Microsoft has released Home Team, an experimental Windows Phone app for word-of-mouth recommendations
Microsoft has launched a new mobile app designed to help you search local service professional, from plumbers and electricians to car-dealers and more.
Above: Home Team
Home Team is the latest in a long line of apps to emerge from the vaults of Microsoft Garage, the computing giant’s lab for experimental tinkering. However, unlike most of its other recent launches, Microsoft has opted to go Windows Phone-only with this app.
Back in July, Microsoft Garage launched a new polling app for iOS and Android, shortly before it introduced a lightweight email app for iPhone called Send, which later arrived for Android too. Elsewhere, the company rolled out Snipp3t, an iOS-only app that gathers celebrity news from across the Web. Then there’s the Next Lock Screen app for Android and Picturesque, another lock screen app designed with Microsoft’s Bing search engine in mind. Journeys & Notes, on the other hand, is a social travel app that seeks to connect a community of users who have traveled on similar routes.
Home Team is all about finding the best “local contractors and repairmen” that come with “a stamp of approval” — this is all about word-of-mouth recommendations between friends and family, rather than reviews from the general public.
With Microsoft long on the back-foot in the mobile realm, it hasn’t been investing quite as much in Windows Phone ecosystem of late — in fact, it has rather a lot of apps that exist on other mobile platforms but not Windows Phone. So it’s interesting to see it rollout a Windows Phone-only app, even if it is just one of its experiments. It’s safe to say that if it garners enough favorable feedback through the testing phase, that it may find its way onto other mobile platforms too.
Sony Is Not Planning To Create PlayStation Vita Successor
Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios has revealed this week that Sony has no plans to create a follow-up device to their PlayStation Vita handheld portable games console.
The PlayStation Vita originally launched in Japan back during December 2011, which was then followed by a launch in Europe during February 2012.
Since their launch both the Sony’s Vita and Nintendo’s 3DS handheld consoles have sold less than units than the systems that preceded them. Yoshida explained that :
Due to the rise of smartphone gaming had created an unhealthy climate in which to launch a successor.- People have mobile phones and it’s so easy to play games on smartphones. And many games on smartphones are free, or free to start.
I myself am a huge fan of PlayStation Vita and we worked really hard on designing every aspect. Touch-based games are fun – there are many games with really good design. But having sticks and buttons make things totally different. So I hope, like many of you, that this culture of playing portable games continues but the climate is not healthy for now because of the huge dominance of mobile gaming.
How Google’s new Nexus 6P stacks up against the iPhone 6s Plus
The two companies that own the dominant mobile operating systems in the world — Google and Apple — now have new flagship phones, and even though the price tags of the two devices are very different, they beg for a head-to-head comparison.
Google today announced its best smartphone to date, the Nexus 6P, a premium device meant to fully showcase the new Android Marshmallow operating system.
This comes just days after the launch of Apple’s best phones to date, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which are designed to fully utilize the features in Apple’s newest mobile OS, iOS 9.
The Nexus 6P, made by Huawei, is perhaps most like the iPhone 6s Plus. It’s a phablet with a 5.7-inch screen. The iPhone 6s Plus has a 5.5-inch screen. The Nexus 6P 64GB version sells for $549, while the 64GB iPhone 6s Plus sells for $849. But the Nexus 6P stacks up nicely against the iPhone in some important ways.
Let’s look at the phones side by side, attribute by attribute.
Physical construction
The Nexus 6P has an aluminum unibody and features a Gorilla Glass 4 display.
The iPhone 6s has a hardened aluminum body. Apple collaborated with Corning (maker of Gorilla Glass) to make a special kind of hardened glass for the front.
Size and weight
The Nexus 6P is almost the same size as the iPhone 6s Plus, yet makes room for a larger display. From VentureBeat
Got translation? You got problems. We’re here to help. Localization and translation tips from the best minds in marketing.
