SYNC AppLink, which is being showcased at midem, a leading music industry conference in Cannes, France, enables drivers on the move to listen to their favourite radio stations and songs streamed to the car via their smartphone – while keeping their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road. AppLink is targeted for launch in Europe later this year.

Ford SYNC AppLink customers in North America already have access to more streaming services than with any other automotive manufacturer. The growing selection of services available in the U.S. features Amazon Cloud Player, iHeartRadio, TuneIn Radio, Pandora, Rhapsody, MOG, Aha, Slacker and Greater Media. Ford will announce the first apps available in Europe in the near future.

Ford recently launched the automotive industry’s first open mobile app developer program for AppLink. Unveiled at the 2013 International CES in Las Vegas, the Ford Developer Program enables developers to create their own SYNC voice-control apps for services from connected smartphones. This approach will allow the European app development community to deliver access to an array of music and entertainment services and content for Ford drivers.

The Hyundai T7 Tablet is supposed to be an under-$200 budget slate but it actually has some decent specs for a 7 inch tablet. It uses the same Samsung Exynos 4412 chipset as the one that’s in the Galaxy S III, at 1.4Ghz, with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard memory with a microSD card slot, and a Mali-400MP4 GPU and also features a 7 inch 1280 x 800 IPS LCD screen, 2 Megapixel rear camera, and a microHDMI port. Powered by a 3300 mAh battery rated at just 5 hours of usage unfortunately.

All that while measuring 196 x 118 x 10.9mm, and weighing 303g. Only a Wifi-only version is available, but there’s a 3G dongle that you could use if you really need 3G. Runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich which is another bummer.

It is a game that can be played by anyone with the app and will take quite a while. Not too much is known about the game, but what we do know is drawn from the vague video produced by Google above. It involves two groups, the Resistance, and the Enlightened. One group pushes back against ‘the power’ while the other seeks to use it to their advantage.

A major aspect of the game will be using your phone while you’re out and about, collecting power by walking certain routes or analyzing landmarks.

This sounds pretty interesting and ambitious. It’s invite-only for now and Android-only for now, but Google plans to be on multiple platforms because they want as many players as possible.

To request an invite, visit http://www.ingress.com/

Via: Android Central

Today’s update also tells us that OUYA’s team has received the first development run of PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) for the console and that things are now in the Engineering Verification Testing (EVT) phase.

Keep an eye on the OUYA Kickstarter page for the latest in the console’s news.

Via: AndroidGuys

The official specifications can be viewed below: 

• OS: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Processor:1.7 GHz A15 dual-core processor
• Memory: 16/32GB User memory + 2GB (RAM)
• Display: 10” WQXGA (2560×1600, 300 ppi) display
• Camera: Main(Rear): 5 Megapixel Camera / Sub(Front): 1.9 Megapixel Camera
• Video: Codec: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VC-1, DivX VP8, Format: 3GP(MP4), WMV(ASF), AVI, FLV, MKV, WebM, Full HD(1080p) Playback & Recording @30 fps,
• Audio: Codec: MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, ACC+, eAAC+, AMR(NB,WB), MIDI, WAV, AC-3, Flac, 3.5mm Ear Jack, Stereo speaker
• Google Mobile Services: Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Maps for Android, Google Search, Voice Search, Google Now Google+, Gmail, YouTube, Google Currents, Google Play Store, Google Play Books, Google Play Movies, Google Play Magazines
• Connectivity: Bluetooth® v 3.0, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (MIMO+HT40), microUSB, microHDMI, Pogo pin, Dual Side NFC, GPS+Glonass, Sensor, Barometer. Accelerometer, Gyro, Digital Compass, Light, Opening sensor
• Network: WiFi only
• Dimension:263.8 x 177.8 x 8.9 mm, 603g
• Battery: Li-ion 9,000mAh

Today also sees Google unveiling a version of the Nexus 7 with a  (HSPA+) data connectivity, giving us the 32GB model as an unlocked device at $299.

• Nexus 7: 16GB for $199 and 32GB for $249; available in U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan, and also through our retail partners Gamestop, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, Walmart.

• Nexus 7 with 32GB and mobile data: $299 and unlocked, on sale 11/13 in the Google Play store in U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and  Canada.

Where’s the 8GB model in all of this?  Nowhere to be found on Google Play.  It’s unclear whether this will ever resurface down the road or with a lower ($99?) price tag.

