Lightening Deal: Transcend 64GB SD Card

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

Amazon’s lightening deal right now is a brand new 64GB Transcend SD card. This is a regular sized SD card and not a microSD card. So it won’t work for the Galaxy S5 or the HTC One (M8), but it will work great with cameras, like the Galaxy NX Camera or the Galaxy Camera 2. It’s on sale for the next hour for just $29.99. After that it’ll be going back to its normal price of $56.99. So be sure and get your SD card before time runs out, or supplies run out! How many of you are going to pick one up?

Transcend 64GB High Speed 10 UHS Flash Memory Card TS64GSDU1 (up to 45 MB/s, 300x)

The post Lightening Deal: Transcend 64GB SD Card appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1jdRljX

Two New DROID MAXX Colors Appear at Verizon but Feature Less Storage

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

Between phones like the HTC One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S5, consumers looking for the perfect high-end phone certainly have their work cut out for them. If you’re not crazy about the idea of spending a lot of money just to get one of these new flagships out of the gate, then Verizon has a new deal you might want to consider. The carrier has just launched two new colors for Motorola’s DROID MAXX, and though the phone is getting up there in age, it’s still a solid device in its own right.

One of the new colors is being described as “High Gloss Red,” while the other is black with chrome accents. In other words, hopefully you’re fine with either black or red, because you don’t have any other options when it comes to the DROID MAXX, as these two new color schemes are joining the standard black model. Either device can be had for $99 if you sign up for a two-year commitment, which isn’t too bad a deal for those looking to get a good handset without breaking the bank.

With that being said, there is one problem with these new versions of the DROID MAXX: internal storage has taken something of a hit. While the standard DROID MAXX model sports 32GB of internal storage, the new models can only boast 16GB. Provided you don’t go too crazy with app and music downloads, 16GB should prove to be enough storage for your needs, but it’s still disappointing to see the internal memory slashed on a device that doesn’t have the option of using microSD cards. The original DROID MAXX is still available at Verizon – complete with its full 32GB of storage – but nabbing one of those will cost $149 with a two-year contract.

If you decide you can live with the reduction in available memory, there’s still a lot to love about the DROID MAXX. It offers a 5-inch display, 2GB of RAM, a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro clocked at 1.7GHz, and a very beefy 3,500 mAh battery. That battery is really the star of the show, as it provides usage and standby times that are greater than what you’re probably used to seeing from other smartphones. Verizon says it will begin offering this deal in stores on April 22, though it appears to be live on Verizon’s online store this very minute. Are a couple of new color options enough to convince you to take the plunge on a DROID MAXX?

The post Two New DROID MAXX Colors Appear at Verizon but Feature Less Storage appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1qSVkIM

Discover Friends Near You With Facebook’s Upcoming Nearby Friends Feature

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

With some of the already available options out there to locate friends that are close by to you whereabouts, Facebook seems to want to enter the game with their own feature that introduces a friend finder of sorts. Nearby friends is an upcoming feature that Facebook is slated to introduce to the iOS and Android apps in the very near future, that would allow you to use the app to find which of the friends that are your list who are near you at any given time. Among already existent privacy concerns about the favorite social media app of many, this new friend locator seeks to dig up some new ones that people are sure to love and hate once it shows its face. The catch that Facebook is hoping will save it from too much backlash from users, is that it’s completely an opt-in service, so the choice to see and be seen is up to the user entirely.

When this feature hits, basically what it will do is allow you to opt in so friends can find you if you want to hit the town together. They also have to be opted in of course, or the feature will do no good. This could play out in many ways, from letting people sneak by others they don’t really care to converse with even if they are just around the corner downtown, to letting close friends know that you’re hitting up the local pub for a quick beer or late night snack. The nifty thing about the feature if you choose to use it is that you can designate groups of friends who can and can’t see your location. If there’s only one person however that you want to avoid, you can block that person specifically from seeing where you are, and open up your location to all others. The same goes for anyone that’s on your friends list, as they can choose to single you out too, so your goal is to find out who does that and then block them back, cause why would you want to find anyone that doesn’t want to find you right?

