UK/Europe Residents Beginning To See Kit Kat Updates To The LG G Pad 8.3

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Good news for UK and European residents that own and use the LG G Pad 8.3, the KitKat update is coming your way an it’s coming in hot. We think that most people who use this tablet agree that it’s a little behind the times when it comes to software versions, but at least now we have some confirmation that the update is beginning. So far we have only heard that the update is starting to roll out to those users who live in the UK and certain parts of Europe, but for those of you stateside who have the G Pad 8.3 you’ll have to wait a little longer. Before the update started to hit user devices, the G Pad was operating on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean so this is certainly a nice change. Users will get all the kit kat goodies like immersive mode and transparent status bar, along with more cloud print compatibility and other things.

You may have noticed the update notification pop up in your status bar but if you haven’t you can head to the usual location to where you check for this sort of thing. You can start by navigating into your tablets settings menu then scrolling all the way down to about device, then tap on the software updates section which should be at the very top, and inside there should be a button to check for updates. If all’s well it should notify you right then and there within a few seconds if there is an update for you to download and install. If not, don’t fret as it will be probably be coming very, very soon.

As always if you’re going to begin an update for your device make sure that you have plenty of battery life to sustain the download and install time, which shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes or so. Although the download file for the update shouldn’t be that large, make sure you also have the space. We know that it’s not likely you would run out but it is possible if you’ve been loading all kinds of stuff into your devices storage. Happy updating!

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Sprint To Get Harman/Kardon Audio Special Edition HTC One M8

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In what might surprise many people we have just learned that Sprint will be getting a special harman/kardon edition HTC One M8 in the future. After a couple years of having devices powered by beats audio, it looks like HTC may be taking things a different direction in the audio department. For those who are unaware, harman/kardon specializes in all kinds of high end audio equipment from Home Entertainment systems, to speakers, to headphones and even in-car audio. We’re not exactly sure if this means that HTC is deciding to forego the Beats audio for a new new type of audio technology from harman/kardon with this specific model, or if it will accompany the tech that is already there. The information comes from infamous leaker evleaks, but the only details are that this model will be coming to Sprint. It’s worth noting that the image shown here is only a mockup as there are no actual images that have surfaced of the device yet.

There is no mention of price or availability time frames, but since the official launch of the HTC One M8 across all carriers is scheduled to happen here in the next few days, we can only assume that this special edition of the One M8 will be in the near future. We have to wonder if other carriers will end up getting this special edition model as well, and of course the question that is probably on everybody’s mind is how well will the audio sound compared to the original model? With the quality that harman/kardon is normally known for we can only imagine that it will be of superb quality, but we would only be speculating.

Is HTC testing the waters with harman/kardon here? Are they using this model of the One M8 to see how well the audio is received and place it into other future devices if it does well with consumers? Time will tell. We’re sure this isn’t the first and only set of details coming from evleaks as he’s known for putting out tidbits like this early on, only to follow it up with the juicy information later. Will it look different and have a new color? And why Sprint and not any other carrier? There are so many questions rolling through our minds about this but we have literally no answers to give. When we learn more, you’ll know more.

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Google Releases The Module Developers Kit For Ambitious Developers And OEMs

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Google just released the Module Developers Kit today so manufacturers can begin to compile all the information they need on how to produce modules for its upcoming Ara device. We know that Google is allegedly getting ready to show the world a working prototype of the Project Ara smartphone in the coming weeks, and there are rumors that Google wants to begin testing a $50 WiFi only version of the device in the near future in emerging markets where WiFi hot spots are common. From the sounds of things, Ara devices will be like the Frankenstien of the smartphone world as module pieces of your RAM, your processor, your screen, your camera etc. can all come different OEMs. We can’t promise we can resist the urge to scream out IT’S ALIVE once we get one of these in our own hands and power it on.

The point of releasing the Module Developers Kit now was to put it ahead of the the virtual conference that Google is holding later this month with the developers that are to be working on Ara modules. Glazing over things beforehand means that they can enter the conference already in the know about certain details that will ultimately come up at some point anyway. The Module Devlopers Kit has a good bit of information for interested manufacturers, with everything from the size of the bases for Ara devices to the specifications of the Power Storage modules. As Google has stated before, there will end up being three Ara base sizes available to consumers, so Ara devices will end up being available as small, medium, or large size phones.

Just like with Google’s requirements for Android design guidelines for apps and the UI, they have a set of design guidelines in place for modules as well, which means there will be a strict rule as to how modules will be able to look, how big they can be and so on. The good things for the developers is that these rules or guidelines will only end up applying to the most common modules like the camera, CPU etc. Less mainstream or otherwise less important or unique modules can be created with a little more freedom it sounds like. With the Module Developers Kit out there for any developers and OEMs to look through everything and get going, things are starting to take an interesting turn and we can’t wait to see what manufacturers, Google, and developers come up with for the future of Ara.

