First Firefox OS Phone Launches July 2 in Spain

Mozilla today announced that it will soon launch the first smartphones running its Firefox OS.
Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica will be the first carriers to sell the Firefox OS gadgets, the Alcatel One Touch Fire (left) and ZTE Open.
Telefonica will begin offering the ZTE Open on July 2 for 69 Euros, which includes 30 Euros in credits for pre-paid customers.
"We believe that smartphones need to be more open and that the Web is the platform for making this possible," Luis Miguel Gilpérez, CEO of Telefónica España, said in a statement. "Consumers should not be locked to any one system but have the choice to consume the content they want and the flexibility to be able to take it with them when they change devices. This first open web device marks a significant milestone in making this possible. This is just the beginning as we plan to bring a wide range of Firefox OS devices to our customers."

Eyes On With Firefox OS and the ZTE Fire

The ZTE Open includes a 3.5-inch touch screen, 256MB of RAM, and a 3.2-megpixel camera. A 4GB micro SD card is also included.
Deutsche Telekom's Claudia Nemat, meanwhile, said the carrier will first offer Firefox OS devices in Poland, but did not provide an exact launch date.
"The launch of the first Firefox smartphones in Europe is an important step on the way to more innovation and to more competition between the different ecosystems. We rely on open platforms because we want to create freedom of choice on behalf of our customers," she said.
"The launch of Firefox OS marks an incredibly exciting time for the Web. Firefox OS powers the first smartphones built entirely on Web technologies and will stimulate an inspiring new wave of innovation for the Web," Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's COO, said in a statement. "We are proud to deliver an experience for first time smartphone users that will delight them and really put the power of the Web in people's hands."
Firefox OS comes out of Mozilla's Boot to Gecko project, which was first announced in July 2011. As Johnathan Nightingale, senior director of Firefox engineering, told PCMag at last year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), Firefox OS is intended to do away with the "walled garden" approach of today's modern mobile operating systems, like Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
Firefox OS was officially unveiled in July 2012. It's expected to launch on commercial phones built by Alcatel, LG, and ZTE this summer in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and Venezuela. Phones from Huawei will follow later, as will other country rollouts. The U.S. probably won't see a Mozilla Firefox phone until 2014.
The company released Firefox OS developer phones in April, and at Computex last month, Mozilla and Foxconn announced a partnership, and showed off a tablet prototype running Firefox OS.
For more, see PCMag's hands on with the Alcatel One Touch Fire and the ZTE Open (slideshow above), previously known as the ZTE Fire, from this year's MWC.

Nokia working on Lumia phone with 41MP camera

Nokia, the mobile giant struggling to catch up with rivals, may have an ace up its sleeve. The company set the benchmark for smartphone cameras with its 808 PureView smartphone last year, which came with a 41MP camera and ran on Symbian operating system.
However, the company soon began focussing its energies on Windows Phone-powered Lumia series and Symbian was retired. Now, word on the street is that the company is working on a Lumia phone that will have a 41MP camera sensor. Previously, there had been some speculation about an upcoming Lumia phone with 41MP camera, codenamed EOS, but the rumour mill went silent after Mobile World Congress in February. Now, MyNokiaBlog has said that a source with access to the company's plans has said Nokia is currently testing EOS on quad-core as well as dual-core chipsets.
The model was said to be tested on Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip, but poor battery performance made it an unviable option. Therefore, the company is going with a dual-core processor for this phone, according to the report.
Talking about the camera, the report says that the company is using a 41MP sensor similar to the one seen in 808 PureView, but will have optical image stabilisation and variable aperture lens. The company will tweak the interface of the camera app in this phone and include Xenon as well as LED flash units. Nokia is also testing 2K and 4K recording for the device, though the report says this feature is not supported currently.
Nokia EOS is said to have an AMOLED display panel with 1280x768p resolution, though the size of the screen is not clear yet. Other features confirmed by the source include FM radio, microSD support and microHDMI port. The report also says that the phone will initially be launched only for AT&T in US, and the global launch will follow 1-3 months afterwards.
Lumia 920 is the only Windows Phone 8 smartphone to have PureView imaging technology, but features a smaller 8.7MP sensor. Nokia is also said to be working on a Windows RT tablet, which will rival the likes of Apple iPad, Google Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and Microsoft Surface.

Google April Fools' Day 2013 Pranks: A Roundup

Google this year has barely left a stone unturned with its April Fools' Day pranks, ranging from a YouTube shutting down announcement, to a new bogus service, called Google Nose.