Not only will you be able to complete searches and look for friends on a whim, Nearby Friends can notify you when it finds a friend that is close so you don’t have to worry about checking. This makes the feeling of finding a friend who is near the same place more natural and makes it seem less like your hunting someone down. The feature will of course need access to your GPS if it’s to operate properly, so expect it to either kill your battery if your always using it, or rack up a hefty amount of data usage by keeping in a constant alert mode where it can ping you at a moments notice. The feature has yet to be updated into the app, but it’s coming soon so if you’re interested keep your eyes peeled. Until than, you’ll just have to stalk your friends the old fashioned way, by crawling their Facebook page looking for random posts about where they are, or just plain old bombarding them with text messages asking what they’re doing.

The post Discover Friends Near You With Facebook’s Upcoming Nearby Friends Feature appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1lavVLo

Hidden Goo.gl Links Offer Up The Chance To Buy Google I/O Tickets

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

Tomorrow is the last day to submit your registry for the Google I/O 2014 lottery, which is the first time Google has decided to actually hold submissions to attend the developers conference instead of just letting anyone go and buy up the tickets. The lottery doesn’t guarantee you a spot, but rather puts you in a pool of applicants who are also interested in going to this massive event held every year by the worlds largest Search company. The funny people that Google are though, have decided to offer up tickets in another way, by hiding them through out the Google Developers website in various spots which if found, will actually guarantee you the opportunity to buy a ticket. The cost of the tickets is still $900 as one would expect, but if someone were to end up finding one, than they wouldn’t have to end up worrying about the lottery.

The hunt for the tickets basically comes down to stumbling upon found goo.gl links that were spread across the Google Developers website. They are supposedly hidden everywhere, and if you find one and click on it you’re seemingly taken to a quirky little webpage that has you play out a sort of funny little text based game, which eventually leads you to finding out if the code was valid or not. It’s a hilarious little way to give out some stuff like the guarantee of entry to an event, and the way it was done is all Google. We’d expect nothing less.

Plenty of codes have already reportedly been redeemed, but we’re also told that Google is constantly adding these all the time, although with the amount that has already been found it might be a bit harder to track them down. The goo.gl links are hidden everywhere from text, source code, Google Dev YouTube videos you name it. If it has to do with the Google Developers site, there’s a chance that there might be a hidden goo.gl link. This is certainly a little bit of an odd way to guarantee at least some people a spot at I/O, but as odd as it is whoever ended up finding unused codes is probably more than excited. If you’re particularly adventurous, feel free to hunt for one yourself.

The post Hidden Goo.gl Links Offer Up The Chance To Buy Google I/O Tickets appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1j9LE6x

Samsung May Implement Android Wear with the Galaxy S Fitness

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

Wearable tech has gotten a lot of news lately. The tide has turned for the desire for wearable technology and it shows no signs of slowing. Even Google has realized the demand for wearable tech and has released Android Wear for OEMs to implement into their devices. This Android Wear release has given Samsung yet another operating system to play around with. Earlier this year, Samsung’s Gear 2, and Gear 2 Neo were released with Samsung’s Tizen OS while the Gear Fit was released with RTOS. This was expected by the tech community because it could be believed that Samsung wanted to try and get its content and various services out in the forefront and therefore rely less on Google’s services. Not only that, but it also allowed the tech Giant to put light-weight OS’s in lower powered hardware and get great performance and battery life out of the devices.

Samsung’s Senior VP of Product Strategy, Yoon Han-kil, went on the record with Reuters to discuss Samsung’s future use of Google’s Android Wear. He did not give a great deal of detail but he did divulge that Samsung has plans to use the Android Wear OS on a smartwatch sometime later this year. Yoon also disclosed that a high-end Tizen Smartphone is on the horizon for launch as well. This is pretty good news for a company this is trying to keep its dominance in the mobile space.

With the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit Samsung is currently trying to occupy the general public’s minds while working effectively to empty their wallets. This being the case, it can be assumed to be a doubtful chance that Samsung will put the Android Wear OS on a wearable and announce it any time soon. The company will more than likely want to make sure that their newly released product gets into the hands of as many consumers as possible before they push a new fully Google supported wearable out to the masses. I think this would be a wise decision as too much too soon can hurt profits. Having choices is good but having too many choices can spread your profits thin.

Samsung recently filed for a trademark this week on devices called the Galaxy S Fitness, Galaxy Now and Galaxy Solo. It is unknown which of these would have Android Wear OS on the inside but, if the past is any indication, the Galaxy S Fitness stands a good chance of being the one since the current Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo have no Galaxy in their name and run Tizen OS. Time will tell what Samsung decides to do. It does make for some interesting speculation and something to watch in the future.

