In what could be labeled as this year’s biggest non shocker, Apple is claiming that Samsung is violating Siri patents with Mountain View’s Google Now software. U.S. patents 8,086,604 and 6,846,959 cover technology related to Siri, a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.” 

Apple is grouping these violations together with the case that is already taking place apparently, but what has us scratching our heads is how this is Samsung’s problem. It is Google that controls Google Now, not Samsung. In addition, the Galaxy S4 is also being thrown into the mix, as Apple claims Samsung’s newest device infringes on five patents.

For the time being, Google Now users won’t have to worry about a thing, as the slowly-moving court system goes through its process. This is justice.

Via: FOSS Patents

Apple Sets Eyes on Galaxy S4 and Google Now in Newest Patent Infringements Claim is a post from: Droid Life

We have had a couple of crazy weeks in the Android world, and with all of the traveling we have been doing, we haven’t been able to do a show. Fortunately for you all, that changes tonight at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern!

Last week we had Google I/O, with the announcement of Google Hangouts and All Access – this week we have been on hand at CTIA, shaking my head at Verizon and J-Lo’s announcement of Viva Movil. Big things going down in the wireless industry, for sure.

The show begins at 6:00PM Pacific (9:00PM Eastern). We’ll have live video and chat embeds at that time.

Subscribe | iTunes | Show Page

The Droid Life Show Episode 25 is Going Down Tonight at 6PM Pacific is a post from: Droid Life

We usually have no need to talk about the Amazon Appstore’s free app of the day, given that it’s usually a pretty uninteresting app, but today’s is just too good to pass up. It’s a game called 10000000 and it’s not your typical dungeon crawler. 

I look at this game as the Bejeweled of the genre, pitting users against dungeon monsters, then making you play the puzzle to match up tiles and progress through a level. You collect items to help you defeat enemies, plus there is an even some big green dinosaur sightings inside. To get a good grasp on the game, check out the trailer below.

The game is usually priced at $1.99 on both the Appstore and Google Play, but it can all be yours today for free.

App Store Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cheers Nick S!

10000000 is Amazon Appstore’s Free App of the Day is a post from: Droid Life

This afternoon, Google and the team at Niantic Labs pushed out a major update for their hit game, Ingress. Inside the update, version number 1.26, information on portal health and faction controls are placed in the inventory carousel, as well the much-needed addition of notifications for portal attacks, neutralization and @codename messages. 

If you still have yet to try out Ingress, make sure to head to their forums and request as it is still a closed beta application.

What’s New:

• Portal health and faction control info on Portal Keys in the Inventory carousel.
• Android Notifications for “Portal under attack,” “Portal neutralized,” and “@<codename>” messages.
• Support for Jarvis Virus and ADA Refactor objects.
• New Recharge visual animation.
• Bug fixes

Play Link

Ingress Receives Update to 1.26, Brings Added Notifications and Portal Info is a post from: Droid Life

If you checked out the beta of the complete Opera browser app back in March and want to see the progress that was made, you can now try the complete real deal. Released this morning to Google Play, Opera brings a full-web experience, complete with custom features that make browsing the web painless and quick. 

The browser features two very unique features, among many others. The first one is Speed Dial, basically a bookmarks page, but it gives the pages the look of apps. You can place pages in folders for easy access to multiple categories. The second feature is Off-Road mode. With this enabled, users are able to browse the web at high speeds even without a good mobile data connection. For people who can’t stand page loads, this is something to check out.

You can grab it for free right through Google Play.

Play Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full Version of Opera Released for Android, Features Speed Dial and Off-Road Mode is a post from: Droid Life

Taking place in Las Vegas this week is CTIA, another annual mobile/tech industry conference much like CES that takes place in January. Some well-known names are attending this year’s meetup, companies such as HTC, NVIDIA, LG and Verizon are all in attendance. Demoing their Tegra 4i processor with built in i500 LTE modem is Santa Clara’s NVIDIA, showing the industry that thanks to an update, their chip is capable of flying through large amounts of data in no time at all. 

