Nokia's Lumia 525 upgrades its bestselling Windows Phone with more memory

Nokia's Lumia 525 popped up in a Chinese regulatory filing earlier this month, but now we have official information about this new budget Windows Phone 8 device. In lieu of fanfare or a Middle Eastern press event, it's appeared via a YouTube video and a simple product page. Appearing as a successor to the popular Lumia 520, the 525 keeps the swappable covers (orange, yellow or white) like previous Lumia models and the polycarbonate style-jacking iPhone 5c, while doubling the amount of RAM inside to 1GB. Just like the earlier model, it has a 4-inch screen, the 5MP rear camera is still without flash, microSD storage expansion, and it's powered by a dual-core Qualcomm S4 processor. It will arrive with Nokia's usual Lumia apps, but with that extra memory it can run more of them at once.

There's no release information yet on the page yet, while the website only lists Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. However, Nokia has said it will not be coming to the US or the UK. Fortunately, Engadget Chinese reports the 525 and 526 have been announced for China Unicom and China Mobile, respectively, at an off-contract price of 1,099 yuan ($180 US), shipping in December. This pricing is in line with the 520, aligning this as the pay-as-you-go WP8 option it appears to be, but we'll keep an eye out for domestic carrier release info just to be sure.

Specification :

• Main camera sensor: 5 MP
• Display size: 4''
• Touch screen technology: Super sensitive touch
• RAM: 1 GB
• Mass memory: 8 GB
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4
• Location and navigation apps: HERE Drive;HERE Maps;HERE Transit

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Motorola Moto G: 5 reasons why you should wait for it to launch in India

Planning to buy an affordable Android phone? We’d suggest you wait for the recently announced Moto G.

Moto G has all the ingredients of an excellent, affordable Android phone. We give you five clear benefits of Motorola’s Moto G over other budget Android phones available in the Indian market.

Moto G will redefine budget quality

Motorola has a long standing history of making good quality devices, the Moto G is expected to be a very well built device in terms of use of materials, fit and finish and the overall feel. It will be a refreshing change among the usual crowd of average built devices which lack the quality and finish that you’d expect from a 15k device. The curved back design (similar to the Moto X) along with the rubberized matte finish body lends a touch of class and sophistication to the affordable Android phone market.

Sharp screen and compact dimensions

With a 720p, 4.5-inch screen, the Moto G will offer a sharp screen with the same pixel density as the iPhone 5S and the iPad Mini Retina. The smaller screen also allows the Moto G to keep its overall dimensions in check. The combination of compact dimensions and a sharp screen will allow the Moto G to stand out from the crowd of bulky 5/5.5-inch Android phones in India, offering a quality device that is easy to carry and allows for a comfortable one handed operation.

Faster updates with better OS performance

Coming from the house of Google, Moto G is almost sure to get all the latest Android OS updates for a minimum of 15 months. And, those updates will come to the Moto G a lot quicker (right after the Nexus range) compared to other budget Android devices. While the Moto G is currently shown running on Android JellyBean 4.3, Motorola has assured that the Moto G will get the latest Android KitKat update by January 2014.

Snapdragon 400 based Quad-core SOC

Motorola Moto G runs on the Qualcomm MSM8926 SOC based on the SnapDragon 400 series, it is a fairly potent SOC with four A7 architecture based Krait cores running at 1.2 GHz. The SOC combined with 1GB RAM should be able to handle most tasks with ease. It should perform better than the Mediatek based quad-core SOCs, especially in gaming, when it has to process fewer pixels as compared to the processing required to feed 5-inch 1080p displays.

Customization with add-on accessories

With the announcement of Moto G, Motorola has also introduced an exciting range of accessories that will allow you to customize your device with high-quality shells and grips to protect the device while adding a personal touch to the device. Most comparable Android phones launched in the sub 15K price bracket hardly offer any kind of quality branded accessories, forcing users to opt for low-quality after-market accessories.

Moto G’s 5MP 720p camera and lack of memory expansion, the only obvious chinks in the armor?

The modest 5MP camera with a maximum support for recording 720p videos is perhaps the only area of concern for the Moto G. While higher megapixels do not equate to better performance, by the time the Moto G goes mass market in India, it might face a hard time convincing buyers to choose its 5MP snapper over the standard army of 8 and 13MP Android smartphones in the same price range. Not being able to expand storage capacity is another downer with the Moto G, 50GB of free cloud storage is nice, but it does not negate the need for built-in storage expansion.

Nokia Lumia range vs. Moto G

Take Android out of the equation and suddenly the budget friendly Moto G might not look as attractive. While it all depends on how much the Moto G finally costs in India, OS agnostic buyers hunting for a quality affordable smartphone will evaluate the Moto G against the entry level Nokia Lumia range. The expected update to the popular Nokia Lumia 5/6/720 series will compete head-on with the Moto G in terms of value and experience. Even the current budget champ, the Nokia Lumia 520, at a street price of Rs. 8,500 offers the best bang for the buck to anyone looking for an entry-level smartphone with quality support and smooth user experience. The Moto G should ideally target a similar status, aiming to be the king of budget Android smartphones in India, sporting a price tag that is just under Rs 12,000. Or, so we wish…

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Tired of losing your phone or leaving it behind, the HTC Fetch is your solution

If you’re tired of losing your phone or leaving it behind, the HTC Fetch is your solution. Just press the button and the sleek, compact keychain device activates your phone’s ringtone within 15 meters*. Pair it with your phone and you’ll get a warning beep if you leave it behind. If you lose both, a convenient map location feature lets you know where your HTC Fetch and phone were last together. 

*Working range may vary depending on operating environment.

After spending a whopping Rs 56,490 for a phone, you'd want to do everything in your power to make sure it doesn’t get lost/stolen. HTC knows that, and has unveiled something called as HTC Fetch along with its pricey new handset HTC One Max.