 

 

While Google has recently been accused of too aggressively spring-cleaning its myriad useful and interesting services, with victims such as Reader, the company still does a good job amusing users all year round with its Doodles. Of course, the company has not missed many chances for fun with April Fools' Day in the past, and this year’s extravaganza makes us whistle appreciatively wonder at the amount Google is willing to spend for a few pranks.

There have already been at least nine pranks so, will April Fools' Day scarcely underway in some parts of the world. We hope Google has more in store for us today. In the meanwhile, check out our round-up of Google’s April Fools' Day shenanigans, pieced together by bloggers and users.

YouTube to Shutdown for 10 Years
YouTube put up a video on its channel on Sunday, titled “YouTube’s ready to select a winner”. The video contained “A Message from YouTube,” announcing the site will be shutting down on April 1st night. It also posted on its official YouTube blog.

According to the prank, the largest video-sharing network was actually created as a video-entry contest, and now they finally have enough videos, after 8-yearsz. The video revealed YouTube would be using a whole panel of judges and commenters to select the ‘Best Video’, with the help of 30,000 technicians to narrow the massive list of submissions to 150,000. Day 1 ‘Best Video’ nominations were scheduled to be announced later on April Fools' Day. The whole process will take 10 years, Google joked, with YouTube set to re-open 10 years later, solely featuring the Best Video. The winner will receive $500 for their next creative endeavour, and an MP3 player.

The video description reads: Thanks for all your great entries.
YouTube finally has enough videos to begin selecting a winner.
What do you think is the #bestvideo on YouTube?

We've been thrilled with all of the diverse, creative entries we've seen so far, and we can't wait to begin the process of selecting the best video. We'll be announcing the winner in 10 years.

Far down in the description, Google thankfully reveals the whole thing was just a charade for April Fools' Day, something we feel would have been vital for some of the many millions of YouTube viewers, who would have otherwise gone crazy trying to watch as many of their favourite videos one last time, before YouTube deleted them all – like the prank video cautions. Some, we are sure, fell for it anyways. 

Google Nose beta
Google unveiled a new prank service, called Google Nose beta, supposedly designed to tell you what your search queries smell like. However, the ‘Nose beta’ tab in search results doesn’t actually reveal anything, but instead redirects you to the Google Nose landing page, which invites you to try the service, returning random preset results, where ‘success’ smells ‘sweet’, ‘airport terminal’ smells like ‘baked tarmac and lost luggage’. The information is apparently compiled in the Google Aromabase (featuring 15M+ scentibytes), which takes data from Android phones and StreetView cars equipped with odour detection capabilities.

Calling itself “the new scentsation in search” and “your internet sommelier”, Google Nose insists ‘smelling is believing’. Apart from the added functionality of ‘Don't ask, don't smell’ SafeSearch, Google jokingly promises ‘Scratch and Sniff Books’, ‘Foodles’, ‘Self-driving New Car Smell’, ‘YouTube Nosed Captions’ and ‘AdScentBETA for Business’. Let us see how long the service stays alive, or if Google will try to pass it off as an aid for olfactory-challenged users.

Google+ Photos with +Emotion
Google introduced a new bogus feature for Google+ Photos, called +Emotion, which allows users to add stylized emotions, or emoticons to their photos. According to Google’s Erik Murphy-Chutorian, the +Emotion service will help users “create richer, more expressive photographs.”

According to Murphy-Chutorian, ‘nothing beats the richness and elegance of a few properly placed colons, parentheses, letters and hyphens’ such as – :-) :P :O :/ – which are “representations of your innermost emotions,” “simple, and best of all, unambiguous :P”

Gmail Blue

 The Gmail Team announced Gmail Blue with a post on the official Gmail blog. The post reads:

Gmail launched nine years ago on April 1st, 2004. Since then you've been able to use hundreds of new features that push the boundaries of what email can do and make it easier to get things done.

Starting today, you'll get to experience the next big step for Gmail, Blue. 

Google SCHMICK Google Australia had its own Maps prank, called SCHMICK, short for Simple Complete House Makeover Internet Conversion Kit. It has been designed to give users the ability to modify their homes on Google Maps, adding various themes and features. The SCHMICK feature can’t actually be accessed though, and is just a gimmick. Clicking on the find out more link, leads to multiple "April Fools' Day" announcements.

Samsung releases Galaxy S IV teaser video launched-[Samsung UNPACKED] Be ready 4 the next Galaxy

The star power of the Samsung Galaxy S IV means that it won't be launched at a simple event. Like movies or video games, Samsung has decided to increase anticipation for its upcoming flagship Android smartphone by releasing a teaser video that clocks in at less than a minute and a half. Although the video doesn't really show the phone (serving the point of being a teaser), it has managed to create some noise on the Internet.

