Top 5 most popular Android apps from last week: Truedialer, GEL

Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 App Updates on Friday. When Monday rolls around, we look back to see which apps were the most appealing to our audience. Read on for the 5 most popular Android apps from last week. These apps are ones that are most likely new and haven’t appeared in the Top 5 list more than 3 times.

1. Stamped White Icons

App info: Simple, flat icons built using the android color guide. Stamped White Icons uses icon from my “Stamped” icon pack set, which includes 10 free icon packs and 1 paid.

(Playboard) | (Play Store)

2. Disney Movies Anywhere

App info: With Disney Movies Anywhere, you can enjoy your Disney, Pixar and Marvel movies anywhere you go. It’s free to join — no subscription needed. And when you sign up and connect your digital movie accounts, you get a FREE movie on us!

(Playboard) | (Play Store)

3. GEL – Icon Pack

App info: An Android KitKat theme! 1000+ icons. 6 Cloud wallpapers (Muzei support). Dynamic Calendar

(Playboard) | (Play Store)

4. Truedialer by Truecaller

App info: Truedialer is a smart phone dialer unlike any other! Replace your old, slow and boring dialer for the quickest and most convenient way to find your contacts.

(Playboard) | (Play Store)

5. Min – Icon Pack

App info: Min is an icon set for various launchers, it is designed to be small. It either works by itself or as a compliment to other icon packs.

(Playboard) | (Play Store)

Instagram adds caption editing, new explore page

Typos can ruin the best of photos, and with Instagram, there was no fixing the mistake. Forgetting your hashtags is no fun either. Thankfully, Instagram finally listened to the masses and updated the app with a new editing feature. This will allow you to edit the captions of previously posted photos in case you need to make a quick edit. Took you long enough, Instagram.Another change is to the Explore page, which is the second tab in the app. It’s now designated with a magnifying glass, and though the “Photos” tab is no different, the “People” tab will show you accounts that Instagram thinks you should follow. If you’re a heavy user of the social network, this may benefit you.This update is available today for both iOS and Android, so head to the Play store to update it or hit the source link to install the app. Let us know what you think!

Via: Instagram Blog

Source: Play Store: Instagram

HTC puts Camera app up on Play Store

In its quest to put every built in app onto the Google Play store, HTC has now uploaded its official Camera app. This will allow HTC to update the app at its own pace instead of waiting for full system updates to release a new version of the app. It also means quicker bug fixes and faster feature releases.But before you get excited that you can give the app a shot on any device, it’s only compatible with a few HTC devices. You won’t be able to install it on any hardware, which is a real shame because the HTC Camera app is real nice. With a significant amount of manual control, it would be great on other devices.If you want to check it out, hit the source link to get to the Play store! You might even see an update for your HTC device already out.

Source: Play Store: HTC Camera

Samsung Galaxy S6 to pack next-gen UFS memory

Korean newspaper ETNews has outed a report citing a Samsung insider, who claims the company is going to use a next-gen NAND flash storage in the upcoming Galaxy S6. The storage technology in question is called UFS 2.0, which stands for Universal Flash Storage.

UFS can reach SSD-like transfer speeds, but is cheap to manufacture like eMMC memory chips. In fact, it's three times faster than eMMC memory with a transfer speed of up to 1.2GB/s. Power consumption is lower than eMMC storage, which won't lead to battery drains or overheating. Recent UFS 2.0 technology development has lead to half the power consumption of eMMC 5.0, the source says.The standard is established under the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) initiative by Samsung, Nokia and Micron in 2007. Toshiba and SK Hynix are also involved in the development of the UFS 2.0 memory. Samsung is expected to start mass producing the new NAND flash storage in the coming weeks.However, Samsung isn't alone doing this. Xiaomi is also reported to use UFS 2.0 NAND memory in its upcoming products. Samsung is very conscious of the advancements its Chinese rival is making. The company is now third behind Samsung and Apple is market share as per IDC's Q3 2014 report though that has reportedly changed now that Lenovo finally formally acquired Motorola.Samsung is also going to slowly replace its SD and microSD cards with UFS tech inside in addition to smartphones. The first of them is very likely to be the Galaxy S6 followed by the Galaxy Note 5."UFS is an important element for our smart phone business next year. We will start the application centering on flagship smart phones,” the source inside Samsung shares. "However, we cannot disclose any details because the time of a new smart phone release next year and specifications of this new model have not been finalized."

