Galaxy S IV will definitely be announced on March 14th

Earlier today, mobile-review‘s Eldar Murtazin suggested on Twitter that March 14th would see a “big announcement,” implying that it would cause HTC to miss sales estimates on the One that is widely expected to be announced tomorrow. Murtazin made no mention of Samsung or the next-gen Galaxy S, but SamMobile — a site well-known for its Samsung leaks — followed shortly thereafter claiming that the tweet was indeed a veiled reference to the Galaxy S IV, allegedly tied to an event in New York City.

The Verge has now confirmed with sources familiar with Samsung’s plans that March 14th is “definitely” the day that the Korean giant plans on revealing one or more new devices, one of which is presumed to be the Galaxy S IV. As SamMobile says, we are also hearing that the event will be in the US, though it’s unclear whether carrier availability will be announced at that time.

DESIGN OF THE NEW MODEL IS SAID TO BE A “TIGHTLY-GUARDED SECRET”

As with the Galaxy S III — which was part of an effective campaign of misinformation waged by Samsung ahead of its announcement — design of the new model is said to be a “tightly-guarded secret.” We’re told that the company will once again emphasize features over raw specs; tricks like the eye-tracking Smart Stay were a big part of the S III’s story, and we’d expect more of the same next month. “The leap in cool new features from [Galaxy S III] to the next flagship will be bigger” than the leap from the S II to the S III, sources say.

Where does that leave Samsung at Mobile World Congress next week? Expect the Galaxy Note 8.0, which has been leaked far and wide — but maybe not in final form. “That mockup […] that has been making the rounds? That’s old news,” we’re told. If Samsung has disguised the actual Note 8.0, it’d be following in the Galaxy S III’s footsteps. When it’s revealed next week, expect the real design of the midsize tablet to foreshadow that of the Galaxy S IV, which hasn’t leaked at all.

 

Via The Verge

CyanogenMod 10 ported to the Google Nexus 7

The Google Nexus 7 may be the first tablet to ship with Google Android 4.1 preloaded. But that hasn’t stopped independent developers from building custom ROMs for the tablet. One of the first is an unofficial build of CyanogenMod 10 for the Nexus 7.

Like the tablet’s default software, it’s based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. But it also includes CyanogenMod enhancements including a a customizable lock screen, additional options for the power widget, and support for USB OTG — which means you can plug in a USB flash drive if you have an adapter cable.

CM10 is the first version of the popular CyanogenMod operating system to be based on Android 4.1, and the developers have only been working on the software for a few weeks.

There’s not an official build available for the Nexus 7 yet, but xda-developers form member winner00 compiled his own build based on CyangoenMod source.

If you’ve already rooted your Nexus 7 and installed ClockworkMod or TWRP custom recovery, you can download the latest version of winner00′s CM10 Kang from the xda-developers forum and flash it through your recovery app.

It’s probably a good idea to use your recovery tool to make a backup of your device first, in case anything goes wrong. While most things are working in the CM10 Kang, it is an experimental build so there’s always a chance you might want to go back to the default Android firmware.

via CyanogenMod 10 ported to the Google Nexus 7.

How to change the Nexus 7 user interface to full tablet mode

The Google Nexus 7 tablet has a user interface that looks like a cross between the Google Android UI for smartphones and tablets. With Android 3.0 through Android 4.0, things were pretty clear-cut: If you had a phone, the notification area was at the top of the screen and you couldn’t rotate the home screen. On tablets, it was at the bottom and rotation was supported.

But Android 4.1 on the Nexus 7 includes a notification area at the top of the device, home, back, and recent apps buttons at the bottom, and a default home screen that doesn’t rotate. It’s a 7 inch tablet that works more like a phone — unless you apply a patch that makes it work like a 10 inch tablet.

Google still supports the same full tablet mode we saw in Android 4.0 and earlier, but only for tablets with larger displays. The new user interface we see on the Nexus 7 is designed specifically for 7 inch tablets.

When you run some apps you’ll see the two-pane view that you get with 10 inch tablets, but overall the user interface looks more like the one you’d expect for a phone. It’s not a bad way to do things — but if it’s now what you’re looking for, there are other options.