The video stars a kid in a suit who is excited about being shown the Galaxy S IV (as most kids who dress up in suits are prone to be, I suppose). The kid is handed a big box by a man, also in a suit which contains the Samsung Galaxy S IV. The kid peeks into the box and is enchanted by the glow coming out of it (it probably doesn't mean that the SAR ratings for the Galaxy S IV are so high that the phone is practically radioactive, but it would be hilarious if someone made that assumption).

And that's the entire ad. We admit it is pretty lame and the acting is between bad and atrocious but hey, at least it means that we're close to getting our hands on the Galaxy S IV, though the March 14 unveiling has been confirmed anyway.

For those not following the news leaking about the S IV, the phone will be shown off at an event in New York on the 14th of this month. It's expected to sport a 5-inch full-HD display, a 13MP camera and will probably be powered by a quad-core processor either from Samsung or from Qualcomm.

teaser url:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIEfNaNCkKM

Confirmed: Google Glass arrives in 2013, and under $1,500

 

Google's augmented reality specs are ahead of schedule. Are you ready to get yourself fitted for a set?


Regular people will be able to purchase Google Glass eyewear by the end of 2013 for less than $1,500, sources have confirmed to CNET.
Google originally targeted 2014 for a consumer release when it revealed Project Glass last year, but the time frame has seemingly sped up in recent months, what with developer hackathons in San Francisco and New York and this week's announcement that people looking to put Glass to creative use could go through an application process to preorder the augmented reality specs for $1,500.

The company also launched a new site promoting Glass that featured the below video of the new wearable tech in action.
The advancement of Google Glass also seems to coincide with recent rumors that the company is planning to open retail stores, presumably where consumers could get more familiar with products like Glass, and comfortable with the idea of wearing the funky rims on their face.
CNET has also been able to confirm that Glass will be able to connect via Bluetooth to both Android phones and the iPhone. Glass can pull down data from wifi or use the 3G or 4G feed from a connected phone, but it won't have its own cellular radio.
The Verge's Joshua Topolsky tried out Google Glass at the company's New York headquarters recently and reports that what is shown in the below promotional video is "nearly identical" to the actual user experience. In his review, he notes that the voice control on Glass isn't yet perfect and that slow data connections can quickly render the device useless.
Google says they plan to issue monthly updates to early users to refine the experience in the beginning.

samsung Rex to take on nokia asha smartphones

The Samsung Rex phones don't seem to be threatening Nokia Asha's dominance. While the Samsung Rex phones grapple with limited OS capabilities, the Nokia Asha gives you a wide variety in terms of budget as well as specifications.

After having dominated the smartphones market with the Galaxy-series devices, Samsung now looks to capitalise the feature phones segment with its new Rex-series 'smart feature phones'.

The first Rex smartphones – Rex 60, Rex 70, Rex 80 and Rex 90 – were unveiled in India yesterday. With pricing of the Rex devices starting from Rs. 4,280 to Rs. 6,490, Samsung evidently takes on Nokia's Asha line up and other local makers of low-cost phones such as Micromax and Karbonn in the country.

That being said, apart from that budget price tag, Samsung's new Rex-series doesn't seem to threaten Nokia's Asha line up much, mainly because of its limited OS capabilities as compared to the Nokia's popular S40 OS. Despite Samsung has preloaded some basic social media and instant messaging apps on the Rex, Nokia's S40 offers a wider range of applications such as Opera Mini browser, eZReader for Nokia Asha, YouTube downloader and more. And there are 40 EA games preloaded on the Asha phones as well. You can check out all S40 apps here.

And that's not all, Nokia's Asha series edges in front of Samsung's Rex in terms of budget as well as hardware versatility. Nokia has managed well to provide a large variety in its Asha line-up, offering dual-SIM and single-SIM variants, full touch phones (capacitive and resistive), touch and type as well as 3G-enabled ones. Samsung, on the other hand, offers only dual-SIM and EDGE Rex phones.

Now let's compare the specifications of the Samsung Rex 70 and Nokia Asha 311:

First up, is the newly launched Samsung Rex 70. The device has 3.5-inch capacitive touch display with 320x480 pixels resolution. It supports dual-SIM. The Rex 70 has Touchwiz UI, 2MP camera and 1,000 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 13 hours of talktime.

For connectivity, the Samsung Rex 70 supports EDGE, USB 2.0, Bluetooth v 3.0 and WiFi 802/11(b/g/n). It has 10MB user memory and microSD slot up to 32GB. The expected pricing of the device is likely to be around Rs. 4,000-5,000. You can check out full specifications of the Samsung Rex 70 here.