The tracking device, HTC Fetch, makes use of GPS (Global Positioning System), Assisted GPS, and mobile-tower triangulation technology to ascertain a phone's location. The device, which is worth Rs 2500, as reported by DNA, when paired with HTC One Max's fingerprint scanner, makes it fool proof. That said, this tracker will work only with the One series handsets. Once connected wirelessly, the device and handset will begin ringing if the phone is 10 metres away from the owner, and an e-mail with the phone's location on Google Maps will be fired.

I'm not sure at that price point many people would actually want to buy the HTC One Max, let alone buy a tracker device that expensive as an accessory. On the bright side, this is a cheaper and more useful accessory than what Samsung has to offer with its Note 3 device.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Secure your phone and belongings
Last seen tracking
Remote camera shutter
Easy to set up. Easier to use.
Sleek and compact design

CONNECTIVITY

Bluetooth® 4.0/BLE

WORKING RANGE

Up to 15 meter (Depends on working environment)

BATTERY

6 month battery lifetime (CR2032 replaceable battery)

COLOUR

Black

COMPATIBILITY

HTC One mini, HTC Butterfly s, HTC One max

All Specs

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PS4 declassified: How Sony used its PS3 mistakes to build the ultimate developer's console

The PlayStation 3 was a troubled machine, launching at a price that gave gamers fits, and using technologies that gave developers headaches. This is how Sony avoided making the same mistakes twice.

It's the fall of 2006 and Sony has a problem. The PlayStation 3, the company's eagerly awaited and hyperbolically marketed successor to the best-selling video game console of all time, has not been well-received. The major issue is cost. With models launching at $499 and $599, the PS3 is shipping a year later than Microsoft's Xbox 360 and selling for $100 higher -- $200 more if you compare it with the hard drive-free Xbox 360 Core edition.
That placed the system out of the reach of many gamers, but it was a cost necessitated by complex, custom internals -- not the least of which being the physical inclusion of an Emotion Engine CPU, the brain that powered the PS2. Sony had basically replicated the guts of the older system to enable proper backward compatibility, and, by mixing that with a very advanced processor called Cell, created a system that simply could not be sold inexpensively at launch.

Cost, though, is something that can be fixed, and Sony solved that problem. The economic implications of volume production are well understood, and video game components are high-volume things. Sony would streamline and refactor the PS3 on multiple occasions, ultimately ripping out that PS2 backward compatibility, and bringing the cost of the higher-end PS3 down to $499 the July after launch, then introducing a new, midrange $399 model that November. It was an effective $200 price cut in just one year.

Valve's Gabe Newell famously said the PlayStation 3 was a 'waste of everyone's time.'

But there was a bigger problem that could not be so easily fixed, a fundamental restriction that would hinder the success of the system throughout its life. The PlayStation 3 was, quite simply, too damned hard to code for. It was built around that custom Cell processor, a chip that promised (and, in some cases, delivered) supercomputer-like processing power through a combination of multiple, specialized cores. It's a unique architecture that never really caught on. Shaun Himmerick, a Midway producer who worked on titles for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, called development for Sony's console "a huge pain in the ass." Valve's Gabe Newell famously said the PlayStation 3 was a "waste of everyone's time."
Hyperbole, of course, and the PlayStation 3 would prove its worth by providing the gaming world with some truly iconic experiences, like Journey and The Last of Us. Still, Mark Cerny, lead system architect for the new PlayStation 4, pulls few punches in describing the challenges faced by the outgoing system. While he sugar-coated the response to the $599 price a bit, tactfully calling it "not ideal," he is otherwise very candid about the difficulties of developing for the PS3.

Mark Cerny

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Cerny and I met in a demo room full of gaming journalists and hangers-on, all eagerly getting their first proper taste of the PlayStation 4, the product that he has spent nearly six years bringing to market. He's something of a legend among serious game aficionados, getting his start working for Atari in 1982 when he was just 17 years old. A year later he would design Marble Madness, one of the most iconic games of the early '80s. He's more recently had a long tenure working with, and ultimately for, Sony, having a hand in powerhouse titles like Jack and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Crash Bandicoot.

Cerny's straightforward analysis is a refreshing departure from the bombastic declarations of superiority that accompanied 2006's PlayStation 3 launch.

Cerny's dark, reddish-brown hair and expressive face make him look far younger than his age of 49. A soft-spoken voice and reserved demeanor seem somewhat at odds with his position as the guiding force of the single most important product in Sony's vast portfolio. His honest and straightforward analysis of the challenges faced by the PlayStation 3 is a refreshing departure from the bombastic declarations of superiority that accompanied 2006's PS3 launch. It makes his well-grounded optimism about the future success of the PlayStation 4 feel all the more infectious.
"PlayStation 3 is very powerful. It's a supercomputer on a chip, that's the Cell processor. But, at the same time, to unlock that power you have to spend a lot of time. People have now spent eight years learning the depths of that architecture, how to make games look beautiful and make these rich interactive worlds. You can see that in The Last of Us. It did take a lot of effort. I wanted to be sure that the next time around that it was just a lot easier for developers to make the games. It was very important to me that they could be focused on their creative vision and not learning the minutiae of the hardware."
Ease of development was a primary goal in the initial design discussions for what would become the PS4. Work began in early 2008. That's a stark contrast to the goal of the PS3, seemingly maximum performance at any cost. In the pursuit of power, even developer support, crucial tools that allow for the creation of great games, was left by the wayside. Says Cerny: "With PS3 we didn't really start creating developer tools until the hardware was done, and it turns out that was too late, and so it was pretty tough making the launch titles."

