Google rumored to launch two new Nexus phones this year

Google may roll out two Nexus phones this year -- but no Nexus tablet.

Made by LG, one new Nexus phone codenamed the LG Angler would offer a 5.2-inch screen, according to Android Police. The other phone, manufactured by Chinese vendor Huawei and given a code name of Bullhead, would reportedly sport a 5.7-inch display.

Basing the scuttlebut on a "reliable" source, Android Police gave the rumor a confidence rating of 7 out of 10, which means the odds are pretty good assuming the source is indeed reliable.

If true, this would mark the first time Google has released two Nexus phones in one year. By giving each phone a different screen size, Google may be trying to pull off the same feat as Apple -- offer one phone with a "relatively" smaller screen and another with a larger more phablet-sized display to capture as wide an audience as possible. The current Nexus 6 also is a beast of a phablet with a 6-inch screen. So Google may be looking to shrink the screen size to make this year's devices more accessible to the average consumer.

Details on the phone's specs are "tenative" for now, according to Android Police, and may have changed since the blog site received the information. But based on the source, the LG Angler would be powered by Qualcomm's 64-bit, hexa-coreSnapdragon 808 processor, the same high-end chip used in the LG G4 smartphone. The battery capacity would be around 2700mAh. The Huawei Bullhead would be equipped with aQualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and offer a battery capacity of 3500mAh.

Both phones are likely to be released in October, the usual time frame for new Google Nexus devices. Google may announce the new phones this Thursday at its2015 I/O conference, but that's not a sure bet. Last year, the company didn't reveal the Nexus 6 at its2014 I/O event and instead waited until later in the year for the phone's debut.

And what of a new Nexus tablet? Nothing is in the works for this year, according to the source. No reason was revealed. But if true, that means last year's Nexus 9 would remain Google's current Nexus tablet.

Heads up: Google Glass may be coming back

According to reports last week in the Financial Times, Google really is working on a new version of Glass, the now-cancelled wearable device that became the poster child for clueless tech products creeping out normal people.

Google has claimed that it would continue working on the device since it stopped selling it in January, but until now there's been no word on what the company had in mind. Was it hoping to make a few tweaks and come up with a new marketing campaign and hope that would be enough for a successful re-launch? Or was the plan to completely scrap Google Glass as is and develop a new product based on what it learned from the first attempt?

FT.com reported on what Tony Fadell, the head of Google acquisition Nest who's now in charge of the Google Glass project, said earlier this month at a Google Zeitgeist conference in the UK. In his first public comments since taking charge of Glass, he indicated that the company has at least figured out that the device cannot re-enter the market as it was.

"We've decided to go and look at every detail, have no sacred cows and figure out the way forward," Fadell said.
Google Glass needs big changes

Frankly, that's the absolute minimum required to resurrect this product. As I've stated repeatedly, I see enormous potential in products like Google Glass, but the current implementations simply don't live up to the promise.

It seems that Fadell—and perhaps Google—finally see that. If so, here's what Fadell needs to do:

First, dump the Google Glass name, design, and market positioning. Glass was a marketing disaster of catastrophic proportions. Business schools should be using it as a case study in what not to do for decades to come. Whatever Google comes up with next, it should stay as far away from the Google Glass legacy as possible. No matter how good it is, if it reeks of the Glass "explorers," popularly dubbed "Glassholes" by the public, the project is doomed before it starts.

See also: How Google Glass set wearable computing back 10 years

Second, Google needs to fix the product's actual problems. Earlier this year, I listed the10 things the next version of Google Glass must have, and I still believe that all these changes are critical. But they all boil down to improving the experience for users and reducing the anxiety of people in the presence of the actual user.

For the user, that means vastly improving performance so using the device doesn't feel like test of the slow-motion video feature on your smartphone. For everyone else, it's about making it unmistakably obvious what the user is doing, what they may be recording, and whether they're invading anyone's privacy.

Oh, and Fadell may want to make the thing look less weird, too.

If he can do all that, he's an amazing genius. And he may actually succeed in reviving Google Glass. As long as he knows enough not to call it that.

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua first impressions: 5-inch HD waterproof smartphone, but comes at a steep price

Sony announced its latest phones from the Xperia series for the Indian market. The Xperia M4 Aqua comes with water-proof and dust-proof certifications. The other phone launched was the Sony Xperia C4 Dual, which is looking at the mid-range segment. First announced at the Mobile World Congress, the Xperia M4 Aqua will start selling in India from May 26. We got to spend some time with the phone post the event and here are our first impressions.

Build and Design

Sony has employed the same design elements that we have come to associate with its Xperia series of smartphones. The Xperia M4 Aqua has a more rounded edges and corners. The phone has a tempered glass display protecting the 5-inch IPS panel. The frame is metallic and the matte silver colour adds a bit of elegance to the phone. On the left hand side you have a microSD card slot and a cap-less microUSB port for data transfer and charging. On the right hand side there is the dual NanoSIM slot on the to covered by a cap, an aluminum power/standby button, a volume rocker and a dedicated camera shutter button down below.

