Now “OK Google” hotword will work with any Android phone and with language

News by:  Justin Herrick 17th Feb 2014

You can now modify the home launcher “OK Google” hotword to work with any device and any language thanks to XDA developer memnoc. Currently this only works with the Nexus 5 and sort of the Moto X; however, this modification opens it up to everyone. All devices running Android 4.4.2 work and non-AOSP ROMs are supported. This means if you have a Galaxy Nexus lying around loaded with KitKat, you can get this feature to work. All you will need is to have your device rooted and a file manager ready to go.

news source: talkandroid.com

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Jelly Bean Android distribution climbs again, KitKat appears

News by:  Aditya thawardas 2nd December 2013

Do you remember last month when Jelly Bean climbed to claim more than half of the distribution on Android devices? Well, that figure has climbed again, from 52.1% to 54.5%. That includes Android 4.1.x, 4.2.x, and 4.3. Newly released KitKat is currently only on 1.1% of devices, but that number’s sure to continue growing in near future.

  Ice Cream Sandwich dropped to 18.6% from 19.8%, Gingerbread to 24.1% from 26.3%, and HoneyComb and Froyo are down to 0.1% and 1.6%, respectively.

news source: talkandroid.com

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Android Latest Addition of new Compiler ART in details

News by:  Jared Peters  7th November 2013

As we all know from my previous post on ART compiler,The Latest addition in Android 4.4 that could potentially replace Dalvik in the near future. Now we’re getting just a bit more clarification on exactly how ART can improve Android.

Currently, Android uses Dalvik and a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. This means that Android apps are written in a generic version of code, called bytecode, that is only half-compiled by developers. Whenever the apps are launched, Dalvik compiles the code “just in time” to run. While this is a functional solution, it’s not perfect. To fix that, the Android team implemented ART, or Android RunTime, that compiles the bytecode when applications are installed as opposed to compiling them just before being launched. This is called Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compiling and is much, much more efficient on performance and battery life.

We’ve already mentioned that activating ART is available in Android 4.4′s developer settings, so it’s clearly not ready for daily use just yet, but early use shows that it has the potential to really cut down on the lag on some devices and cut application startup times in half. For an experimental feature, that’s not bad.

It’s not without downsides, though. ART compiled code would take up slightly more room on a device compared to apps that were only compiled in use, but for most devices, the tradeoff is well worth it. Installing apps will also likely take longer using ART, since they’re compiled on installation. On bigger apps, that could definitely draw out the process a bit, but for most people I feel like the performance gains would be worth it.

news source: talkandroid.com

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Android 4.4: Photo Sphere Improvements

News by:  Hamad Shaikh  2nd November 2013

The Photo Sphere team made exciting improvements in Camera app,As we are seeing many improvements in all the apps.One of them is Camera app,they improved most popular camera mode, the Photosphere,and it also receiving a bit of tune up itself. The update improves both the quality and image stitching, And they have also improved rendering faster by using multi-threading. but it appears that the stitching is the most notable fix in KitKat.

The most notable addition in this release is a technique called "optimal seam finding", which looks for the ideal place to stitch the individual images together to avoid moving objects, people, or otherwise difficult spots. In our testing, we've seen a big reduction in stitching errors on people in the scene.On top of that, indoor environment stitching has been improved. So look for that on your newly purchased Nexus 5 or your soon-to-be updated Nexus devices.

Via: talkandroid.com

news source: Evan Rapoport google+

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Nexus 5 wallpapers now available to download

News by:  Robert Nazarian  31st October 2013

After Downloading Hangouts with SMS and Google Experience launcher we already have these two,but now another thing the wallpapers that come preinstalled on the Nexus 5.download all of them at once with the link for the Zip file. Enjoy!!

Download: Zipfile

news source: talkandroid.com

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Google Search integration to Google Experience Launcher and is also available to download

News by:  Robert Nazarian,Jared Peters  2nd November 2013

Google Search is drawing everything you see on your home screen and handling all of the information. There’s still a Google Home apk, but it essentially just forwards all of the information to Google Search.

This makes it a little different than just adding a few extra search widgets on the home screen, mainly because of how it’s going to integrate into Android. First off, Google Search is updated through the Play Store, so this Google Home should likely be made available in the Play Store before long. It also means that any popular device that ships with Google Apps (even the heavily skinned phones like the S 4 and HTC One) will be able to take advantage of Google Home and bring a more stock experience to any device.

This is a pretty sneaky move to push stock Android onto every phone, but like how Google is handling their Play Services, it’s an excellent way to make sure that they can update devices with just a Play Store update instead of manufacturer-and-carrier approved OTA updates.

Download GE launcher and use on any device.But you will need all three files below in order to get it to work.

PreBuiltGmsCore (Google Play Services 4.0) / Velvet (Google Search) / GoogleHome (Google Launcher)

news source: talkandroid.com,talkandroid.com

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Android 4.4: Brings Google Wallet payments without carrier approvals

News by:  Robert Nazarian  31st October 2013

Major change in Kitkat is NFC payments that could finally be the kick in the butt that Google Wallet needs. Kit Kat brings support for Host Card Emulation (HCE), which means any Android NFC device could be used for mobile payments without needing access to a secure element. With HCE any app can emulate an ISO/IEC 7816 smart card that use the contactless ISO/IEC 14443-4 (ISO-DEP) protocol for transmission.

