Love Your Barista at Your Local Starbucks? Soon You’ll be Able to Tip With Your Android Phone

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It’s been said that a love of technology and a love of coffee go hand-in-hand and my coffee intake would definitely back that up. I’m a big coffee fan here at Android Headlines – I’ve even drank Angry Birds coffee, that’s right – and my own Espresso machine sees more use than I care to admit. Naturally, that means I like a good Starbucks – which is harder to find than you think with millions of them every square foot – and I can appreciate a decent cup of joe when I get it. The Starbucks App for the iPhone has just been updated with an interesting new feature; the ability to tip your Barista digitally.

It’s a shame that the update hasn’t reached the Android version of the app just yet, but we’re sure it’ll be here shortly. Besides, we’ll let all those cool iPhone users test it out for us, am I right? In a release today, Starbucks detailed that 11 percent of transactions across their caffeine chain are now made digitally, which isn’t as big as you might expect, but thanks to the lack of NFC in the iPhone and conflicting standards we’re surprised it’s even reached such a number. Tipping is available in a number of different quantities, and nothing that will break the bank or assume extreme generosity on your part. It’s a neat new feature, and honestly I don’t see why good Baristas shouldn’t be tipped.

If you’re a big Starbucks user and have yet to use the Android app, you should give it a go. It might not have the fancy tipping feature just yet, but you can still pay for and order your drinks with less human interactions – perfect for the morning rush – and you can link your Starbucks card to the app to keep on top of that, too. All-in-all a decent app that is only getting better, we’ll be not so patiently waiting for this feature to hit the Android version soon.

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Samsung Design Patent for Phone With 21:9 Aspect Ratio Appears on USPTO Website

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With so many phones releasing each and every year, there’s a decent amount of pressure on manufacturers to offer something new to consumers on a regular basis. There are plenty of ways to catch the attention of mainstream consumers, but today a freshly spotted Samsung design patent has certainly caught ours. The patent, which was recently granted to Samsung by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, is for a phone with an abnormally-sized display. Though specific measurements aren’t mentioned in the filing, the folks at Phone Arena did a bit of overlay work and discovered that the screen’s aspect ratio comes in at 21:9.

That’s a rather odd aspect ratio for a phone, as it’s one more commonly seen with televisions. While you might look at the images and think a 21:9 aspect ratio is better suited for a tablet, the filing specifically refers to this device as a mobile phone multiple times. Then again, considering this is just a design patent, Samsung may have submitted the design without any plans to immediately develop a phone like this. Time will tell, but just keep in mind that there was once a time when the Galaxy Note seemed a little on the weird side, whereas now we’re hoping that a Galaxy Note IV announcement will happen sometime this year.

The point is that we’re not exactly willing to put anything past Samsung at this point. The company has made some strange decisions when it comes to aesthetics in the past, only to have those take the smartphone and tablet industries by storm. We’ll even give Samsung a hand when it comes to branding and suggest calling it the Galaxy Stretch (this is why none of us work in Samsung’s marketing department, in case there was any confusion).

Odd as it may seem, this isn’t the first phone with a 21:9 aspect ration to surface. As PhoneArena points out, LG has Samsung beat by a number of years, launching the BL40 New Chocolate back in 2009. The idea apparently didn’t stick, but maybe it won’t be long before we see Samsung try to pick up where LG left off. What are your thoughts? Would you buy a phone with a display that could boast a 21:9 aspect ratio?

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Leak: Tizen’s Obsidian UI Gets A Redesign To Version 2.0 By Intel

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It’s been a little while since we’ve heard some news on the Samsung Tizen OS, so to counteract that stagnant lack of Tizen related news, we have some good info for those of you who are quite interested in what Samsung is doing with Tizen when it comes to smartphones. The information of course comes from a leak, and as with all leaks, well you know what to do with them. Despite what some may think, there are a handful of Tizen powered products that are already out there. Samsung showed off a few Tizen powered handsets at MWC just a couple weeks ago, and the new line of wearables from Samsung also run the Tizen OS, we’re talking about the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and the Gear Fit. Not only that, Samsung has said that an update is scheduled to be pushed out to the original Galaxy Gear that would set it out on the path to OS righteousness, and bring into the Tizen fold along with the rest of the Samsung wearables family of devices.