A 3.5mm audio jack is placed on the top and there are dual front-facing speakers. Overall, the phone has a good build quality and Sony gets a brownie point for providing a capless microUSB port. Imagine the annoyance at having to constantly remove the cap when you want to charge the phone. The fact that it is just 7.3mm thick and comes with IP65 and IP58 certifications will appeal to many.

Display

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua sports a 5-inch HD display. It is quite vibrant and thanks to the IPS panel the viewing angles are quite good. There is no Corning Gorilla Glass protection, but you get tempered glass in its place. The display has a propensity to attract smudges though, which becomes evident when the phone is in the sleep mode and that could be a let down for lot of potential buyers.

Chipset, RAM, Storage
The phone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 system on chip which has a 1.5GHz octa-core processor which is paired with 2GB of RAM. The phone comes with 16GB of storage on board and also has a provision to add in a microSD card slot. We got to use the phone for a brief time and in that time, there were no issues with the phone’s response, camera launching, app-switching and so on. But we will need to run benchmarks on a review device to give a proper verdict on the performance.

Connectivity, OS

The phone comes with a dual-SIM configuration. It has support for 4G LTE networks on one of these SIMs. Apart from this the phone supports Wi-fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA and so on. It also supports GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS. The phone runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with the Xperia UI skin atop it. You will barely see any design language of Lollipop unless you get into the settings menu.

Camera, Battery
Apart from the fact that it is water-proof and dust-proof, the other major USP of the phone is its camera. You get a 13MP rear camera with Sony ExmorRS sensor and a 5MP front-facing camera. Sony has included some features seen on flagship Xperia handsets such as the Z2/Z3/Z3 Compact into the M4 Aqua’s camera software as well. So you get AR Effects, Style Portraits, AR style and so on. Sony claims that the low light capabilities of the M4 Aqua are better than competition, but we will have to test that for ourself.

There is a 2,400 mAh non-removable battery powering the Xperia M4 Aqua which Sony claims can run for two days on single charge on regular use. We will be testing this claim. Apart from this the phone also comes with a Stamina mode setting, which further improves the battery life. This mode worked well with the Xperia Z3 that we had tested last year, so we will see how well it works with the M4 Aqua as well.

Conclusion

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua has a decent specification set and the waterproofing and dustproofing certifications are appealing. For an outdoors person, the M4 Aqua seems like a good phone and the Snapdragon 615 SoC paired with 2GB of RAM should be quite capable of handling many work and multimedia related functions. But the Rs 24,990 price point may be a hindrance for many, specially now when you have so many flagship-level devices available for much less. The segment of users who are purely looking at a waterproof/dustproof phone is quite niche and majority of the buyers will be looking for a good phone which also comes with the IP certifications. But at Rs 25k price point, there is no reason why a regular user may not select the OnePlus One, a Xiaomi Mi 4 or put in Rs 1,500 more and go for a Samsung Galaxy S5, which is water resistant as well. A price point closer to Rs 20,000 would’ve made the Xperia M4 Aqua quite competitive.

Microsoft's Siri rival Cortana is coming to Android, iOS

Microsoft has just announced that Cortana will be spreading her fingers to more pies by jumping to Android and iOS devices.

Currently, Microsoft's Halo-based virtual assistant is exclusive to Windows Phone -- this marks the first time any of the key virtual assistant programmes have adapted onto other another OS.

Dedicated apps are launching in the Google Play Store and App Store giving you the same abilities as Windows Phone including reminders and flight tracking.

A few features don't make the jump to the platform as the app can't tap into the OS as easily, so you'll lose hands-free activation and options to launch apps directly.

Hello Cortana
The Cortana Notebook feature, which remembers all your preferences and history, will now sync up across all your devices though so if you use both a Windows Phone and an Android it'll remember everything.

It'll be coming to Android at some point toward the end of June whilst those with iPhones are only being told it's launching later this year.

Microsoft also shared a Phone Companion Windows 10 app to help sync your iOS, Android and Windows Phone to your PC.

Microsoft partners with LG, Sony, other OEMs to sell Android tablets featuring Office, OneDrive, Skype

Microsoft announced today that it’s signed up 20 more hardware partners to sell Android tablets with its Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype apps included out-of-the-box.

The news follows Microsoft’s announcement in March that it had gotten Samsung, Dell, and several regional hardware makers to sell Android devices packed with those same Microsoft apps.

“Today I’m excited to announce that 20 additional global and local OEM partners, including LG, Sony, Haier, Positivo and Wortman, will make Microsoft productivity applications and services available on their Android tablets. These 31 partners will offer Android tablets pre-installed with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype in the near future,” Nick Parker, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s original equipment manufacturer division, wrote in a blog post today. “They will be available on a new LG tablet, and Sony will include them on their Xperia Z4 tablet in the next 90 days.”

The announcement shows how committed Microsoft is to getting its apps preinstalled on mobile devices that aren’t running Windows. That’s been a clear theme for the past several months — consider, for example, the company’s push to bring free Office apps to iPad, iPhone, and Android tablets and phones.

