Freakmobs-China tablets geek

4.26.2015

ZTE at IFA GPC: SPro2, global growth and 2015 targets

ZTE has announced that the SPro2 smart projector will be going on sale in the USA tomorrow. ZTE’s Senior Director of Technology and Partnerships, Waiman Lam, announced at the company’s IFA GPC power briefing that the SPro2 will be launched in the USA tomorrow and, as we revealed earlier this week, it’s landing on AT&T with a price tag of $400.

The SPro2 is the world’s smartest mobile projector as it runs Android 4.4 KitKat and features a 5 inch display, Snapdragon 800 processor and a 6300 mAh battery. The Pico-HD projector can output 720p HD images on a screen up to 120 inches which autofocuses with a brightness of 200 lumens. For more on the SPro 2, check out our ZTE SPro 2 review(or look at the video below).

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Alongside the SPro 2 announcement, ZTE revealed the Star 2 is coming to Europe and gave us an overview of their market performance around the world.

The Star 2 is the first smartphone to have system-wide voice control that doesn’t require an internet connection and is backed by over 1000 patents, of which 158 are related to voice control. ZTE is working with the world’s leading voice control companies and partners to deliver an impressive voice control system that is untethered and doesn’t require an internet connection to operate.

2014 saw the company ship a total of 100 million devices with 48 million of these being smartphones and for 2015, the company has predicted a total of 100 million shipments but an increase in smartphone shipments by 25 percent to 60 million.

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In the US, ZTE remains the only Chinese OEM with significant share in the market and at the end of 2014, the company had 7 percent market share and 21 percent of the prepaid market. At the end of 2014, the company was No 4 in the overall device market and expects to grow this significantly in 2015 with more devices shipping with the ZTE logo.

ZTE’s growth is not just limited to the US, with the company revealing performance gains all over the world. In Asia Pacific, the company’s smartphone shipments are up 100% year-on-year (YoY) and LTE smartphone shipments are up 500% YoY. Channel income is up 200% YoY and in Russia alone, there are 10,000 retailers offering ZTE devices to customers.

All across the world, the company is transitioning from being an ODM (Original Device Manufacturer) to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) with 75% of devices in Europe now having the ZTE logo stamped on the back. In the Middle East & Africa, ZTE smartphone shipments are up 400% YoY while in China, the company has continued growth for the past four years.

More on ZTE:

Overall, the short 15 minute presentation revealed that ZTE are a Chinese OEM dedicated to delivering growth around the world and the transition to an OEM should help ensure this happens sooner rather than later

4.23.2015

Upcoming Elephone features 4GB RAM, QHD display, Windows 10 AND Lollipop

A quick search for the term “dual boot” on Android Authority will turn up dozens of articles about how Intel, Asus, Samsung, and many other companies have at least explored the concept of dual-booting Windows and Android, or even Windows Phone and Android, only to eventually end up canceling these projects.

With a number of companies and, potentially, consumers interested in the idea of dual booting, why do these projects never seem to work out? For one thing, Google reportedly doesn’t approve of the idea and, considering the pull it has over OEMs, we don’t doubt that the Mountain View giant has played a roll in squashing many of these devices. Microsoft is also said to have reservations about the concept, even if to a lesser extent. That’s not stopping Chinese company Elephone from jumping into the ring with a dual-booting phone, however. After all, Elephone doesn’t have the same Google-restricted relationship that OEMs like Samsung and Asus are in, leaving Elephone free to do just about whatever it wants.

Elephone’s upcoming handset will ship in two versions, one with only Android 5.0 Lollipop, and the other with Windows 10 and Android 5.0 Lollipop running in dual-boot.

Elephone’s upcoming (currently unnamed) handset will ship in two versions, one with only Android 5.0 Lollipop, and the other with Windows 10 and Android 5.0 Lollipop running in dual-boot. The former will arrive sometime in May, with the dual-boot option arriving in June.

The Elephone handset is expected to offer a 5.5-inch display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution. The Android only version will offer a 64-bit MediaTek MTK6795, while the dual-boot variant will be powered by an Intel Atom chip. Cameras will also differ, with the Android-only model featuring a 21MP IMX 230, with the dual-boot version offering a 20.7-megapixel Sony IMX 230 camera. Regardless of whether you’re getting the dual-booting model or the Android version, you’ll get a massive 4GB RAM, a fingerprint scanner, and a battery that’s “more than 3,800mAh”. Not bad specs at all.

It’s unclear exactly how much the Elephone dual-booter will cost, but we imagine it will be pretty affordable, despite the high-end specs. Of course, we also wouldn’t expect it to be widely available outside of China.

That said, if you really are intrigued by the idea of dual-booting, getting your hands on one through an import site probably won’t be terribly difficult. As for those unfamiliar with Elephone, it typically doesn’t produce the most impressive devices on the market, but we’ve reviewed several of their handsets before and walked away reasonably impressed – considering their typically aggressive pricing.

