social engagement, but it is perfectly situated to delight users.


Livefyre’s focus on creating scalable realtime infrastructure for real-world events is paying off. The startup certainly has experience with scale, now that it hosts over 2 billion page views a month, but #MyOscarPhoto is the most ambitious custom project yet for the company’s platform.


The implementation might get reused at future events, like the Country Music Awards, but Kretchmer said he’s more interested in using the project to showcase the kinds of custom real-time streaming applications that can be built on Livefyre’s infrastructure. According to him, the company built the installation in just two weeks.


“I think we’ll start to see a lot of other interesting use cases like this that aren’t exactly this execution,” he added.


As social media becomes an increasingly important part of mainstream events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars, firms like Livefyre are establishing the infrastructure required to bridge the offline and online worlds. Even if faux celebrity selfies aren’t your thing, the #MyOscarPhoto campaign offers an interesting glimpse at the future of social.






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Worth a read: ‘Time’ goes behind the scenes with Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone

Dovetailing with Google’s announcement of a developer conference for its Project Ara modular smartphone effort, Time’s Harry McCracken has a fascinating inside look on the makings of the project.


ara.side Worth a read: ‘Time’ goes behind the scenes with Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone


McCracken goes into the development process at Motorola’s Advanced Technology And Projects (ATAP) group and why a smartphone made entirely of user-replaceable parts might just be the phone of the future for the next five billion users.


Between Project ARA and the ambitious Project Tango 3D-sensing smartphone prototype, ATAP is doing some killer work that should have you excited about how our phones will evolve in the next few years.


Project Ara: Inside Google’s Bold Gambit to Make Smartphones Modular [Time]


Image credit: Google ATAP






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Facebook Messenger for Windows will shut down on March 3

144147602 1 520x245 Facebook Messenger for Windows will shut down on March 3

Facebook today began prompting Facebook Messenger for Windows users with a message saying the app is shutting down next week. Without much of an explanation, the company plans to kill off Windows support for Facebook Messenger on March 3.


“We’re sorry, but we can no longer support Facebook Messenger for Windows, and it will stop working on March 3, 2014,” the message states at the top of the application. “We really appreciate you using Messenger to reach your friends, and we want to make sure you know that you can keep chatting and view all your messages on http://www.facebook.com. Learn more.”


facebook messenger shutdown Facebook Messenger for Windows will shut down on March 3


The “Learn more” link unfortunately takes the user to a generic Messages page on Facebook’s Help Center. The only section relevant to Facebook Messenger for Windows is for uninstalling it.


The Facebook Messenger for Windows installer is nowhere to be found on the official site. The page specifically says the app is available for Android and iOS, but not Windows:


facebook messenger android ios Facebook Messenger for Windows will shut down on March 3


The news comes just days after talk of a Facebook Messenger app for Windows Phone heated up. “We’ve been working with Facebook testing out their implementation for a while,” Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and manager of Windows Phone, was quoted by Techcrunch as saying during a press conference at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona. “It’s looking good and we will have it for our customers soon.”


It seems Microsoft can only keep Facebook in one of its platforms at a time. The company is of course attempting to merge the Windows and Windows Phone stores, but that’s still a long way off.


Facebook Messenger for Windows was released in March 2012, following a limited beta test in November 2011. An OS X version has been long expected, but that seems even less likely now.


We have contacted Facebook for more information about this decision. We will update this post if we hear back.


Update: “I can confirm that we are notifying people who use Facebook Messenger for Windows that it will no longer be available as of March 3,” a Facebook spokesperson told TNW. The chat client was available for just under two years.


Top Image Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/GettyImages






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Facebook will restructure its advertising platform into campaigns, ad sets, and ads on March 4



Facebook today announced it will launch a new campaign structure on March 4 with the goal of making it easier for advertisers of every size to organize, optimize, and measure their ads. The company will go from two levels (campaigns and ads) to three (campaigns, ad sets, and ads).


Facebook plans to push the new structure worldwide across all ad interfaces, including the Ads Create Tool, Ads Manager and Power Editor, as well as third-party ad interfaces built by Preferred Marketing Developers. When it arrives on your ad account, all your campaigns will be migrated automatically to the new structure, but the migration will not impact delivery, spend, or performance of your existing ads (historical data for existing ads and campaigns will also remain available).