Michiel van der Leeuw

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Michiel van der Leeuw is technical director at Guerrilla Games, developer of the eagerly anticipated launch title Killzone: Shadow Fall. He remembers the early teething pains of Sony's previous next-gen effort: "Early games didn't use SPUs at all. [The processing units that made the Cell processor so powerful.] A lot of games had frame rate issues. It took a while to get the hang of it. There was a very big learning curve to it."
And how much easier is the new system? "A lot. We have created a launch title in two and a half years. It's got a campaign that's longer than ever. The world is about four or five times bigger...even with all the struggles of being the first one out the door, with the operating system being in development. I think that's a testament to how easy it is."
Of course, van der Leeuw had something of a privileged position as being a developer on what's widely considered to be the PS4's premier title of the moment. But, his elevated status truly began many years ago. Before Cerny's team got too far down the design process for the console, his team gathered opinions from developers, asking them what their ideal PS3 successor would look like.
"I went out and spoke to 30-something development teams during development and got their feedback on what they wanted," Cerny told me. "This was 2008 to 2009. I couldn't admit that this was about the PlayStation 4. I concealed this as a questionnaire about what the future of video game hardware would look like. But they knew what I was talking about."

Michiel van der Leeuw

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Van der Leeuw was one of those 30, and yes, he knew exactly what Cerny was talking about. "It started in 2009, I believe, that I got the first e-mail from Mark Cerny, that he wanted to discuss something about the future and was very cryptic back then. It was very early days, roughly sketching what the future of consoles would look like and what are the biggest problems. I think I was the only one disclosed at this moment and it stayed like that for about a year. I would have secret conference calls in the corners of our office in the middle of the night, because of course the rest of the people were in Tokyo or in the United States." Did he know it was PS4? "Yeah."

Part of Cerny's job was corralling the opinions of dozens of developers, encouraging them to speak their minds. Then began the daunting task of satisfying them all.

Back then the PS4 was known as NGH, or Next Generation Hardware, and part of Cerny's job was corralling the opinions of dozens of developers, encouraging them to speak their minds. Then began the daunting task of satisfying them all. "I asked them: how many CPUs do you feel comfortable working with, because some parallelization is necessary in software on consoles. I heard answers of anything from one CPU up to 1,000, but the consensus answer was four or eight, which is why the PlayStation 4 has eight. They asked for unified memory as our number one request, and we have unified memory. They want a hard drive in every console. And, within our constraint of making an affordable console, we tried to fulfill all of those requests."

Michiel van der Leeuw and Herman Hulst

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

The team at Guerrilla Games seems to feel content that the result meets their needs. Managing Director Herman Hulst told me, "We pretty much got what we wanted" -- including a headphone jack in the controller.
Of course, people don't always know what they want until you give it to them, and Cerny's team felt compelled to go beyond the basic demands for more power, more memory, and more storage. Cerny is particularly optimistic about the console's asynchronous fine-grained compute capabilities. This is, basically, using the PS4's Radeon GPU for nongraphical tasking, like more atmospheric audio or realistic physics. "This vision for how that almost two teraflops of power could be used to enhance the interactivity of the world was something that we had, to use the hardware to bring the game much closer to reality," says Cerny.

And then there are the social aspects of the console, enabling gamers to quickly and easily capture and share video of their greatest digital achievements. Online video sharing was just getting into its stride when PS4 design work began, and integrating this was something his team wanted from the beginning. Cerny worked to build bridges across the notoriously siloed Sony enterprise to make this functionality come together. "It was definitely part of the core concept. Once we had the hardware worked out we formed a multidisciplinary team to work on the user experience. That included people across all of Sony Computer Entertainment, and in fact people from other parts of Sony were involved."
Cerny believes that this social element, the ease of sharing footage and highlights from games, will increase the discoverability of niche indie games. These are the sorts of titles that offer refreshing experiences but often get lost amid the big-money marketing budgets of the major publishers. Secret Ponchos is one of those games, a sort of Spaghetti Western beat 'em up that drew crowds at the most recent PAX East. It also caught the eyes of two very important gamers: Brian Silva and Nick Suttner from Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Developer Relations team. Yousef Mapara, president and creative director for developer Switchblade Monkeys, had no idea that he was making the pitch of his life on the show floor.

Yousef Mapara

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

"Usually you pitch to executives on their terms and you go and they're in suits and using BlackBerrys. Sony was the opposite. They were on the floor disguised as regular gamers, you didn't know they were Sony, and they were just checking out which games they liked....They introduced themselves and said, 'We like your game. How do we get it on PS4?' Before that we didn't think that was a possibility. I actually told them, 'I don't think we can do that, because we're so small. There are too many hurdles.' Brian asked, 'Well, what are your hurdles? We'll help you through them.' I think that kind of proactive approach is going to give them a really impressive indie portfolio."

They were on the floor disguised as regular gamers, you didn't know they were Sony, and they were just checking out which games they liked.

Indeed, while Microsoft seemed to be ignoring the indie scene when it launched the Xbox One, Sony was being hugely proactive in lining up titles like Secret Ponchos. At launch, there will be nine smaller-scale PSN titles, and Mapara thinks more will come thanks to the PS4's ease of development.
"The PS3 was very powerful, but you needed to put in a lot of custom work to get a lot of that power. PS4 just out of the box has more standardized power that is just easier to tap into and is less difficult for programmers....There are processes in that they're making it very easy. If you don't know what to do you can call someone up. There's an account manager that will help you, there are forums where you can post stuff. You get a lot of support from Sony."
Guerilla's Van Der Leeuw is equally impressed by the improvements on the developer support side. "The hardware is much simpler. The unified memory is really important. The developer support is much better. The operating system is much less restrictive, it does a lot more stuff for you. There's a lot of stuff you don't have to worry about anymore. But also, the TRC, the Technical Requirements Check, the testing that every game needs to perform to, that was a big set of requirements you have to fulfill, and that's been simplified."
Of course, there is a dark side to all this: the dreaded port. By making a system easy to target, easy for developers to get up to speed quickly, the barrier of entry becomes shorter. When you're talking about a talented indie developer with a great idea, making things easy is of course a very good thing. However, all too often that same benefit is exploited by bigger, revenue-driven publishers trying to shovel the same game out to as many platforms as possible. When that happens, the game is typically designed for the lowest common denominator, such that a restriction of one gaming platform winds up being felt on all of them.
This is already happening, with big-budget shooters like Battlefield and Call of Duty rushing to hit as many platforms as possible, rather than focusing on being amazing on one. Focus, Van Der Leeuw says, is what enabled his team to do more. "We were able to create a much bigger, more involved world because we were not so limited by the hardware. That's one thing where you'll see about next-generation titles. They'll get richer and bigger as soon as they shed the previous generation, because the cross-generation titles need to work within the limits of the old generation. But they'll soon be gone."

