Samsung Launches Colurful Samsung Galaxy J

Nokia wasn’t the first smartphone maker to offer its smartphones in a variety of colors, but it looks to have started a trend by making its flagship and mid-range Lumia phones in various bold, bright colors. Apple followed Nokia’s lead last month when it launched the iPhone 5c and now Samsung has taken a cue from the soon-to-be-former Finnish smartphone maker with its new Galaxy J.

The handset moves away from Samsung’s typical, somewhat subdued color palette and is available in deep blue and hot pink in addition to a tamer white tone. Beyond that, it is very much a standard Samsung smartphone with cutting-edge specs that include a 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED display, a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB RAM, LTE-A support, a 13-megapixel main camera, a 2,600mAh battery and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

The Galaxy J will launch in Japan by the end of the month, but no word yet on an International rollout.

AT&T HTC One Android 4.3 update now available

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The Android 4.3 update for the AT&T HTC One has been released. Like the Sprint HTC One, the update for the AT&T HTC One includes Android 4.3 plus launcher bar enhancements, new BlinkFeed features, a widget lock screen style, home button behavior modification (remove black menu bar from screen), ability to display battery level percentage in the notification bar, advanced notifications, quick settings, 6 new Video Highlights themes with custom music options, improved Zoe file management and all the standard Android enhancements included with Android 4.3.
If you have not yet received an update notification on your AT&T HTC One, you can always try to ping HTC’s servers manually by going to Settings > About > Software Updates > Check now on your HTC One.

AT&T HTC One Android 4.3 changelog

• Improved notification bar with quick access to many of the most popular settings.
• The integration of Instagram™ into HTC BlinkFeed.
• The ability to lock the camera focus and exposure on a specific target within the viewfinder.
• An updated HTC gallery user experience.
• HTC Zoe® updates that include:
  • The option to change the file format of Zoe capture to a 3-second MP4 video and one second still JPG photo. This change will significantly reduce the amount of storage space used when capturing Zoe shots.
• Updated visualizer features within the HTC Music app.
• The ability to add widgets to the lock screen.
• New home key secondary functions to quickly access either Google Now or the menu.
• New settings for the battery percentage notification.

Samsung announces Galaxy Round curved display, features to go with

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Just hours after a mysterious curved Samsung smartphone was leaked, Samsung made the announcement that it would be called the Galaxy Round. The curve is no ordinary curve, but one made with a real Super AMOLED flexible display. While the Galaxy Nexus had a straight display under its curved glass, this device has a true flexible display wrapped around that curve. While it’s not the perfect use of flexible displays, the technology is finally here!
If you thought it would be another gimmicky low-end phone like the Galaxy Camera, you’re wrong. It’s a gimmicky high-end phone! It’s basically a Galaxy Note 3 in a curved package without the S Pen. It has a 5.7-inch 1080p Super AMOLED panel, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with a microSD slot, 13MP camera and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. It’s nearly identical to the Note 3 (even down to the faux leather stitched back), but unlike the Note, it has a slightly smaller 2,800 mAh battery. However, it has a few extra tricks up its sleeve.
To make the round form factor more than just for better grip, Samsung created a few new software features for people to use. Roll effect will allow you to check the time and notifications simply by pushing down on one side, tilting the display towards you and automatically lighting the screen. Gravity Effect allows for controlling the UI by tilting the device. And Bounce UX lets you control the music by tilting the device left and right to change tracks while the display is off.
Unfortunately, most of us might never have a chance to own this device in our country. For now, the Galaxy Round will be exclusive to Korea. It will launch in Luxury Brown, with more colors coming soon after. Would you ever buy one of these? Does the idea of flexible displays under inflexible glass shaped in interesting ways intrigue you?

Huge leak details changes coming to Android 4.4 KitKat

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As we inch ever closer to the rumored October 14 (or 15) unveiling for Android 4.4 KitKat, we’re seeing more and more leaks detailing the update. Today, we got our most in-depth look at KitKat yet, giving us a great idea of just what kind of changes Google has in the works.
Leaked by TuttoAndroid, the Italian blog seems to have gotten its hands on a bona fide Nexus 5 running the latest unreleased version of Android. According to the blog, there are a lot of visual changes, but that’s not at all. Google is adding some new functionality to KitKat as well, including at least one really cool change coming to Google Now. Here’s an easy to digest rundown:

• The notification bar is now transparent, and features white icons.
• The navigation bar is transparent as well.
• Also transparent, the app drawer.
• Widgets are gone from the app drawer, now available with a long press (again).
• The messaging and gallery apps are gone, replaced by Google Photos and Hangouts.
• There’s a new phone icon.
• You can access the camera from the lock screen by pulling a small camera icon left.
• There are dots showing you which homescreen you’re on.
• You can add more than 5 homescreens.
• The new icon for the app drawer matches the Google Now bar.
• There are several new wallpapers.
• KitKat borrows its boot animation of the Google Play S4 and One.
• You can say “OK, Google” from the homescreen to activate Google Now.

As you can see, a lot has changed. And that’s just from a quick hands-on of a possibly unfinished release. Google has kept the same overall look of Android from Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean, but has managed to breathe new life into what some were starting to consider a bit stale. The new homescreen looks absolutely gorgeous, and the added ability to call up Google Now like on the Moto X is killer.
TuttoAndroid also threw out some information on the Nexus 5 it has running KitKat, and seems to be impressed. Noteworthy details include a bright vivid display (previously referred to as dull and washed out by another leaker), it’s more squared-off, lighter and faster than the Nexus 4, the rear-facing stereo speakers sound great and the image stabilization on the handset works well.