OnePlus One Receiving Android 4.4.4 KitKat Update, Brings Bug Fixes and Improvements

Good news for the lucky owners of the OnePlus One, as the company has just announced the highly-anticipated Android 4.4.4 KitKat upgrade is now available for download via OTA (over the air).

Aside from the usual bug fixes and improvements included in the Android 4.4.4 KitKat update, the file also includes some specific improvements and new features for the OnePlus One. According to the official changelog, the folks selling the OnePlus One have addressed lots of bugs that affected the smartphone since its launch back in June. Speaking of which, those who are not aware, OnePlus One ships with Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system out of the box and can exclusively be purchased on an invite-only basis. This means that, if you don’t receive an invitation, you can’t purchase the high-end smartphone, which is now available for $300 (€225) outright.

Anyway, here are some of the most important new features, improvements and bug fixes included in the Android 4.4.4 KitKat update for OnePlus One:

• Updated to new versions of Google apps;
• Added Clear Image;
• Added new (colder) calibration for the screen;
• Proximity sensor prevents activation of off-screen gestures while in your pocket;
• Capacitive touch keys supported in the recovery mode;
• Increased capacitive button illumination;
• Improved overall stability;
• Fixed issues with vibration being disabled during Quiet Hours;
• Fixed lockscreen not updating the track information during music playback;
• Fixed microphone volume for all formats in the Voice Recorder app;
• Fixed “OK, Google” not triggering voice search in Google Now;
• Fixed Viber calls not working;
• Fixed battery percent not updating in custom lock screens;
• Fixed PicasaSync;
• Fixed Camera “O” gesture activating lockscreen instead of triggering camera;
• Fixed wallpapers not applying in full screen, taking the wrong size when cropping, etc.

Aside from the changes listed above, the folks over at AndroidPolice found a few more improvements that haven’t been mentioned in the changelog. For example, the speaker volume is now much better during calls. The mobile data icon that was displaying 4G has been replaced with the LTE symbol. The dialer application has been redesigned as well, but this is part of the Android 4.4.3/4.4.4 KitKat upgrade anyway. OnePlus One owners will now be able to search in Settings as well. Last but not least, the microphone’s sensitivity while using voice commands has been enhanced considerably. If you noticed any other improvements or new features, don’t hesitate to share the news with us in the comments section.

OnePlus One
Image credits to OnePlus Tech

Read more »

More Samsung Galaxy Alpha Photos Leak Ahead of Official Announcement

On August 13, South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics should make official a new Android-based handset, most probably the first device in its Galaxy lineup to sport a metallic body, namely the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, and some newly leaked photos with it are now available.

As it turns out, the phone won’t be made entirely out of metal, but will sport only a metallic frame, with a glass front and a plastic back plate (which is now said to be identical with the one present on Galaxy S5). The newly leaked images with the smartphone, available courtesy of hi-tech.mail.ru, show that the smartphone will arrive on shelves with a metal nano SIM card slot that can be ejected, something that no other Samsung handset features at the moment. One of the new images also shows the AnTuTu 4 score of the new device, suggesting that it would be more powerful when compared to the latest flagship devices out there, such as HTC One (M8) or the Galaxy S5.

The newly rumored specs list of the device matches the previous reports on the matter, suggesting Samsung would pack it with a 1.8GHz octa-core Exynos 5 Octa chipset and with hexa-core Mali-T628 GPU. The upcoming mobile device is also expected to sport 2GB of RAM, a 4.7-inch HD screen, a 12-megapixel rear camera, and a 2MP front camera, while being powered by an 1850mAh battery. Galaxy Alpha should run under Android 4.4 KitKat from the start.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha
Images credits to hi-tech.mail.ru

Read more »

Nexus 8’s Tegra K1 “Denver” Processor Has Been Announced

Talk about the upcoming HTC Nexus 8 tablet has resurfaced these days, as the slate has been spotted in a few leaks.

The device is expected to arrive with an NVIDIA Tegra 64-bit processor, and coincidentally, on Monday NVIDIA unveiled what’s being touted as the “first 64-bit ARM processor for Android” called K1 “Denver.” The SoC will consist of a dual-core CPU with the same 192-unit graphic processor that can be found in the current 32-bit version. But the 32-bit SoC has a quad-core CPU, instead. During the official announcement, the company didn't say anything about HTC or Google, but it did say “Project Denver” would land into several “amazing” mobile devices” in order to preserve the mystery.

Despite early positive feedback, NVIDIA didn't manage to achieve high popularity with its Tegra 4 and Tegra K1 chips, apparently due to power management and performance issues. This problem reflects in adoption, so for now the 32-bit Tegra K1 has been spotted only in the company’s own Shield tablet, the Xiaomi MiPad and Acer’s Chromebook 13. Apart from the highly anticipated Nexus 8 tablet, Google’s “Project Tango” tablet development kit might also take advantage of the 64-bit Denver platform.

Project Denver might power the Nexus 8
Image credits to NVIDIA

Read more »

Motorola Shamu (Nexus 6) Spotted in Benchmark, Might Go Official This Year

There have been lots of rumors surrounding Google’s Nexus series of smartphones. Word was that Google might have killed the Nexus series of smartphones and replace it with project Silver.

However, Google was pretty firm about that and said that the Nexus series hadn’t been canned, which means we should expect another of these devices later this year. Unfortunately, there’s no telling which company will make the Nexus phone this year, but it’s pretty clear that it will not be made by LG anymore. According to the latest hearsay, Motorola is still in the cards to create the Nexus 6, which leaked quite a while ago as Motorola Shamu. In this regard, the folks over at TechTastic.nl recently spotted the alleged Motorola Shamu (Google Nexus 6) in GFXBench database.

The bad news is that there are no details on the so-called Nexus 6’s specs sheet listed in this benchmark. However, based on the fact that it performed similarly as Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8, it’s possible that the smartphone will be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset inside. As always, we recommend our readers to take this info with a grain of salt until more details on the Nexus 6 are revealed, so stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Motorola Shamu (Nexus 6) in GFXBench database
Image credits to TechTastic.nl

Read more »