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Unannounced Acer A1-840 Tablet Specs Show Up On Benchmark Website

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We commonly see hints about new unannounced devices from places like benchmark websites, as images can leak showing stats or specs of the devices that went through recent benchmark tests. That is what were seeing here today with an apparent new Acer tablet that has yet to be announced by the company. The most notable thing to mention is that the tablet seems to be powered by an Intel Atom CPU with Intel BayTrail HD GPU. The processor according to the benchmark listing shows that it’s an 1,862 MHz quad-core CPU. We can also tell the screen size which seems to be 8-inches with a display resolution of 1,280 x 800.

Storage wise there’s only 10GB to play with(we’ll go ahead and assume that 10GB is what will actually be available for use) and the version of Android that looks to be running on this tablet is Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat which is the newest build version of the software to date. The tablet in question is referred to as the Acer A1-840 on the listing over at GFXbench, which from the looks of the hardware so far will probably end up being a low cost device, we would suspect under $200. Further information on the listing tells us that the tablets display will support at least 5 finger gesture multi-touch, and that it comes equipped with a 4.7MP rear facing camera that also shoots video in FHD with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, and of course there’s a 2MP camera on the front. On the memory side of things it looks like the A1-840 will come with near 1GB of RAM to run things. That amount seems to have become fairly standard in lower cost devices.(Remember when it was great to have 512MB?)

You can expect to get use out of Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS from the Acer A1-840 tablet but there apparently will be no NFC support here. So far we don’t have any information telling us when we can expect to see these tablets hit store shelves or online retailers, or where they’ll be available and how much they’ll cost. For now we’ll just have to stick with data about the hardware specs.

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Alleged Leaked Screenshot Of The LG G3 Homescreen Shows New UI Design Aspects

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LG has done a pretty good job compared to its competitors when it comes to keeping the lid on images, videos, or any other kind of leak, on their upcoming LG G3 smartphone that is due to launch sometime this year. That doesn’t mean that the occasional leak or screenshot hasn’t popped up from time to time. Today we’ve just come across a screenshot that is allegedly from the LG G3 and it serves as a good reference that it is beginning to fall in line with the new look of Android. Things look a lot more flat than on previous devices which isn’t actually a bad thing. The design of the new UI, if it’s in fact from the LG G3 looks great and we can’t wait to see more.

As you can see from the image the home screen icons look more flat instead of having a pop up 3D visual appearance, and widgets look to definitely be taking on the same design. As the LG G3 is slated to be released running Android Kit Kat, we can also see that there is a presence of the transparent status and navigation bars on the top and bottom of the screen as well. The G3 is rumored to be coming with a 5.5-inch quad HD display and potentially carry a 13MP camera sensor with OIS. Last years LG G2 came with a 13MP camera, but the screen size was only 5.2-inches so perhaps LG will enlarge the display a little bit this year. The G2 also had OIS in its camera, so if they don’t have OIS with the G3 it would just seem a little odd.

We might expect to LG follow in the footsteps of Samsung and HTC and provide some protection from the elements with this new flagship device, and we may or may not see an octa-core processor inside. As per all other kit kat devices, you can see that the screenshot shows the white themed icons up in the status bar. We wouldn’t expect anything less. While the overall look and feel so far seems to be more in line with the theme of kit kat as a whole, we want to see everything. The app drawers, the settings menus, the app UIs themselves, everything. While we might not get to see any more screenshots or leaks showing off more looks, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that at least one slips by the folks over at LG.

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30+ Tips and Tricks for the HTC One (M8)

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Chat Feature Within Facebook Will Be Discontinued In Favor Of Standalone Messenger App

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If you’re like me and you used Facebook’s chat feature only because you could use it from within Facebook itself, it might be time to look at potential alternatives to get a hold of those who you you kept in touch with through that particular avenue. Facebook is reportedly dumping the Chat feature within its app altogether, in effect forcing those who want to you Facebook chat to download and install the standalone Facebook Messenger app. This will apparently be non platform specific as it seems to be happening to both iOS and Android versions of the Facebook app. What’s the reason for the change?

According to Mark Zuckerberg, it’s to give users a more dedicated experience when wanting to chat with friends and family using Facebook’s messaging services. In the current state where chat is allowed through the Facebook app itself, Zuckerberg and the team at Facebook feel that having two separate ways to do the same thing has created a sort friction between message replies. There could be other reasons besides the main one listed but a lower overall number of users participating in messaging or chat through the actual Facebook app as opposed to Messenger seems like a fairly good reason to dump the chat feature. There wasn’t any mention of actual numbers when it comes to users for each side of the chat feature, but it’s obvious that Facebook sees the lower usage within Facebook and has decided that it’s redundant to have multiple apps that offer the same functionality.

Whether you use either/or, we have to look at this from both sides. While we’re not personally keen on being directed to use a separate app for a feature that was already available, if less people really are using chat within Facebook and user numbers continue to grow for Messenger, there really isn’t a point to having both. For now, you will be able to continue using chat within the Facebook app until the complete shutdown and removal of the feature takes place, which is scheduled to be in a couple weeks from now. Upon that time there will most likely be a Facebook update that will see the feature taken out of the app, and users will be re-directed to Messenger to get their chat fix.

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