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Songza taps Weather Channel data to suggest mood-enhancing music
Songza is the psychiatrist of music apps, trying to figure out how you're doing and come up with just the right music fix. It's now teamed up with the Weather Channel, using its data to figure out if a sunset or rainstorm might be in your area. The concierge feature will then ask how you feel about that and come up with a playlist to either pep you up or keep you in a good mood. You can grab the app for Android, iOS or the web, either free with ads or via the Club Songza subscription -- depending on how you feel about paying 99 cents a week.
Tablet and e-reader deals of the week: 3.21.14
It's now officially spring -- that wonderful time of the year that leaves you feeling guilty for not going outside. Why not take a small, portable computing device with you? A selection of modestly discounted Android, iOS and Windows 8 slabs await your frugal whims after the break. Abhor reading LCDs in the great outdoors? No worries, we tossed in a more traditional e-reader for good measure. If you still can't find the sale of your dreams, you could always join us and add your favorite products to your "Want" list. Every time there's a price cut in the future, you'll get an email alert!
Gartner: Android passes iOS to become the most popular tablet platform
Several years ago, technology research firm Gartner predicted Apple would maintain its hold on the tablet market until 2015. A new study from the company, however, shows Android taking a decisive lead: in 2013, it boasted 62-percent market share, compared to 36 percent for iOS. Google's mobile operating system climbed to the number one position thanks to more tablet sales overall, though Gartner also credits the proliferation of cheaper, smaller-screen slates (the Nexus 7 no doubt included) with establishing Android's newfound dominance. The other winner, according to this study: Samsung, which grew by 336 percent in 2013 to a 19.1-percent share of the tablet market. That's still a much smaller piece of the pie than Apple's 36 percent, but among Android device makers the Korean company is still very much the king. Conversely, Microsoft has seen very modest growth; Windows 8 tablets accounted for just 2.1 percent of the market in 2013. Click through the source link for more stats.
Switched On: Android (tablet) inside
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Inexpensive 7-inch tablets were everywhere in 2013 and became, as Switched On noted in December, a populist platform that fulfilled the promise of the sub-$100 PC. But despite their exceptional portability, aided by light weight and slim profiles, some may find the mere act of dragging them within range of something like their boombox, television or car to be too daunting a chore. Worry not, lazy but intrepid crowdfunders. Kickstarter has recently debuted a trio of products that integrate an Android tablet experience for your enhanced enjoyment, productivity and mobility.
Weekly Roundup: Facebook acquires WhatsApp, tablet buyer's guide and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Daily Roundup: Facebook buys WhatsApp, tablet buyer's guide and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro series coming to US February 13th (updated)
Looks like Office Depot wasn't messing with us when it began offering pre-orders of Samsung's brand-new 12.2-inch tablet ahead of its official US launch; it just jumped the gun a bit. As it turns out, the entire litany of Samsung's Galaxy tablets announced at CES -- which include the 12.2-inch Note Pro and all three sizes in the Tab Pro series -- will be available stateside on February 13th. (Update: it appears that the 12.2-inch Tab Pro won't actually hit the market until March, but everything else will be available on Feb 13th.) Just in case you're worried about hordes of people trying to grab one as a last-minute Valentine's Day present, you can also pre-order any of the products starting right now through one of several online retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Fry's, Newegg and others. There's no word on any carrier agreements yet, however, and it appears that all four models are WiFi-only. (Update: Samsung confirms that an LTE edition of the Note Pro 12.2 will come to Verizon Wireless later this quarter.) Pricing varies wildly depending on which model you're getting. Starting at the low end of the spectrum, you can grab the 8.4-inch Tab Pro (16GB) for $400; the 10.1-inch Tab Pro (16GB) for $500; and the 12.2-inch Tab Pro (32GB) for $650. Last but not least, the productivity powerhouse itself -- the Note Pro -- can be yours for $750 (32GB) or $850 (64GB). Additionally, the devices come with 50GB Dropbox space for two years, a $25 Google Play credit, three-month trial Hulu Plus subscription, six months of Cisco WebEx Premium 8 and a year subscription with Bloomberg Businessweek. Samsung also confirms that the new tablets are still outfitted with Magazine UX, which means these products haven't been affected by the company's rumored deal with Google. According to reports from last week, Samsung agreed to tone down the amount of customization and special features in its Android devices. Naturally, if this does happen, we expect it to be a while before it finally takes effect.
