Android in March: going from 4.2 JB straight to 4.4 KitKat

Another month, another Android platform distribution update by Google. The big news is that in March this year Android 4.4 KitKat has crossed the 5% mark, while everything pre-4.1 declined.

Some vestigial Froyo devices still hang around at 1%, Gingerbread now holds under 20%, while Ice Cream Sandwich and 4.1 Jelly Bean declined.

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean rose a bit and is now well ahead of ICS. That's interesting because version 4.3 stayed in place since January, suggesting that makers are leapfrogging 4.3 and going straight to 4.4 (LG for one is doing this).

With KitKat on the rise and Jelly Bean mostly staying in place, OpenGL ES 2.0 support actually declined a bit, while OpenGL ES 3.0 inched forward. This is important for game devs who might be considering using the more advanced graphics features - they can now reach 10.5% of all Androids.

The Sony Xperia Z2 is known to be available in Europe and parts of Asia and today we can count North America in the list of regions where Sony's flagship is going to sell. Bell Canada is going to start offering the device to its customers starting in May. There's no information on pricing just yet, but it's logical for Bell to price the Xperia Z2 as the rest of its current batch of Android flagships - CAD $200 with contract. Sony is yet to announce its plans for U.S. availability and pricing. As we reported at the end of March, Sony is experiencing supply chain problems with the Xperia Z2. In the UK, Sony says all pre-orders have been fulfilled, but there'll be some shortage in stock nevertheless. The Sony Xperia Z2 costs £540 off-contract, while monthly taxes for 2-year plans are £42 get you the phone for free. The TV deal is from Vodafone, while Unlocked Mobiles offer a free wireless speaker, noise-cancelling headphones and digital content with a pre-order

The Sony Xperia Z2 is known to be available in Europe and parts of Asia and today we can count North America in the list of regions where Sony's flagship is going to sell. Bell Canada is going to start offering the device to its customers starting in May.

There's no information on pricing just yet, but it's logical for Bell to price the Xperia Z2 as the rest of its current batch of Android flagships - CAD $200 with contract.

Sony is yet to announce its plans for U.S. availability and pricing.

As we reported at the end of March, Sony is experiencing supply chain problems with the Xperia Z2. In the UK, Sony says all pre-orders have been fulfilled, but there'll be some shortage in stock nevertheless.

The Sony Xperia Z2 costs £540 off-contract, while monthly taxes for 2-year plans are £42 get you the phone for free. The TV deal is from Vodafone, while Unlocked Mobiles offer a free wireless speaker, noise-cancelling headphones and digital content with a pre-order

Sony PS4 survey suggests player reputation system, cross-platform chat & option to be ‘invisible’ online could be coming

A Sony survey suggests it’s considering a few new features for PS4, including a player reputation system, chat between PS4, PS3 and Vita, and the ability to remain invisible when online.

Sony PS4 survey outs new online options being considered

The full page in question is below. As well as the options mentioned it also suggests Sony are considering a console native matchmaking system and notifications for when friends come online. What do you think? Do you want or not want any of these options?

New Watch Dogs trailer showcases Chicago, is very aware that GTA V is a thing you like

Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and say, “Here’s a new Watch Dogs trailer”. Today is one of those times. In the new vid, you’ll find a deeper examination of Chicago and its many hackable denizens. No, it still doesn’t look like the game we saw at E3 2012 graphically, and yes, it is very much like a GTA V trailer isn’t it?

Watch Dogs “Welcome to Chicago” trailer

After slipping out of PlayStation 4′s release window and going quiet for the last five months, Watch Dogs recently returned with a May 27 release date. Its devs at Ubisoft Montreal also confirmed that there’s aneight-player, free-roaming multiplayer mode on the way.

Following Uncharted 4 game director Justin Richmond’s departure from Naughty Dog, Sony has released an official statement assuring fans “The development timeline of Uncharted will not be impacted”. Richmand follows Amy Hennig out of the doors at Naughty Dog, who previously wrote the Unchartedtitles.

Uncharted 4′s development ‘not impacted’ by game director’s departure, says Sony

Richmond has now joined League of Legends developer Riot Games, taking with him experience working on Uncharted 2′s multiplayer and directing Uncharted 3.