Here is a breakdown of the new trio:



  • Campaigns correspond to each of your advertising objectives, like building brand awareness or driving web traffic. They’re designed to help you optimize and measure your results for each objective across multiple ad sets and ads.

  • Ad sets with their own budget and schedule are found in each campaign. You can also organize each ad set to represent audience segments, like people who live near your store, to control the amount you spend on each audience, decide when they will see your ads, and measure their response. The ad delivery system will optimize delivery for the best-performing ad in an ad set.

  • Ads feature different images, links, video, or text and are found in ad sets. You can still control the creative, targeting and bidding at the ad level.


851584 1408055446119534 142483355 n Facebook will restructure its advertising platform into campaigns, ad sets, and ads on March 4


Overall, this change seems like it will result in more work for marketers. The upside is, however, they will learn which ads are resonating with each audience and, in turn, be able to create better-optimized campaigns. At least, that’s what Facebook is hoping.


More to follow.






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Connected car device Automatic gets IFTTT support

automatic 520x245 Connected car device Automatic gets IFTTT support

Automatic, a smart hardware plugin for your car, has announced integration with Internet automation service IFTTT.


IFTTT works by allowing users to create “recipes” that combine a trigger with an action. Automatic’s triggers include turning the ignition on or off, location, the check engine light and completion of a trip. While the service is bound to have some overlap with IFTTT’s new Location channel, it does add lots of potential for some neat interactions.


Sample recipes include emailing your mechanic when your check engine light comes on, automatically logging work trip mileage in a Google spreadsheet and notifying friends when you leave or arrive.


 Connected car device Automatic gets IFTTT support

The $100 Automatic device plugs into the port on your car that mechanics use to monitor the vehicle’s status and perform smog checks. It then syncs with your phone in order to show you the data and offer suggestions on how to improve your driving efficiency.


“Originally, we started out with this idea that connectivity would change the way we use our cars,” Automatic Chief Product Officer Ljuba Miljkovic said in an interview. “Our cars are the most powerful computers that we have and yet they’re not connected to the internet.”


The IFTTT integration fits with Automatic’s goal to open up the driving experience to other connected services and products that we use.


“Your car is just another piece of technology that you can hook up with anything else that you do online,” Miljkovic added.


With IFTTT, you can also create a link between your car actions and connected home products. For instance, you could have lights turn on when you get home, or have the light in your garage change colors depending on the health of your car.


For now, Automatic’s IFTTT channel only provides triggers, so you won’t be able to start your car every time someone tweets at you, but maybe someday you can have your car come pick you as soon as you lock your door.


Image credit: Automatic






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Google+ for Android gets photo editing across devices, one view for all photos, new filters and creative tools

googleplus2 786x305 520x245 Google+ for Android gets photo editing across devices, one view for all photos, new filters and creative tools

Google today updated Google+ for Android with a slew of new features focused just on photos. You can download the new version now from Google Play.


First and foremost, the app now features non-destructive photo editing across devices. In other words, you can now start editing a photo on one device and continue on another. Here’s a scenario where this is useful: back up full-resolution photos from your desktop, make some basic edits on your phone, and then add some finishing touches on your tablet.


This is possible because Google is saving all your edits in the cloud. You can, of course, revert to the original version at any time.


06 filters Google+ for Android gets photo editing across devices, one view for all photos, new filters and creative tools


Next up, Google+ for Android has gained new filters and creative tools. The company explains users now have “a powerful set of tools (like crop and rotate), 1-touch filters, and Snapseed-inspired enhancements (like Drama, Retrolux, and HDR Scape).”


Last but not least, Google has added a single view for all your photos. It shows your entire photo library, regardless of whether your pictures are on your current device or backed up in the cloud. You can now also browse your photos by date: just swipe through your photos in the new All view and look for the scroll bar on the right (drag up or down to move forwards or backwards in time).


For very large photo libraries (10s of thousands of photos), the app won’t show all your photos initially. Google does say, however, it plans to support larger and larger libraries “over the next few weeks.” We’ll let you know when we find out more about the new upper limit.


