Xperia Z Ultra SGP412 passes through FCC, pictures and manual shown off
The Sony Xperia Z Ultra SGP412 has passed through the United States FCC and with it revealed a number of pictures and a quick manual. The handset looks identical to the one we already know, this particular model is believed to by a Wi-Fi only model. AU by KDDI is also releasing a variant of the Xperia Z Ultra under the SOL24 model number.
Sony had a confidentiality request that expired on the 20 January 2014, which means we could see this being announced very shortly. The manual you see below has references to Sony Mobile Japan support, which could see it launch in the region. AU by KDDI is revealing its Spring 2014 showcaseXL39h bumper tomorrow morning, so we expect more news then.
Sony confirms Android 4.3 xperiaz2case.com for Xperia SP, T, TX and V to roll “from xperia z2 end Jan / early Feb”
Sony Mobile has just confirmed that Android 4.3 for the Xperia SP, Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V will start to roll out from the end of January/early xperia z2case February. We have been inundated with emails about the update for these handsets. Obviously this has also been seen through comments on this blog, with people understandably frustrated by the lack of news from Sony, particularly after they expected the update “from December”.
This was recently exacerbated further when the certified Android 4.3 firmware updates were removed by the PTCRB, leaving people wondering just exactly when it will arrive. At least, Sony has given everyone a new official ETA, with the company confirming it is “making final preps” to the rollout. We’ll keep you posted with any further news.
We hear you re: JB 4.3 for #Xperia T, TX, V, SP – we��re making final preps & will start rolling from end Jan / early Feb
What do you think of the use of Galaxy Note 3 Case?Can they only be made bulky and awkward for the users who want to protect their Note 3?The answer can be imaginably negative.The answer is on the contrary.It is the best strengthened durability and the most beautiful appearance that make the newly released trends superior to the previously made versions.The coming up and widespread use of cool Galaxy Note 3 Case can be regarded as a progress on the whole. We are all clear of the fact that if we do not use any protector, our machine will be left at the hands of unwanted damages which can bring fatal harms to the decent appearance.So you need to pay attention to the unexpected harms ahead. Only through extending extensive care to the cell phone can it remain integrated.genuine leather cases and flip leather cases are both useful for resulting in wanted effects. Experiences of the veteran users will also Note 3 leather flip case make you informed of the immense strength of aluminum leather case covers.It is the durability and flexibility that make flip leather cases advantageous totally.Leather cases for Galaxy NOTE 3 attract the users quickly due to the impressive touch feeling.
Years of working experience of designers makes them have a clear mind of how to please their potential customers.We should take the materials,patterns,detailing and the alike into account so leather case galaxy Note 3 that the designed products can meet the needs of all walks of life.They are fully conscious of the fact that a Galaxy Note 3 case can not suit the tastes of all customers.The diversity of the products is a way of solving the problem.No other secrets exist,this is the crucial rule they must realize and stick to.They begin to work whole-heartedly and in no time the great popularity of galaxy Note 3 flip case leather has pay themselves back.
Much as been said and written about the strong protectors for Galaxy Note 3,now we would like to direct your attention to the chic versions.The cute case,flower case and many other similarly magnificent versions set good examples for the chic versions.Any user of these Galaxy Note 3 case will be thought of as true fashionmongers excelling at leading a new vogue.Though their flavors vary greatly from one trend to another,all are capable of creating coveted looks.A most obvious example here is the flower Galaxy Note 3 case,a trend catering for female customers,is said to sell best among women.Cute case,instead,are not confined to females users.That is to say,men and women are included in the consumer group.The chic versions not only have good appearance,but Galaxy Note 3 S View flip cover brown also have powerful strength .So they are enjoyed much by users.
Intelligent users always spend much time and energy studying what the best received Galaxy Note 3 should be like.Their findings reveal that users often attach first importance to the practicability of it.For this reason,the use of strong material is still a decisive factor.Besides the first factor,the right style is the second factor for users to think.If the accessory for Galaxy Note 3 represents the most advanced technology,then quite probably it will become popular instantly.Users,more often not,will discard the ordinary case and go for such advanced case.You can see this from the users' craze for battery case.By working out this combo,designers attempt to bring their imaginative competence into full display.It is advisable choice in that it resists all forms of harms and offer its users an additional power source.This must be the most unconventional improvement of the common skin case.
