After we got our first sighting of Android 4.3 this morning, information continues to flood in. We were able to spot a tweaked UI to the camera in the original set of pictures, but this video gives you almost every little detail that has been changed. The biggest is obviously the change to a settings UI that isn’t covered by your finger.

In the old UI, once you long-pressed in the center of the camera, a ring would appear around the focus with options, many of which couldn’t be seen because your finger was in the way. With this, Google has moved the settings menu to above the circle and builds on top of itself as you enter new menus. If you don’t want to interact with the menu in the middle of the camera UI, you can tap the settings circle in the bottom right, which then pops up settings over top of the shutter button. We’re also noticing a new timer option that I’m not able to find on my Nexus 4 running Android 4.2. 

We wish that the man behind the camera would have tapped on the camera menu to see if anything has changed in terms of video, Photosphere, and panorama, but that didn’t happen.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Notice anything else?

Via:  +Theogusper George Philip Piccadilly

Video: Here is the Android 4.3 Camera UI With Improved On-screen Controls is a post from: Droid Life

Within an hour of Google’s announcement at I/O that they would soon sell a special “Nexus experience” edition of the Samsung Galaxy S4, rumors popped up suggesting that HTC would do something similar with the One. And as soon as those rumors surfaced, HTC quickly shot them down, claiming that a “Nexus edition” was not in their plans. Well, here we are a week later, and rumors have once again surfaced surrounding a “Google Edition” of HTC’s popular One device. According to sources who spoke to both Geek.com and Modaco, an announcement is imminent, potentially happening next week. 

According to at least one source, HTC CEO Peter Chou is behind the decision, even with many parts of the company against such a move. You can understand how tied (and proud of) their employees probably are to HTC’s Sense, which offers quite a different experience over stock Android, which  this “Google Edition” would certainly run.

The device will likely come with 64GB of internal storage, and I would assume at the same price of $650 that the current “Developer Edition” of the One is sold for.

Personally, this move makes zero sense to me. Forget the fact that a report two days ago suggested that HTC as a company is in disarray because of snap decisions that Peter Chou continues to make – like this one – but offering up a stock Android device provides no benefit to HTC. The HTC One is a great device because HTC actually added features and functionality with Sense overlay. Should you wipe that out for a stock experience, you lose everything that made this phone great (like the entire suite of camera software). So without any of that, you have a big, heavy metal phone, with a shitty navigation button arrangement, and stock Android’s terrible camera software. Yikes, and no thanks.

But beyond the experience, does HTC think it will sell enough of these to make it worth their time? According to these reports, it may not even be available in the Google Play store, so that would mean they would be selling it directly through their own online shop which has no presence whatsoever.

Would anyone be interested in this? I’m just wondering why you wouldn’t have already purchased the Developer Edition and then flashed stock Android on it.

Via:  Geek | Modaco

HTC One “Google Edition” Said to be Imminent, After the Company Denied Its Existence is a post from: Droid Life

 

Today, Google’s Chrome Beta for Android received a most impressive update through the Play store. Included is the addition of Google Translate, allowing users to instantly translate full webpages to their native tongue, as well as options for controlling and limiting bandwidth consumption through the browser’s settings. 

Those two might be the features that have Kellen and myself excited the most, but they have also added an awesome “+” symbol in the top left to bring up new tabs (where has this been the whole time?!), fullscreen support for Android tablets, in addition to “mobile friendly” error pages.

What’s New:

• Google Translate: When you come across a page written in a language that isn’t in the same language as your phone or tablet, look for the translation bar
• Fullscreen on tablets: Simply scroll the page to dismiss the toolbar
• Support for fullscreen API
• New graph showing your estimated bandwidth savings when you use the experimental data compression feature
• Mobile friendly error pages

By enabling the bandwidth saving feature, each page you visit is optimized by Chrome, allowing for faster page loads (since less data is going back and forth) and you will probably see a huge difference in data consumption if you fancy yourself a hardcore web surfer.

You can go grab the update through Google Play and try it out for yourself.