Using Phoenix, their reference device for manufacturers, the Tegra 4i was able to pull through 150Mbps, an extra 50% boost in speed over their previous speed tests that took place at MWC in February. The gain in speed is thanks to a simple modem software update, no new hardware and not a new chip. Using the above pictured emulator, since no LTE Cat 4 networks currently exist locally, the Tegra 4i was able to demonstrate what would happen in the perfect world test – LTE Advanced speeds.

To close, NVIDIA also showed the chipset demonstrating video and audio playback on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Sort of makes it exciting for when this chip will be placed inside of an actual retail device.

Via: NVIDIA

NVIDIA Shows Off More Tegra 4i at CTIA, LTE Advanced Speeds Are a Go is a post from: Droid Life

On top of all the other exciting news from Yahoo! today, the company just launched an update to their official Flickr Android app through Google Play, bringing a very polished look with it. The app’s UI is centered solely on photos and Yahoo doesn’t seem scared to recommend some great photographers that you should start following. Within seconds I was greeted by gorgeous landscapes and classy nudes. Thanks, Yahoo! 

As a cherry on top, Flickr is offering 1TB (yes, a whole terabyte) of storage when folks sign up for the service. That’s enough to get anyone signed up just the sake of having it.

Play Link

Via: Flickr

Cheers Nick S!

Flickr App Updated, Brings High-Res Photo-centric Look is a post from: Droid Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you have been looking for a Chat Heads-like notification center, but don’t find yourself comfortable with the custom ROM flashing, then you will be happy to hear that a standalone application is currently being developed called, Floating Notifications. 

The application does not need root or any other special magic tricks. Once installed, simply select which apps you want to sport floating notifications and that’s it. From there, you can adjust a number of settings like the size and transparency of the floating app, how multiple notifications are shown, how much info or actionable items accompany them, and even if you’d like your phone to wake with some notifications.

Interactions between notifications vary depending on how many times you tap them. Single taps open, while double taps can close one or all of your notifications.

It is still in extreme alpha stage, so understand that it will only get better over time, especially as the developers work to get a bit more substantial build out to the public. This is a great start, though, and we will definitely keep you updated on when substantial progress is made on the app.

Via: XDA

Floating Notifications Brings ChatHeads Functionality Without the Need of a ROM is a post from: Droid Life

One of my all-time favorite trivia games launched for Android recently, the one and only You Don’t Know Jack. It’s a crude game, full of fart sounds and ways to make players feel pretty foolish if they answer a question incorrectly. There are different topics the game covers, most being general knowledge, but it really goes into all areas of questioning. 

You go up against five other players in a race against the clock to answer correctly. Since this is not a real-time challenge against opponents, some features are not inside, such as the ability to “screw” other players, but this is still pretty exhilarating.

The game is free-to-play on Google Play, but does look to have some sort of credit system inside. Go grab it and challenge your friends to a game.

Play Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Trivia Game You Don’t Know Jack Hits Google Play is a post from: Droid Life

Take a look at what could very well be the first shots of the Galaxy S4 Active from Samsung. This device has been an interesting one to follow, ever since the first reports of a water and dust-resistant Galaxy S4 hit the web back in April. It’s been reported that the device could launch as early as July, and with no word from Samsung yet, it’s interesting that they are allowing buyers to still gobble up the Galaxy S4 without presenting them with options first.

According to the benchmarks in the shot, the device should come shipped with what we see listed. There is a 1.9GHz quad-core processor (most likely the Snapdragon 600), 2GB of RAM, a 5″ 1080p display at a pixel density of 480 and a Adreno 320 GPU.

The phone’s exterior is quite different however from the regular Galaxy S4. It appears that all front-facing buttons are physical and slightly protrude from the bottom, a move that might have helped Samsung make it more resilient to the elements. As for that red backing, the four screws in the top and bottom corners add a nice rugged touch, but it does appear that the back is still removable if you look closely in the top left hand corner.