New Angry Birds Friends game is out now for iOS and Android
Just as promised, Rovio released today their new Angry Birds Friends game title. It’s available on Android and iOS for free.
Angry Birds Friends premiered on Facebook last year. It has more than 60 million players that can now battle each other and against the new smartphone users.
The game doesn’t cost a dime and this one is not a limited time offer. It will stay that way, so you don’t need to hurry.
Google+ Hangouts gets plenty of new features, coming to Android and iOS soon
After the initial buzz about Google+ dried out, we barely hear any news about the service these days but Google seems determined to make this one a success. They’ve updated Hangouts with some cool new features and bringing it to Google+ Messenger on mobile devices.
With the update, Google aims to make Hangouts the online conferencing tool. The first step is to make it easier to start or join a hangout.
You can do that through a handy new shortcut in Google+ posts, or through a list of three active hangouts to the right of your Stream. Google+ can also ring your device (phone or computer) to notify you that you’re invited to a hangout.
You don’t need a computer or a fancy smartphone to join a Hangout – you can now dial-in anyone’s phone to let them join the conversation. For the US and Canada calls are free (Google extended the free calls period) and it’s possible to dial other countries too (you can look up international calling rates here).
If you do have a fancy smartphone, you’ll be able to get the updated Google+ with video Hangouts from the Android Market and iOS App Store in a few days.
Another feature that we’ve seen in exclusive events (e.g. a Black Eyed Peas concert or a Dalai Lama peace talk) is Hangouts On Air. It’s available to accounts with a big number of followers and can be started at any time, it doesn��t need to be a pre-scheduled event. The video will be recorded and uploaded to the user’s YouTube account as a private video where it can be made available to people who couldn��t see it live.
Google say they’re working on making Hangouts on Air available to everyone but they didn��t say when that will happen.
Finally, a bit of a holiday gimmick let��s you put on virtual antlers.
Kindle Paperwhite starts shipping today, the first reviews are in
Shopping for an e-book reader this holiday season is certainly an exciting task, from a geek’s point of view at least. There are interesting offers on all price points and manufacturers and bookstores are vying for your attention. Whatever your price range though, you can’t miss on checking out the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, which just launched today. Priced at $119 with Special Offers (which means lockscreen ads), this is probably the most sophisticated e-book reader your money can buy right now.
As the first reviews of the Kindle Paperwhite are now rolling in, we get to learn more about this, still US-only, gadget. Here’s a rundown of what’s hot and what not about this new e-reader.
The HOTs
Design-wise, the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader is a lot different than the previous gen and that’s good. Gone is the shiny plastic, and the matte, soft touch black material is more than welcome. The Kindle Paperwhite is faster than the Kindle Touch and now about as responsive as the Nook with Glowlight.
The 6-inch screen is of higher resolution. This has led to a higher pixel density, making fonts more legible even at lower sizes. The new capacitive touch technology certainly makes life easier when you are going through the interface and settings. The screen surface has an added texture to make swiping and touching it feel even more tactile. The display certainly lives up to its name and at full brightness of the frontlight, it really looks as white as paper.
To add to the novelty, this year’s Kindle comes with built-in magnet switch, so when you are using it with the original case, the e-book reader would actually wake up as soon as you flip open the cover case.
And, of course, the pi��ce de r��sistance – the new system for front lighting is without a doubt the Paperwhite’s key selling feature. You are free to guess how many times I mistakenly called it Paperlight, while drafting this article. It just rolls off the tongue so much easier.
All reviewers agree that the light looks amazingly even and it feels almost as if the light comes from all sides. The new front light is reportedly useful for much more than late night reading. There are some 24 levels of brightness so you will always be able to fine tune it to match the ambient lighting (or the lack of it thereof). And having it on, has a benefit almost everywhere, except perhaps on a bright-lit beach, I guess.