Play Link

Via: Chrome Blog

Chrome Beta for Android Updated, Brings Google Translate and Bandwidth Management Settings is a post from: Droid Life

In need of some new apps and games? There is a pretty impressive list of titles up for grabs on Google Play, including some major names like World of Goo, Fieldrunners 2, Fangz HD and even the new Alien vs. Predators game. Most are on sale for just $1, so you can’t really beat that. We have them listed below, so go grab them and have some fun. 

Today’s Sales:

• Fieldrunners 2 – $0.99
• AVP: Evolution – $0.99
• Touch Racing Nitro – $0.99
• 2Do: To Do List - $3.94
• AccuWeather Platinum – $0.99
• Fast Pro for Facebook – $1.14
• Fangz HD – $0.99
• FireJumpers – Wildfire RTS – $0.99
• mSecure Password Manager – $4.99
• World of Goo – $0.99

Go support the developers!

Thursday App Sales: Fieldrunners 2, AVP: Evolution, Touch Racing Nitro and More is a post from: Droid Life

Since the majority of us are probably using Chrome, at least according to this poll, we feel it quite justified to talk about the world’s most popular web browser. Today, Google enabled “rich notifications” for Chrome. Think of these as little info cards that pop up in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. They are clean and elegant, heavily resembling that of Google Now’s UI. 

Notification settings can be placed for things like Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar events, Drive, Spotify and other apps. You can even set reminders through it and a notification will go off when it hits the right time. Pretty sweet, right?

The feature is currently available through Chrome Beta, so if you want to give it a try, you can download it here.

Via: Chrome Blog

Google Rolls Out Rich Notifications For Chrome, Has That Google Now Feel is a post from: Droid Life

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

If you are a Chrome user on your desktop computer, be sure to update to the newest version that was released this morning as it includes Google’s new conversational search. We first saw conversational search at Google I/O last week in one of the more impressive demos from the keynote, and have been waiting for its release. 

For those not familiar, conversational search allows you to search for items as if you are having a conversation with your computer and Google Search. You aren’t supposed to worry about using specific keywords or commands – instead you should be able to casually ask for search results. All of the magic happens as you speak to Google Search, but it becomes incredibly impressive once you follow-up initial questions with secondary questions, just as if you were having a conversation with someone. For example (also in the clip below), you can ask for the age of a professional basketball player and then follow that question up by asking which team they play for. If Google’s new search works properly, it should answer both, but the second shouldn’t require you to say their name again.

It also works if you want to track packages, check on upcoming flight times, search nearby restaurants, and even find the distance from your location to a place you have recently searched for. It’s impressive.

At this time, it’s missing the “OK, Google” activation command, but will likely arrive before long.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video: Testing Out Google’s Conversational Search in Chrome is a post from: Droid Life

Google Drive for Android is receiving a major update today that includes a new UI, document scanner, and editing improvements. In terms of the UI, Google is introduce a card-style layout, similar to what we are seeing across a number of their apps like Google Play and Google Keep. In this new UI, you get to see larger previews of documents to help you discover information quicker.  

Along with the new UI, Google is introducing a document scanner, which allows you take photos of of documents, business cards, etc. and save them for later. Google will turn them into PDF files, but remember that Drive recognizes text in documents so you can search for items embedded later on.

They improved the editing experience as well. After the update, you’ll be able to adjust font types and sizes for a spreadsheet and tweak cell colors and alignment from within the app.

You can also choose to download copies of documents to your device from the action menu inside settings.

Here is the rest of the changelog:

• New grid view makes it easier to find your files
• New quick preview lets you view photos and other files from within the app
• Scan documents, receipts and letters for safe keeping in Drive; then search by contents once uploaded
• Download a copy of files to your local device (Honeycomb+)
• Spreadsheet editor now supports changing fonts, colors and cell alignment
• View properties of files from within the editors
• Bug fixes and visual improvements

Via:  Android Blog

Google Drive Updated on Android With New Card-style UI, Document Scanner, and More 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

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

We were the first to report the codename of “Babel” as Google’s new unified messaging service, which ended up as Hangouts at public launch, but if you needed actual proof that Babel was around for some time, we thought we’d share this screenshot. It’s taken from my Google Dashboard listing of sites authorized to access my account. You can see that the Hangouts app for iOS is indeed referred to as “iOS Babel App.” (It’s on an iPod Touch that I use for work purposes, don’t kill me.)