Of course, Guerrilla didn't have much choice: it's owned by Sony. Yousef Mapara's Switchblade Monkeys is not, but by electing to focus on the PS4, his company was given quite the golden ticket, including free dev kits and lots of support. "They brought us to E3 and put us on stage. A small studio could never afford to do that kind of stuff. So just helping us with exposure has been amazing."
These are the sorts of measures required to woo a developer to focus on one platform or another, but given the rapidly escalating cost of development for a major title, winning that kind of exclusive focus (without buying the development studio outright) is getting ever-more difficult. With both next-gen systems offering very similar functionality and internals, there's less reason than ever for a publisher to want to focus on one platform over another.

Mark Cerny with the author

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

That said, if developers can more easily tap into and make full use of the power of one video game console than the other, games on that system will look better and will run better. Better games usually mean greater sales, and that's ultimately the name of the game. In that regard, Mark Cerny is already confident. "We have the most preorders of any console we've ever released, so I'd say the reaction to this has been quite good."
As Cerny looks over the room of gamers clutching DualShock 4 controllers, many getting their first taste of the PlayStation 4's first titles, I ask him whether he's ready for launch. "It's been six years. Yes, I'm ready."

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Smartphones take lead with 55% of mobile phone sales

The global surge is being driven by the arrival of lower-priced smartphone models in China and other emerging markets, according to Ericsson.

(Credit: Ericsson) 

 

The astronomic growth in the mobile arena has been due in large part to the increasing popularity of smartphones, new data from Ericsson reveals.
The communications technology company on Monday released mobile phone sales data for the third quarter, and revealed that smartphones accounted for 55 percent of all worldwide handset sales during the period, though they still represent just 25 percent to 30 percent of all mobile phone subscriptions. But by 2019, Ericsson said, 5.6 billion of the 9.3 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide (60 percent) will be for smartphones.
The trend is being driven by the arrival of lower-priced smartphone models in China and other emerging markets, according to Ericsson.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of smartphones, Ericsson believes that mobile traffic originating from the handsets will increase 10 times between 2013 and 2019. Video will make up over 50 percent of all mobile global traffic, according to Ericsson. By 2019, total smartphone traffic will hit 10 exabytes annually.

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Windows 8.1 gains traction among desktop OS users

It's early days still, but the new update to Windows 8 grabbed just under 2 percent of all desktop OS traffic seen by Net Applications last month.

(Credit: Net Applications) 

 

Windows 8.1 has snagged a healthy number of users since its official debut on October 17.
The latest version of Windows captured 1.72 percent of all desktop OS traffic recorded by Web tracker Net Applications in October. That number was up from the 0.87 percent seen in September and the 0.24 percent in August.
Windows 8.1 surfaced as a preview edition in June before taking its official bow last month. Since the upgrade is free to Windows 8 users, a healthy chunk of the increased traffic likely comes from people who have run that upgrade.
Windows 8 did also saw its share of desktop OS traffic drop to 7.53 percent in October from 8 percent in September, its first decline since hitting Net Applications' charts.
Windows 7 remained firmly in the top spot with a 46.4 percent share, leaving XP in second place with a share of 31.2 percent. Windows XP has held on despite its advanced years but has slowly been losing its share of traffic. Microsoft is due to cut off support for XP in April 2014.
On the mobile OS front, iOS remained dominant as its share of traffic rose to 55.3 percent in October from 53.6 percent the previous month. Android inched up to 30.5 percent from 29.4 percent. The BlackBerry OS lost ground as its share fell to 2.5 percent from 3.2 percent following a series of gains during the summer.

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Startup Cover bets on Android's market clout, flexibility

A trio of veterans from Google, Facebook, and Yahoo tries to make Android phones more useful by anticipating the apps you want the moment you wake up a device. Something they couldn't do on iOS.

Cover shows different icons on an Android phone's unlock screen depending on where the software judges a person to be. The idea is to figure out which apps people need, so people can get access as soon as possible.

(Credit: Cover) 

 

Why do iOS users get all the new apps first?
Many companies get their start on Apple's mobile market, but a start-up called Cover that's launching Thursday hopes to find profits from the increasingly powerful and widely used Android instead. The company's software, free and beginning closed beta testing Thursday, is designed to make it easier and faster to use the app you want when using Google's operating system.
Cover shows a six-item list of a person's most-used apps down the left edge of a phone's lock screen. Tapping one of the icons launches its app immediately, and sliding an icon toward the right lets you peek quickly at details of that app -- e-mail inboxes, city maps, calendar appointments, and so on. The app tries to anticipate what you'll need so you'll be one step closer to getting what you need on the phone.
A key part of the idea is contextual awareness. Cover figures out whether you're at home, at work, or on the road and changes its app list accordingly. It learns what apps you prefer in each location. And it also adjusts apps by circumstances such as plugging in headphones, which means you'll likely want music-related apps, or holding the phone in landscape orientation, which could mean you want to take a photo.
"We're trying to make it easier for people to get to the right apps at the right time," said company Chief Executive Todd Jackson, a Google and Facebook veteran who co-founded Cover. That chore is getting harder as people install and use more and more software hidden among endless grids of icons.

