Nexus 10 refresh expected to arrive from ASUS

Google announced the new Nexus 7 a few weeks earlier. That model has since come available in the US, however there hasn’t been much said in terms of a new Nexus 10 tablet. In the past the Nexus 7 has been an ASUS-made device and the Nexus 10 has been a Samsung-made device. Despite recent rumors pointing towards another Samsung-made Nexus 10, new details are pointing towards that tablet coming by way of ASUS.

What we have seen is coming by way of Geek.com, who are reporting how a new Nexus 10 is expected before the end of the year. More specifically, it was said the tablet will arrive by way of the Play Store and Best Buy in time for the holiday shopping season. Aside from these details, the specs for the device remain mostly a mystery.

The tablet will arrive with the latest version of Android and otherwise we would also expect to see a high-resolution display. The display resolution on the current model Nexus 10 is already an impressive 2560 x 1600 with a 300ppi. Another likely improvement could be the processor, which at present is a dual-core 1.7GHz Cortex A15 (Exynos 5 Dual). Speculation suggests the new model Nexus 10 could arrive with a Snapdragon.

Otherwise, the new Nexus 7 did see a slight price increase this time around. Price for the a new Nexus 10 has yet to come up in the rumors, but we can say the current model is selling for $399 (16GB) or $499 (32GB) from the Google Play Store.

The rumors may be telling different stories at the moment but regardless of the manufacturer — it seems clear that a new Nexus 10 is in the works.

Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus to launch Aug. 18 for $1,399

Samsung is kicking off its Ativ Book 9 Plus laptop at a price tag of $1,399.

Popping up for pre-order in the U.S. on August 18, the Ativ Book 9 Plus has the following specifications.

• 13.3-inch screen with a hefty resolution of 3,200x1,800 pixels, tempting it to be dubbed as   "possibly the highest-resolution 13-inch laptop around."
• Outfitted with Gorilla Glass, the display is 2.8 times sharper than a full HD screen, according to Samsung.
•  The screen's SuperBright technology is rated at 350 nits, which means it's designed to hold its brightness even under sunny outdoor conditions.
• The display panel can tilt back to 180 degrees and lock in at 110 degrees to provide a more solid touch-screen feel. Equipped with Windows 8, the Plus offers a ten-point multi-touch screen.
• At the $1,399.99 price, the Plus is powered by a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor
• It also comes with a 128GB solid-state drive and 4GB of RAM.
• The battery is designed to last 7.5 hours on single charge.

Samsung also has a new Windows 8 tablet up its sleeve.

Selling for $699.99, the Ativ Tab 3 will be available to consumers starting September 1.

The new tablet offers the inlined specifications.

• It has a  10.1-inch five-point touch screen with a resolution of 1,366x768.
• An Intel Atom processor provides the power and a 64GB SSD provides the storage.
• A 720p camera adorns the front, while a 2-megapixel model is in the rear.
• The battery offers 7 hours of life on a single charge.

Tab 3 buyers also get an S Pen stylus and a Bluetooth keyboard that can serve as a cover and kickstand. Samsung clams the Tab 3 is the world's thinnest Windows 8 tablet at 0.31 inches thick and a weight of 1.28 pounds. The tablet comes with Microsoft Office Home and Student edition along with Samsung software designed to take advantage of the S Pen.

Finally, both the Book 9 Plus and Tab 3 can tap into Samsung's SideSync feature.

Geared toward owners of Samsung smartphones, SideSync lets you connect your phone with your Samsung laptop or tablet via USB cable or Wi-Fi. You can then run certain tasks across the different devices, such as texting on your phone from your PC's keyboard, viewing photos stored on your phone through your PC monitor, and moving files from one device to the other.

Google Nexus 7 and Nexus 4 spotted running Android 'Key Lime Pie'

Google may have rolled out Android 4.3 Jelly Bean a few weeks back, but that doesn't seem to have stopped the search engine giant from testing the next OS version.