What do you think, would you pick up such a device, if the price were right?

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge-optimized Gear VR available for pre-order tomorrow

Back at MWC we took a look at a revamped version of the Samsung Gear VR, designed with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in mind. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are available, it seems that the Gear VR is finally ready to hit the market, with pre-orders beginning on April 24th through Best Buy.

So what’s new with this latest model? While the biggest difference here is the that the new Gear VR version is made with the Galaxy S6 series in mind, the revised model also is said to be 15% lighter, has an expanded 96-degree field of vision, and a few other improvements beyond this.

Samsung has yet to disclose how much the new Gear VR “Innovator’s Edition” will cost, but considering the Note 4’s model was $199, we imagine that Samsung will keep pricing about the same. What do you think, anyone planning on picking up the new Gear VR for use with their Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge?

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Acer unveils a new 15-inch Chromebook, Iconia One 8 tablet and gaming-centric Predator tablet

At a press event held in New York earlier today, Acer announced a slew of new products that will all be available sometime this year. The company announced a very budget-friendly Chromebook and tablet, another tablet meant for the education market and has plans to bring a higher-end gaming-centric tablet to market as well. Let’s take a look at Acer’s new offerings:

Acer Chromebook 15 (CB3-531)

First up is the Intel Celeron-powered 15.6-inch Chromebook. Dubbed the CB3-531, this Chromebook has an N2830 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage and expandable memory up to 128GB. It has a 1366 x 768 resolution, boasts up to 11 hours of battery life on a single charge, and has all of the normal ports found on today’s standard Chromebooks – one USB 3.0 port, one audio jack and one HDMI port.

If you’re looking for a Chromebook that doesn’t sacrifice performance in any way, you may want to pass on this one. However, it will be available in the U.S. in July starting at just $199.99, so maybe this isn’t a bad deal after all. Take a look at the images below for a closer look.

Acer Iconia One 8 (B1-820) Tablet

Next up is the budget-friendly Iconia One 8 Tablet from Acer. Available for just $149 starting in July, this 8-inch tablet boasts a 1280 x 800 resolution, runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and measures just 9.5mm thin. It runs on an Intel Atom quad-core processor, comes with 16 or 32GB of on-board storage, and is also slated to provide up to 8.5 hours of battery life on a single charge.

Iconia Tab 10 (A3-A30) Tablet

The next tablet on the list is called the Iconia Tab 10, scheduled to arrive in schools around the U.S. this May. It features a 10.1-inch display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, an Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and 16/32/64GB of on-board storage. It also runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and is part of the Google Education ecosystem. This tablet will be available in the United States and in parts of Europe for $299 and €299, respectively.

Acer Predator Tablet

Last but certainly not least, we have the Acer Predator Tablet. To coincide with the company’s Predator PCs, this gaming-focused tablet features four front-facing speakers and an 8-inch display (resolution unknown). It isn’t set to launch until Q4 of this year, which is why details on the device are so scarce right now. We do, however, know that it will have some sort of haptic feedback feature that should make the tablet rumble when you’re taking hard corners in Asphalt 8, for instance. Acer still hasn’t revealed specs, pricing or release date information, but we’ll be sure to update you when that info surfaces.

Which is the better gaming device, the Galaxy S6 or the iPhone 6?

There’s no denying that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Apple iPhone 6 are two of the best smartphones on the market right now – not only when it comes to aesthetics, but also performance. Samsung’s Exynos 7420 processor backed by 3GB of RAM definitely gives Apple’s A8 processor with 1GB of RAM a run for its money. But when it comes to gaming, which device comes out on top? The folks over at GameBench put the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 to the test to find out which device is the better gaming smartphone.

The GameBench team picked a series of ten high-end games to run on each device in hopes to find out which smartphone would run the smoothest while achieving the highest average frame rate. The games used in this test consisted of Boom Beach, Kill Shot, Marvel: Contest of Champions, Modern Combat 5, Dead Trigger 2, Real Racing 3, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Asphalt 8, XCOM: Enemy Within and Monument Valley. For a bit more context, they also included performance results for the Nexus 6 and HTC One M9.

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As you can see from the graphic above, Apple’s iPhone 6 was the clear winner in this test when it came to performance and stability overall. GameBench explains:

The iPhone 6 tended to run games more smoothly, with a higher average frame rate that was very stable and rarely dropped below 30fps. The Galaxy S6 came a pretty close second, with a greater frequency of performance bottlenecks that pushed the framerate below the 30fps threshold.

The HTC One M9 and Nexus 6 came in third and forth place, respectively. Both of these devices showed serious performance slow-downs in some games.

Samsung Galaxy S6 vs Apple iPhone 6

It’s worth noting that these types of tests should be taken lightly. Each device performs differently under separate circumstances, and even the slightest outlier can throw off the entire test. While these specific tests don’t explain exactly why the iPhone 6 outperformed the Galaxy S6, they still give us a good idea as to how exactly these devices will perform in everyday life. GameBench notes that due to the Galaxy S6 running games at a higher resolution than the iPhone 6 (1080p versus roughly 720p), that could cause the Galaxy S6 to produce lower scores. Additionally, a game has the potential to be better optimized for one platform over the other.