You can also hear Google’s director of product management, real-time communications mention it in this video at the 1:40 mark.

Cheers Matt!

Incase You Needed Proof That Hangouts was Codenamed “Babel,” Here You Go is a post from: Droid Life

Google mentioned during its unveiling of Hangouts that it would gradually rollout to Gmail over the coming weeks, but if you’d like to turn it on immediately, you can do that today. All you need to do is sign-in to your Gmail account, login to Google Talk in the left sidebar, click on the image associated with your Talk account, and then tap the “Try the new Hangouts” option that appears at the top of the list.

Bam! Enjoy.

*Note – This trick does not seem to be working in Google Apps accounts, online Gmail.

Via:  reddit

Cheers Leo!

Tip: Manually Turn on Hangouts in Gmail With This Trick is a post from: Droid Life

Shortly after Google announced their new unified chat service called Hangouts, users discovered a handful of Easter Eggs embedded deep within. Actually, they aren’t deep at all and can be accessed with a simple command in a chat box on either Google+ or through the Chrome app (no mobile version support here). The whackiness of the Easter Eggs’ ranges from colorful ponies to KONAMI cheat codes, all of which are listed above thanks to Googler Moritz Tolxdorff. To tell you the truth, I thought there might be even more, but this is the entire list.

To flood your box with ponies, pitchforks, or a shy dino, type the commands listed into the text box of a Hangout.

Which is your favorite?

Via:  +Moritz Tolxdorff

Here are the Easter Eggs Built Into Hangouts [Ponies!] is a post from: Droid Life

Hey, the white Nexus 4 for the third time in a week! Though this time it hits a little closer to home as it was obtained by our buddy Taylor from Android and Me while at Google I/O this week. According to his sources, this white model will be available from Google Play on June 10 and is exactly the same as the black version (same storage, and no LTE) only it comes in…white. 

Along with his new mobile addition, he is reporting that Android 4.3 will launch on June 10 as well. The update is expected to be minor, which may be the reason it wasn’t front and center at I/O this week. As one would expect, the update will hit all Nexus devices shortly after it is released.

Who is ready to pick up the white N4?

Via:  Android and Me

White Nexus 4 Shows Up at Google I/O, Android 4.3 Rumored for June 10 is a post from: Droid Life

It’s probably safe to say that we were all a little disappointed when yesterday’s 3-hour keynote finished at Google I/O without an announcement for a new Nexus 7 tablet. Rumors have circulated for months, suggesting that I/O could be the time for Google to show us a retooled model with a higher-resolution display and new Qualcomm processor. But again, we left the show yesterday without one. Is there a chance that we saw the oft-rumored follow-up in a promo video for Hangouts, though? 

Google played a quick clip during their announcement of Hangouts that featured a handful of Google products, including a Nexus 4, Chromebook Pixel, and what appears to be some sort of Nexus 7 variant. We’ve captured the two sightings of the tablet in question in the image above, so that you can decide for yourself. Is this the new Nexus 7?

As you can see from the image on the left, there is a notification light telling the girl that she has a new Hangout to join. And as you all know, the Nexus 7 doesn’t have a notification light. Also, the silver-ish rim around the edge of the device certainly looks identical to that of the current Nexus 7. Interesting, right? So is this it?

Eh, I wouldn’t go that far. This entire promo clip is filled with minor issues like the male lead using his Nexus 4 upside down and having Advanced Task Killer installed on his device. His N4 is also running what appears to be Ice Cream Sandwich, since it has the old camera icon and stock Android browser instead of Chrome.

For all we know, this blinking light on the Nexus 7 could be an effect that the marketing company was trying to achieve when putting together the clip. It could be a new Nexus 7, but I wouldn’t bet the world on that idea.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via:  reddit

Cheers Tyler!

Is Google Trolling Us or Did They Tease a New Nexus 7 in This Hangouts Promo Video? is a post from: Droid Life