The timing is interesting — it’s coming just a few days before Google’s I/O developer conference.

In addition to LG and Sony, here are the other new OEM partners in the Microsoft Android tablet deal:

• Axdia International GMBH – Germany
• Cube – China
• DL – Brazil
• General Procurement – United States
• Grupo Nucleo – Argentina
• Haier – China
• Inco – Mexico
• Ionik GBMH – Germany
• Iview – United States and Latam
• Multilaser – Brazil
• Noblex – Argentina
• Pacific (Vulcan) – Mexico
• Philco – Argentina
• Positivo – Brazil
• Prestigio – Cyprus
• Teclast – China
• TMAX Digital – North America
• Wortmann – Germany

In total, Microsoft has now partnered with 31 global and local OEMs (11 in March and 20 today) to preinstall its apps onto Android devices throughout this year. Only time will tell if Microsoft’s apps end up actually being used more because of these deals.

Internet.org helped 8 lakh Indian users online, says Facebook

Internet.org has helped over 800,000 Indians get online, says Facebook.The company shared numbers regarding Internet.org in India, where the app is currently supported in seven telecom circles.

Facebook’s numbers also show that 20 percent of Internet.org users were previously not active on mobile data and that their app has helped more new people come online.

Watch video (App users click here)

The company also says that Internet.org does not restrict or limit connectivity and that their platform ended up serving as a ramp to the more Internet usage. According to Facebook, the new internet users acquired by Internet.org, only 7 percent of data usage was Internet.org (including Free Facebook).

Get discount on Xiaomi Mi 4, Redmi 2 under exchange deal on Flipkart

Flipkart is holding a mega electronics sale, which started yesterday and will go on today. In addition to this Amazon India and Snapdeal had also offered some deals for customers on mobile phones which you can check out here.

For Xiaomi fans in India, who’ve not yet had a chance to buy these devices thanks to the flash sales, this is a good time to try their luck. We take a look at all the Xiaomioffers on Flipkart:

Mi 4i without registration

For starters, the Xiaomi Mi 4i is available without registration. As we noted in our review, this is a stunning mid-budget device, which has a great screen and camera. Read our full review here.

The Xiaomi Mi 4i is a 4G dual SIM phone and has a 2nd-gen Snapdragon 615 Processor. It has a 13 megapixel rear camera and 5 megapixel front camera and runs on Android L with MIUI6 . You can buy the phone for Rs 12,999.

There’s also an 8 GB version of the smartphone available for Rs 6999.

Up to Rs 3000 off on Redmi 2 

Redmi 2 is another popular budget device from Xiaomi which costs only Rs 6999. Flipkart is offering up to to Rs 3000 off on Redmi 2, if you exchange it with an older smartphone. Do note that a better model is likely to get you Rs 3000, although what the exchange list ensures that you will get a minimum of Rs 1000 off if you have brands likeLG, BlackBerry, Micromax and Samsung.

As we had noted in our review, the Redmi 2 is one of the best phones for Rs 6999. Specifications of the Redmi 2 include 4.7-inch 720p HD IPS fully laminated display, 64-bit 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 CPU, 1GB LPDDR3 RAM and 8GB ROM (32GB expandable).

It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat with MIUI 6. Redmi has an 8MP BSI f/2.2 rear camera and a 2MP BSI front camera. It has a 2,200 mAh battery with Quick Charge technology with Dual 4G SIM card slots.

Mi 4 up to Rs 9000 off on exchange

The Xiaomi Mi 4 is the flagship device from the company that was launched in India last year and has a metal frame. It comes in 16GB and 64 GB versions and Flipkart is offering upto Rs 9000 off if you exchange an older smartphone for the Mi 4.

The 16 GB version costs Rs 17,999 while the 64 GB version costs Rs 21,999. Flipakrt is offering higher rates with better smartphones like iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Note Edge which will get you Rs 9000 off on the Xiaomi Mi 4. Even with basic phones like Galaxy Star, etc users will get Rs 1000 off.

Mi 4 smartphone sports a 5-inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at 441 ppi. It runs on a 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU with 3GB RAM. The 3G version of the device offers 16GB of inbuilt storage out of which around 12GB is available to users. The memory cannot be expanded further.

Redmi Note 4G

Customers should expect up to Rs 4000 off on the Redmi Note 4G if they exchange it with an older smartphone on Flipkart.

Redmi Note 4G has a 5.5-inch HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It has a 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8928 processor with 2GB RAM, 8GB internal flash memory with external microSD slot that supports up to 64GB

This is Single SIM with 4G support (Dual band support on both TDD-2300 MHz & FDD-1800 MHz). It has a 13MP rear camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture that supports 1080p video recording, and a 5MP front camera and 3100 mAh lithium-polymer battery. Read more about Redmi Note 4G here.

Other Xiaomi offers on Flipkart include a free Airtel 4G ready SIM, a free Flip cover with Mi 4.