Nexus 6P: Dimensions are 159.4mm x 77.8mm x 7.3mm; weight is 178 grams iPhone 6s Plus: Dimensions are 158.2mm x 77.9mm x 7.3mm; weight is 192 grams
Above: Huawei’s Nexus 6P compared to an iPhone.
Image Credit: Screenshot
Operating system
Both phones showcase the features and functions of the latest operating systems.
The Nexus 6P uses Android 6.0, or Android Marshmallow. The OS features new app permissions, custom browser tabs (for automatic sign-in, saved passwords, and autofill), app deep linking, and native fingerprint reader support for Android Pay.
The iPhone 6s Plus uses iOS 9, which features the new 3D Touch press-and-hold input gesture, Apple Music, the new News app, and a smarter personal assistant in Siri.
Processor
The Nexus 6P uses a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (v2.1). The Snapdragon line has been considered the go-to processor for mid-level Android phones. The 810 is fast, and in v2.1 it’s believed that the overheating issue seen in the first version of the chips has been corrected.
The iPhone 6s Plus uses a 64-bit A9 with an embedded M9 graphics coprocessor. Early independent tests confirm Apple’s claim that the A9 chip is 60 percent faster than the A8 chip in the iPhone 6 Plus in single-core operations. In fact, head-to-head tests show that the A9 processor is likely the fastest mobile chip on the market today. The speed increase in the iPhone 6s was most obvious when loading apps and webpages, populating them with data.
Display
Nexus 6P: 5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED display (2,560 x 1,440 resolution and 518 pixels per inch) iPhone 6s Plus: 5.5-inch Retina HD display (1,920 x 1,080 resolution at 401 pixels per inch)
The two displays represent the best display technology in the marketplace. The WQHD AMOLED display in the 6P is also used in the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge phones. The display is impressive, with lots of brightness and image sharpness.
The iPhone 6s Plus display is perhaps the only display I’ve seen this year that I liked more than the one on the Samsung Galaxy S6. The colors are beautiful, and the light/dark balance is especially accurate and true-to-life.
Memory
Nexus 6P: 3GB of RAM, comes in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB models iPhone 6s Plus: 2GB of RAM, comes in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB models
Cameras
Nexus 6P: 12.3-megapixel camera with ƒ/2.0 aperture, 1.5µ pixels, IR laser-assisted autofocus and 4K video recording, 8-megapixel front-facing camera iPhone 6s Plus: 12-megapixel camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture, 1.22µ pixels, autofocus, optical image stabilization (iPhone 6s Plus only), 5-megapixel front-facing camera, 4K video recording (3,840 x 2,160) at 30 frames per second
Fingerprint readers
Nexus 6P: A dedicated fingerprint reader is located on the back of the phone. It’s used to log into the phone and for Android Pay mobile payments. Google says the reader becomes more and more familiar with the user’s unique touch as time goes on. iPhone 6s Plus: The fingerprint reader is embedded in the Home button at the front bottom of the phone. It’s used to log into the phone and for Apple Pay mobile payments.
Connectors
Nexus 6P: Micros USB Type-C iPhone 6s Plus: Thunderbolt
Battery
Nexus 6P: 3,450 mAh lithium ion battery. Google promises the battery “keeps you talking, texting and apping into the night,” but provides no actual time estimates. Judging by the size of the battery, it’s likely that it will last through the day with no problem. We will test this when we have a device to review. iPhone 6s Plus: We know that the iPhone 6s uses a 1,715 mAh lithium ion battery, but the size of the iPhone 6s Plus may be larger. Apple promises the battery will last for 12 hours of Internet browsing, 14 hours HD video viewing, and 16 days in standby mode. Most reviewers say that the iPhone 6s battery lasts through the day with ease, and others have shown that the iPhone 6s Plus battery lasts far longer than the one in the smaller 6s.
