5.31.2015

Windows Beats Android at Something for the First Time: Number of Cherry Trail Tablet Announced in a Week

We didn’t think that this day would come, but it’s here: Windows has beat Android at something. We’re talking about the number of Windows devices with Intel Atom Cherry Trail chips inside, launched over the past week.
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While Microsoft has its OS on quite a few Cherry Trail devices, there’s no model with Android so far. Acer is prepping a new Switch tablet/laptop hybrid with a 10 inch screen later this year. Lenovo also announced the new ThinkPad 10 with Cherry Trail, shown above. Intel debuted this chipset earlier this year, meaning for it to work with Android or Windows without a problem.
Microsoft Surface 3 is the only available table with Cherry Trail, in the shops right now. More Cherry Trail models will be shown in a few days at the Computex trade show starting in Taipei. Most of these slates have 10 inch diagonals or more. There are also Android tablets with Bay Trail CPUs out there, so the previous gen Intel CPU got traction in the Android world, but somehow Cherry Trail doesn’t tempt Android slate makers.
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Acer Switch 10 (2015) Hybrid Tablet Will Bring an Intel Atom X5 CPU

Soon, at the Computex 2015 show is also expected that Acer to show up with some new products like the 2015 Acer Switch 10 2-in-2 device. Apparently, this hybrid tablet will include the Intel Atom X5 processor that in spite of the upgrade, we’ll get just some small improvements in graphics performance and efficiency.
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In the same time we get to know that the Switch 10 will remain pretty similar in terms of design as the actual generation available on the market. As you may know, the Atom X5 CPU that will be found on this tablet is a 64-bit capable one that supports 64-boot loaders.
Also, once announced, the Acer Switch 10 2015-edition may bring Windows 10 operating system from factory. If you are willing to wait more, Acer could bring on the market a high-end variant of it with 4 GB of RAM memory and Atom X7 processor. Does this sound good enough for you?

Android M Brings Support for 4K Resolution; 2160p Tablets Incoming?

The thing shown in the image below is a 4K panel with a 10.1 inch diagonal that may just make it to the next big tablet. It may happen sooner than you think, considering the hints. Those include the fact that Android M offers support for 4K resolutions.
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Android M was announced on Thursday by Google during the I/O 2015 event and it brings several improvements to the battery, permissions and connectivity, including USB Type C support. It also comes with support for 4K screens, which means a resolution of 2160 x 3840 pixels. We’ve recently heard that Samsung was experimenting with upscaling on various devices, trying to increase resolutions or alternate between them.
Well, this could be one of the ways to launch 4K devices into the mainstream. The Galaxy Note 5 has also been rumored to be 4K material for a while now, but a 4K phone feels a bit overkill at this point. Everybody likes a sharp display, but considering there are so many laptops out there with 1366 x 768 pixel resolutions, how did we get to 2160p so fast?

Nexus 9 International Giveaway

Welcome to the Sunday Giveaway, the place where we giveaway a new Android phone or tablet each and every Sunday.

A big congratulations to last week’s winner of the Galaxy S6 giveaway: Arrys E. from Philippines.



This week we are giving away a Nexus 9!

This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Blood Brothers 2.



The highly anticipated sequel to BLOOD BROTHERS, a strategic RPG enjoyed by over 25 million players worldwide.

Blood Brothers 2 is a strategy RPG released by DeNA. It’s the sequel to the acclaimed Blood Brothers game that amassed over ten million downloads during its run. It’s a strategy RPG with some monster collection elements and a bit of online multiplayer thrown in. It was a fairly solid game already but DeNA recently released a huge update to make it even better. Let’s take a look.

Related: Nexus 9 review | Best Nexus 9 cases

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Nexus 9 Giveaway!