The operating system doesn’t actually know what size your screen is. It just knows how many pixels your screen can display, what the pixel density is, and what the cutoff is for showing the 7 or 10 inch versions of the Android interface. So there are a few ways to trick the Nexus 7 into thinking it should display the notification bar at the bottom.

If all you want is a home screen that can rotate, you can install any number of apps from the Play Store, including Nova Launcher, ADW Launcher, or Apex Launcher.

But if you want to use the full tablet UI, you’ll need to root your Nexus 7 and make some changes.

Option 1: Change your LCD Density

This is the easiest way to enable the tablet UI (for now). Once you’ve rooted your tablet, just install an app such as ROM Toolbox that allows you to change your LCD density. You can find that option in the build.prop Tweaks section of ROM Toolbox.

The default setting for the Nexus 7 is 213. But if you change it to something between 160 and 170, the tablet should automatically display the full Android user interface.

Unfortunately there’s a down side to this method. The Nexus 7 has a 1280 x 800 pixel display. Normally that just means text, images, and other content will look less pixelated on the tablet than on a Kindle Fire or another 7 inch tablet with a 1024 x 600 pixel screen. But if you change the LCD density, text, images, and other content will look smaller on the Nexus 7 as well.

Basically what you’re trying to do is cram all the content that would normally be displayed on a 10 inch screen onto a 7 inch screen. If you have great eyesight or like holding tablets very close to your face, this might be a good thing. If not, you might be interested in the second option.

Option 2: True Tablet UI Patch

A group of folks at the xda-developers forum found a setting in the Android 4.1 code called ShortSizeDP. Basically this tells the operating system whether to use the phone, 7 inch tablet, or larger tablet user interface depending on your screen resolution and LCD density.

If you change the ShortSizeDP, you can get the full tablet user interface without making all the text and graphics smaller.

So they’ve posted a True Tablet UI Patch that lets you do that.

It’s still a work in progress and only works if you’re running a deodexed version of Android 4.1 on your Nexus 7. Eventually the plan is to release a version that makes it easy to switch between full tablet and 7 inch tablet modes, so if that’s what you’re looking for you might want to keep your eye on the xda-developers forum thread and wait.

For now, just make sure to use ClockworkMod Recovery or TWRP to backup your device before applying the patch — that way you can always restore from the backup if you’re not happy with the results.

via How to change the Nexus 7 user interface to full tablet mode.

Apple at it again, calling for injunction against the Galaxy Nexus

Apple has once again called Samsung into court. This time it’s about the Galaxy Nexus and four patents that Apple says it infringes. The patents in question are:

U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647: a patent for data being used as a hyperlink
U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604: a unified search patent
U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721: a slide-to-unlock patent
U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172: a word completion patent 
Apple is requesting that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus be blocked from sale in the United States because it violates these patents.  Should the court find in favor of Apple, a ban against the Galaxy Nexus would be put in effect until the final court decision.  

Could it happen? Certainly. But if it does, it won’t go into effect any time soon, it would only affect stores inside the U.S. selling these products, and no jack-booted thugs from Cupertino will come pry your Nexus from your hands. We can’t be sure how the courts will act, but all of these are pretty shaky patents, and once again Apple is not going after Google directly — even though the Galaxy Nexus has a pure vanilla version of Android.  The only certainty here is that the patent system is broken and only serves the company willing to spend the most in the courts.

It’s time for Google to step in and put a stop to this bullshit. The first patent in question is the same one that was upheld against HTC in a move that shocked the tech community at large, essentially giving Apple the rights to the hyperlink — something invented over 20 years ago by numerous companies that aren’t Apple.

The other three are just as laughable, or would be if not for the fact that Apple was allowed to secure the patents at all. Every single one of them has existed as prior art long before Apple became relevant, yet a patent was granted each and every time. This is the core of the problem. You can’t blame Apple for trying, it’s cheaper to litigate away your competition than it is to out-innovate them.  And make no mistake — that’s exactly what’s going on here.  Apple wants Android to go away, and a look at any chart that shows market share will tell you why.  It’s a shitty way to get ahead, but it’s too easy not to try. It’s going to take a tech giant to change the way this all works, and we know nobody can count on Apple or Microsoft to do it, because this is their system, created the way they like it, and making them rich. If Apple is afraid to go after Google, Google needs to go after Apple instead of sitting on their laurels waiting to ride in and save the day at the last minute.

via Android Central.

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