The Kindle Paperwhite (right) compared to the Nook Glowlight (left)
Software-wise, the Kindle Paperwhite features novel perks such as an estimate of the time needed to finish the current chapter or the whole book. X-Ray, another feature, will show you all the major characters or terms throughout the book, though its usefulness is somewhat questionable.
X-ray shows the most frequently featured characters and terms
Twitter and Facebook integration allow you to share the name and link to the book you are reading directly to the social networks.
The NOTs
Modern day gadgets rarely escape reviewers’ scrutiny without warranting a scorning word or two. In this case, tech reviewers found that the relatively thin bezel on the Kindle Paperwhite makes it harder to hold than say, the Nook Simple Touch.
The Paperwhite also could have used some page turn buttons or at least, a single menu button. The storage is also not expandable, unlike the Nook Simple Touch, but honestly, I’ve never had to use a memory card inside my Nook, e-books take up so little space.
The Kindle case prices still seem like a rip-off and I can’t help the feeling that the maker is actually trying to offset the cheap introductory price of the e-book reader with overpriced accessories.
Making your mind
Summing it all up, all reviewers agree the Kindle Paperwhite is a must buy if you are after a new e-book reader. Perhaps, it may not be enough to make you upgrade if you already own the last year’s Kindle Touch or the Nook Simple Touch, but it’s definitely a top pick this holiday season. You just can’t beat the new front-lighting system and Amazon has some of the best prices on e-books these days.
All Kindle Paperwhite e-readers are already available, starting at $119 for the Wi-Fi only version with Special Offers. Unfortunately, there is still no word on when this thing is coming to our side of the ocean.
So what about you, are you getting one?
Gizmodo | Engadget | TechCrunch | Mashable | The Verge
Developer roots MOTOACTV, lets you play Angry Birds on it while you run into a lamppost
There was a time when if something could stand still long enough someone would install Linux on it. The same is true for Android today. And so the latest gadget to get an Android port is the recently announced sports tracker, Motorola’s MOTOACTV.
In its defense the device already runs a highly disguised version of Gingerbread but it still wouldn’t have been easy. Developer Chris Wade, the guy responsible for the useful but woefully misnamed Dingleberry jailbreak for the BlackBerry PlayBook, is the one responsible for achieving this feat. But before he actually installed the new OS, he ripped open the device apart first. This is when he took some blurry pictures and found out that the device runs on a TI OMAP3630 clocked at 600MHz with 256MB of RAM, enough for the purpose that Motorola intended for the device. But will it be able to run a full-fledged Gingerbread installation?
Of course, there was only one way to find out so he installed a custom ROM on it by first rooting the OS. The MOTOACTV only has a back key so he added a Honeycomb-like interface with on-screen controls. He also managed to get applications working on it so you can play Angry Birds on it among others, as demonstrated in the video below. You will of course need fingers as thin as toothpicks to operate it properly but the performance is quite good, probably due to the low resolution display which would not tax the hardware much.
You can check it out in action in the video below. For information on how to root the MOTOACTV and pictures of the insides, click on the source link below.
Acer Aspire One D255 netbook is powered by a dual-core Atom N550
The first netbooks with Intel’s dual-core Atom N550 CPU are beginning to appear. The Acer Aspire One D255 is powered by just such a processor. It’s not the first netbook with a dual-core processor (the Asus 1215N has it beat here), but it’s the first with a dual-core Atom intented for netbooks (the 1215N uses a nettop CPU)…
The Intel Atom N550 has two cores, each running at 1.5GHz and with Hyper-Threading, that makes up for 4 threads in total. The N550 has 1MB of L2 cache in total (512KB per core).
Anyhow, that’s slower than the D525 CPU inside the Asus 1215N, but the Acer Aspire One D255 has the advantage when it comes to battery life – D-series Atoms are more power-hungry than their N-series counterparts (it’s a matter of a few watts but it that’s a lot for a CPU that draws under 10W).
The Acer Aspire One D255 with dual-core Atom N550
Unfortunately, those are all the specs available right now – no GPU info (likely integrated Intel graphics), no RAM, HDD, not even pricing or target availability date.