People with Android 2.3 or later can request access to the Cover beta version on the company's Web site. It's available for free, but the company hopes to make money through other means such as spotlighting new apps or promoting ones they've installed but not used. Another idea, Jackson said, is licensing the interface to smartphone makers.
The business case is compelling enough to attract $1.7 million in seed funding from: First Round Capital, Harrison Metal Capital, Max Levchin, Scott Banister, Charlie Cheever, Keith Rabois, Dave Girouard, and Alex Franz.
Jackson, along with co-founders Edward Ho and Gordon Luk, are betting not just on their idea, but on Android, too.
"Companies are still focused on iOS, but users are moving to Android," Jackson said. "I was at Facebook when the numbers crossed and there were more Android users than iOS users. It's never going back."
Cover therefore has tied its fortunes to those of Google's mobile OS. "Android is this tidal wave in terms of number of users and growth. It's not far-fetched to imagine that in a couple years there are going to be billions of Android users," he said. Attracting even a tiny fraction of those users means the company could still have 10 million users.

Cover founders, from left to right: Edward Ho, Todd Jackson, and Gordon Luk

(Credit: Cover) 

 

Jackson, a Stanford graduate, has a high-cred resume. He was a group product manager for Gmail at Google from 2007 to 2011, and a Facebook product manager from 2011 to 2012 where he led the redesign of the social network's all-important News Feed. But he decided mobile software was the next place to go, and that Android was the way to make a business there.
Ho, Cover's chief technology officer, was a senior engineer on the Yahoo Pipes project before becoming a Google+ product director from 2011 to 2012. And Luk founded Upcoming.org, which Yahoo acquired in 2005, and more recently the game developer Goodhustle Studios.

Judging context
In the future, Cover should get even more nuanced in judging context and acting on that information. "We want to be even more fine-grained in how we do app prediction," Jackson said.
For example, the software can judge when you're at home by detecting Wi-Fi networks -- nothing shocking there. But by judging the relative signal strength of multiple networks, Cover could be able to judge which room you're in, too.
"We wrote a prototype that triangulates indoor position using the Wi-Fi networks you can see," Jackson said. "With the setup in my house, it can tell if you're in the living room, the kitchen, or the bedroom. What we'd like to do is know if you're sitting in front of the TV, pull up the apps you use with TV. In the evening in the bedroom, it can show Netflix or Sonos."
Cover also is looking into showing apps based on behavioral patterns -- for example showing a trading app in the mornings after you check stock news.
Cover also uses other methods to judge context. It figures out you're driving not by using the GPS system, which would drain batteries, but by using the accelerometer and gyroscope to gauge motion characteristic of driving, Jackson said.
In a week's worth of testing, I found the software to be useful. The peek feature can be handy, but I most often ended up just "flinging" the app icon I already knew I wanted. A new task-switching mechanism is fast -- perhaps because it doesn't have to spend any time retrieving thumbnails the way Android's built-in task switcher does.
My biggest complaint is that an actual locking mechanism on the lock screen -- and I strongly suggest you use one -- significantly reduces Cover's usefulness and indeed can mean the last app you were using is three actions away instead of just two actions.

Authentication speed bump
Effectively, Cover turns an Android phone's lock screen -- what you see when you first wake up the phone -- into its home screen. But there's a big obstacle in Cover's attempt to speed up app access: lock screens that are actually locked with a PIN code, swipe pattern, fingerprint reader, or Google's face unlock feature.
In the real world, though, many people don't use any phone lock-screen authentication, Jackson said. "I see about...half the people don't have security," he said. "Of those who wave passwords, often they have 1- or 5- or 10-minute timeouts" so the authentication screen doesn't show during frequent phone use.
For those with authentication hurdles, Cover is still useful, Jackson believes. For one thing, its peek and fast-launch features still work if people set their phones to require a PIN code only after the phone has been asleep for some period of time.
For another, the software has another feature: fast switching among apps by tapping the notifications bar at the top of the screen then sliding a fingertip down to the desired app.
It's faster than long-pressing a home button and easier to perform than using the task-switching button some Android phones possess, Jackson argues. And instead of showing a list just of the most recently used apps, Cover shows a combination of recently used apps and the ones it judges people most likely to want even if they're not the most recent. So in the car, for example, you'll always see Google Maps and Waze apps, he said.
Improving how Cover works for people using authentication "is our biggest opportunity for improvement" after version 1, Jackson said.

Android fanboys
Android may lag iOS in some areas, but it's catching up, Jackson said.

Google's OS is "hugely different and better" compared to two years ago, whereas iOS is "mostly the same" despite a different look with iOS 7, Jackson said. "It's clear to me that Android is moving faster as an ecosystem than the iPhone is."
He believes that's the case because there are a dozen companies all using Android to compete rather than a single one.
"Android started from behind with the capabilities and level of polish it had. But because of this frenetic energy [and developer options] like an outside developer being able to modify the keyboard, you get faster progress in a shorter amount of time," Jackson said. "In 2013 it's not there yet, but I think that level of polish will come. You sort of have to bet on the momentum vs where we are today."
Android gives developers the power they need to create something like Cover or the SwiftKey keyboard, neither of which would be possible on iOS, Jackson said.
"On one platform you can make an app. On the other platform, you can make the phone better. That's Android, and that's why we're excited about it," Jackson said. "The three of us are all former iOS users. We thought Android is really interesting in terms of what you can do as a developer. You can't replace factory components on iOS, you can't see outside your app, you can't control system volume settings, you can't continuously monitor sensors. You can't do any of that stuff on an iPhone."
With the new investment, the company wants to hire more programmers and designers so it has a staff of about a dozen by this time next year. Android developers should want to work for a company like Cover, Jackson thinks, because they won't be the second-class citizens they are at many Silicon Valley companies that make iOS the top priority.
"If you're an Android designer and you work company that's iOS-first, it's a little demoralizing. You're working over things the company doesn't care about," Jackson said.

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Truck containing 22,500 LG G2 phones goes missing

The G2 phones were headed for Sprint, which is set to launch its version of the LG flagship device next month.

 

Talk about your hot phone.
A truck containing 22,500 LG G2 smartphones was stolen on the way to its destination in Louisville, Ky., CNET has learned. The phones were on their way to Sprint, which is expected to launch its version of the G2 early next month.

