Verizon has launched a new LTE tablet on its site called the Ellipsis 10, and it actually seems like a decent offering. Its focus is on battery life, which it achieves with a large 9,100mAh battery that can achieve 25 hours of use.
Other specs include a 10.1-inch 1920×1200 IPS display, a 1.5GHz quad core processor, 16GB of storage with a microSD slot supporting up to 32 extra gigabytes, a 5MP camera, and Android 5.1 Lollipop. It also has stereo angular speakers with a “smart amplifier.” And of course, it features Verizon LTE support.
You can get it for $299.99 full price, $199.99 with a 2-year contract, or $12.49 a month for 24 months with $0 down. It honestly seems like a decent deal on a tablet, though only real world use will determine how good it really is.
This is Samsung’s first processor with an integrated LTE modem, which features Cat.12 download speeds of up to 600Mbps and Cat.13 upload speeds of up to 150Mbps. The processor is built on 14mm FinFET technology and features a more than 30% improvement in performance and a 10% improvement in efficiency over the previous gen Exynos 7 Octa. On the graphics front, it uses an ARM Mali T-880.
Production of the processor will begin later this year, though we won’t see it in action until the next year. It’ll be exciting to see how it stacks up against the Snapdragon 820!
Motorola has been pretty good with software updates in the past, though lately the company has faltered. But it seems that support for its flagship is strong in the meantime. The Moto X Style, known as the Pure Edition in the US, is now getting its Marshmallow update in Brazil and India, and the second gen Moto X is getting the update in Brazil.
The full rollout will be coming in the next few weeks, including for the US Moto X Pure Edition. Keep an eye out for an update notification, because Marshmallow is no small update. And with the mediocre battery life on the Moto X, Marshmallow is sorely needed.
Here’s a list of improvements in the new version of Android:
A new Memory Manager that lets you check memory usage of all your installed apps
Volume controls have been greatly improved
Do not disturb button has been added to the quick settings panel for easy access.
System UI Tuner will appear in the settings menu at the very bottom once enabled. It provides a few simple UI tweaks.
Google Now on Tap allows contextual information to be delivered based on content on your screen with a long press of the home key.
Doze is a battery management feature that detects when your device is not in use and it will automatically go into a deep sleep state which saves your battery.
App Standby reduces battery drain by putting seldom-used apps into a reduced activity state.
Expandable Storage support allows for microSD cards to be used either in a portable storage or an internal storage mode. Portable storage allows your pictures, videos, audio and other media files to be stored. Internal storage allows both media storage along with apps and games but can not be used by other devices.
RAM manager in settings which allows a consumer to view memory used by the system or an individual app over different time frames
Automatic App backup not only backs up your apps but their associated data so when restored they will be the same as they were before
Text selection has been improved
Are you excited for the update? Looking forward to better battery life? Leave a comment!
Qualcomm has announced its latest mobile processor, the Snapdragon 820. As always, it’s a significant improvement over previous generations of processors, namely the Snapdragon 810. The 810 has been enveloped in controversy, whether legitimate or not, and there’s no doubt Qualcomm wants to get past that.
The Snapdragon 820 features the new Adreno GPU, which according to Qualcomm, features a 40% improvement in performance over the Adreno 430 used in the Snapdragon 810. The CPU itself doubles performance and efficiency over the 810. The X12 LTE chip features 3 times faster peak uploads and 33% faster peak downloads. And the new 14-bit Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor supports up to 28-megapixel captures.
The new processor is quite impressive, though Qualcomm has been putting out good hardware for quite some time now. Hopefully the Snapdragon 820 will have no thermal issues. The company is likely working hard to keep that from happening. The processor should show up in devices sometime next year.
Welcome back to Android Gaming Weekly, our weekly recap of new game releases. We still plan to cover upcoming releases and games we’re playing, but this column is dedicated to new games that you can start playing right now. Check out our top picks and let us know in the comments section if you have any suggestions for next week’s post.
Kiai Resonance
Description: Kiai Resonance is a 2D versus fighting game. You take part in multiplayer samurai combats where one hit off-guard is fatal, and several challenges to perfect your skills.
Description: Pauli’s Adventure Island is a classic 2D side-scrolling platformer game optimized for Android. Run, jump and fly your way through many uniquely designed worlds that range from rolling hills to mysterious forests, dark caves, ancient temples and more!
Description: In the near future Greg’s girlfriend Chloe mysteriously disappears in front of him. He starts a desperate search for her. What happened? Why does no-one else remember her? In this indie, story driven adventure game you explore fully 3d environments using an intuitive point and click interface.
Description: Classic Retro Arcade Action!! Inspired by the classic arcade game Q*Bert (qbert). Guide our hopping hero in the task of coloring each level. Would be simple if it weren’t for the baddies, each type has their own unique behaviour.
Description: Eternal Arena is a fast-paced, Action-RPG. The game features over 35 playable characters, daily missions, and an expansive single-player storyline. Train your team in Story mode, then dominate other players online in Ranked PvP challenges.
Description:Manage your team of adventurers as you raid the local dungeon for treasure! Upgrade your tavern, purchase new sodas, and attract new party members. Gold, legendary items, and more await you!
Description: Thousands of aliens, mutant lizards, giant spiders and more are on the attack – can you survive the onslaught? Crimsonland is an intense and gratifying top-down dual stick shooter from the golden age of arcade action games.