There’s been no link reported between the departures of Richmond and Hennig – the latter prompting Naughty Dog to release an official statement denying she had been ‘forced out’ by The Last Of Us leads Neil Druckmann and Bruce Staley.

Thanks, Game Informer.

“The Last Of Us will be on the PS4 this Summer” say Sony

Sony has apparently confirmed a PS4 port of The Last Of Us “with enhanced graphics”. It’ll be a physical and PSN release bundling in the Left Behind DLC.

“The Last Of Us will be on the PS4 this Summer” say Sony

The information comes from an interview with PlayStation’s Eurasian software market manager Sercan Sulun by Turkish website Multiplayer. Sulun states that, “There is no information about a new The Last Of Us game but I can share this knowledge; as of this Summer, The Last Of Us will be on the PS4. Both on PSN and physical. The PS4 version will also include the DLC so you will be able to play ‘Left Behind’ as well”. Just to really clarify things he reiterates that “The first game will be released this summer for PS4 as a physical and digital copy, with enhanced graphics.”

Wolfenstein: The New Order preview – flying high on a West Wing and a prayer

Bearing the name of a franchise that started life over 20 years ago doesn’t immediately instil confidence that Wolfenstein: The New Order is going to provide something genuinely new in what is an already over-populated first-person shooter genre. However, as with The Never Ending Story and organic food, names can be deceiving. The New Order might be trying to draw on those nostalgic heartstrings that still sing for the series’ early entries, but it’s plucking at them in very much its own way.
Having now played the first three levels, it’s clear this shooter is primarily concerned with being big, eccentric and charmingly exaggerated. Within the opening couple of hours we battle mechanical attack dogs, navigate through the legs of a giant robot and narrowly survive a scrape with a sadistic Nazi doctor who is the very embodiment of a dastardly comic-book villain.

Following a traumatic event that befalls protagonist William ‘Blazko’ Blazkowicz – sending him into a state of semiconsciousness – 16 years pass in the blink of a cutscene eye. When he fully awakes
in 1960, he’s met with a world in which the Nazis have won the war and taken over. This 1960 features flying machine gun drones, bipedal robots reminiscent of Robocop’s ED-209 and guns that wouldn’t look out of place in Killzone or Mass Effect. Your one-man mission is to reignite the resistance and destroy the Nazis – and nothing screams Wolfenstein like a realistic narrative full of rational and sensible characters.

There’s a great deal of variety in how you’re tasked with approaching and winning this war. In the first two levels alone we conquer the skies with a turret gun, scale a castle using a rope and hook, use stealth to disable guards at a checkpoint and search a garage for goggles to protect our eyes from blood splatter as we chainsaw a Nazi captive to death. Levels are designed specifically to facilitate player choice, meaning there’s often more than one way to approach any given situation.

“We’re tempted to sack off the stealth options because the shooting feels great”

When we enter an area harbouring an enemy commander, for example, an icon appears on-screen to tell us how aware of our presence he is. If we can put him out of service without being seen, nobody else can call in reinforcements – making our overall job much easier. Once the commander’s down, it’s up to us whether we dispatch the rest of the enemies through stealth or an all-guns-blazing approach – safe in the knowledge that more bad guys aren’t going to appear. Alternatively, we can let the commander see us and have a whole area’s regiment come at us – and we’re tempted to sack off the stealth options because the shooting feels great.

The futuristic weapons and enemies means you’re having the most fun when tackling foes head-on; working out which guns are best for a given situation and how you can use the environment to your advantage. Dungeon-like corridors force you to play more slowly to avoid getting caught unawares, whereas more open areas allow you to choose between getting up high and using sniper rifles – which can be dual-wielded – or staying low in the thick of the action.

If later levels can introduce new ideas and challenges with the frequency of The New Order’s initial hours, it’s difficult to see how it could possibly fail to undo the damage done to the series with last-gen’s so-so instalment. What was once looking to be a stop-gap until Doom has suddenly turned into a dark horse for 2014.