This new leak which we just learned about today though is in regards to a couple things. First it’s important to note that Intel(you know, that famous chip maker) is a major contributor to the Tizen project. Having said that, Intel, or someone close to the company has leaked some images that display a completely redesigned version of the UI that was showcased last year when Intel unveiled it. The UI is called Obsidian and according to the sources this version in the images is Obsidian Version 2.0, which seems fitting since the Tizen OS has gotten a refresh all its own recently as well.

To be completely honest, the UI doesn’t look half bad but there would have to be some pretty compelling elements to it and the OS itself to steal away some Android or iOS loyalists. Other than the refresh to the Obsidian UI that Intel has been working on, it seems that Intel was also busy putting together something in the hardware department, because Tizen 2.1 and the Obsidian UI 2.0 needs something to run on, of course. This UI we see depicted here is said to be running on a prototype device referred to as Josephine, which seems to be the devices codename. We have no idea whether it will be an actual device offered at some point in the distant future once Tizen is ready for the big time, but it certainly is an interesting piece of information. I just have one personal question. Why the diamonds?

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Gameloft Officially Announces The Amazing Spider-Man 2 The Game Coming Soon

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Listen up webheads, Gameloft is all about games and they aim to make an impression with their next movie game title. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is due to hit theaters next month in April,(which seems to be the month for big releases, think we’ll see a Galaxy S5 or HTC All New One in the movie?) and to ensure that we’re as hyped up as we could possibly be, Gameloft will be releasing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie game alongside the film. The game takes place in Manhattan where Google is reportedly going to be opening up a retail store for their products, and you’ll have to do what Spidey does best, which is arguably saving lives but some think of him more of a pest than a hero. As a wise man once said, with great power comes great responsibility and it’ll be your responsibility to save the citizens from the dangers that lie within Manhattan’s city limits.

The game is said to be quite a bit more free-roam than the original, with boundless capabilities to web sling your way through the city and marvel(see what i did there?)at the intense graphical prowess this game has to offer. All of Spidey’s signature moves should be included in the game, from wall climbing web shooting action to the kick ass fights that you’ll inevitably have to engage in to stop the enemy. The game sounds to follow closely to the events of the film, in that you’ll have to face against two of Spider-Man’s most dastardly villainous foes, Electro and the Green Goblin. These won’t be the only super villains you face within the game, but should receive the most focus.

The Amazing Spider-Man promises to bring game, comic, and Spider-Man fans plenty of web slinging, web shooting, fast paced action with tons of fights and much more. Gameloft so far hasn’t released much detail in regards to many of the games features, but more should ultimately surface in the coming weeks as we draw closer to the films release. So far there has been no word on an actual release date for the game itself or what the price of the game will be, but if it follows the same model as most of Gameloft’s other movie title games, it will probably end up costing $6.99. However they could have chosen to go with a freemium model like they did with Thor: The Dark World. In the mean time, check out the awesome trailer and some of the screenshots below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Samsung Applies For Patents For A Variety Of Flexible Displays

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Recently we reported about a new patent that Samsung had filed with the USPTO about a new unlock method they were looking into developing for what would seem like future products. Today we’re learning of a new patent that might divulge some information about how Samsung views the idea of flexible displays. We’re talking about the curved flexible displays that we’ve seen on the Samsung Galaxy Round and the LG G Flex, but more about actual flexible displays that can be formed and shaped like in the diagram shown here. Similar to a way that one might wrap a bracelet around their wrist or wear a watch or armband, Samsung has apparently filed for a new patent that was discovered by Patent Bolt, that looks to be for an application for a flexible watch that wraps around your wrist, or perhaps it might be better to call it a wrap around watch flexible display.