Asus shows the Eee Pad Transformer Prime sleeve, the Smart covers smirk
Asus Taiwan just unveiled a pretty cool accessory for its yet-to-be-released Eee Pad Transformer Prime quad-core Android tablet. Quite strangely called “sleeve” the accessory is actually a cover for the Transformer Prime screen that easily transforms into a stand that can be used for watching video on the slate.
Yeap, it’s much the same deal as with the Apple iPad 2′s Smart covers, save for the slightly different folding pattern. And before you start pointing any fingers, don’t forget that the Smart covers aren’t exactly a new idea either.
The Transformer Prime sleeve is incompatible with the original Tranformer as the attaching mechanism is designed for the slimmer shell of the Prime.
Now if Asus could actually get the Transformer Prime to the US and European markets it would all be great.
BlackBerry ad shows how cool BB OS 7 and their new touch phones are - no wait, that's an Android
Well, someone really needs to start doing QA on the commercials phone companies make – check out this (now pulled) BlackBerry ad. It’s a “#BB7FanNight” party with people saying how cool the new BlackBerry OS 7 and the phones running it are.
Hey… that keyboard kind of looks like an Android keyboard. Is BlackBerry saying Android’s on-screen keyboard is so good that they’ve copied it? No, wait – false alarm. It’s just an actual Android phone – check out the Home button.
It’s not as bad as when Nokia ad that used a stock photo of a girl holding an iPhone, but still – if you’re going to have people gushing over how cool your new OS and phones are, make sure they’re actually using your new OS and phones.
Here’s the video, the droid infiltrator can be spotted at 0:15 and 0:27:
WhatsApp Messenger update brings Holo UI to the Android app
Popular instant messaging client WhatsApp has gone through a major UI redesign on Android. While the former version was nothing more than just a slight revision of the iOS app, the latest update takes advantage of the new Holo UI guidelines for Android.
Right off the bat you’ll be able to see that the menu bar on top is now flat and in line with the new UI guidelines. Drop into a conversation and you will find new flat message bubbles and a redesigned text input field. The emoticons have also been moved down and placed next to the text field, which makes them easier to access on smartphones with large displays. The Settings menu has also been redesigned.
Unfortunately, the new version of the app is not yet available through the Play Store, and you will have to click on the link below to download the APK from WhatsApp website. You can safely update the app with the new one and maintain all your current app data. There is also no beta sign anywhere, so the app should be stable enough for everyday use (I haven’t faced any issues with it yet).
If you are on Android and use WhatsApp Messenger regularly, you should definitely give the new update a try.
What IF your browser was your operating system - meet Chrome OS
Yesterday Google officially presented their Chrome OS to the world. Well, sort of. They’re still an year ago from release. But we got the heads up on what it’s all about. It will be online based and with rapid boot times and it will be optimized for specific hardware rather than run on all walks of rigs.
What hardware-optimized means is that Google Chrome OS will be tailr-made for specific hardware configurations and you won’t be able to just download and install it on any computer. Only that way Chrome OS will be able to offer the promised unmatched boot times as it skips any hardware checks other OSes do at boot. The netbooks and similar kind of internet devices are the primary target of the new OS as it’s heavily online-based.
Chrome OS won’t work with any native apps, instead it will operate with web apps. Got you interested, read on for more.
The core of Chrome OS is a web browser. In fact the entire OS will be this web browser. There will be no additional services and support for native applications. This will cut the whole booting process and now the Google Chrome needs only 7 seconds to power up. And it��s just the beginning of its development.
As I mentioned before �C there will be no apps �C the guys in Google think most of the today people use only internet-based stuff �C email, chats, blogs, online games, videos and music, etc. And they target exactly this kind of users.
Google Chrome OS
This way there are no updates to the OS to download and no anti-virus programs to run. With Chrome OS the computer turns into a web console with all your files constantly stored in the Google web cloud instead locally on your hard drive. This will help unifying the logging process on any Google Chrome running netbook. When you log on with your Google account your settings will be automatically retrieved (even your Wi-Fi ones) and you will feel at home on every Chrome-enabled netbook – even if you borrow one from your friend.
Of course when the right time comes and its market grows, Google Chrome OS will be able to take full advantage of more powerful computers with multi-core CPUs and modern GPUs �C that means desktop computers and laptops.