Nexus 7 brings you the best of Google–YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Maps–and all the great content from Google Play in a slim, portable package that fits perfectly in your hand. To give you more room for all that great content you can now get Nexus 7 with 16GB ($199) or 32GB ($249) of storage. But we also wanted to make this highly portable tablet even more mobile. So we added HSPA+ mobile data. Nexus 7 is now also available with 32GB and HSPA+ mobile ($299), which can operate on more than 200 GSM providers worldwide, including AT&T in the US.

Via: AndroidGuys

The quad-core phone is based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro (aka the APQ8064), which boasts a 1.5Ghz quad-core CPU. It is LTE-compatible, sports a 13-megapixel camera and has a 4.7-inch WXGA screen (1,280 x 768 pixels).

The Optimus G is particularly notable because, aside from being LG’s first quad-core-LTE phone, it brings together a range of technologies from a number of the company’s subsidiaries for the first time. The screen is LG Display-designed, LG Chem-developed the 2,210 mAh battery, which is 800 cycles compared with the standard 500 cycles, and know-how from LG Innotech is involved too.

LG is talking up the phone’s ability to ‘cross-task’, which it says goes beyond multi-tasking,

• QSlide Function shows two different screens simultaneously on one display. As it doesn’t just show a part of the screen but the entire screen of both functions, the user can complete two tasks concurrently -– such as sending a text message or searching the web while watching a video;
• Live Zooming enhances the video-watching experience as users can zoom in up to five times while the video is being streamed for a close-up view.
• Dual Screen Dual Play not only allows mirroring between the smartphone and a TV, it also has the ability to display different content on each screen wirelessly. For example, a slide presentation can be displayed on the TV while the Optimus G shows the accompanying speaking notes;
• QuickMemo allows users to write, draw, or jot a memo with their finger directly on the captured screen for sharing instantly with others as an attachment or a URL. The QuickMemo can also be used as an overlay feature — like jotting down a number using the QuickMemo and directly dialing the number while the number is on the top layer;
• Screen Zooming allows for the zooming in and out of lists in music player, email, text messages and photo gallery. It also offers the ability to change the font size and screen layout;
• Application Link launches preset applications (email, calendar, weather, etc.) when the alarm is turned off -– making preparation time in the morning go a little faster with all the information on your screen;
• Icon Personalizer allows users the ability to customize icons by editing size and adding images so the most frequently used apps can be most easily accessible.

Korean punters can get their hands on the phone next week — when it launches with all three domestic carriers — and the device will begin rolling out to “key” international markets next month. Japan’s DoCoMo is already signed-up, but other than that, we’ll have to wait on further details.

Full specs below:

• Chipset: 1.5GHz Krait CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro processor Quad-Core and LTE
• Operating System: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Network: 2G / 3G / LTE
• Display: 4.7-inch WXGA True HD IPSPlus (1280 x 768 pixels) / 15:9 ratio
• Memory: 32GB
• RAM: 2GB DDR
• Camera: 13.0MP or 8.0MP rear / 1.3MP front
• Battery: 2,100mAh (570Wh/L) / Talk time: 15 hours / Standby: 335 hours
• Size: 131.9 x 68.9 x 8.45mm
• Weight: 145g
• Other: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, USB2.0 HS, A-GPS, MHL and DLNA, NFC

At a launch event in London, the two companies revealed that they had worked “hand in hand together” to build the device. The RAZR i is more or less a repurposed RAZR M with an Intel Medfield chip. The company launched the Razr M at the start of September. The new product’s tagline is: “Say hello to the full-screen phone”.

Motorola touts the RAZR i, which has a 4.3-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen, as having a camera that’s faster than most digital SLRs. The shooter takes 10 pictures in less than one second.

“Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device. A camera that launches in an instant, Web pages that load blazingly fast and a device that’s the perfect balance of screen size and fit in hand,” Jim Wicks, Motorola’s senior vice president, Consumer Experience Design, said in a statement. “RAZR i delivers just that when you put an Intel-fast processor in a beautifully designed phone and add in extra long battery life.

The smartphone is coming in October and will arrive in select markets, namely the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

Via TNW

LG is touting the “world’s best image quality” for its Optimus G smartphone, thanks to an “array of state-of-the-art technologies”. The company claims the optics utilize the world’s smallest pixel size, along with a Blue Glass filter to provide clearer images with less noise. Hyeong-cheol Moon, LG’s Director of Optical Solutions, also explains how the design team managed to fit such a large sensor into an 8.45mm shell.

Via : http://www.talkandroid.com

This is quite an accomplishment for Google and their Android team. A massive congrats for reaching such a huge milestone!