If you invest your hard earned cash into any one of these devices, odds are you probably won’t be too upset when it comes to gaming performance. If you’re interested in learning more about these tests, head to the source link below for some more information.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 gets updated to Android Lollipop 5.0.2

When it comes to updating to new versions of Android, Samsung generally isn’t the quickest OEM on the block. Thankfully, this situation has changed some with Lollipop, at least as far as many of their flagship handsets are concerned. Unfortunately, tablets have been a completely different matter, with Samsung being much slower to push out Lollipop, and has only recently started introducing 5.1 to its tablet range. With that in mind, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Wi-Fi) is the latest tablet to get Google’s sweet treat, moving from KitKat over to Android 5.0.2.

As with other Samsung devices, the aesthetics here don’t change that much since TouchWiz hides the majority of the Material Design improvements that Lollipop brings. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any visible changes.

You’ll still find a new multitasking menu, improved notifications, and a variety of speed and performance improvements when compared to KitKat. On the downside, Lollipop also brings its share of new bugs, many of which are only now being addressed with Android 5.1.

While the OTA is starting to rollout now to select regions, it could still be days, weeks, or even longer before it rolls out to everyone. For those that don’t want to wait any longer than they have to, you can also try looking for the update through Samsung Kies.

Anyone manage to get the update yet? If so, did everything go smoothly during and after the update? Let us know in the comments.

Android customization – install Android apps remotely using ADB from your PC

As we finish up our look at ADB in our Android customization series, we want to end with an easy to follow guide on installing apps from your PC. Our previous pieces covered file transfers, screen recording and battery life management.

There is little doubt that one of the best and easiest ways to install apps on your Android devices is through the Google Play Store on your PC. Simply hit the Install or Purchase button and the next time you pick up your phone or tablet, like magic, the app is downloading and installing itself on your device. But what do you do if you download an app to your PC directly from a different source?

Developers are accustomed to having .apk files on their PC, these are the rough equivalent to the .exe files you may be accustomed to on your Windows PC. It is possible for you to get your hands on these .apk files, just check out the latest mobile Humble Bundle for a start.

If you take the time to transfer these .apk files to your Android device, simply ‘double click’ them in your favorite file explorer to install. However, if you do not wish to transfer them, we finally get to the point of today’s post, you can use ADB to install the apps straight from your PC.

Before we get started

To follow along today, you will need a few simple things, first, you will need to have a PC and appropriate USB cable to connect to your Android device. You’ll need to have theAndroid SDK and ADB up and running, which we’ve talked about before.

Finally, you will need an Android app, in .apk format, saved on your PC. As mentioned, alternative app stores like Humble Bundle are an excellent place to get safe .apk files. Please do be careful where you get your app from, installing from unknown sources bypasses the Google Play Store’s malicious content checks.

Install Android apps on your device from your PC

As mentioned above, get your Android device connected to your PC, fire up ADB and enter adb devices to make sure everything is initialized. Make sure you also have an Android app saved to your PC, of course.

In your ADB command/Terminal window, enter the following command replacing the file locations and app name for your .apk file.

adb install C:\Users\Jonathan\Desktop\RavenswordShadowlands-android-1.5-1379707667.apk

Or, perhaps rename your .apk to something a little easier to type out. That, and if you place the file in the same folder as your adb.exe, you can really clean up the entry, doesadb install ravensword.apk look a little easier to you?

Depending on the size of your .apk file, things may look like they’ve frozen up for a short while, you can see that my 500MB file took almost two minutes to get through.

You will also notice that your Android device will not go through the normal notifications of an app install or update. Just hang on for your PC to report success, then go ahead and enjoy your newly installed application.

What’s next

You’ve been warned: Please do keep in mind that by installing .apk files from other sources, you are at the mercy of the developer and any persons providing you the Android app. I won’t bore you with a full blown disclaimer, but do keep your wits about you when searching for Android app files, and no, we will not assume any responsibility for any problems you may encounter by installing a bad app.

All the doom and gloom out of the way, there are tons of great apps that do not live in the Google Play Store. If you’ve been following along our own Gary Sims, you may even have your very own Android app in development.

As this is our last time planning to look at ADB, please be certain to check out Google’s full list of options and available functions in this powerful developer’s tool for Android.

Next week

As with most all of the ADB functionality we covered in our Android customization series, we assume that most of you will not need to use this developer tool in place of the more standard options out there. But when you do need this tool, at least you know what to do. Next week we will change gears entirely, we would like to take a look at security. Not just device security, we want to specifically look at how to enable two-factor authentication on your Google Account, using your Android device, of course.

What is your favorite (legal) place to get great (safe) Android .apk files?