Intel's Bay Trail CPU will usher Android into the 64-bit era this spring
Sure, 64-bit support is all the rage nowadays in the mobile space, what with Apple setting off a trend with the introduction of the iPhone 5s. Now, according to Intel's CEO, tablets running Google's operating system are next and will soon be available with 64-bit compatibility. During an earnings call yesterday, Intel chief Brian Krzanich said that Android tablets using the company's new Atom-based Bay Trail processor are set to hit the market as early as this spring, bringing along a technology which so far has been limited to Windows 8.1 devices. It's also worth noting that while 64-bit slates may be arriving soon, the number of Android applications optimized to take advantage of the feature will be very low at first. Still, chances are developers will quickly take care of this as more and more 64-bit-ready phones and tablets start to become available.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab 3 Lite doesn't bring much to the crowded budget tablet market
Samsung's regional Polish site inadvertently jumped the gun a few days ago, publishing a user manual for an unannounced Galaxy Tab 3 Lite to its support pages. Today, the Korean company's press blog has finally caught up and formally introduced its new low-end, 7-inch slate. The standard 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 doesn't exactly boast market-leading specs, but this Lite variant is diminished in several areas nonetheless, making some cheap tablets look like flagships. We're looking at a 1,024 x 600 resolution panel, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, eight gigs of expandable storage, 3,600mAh battery and a lone 2-megapixel camera. It appears both WiFi-only and 3G editions of the black or white tablet, which runs Android 4.2, will be available come launch, whenever that may be. We're no clearer on pricing, either, but if Samsung hopes to sell these things en masse, anything but seriously cheap is going to put a stop to those plans.
Microsoft's 'very strange view' of F2P keeping War Thunder off Xbox One
I always feel like I should speak -- or type, I suppose -- in one of those monster truck rally commercial voices when I bring up War Thunder. You know the ones I mean, where Testosterone Man takes a break from doing action movie trailers to come on your radio and shout "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Come on down to Gaijin airpark for the mother of all airshows! Bring the family, stay for the day, and enter for your chance to win two Steam copies of WAAAAAR THUNNNNNNNNNNDERRRR!" Or something like that. Anyhow, this is supposed to be a news post about War Thunder. The particulars include an interview with Gaijin PR man Alexander Trifonov, who says that a tablet version of the World War II flight sim is currently in process. He also mentions that cross-platform play between PC pilots and PlayStation 4 pilots is still on the table. Finally, he offers a clue as to why War Thunder won't be coming to Xbox One. "The absence of War Thunder on Xbox One has nothing to do with hardware itself. This is a very capable machine, and our team has a long history of developing games for Microsoft systems," Trifonov explains. "But the policy of the platform-holder (no cross-platform allowed and a very strange view on how free-to-play should work) makes it impossible to have War Thunder on Xbox One." [Thanks Heather!]
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MMObility: CES highlights for mobile gaming enthusiasts
Most years, I am unimpressed by CES, the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas. Sure, I watch the feeds and keep an eye on the latest bits of technical glitter that pop out of the event, but generally I find 4K televisions that cost thousands of dollars to be about as exciting as a bag of dead hamsters. I don't care about the next wave of supercomputers, and I certainly have no interest in technically advanced cars that mostly innovate on ways to make people spend money. What excites me about almost any trade show is the stuff you find in the corners of the show room: the smaller booths, the indie developers or the hints of up-and-coming tech that will eventually make our lives easier and more fun. And of course, I'm always excited to see tech that might bring mobile MMOs to the place they deserve to be, a place in our everyday lives. CES is exciting to me because it shows the potential and possibly inexpensive future of tech. Thanks to Engadget, one of our sister sites, I was able to get more than an eyeful of neat mobile tech!