Nexus 6P: 32GB version is $499.99, 64GB is $549, and 128GB version is $649. Available in Aluminum, Graphite, Frost, and Gold colors. iPhone 6s Plus: 16GB version is $749, 64GB version is $849, and 128GB version is $949. Available in Silver, Gold, Space Gray, and Rose Gold colors.
Availability
Nexus 6P: Preorders start September 29. iPhone 6s Plus: Available now, online and in Apple Stores.
Bottom line
We’re at a disadvantage because we haven’t been able to spend any quality time with the new 6P, but judging by its specs, it might be an able alternative to the impressive iPhone 6s. Do see our hands-on of the new phone here.
Google also announced a plastic-bodied Nexus 5X from LG today. That phone starts at $379.
The new Nexus phones also offer the advantage of running on Google’s Project Fi mobile network.
BlackBerry on Friday confirmed its plans to launch an Android-based handset even as the company reported profit and revenue below what analysts expected.
The company said its latest quarterly loss, excluding certain items, was 13 cents per share on revenue of about $490 million. Analysts had been expecting a per-share loss of about 9 cents on revenue closer to $600 million.
The upcoming Android phone, dubbed Priv, will have a slide-out keyboard and “combine the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform,” CEO John Chen said in a statement. Priv is due out at the end of 2015, BlackBerry said, adding that it remains committed to its own BlackBerry 10 OS, which is slated to get a software update in March with further security and privacy enhancements.
“We are focused on making faster progress to achieve profitability in our handset business,” Chen said. The company also announced plans earlier this month to acquire rival Good Technology for $425 million. “From these initiatives, we anticipate modest sequential revenue growth in each of the remaining quarters of fiscal 2016.”
BlackBerry noted that it posted $100 million in free cash flow last quarter and increased its cash and investment balance to $3.35 billion, up $37 million following $47 million it spent buying back its own shares. The company hopes to turn sustainably profitable by its fourth fiscal quarter, which runs through February.
Last month, Chen acknowledged that the company’s latest handhelds had not been a runaway success and said that BlackBerry needed phones that could run more apps. He stopped short, however, of saying that future devices would run Google’s flavor of Android.
Features Of The Latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow (known as Android M)
Android 6.0 Marshmallow includes major improvements and additions over Android Lollipop.
This is a big upgrade for Android and was first announced at Gogle I/O back in May. Android 6.0 includes major improvements and additions over Lollipop. Here are the 36 that make Android 6 stand out from its predecessors:
1. Google Now on Tap: Users can get assistance without having to leave an app or a website. They only need to touch and hold the home button.
2. Voice power: Users can now have a dialogue with any of their apps that support Android new voice interaction service.
3. Direct Share: A simpler and faster way to share to the right person in the right app.
4. Doze: When an Android 6 device is at rest, Doze automatically puts it into a sleep state to increase standby battery life.
5. App Standby: This restricts battery drain from seldom used apps; App Standby limits their impact on battery life so your charge lasts longer.
6. USB Type C support: This brings in faster data transfer and also faster charging.
7. Permissions: On Android Marshmallow devices, apps designed for Android Marshmallow only ask for permission right when it's needed. Users can deny any permission and still continue to use the app.
8. Advanced permission control: This adds ability to turn permissions on or off for all installed apps.
9. Verified boot: Wne an Android device boots up, it will warn users if the firmware and Android operating system have been modified from the factory version.
10. Fingerprint sensors: Android M brings in the ability to sse fingerprint sensors to unlock the device, make purchases in Google Play, authenticate transactions in apps, and pay in stores.
11. Android Runtime: Improved application performance and lower memory overhead for faster multi-tasking.
12. Bluetooth stylus support: Including pressure sensitivity and modifier keys.
13. Text improvements: Improved typesetting and text rendering performance. Smarter text selection, built-in undo/redo, and text actions closer to your fingers.
14. Quick translate: Text selection actions such as a new Translate option that lets you translate text from one language to another right on the spot. This feature requires Google Translate app installed.