This patent seems to imply that the entire watch would be made of the flexible display material, and could mean that the entire display would have interactive uses, or at least more than what we see in today’s smartwatch offerings that look more like watches with large square faces. This wrap around flexible display is not the only patent that was uncovered however. Samsung is clearly interested in further research and development of flexible displays that can fold and bend and flex in any which way, as two other patents show different variations of flexing screens.

One patent shows a display that actually has a double fold, similar to the way you would fold a letter just before stuffing it into an envelope. This could serve as a great way to stand the display up on its own so you wouldn’t have to hold it the entire time you wanted to use it. The other patent shows a design for a bendable display that folds like a greeting card, which would serve as another way to stand the display up on its own, so the user wouldn’t have to continue holding the device, or hold it all. All three designs might be something that Samsung is actually looking into developing, but Samsung could also just be trying to acquire these patents in the event that they want to research this type of development.

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Amazon’s Upcoming TV Set Top box To Come Pre-Loaded with Hulu+ and Netflix

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Well here’s something that’s not too surprising, Amazon’s upcoming TV Set top box we’ve been hearing about forever is going to have Netflix and Hulu Plus apps out-of-the-box. It’s not really surprising, because you kind of need those two companies in order to have a set top box that will do well. This new rumor is according to “multiple sources” of GigaOM. Amazon had originally intended to have their TV box out in time for last year’s holiday season, but obviously that didn’t happen. However, smaller video publishers haven’t been asked by Amazon to work with them for their new set-top box.

According to GigaOM, the set-top box will also ship with the traditional remote control, but Amazon recently joined many other companies that are registered to use the DIAL multiscreen protocal. Which makes it likely that users will be able to launch streams from services like Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix straight from their phone. As we all know, based on the rumors, Amazon has been working on a set0top box for a couple of years now. And most of the actual development was happening at the company’s secretive Lab126 R&D unit. Which Lab126 hired a ton of people who previously worked on Logitech’s failed Google TV companion box, the Logitech Revue.

Amazon is also said to be using Android as the foundation for their TV set-top box. Which isn’t surprising since that’s what they did with the Kindle Fire, basically forked Android and stripped out all the Google services and replaced them with Amazon services instead. Hopefully we’ll see this set-top box in time for the holiday season this year, as I’m sure it’d be a big seller and Amazon is looking to set some more records in terms of sales, like they did last holiday season.

Who’s interested in an Amazon set-top box? Let us know in the comments below.

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ATT Tweets About The ASUS Padfone X To Tease The Arrival

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At this point it’s safe to say that At&t is most certainly getting the Padfone X. There have been rumors and reports on this matter already, but this new teaser image from At&t on their official Twitter account asks us a simple question. How would you use a larger screen? The question follows a statement about the smartphone/tablet dock combo from Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS, about the fact that it’s a 5-inch FHD smartphone that transforms into a 9-inch FHD tablet with the dock. If ASUS were asking this question to me personally, I would respond with an answer that I would probably use it for web browsing as I always enjoyed browsing on a larger tablet more. I might also enjoy the occasional video.

With the Padfone X exclusive launch on At&t a certainty, now we just have to wonder when it will actually show up on store shelves and the online retail website. Although I’m not an At&t customer myself, it’s still nice to see ASUS bringing some of their devices to the US, and perhaps if it does well on At&t’s network we might see some more of the devices make it from overseas on other carriers. For those that subscribe to At&t, if you’re interested in learning more about the ASUS Padfone X, At&t has already set up a landing page over at their website that will allow you to sign up via email for more information. As with most things like this, you will probably end up receiving an email once the phone is due for release, and probably once it’s already available for purchase.

We can take these teasers and the landing page for info sign ups to mean that ASUS and At&t are gearing up for the launch, but that is all relative speculation. Still, if we saw the Padfone X hit store shelves say, next week, it would make sense with all the recent advertisement. Since ASUS has a relatively small footprint here in the US when it comes to smartphones, positioning for the launch of the Padfone X before Samsung and HTC’s big flagship launches might allow them to cover just a little bit of ground before everyone goes crazy for those two phones.

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