The Nokia Asha 311 has a 3-inch capacitive touch display with WQVGA resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. It also has dual-SIM capabilities. The device is powered by a 1GHz processor. It has 3.2 MP Primary Camera and 1110 mAh battery.

For connectivity, the Asha 311 supports 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 and USB. It houses 256MB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The device comes preloaded with Nokia Maps.

The device comes with swipe user interface, a browser that boasts of cloud acceleration and 40 free EA games including the likes of Tetris, Bejeweled, Need for Speed: The Run, Fifa 12 and more. The Nokia Asha 311 is available online for Rs. 5,999.

The above comparison aims to highlight how diverse Nokia is with its devices in each possible price category. Being an already established brand in the country, Samsung has definitely the potential to sneak into Nokia's Asha market. But for that, the company has to come up with more and versatile devices, and with a ecosystem comparable to S40, which could target a large demographic including urban and rural customers – where Nokia has done well.

What do you think of Samsung's new Rex-series of smart feature phones? Do you think it will manage to eat its way into Nokia's Asha line-up share? Let us know in the comments section below.

Apple reportedly testing curved glass for 'iWatch'

Like hands on a clock, rumors that Apple is developing a Dick Tracy-like wristwatch have come around again.
The New York Times reports today that Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like iOS devices that sport curved glass. The advantage of the "iWatch," as some have labeled it, is said to be in the company's expertise with curved glass.
The smart wristwatch notion isn't exactly groundbreaking: A lot of smart watches, fitness bands, or some hybrid of the two, were talked up last month at CES. Some of those devices include the long-awaited Pebble wristwatch, which made its debut at the conference, and the 007-inspired Martian Passport Watch. 

Rumors of Apple working on just such a device have been circulating for months. A report from a Chinese blog last December held that Apple had partnered with Intel to develop an iOS wristwatch that would be Bluetooth-enabled and sport a 1.5-inch OLED screen.
Apple encouraged wearing previous versions of the iPod Nano on wrists in 2011, with manufacturers selling watchbands that could be attached to the Nano to wear it as a wristwatch. However, Apple bumped up the size of the iPod Nano last year, leading to speculation that it was developing a wearable computer of its own.

Explore the Grand Canyon with Google Maps

Google Maps adds panoramic images of the Grand Canyon

Google Maps has now added panoramic images of the famous Grand Canyon. The Maps features more than 75 miles of trails and surrounding roads of the Canyon.
 
 

Users can explore the Canyon by simply moving mouse or swiping finger if using a mobile device. Google Maps team has taken some 9,500 high resolution images to create a Street View map of the area. Though the Maps does not feature the entire area, but enthusiasts can have the virtual tour of the Blue Angel Trail, Colorado River and Meteor Crater.

Google reveals the images were taken with the “Trekker”, the wearable backpack equipped with a camera system that can take 360-degrees of pictures of the surrounding.

“Our team strapped on the Android-operated 40-pound backpacks carrying the 15-lens camera system and wound along the rocky terrain on foot, enduring temperature swings and a few muscle cramps along the way. Together, more than 9,500 panoramas of this masterpiece of nature are now available on Google Maps,” explains the search engine giant in a blog post.

Earlier, Google had added panoramic images of various coral reefs to its Google Maps. The company also released photos of six underwater locations, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Apo Islands and several other coral-filled spots throughout the Pacific. Read more about Google's underwater Maps here.

In the meanwhile, take Google's virtual tour of the Grand Canyon for yourself:

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NEW-now a vibrating smartpen senses spelling or grammar errors

With increasing dependency on 'Spell Checks' and 'Auto-correct', using pen and paper to write correctly can be really difficult for many of us. Well, a help in form a smartpen has been developed that'll vibrate to alert the writer when an error is sensed.

The vibrating smartpen, designed by a Germany-based company called Lerntift, aims to help youths learn how to write. However, the device is likely to appeal people across different age groups.

Currently in prototype stage, the vibrating smartpen can sense spelling errors or letter formation in real-time, delivering an alert to the writer's hand.

Moreover, there are two functions given to users to choose from. First up is Calligraphy mode in which the device highlights flaws of form and legibility. Second one is Orthographic mode in which the device points out orthographic and grammatical mistakes. The smartphone features sensors that detect variations in the way letters are formed, and vibrates instantaneously if an error is sensed.

 

Creators of the vibrating smartpen Falk and Mandy Wolsky reveal on their website they were inspired by their son's early writing attemps. 'From the very first words there were errors,” they said on their website.

The designers are set to launch a crowdfunding project for financial assistance. They are also working to include more features in the smartpens such as pressure sensor, computer connectivity and an open platform for others to add apps and increase functionality of the device.