Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

Google releases 5 mini games for Glass, wants devs to make more

Games are usually the best examples to showcase any new platform. The iPhone got a ton of mini apps and games that showed off its accelerometer and touch screen, which were novel at that time. Similarly, Google has developed 5 mini games for its innovative “Glass” wearable product, to showcase the hardware’s unique capabilities. As of now, the Glass can already let you make calls, get directions and so on, but games are something new. Having unboxed the Glass and found it to work really well, we can’t wait to test these mini games which might give us a glimpse of the kind of apps that Google will let developers make for the wearable product, that just got a lot more socially acceptable with new frames for prescription lenses. Anyways, here is a video representation of the 5 mini games Google has developed –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9naxeHGIaRY

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Samsung to roll out 60 stores across Europe, in collaboration with Carphone Warehouse

Carphone Warehouse, one of the largest retailers with over 1700 stores in Europe, is entering into a crucial partnership with Samsung, in which it will operate 60 new Samsung exclusive stores across Europe, as a “preferred partner”. This is also an interesting development for Samsung, as this deal will massively improve the retail foot print in all the Android-loving parts of Europe. These new 60 stores will be Samsung exclusive experiences, with Carphone Warehouse contributing its part with retail experience and run Samsung’s stores with what it calls “Carphone Warehouse’s assisted sales tool and connectivity platform”, all with Samsung tablets.

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Oppo N1 officially arrives in India for a price of Rs. 39,999

Oppo had earlier revealed that they are entering the Indian market today, and right now, they have done just that, at an event in New Delhi. This event also sees the launch of company flagship, the Oppo N1, for a price of Rs. 39,999, for the 16 GB version. The N1, initially rumoured to be a camera centric device, turned out to be a lot more, which we had documented in our review earlier. It has a 5.9 inch 1080p display, a 13 megapixel camera sitting on a rotating swivel, a rear touch sensor for one handed usage, a really cool bluetooth accessory and so on. The hardware alone does not tell the entire story because the N1 is perhaps the most open device on the market, with an unlocked bootloader and a custom recovery that can install ROMs like Cyanogen Mod without any modification. Now that it has landed in India, can the “13 MP selfie” phone make its mark in a highly competitive market?

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Lenovo to buy Motorola from Google for 3 billion USD

Lenovo, the world’s no. 1 PC maker and one of the top 5 Smartphone vendors in the world, is reportedly buying out Motorola’s Mobility division from Google for close 3 billion USD, reports Reuters. With final talks between Lenovo and Google going on, Reuters adds that the Motorola mobility division is the one that makes the Moto X and the recently launched popular budget device, Moto G. Lenovo will also be getting its hands on certain patents as a part of the deal, reportedly. Google created a lot of flutter, not long ago, when it announced that it will acquire Motorola’s mobility division for a whopping 12.5 billion USD. It was assumed that the money was for all the patents, but Motorola(under Google’s leadership) announced the Moto X and the Moto G, with very few tweaks and modifications, which possibly signaled more Google intervention than ever, but it looks like that was not the case then, nor is it now.

Lenovo and Google have just made the acquisition official, read here for more details.

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Samsung reportedly toning down TouchWiz tweaks and apps due to pressure from Google

Samsung, the world’s biggest Android manufacturer, is reportedly toning down its TouchWiz UI tweaks and own custom apps due to pressure from Google, reports re/code. Not long before, the Korean Chaebol unveiled a range of new Android devices at the Consumer Electronics Show, all featuring the company’s latest and heavily modified Touchwiz “Magazine” UX, that looked nothing like Android. And then we saw a couple more leaks of its adaptation for the mobile form factor, and even that was a drastic departure from the previous version of TouchWiz, let alone stock Android. This might have set Google off and reportedly, the two companies have come to a compromise(among many other things) in which Samsung will tone down its UI tweaks and replacement apps for Google’s services, going forward.

The image above, taken from a Ars Technica opinion piece paints a clear picture of how Samsung had its own ecosystem around Android, replacing almost every little Google service possible. It is all set to change soon.

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Samsung Galaxy Gear gets another price cut to Rs. 14,999 in India

Galaxy Gear is the first Smartwatch from Samsung, the world leader in consumer electronics. One would have expected it to sell like how the Note sold, even after reviews lambasted it for being too big and otherworldly, but that isn’t the same case for the Galaxy Gear. It has received price cuts after price cuts and we are now at a stage in which it sells at a price of Rs. 14,999 in retail, a huge 8,000 discount from the original launch price of Rs. 22,990. The price has fallen by almost 40%, which indicates the kind of demand that the product is getting in the market. Sure, the market is not really a “Smartwatch” market per se, but bundling it with the Note 3 was a clever strategy from Samsung, which unfortunately did not work in its favour.

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Google Chrome Apps for iOS and Android are coming

Google Chrome apps for iOS and Android are coming, as the company has just quietly unveiled, in its Chromium blog, that it is finally ready to extend the reach of Chrome apps to mobile platforms. It was previously rumoured to happen, but Google remained quiet even after the news spread fast. But now that it’s official, it is seen as a landmark announcement, as this might be a strategic move for all things Google, going forward. With Chromebooks gaining ground in the notebook space, thanks to several OEMs backing it up with some really interesting products, Google is now taking the bustling platform to mobile. This is a move that the whole industry has been expecting, ever since Google replaced Andy Rubin with Sundar Pichai, the Chrome boss at the Mountain View company. Having developed a tool chain for packaging Chrome apps into native shells for both iOS and Android, this Google-blessed offering will be a dream come true for many developers.