15. Duplex printing support: Save paper by printing on both sides.
16: App links: Enables installed apps to automatically handle their web URLs so you can jump right into the app, rather than the mobile web site, as appropriate.
17. Simpler DND: Quick toggle and configure Do Not Disturb from quick settings.
18. Intelligent DND: If someone calls you twice within 15 minutes, you can choose to allow the call to ring through while Do Not Disturb is enabled.
19. Automatic rules: Use automatic rules to enable Do Not Disturb for as many custom time blocks as you like or around events on your calendar.
20. Simplified volume controls: This allows users to manage notification, music, and alarm volumes with the volume keys.
21. Streamlined Settings: To let users manage an app's settings all in one place, from battery and memory usage, to notifications and permissions controls.
22. Refreshed Google Now Launcher: The app list includes search, fast alphabetic scrolling, and predictive App Suggestions.
23. BLE: More power efficient Bluetooth Low Energy for scanning for nearby beacons and your accessories.
24. Hotspot 2.0: Connect to compatible WiFi networks seamlessly and securely.
25. Bluetooth SAP: Make calls from your carphone using your phone's SIM.
26. New frequencies: Portable WiFi hotspot now supports 5GHz frequency bands.
27. Flex Storage: This makes using SD cards or external storage devices as encrypted expanded storage for your apps and games on Android Marshmallow easier.
28. Improved transfer: Easily transfer your accounts, apps and data to a new device.
29. Additional account support: During setup, you can add an additional personal or corporate email account (eg, IMAP)
30. Auto backup for Apps: App data backup and restore.
31. Backup/restore of additional system settings: Such as Sync settings, preferred apps, Do Not Disturb settings, Accessibility settings and enabled IMEs.
32. MIDI support: Create, consume, and perform music using your Android device with USB MIDI devices, MIDI over BLE, and software-based MIDI devices.
33. New languages: Android is now available more than 70 languages with 6 new additions: Azerbaijani, Gujarati, Kazakh, Albanian, Urdu, and Uzbek.
34. Android for Work improvements: When receiving calls or viewing past messages, you can now see the full work contact details even if you’re not logged into your work profile.
35. Work status notification: A status bar briefcase icon now appears when you are using an app from the work profile and if the device is unlocked directly to an app in the work profile, an alert is displayed notifying the user.
36. VPN: VPN apps are now visible in Settings > More > VPN. Additionally, the notifications that VPNs use are now specific to whether that VPN is configured for a work profile or the entire device.
As Google announced its new Nexus phones - the Huawei-made Nexus 6P and the LG-made Nexus 5X - it also demonstrated the new features that the latest version of the Android operating system - Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings along.
Android M will start rolling out with the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X and will be available on Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9 and the Nexus Player. This is the end of the road for Android version upgrades for the Nexus 4.
Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus Costs an Estimated $236 to Make — $749 to Purchase
IHS
It costs Apple an estimated $236 to make and assemble its new iPhone 6s Plus, roughly one-third the $749 retail price of the smartphone, according to a teardown analysis by IHS Technology.
The research firm pulled apart Apple’s newest device to get a closer look at its components and analyze the likely cost of materials and manufacturing, drawing from its knowledge of the electronic component industry.
Though IHS did not have time to conduct a similar teardown of the iPhone 6s, it estimates the cost of materials to be $211.50 — roughly $20 less than the bigger iPhone 6s Plus.
IHS Senior Research Director Andrew Rassweiler said the teardown analysis has limitations, because it doesn’t take into account myriad other costs — from shipping and warehousing, to research and development and marketing. Still, it provides insight into what is likely the largest single cost associated with the iPhone 6s — and signals the company’s priorities.
For example, the latest iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are sturdier than their predecessors, featuring a more robust 7000 series aluminum enclosure, a more shatter-resistant Gorilla Glass 4 cover and gaskets that would appear to make the device more water-resistant (so it might survive a toilet or tub drop).
