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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Asus unveils new ZenFone 5 Lite in the Philippines

Asus has announced a new smartphone today in the Philippines. It's called ZenFone 5 Lite, and its model number is A502CG. As you may have guessed from its name, it's basically a lower-end variation of the original ZenFone 5 that got unveiled in January and has been on sale since April.

The ZenFone 5 Lite comes with a 5-inch qHD (540x960) IPS touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, and a 0.3 MP front-facing snapper.

At the helm is an Intel Atom Z2520 chipset with a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, aided by 1GB of RAM. There's 42Mbps DC-HSPA support, along with dual-SIM functionality, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 2,500 mAh battery. The ZenFone 5 Lite runs Android 4.4 KitKat with Asus' ZenUI on top.

The phone's dimensions are 148.2 x 72.8 x 10.8 cm, and it weighs 160g. It will be offered in Charcoal Black, Pearl White, and Cherry Red.

Compared to the ZenFone 5, the Lite version has a lower-res screen and front camera, a less capable processor, but (oddly) a bigger battery. As a result it's also slightly thicker and heavier than the original.

The ZenFone 5 Lite will become available in the Philippines next week for PHP 5,595, which is about $124 or €99. Right now it's unclear if it will make its way to other countries in the future, but we don't see why it wouldn't.

iOS 8.1.1 now rolling out, has fixes for iPhone 4s and iPad 2

Apple has just started pushing out the update to iOS 8.1.1 to all supported devices. Every Apple device that supports iOS 8 and iOS 8.1 will get the iOS 8.1.1 update.

Depending on the model of the product you're applying it to, the size will vary - but it will be around 64MB.

According to Apple, the update "includes bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements for iPad 2 and iPhone 4s".

Owners of older Apple devices sometimes complain that after upgrading to new iOS versions the performance of their gadgets heavily decreases. In the case of iOS 8 (or at least iOS 8.1), this has now pretty much been confirmed by Apple itself.

So if you own an iPhone 4s or iPad 2 running iOS 8.1, you should probably apply the update to iOS 8.1.1 as soon as possible. Hopefully it will restore some lost performance on those two devices.

Samsung and Apple reach a chip manufacturing agreement

Apple and Samsung have reached a chip manufacturing agreement. Worth billions of dollars, the deal will make Samsung the primary supplier of application processors for Apple from 2016 onwards.

The deal will see the Korean giant manufacture 80% of the application processors needed by Apple. The remainder of the production will be handled by the Taiwan-based TSMC. The latter handles most of Cupertino’s chip manufacturing at the moment.

The agreement arrives shortly after Samsung and Apple agreed to drop all lawsuits against each other in outside the United States. Unsurprisingly, Apple will continue to design its processors. Samsung will handle the production of the 14nm chips in partnership with the California-based semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries.

Application processors are significantly more profitable to manufacture than flash memory - another Samsung staple in demand from Apple. The revenue stream will allow the Korean company to make up for the declining profits from its smartphone operations.

Google Play services 6.5 update detailed, will roll out in the coming days

Heads up, Android developers, because Google just announced a new version of Google Play services with some spiffy updates for several Google apps.

Google Play services 6.5 will roll out in the coming days with new features for Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Wallet and more. Here’s a quick rundown of the goodies inside of the update:

Google Maps – Maps API now includes a map toolbar that lets users open Google Maps and get directions right away to the selected marker. Also included is a “lite mode” map option for maps that are so small that they can’t really be interacted with, like in a thumbnail.
Google Drive – Support for public and application private custom file properties in a Drive file for quick searches and apps that can save info that’ll persist across other apps. Syncing is improved thanks to control over when files are uploaded, like by network type or charging status.
Google Wallet – “Donate with Google” button added for easy donations.
Google Fit – Easier for developers to add activity segments for set time periods of running, walking, etc., when creating sessions for a workout that includes several different activities.
Granular Dependency Management – Allows developers to rely on a small common library and select APIs rather than the entire API library. Lets devs slim down app sizes.

This looks like a nice update to Google Play services, bringing new features to some major Android apps. If you’re a dev that’d like to read up a bit more on this update before it rolls out, you can check out Google’s official Android Developers Blog.

Nokia Android 5.0 Lollipop announces N1 Android tablet, priced at $249

Nokia may have sold a good chunk of itself to Microsoft, but that doesn’t mean that the company is done making hardware. Today ushers in the Nokia N1 tablet, a new 7.9-inch tablet that runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and is built in conjunction with Foxconn via a licensing agreement. The tablet is aimed to provide powerful specs at low cost of $249. Inside the Nokia N1 you’ll find a powerful 64-bit 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Z3580 processor that distinguishes the Nokia N1 as one of the few devices on the market to feature a 64-bit processor.

Other specs include a 7.9-inch 2048×1536 display, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, 8-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, stereo speakers, 5300mAh battery and the new reversible microUSB 2.0 Type C charging port. The Nokia N1 tablet has an aluminum body that comes in with a thickness of 6.9mm, making it very slim indeed. On the software side of things, you can find Android 5.0 with Nokia’s Z Launcher laid over top.

The Nokia N1 is priced at $249 and will be launching in China before the Chinese New Year on February 19, 2015. A launch in Russia and some European markets will follow afterwards.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Top 10 Android app updates this week: Lyft, Android Wear

Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most frequently upgraded apps for the week. We’ve found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to find the ones that are actually being updated by the developers rather than selecting the apps with the most installs. As in the past, we’re going to filter out minor updates for the super-popular apps that have over 10 million installs, but we’ll make exceptions for apps that have had significant updates. We hope you enjoy this weekly feature and that you discover some apps that end up being useful.