The phones were stolen at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at a truck stop in Gary, Ind., an LG representative confirmed to CNET. The driver left the truck for a bathroom break, and upon returning, found the vehicle missing.
The Indiana and Illinois state police have been contacted, as well as the FBI.
The G2 is LG's flagship device, and has stood out in the market with its unique volume and power button located at the back of the smartphone, right under the camera. It's a controversial change that has met with mixed reviews.
The G2, like other flagship phones such as the Galaxy S4, iPhone 5S, and HTC One, was released on multiple carriers, with Sprint among the later carriers to sell the device.

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Get hired with these five Windows Phone apps

Stay on top of your job hunt and build your professional network on the run with these apps on Windows Phone.

Between brushing up your resume, filling out applications, and networking with people in your industry, you can end up spending a lot of time spent in front of a computer when hunting for a new job.
If you'd rather get away from your screen and still not fall behind on your job search, there are a few apps that can help. I've rounded up five professional networking and job search engine apps that can help you spot new opportunities and keep you organized along the way.

Augmented reality in Nokia's JobLens app.

(Credit: Screenshots by Sarah Mitroff) 

 

JobLens
First up is JobLens, a feature-packed app from Nokia that includes in-depth information on company history, salary estimates, and location demographics with each job listing. You can find opportunities several ways, but the two most interesting are the map view and "augmented viewer," which uses augmented reality to show nearby job listings in your camera viewfinder.
To use the app, you must sign in with LinkedIn and Facebook, which might turn off anyone hunting for a job who doesn't want to put their Facebook information out there. However, JobLens uses your LinkedIn connections and Facebook friends to find jobs at the companies where your friends and professional contacts work, so you have a better shot of getting the gig. The app even gives you a checklist of tasks to get the job, such as company due diligence and preparing for the interview.
The only downside of JobLens is that the app kicks you the job listing's website in your phone's browser to apply. If you'd rather not fill out an application on a tiny mobile screen, you can save listings in the app to view later.
Nokia's also got you covered if you're hunting for an internship. The company recently unveiled Internships Lens, which does everything that JobLens does, but instead searches for paid and unpaid internships aimed at students.

Get employment stats in the Job Compass app.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff) 

 

Job Compass
Job Compass bills itself as a decision-making app that can help guide you to a new career. It includes stats from the US Department of Labor on the industries with the most employees and highest pay, as well as salary breakdowns for nearly any job title you can search for.
The app also has detailed job listings that give you a quick run-down of responsibilities, required experience, and location. Like JobLens, the app bumps you out to the browser to fill out an application, but it also gives you a place to store jobs that you can apply to later if you prefer. In my research for this list I found a lot of crummy job search apps in the Windows Phone app store, but Job Compass is one of the few worth downloading.

LinkedIn helps you build a professional network.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff) 

 

LinkedIn
Building a LinkedIn profile is standard professional protocol these days, right behind writing a resume. The service lets you create a profile with all of your skills and work experience, and then connect with friends, co-workers, and classmates to build a professional network.
You can't create or manage your profile with the LinkedIn mobile app for Windows Phone, but you can search for job opportunities. In the app you'll see recommended jobs that LinkedIn thinks you might be interested in or that match your skills. Unfortunately, you cannot submit applications directly from the Windows Phone LinkedIn app, but you can save jobs for later.
Compared to LinkedIn's website, the app is pretty basic. Still, it's a useful tool to find job leads and stay in touch with your network.

Hunting for jobs on Craigslist+.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff) 

 

Craiglist+
As the newspaper classifieds for the Internet age, Craigslist is a popular place to hunt for a new job because both smaller firms and big companies often post job listings there. For pursuing these ads on your Windows Phone, I recommend Craigslist+.
The app has a pleasing colorful design, is easy to use (provided you're familiar with Craigslist already) and has all the helpful filters you could need to narrow down your search. You can even reply to job posts from the app, though it does open your email client to send the message.

CamCard snaps photos of business cards and creates new contacts.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff)

CamCard
Throughout your job hunt, you're bound to encounter a lot of business cards. If you're anything like me, you don't want to worry about losing those tiny pieces of paper, but manually entering each new contact into your phone sounds less enticing than a root canal. CamCard is one of many business card readers in the app store, and, in my opinion, one of the easiest to use.
Just snap a picture of any business card, and the app does its best to grab the information and sort it into the correct categories, such as work phone and email. It's not always completely accurate, especially when capturing cards with fancy fonts, but it works remarkably well overall. Once it grabs all the information, you can edit anything that doesn't look right and save the contact in the app. CamCard stores the original card photo with the text contact, which you can export to your phone's People app at any time.

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GTA V PC torrent scam hits thousands

Thousands of hopeful GTA fans have been infected by a virus scam masquerading as the PC version of Rockstar's GTA V.

(Credit: WCCF Tech)

Rockstar hasn't yet announced a PC version of the overwhelmingly popular GTA V, and fans are desperate for it. A massive number of people — over 614,000 — have signed a Change.org petition to port the game, which smashed through seven world records in its opening weekend, to PC, and industry sources have hinted at a PC version coming in early 2014.
But when you want what you want when you want it, sometimes common sense flies right out the window. Thousands of hopeful PC gamers have downloaded a legitimate-seeming torrent file claiming to be GTA V, only to find their machines infested with malware, WCCF Tech has reported.
The file looks legit, appearing near the top of Google search results, and nearly 7000 users connected; however, appearing as a setup.exe file, the first clue that something could be awry is the file size 18.3GB, compared to 7.7GB for the Xbox 360 version.
When users go to install the game, they're asked to complete surveys that ask for personal information in return for a .txt file containing a key. At this point, though, 18GB worth of malware has already been let loose on the user's PC.
Of course, this isn't the only GTA V PC torrent scam out there — a quick web search reveals several results. Your best bet is, of course, not to download anything that doesn't come from Rockstar or its authorised resellers, especially before the developer has even announced a PC version of the game.