These upgrades suggest Apple is hardening the iPhone, so it will maintain its value longer — possibly in anticipation of the growing lease deals for smartphones that would create a robust secondary market for used devices. Apple for the first time offered a financing program that allows consumers to pay a fixed, no-interest monthly fee for a new iPhone, which they can trade in a year later for the next-generation device.
“They’re trying to make it tougher and longer-lasting to support this financing program,” said Rassweiler.
Apple is incorporating radio frequency components, including the wireless transmitting and receiving chip from Qualcomm, that allow for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus to be used by a variety of global carriers. This way Apple can quickly roll out the device worldwide without making dedicated hardware for each carrier.
“It’s so much harder to manage inventory when it’s carrier specific,” Rassweiler said.
Rassweiler said Apple’s decision to offer an enhanced, 12-megapixel camera serves two purposes — it differentiates the “s” generation of iPhones from last year’s model, with its 8-megapixel camera. But the larger images also push consumers to buy smartphones with more memory — and that’s pure profit for Apple.
IHS estimates that flash memory is incredibly cheap — about 35 cents a gigabyte. So coaxing consumers to upgrade from, say, a smartphone with 16 gigabytes of memory to 64 gigs costs Apple about $17 more in component costs. But at retail, consumers pay an additional $100 for the extra storage — a tidy windfall.
Other details of note: Apple spent about $52.50 on the touch-sensitive displays that are at the heart of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus’ 3D Touch feature, which allows users to quickly perform common tasks by applying different pressure to the screen. IHS believes Apple may have added a third layer to its screens to read these changes in pressure, which, together with the electronics to support this feature, adds about $10 to the cost of of the screens.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus’ new A9 processor cost roughly $22 — though there’s evidence that this latest generation of microprocessor has two suppliers, because of differences in fabrication.
Apple declined comment.
Here’s IHS’ cost breakdown:
Twitter is currently working on a new product that will allow you share tweets that are longer than 140 characters, Recode reports.
The company already removed its character limit from direct messages last month, so it wouldn’t be a surprising move as the company has been testing lots of changes in recent months, like changing the iconic ‘favorite’ button.
A current Twitter employee reportedly told Recode:
People have been very precious at Twitter about what Twitter can be and how much it can be evolved. Having Jack come in and say it’s okay makes all the difference in the world.
There are external platforms like OneShot that already allow users to tweet longer pieces of text as images, but not native tweets.
It is possible that Twitter will stop counting user handles or links in the character count to free up some precious space, but with no other details we’ll have to wait and see.
Samsung Pay is currently in beta testing in the US.
As such, Samsung is updating its mobile payment app with new features
and tweaks to improve the user experience ahead of the full roll out. A
new version of the Samsung Pay app (version 1.3.1716) has arrived,
offering a number of improvements to the user interface.
The main new feature in the app is the ‘Simple Pay’ menu, which
offers up a selection of ways to launch the payment app quickly. The
options allow users to turn the current home screen and lock screen
fingerprint sensor swipe gesture on or off and also adds in a third
feature, which enabled the option to open up the app using the
fingerprint scanner even while the screen is off. A particularly useful
feature if you just want to make your payments as quickly as possible.
Cards registered with the app have undergone a visual change with the
update too. Instead of having to tap on the card to see information,
the virtual card number is now display alongside each card by default.
There’s also a new ‘About’ screen in the app, which comes with an update
button to check for the latest software.
Samsung will likely keep updating its Pay app up until and beyond its
US launch on September 28th. How are you finding the beta so far?
In South Korea, Samsung Pay is off to a strong start and will be arriving on the shores of the US
in just over one weeks’ time. However, the new mobile payment system is
currently limited to Samsung’s latest Galaxy S6 range and Note 5
handsets, limiting this useful feature to the premium tier. That may not
be the case going forward though, as Samsung has hinted that the
payment system will gradually be expanded to lower cost handsets.