Apple iPhone 6 tipped to retain 8 MP resolution

Sources with some knowledge of the matter suggest that Apple will not be interested in increasing the megapixel count of its next iPhone smartphone camera. Instead Apple will likely focus on improving the lens system and image quality.

Previous rumors suggested the iPhone 6 camera may be bumped to 10 MP with a faster F/1.8 aperture(the iPhone 5s is currently sporting an F/2.2 lens) so perhaps the aperture will remain.

Rumors are circulating that Apple will use swappable resin lenses for its iPhone 6. Other rumors have suggested optical image stabilization but seeing how Apple is doing some clever gyro-based software tricks in the iPhone 5s to avoid OIS it seems unlikely the company will change its mind in the next flagship.

If Apple indeed retains the 8 MP resolution which debuted on the iPhone 4S camera, it will go against the current trend of manufacturer increasing megapixel count in their smartphones' cameras recently.

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo 13 MP sensor shipments are higher than any other resolution - expected to be 65% of all high resolution components by the end of the year. The raise in demand is expected to continue well into 2015. According to Ming-Chi Kuo Sony has a 65.7% share of the market for 13+ MP sensors.

Sony is expected to produce a new 21 MP 1/2.4" sensor for the last quarter of the year. Could it star in the Xperia Z3? It seems likely considering Sony's six month flagship cycle.

TechnoPedia Expo. smartphone shopping guide: March 2014

Introduction

We're back with our latest smartphone shopper's guide, and our first for 2014! In this edition we'll see which new devices announced at the MWC made the cut as good buys, next to some former flagships that have had their price reduced - without losing much value - to become sleeper picks in the upper midrange category.

As before, we're splitting up the guide by price category, starting with sub-€100 smartphones and going all the way to the top shelf stuff.

Here are the price categories we'll be looking at:

• Under €100
• €100 - €200
• €200 - €300
• €300 - €400
• €400 - €500
• €500 and above

Price drops from many top manufacturers have resulted in a lot a movement between the ranks. The sub-€100 segment features some incredible deals on Android and Windows Phone smartphones, while the fresh batch of high-end models from MWC means some great deals on former flagships.

Before we jump in, a word on the technical side of things, and what it takes to make the cut. In terms of computing power, a dual-core processor is passable, but entry level phones make do with just one core (there are only a few of those in this guide though). Having a Krait-based Snapdragon dual-core chipset or just about any quad-core chipset is a guarantee for proper performance in the lowest price bracket.

For screens, anything under 200ppi is pretty poor (usually screens on budget phones), 200-300ppi is good but not great, and anything over 300ppi is eye-popping quality and differences get near impossible to spot with the naked eye. For cameras, you want at least 5MP for stills and 720p for video, though budget phones settle for 3 or less megapixel stills and VGA video (think 4:3 DVD quality).

Also, keep in mind that we're looking at off-contract prices. On-contract devices come cheap but get you saddled with an expensive plan for a year or two, which masks the true price of the device. Besides, carrier subsidies vary across markets, so since we are catering for a varied international audience, we can't really provide information that will be relevant to everyone.

We've also omitted any phones with limited market availability, as we want to make sure that you'll actually be able to buy the phones listed here in the coming month or two, rather than just read about them.

REPORT: LEAKED SCREENSHOTS REVEAL ONE OF TWO ASSASSIN'S CREED GAMES COMING THIS YEAR

It also appears that one of the games will take place during the French Revolution.

Some leaked screenshots of the next unannounced Assassin's Creed game were obtained by Kotaku today, who also learned that players will be seeing not one but two Assassin's Creed titles coming later this fall.

The screenshots, one of which is posted above, represent Assassin's Creed: Unity, which may be a codename for the title. It reveals the game's new assassin as well as the game's locale, which Kotaku says appears to be Paris with the Notre Dame, Seine River, and other landmarks present. We can also see that the new assassins now has the ability to "parkour down" and "parkour up" with A/B buttons. It's worth noting that the screenshots are based on an early version of the game and things will likely change in the final product.

According to the report, Unity will be released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 while the second game, codenamed Comet, will be available on last gen consoles including PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A Wii U version was not named and it's presumed that a PC version will also come.