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PlayStation 4 mobile app to launch for PS Vita owners

The app will allow PS Vita owners to use their device as a second screen for the upcoming PlayStation 4.

Sony's PS Vita.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

PS Vita users who plan to buy a PlayStation 4 will soon have a "second screen" app at their fingertips.
Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment, was recently asked on Twitter whether the Vita would get a version of the PlayStation4 app due out in November for iOS and Android users.
In response, Yoshida promised that Sony would add the app, dubbed PS4 Link, to the Vita with the next update.
Assuming PS Link acts as a full companion app for the PS4, it would allow PS Vita owners to use their device as a second screen, mimicking or expanding the gameplay from the console. It would also let users hop onto the Sony PlayStation network where they can watch what others are playing, accept invitations to join in, and download games directly to the PS4.
The PlayStation 4 is slated to launch November 15 in North America.

(Via PlayStation Magazine)

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Nvidia's Gamestream initiative to bring PC titles to the big screen

Piggybacking off the streaming feature of the Shield, Nvidia lays out its bid for living room gaming by combining its PC chips with its Android handheld.

(Credit: Nvidia) 

 

In the world of PC gaming, nearly everyone is gunning for the living room and the big screen. On the heels of Valve Software's Steam OS and Steam Machine announcements last month, Nvidia has now outlined its plans for bringing PC titles to televisions, branding it Gamestream and combining the performance of its GPUs with its handheld Shield device.
The announcement was made Friday at Nvidia's The Way It's Meant to be Played event in Montreal, where CEO Jen-Hsun Huang outlined his vision for the Nvidia ecosystem.
The effort is the official version of what the company was exploring with the Shield's streaming functionality. That was previously a beta program that introduced the use of the flip-screen handheld's wireless functionality and the company's line of GeForce GPUs to allow for low-latency streaming of console-grade titles from one's PC.
Gamestream is very much the same idea, though now with an official title and a release date slated for October 28. Simply put, GameStream will allow any PC with a GeForce GTX graphics card to send over titles to a living room television by way of the Shield's Wi-Fi, achieved through plugging in the handheld into any monitor with an HDMI-in.
The Shield can also be paired with Nyko PlayPad Pro Bluetooth controller for what Nvidia is calling Shield console mode.
Gamestream will support more than 50 PC games at launch, including highly anticipated releases like Batman: Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and will also sync with Nvidia's GRID cloud service.

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Slim Nokia Lumia 1520 has 6-inch HD screen, 20MP camera, quad-core (hands-on)

Bigger isn't always better, but it is in the case of Nokia's 6-inch Lumia 1520, which Nokia unveiled on Tuesday at Nokia World in Abu Dhabi. Slimmer and lighter than you'd expect of a supersize handset , the 1520 brings the goods: a 1080p HD display, a 20-megapixel camera, and a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.
In fact, the 1520 -- along with its more scaled-back cohort, the Lumia 1320 -- represents a couple of firsts: Nokia and Microsoft's first phablets, and the first devices to ship with Microsoft's updated Windows Phone OS, which includes a new three-column interface for extra-large phones and a few extra tidbits. The 1520 is also the first handset for both Nokia and Windows Phone to embrace a quad-core CPU.
We got to go hands-on with the surprisingly sleek device, and here's what we found.

Design and build
The first thing you notice when laying eyes and hands on the 1520 colossus is that it's a lot lighter, slimmer, and sexier than many a phablet. Nokia clearly worked hard to keep the 1520's depth a svelte 8.6 millimeters (0.3 inch), which safely steers it clear of past criticism of the chunkiness of the company's smartphone line (like the Lumia 920, and 820 series, for instance).

As you turn the sharp-cornered rectangle around, you'll also see that Nokia extended its mindfulness about keeping the phone design trim and lean to the camera. Though it's a 20-megapixel camera, the mount only protrudes a bit from the back, surrounded by a sloped-up lip. The whole thing is about the size of a quarter. Nokia switches out the Xenon flash of its Lumia 1020 camera workhorse for a dual LED flash here, partially in an effort to watch the 1520's waistline.
The 1520 -- which comes in glossy red, matte black, matte white, and yellow colors (I saw it in red and black) -- handles well for its size. Proportionally, it feels tall rather than squat, though the device is still far too massive for my hands and I had to stretch my fingers uncomfortably to try to perform some tasks one-handed. Of course, my hands are on the smaller side, and size is a matter of personal preference anyhow.
Unlike some other phones of this size, the Lumia 1520 has no software provisions for one-handed operation. That isn't necessarily a bad thing; I'm not convinced that those modifications work so well anyhow. On the other hand, the touch-sensitive targets are larger, so you'll have a good chance of hitting what you want anyhow.
Not to drum it home, but the size really can't be ignored, especially for those who are on the fence about investing in a smartphone this big. I will say that it stuck out halfway from my back pocket, and even more from the front pocket. It did, however, fit better in the front or back pocket of a man's loose slacks, and I could see it sliding into the internal pocket of a blazer. Likewise, there's plenty of room for a 1520 in a satchel or purse.