So, what do you think about the possibility of seeing an Android Wear OS Smartwatch from Samsung this year? What features would you like to see it have? What do you think the devices’ name should be if it is not called the Galaxy S Fitness? Please leave your interesting comments in the section below or on our Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus pages. Keep it locked to Android Headlines for more news and reviews.

The post Samsung May Implement Android Wear with the Galaxy S Fitness appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1qQZ4ug

Google Wants Potential Explorers To Try Glass On At Home Before They Purchase

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

Just in case you haven’t had the opportunity to try Google Glass on for yourself, and you aren’t willing to pony up the dough it’ll cost you to actually buy it, you may be in luck if you were looking forward to seeing how you look when your face is adorned with Glass. Google is reportedly setting up and deploying home try-on kits to potential Glass explorers, so that they can test each one on and see how it looks, fits and might function if they were to enter the program. As most of you probably already know, the cost to be a Glass Explorer is $1,500, which is no small fee and thus the reason many have shied away from the opportunity, waiting until the price comes down which is suspected to be sometime at the end of or near the end of this year with Google Glass going full production ready in consumer launch.

You may also know that Google gave anyone in the U.S. an opportunity to buy glass just a couple days ago for one day only, just in case there were some people who haven’t previously gotten invites to the Explorer program and wanted to buy. With that day come and gone, users are left with no way to actually purchase Glass at the moment, but there will likely be more opportunities in the future. Until then, it looks like users will at least potentially be granted the chance to try on the advanced eyewear, with the home try-on kits coming in four of the five colors: Shale, Sky, Charcoal and Tangerine.

The deal with the home try-on kit is fairly simple. You would essentially call the number listed in the image we have below that shows the message from the Glass team, upon which you would let them know you’re interested in the kit. They place a hold of $50 on your credit card while they send out the kit, and you receive it in the mail shortly to put on the non-functioning units with destroyed micro USB charger ports(to prevent charging of the device and getting them to power on)and see how they fit. Not only do you get four non working units of Glass to try them on, but the kit apparently comes with a set of all the frames to test out the style and fit of those too. If you’re actually interested in buying Glass but have wanted to try them on first, this isn’t a bad way to do it, provided you’re actually able to get in on the try-on program.

The post Google Wants Potential Explorers To Try Glass On At Home Before They Purchase appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1hZW0oy

Google Glass And Commercial Air Drones Get less Optimism Than Future Tech

via AndroidHeadlines.com |

According to a study done by Pew Research, Americans were asked a series of questions that pertained to their feelings over matters like scientific and technological advancements in the future. More specifically over the span of the next fifty years. Surprisingly some were quite optimistic about certain things while others were less so over stuff that is already here and making its way to the consumer market for purchase. The study asked some 1,000 Americans for their opinions on such advancements, and the final report by Pew Research stated that they found that the American public anticipates that the coming half-century will be a period of profound scientific change, as inventions that were once confined to the realm of science fiction come into common usage.

What was interesting about the study shows that people are more in high spirits and had a more positive outlook when it came to questions about technological advancements that were set out to be 50 years from now, with 59% saying they were optimistic that technology would help improve the quality of life in 50 years, while an astounding 81% think that we could have the capability to grow organs in a lab for people that need them in that same 50 year timeframe. The funny thing, is that those ideas of technological advancements are more openly accepted and yet so far off, compared to things like Google Glass which is a hit or miss.

There are plenty of people who love Google Glass, but it seems like there is an almost equal amount that have negative feelings towards it. According to the survey done by Pew, 53% said that wearable devices-like Google Glass for example-which kept us in a state of constant connection would make things worse. An even larger number-63%-think it would be a bad idea if commercial and personal drones, like the ones that Amazon is trying to get approved for super fast delivery, became something that was possible and mainstream. While it is cool to think about some of the technological advancements that we could be looking at 50 years from now, it’s interesting to find out what people think of the things that are being researched now and are almost here. What will people think in 50 years of the same technological advancements that they’re currently intrigued with? Will they have just as much of a positive outlook then?

The post Google Glass And Commercial Air Drones Get less Optimism Than Future Tech appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

http://bit.ly/1j9rBGN