Friday, October 25, 2013

High-end Xperia devices can play games with DUALSHOCK 3 controller

We’ve seen a number of Android-based consoles crop up, but why buy a separate device when you already have a beefy chipset in your phone? Sony has added DUALSHOCK 3 support (that’s the PlaStation 3 controller) to several of its Xperia devices to enable a more console-like gaming experience.


Playing with the DUALSHOCK 3 controller frees up the screen of the device to just render the graphics of the game,

You can now use handwriting input in Gmail and Google Drive

Google already offers handwriting input in its Mobile Search, Google Translate (on web, Android and iOS) and in Chrome but it’s now adding it to its Gmail and Google Drive services.


Currently handwriting input supports over 20 languages in Google Drive and over 50 in Gmail.

Nexus 10 32GB Wi-Fi now just $350 on eBay

The Nexus 10 a little old now (it wasn’t updated along with the 7″ model) but you can get a great deal for it – $350 for the 32GB Wi-Fi only model. Keep in mind that the Play Store is selling the 16GB version for$400, the 32GB is $500.

That $400 iPad 2 doesn’t sound like such a good deal now, does it? Not that it ever did, but even the 32GB iPad Air for $600 sounds pricy in comparison too.

Watch Apple’s October 2013 keynote here

Today’s Apple keynote marked the announcement of the release of the free Mac OS X Maverics, the release of the updated and now free iWorks and iLife application packages, the announcement of the hardware updates to the MacBook Pro lineup and the availability and specs info about the Mac Pro. Last but not least, we saw the announcement of the iPad Air and the Retina update to the iPad mini.


All this fit into less than an hour and a half so you can be sure the pace was hectic. But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Apple can’t shake supply shortage rumors for the new iPad mini

After the first rumors of a Retina-packing iPad mini surfaced earlier this year, several sources close to Apple’s supply chain indicated that panel shortages might limit availability.


Even after yesterday’s launch during which Apple indicated that both the new iPad mini and the iPad Air will be available in a wide range of markets next month,

Watch this iPad Air TV ad narrated by Bryan Cranston

Yesterday, Apple announced the fifth generation iPad, christened the iPad Air. It’s thinner, lighter and faster than the model it replaces. The company has now released a new TV ad for it and who better to voice it than Bryan “Heisenberg” Cranston himself.


I think we are all familiar with Bryan Cranston by now.

Apple iPad Air video ad is up online

Apple has just announced their latest iPad and as rumored, it comes with a new chassis with smaller bezels and slimmer and lighter overall design. To go with the new design, Apple also announced a new name – it’s none other than the iPad Air. Sadly, despite heated rumors, the iPad Air doesn’t have the TouchID fingerprint sensor or board.


As you can imagine, Apple’s got a nice and long 3-minute video ad for the new iPad Air and it’s worth watching.

The new Nokia Camera app is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace

The revamped Nokia Camera app has made its way to the Windows Phone Marketplace. The refreshed photography application made its debut during the Nokia Lumia 1520 announcement in Abu Dhabi.


Nokia Camera brings the Smart Cam and Pro Cam apps under the same roof. It covers the entire range of mobile photography tricks from clever auto mode, all the way to full manual control.

Apple iPad Air vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) vs. ASUS Transformer Pad TF701T

Apple has just lifted the curtains off its latest iPad Air. It’s thinner, lighter, and more powerful than its predecessor and it’s undoubtedly the best iPad yet, but that’s not surprising anyone. What’s more interesting besides the slate itself is how it compares to the competition.


We are talking the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) and the ASUS Transformer Pad TF701T – the most potent Android tablets available to date. Those beasts both sport 10.1″ displays of 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution.

Apple has sold over 170 million iPads to date\

Right before the announcement of the latest generation of its slate, Apple announced that it has sold 170 million iPads to date. The number is quite impressive considering the tablet debuted only in 2010.


The iPad in all its incarnations accounts for 81% of the tablet usage today according to data presented by Apple.

New Mac Pro is a power-efficient beast, drops in December starting at $2999

Apple unveiled a number of new Mac products and top-notch productivity is the name of the game. There’s the MacBook Pro for computing on the go and the Mac Pro for the absolute maximum in performance. It uses the latest Intel Xeon E5 chips with 4, 6, 8 or 12 cores.


The increase in power comes with a decrease in power consumption, which in turn leads to less heat and fewer fans needed.