Description: In This War Of Mine you do not play as an elite soldier, rather a group of civilians trying to survive in a besieged city; struggling with lack of food, medicine and constant danger from snipers and hostile scavengers. The game provides an experience of war seen from an entirely new angle.
Description: In 2100, a virus called M virus suddenly appeared and all creatures are killed or turned into the mutants who are infected. The infection’s been spreading around the world and the world also turned to anarchy.
Description: A pail from outside of a jail has given life and evil magical powers and to a snowman. Then a call goes out to all the mythical snow creatures to come and destroy him. The user takes on the role of the fugitive, “Frosty The Assassin”, and tries to stay alive.
On November 12, Google officially launched YouTube Music for Android (and iOS) users in a standalone app. The company isn’t shy about saying that starting a song in YouTube Music will take you down the rabbit hole of videos and music, and uses it as a selling point of the new service. The company also says that discovering music will be easier than ever, as the new Home tab will populate recommended tracks and artists, and even put together personalized stations based on your listening habits.
While YouTube Music will have access to a vast catalog of official songs, albums and videos, Google also promotes the fact that there are a variety of videos in its collection, including lyric videos, concert footage and even covers and remixes. All of this content will be available through YouTube Music, easily accessible when the user wants.
To get the best experience, though, Google suggests upgrading to YouTube Red for $9.99 per month, which will net the user offline playback, along with the ability to seamlessly switch between a music video and just the music’s audio if the situation calls for it. With YouTube Red activated, you’ll also be able to keep listening even when you start using another app or your screen turns off.
Google is launching YouTube Music along with a 14-day free trial.
YouTube Music is available right now through the Play Store as a free download. Do you plan on checking it out?
After being unveiled at IFA a few months back, the Acer Predator 8 tablet is now available for pre-order. Acer’s Predator 8 isn’t the most impressive Android tablet on the market, but it does come equipped with an 8-inch 1,920 x 1,200 resolution IPS LCD display, Intel Atom X7 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, microSD slot support, and a 4420mAh battery that should provide up to eight and a half hours of battery life.
As you can tell from the pictures, the Acer Predator 8 isn’t going to win the award for the best-looking Android tablet. Instead, it shares a lot of the same aggressive design DNA that’s infused in Acer’s Predator laptop and PC lineup. The thicker build allows the Predator 8 to feature four front-facing speakers (one in each corner of the tablet), which deliver a more immersive audio experience, and dual-haptic vibration motors that allow even vibration across the entire tablet no matter how it is held.
If you want to be among the first to get your hands on the Acer Predator 8, you can pre-order the tablet from TigerDirect and Newegg for $300, with units shipping as early as next week. It’s certainly not the cheapest 8-inch Android tablet on the market, but the Acer Predator 8 should offer a superb gaming experience that’s likely only matched by the NVIDIA Shield, which is also priced at $300.
Officially, the Nexus S should still be running on Android 4.1, but that hasn’t stopped developers from releasing unofficial updates for the phone once Google’s software team pulled the plug on it in late 2012. While Google would want you to buy a new Nexus to take advantage of all the newest features baked into Android Marshmallow, Dmitry Grinberg has managed to deliver a fairly stable Android 6.0 build for the Nexus S.
Since the Nexus S has an a single-core 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and limited internal storage, it took quite a bit of work to tweak Android 6.0 so that it could actually run on the phone. Dmitry has shared extensive details about his Android 6.0 build on his site, along with Fastboot or TWRP flashable images. For those who are a little more adventurous, he’s also shared the patches needed that allow you to develop your own Android Marshmallow build for the Nexus S.
We doubt any of you still use the Nexus S are your daily driver, but please let us know if you plan on digging the phone out of your drawer to give it a taste of Android Marshmallow.
With the retail launch of the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE (wow, that’s a mouthful), Google has made Android Wear’s cellular support official. Keeping your Android Wear device connected no longer requires it to be shackled to your smartphone through WiFi or Bluetooth. If your LTE-capable smartwatch can’t locate your phone, it will automatically switch to LTE mode, allowing you to do receive all your notification, use your apps and even make or receive calls.
Making phone calls from your wrist may sound like fun, but we’re honestly more excited about the idea of leaving our smartphone behind in certain situations while still being connected. As a runner, an LTE Android Wear watch would be the perfect companion, allowing me to track my runs, listen to music and even send and receive messages without having to strap my 5.2-inch phone to my arm.
How much extra are you willing to pay for an LTE-capable Android Wear smartwatch?
It was only days ago that the BlackBerry Priv was officially released, and now images of what may be BlackBerry’s next Android phone have surfaced.
Renders of a device called the BlackBerry Vienna — likely a codename, like Venice was to the Priv — have made their way online courtesy of CrackBerry. The images show a candybar-style smartphone with what looks to be a large screen and a physical keyboard as well as physical navigation buttons. There are also some buttons on the sides, with the left side likely housing the power/lock button and the right side being home to volume buttons as well as a convenience key.
Unfortunately, there aren’t really any spec details available for the Vienna right now. It’ll be interesting to see if BlackBerry really does bring the Vienna to market looking like this, though. It’s certainly been a long while since we’ve seen an Android phone with this form factor, but BlackBerry’s got plenty of experience making phones like this, and this design could bring more BlackBerry fans over to the Android side. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Pacosite's Blog 