All in all, I think it’s a pretty handsome albeit tough looking device. Excellent for all of you weekend warriors out there.

What do you think?

Via:  GSMArena

Cheers Open1Your1Eyes0!

First Photos of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active Emerge? is a post from: Droid Life

Last week at the I/O developers conference, Google introduced Hangouts, a cross-platform unified messaging service. Although, the service didn’t quite incorporate all of Google’s messaging services at time of launch, it has been confirmed through Nikhyl Singhal’s Google+ page that Hangouts is in fact, “the future of Google Voice.” 

Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning. Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly.

In addition, if you already changed your Google Talk service to Hangouts inside of Gmail, you might have noticed that it does not support outbound voice calls. According to Nikhyl, Google’s real time communication product manager, this is also getting fixed soon. “We’re working hard on supporting both, and outbound/inbound calls will soon be available,” he said in a G+ post.

This should come as excellent news for all of us that have been either a.) been dying for a Google Voice update or b.) ready for Hangouts to become their one and only messaging application.

Via: +Nikhyl Singhal

Google Hangouts Confirmed to be Future of Google Voice is a post from: Droid Life

Last week, the vice president of investor relations for NVIDIA, Rob Csongor, spoke of the company’s mobile strategies moving forward through 2013 and beyond. Currently, Samsung and Apple make up exactly 50% of this year’s first quarter mobile sales, so according to Csongor, NVIDIA will look to partner with the “other half” of the market such as HTC, ZTE, Huawei and other lower-placed companies to push its line of mobile processor. 

In doing so, NVIDIA’s upcoming Tegra 4i processor would be seen in direct competition with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 chip, a chip that NVIDIA says can be outperformed three to one by the 4i.

The Tegra 4 and 4i were announced earlier this year, but we are still awaiting a flagship device to carry either chip inside. Anyone else hoping to see a device running either one of these before NVIDIA arrives too late for the party?

Via: Fool

Cheers Ben!

NVIDIA to Target Mid-Range “Other Half” of Smartphones Moving Forward is a post from: Droid Life

According to some of our readers, their Galaxy S4 pre-orders on Verizon are starting to be processed, and some even say they’re being shipped. Verizon previously listed that the Samsung Galaxy S4 would launch on May 30, but then bumped it up a full week to May 23.

Naturally, it makes sense that orders would start being processed as inventory fills up, but to see that they might begin shipping too is a great sign for customers waiting by their door.

Let us know if you receive your shipping info from Verizon.

Update:  They are now shipping!

Cheers Jonathan!

Galaxy S4 Pre-Orders on Verizon Are Beginning to be Processed is a post from: Droid Life

According to Samsung’s CEO, J.K. Shin, the Galaxy S4 is putting in some serious work. In numbers, the Galaxy S3 passed ten million in sales after 50 days on the market last year. The Galaxy S4, their newest flagship device which isn’t even on America’s largest carrier yet, is said to pass ten million in less than a month next week. 

We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model S3. Samsung spent 50 days to pass the 10 million sales mark for the S3. The S4 will be Samsung’s first ’10 million seller’ device less than a month after its official debut.

It’s clear they have found the winning formula for themselves. Have you pre-ordered your S4 on Verizon yet?

Via: Android Beat

Samsung CEO: Sales of Galaxy S4 to Exceed 10 Million In Less Than a Month is a post from: Droid Life

This morning, Samsung officially launched TecTiles 2, compatible with their newest flagship device, the Galaxy S4 and all other NFC-enabled devices from Samsung. These NFC tags allow users to simply touch their phone up to the sticker to accomplish simple tasks, such as turn on WiFi, enable GPS, etc. 

You can grab a new sleeve of TecTiles from the Samsung website and also pick up the updated app through Google Play. Keep in mind, if you have a stash of the original TecTiles and then purchase the Galaxy S4, you’ll need to upgrade as they are non compatible.

Play Link

Via: Samsung

Samsung Launches TecTiles 2, the “Next Generation” of NFC Technology is a post from: Droid Life