BBC iPlayer tablet viewing overtakes PC for the first time
If you needed further proof tablets are affecting PC usage, the BBC has something it wants to you show you. Eight months after it first saw iPlayer viewing on tablets overtake phones, the broadcaster reports that over Christmas, the rise in iPad, Hudl and sales of other slates helped push tablet viewing past PC streaming for the first time in iPlayer history. The BBC says it saw almost a million downloads (941,000 to be exact) of its iPlayer mobile apps between December 21st and New Year's Day, as viewers rushed to catch up on the Beeb's festive programming. Although PCs overtook tablets again before the New Year, the return of big shows like Sherlock could positively skew tablet viewing figures once more, giving us an idea of what trends to expect in the coming year.
Nuance's next-generation Dragon Assistant wants to have a conversation
Remember that partnership Intel and Nuance penned way back when? The fruits of their labor is finally here: Nuance's next-generation Dragon Assistant. The virtual assistant is designed specifically for Intel RealSense technology, and comes with two default personalities: American female or British Butler. The assistant does the normal voice recognition tasks, of course, but Nuance is particularly proud of the program's conversational skills. Asking the virtual Alfred (yes, we prefer British Butlers, it's true) who directed Pulp Fiction, for instance, produces the correct answer: "Quentin Tarantino," but Dragon will also remember you asked that, putting follow up questions (such as, "Hey, who was in that movie?") into the proper context. "This latest version of Dragon Assistant is transformative," Nuance Mobile Vice President Michael Thompson wrote in the company's press release. "People can have an interactive dialogue that is natural and intuitive, with a voice assistant that listens and understand the context of the conversation." Neat. Best of all, the new assistant is available today in devices from Acer, Dell, HP Lenovo and more, in Ultrabooks, notebooks and all-in-one PCs. Asus and Toshiba a will follow early this year, and Lenovo will pack the assistant into a tablet sometime in the next few months. Looking for more details? Check out the company's official announcement at the source link below.
Hands-on with Acer's 2014 Iconia Android tablets
Acer's been quick to make its immediate plans for the new year known, including the impending release of its refreshed Iconia Android tablets. Today the company's been kind enough to show the new slates to us, both of which will ship with 4.2 Jelly Bean. The A1-830 is the more premium of the pair, and to give you a quick reminder of the specs, it sports a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (don't worry, there's a microSD slot if you need more), and 5-/2-megapixel cameras. With its 4:3 aspect ratio and 1,024 x 768 display, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a iPad mini from afar -- the form factor is deceptively similar. It sits at the top of Acer's tablet range, and fittingly, has an aluminum back to prove it. It doesn't look half bad, either, although the plastic which encroaches the top edge, framing the camera, kind of ruins the upper-end look. The screen appears to be relatively good quality and it feels solidly built. With a noticeably thin profile, it gives a good first impression. Its specs might be of a mediocre standard, but the price makes up for it. When the tablet hits the North American market in late Q1 2014, it'll set you back $149, which we wouldn't say is an unfair ask after out brief flirtation with the hardware.
CyanogenMod downloaded 10 million times as it begins to go legit
Though CyanogenMod has gotten plenty of ink lately for its Oppo N1 hookup and Google Play approval (and subsequent removal), it's still first and foremost a modding outfit. In fact it just crossed 10 million downloads of its custom Android ROMs, according to its latest stats. That marks a lot of folks wanting to re-skin their handsets, or give others like Samsung's Galaxy S (shown above) new life. That model, along with the Galaxy S II and S III were the most popular devices to mod, a reflection of their popularity and perhaps users' disdain for TouchWiz. It helps that you can now skip difficult command-line installs, thanks to OTA updates and new desktop and mobile apps. Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to install CyanogenMod's Android 4.2.2 ROM on our Galaxy S -- a device officially unsupported since the Gingerbread era.