The Nexus 7 and the Nexus 4 have been spotted with a build number KRS36B, suggesting Google might already be testing the next Android version.

Both the devices have been spotted at the Chromium Bug tracker, first picked up by Android Headline, who also notes that it's time to start looking for the next version of Android which can be expected to be announced in October along with the successors to Google Nexus 4 and Nexus 10.

Following the usual alphabetical order for Android updates and naming them after desserts, the successor to Android Jelly Bean is widely believed to be dubbed as Key Lime Pie, though nothing has been confirmed by Google. Looking at the build number, the publication notes, since the first letter of the build usually corresponds to the major Android version (e.g. J for Jelly Bean in Android 4.3 build number JWR66V), it's likely that KRS36B corresponds to the next major version, Android 5.0.

Android Headline predicts that possible changes that the new Android version may bring is a refined user interface, probably some more features as well as improved NFC capabilities.

It seems that the Android 4.X Jelly Bean has run its course and now Android 5.X Key Lime Pie is ready to take the rounds as the new Android version in the near future. Nothing has been confirmed by Google yet but it will be interesting to see the changes in the next Android OS.

WhatsApp claims 20 million active users in India, 300 million worldwide; launches push-to-talk feature

WhatsApp, the popular mobile instant messaging service now claims to have 20 million million monthly active users in India, part of its worldwide active user base of 300 million. It is also rolling out push-to-talk voice messaging allowing users to send and receive voice messages in real time, with the ability to play them within the app and without any limits for duration.

The mobile focused messaging company told AllThingsD that its user base has crossed the 20 million mark in countries such as India, Germany, Mexico and Spain, and that users send 11 billion messages and receive 20 billion messages per day. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum also told the publication that 325 million photos are shared every day on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is now introducing push-to-talk voice messaging in the app on all mobile platforms including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Nokia (Series 40 and Symbian). While WhatsApp used to let users send audio messages of limited duration (2 minutes on the iPhone app) as an attachment, it involved a number of steps including recording the message and sending it, and messages played through the default audio player. However, with push-to-talk, everything happens with a single tap. Users just need to hold a microphone button, located next to the compose box, to record their message and release it to send the message. In case the user decides not to send it, simply swipe to the left and delete it.

Unlike the audio notes feature, there's no duration limit for the voice message, and the message is automatically played through the earpiece if a user holds the phone close to his/ her ear, to emulate the experience of a walkie talkie. Just like the two checkmarks that denote a delivered message, a blue microphone indicates if a message has been played.

The feature will be gradually rolled out to all users within 24 hours, as per WhatsApp.

WhatsApp's competitors like Voxer and WeChat also offer similar voice chat features.

LG G2 press images leak ahead of official launch

LG may be all set to unveil its new flagship smartphone G2 at an event in New York later on Wednesday, but that hasn't stopped the device from making yet another appearance.  

 

The notorious @evleaks has posted some press images of the LG G2. The latest leaked press shots are in line with the previous leaks and show nothing new. One of the image shows the front panel of the yet to be announced smartphone that is dominated by the 5.2-inch display with thin bezel at the sides, while the back panel shows the rear camera along with an LED flash, power key and volume rocker keys.

The LG G2 has been hitting the rumour mills for a while now and has been spotted a number of times ahead of official launch. The G2 is rumoured to be powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The smartphone is also expected to be some thin that it features back-mounted volume controls, instead of ones on the side. It is likely to sport a 5.2-inch full-HD display and would run on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Earlier, LG also released a teaser video featuring the G2. The video ended with a teaser of the black round-edged device that clearly showed the rear camera with up and down arrows above and below it.
The company is aggressively promoting the handset globally with ad campaigns hitting the web and TV in various parts of the world.

With this the company also unveiled a series of colourful QuickWindow cases for its upcoming smartphone. The company announced that the all new line of premium cases for the LG G2 will be available at the same time as the smartphone. The cases will be available in seven different colours that include Black, White, Pink, Purple, Blue, Mint and Yellow.