Rumors of the next Assassin's Creed titles have been posted recently via NeoGAF andExaminer writer Nicholas Gigante, who has a proven track record in leaks for Ubisoft games. If we are to believe these leaks, Unity will have players assume the role of an asssassin named Arno with the game's setting in the French Revolution. Recently, Ubisoft's Jade Raymond hinted that the next game will be based on her favorite historical era.

Google announces Android Wear, LG is making a smartwatch

Google has announced it is working on Android Wear - a special Android version for wearable devices. Naturally the first target group of Android Wear is smartwatches, but the OS focus will expand to even more gadgets soon.

Android Wear is a special miniature version of the popular mobile OS that will allow you to interact with your wearable via voice commands and you will receive straight answers both on-screen and as voice feedback. Here is what Android Wear can do for you:

• Useful information when you need it most. Android Wear shows you info and suggestions you need, right when you need them. The wide variety of Android applications means you’ll receive the latest posts and updates from your favorite social apps, chats from your preferred messaging apps, notifications from shopping, news and photography apps, and more.
• Straight answers to spoken questions. Just say “Ok Google” to ask questions, like how many calories are in an avocado, what time your flight leaves, and the score of the game. Or say “Ok Google” to get stuff done, like calling a taxi, sending a text, making a restaurant reservation or setting an alarm.
• The ability to better monitor your health and fitness. Hit your exercise goals with reminders and fitness summaries from Android Wear. Your favorite fitness apps can give you real-time speed, distance and time information on your wrist for your run, cycle or walk.
• Your key to a multiscreen world. Android Wear lets you access and control other devices from your wrist. Just say “Ok Google” to fire up a music playlist on your phone, or cast your favorite movie to your TV. There’s a lot of possibilities here so we’re eager to see what developers build.

And here is the official promo video, which looks really nice. It shows a watch from LG (the square one) and a watch from Motorola (the round one).

A developer preview is already available right here. Developers can download it and tweak their existing apps to work with Android Wear. Google says many of them will probably require little to no additional updates.

Google has already partnered up with manufacturers such as Asus, HTC, LG and Samsung, plus chipmakers such as Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek and Qualcomm. Android Wear-powered smartwatches are already in the works and will hit the market later this year.

Previous rumors saying LG will be making a Google-powered smartwatch turned out being the truth. LG has announced the LG G Watch, co-developed with Google, just minutes after Android Wear went official.

The rumors were spot on with the specs - the LG G Watch features a 1.65" screen with a 280 x 280 resolution, 512MB RAM and 4GB of built-in storage. The smartwatch will go on sale in Q2 this year.

Motorola unveils Android-powered Moto 360 smartwatch

Google announced its Android Wear, a project that extends Android to wearables today, and Motorola is among the first to make use of Google's latest innovation. Motorola has officially announced Moto 360, an Android Wear powered smartwatch.

Motorola's Moto 360 is said to come with a round face design and the company claims to have used premium materials to provide the much needed elegance. Motorola says "Moto 360 is everything you need, with a look that you want".

With Moto 360, you can keep yourself up to date with subtle alerts and notifications. A twist of the wrist now reveals who is calling or emailing you, what time is your next meet up or a friend's latest social status.

Motorola's latest timepiece (remember the Motoactv?) also comes with Google Now integration, which means you can literally talk to your wristwatch. Just like on smartphones, "Ok Google" command fires the Google Now application and you can schedule appointments, send texts, set an alarm or even take a note.

Moto 360 will be available in various designs across the globe, starting in the US this Summer.

Motorola and Flipkart launch the Moto X in India

After many months of waiting and a few weeks of teasing, Motorola finally launched the Moto X in India. As with the Moto G, Motorola has once again chosen to partner with online retailer Flipkart, who will be selling the Moto X exclusively in India.

Flipkart will be selling the Moto X in five colors in India, with the woven black and woven white options available starting today and the rest arriving later. The phone will only be offered in 16GB capacity and is priced at INR 23,999 ($393). The wooden back versions will also be offered in future and will be priced atINR 25,999 ($425) for the same 16GB capacity.