DataWind's 7-inch UbiSlate tablet heads to UK, starts at £30 (update: US too)
Remember the Aakash 2, India's $40 educational slate? It's finally making its way to the western world. The school-bound slab's manufacturer updated its UK website with three commercial variants of the devices, the UbiSlate 7Ci, 7C+ and 7Cz. Sound familiar? It should -- another version of the tablet (labeled 3G7) made its way through the FCC earlier this year, flaunting a 7-inch screen, a tri-band HSPA radio and a 2-megapixel camera. In fact, the federally inspected tablet matches the 7Cz in all but name, which offers a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor 8GB of storage and the aforementioned connectivity for £80. Knock that processor down to a 1GHz Cortex A8 CP, slash its (already meager) storage in half, and slow your wireless connectivity to Edge speeds and you're looking at the (currently unpriced) 7C+. Just looking for WiFi? That's the £30 7Ci, which Datawind specifically identifies as the consumer version of the Aakash 2. These specs are far from impressive, but the Ubislate (and its predecessor) weren't built to compete with the Nexus 7: Datawind aims its devices specifically at schools, building a budget product that can help further the education of students on a budget. That said, the company's website seems to be little more than a placeholder for now -- the tablet's product pages are incomplete, and there's no way to order the devices just yet. We're exactly not jumping to put these devices on our Christmas lists, but it's good to see the fledgling tablet reach out to a wider market. Update: All the above UbiSlate models are coming the US as well starting at $38, though the UbiSlate 7Cz will be known as the UbiSlate 3G7 in the US. As with the UK, there's no word on exactly when they'll arrive stateside.
HP's new Android tablets land a little late, but with budget prices intact
Hewlett Packard's Slate line of Android tablets just barely missed their November deadline for retail launch. The company's latest take on tabs are finally here, however, and all you have to do is head over to its product page to order one. There, you'll find the seven-inch Slate7 Plus and Slate7 Extreme going for $150 and $200 respectively, while the eight-inch Slate8 Pro is $330. Why the differences in price? Well, the Slate7 Plus gets by with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 powerplant and a paltry 8GB of storage, while the Slate7 Extreme packs Tegra 4 silicon and 16GB inside. Naturally, the Pro provides extra screen real estate plus the same Tegra 4 and 16GB of internal storage. The extreme 7-incher is already out of stock, though, so you might want to jump on the other two lest those follow suit.
Nokia's Lumia 2520 tablet exclusive to John Lewis in the UK from December 4th
UK-centric news is plentiful today while America busies itself with feasts and football. One such announcement concerns the launch of Nokia's first tablet, the Lumia 2520, which will go on sale December 4th exclusively at John Lewis and affiliate stores. Running Windows RT 8.1, the colorful 10.1-inch tablet will cost £400, while the optional keyboard accessory will retail for an additional £150 when it becomes available "in the coming weeks" (although we can't say we were enamored with the typing experience in our review). Curiously, John Lewis' monopoly means you'll have to go to extra lengths to make use of the 2520's LTE radio by procuring a 4G data-only SIM from EE or O2. Thus, you also can't take advantage of any carrier subsidies. There's no word on exactly when the exclusivity period will end, but if you just have to have one, you know exactly where to go. Update: We've now learned exclusivity finishes at the end of February next year, and that every Lumia 2520 bought from John Lewis includes an EE 4G SIM with 200MB of free data.
Daily Roundup: Lumia 525, FuelBand SE review, Engadget's 2013 tablet gift guide and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Google's setup app makes bulk Play for Education tablet activations a breeze
Google is looking to make the task for schools looking to cash in on Google Play for Education a bit easier with a bit of mobile software. The Google Edu Device Setup app (for Android, natch) allows administrators with a proper account to activate tablets purchased through school-themed store in bulk. Once the app is downloaded from the regular Play Store and the slates are activated, age appropriate settings -- like disabling location sharing -- can be configured and when complete, only the Education Store can be accessed. As you might expect, this tool only works with Nexus tablets procured through the proper scholastic portion of Google's online shop.