See also – Google+ for Android gets unified search, better notification controls, view content by category, and more and Google Play gets Google+ integration to show content you’ve rated and recommendations from your friends






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Google holding its Project Ara developer event in April to help you build modular smartphone parts

ara.mosiac 482x245 Google holding its Project Ara developer event in April to help you build modular smartphone parts

Google announced today that it is organizing the first-ever Ara Developers Conference, aimed at helping developers better understand the inner workings of a smartphone and to build one themselves. The event will be held April 15 and 16 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. It’s also part of a series of conferences that Google is putting on to help support Project Ara, an initiative started from Motorola Mobility to promote free, open hardware.


There’s no word on when the next conference is scheduled, but it will be in 2014. Google intends to focus the April event on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers Kit (MDK), an “open platform specification and reference implementation” that will help developers create their own module:



The Developers’ Conference will consist of a detailed walk-through of existing and planned features of the Ara platform, a briefing and community feedback sessions on the alpha MDK, and an announcement of a series of prize challenges for module developers.



While Project Ara is an initiative run by Google, it’s one of the things that the company kept after it sold Motorola to Lenovo in January for $2.91 billion. The project made its debut in October with the intent of doing for hardware what “the Android platform has done for software: create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines.”


Tickets will be limited for the event, with priority placed on bringing in developers. If you can’t make the event, Google says that it will be available via a live webstream.


More to follow. Please refresh for updates.


Photo credit: Google


Hat-tip The Verge.






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Following developer requests, Google delays blocking extensions not in the Chrome Web Store until May 1

Google today announced it won’t be blocking local Chrome for Windows extensions until May 1. The timing change is being made after some developers requested more time to get their extensions in the Chrome Web Store. As a result, Windows users have about two more months to use extensions for the company’s browser that Google hasn’t approved into its store.


The new policy does not affect off-store extensions on the Dev and Canary channels for Windows, nor all channels for Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS. The FAQ gives more details:



Google originally announced the change in November, saying they would go into effect in January. While it already went into effect for Chrome 33 beta, the stable version won’t be affected until version 34 or 35.


Image Credit: Miguel Saavedra






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Integration complete: New Skype users can now sign up with a Microsoft account

In addition to including Microsoft account support in its Windows Phone app, Skype today also started letting new users signing up on Skype.com to register with a Microsoft account (in addition to a Facebook account). Here are the advantages of doing so, according to the Microsoft-owned company:



  • Less to remember with just one email address to sign in to Skype and your other services: just click on the Microsoft account button to sign in with your email address and password.

  • Enhanced password recovery experience, so you can now easily reset your password by receiving a security code sent by SMS or email.

  • Optional two-step verification to help keep your account more secure.


What Skype doesn’t mention, of course, is that if your Microsoft account is compromised, so is your Skype login. Turning on two-step verification, as noted in the third point above, is particularly important if you’re going use one account for multiple services.


See also – It’s confirmed. Microsoft announces acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion and Microsoft completes Lync integration into Skype, offers one unified communications platform for Windows and Mac


Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images






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Google never made an offer to acquire WhatsApp, says Google’s Sundar Pichai

In the days that followed Facebook’s gargantuan $19bn WhatsApp acquisition, some argued that Facebook didn’t bid enough, while others said that the mobile messaging app was far from formidable. But one other interesting nugget emerged from the deal – apparently Facebook had blindsided Google to clinch the deal.


While Google’s very own Eric Schmidt was a little evasive on the topic earlier this week, the Internet giant’s Senior Vice President, Sundar Pichai, was a little more straight forward with his answer at Mobile World Congress (MWC) yesterday. As the Telegraph reports, Pichai said claims that Google had a $10bn bid thwarted by Facebook’s counteroffer were “simply untrue”.


“WhatsApp was definitely an exciting product. We never made an offer to acquire them,” he continued. “Press reports to the contrary are simply untrue.”


Google did not bid for WhatsApp | The Telegraph






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See the most common words used in any App Store review with this neat visualizer

20140226 155915 520x245 See the most common words used in any App Store review with this neat visualizer

While it’s not exactly something you’d call a consumer product, Otter App Ratings Visualizer from Mutual Mobile isn’t meant to be. But this neat little Web app could still give reporters, marketers and developers some interesting insights into reviews on the App Store.


