Daily Archives: August 20, 2015

Lenovo’s ZUK Z1 is all but set for international release with Cyanogen

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The ZUK Company and brand were created with Lenovo’s support earlier this year. Their first product is the ZUK Z1 smartphone – an affordable 5.5″ smartphone priced at about €250. The Z1 was available exclusively in China, but ZUK is now promoting the phone to international release.

According to the official statement – the ZUK Z1 for the international markets will be keeping its specs, but will switch its custom Android Lollipop for a Cyanogen OS 12.1, also Lollipop-based.

The ZUK Z1 packs a 5.5″ 1080p display and runs on the last year’s everybody’s favorite Snapdragon 801 chipset with 3GB of RAM. The rest of its specs include a 13MP main cam, an 8MP selfie snapper, 64GB storage, LTE connectivity, a fingerprint scanner and a beefy 4,100 mAh battery. There is also a USB Type-C port.

ZUK has already announced its partnership with Cyanogen and outside China the Z1 will be running on Cyanogen OS.

ZUK is going to announce the international markets and the pricing tomorrow.

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LG smartwatch with 1.77-inch screen and CDMA passes through FCC

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The Next LG smartwatch is rumored to come with a high-resolution screen at 480 x 480px. While the FCC doesn’t test screen sharpness, at least it was kind enough to measure the screen and snap a photo of the new watch.

The images show a rectangular watch with a metallic bezel and a silicone wrist band. The screen of the LG-VC110 smartwatch was measured at 1.77″ making for 383ppi pixel density. Note that the FCC has since removed the pages that contained the images

That would make it the sharpest smartwatch screen yet – beating the 2″ 300ppi screen of the Samsung Gear S and 1.53″ 326ppi of the Apple Watch. It will also blow past the LG Watch Urbane’s 240ppi.

Like the LG Watch Urbane LTE, this smartwatch has its own mobile connectivity – CDMA in particular (compatible with Verizon and US Cellular). It will be the first LG watch with mobile data outside of South Korea.

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Los nuevos terminales vienen con menos apps preinstaladas de Google

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Google Now Launcher

Además del de la seguridad o de la fragmentación, Google tiene otros importantes frentes que cubrir en Android. Uno de ellos es el del dichoso bloatware, lo que podríamos considerar una plaga que afecta sobre todo a los dispositivos más humildes, con menos almacenamiento interno. Una serie de aplicaciones preinstaladas que posiblemente el usuario nunca vaya a usar, pero que ahí están, por obligación de la fabricante del terminal, pero también de la propia Google, que obliga a estas a incluir algunas –bastantes– de sus aplicaciones.

Pues bien, tal y como nos cuentan desde Android Central, la noticia ahora es que Google ha decidido eliminar de la lista de apps preinstaladas cuatro habituales en cualquier smartphone o tablet: Google Play Games, Google Play Books, Google Kiosco, y Google+ (defenestrado una vez más). De hecho, terminales recientes, como el Samsung Galaxy Note 5 o el Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ parece que ya no las incluyen.

¿Adiós al bloatware? No tan rápido

Es cierto que este movimiento por parte de Google supone, como decíamos, un avance en esto del bloatware pero, ¿es el fin del mismo? Ni mucho menos. Si acaso, el principio del fin, pero aún queda mucho camino por recorrer. No solo seguiremos viendo aplicaciones de Google instaladas en nuestros nuevos smartphones y tablets, sino que las fabricantes seguirán en la misma tónica, a no ser que los de Mountain View se pongan firmes y decidan también recortar el número de apps que puede preinstalar las compañías.

Google Apps

Es cierto que algunas, como Samsung, han pasado de incluir una barbaridad de bloatware en sus equipos, a reducirlo considerablemente, sobre todo a partir del Samsung Galaxy S6, tras las muchas quejas por parte de los usuarios. Otras como Sony ya están haciendo incluso capas de personalización mucho más livianas y cercanas a Android puro, con apenas apps preinstaladas.

Esto tiene varios beneficios para el usuario. Se libera espacio del terminal para que el usuario lo pueda utilizar a su antojo, se mejora en rendimiento, ya que a veces estas aplicaciones corren en segundo plano aunque no las hayamos arrancado ni una sola vez, no hace tan necesario rootear el terminal para “limpiarlo”, y lo más importante si cabe, no coarta la libertad del consumidor, que en todo momento debería ser libre de elegir qué aplicaciones quiere y qué aplicaciones no quiere en su dispositivo Android.

¿Y tú que piensas? Pásate por Los nuevos terminales vienen con menos apps preinstaladas de Google para dejar tu huella.

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Publicado recientemente en Andro4all

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Analyst: Galaxy O is a VR-centric phone (or maybe a headset)

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Senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray Gene Munster has been writing about the future of VR and Facebook’s role in it (the social network giant bought Oculus). Munster suggests that the Samsung Galaxy O is a series of phones aimed at virtual reality.

Samsung already has a strong partnership with Oculus, having created a couple of versions of the Gear VR (in partnership with Oculus). There’s a small chance that the Galaxy O may be a standalone headset – no phone required, unlike the Gear VR.

Anyway, the latest Galaxy Note5 launched without Gear VR support so that functionality may be moving to the Galaxy Os. Samsung co-CEO JK Shin did say that the third-gen Gear VR will launch “soon” but didn’t explicitly say that it’s for the Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+.

Oculus is holding a developer conference “Connect2” starting September 23, the other opportunity for a Galaxy O/Gear VR reveal is the fast-approaching IFA where Samsung will show off the Gear S2 smartwatch.

By the way, Munster had something to say about the Oculus Rift too, that pre-orders for the delayed consumer model will kick off in Q1 next year.

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The Apple iPad Pro might come with a Force Touch stylus accessory

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At this point rumors about the elusive iPad Pro are getting a little out of hand. After the recent talk of a second-screen case for the mysterious tablet, today brings a new batch of wild speculations – this time about a stylus accessory for the still unconfirmed device from Cupertino.

The rumor talks of a Force Touch stylus, which, like the name suggests, will allegedly be aware of the amount of pressure with which it is pressed and react accordingly. The idea for such an accessory, however, isn’t currently based on any evidence and is simply the result of predictions, courtesy of reputed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. While he does have a pretty good track record of foreseeing Apple’s moves, it is worth noting that the Force Touch stylus is currently nothing more than wishful thinking for a largely unconfirmed device. As Mr. Kuo explains:

We also believe a Force Touch-enabled stylus will enhance productivity as it would offer more precise operation than using only fingers, . Technically, we believe the stylus can be made compatible with iPad models other than the 12.9-inch version, but it depends on the support of software.

The idea of a Force Touch stylus is definitely captivating and would truly let Apple brush elbows with other performance-oriented tablet products, like the Microsoft Surface or Galaxy Note Pro, for example. Still, it is all conceptual, but if such an accessory does exist in the future, chances are that it will be sold separately and perhaps even made compatible with other Apple products.

As for the iPad Pro, it remains just as shrouded in mystery and uncertainty as it was back in 2013 when we first heard rumors about it. It will allegedly be Apple’s biggest tablet to date with a spacious 12.2-inch or perhaps a 12.9-inch screen. Other rumored specs include an A9 CPU, Force Touch, NFC and USB Type C.

Industry sources now suggest a late September on November release date for the product, just in time for the holiday shopping craze, so we just have to wait and see if Apple lives up to fan expectations on this one.

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