When asked if the company was planning to bring Samsung Pay to
cheaper handsets, Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung’s mobile division
simply responded “it will gradually expand”. While this doesn’t give us a
time frame or a suggestion about which devices could be supported in
the future, it seems likely that Samsung will roll out its payment
system to new, cheaper devices at some point.
“The Samsung Pay service is going well, and I think more users will be able to use it,” – Shin Jong-kyun
Samsung Pay relies on the company’s own magnetic secure transmission
technology. Therefore, new hardware is required to fully implement the
payment system, although a NFC only variant may also be on the cards.
The Gear S2 will be bringing Samsung Pay to wearables via NFC.
This unique hardware is also what gives Samsung Pay a competitive
advantage over the likes of Android Pay and Apple Pay, as it can be used
with a wide range of existing card readers that are based on magnetic
technology. The technology doesn’t come cheap, especially as it is first
generation, but Samsung may be able to lower the cost of production
over time, allowing it to be rolled out to a wider variety of devices.
Samsung Pay is to gradually launch in a number of countries over the
coming months and the tech giant is also looking to introduce an online
payment solution that runs alongside its current system. Samsung is
betting big on mobile payments, so supporting a wide range of devices is
surely on the to-do list.
Two new Galaxy S7 models have appeared on Geekbench: Project Lucky-LTE with 3GB of RAM and the earlier rumored Project Lucky with 4GB of RAM. One version is said to have a 5.7-inch or 5.8-inch screen size while the other is rumored to be at 5.2-inches.
Earlier rumors say that the Galaxy S7 will come in two variants: one running Samsung’s rumored Exynos 8890 (Mongoose) chipset and another with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset.
Project Lucky with the Exynos 8890 chipset scores slightly higher than Project Lucky-LTE, largely because of its higher clock speed at 1.5GHz. In contrast, Project Lucky-LTE is running 4GB of RAM and clocked at 1.38GHz.
In the past, Samsung has launched many of its flagships in North America running a Snapdragon processor while foreign markets get the Exynos chipset.
Either way, at this point, we’re just looking at prototypes, so it’s way too early to speculate, as there’s no way that these are final specs so early in development. Remember to take this all with a grain of salt, as nothing is official until we hear something from Samsung.
Even if you're a task-killing ninja, there are still plenty of apps that somehow bite into your battery life. And that problem can be even worse when your phone is asleep, when you can't even tell which apps are being battery hogs. A new tool called Hush, which was developed by Purdue researchers, aims to solve that dilemma for Android phones by intelligently stopping apps that run in the background while your phone is asleep. It prioritizes the apps you use a lot and stops apps that you rarely use from gumming up the works. Researchers say it can save around 16 percent of battery life -- that's not huge, but it could be very useful if a similar tool were embedded with phones. You can test out Hush for yourself via its Github page, but it'll likely be a while before it's available in a more polished form.
"During screen-off, the phone hardware should enter the sleep state, draining close to zero power," Charlie Hu, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering said. "Apps wake the phone up periodically during screen-off to do useful things, but then afterward, they should let the phone go back to sleep. They are not letting the phone go back to sleep because of software bugs and, specifically, due to the incorrect use of Android power control application programming interfaces called wakelocks."
Both Apple and Google are already implementing "low-power" modes in their most recent mobile operating systems, so it wouldn't be surprising to see something similar to Hush implemented directly in the future. It's a simple tool, but one that could have a lasting impact.
The Nexus 6P 64GB version sells for $549, while the 64GB iPhone 6s Plus sells for $849. But the Nexus 6P stacks up nicely against the iPhone in some important ways.
Nexus 6P: 12.3-megapixel camera with ƒ/2.0 aperture, 1.5µ pixels, IR laser-assisted autofocus and 4K video recording, 8-megapixel front-facing camera