Otter was created initially as in internal tool to garner insights around iOS apps it built itself. But Mutual Mobile soon realized it may have a broader appeal, and launched it to the public – though it technically remains a beta product for now.


How it works


Simply enter the name of an app into the search box at the top, hit ‘search’, and you’ll see a large bubble cloud with the most commonly-used words from the reviews. Positive words are green, negative are red, and words used most often are larger.


oters 730x376 See the most common words used in any App Store review with this neat visualizer


You can also click on each word, and filter down into the actual reviews that contain that specific descriptive, as you can see here with the word ‘can’t':


cantz 730x384 See the most common words used in any App Store review with this neat visualizer


While the tool is a great concept, it really needs to filter out the many, many redundant words in there – such as ‘see’, ‘if’, ‘get’, ‘just’ and all the rest. These just clog things up and bring very little value to proceedings – it would be great if it could focus more on adjectives, though not necessarily exclusively.


At any rate, it’s a neat little tool with a lot of potential. You can check out the iOS app version now, and we’re told that the developers will be rolling out one specifically for Android apps shortly.


Otter | iOS User Feedback Visualizer






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Skype for Windows Phone gets Microsoft account support, account linking, and a typing indicator

Skype today updated its Windows Phone app with support for Microsoft accounts, including when signing up for the service and for linking your Skype account, as well as a new typing indicator. You can download the new version now directly from the Windows Phone Store.


The full changelog is as follows:



  • A new and simpler way to sign in to Skype. Just use the same Microsoft account you use for your phone. Already got a Skype account? Link it with your Microsoft account to carry your credit, contacts, history, and settings over.

  • See when someone’s typing a message.

  • General fixes and improvements.


By linking your Skype and Microsoft accounts you can find friends just by searching for their email address and you can also recover your password easier than before, but support is limited to just one account: you’ll need to create a new Microsoft account to link to your other Skype accounts. The new typing indicator is the first time Skype is supporting the feature on mobile, so expect to see it on Android and iOS soon.


Arrow New to Skype and having trouble signing in?


Image Credit: Robert Scoble






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Google Search now lets you vote for American Idol, Facebook will offer real-time voting progress updates

171479996 1 520x245 Google Search now lets you vote for American Idol, Facebook will offer real time voting progress updates

Google today launched a new feature that lets American Idol fans vote for their favorite performers directly from the search engine from their phone, tablet, or desktop. At the same time, Facebook has agreed to support on-air voting progress updates based on real-time East Coast data.


Screen Shot 2014 02 25 at 1.49.34 PM Google Search now lets you vote for American Idol, Facebook will offer real time voting progress updates


Here is how the new Google feature works:



  • Search: Visit google.com or use the Google Search App for Android or iOS and search for [american idol] or [idol] during the voting window and select from your favorite finalists.

  • Vote: Add up to 50 votes per contestant. You can select your favorites and submit your picks – directly from Google. You can vote for as many contestants as you want.

  • Submit: Click submit to send your votes to American Idol. Then watch Idol videos on YouTube, share on Google+, or go back and vote for another contestant if you haven’t yet.


The first show is tonight, which is why the Google feature is going live today. Facebook has yet to officially announce its participation, which will allow at-home viewers to see how their favorite finalists are faring in the voting polls at a given time, but this is likely because its integration is limited to “select live shows.”


FremantleMedia, 19 Entertainment/CORE Media Group, and FOX first announced the partnerships with the biggest search and social networking companies late last month. The goal is to give fans “powerful new interactive on-air and online experiences” for American Idol XIII.


“This season of American Idol is all about re-connecting fans with what they love most about the show – the journey of the contestants from hopefuls to stardom,” Fox SVP Bill Bradford said in a statement. “With the help of innovators like Google and Facebook, this season, we’re deepening that connection by making it easy for fans to make a bigger impact and be a bigger part of the show than ever before.”


While this type of deal is unique for both Google and Facebook, if all goes well, it probably won’t be the last.


Top Image Credit: Karen Bleier/Getty Images






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OpenX launches the first global exchange for real-time bidding on native mobile advertising

openx 520x245 OpenX launches the first global exchange for real time bidding on native mobile advertising

Ad tech leader OpenX today announced Native O|X, a new ad exchange with an unprecedented combination of several of the most popular trends in the industry: mobile-first, real-time bidding and native advertising.