Flipkart also has some launch day offers in store, including INR 1,000 cachback for those who purchase on a 6-month EMI, flat 70% off on Moto X cases if purchased along with the phone, and 10 random lucky customers will get 100% cashback on their purchase.

In case you have forgotten about the specifications of the phone, the Moto X has a 4.7-inch, 1280x720 resolution AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC with dual-core 1.7GHz Krait CPU, quad-core Adreno 320 GPU, a natural language processor and a contextual computing processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage memory (non-expandable), 4G LTE, 10 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, 2200mAh battery and Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Oppo Find 7 is official with QHD display and Snapdragon 801 SoC

Just as planned today Oppo made the Find 7 official at a dedicated launch evet. The Oppo Find 7 is the first smartphone to pack a 5.5" QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) display making for the astonishing pixel density of 538ppi.

Oppo has been able to push so many pixels in 5.5" display thanks to a technology it calls Super Screen 2.0. The display is covered by Gorilla Glass 3 for extra protection and can be operated with wet hands.

Under the hood of the beastly Find 7 lies a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC chipset, the same as the Galaxy S5. There's also 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 330 GPU plus 32GB of internal storage, expandable via a microSD card slot.

At the back of the Oppo Find 7 is a 13MP Sony IMX214 CMOS with a F/2.0 lens and LED flash. It is capable of recording 4K video and 720p slow-motion clips at 120fps. There's also an interesting mode called Super Zoom. It takes 10 photos and merges them into a single 50MP image.

  

Oppo's latest flagship is also available with a 5.5" 1080p display. Its internals have been slightly downgraded compared to the QHD display version of the phone.

The "lower-resolution" version of the Find 7 will be powered by a Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AB chipset (with a quad-core Krait CPU clocked at 2.3GHz), 2GB of RAM and will pack 16GB of expandable internal storage.

The QHD Oppo 7 packs a 3000mAh battery, while the fullHD version makes do with a 2800mAh one. Oppo touts a new technology dubbed VOOC, which is capable of charging the battery to 75% in 30 minutes, which is really impressive.

ColorOS 1.2 is what powers the Oppo Find 7. The company announced it has struck a deal with the Bank of China enabling the Find 7 to make NFC-based payments to more than 250 POS-enabled stores.

Oppo has also turned special attention to the audio characteristics of the phone. It packs special MaxxAudio speakers, which are said to deliver great bass. It comes with a special app dubbed MaxxEq, which will allow you to fine tune the sound as you desire. We are yet to see if Oppo's MaxxAudio is comparable to the HTC BoomSound soon enough.

Oppo is pricing the QHD Find 7 at 3,498 CNY, which roughly equals 565 USD, while the fullHD version carries a 2998 CNY price tag, or about 480 USD.

Batman Arkham Knight, The Order 1886, Evolve & more: Official PlayStation Magazine UK on sale now

This issue we’ve got the Bat. After a trip to Rocksteady we’ve seen Batman Arkham Knight in action and spoken to game director Sefton Hill about the next generation of superhero. On top of that there’s more on The Order 1886, Evolve, a look at PS4′s secret game and more.

Official PlayStation Magazine UK on sale now

Obviously that cover feature’s hard to miss and the huge Batman Arkham Knight feature is built around a trip to Rocksteady to see the game in action with a demo from director Sefton Hill. We’ve seen the batmobile tear up the streets, as well as a big chunk of Gotham City crime fighting. New gadgets, new combat moves and new characters are all covered with info from Hill and Rocksteady co-founder Jamie Walker.

Continuing the foray into next-gen gaming we size up The Order 1886 and its chances of becoming one of PS4′s defining IPs. Again we’ve seen the game in action and talked to director and studio co-founder Ru Weerasuriya about creating a new take on London full of steampunk lightning guns and half-breed werewolves.

Another new game we go over in detail is Evolve, the co-op monster hunter from the Left 4 Dead guys. Having played it we’re still sizing up that balance of four humans vs a constantly growing giant alien. It’s an interesting take on the usual multiplayer shooter.

