Android Messages, Google’s default SMS/RCS messaging app formerly known as Messenger, has been updated to version 2.2.67. The update began rolling out yesterday and introduces a couple of interface improvements and additional buttons.
First up, the plus symbol used to add stickers has been changed to make it more prominent: it’s now a white cross inside a circle that’s the same color as the theme. This becomes a keyboard symbol when you’re in the stickers collection to make it clear how you can return to the regular typing interface — previously it remained as a small cross.
ASUS unveiled its ZenFone AR smartphone at CES 2017 earlier, which packs in plenty of impressive features, including a Tango 3D capture camera and Google DayDream virtual reality support. Another noteworthy specification is that the phone is the first to launch with a whopping 8GB RAM. That’s enough memory to match a high performance PC or video games console, so how did we end up here?
Of course, there’s always an incentive for manufacturers to improve their specifications and be the first with something new, especially when it comes to grabbing the headlines.
HTC is continuing to put a lot of time, money, and, well, focus on the still small VR market. Today, it announced the HTC Vive Focus Plus, a new version of its Vive Focus standalone VR headset which will ship with two 6DoF (Six Degrees of Freedom) controllers.
In a blog post, HTC stated the two controllers will each come with a pressure sensitive analog trigger, which should allow for better control and interaction with virtual objects.
In both the smartphones and the tablets market, Samsung is the de facto leader of the Android pack. Moreover, if you count out Amazon, with its Kindle Fire (which does run on Android, but in a heavily modified form), Samsung is the only manufacturer holding up the flag for Android in the tablet market. ASUS is making an impact too, which is likely to be more significant when the MeMo 370T is upon us, but, for now, its market share is still in single-digit territory.
The 3D car audio system doesn’t use speakers, so the cars using it can shed a fair bit of weight.
Adding more entries into their 3D audio portfolio, Sennheiser took the wraps off its collaboration effort with Continental: a fully speakerless 3D car audio system. By using Continental’s Ac2ated Sound system with Sennheiser’s Ambeo platform, the two companies hope to compete in the car audio space as 3D sound gains in popularity.
Machine learning (ML) is quickly becoming an important part of mobile development, but it isn’t the easiest thing to add to your apps!
To benefit from ML you typically needed a deep understanding of neural networks and data analysis, plus the time and resources required to source enough data, train your ML models, and then optimize those models to run efficiently on mobile.
Increasingly, we’re seeing tools that aim to make ML more accessible, including Google’s new ML Kit.
Lenovo showed off the Smart Clock, a small smart display, at CES 2019. The bedside device offers a similar software experience as found on the Nest Hub, but it has been optimized for the smaller form factor. If you were interested in the Smart Clock, it is now available for pre-order from Lenovo, Walmart, and B&H.
The Lenovo Smart Clock features a four-inch IPS LCD display. Its screen can be set to show an ambient clock, upcoming alarms, and even calendar events.
If you haven’t realized it, of late, we’ve been detailing the display section of our reviews a bit more than we’ve done in the past. Since we’re always trying to evolve our reviews process, we’re diving deeper into how we look at the displays in smartphones, by taking a deliberate path of uncovering their qualities using our new benchmark process. And with that in mind, we’re focusing our attention on the latest smartphone from LG – the multimedia powerhouse in the V20.
When placed beside Moto’s greats like the Razr and Atrix series, folks in the US may not be too familiar with the Motoluxe. It’s a shame, because the series does have its charms and is actually quite the looker, if only Moto had bothered to sell it in the country. It’s a different story in China, where the Motoluxe has found its niche. The latest Motoluxe XT685 has just been introduced for the Chinese market.
Last year you may remember Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s involvement in the LG V10 campaign. His production company hitRECord used a variety of people in different settings coming together to create a simple melody. The ad sought to showcase the V10’s ability to capture the in-between moments. With the LG V20, Gordon-Levitt is taking things in a different direction.
For the LG V20, hitRECord is encouraging fans to go out into their everyday worlds and do something spectacular.