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Google Glass now more socially acceptable with new shades, Titanium frames and prescription lenses

Google Glass, the futuristic HUD-like wearable device from the Mountain View company has been doing its rounds in the form of the Explorer Edition. We had unboxed it a while ago, and we gotta say that it really is something special that offers a glimpse of the future and the advanced present, perhaps. But ever since I saw it up close, I really really wanted to try it out and put it to good use, but haven’t been able to, mainly because it lacked any kind of prescription lens support. Yes, I wear spectacles to compensate for my poor vision, and that is what one exactly gets when using Glass without prescription lenses, it’s a blurry mess. It was the single loudest complaint from many explorers alike, and finally, we have a solution. Google has just unveiled a new range of light weight Titanium frames that can support prescription lenses, and all of them are pictured above. If that is not enough, here is a video showing off the same –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eneEmDtSvzI

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Windows Phone 8.1 rumoured to arrive in April

Windows Phone 8.1 codenamed “Blue” has been rumoured for a long time now, ever since Microsoft confirmed the existence of Windows 8.1(also codenamed “Blue”). While Windows 8.1 has seen its release right on time, with a developer preview in June last year and commercial release by October, we are yet to see even a glimpse of Windows Phone 8.1, which we were hoping to be delivered as fast as the first Windows 8 update. Now, fresh rumours from reliable Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet, reveal that Windows Phone is all set for a April reveal, with developers getting the preview first and general availability later. This comes after rumours of a Cortana reveal, which is a virtual assistant and very much a part of Windows Phone that coincides with Microsoft’s developer event at the same time – Build 2014.

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Lava Iris Pro 30 Unboxing

Lava launched its latest flagship device, the Iris Pro 30 in India at a launch event on January 17th. It was announced for a price of Rs. 15,999 and the company prided itself on having designed the product in-house, in India. Made of quality materials like magnesium alloy, the phone comes in at just 7.5mm thickness and 114g of weight, a far cry from hefty phones we have been seeing in this price range. So, how does the actual retail phone actually look and feel? and what are its box contents? We unbox the Lava Iris Pro 30 on video to find out –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWk6pWfkfxk

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Smartphones surpass 1 billion shipments in a year for the first time – IDC

Ever since the introduction of the Smartphones in the mobile industry, we have been witnessing nothing but growth. The category was all set to replace the common mobile phone and the mid point of this transition was noticed sometime last year, with us seeing Smartphones outshipping the feature phones for the first time. The trend continued throughout the year and apparently history was made last year, with smartphones surpassing a billion shipments for the first time. This is after the holiday quarter, which has provided the necessary boost, with almost 284 million shipments. Head past the break for more information.

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Microsoft’s SkyDrive will be called OneDrive

After a trademark infringement lawsuit, won by the Sky broadcasting corporation in the UK, Microsoft was tasked with changing its consumer facing cloud service “SkyDrive” to something else. Today the company has revealed that SkyDrive will be called “OneDrive”, and that it will start rolling out the changes gradually. Technically, the product remains the same but the name, which is usually a constant, receives a change. This is not the first time Microsoft has been forced to rename its products, as we had witnessed earlier how the company was forced not to use “metro” for its whole design language it developed. That said, the OneDrive blog has posted a video that showcases the new vision that Microsoft wants to portray for its new product –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4NsPPUDjyU

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Oppo to kickstart Indian operations on January 30th with the launch of N1

Oppo, the Chinese consumer electronics company, known for its popular smartphones like the Find 5 and the N1, has just sent out invites for an event where it will kickstart its Indian operations – Oppo Mobile India Private Limited, with the launch of its flagship device – the Oppo N1. While the invite doesn’t mention the launch of N1, FoneArena has confirmed that the company is indeed launching the device at the event. It is also really interesting to note that Oppo has courted Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor for increasing brand awareness in the country. Almost all the mobile phone companies have courted stars from Bollywood and Cricket to promote their brands and Oppo is no exception.

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GTA San Andreas makes its way onto Windows Phone with a select few supported devices

Grand Theft Auto is possibly one of the most controversial yet celebrated game franchises in the history of gamerkind. The company behind the series, Rockstar games, started releasing, or letting others port its games over to mobile platforms like iOS and Android. GTA III and Vice City released on both the platforms while availability still evaded the third ecosystem – Windows Phone. But when the company announced San Andreas for mobile, Windows Phone was surprisingly in the mix of platforms supported. Keeping up that promise, the company, through Wardrum studios which developed the iOS and Android versions, has made the game available on the Windows Phone store. However, the game is listed to support only a select few devices at the moment and costs a cool 6.99 USD. Head past the break for more details, and here is a gameplay video of us playing GTA San Andreas on a mobile platform –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M8uVs0iCpo

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LG Mobile sells 13.2 million phones this quarter, posts increased revenues thanks to G2 and Nexus 5

LG, a company which was known to be struggling in the mobile industry just a few years back, has posted strong results for the fourth quarter of 2013 today. It has been a grand revival of sorts for the company which has seen great releases last year in the LG G2 and the Google Nexus 5. Incidentally, LG confirms that these exact two devices have contributed massively to the improvements in its mobile revenue over the quarter as well as over the year. The numbers for QoQ increase in revenues are 18% – 3.38 bn USD, while yoy numbers are more encouraging at 29% – 11.85 billion USD. LG has quickly become one of the more interesting Android OEMs in the recent times and the numbers clearly reflect that.

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