Right now Google Chrome OS is far away from its release �C so it’s too early to pass any judgments. But it’s a novel concpect, we’re only not really sure about its practicality. It’s like turning your computer into a smartphone – it will be easier to use, but it won’t have the full features of a desktop OS. Ad we’re not really sure if we’d like to dumb down our netbooks.
If you are enthusiastic to try the new OS, even its in very early stage, you may try through a compiled VMware image. Since the Google released the current code onlince for free use, the user Mark Renouf succeeded to make an image file from it. You may download it from The Pirate Bay.
Fashionable and Vintage iPhone 5C Protective Cover
It is indisputable that Apple iPhone 5C is a phone made by outstanding technology which spreads widely in public,however,there are still shortcomings that it cannot work properly once bumped or scratched. It is lucky that we can solve this problem after it is armed with a strong iPhone5ccase. Because such skin Case all have outstanding strength, we can depend on them to keep our machine under full protection. In addition, iPhone 5C covers are also known for their good assimilation of ongoing fashion elements and thus becoming ideal company for our machine.
Cynical users often refuse to use a cover to protect their iPhone 5C, who defy the importance of it by revealing that the business is cashing in on this accessory. The consequence of this negligence is very terrible when they have their machine scratched or dented. If you are mean about some necessary money,your machine cannot get a excellent protection . Search for your one-time machine that you discarded and its worn out look will attest to the effects of exposure to the outside threats on a daily basis. It is a horrifying result .
Using leather to make accessories is a popular way that designers usually choose for a long time.Designers of course know clearly how to make most of this conventionally preferred ingredient to shape their products. The increasing number of leather Case for Apple iPhone 5C further confirms our belief that leather will never be outdated. This is more evident in the case of genuine leather covers. Italian cattle leather is so durable a substance that even compared to none ,because the leather is known throughout the world . The first-rate texture often leaves its users an impressive hand feel. Few users can find faults or shortcomings when they find out the virtual value of this high-end protector for their machine.They know clearly how well these elegant covers fit into the overpowering glamour of their cell phone.
Designers spare no efforts to style the patterns of Apple iPhone 5C cover by using the uncommon materials.The old-fashioned covers now are being supplanted by metal bumpers and even wood Case. In comparison with the previous trends, covers made of exotic materials is are more brilliantly attractive.The extraordinary and high flavor makes the aluminum alloy bumpers more popular among the mass.The old covers that are homely and out-fashioned cannot catch a wider group of consumer. Mental is a dependable factor that can make Apple iPhone 5C more appealing and powerful. The dense texture of timber even makes wood case outdo metal bumpers in creative comfortable hand feel . Prints and carvings on the back covers also establish new standards of beauty and fashion. In a word, wood Case for iPhone 5C are a trend worth possessing.
Users fond of classic protectors still exist. In fact, the number of such iPhone 5C users is on the increase.Traditional themes and materials are by no means vulgar and ugly. The appeal of it is more overpowering.Candy covers and hard Case are both good examples of this.
For your safety of your machine,GalaxyNote3cases is a recommendable one absolutely.Now each day thousands of such defensive cases are being manufactured and brought on to the market. Each of them has their own characteristics and styles. Users¡¯ preference to one specific version instead of another can be accounted for their concerns over two important aspects about the quality of Galaxy Note 3 Case.The first consideration is safety of your machine. The second one is what matching effects a Galaxy Note 3 is capable of creating.
If you do not have particular requirements about detailing of Galaxy Note 3 Case, then simplicity-flavored trends can satisfy your needs. For them, the important quality of a protective cover is about how wearable such a protective cover can be.To cater for these pragmatists, designers work out simplicity-themed bumpers.The flavor of bumpers just flatter your pursuit of beauty quite well.When designing the metal bumpers and TPU frame covers ,they insert the fashion elements unconsciously.You can see this from these evidences ,such as ultra-thin thickness ,durable ingredient and the enriched coloring. As a result, this group of handy Galaxy Note 3 Case have more excellent performances.