Terms & Conditions

  • The giveaway is an international giveaway (Except when we can not ship to your Country.)
  • If we can not ship to your country, you will be compensated with an online gift card of equal MSRP value to the prize.
  • We are not responsible for lost shipments.
  • You must be age of majority in your Country of residence.
  • We are not responsible for any duties, import taxes that you may incur.
  • Only 1 entry per person, do not enter multiple email addresses. We will verify all winners and if we detect multiple email addresses by the same person you will not be eligible to win.
  • We reserve all rights to make any changes to this giveaway.
  • This giveaway is operated by Android Authority.
  • The prize will ship when it is available to purchase.

Full terms & conditions and FAQ | Past giveaway winners [Gallery]

Huawei and Volkswagen partnering for connected cars effort

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This week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Shanghai, notable Chinese smartphone maker Huawei announced a partnership with Volkswagen to bring connectivity to cars. Together they showed off a suite of apps that will allow users of Huawei phones to safely link their devices to infotainment systems mounted in select Volkswagen vehicles. Included in this suite are apps to aid navigation, text messaging, music, and phone calls.

To manage all of this information in real-time, Huawei has utilised MirrorLink to seamlessly connect devices. MirrorLink is an open technology standard designed to bring instant information to the car screen. It has gained ground abroad, but has not been introduced to the US.

Android Auto has also began rollout in the US, and Google has also created a partnership with Volkswagen, so it is unclear about how much ground MirrorLink will gain in the US, if any. Currently, only the Volkswagen Lamando and Golf 7 are running MirrorLink with Huawei’s suite of vehicle safety apps, and both are locally produced in China. Still, it’s good to see more manufacturers taking smartphone/automobile connectivity seriously.

Google and Qualcomm are building a Snapdragon 810-powered Project Tango smartphone

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While we didn’t see any new Project Tango hardware at Google I/O this year, that doesn’t mean Google forgot about the platform in the slightest. Google today announced that it’s teaming up with Qualcomm to create a Project Tango smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 810 processor. These new smartphones will unfortunately only be geared towards Tango developers and device makers.

Qualcomm has just issued a press release, detailing that the smartphone will be available for purchase for developers in Q3, though no price estimate was given in the release. The image below gives us a good example as to what the Tango/Qualcomm phone will look like.

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Now, there are already Project Tango smartphones out there, but they’re only available to a small subset of devs. But now that Google is partnering with a notable manufacturer to bring its augmented reality platform to a smaller form factor, it’s clear that Google’s intentions are to bring Tango devices to the public, even if it’s not sometime soon.

This news comes after Google just recently began selling its Project Tango tablet to the general public, no invite needed, for just over $500.

Google ATAP’s Project Soli will make interacting with wearables a breeze

Wearable devices and smaller screens are popping up everywhere nowadays. Smartwatches and the crazy new Project Jacquard initiative are great examples of how far wearables have come over the years, though different companies seem to take a different approach on how exactly we navigate around these tiny screens. Google wants you to interact with your Android Wear device by voice dictation, and Apple wants you to control your Apple Watch by touching it. But thanks to a new project out of Google ATAP, wearables (as well as other forms of tech) may soon be controlled in a much different way.

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Project Soli, which was just announced at Google I/O, aims to create a new way of controlling the technology around us, especially smaller screens. Instead of physically touching our devices, Soli wants us to use our “hand motion vocabulary”. The technology Soli is working on would be able to detect incredibly small motions, allowing you to use natural hand motions to perform specific tasks. So, if you think of your hand as an interface, performing a hand motion over a small sensor would be able to complete a task on a smartwatch, alarm clock or anything else, even if the piece of technology isn’t around you at that exact moment.

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ATAP is using a radar sensor to complete this task, which the group has supposedly shrunk down from the size of a gaming console to the size of a quarter. ATAP will release an API which will give developers access to the translated signal info, which will let them do basically whatever they want with the tech. These APIs will be available sometime later this year, targeted at smaller form factors, such as smartwatches.

Just think – the next generation of smartwatches (or the generation after that) might include some really advanced gesture support. For more information on Soli, be sure to check out the video attached above.