Samsung sues Nvidia over false benchmark results

amsung has undertaken court action to sue Nvidia accusing it of false advertising as it presumably faked some benchmark results, which compare the Exynos 5433 to the Tegra K1. The false advertising claim concerns the Galaxy Note 4, which Nvidia compared to the Shield Tablet not too long ago. Nvidia claims the Tegra K1 residing in it is the "world's fastest mobile processor" and Samsung isn't too happy with this, as it considers the Exynos 5433 chip to be the fastest one available.

The lawsuit also includes claims of infringement eight patents - Nvidia would be violating six of them, while Velocity Micro (an Nvidia client) is accused of violating two.

In a response to Samsung's accusations, Nvidia posted a clarification online explaining they ran the benchmarks on the out-of-the-box units of the Galaxy Note 4 and the Shield tablet.

Samsung's lawsuit comes a couple of months after Nvidia took action against the Korean company and Qualcomm for infringing its own patents. Nvidia wants the ITC to block shipments of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets utilizing the Qualcomm Adreno, ARM Mali and Imagination PowerVR graphics chips. The company says a total of seven patents are infringed by these GPUs and it's the first time the it is initiating a patent lawsuit in its 21 years of history.

Nvidia brushed on its ongoing patent lawsuit with Samsung saying that they weren't surprised by the counter lawsuit but they are convinced their initial patent infringement case is moving forward and that it's "a far more serious problem" for Samsung.

CES 2015 Innovation awards: Samsung grabs 36, LG snags 10

Samsung and LG happily announced they've been recognized for their products in the CES 2015 Innovation Awards. Samsung grabbed awards for 36 of its products - 12 more than last year - while LG won 10.

Out of the overall 36 CES awards for 2015, Samsung won 2 from the Best of Innovation awards category and 4 from the Eco-Design honors. Part of the company's products that won awards are the Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and Galaxy Tab S 8.4, Gear S and Gear VR.However, the company is also recognized for its 20nm 4GB LPDDR4 Mobile DRAM, YOUM Bended display and Green Memory 64GB 3D TSV DDR4 RDIMM.LG's award winners include the LG G3, 77" curved flexible 4K OLED TV and EcoHybrid Dryer. With the latest recognition from the CES Innovation Awards panel, the company now boast 150 awards total received in the past 10 years.CES 2015 is happening from January 6 - 9 in Las Vegas and Samsung revealed its main press conference there is scheduled for 2PM on Monday, January 5.

better designs, Rumors on Xperia Z4 promise sharper screens

Some previous rumors may suggest that Sony will be abandoning its two-flagships-per-year strategy, but rumors about the Xperia Z4 family have already started just months after the release of the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact. Alleged insider info claims Sony will come out with a full Z4 lineup – the Xperia Z4 flagship, the Z4 Compact, a Z4 Ultra phablet and a Z4 Tablet.

Sony Xperia Z4

The Sony Xperia Z4 is said to solve the messy cable situation of previous generation by dropping the magnetic charger and moving to Qi wireless charging. The microUSB port (which some users report loosens with time and compromises water resistance) will be the kind that survives water without any flap at all - like the one we've seen on some recent IP-rated smartphones. The phone will maintain its IP68 rating nonetheless, say the insiders.

Sony Xperia Z4 Compact

The Xperia Z4 Compact will stay about the same size with a 4.6" screen, but bump up the resolution to 1080p (up from 720p) and upgrade the internals. Quite likely, the two Z4 phones will use the same chipset.

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet will return to a 10.1" screen, there's no info on a Z4 Tablet Compact. The screen will probably be QHD (1440p) though Sony reportedly is trying out 2160p as well (aka UHD/4K). Sony's current tablets are at WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200px), lower than their main competitors, so QHD sounds more plausible.

The bezels are said to be much smaller though but the front stereo speakers are here to stay. The tablet will be powered by a Snapdragon 810 with a 64-bit octa-core processor (Cortex-57/53 big.LITTLE), 4GB RAM, 32GB of built-in storage. The camera department will be bumped up to 13MP for the back and 8MP for the front.

Sony Xperia Z4 Ultra

The Sony Xperia Z4 Ultra will be only the second Ultra (this phablet line skipped a few generations). The screen is said to stay at 6.4" – which is both good and bad, depending on how you feel about Z Ultra's size – but will move up to either QHD or 2160p resolution.

It goes without saying that these rumors are unsubstantiated and could just be wishful thinking. Oh, and the image above shows the current Xperia Z3 roster (there's no Z Ultra this generation).