Apple refreshes 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pro laptops with Intel Haswell

Apple has just announced its refreshed 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pro notebooks, which now flaunt Intel Haswell CPUs as well as Retina displays. On top of that, they’ve been put on a diet and are now lighter and slimmer.


In addition to the Haswell CPUs, the new MacBook Pro notebooks sport Iris graphics, like the latest MacBook Air. Performance is further improved thanks to PCI Express SSD storage for both models.

Apple OS X Mavericks is now available as a free upgrade

Apple announced today that the long-awaited OS X Mavericks will be available today. Even more importantly, Apple’s latest desktop OS will be available as a free download.


 OS X Mavericks is a major update in comparison to its predecessor, which includes refreshed native apps, as well as look and feel which bring it close in line with the iOS 7 aesthetics.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Apple App Store surpasses 1 million apps, 60 billion downloads

At today’s iPad-centric Apple event, company’s CEO Tim Cook took the time to share exciting news regarding the App Store. Back in June at the WWDC, the apps in the App Store were more than 900,000 and now they’ve already passed the 1,000,000 mark.


Moreover, total number of downloaded apps is now more than 60 billion. The main rival of the App Store – the Google Play Store passed the 1 million apps mark in July,

Windows 8.1 introduces mouse lag, gaming issues

As it turns out Windows 8.1 update may cause some trouble with popular action games. If you update to Windows 8.1 you may experience severe mouse lag on Call of Duty, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.


Various users are reporting on Reddit they’ve started to experience mouse lag after they updated to Windows 8.1.

Microsoft resumes seeding the Windows RT 8.1 updates

The official Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 updates kicked off on October 17. Shortly after that the RT update was pulled from the Store, because it was reportedly failing the installation on a small percentage of RT devices, leaving them unbootable.


It seems Microsoft has found the problem and resolved it, because the Windows RT 8.1 update is back in the Store.

Create bullet time scenes with the HTC One…sort of

Happen to have 130 HTC One units laying around? If yes, then you can create your very own Matrix-style bullet time effect. At least that’s what Qualcomm did to demonstrate its latest Snapdragon SoC.


Dubbed the Snapdragon Booth, some 130 HTC One handsets were set up on a rail to provide a virtual 540-degree bullet time video effect.

AnTuTu benchmark reveals 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8084 chipset

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 family of chipsets are among the fastest currently on offer but as an AnTuTu benchmark leak suggests, the company is hard on work testing a turbocharged version of it.


According to the popular benchmark suite, the Snapdragon APQ8084 is capable of reaching a maximum frequency of 2.5GHz,

Growing up with PlayStation since 1995 condensed to 3 minute ad

Sony wants to tickle your nostalgia bone with a promo video of the PlayStations over the years that shows how many avid players grew up with the console. “This is for the Players” says the video as it shows quick peeks of games you’ve played in the past and the games you’ll play on the upcoming PlayStation 4.


The video is very well made (a long tradition for PlayStation ads), with no apparent cuts – the camera just

This new Playstation 3 ad is truly an awesome watch

You know that here on the GSMArena Blog we like throwing cool video your way every now and then and this Playstation 3 ad is just that.


It promotes Sony’s gaming console in a rather extraordinary way by gathering all the iconic PS3 game characters

Nokia flashes its new Ashas on YouTube

The just-announced Nokia Asha 500Asha 502, and Asha 503 have made their way to YouTube, with the latest video ads showing up by the boatload.


The new phones were unveiled at Nokia World today in Abu Dhabi, and unlike their Asha 501predecessor,

Nokia Lumia 2520 treated to an official hands-on video, couple of ads

The Lumia 2520 is the first ever tablet to come from the Nokia and understandably, the Finns are very excited about it.



They have released a trio of videos, the first of which features Nokia’s Adam Giles, who touches upon the slate’s key features.

Here come the Nokia Lumia 1520 promo videos

Nokia finally took the wraps off its first phablet, the Lumia 1520 and now it’s time for the promo videos to pop up on YouTube.


The phablet got three of those, focusing on its smart side, artistic side and also on its hardware.
The first video is the hands-on. It quickly runs through the most notable features of the Lumia 1520 in about four minutes. Naturally the 20MP PureView camera gets its due attention. The new display also gets a bit of the spotlight before Nokia goes into detail about the boring stuff like Office document editing. The new Nokia Camera, which combines Pro Cam and Smart Cam in one, is shown in the video. Check it out below.