While the new offering might sound like a pile of buzzwords to those outside the advertising space, Native O|X represents a natural next step for OpenX and the industry. The firm helped pioneer the rise of real-time bidding and programmatic advertising, which relies on software algorithms to automate the buying and selling of ad inventory.


With its rich media and video content, Native O|X should result in a better overall ad experience on mobile for us consumers. Native advertising eschews the traditional banner ads found on mobile sites and apps in favor of a more contextual display that fits in with a publisher or developer’s existing content.


“The 320×50 banners that are cemented in mobile sites and apps are not that effective…What publishers are telling us is that those units just don’t perform well,” Rob Kramer, OpenX’s general manager for mobile, said in an interview.


Traditionally, OpenX’s strength has been on the desktop, so Native O|X helps the company extend its dominance onto mobile devices. OpenX takes credit for opening the first private mobile ad exchange in 2012 and has existing partnerships with Airpush and Samsung.






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Motorola plans to release new smartwatch this year and new version of Moto X in ‘late summer’

Motorola may not have released any new devices at Mobile World Conference 2014 in Barcelona, but that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have news to share. At some point this year, the company plans to release a new smartwatch, and in “late summer” it will launch a new version of its flagship Moto X device.


The news comes in the form of a Q&A, being posted on Motorola’s Twitter account:








Taking Moto Maker outside of the US has been a long-time coming. It looks like 2014 will be a busy year for Motorola, which is being acquired away from Google by Lenovo.


Image Credit: Remy Gabalda / Getty Images






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Facebook tweaks News Feed to show Page posts tagged with other Pages you like or follow, just like for friends

144147602 1 520x245 Facebook tweaks News Feed to show Page posts tagged with other Pages you like or follow, just like for friends

Facebook today announced a change to the News Feed algorithm that will treat Pages even more like people. If one Page tags a second Page you like or follow, you may see that post in your News Feed even if you don’t like or follow the first Page.


Facebook offers an example: this post below by the Bleacher Report might be shown in the News Feed to people who follow or like Dwight Howard, in addition to people who follow or like the Bleacher Report.


4 Facebook tweaks News Feed to show Page posts tagged with other Pages you like or follow, just like for friends


As you can see, Dwight Horward and James Harden are both tagged in the above post. If you haven’t liked or followed either, and you also don’t like or follow the Bleacher Report, the algorithm won’t consider showing you this Page post. This is exactly how updates from friends work: if a friend tags you in a photo, your friends may see the photo in their News Feed even if they’re not friends with the person who tagged you. If you’re not tagged, your friends won’t see it unless they are friends with the person who posted the photo in the first place.


Unlike on social networks like Twitter, where you see every update, there is still no guarantee you will see all such posts in your News Feed. Facebook still uses an algorithm that attempts to show you the best posts:



We look at many factors to make sure the most relevant stories appear in News Feed, including which posts are getting the most engagement (such as likes, comments, shares and clicks) across all of Facebook. We also consider which posts are getting the most engagement from people who like both the Page that posted and the Page that was tagged.


For example, if many people who like Dwight Howard also like the Bleacher Report, it suggests that these two Pages are connected. If we see that people who like both the Bleacher Report and Dwight Howard are liking the post above, that’s an indication that it may be relevant for people who only like Dwight Howard.



Facebook says it tested this feature for Pages and found that people liked seeing this type of content in their News Feeds. The company ran surveys and found these stories received “high scores.” Now the social network will undoubtedly be looking to see how the rest of its 1.23 billion users react.


Top Image Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/GettyImages






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Sony Xperia Z2 hands-on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5

P1050054 520x245 Sony Xperia Z2 hands on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5

Just six months after the Xperia Z1, Sony is back with another flagship Android smartphone. Given the short space of time that’s elapsed between the two announcements, it’s understandable that the Xperia Z2 offers small, understated improvements over its predecessor.


The 5.1-inch full HD (1080p) display is a fraction larger and brighter than the Xperia Z1, but the chassis that surrounds it looks almost identical. The new handset is a few millimeters taller and slightly thinner than its older brother, but in the hand these differences are barely noticeable. The Xperia Z2 offers the same ‘Omnibalance’ design found on the Xperia Z and from afar, it’s difficult to tell the two apart.