On less well covered shores we’ve also rounded up a bunch experts on various famous PlayStation series to line up what we think are the secret PS4 games coming your way – the titles that haven’t been announced or sequels that have to be in the pipeline, even if no one’s admitted it yet. What game are you thinking about right now?

Then there’s all the rest with previews including Wolfenstein and UFC, more hands on with Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground Zeroes and reviews including Dark Souls 2 and more.

New inFamous Second Son screens show new powers, locations &… monsters?

A whole ton of new inFamous Second Son screens have appeared online and I mean loads. There’s plenty of images showing new powers and what appears to be winged bat things causing trouble.

New inFamous Second Son screens: new powers & monsters?

As well as the monsters there’s a new power that seems to involved rocks, and something blue and sparkly. The review embargo’s on Thursday so that’s when all this will make sense. In the meantime there’s a complete and spoiler free list of inFamous Second Son’s trophies here. We’ve also got an interview with director Nate Fox about creating the game, the world and working with Troy Baker.

New The Division images show off New York streets & plague hospitals

A couple of new The Division images have appeared on the game’s Facebook page showing more of the new Snowdrop engine and what looks like a militarised hospital (the game’s set during an epidemic).

New The Division images show New York streets & hospitals

The images appear with a some captions. This one above says “In case of an ambush, who would be the last man standing in your team?” While the hospital shot over the page sets up the game with, “When everything collapses, your mission begins…”

A few new The Division screens appeared the other week as wwell via the Facebook page showing more of the city location and some rooftop combat. There’s also 10 things you need to know about The Division which will bring you right up to speed with this gorgeous and intruiging multiplayer RPG shooter.

Details of entry-level KitKat Android Samsung G310 surface

Tags: Samsung, Android, Rumors

Android 4.4 KitKat supports fairly low-end devices with as little as 512MB. It wasn’t meant for aging devices though, instead it was to enable affordable new handsets. One of those will be the Samsung G310.

It was certified by the FCC, showrf up on import manifests on Zauba, a NenaMark 2 benchmark and there’s a user agent profile. Stringing the info from all these together, here’s what we get.

The Samsung G310 will have a 4” WVGA screen (480 x 800 pixels). It will run Android 4.4.2 on a Broadcom chipset with two Cortex-A9 cores @ 1.2GHz and a VideoCore IV GPU.

On the connectivity side there’s optional dual-SIM, Wi-Fi b/g/n (2.4GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 + LE and NFC. The battery is a 5.7Wh, 3.8V unit meaning 1,500mAh capacity. The device's footprint measures 121 x 62.7mm.

There's no launch date or pricing info yet, not even a spy shot of the device. Still, if the Samsung G310 is already in testing, we probably won't have to wait long.

HTC One gets a software update in Europe, Wi-Fi bug squashed

HTC updated its European HTC One models to Android 4.4.2 KitKat a month ago and the latest version brought all the improvements from Android 4.4.2 along with the latest Sense 5.5 UI. Along with all the goodies, the firmware also came with a fair share of bugs that resulted in some user experience issues.

Now, the company has rolled out a minor software update that fixes all the known bugs from the previous release. The update takes the version to 4.19.401.11 and brings "support for more routers". Previously there were reports of unstable Wi-Fi connection, so we assume what this means is the issue squashes that bug.

If you happen to own a European HTC One, then we suggest you to download the 205MB update and install it immediately to improve the performance of your device. In case you missed the notification, then you can manually check for the update by heading to Settings > About phone > Software updates.

Samsung teases a "new level" announcement for tomorrow

Samsung Russia is teasing a new phone on Twitter - a “device on a new level” that will be unveiled tomorrow. The image shows a portion of the devices back painted in a bright color.

There are five color dots above the date, one of which matches the color of the back. It’s safe to assume those represent the color options for the new device. But what is it?

The Galaxy S5 is already available for pre-order, so what’s this new level Samsung is alluding to? The Samsung Galaxy S5 Zoom is one option, another is the Samsung G310. A Samsung official denied the existence of the premium Galaxy F, but that’s not a guarantee.

Note that the teaser is only on Samsung Russia’s account so this will be a regional launch and could be for a device that’s already available elsewhere.