Then comes the Nokia Lumia 1520 for smarter business. Check it out.




Finally the third video focuses on taking pictures with the Nokia Camera app on the Lumia 1520 and browsing them on the Storyteller. The video is shot in Paris and really makes us want to go take some pictures with the Lumia 1520.


Nokia’s Refocus camera app would professionally defocus any of your Lumia shots

Today at the Nokia World 2013 held in Abu Dhabi, Nokia announced their new Refocus camera app for the Lumia 1520. Refocus promises users the freedom to selectively change the area of the photo, which is in focus.


The Nokia Refocus is a separate camera app for Lumia phones (unlike what we first heard).

WhatsApp grows to 350 million monthly users

Nokia World is in full swing and while it’s mostly about Nokia’s products, some important app announcements were made, including a quick visit from WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Mr. Koum announced that the highly popular instant messenger has now reached 350 million monthly active users.


In mid-April this year the CEO announced that WhatsApp is bigger than Twitter with 200 million monthly active users and that number was 300 million in August.

New version of Google Play Store now rolling

Google has started pushing out a new version of its Play Store app. It brings minor UI changes and will most probably premiere as part of the Android 4.4 KitKat.


Play Store 4.4.21 brings a sliding-out navigation bar for easier exploration of the Store.

BlackBerry announces 5 million BBM activations in first 8 hours

BlackBerry has revealed on its BBM Twitter page that the BlackBerry Messenger for iOS and Android has received extremely warm reception. The company has seen some 5 million activations in just 8 hours after the app was launched.


Those are not just downloads, mind you, but the number of people that have activated their accounts with the app.

The Lumia 2520 is Nokia’s first tablet

Over at its Abu Dhabi Keynote Nokia released its first slate dubbed Lumia 2520. The tablet runs on the Windows RT, has a 10.1″ FullHD display a Snapdragon 800 chipset and comes with a variety of color options – black, blue, white and red. The price before subsidies will be $499.


You can get the Lumia 2520 slate with an add-on keyboard, dubbed Power Keyboard, with additional USB ports, battery and integrated kick-stand.

Instagram finally coming to Windows Phone 8

At the stage of the Nokia World event, Stephen Elop has just announced that Instagram is finally coming to Windows Phone 8 devices.


With over 130 million users on tap, Instagram is one of the most popular photo sharing social networks.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Braven 850 Bluetooth wireless speaker review

The Braven 850 is the Utah-based manufacturer’s most capable wireless speaker to date. With a body made of machined aluminum and chock full of extra features, the speaker looks well-equipped to compete for a chunk of today’s ultra-competitive market for wireless portable speakers.


With the market for wireless speakers experiencing massive growth over the past couple of years,

HTC co-founders promise ‘disruptive’ tablet, useful smartwatch

Co-founders and leaders of HTC Peter Chou and Cher Wang (CEO and chairperson respectively) gave an interview to the Financial Times and strongly implied that the company is working on tablet and a wearable device.

This month HTC posted its first-ever quarterly loss and so the company is looking beyond smartphones for extra revenue.

Microsoft denies HTC early access to Windows RT

Just in case you are wondering why is HTC not one of the manufacturers currently showing off a Windows RT tablet at Computex, the reason is because Microsoft denied them access.


Bloomberg is reporting that HTC showed interest in making a Windows RT tablet but Microsoft denied them the license,

HTC allegedly working on R7 and R12 Windows RT Blue tablets

HTC is allegedly working on a couple Windows RT Blue powered tablets, which are codenamed R7 and R12. The “R” in the title indicates that the slates will be running on the latest Windows RT Blue edition.


The HTC R7 is rumored to sport a 7″ full HD display and a 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor along with 2GB of RAM.

BlackBerry Messenger for iOS and Android rollout resumes

Exactly a month after initially releasing the app, BlackBerry resumed the rollout of the popular BBM app for iOS and Android. In order to avoid the hiccups from last month which caused BlackBerry to pause the rollout, the company has implemented a line-up system to manage the high demand.


The reservation system is based on the user entering his or her email after installing the app on his or her compatible device.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition hands-on

The refreshed Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 slate joined our review queue a while ago. We have the Wi-Fi-only model, which is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 5420 Octa chipset.


The tablet runs the latest commercially available Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Samsung’s latest TouchWiz customizations on top