P1050037 730x547 Sony Xperia Z2 hands on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5


The formal, rectangular design isn’t particularly eye-catching, but it’s still attractive and comfortable to hold.


Instead, much of Sony’s focus has been directed at the components inside. The Xperia Z2 runs on a quad-core 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, which is an improvement over the Snapdragon 800 found in the Xperia Z1. The RAM has been bumped up from 2GB to 3GB and the battery has been increased to 3200 mAh. All of these changes make the Xperia Z2 an incredibly capable smartphone.


While I haven’t done any benchmarking, the Xperia Z2 feels fast. Swiping through the Android interface and alternating between apps is buttery smooth, and it handles intensive tasks without complaint. The gains in computational power are clearly diminishing each year, but it’s liberating to use nonetheless.


Camera


P1050044 730x547 Sony Xperia Z2 hands on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5


Sony unveiled the Xperia Z1 at IFA last year partly because of its upgraded rear-facing camera. The 13-megapixel sensor had been swapped out for a 20.1-megapixel version which often offered better photos by downsampling the original image to an 8.3-megapixel file.


Six months later, the Xperia Z1 still offers one of the best smartphone cameras on the market. The Xperia Z2, unsurprisingly, opts for the same sensor with a few noticeable improvements on the software side. Sony now offers a ‘Timeshift’ mode for slow-motion video clips, background defocus for photos with plenty of ‘bokeh’ and a shortcut to Vine’s own camera interface.


Slow motion video worked beautifully and picking specific scenes to implement the effect was quick and intuitive. Most importantly, it doesn’t feel like a gimmick; I can see myself using it for all sorts of action shots, including the finish line at a bike race, a spectacular stage dive at a concert, or my baby cousin’s first steps. Although the feature isn’t unique – Apple offers slow-motion video with the iPhone 5s – I’m still impressed by the results.


P1050229 730x547 Sony Xperia Z2 hands on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5


In contrast, the background defocus effect was inconsistent. Perhaps it’ll be better suited to macro photography, but some brief test shots at Sony’s booth proved too much for this particular mode.


The Xperia Z2 also introduces ultra high definition (4K) video recording at 30 frames per second, with its SteadyShot image stabilization technology for smooth footage. A trade show booth isn’t the best place to test this feature, but all of the videos I shot were clear, detailed and with accurate color representation.


If you value the camera experience in an Android flagship, the Xperia Z2 appears to be an excellent choice.


Software


xperiawalkman 730x547 Sony Xperia Z2 hands on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5


Elsewhere, Sony has kept the software experience fairly similar to the Xperia Z and Xperia Z1. Aside from the recent Motorola devices, it’s undoubtedly one the closest skins to stock Android – which is fantastic.


Sony offers a number of its own entertainment apps, including Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited and PlayStation Mobile, but they’re easy to ignore and pleasant enough if you want to switch across to its various digital storefronts.


There are some basic widgets that can be pulled out from the app switcher and there’s a new app called “What’s New” that suggests films, music, TV shows and video games you might want to check out. It can be launched with a long press on the home button – just as you would to open Google Now – and reinforces Sony’s focus on delivering and selling multimedia content.


P1050055 730x547 Sony Xperia Z2 hands on: A promising contender for the Samsung Galaxy S5


If you want to shut out the masses on your daily commute, the Xperia Z2 is also equipped with digital noise cancelling (DNC) technology. It’s been optimized for Sony DNC headphones, although some third-party models will also be supported. The impact is immediate and should prove useful when you’re desperate for a little piece and quiet.


Wrap-up


The differences between the Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z2 are marginal. Nevertheless, this is one of the most impressive flagship Android smartphones that I’ve picked up this year – all of the core components have been improved and I was impressed both by the camera and the subtle software experience.


While I would have liked Sony to experiment more with the Xperia Z2′s industrial design, it’s still a nice looking piece of kit. If you’re a fan of the ‘Omnibalance’ aesthetic that Sony is always pushing, the Xperia Z2 looks to be another first-rate handset.


Gallery:







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