What does all of this mean in a nutshell? This means it can work on any device on any mobile carrier. Not only that, third party apps can manage payment information in the cloud or on the device. Of course, devices will need Android 4.4 for this to work, and it remains to be seen how long it will take for most of the popular devices to get the update. It will take some time, but it could just be what the doctor ordered for Google Wallet to finally succeed.

news source: talkandroid.com

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Embargo lifts on October 25 with nexus 5

News by: Robert Nazarian ,21 OCT 2013

In previous posts,i have shared multiple leaks with you guyz and also today, i am sharing another leak a slim Nexus 5 case,An Amazon user review for the RINGKE SLIM Nexus 5 Case had something very interesting to say. Other than saying that the case “works well” with the Nexus 5, S. Power also stated, “I have 6 more days of embargo before I can say anything about the next Nexus phone.” In case you’re not familiar with an embargo, it’s an agreement between a media outlet and the source in which the media outlet is granted access to a product or information, but cannot divulge anything until a specified date. In this case, the product would be the Nexus 5, the source would be Google (or LG), and the specified date would be October 25, since the review was posted on October 19.

Now the story is embargos are far from unusual in the media business. Samsung has done them from time to time. What they will do is hand out a bunch of review units to a bunch of reviewers and everyone agrees they can’t talk about it or post a review until a specified date and time. That is why sometimes you see reviews from various sites for a particular device being posted at the same time almost to the minute. HTC recently did this with the One Max. They passed out review units before the One Max event, but all outlets agreed not to post their reviews until the event took place.

Now with all that said, the big question is if this “reviewer” is legitimate. First off, she is a top 100 reviewer, so it’s not like this person just created an account to post this review. However, she state that the case “works well”, but the product page specifically says it won’t be available until October 31. So, yes, she could have a Nexus 5, but would Ringke send out a review unit early too?

At this point, I would be far from shocked if Google forgoes a Nexus event, and has instead, sent out review units to select blogs with an embargo agreement. The fact that Google sent out invitations in NYC last week for an event that won’t be a hardware event is quite puzzling. This event just so happens to be on the evening of the 24th. Many embargo’s are lifted at midnight, so it’s very likely the embargo will be lifted later that night at midnight, which would be October 25.

Assuming all of this is true, it would still be strange for a person to tell everyone they have the device when they aren't supposed to, especially under and account that uses a real name and has a link to a legitimate blog. It’s not like she was trying to be private about it. It’s possible that she really doesn't have the device, but she knows someone who does, and is therefore aware of the embargo. I really don’t know, but something fishy is going on with this product announcement. All things point to an event next week, but no invitations have been sent out other then for an event that will not have any hardware announcements. All I can say is, don’t be shocked if you see a bunch of  Nexus 5 reviews at midnight (or sometime) on October 25. I won’t bet my life on it, but I won’t be surprised.

news source: talkandroid.com

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50% android devices upgraded to jellybeans

News by: Robert Nazarian ,03 OCT 2013

Android jelly bean is on 48.6% of android  device just 14 month after release.Android jelly bean has higher adotion rate is obviously due to fact that alot of newer phones came pre-loaded with it.i can say that good news is Jelly Bean has grown a lot faster and adopted much faster than ice-cream sandwich did.which is really an amazing surprise.

    GingerBread the most adopted version of android in history now a days feels like windows XP because it is still on 28.6% of devices and doesn't appear to be going anywhere soon,you can say that,it will be vanished soon may be on release of android kit kat.Ginger bread is continuously dropping afcourse dropping rate is slow but it could be faster in future,from last month drop rate was 2%.but when owner of devices finally upgrade to newer version then it will be shrinked alot.

news source: talkandroid.com

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Nestle Confirms That Android 4.4 KitKat Will Launch Next Month

News by: Joshua Levenson, 20th Sep 2013 

Over the past few weeks, plenty of leaks and rumors have surfaced, suggesting that Google is planning to launch its latest version of the Android operating system, KitKat, along with the ‘Nexus 5’ next month. And now, as if confirmation was needed, a comment has been made on the official German KitKat Facebook page confirming that the new OS will debut in October.

The above image was posted on KitKat Germany’s Facebook profile, and the 11th comment, which was from KitKat, says, “Hi Tim, Android 4.4 KIT KAT ist ab Oktober verfügbar.” For those who don’t speak German, this translates to, “Hi Tim, Android 4.4 KIT KAT is available from October.”

Leaks, rumors and speculation suggests that the Android 4.4 build will bring the following changes to our KitKat compatible devices:

• Firmware availability to older phones

• Fragmentation changes (screen resizing)

• Miracast updates

• New Gallery Visualisation

• New APIs regarding animations

• Change android default blue to other preset palette colours

• New notification widgets

The updated OS is expected to debut on Google’s upcoming Nexus 5, with updates being pushed out for the Nexus 4 and new Nexus 7 shortly after its official unveiling.

news source: cultofandroid.com

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