Most of the phone's chassis is taken up by its 6-inch 1080p HD LCD screen, which made the Windows Phone start screen pop. Nokia always wins my appreciation for its work on ratcheting down screen reflectance with a polarizing filter called ClearBlack Display. Not only is it intended to cut down reading glare in direct sunlight, it also helps keep light bounceback in check indoors.
Looking over at the left spine of the phone's polycarbonate unibody frame, and you'll notice not one closed door, but two. Above the SIM card door is one for a microSD card, which lets you expand the 32GB internal storage with even more space. This slot, which you open with a tool that comes in the box (or a paper clip or earring back in a pinch), puts the 1520 on par in terms of storage with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One Max.
You'll also find the headset jack along its rim, in addition to the Micro-USB charging port, and power/lock, volume, and camera shutter buttons. Nokia proudly points out that the 1520 houses four microphones, one for the top and bottom of each side, to control noise if you do happen to hold the alarmingly large handset to your ear.
OS and features
Along with the 1320, the Lumia 1520 is the first to ship Microsoft's slightly updated OS, imaginatively called Windows Phone 8 Update 3. The main thing you need to know is that this tweak introduces a three-column view for device screens measuring 6 inches and above.
This layout looks natural on the 1520, not toylike as it could have looked if Microsoft had just opted to increase the size of its already large live tiles. The three-column view has the bonus of bringing more icons to the screen, which means less scrolling for you, especially if you make use of the smallest tiles. You'll also find that more e-mails and photos fill the screen, another fringe benefit of upsizing.
Nokia says that Flipboard will ship with this device, a first for Windows Phone after months of waiting. I didn't get a chance to see that in my demo, but I did see Nokia's new Storyteller app, which mashes up your photo gallery with geotagging to create a timeline of your happenings that you can follow along on a map.
The interface looked clean, and I love the idea of Nokia software intelligently using metadata to cluster together photos by theme (yes, you can edit them if the groupings are wrong). Nokia pitches the app as a more comprehensive way to tell family and friends about recent trips, especially since the app uses Nokia's Here mapping software to pull in nearby businesses and landmarks.

Nokia's 6-inch Lumia superphone uses Windows Phone's new three-column interface for extra-large devices.

(Credit: Andrew Hoyle)

 

At these early demo stages, it just isn't clear if Storyteller is a pretty but minimally useful addition, or a feature that people will learn to use. Folks who prefer a spatial reference to locations (like my dad, who endearingly interrupts stories to ask for cross streets), are likely to get the most excited.
Back on the hardware end of things, there's NFC onboard, and Qi wireless charging makes its return.

Cameras and video
Nokia's deep investment in outrageous optics continues in the Lumia 1520. Like other Nokia phones, the 1520 uses Carl Zeiss Optics and the PureView technology that Nokia is associating with its brand. There are ball bearings for optical image stabilization, and a dual-LED flash, a departure from the xenon flash found in both Verizon's Lumia 928 and in the Lumia 1020.
You'll also find a BSI sensor and a 2.4 aperture, 16:9 default aspect ratio, and 26mm focal length.
In addition to hardware, the 1520's camera app has roughly the same Nokia Pro cam app we saw in the Lumia 1020, down to the onscreen controls you can tap to futz with exposure ratings, and so on. The 1520's version also bundles in a shortcut to the Nokia Smart Cam app, which was previously a lens of its own. Now, you tap an onscreen button to get at those tools, which includes "Best face" for group photos and some action modes.
Nokia also introduces a separate lens (read: camera app) called Refocus, which works like the Lytro camera to shift focus after you take a shot.
These additions certainly boost the camera's capabilities, but Nokia hasn't made fixes that would answer most of my UI critiques, like clarifying some confusing icons and adding an onscreen control to quickly toggle between the front and back cameras. Note, too, that the default camera app isn't the native Windows Phone camera, so if you'd prefer to use that one, you'll need to switch.
There wasn't much of a chance to really examine image quality, but Nokia has typically been able to produce strong images, especially in low-light conditions. The 1520 won't do the incredible lossless cropping you got with the 1020's 41-megapixel shooter, but cropping in should still yield some detail-rich results. We'll have a deeper look at the camera apps and image quality coming up as soon as we get more time with the phone.

Quad-core power and other hardware
This Lumia is a quad-core first for Windows Phone and Nokia both. In this case, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 chipset runs the show. It's certainly among the fastest CPUs CNET has tested on other smartphones, so performance should also be a high point here.
LTE readiness is another capability, even if the faster 4G isn't used in every region worldwide. You'll get 32GB internal storage in the 1520, which is the same you'll see in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and at least one version of HTC's One Max. In addition, you do have that microSD card slot capable of taking 64GB storage, along with 2GB RAM.

Nokia's aftermarket cover folds in on itself to turn into a rather flimsy stand.

(Credit: Nokia)

 

Battery capacity is a respectable 3,400mAh, which should keep the 1520 going for at least a full workday without requiring a charge. Depending on how you use it, you'll drain resources faster doing things like streaming photos and video.

Pricing and availability
With top-notch specs across the board, the Lumia 1520 is sold as a premium device. It'll cost $750 unsubsidized. For reference, this is identical in price to the unsubsidized 32GB iPhone 5S, $30-$50 more than the unsubsidized Note 3 (which also incorporates a stylus and writing software), about $100 more than the Samsung Galaxy S4, and $150 higher than the full-price Lumia 1020 at AT&T. The subsidized prices should break down to about $250 on-contract.
AT&T was the first out of the gate to announce carrier support for the 1520, but there's no word yet on pricing or colors. Look for additional carrier announcements to come to mature markets like the US and parts of Europe, among others. It's likely we'll see the 1520 land in time for the holiday push.

How the Lumia 1520 stacks up
Nokia came to compete in the extra-large smartphone space, and that it does, bringing top-notch specs and attractive hardware to an increasingly crowded field.
Compared with other Nokia phones, the supersize 1520 is a whopper, but it's also thin enough to suggest that Nokia can kiss its thick-Lumia image goodbye. Taken together, top-tier screen, processor, and camera specs make the 1520 the most advanced Windows Phone device there is, although its massive form won't appeal to everyone. It'll also be Nokia's most expensive handset.
When weighed against other phablet designs, the 1520 fits right in. Phones are trending big -- really big -- so it's good for Nokia to throw its own hat into the ring. The Lumia 1520 costs about the same as other premium phablets and brings specs that match, so performance should be roughly equivalent. (Due to its high price, the 1520 isn't meant to compete on the same scale as the $350 Lumia 1320 (also 6 inches), or even the $600 unsubsidized Samsung Galaxy Mega, both of which are positioned as midrange phablets.)
The real question mark hanging over it is if it can survive the rising Android tide. Windows Phone still falls behind Android in adoption and capabilities. While it's unlikely that the 1520 will win new customers away from Android, Nokia won't lose current OS fans and new smartphone users who yearn for that near-tablet size.

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