Nothing is perfect.So the bumpers with great strength cannot provide all-round protection for the display. That¡¯s why a lot of users prefer other Galaxy Note 3 Case to bumpers, for they need a trend able to offer more comprehensive protection.Seeing this shortcoming ,Galaxy Note 3 Case are preferred more by users than other covers,for Galaxy Note 3 Case can offer better protection.Owing to the preference,these versions like wallet cases, flip cases and genuine leather covers are popular in the market. We want to invite you to join us in analyzing the genuine leather case as example to examine their qualities. It attaches greatest importance to fulfilling the defensive role.It is the use of most wearable material that makes the genuine leather case greater than metallic covers.It is thought the leather is less crisp than mental. Leather covers possess more advantages over metallic bumpers, such as its pleasant softness, precise cutouts and colorful prints .
For those enthusiastic about physical attractiveness, they can derive great sense of achievement from collecting and using such commendable trends like cute covers, leopard flip case and glitter case and so on.The inner quality and the good appearance are both taken into consideration by designers so that the products are perfect.In their opinion, alluring appearance is associated with colorful and eye-pleasing prints and drawings; as a result, they use such elements to convey their understanding of fashion on the cute covers.The female users can choose the glitter case for them. Likewise, candy and leopard cases have similar appeal to female users. Men, by contrast, are fans of luxurious hard cases and wallet covers. To them, too flunky trends will spoil the original elegance of Galaxy Note 3 and therefore only these two versions ideally meet their requirements.
Xperiaz1case are found to exist in galore, of which styles distinguish a lot from one trend to another. A noticeable similarity among these covers is that all of them are ultra-thin, no matter you use it as defensive tool or decorative accessory. The prosperity of this business lies in the latest created cases for iPad Mini. This is a rather good piece of news for each of the avid users of iPad Mini, for it means that they can use more and more desirable covers to make their investment worthwhile.
The stand covers among Xperia Z1 covers deserve your attention because they are special. The difference between this trend and common covers is is outstanding ,for the designers are trying to make. With the help of such a xperia z1 case, users can make video watching on the cell phone quite enjoyable and comfortable as they are offered more viewing angles.It is the extra bracket that stops Xperia Z1 from slipping .Designers also integrate fashion elements into this extraordinary case by using high end PU leather material.The Lizard-patterned surface often gives us a pleasant touch feel. The great strength can always reduce the harms caused by bumping or collision. If you are prone to neglect taking precautions of safeguarding your machine, then this wearable protector will make up for your negligence. The delicate workmanship is also what users deeply appreciate, for there are always right cut-outs at the right places.You can have confidence in the cover that it is able to match your high-end cell phone at last. Besides all of these, stand cases for Xperia Z1 are also dyed in various colorings and thus being made rather eye-pleasing.
We promise that the beauty of the cases must attract your attention and you will make up your mind to buy crocodile flip cases.The products not only consist of PU leather,but also characterized by diverse styles.In this respect of quality,the powerful strength is the advantage of this ingredient.Considering the potential threats in existence, each of us needs such a strong case. This practical role is just one aspect of its charm, more can be seen from its appealing appearance. To begin with, the uniquely processed surface echoes the ongoing fashion.Extra enjoyment can also be expected when you compare it to an intelligent flip book with indication window.
Crocodile flip leather cases can have variations, as can be exemplified by the Borofone crocodile genuine leather flip cover.This trendy cover has grain cattle skin with embossed super-fiber.Taking advantage of one-piece design without extra stitching by designers and integrating the whole cover well. This handmade cover is a best representation of flawless quality and super luxury. No wonder it easily stands out among the competitors within the Borofone group.
Monster announces three new headhpone models at the Monaco Grand Prix
If you are a fan of the Monster headphones, you’d be glad to know that the company has just announced new models.
Called Inspiration, Diamond Tears Edge and VEKTR, they are all quite the lookers. The first of the bunch, the Inspiration, features lots of noise canceling and dampening materials and is aimed at people who want to eliminate the surrounding noise and focus on the music they are listening without looking like a tool. Furthermore, the headbands are interchangeable and Monster offers quite a lot of personalization options for you to choose from.
Next up the list are the Diamond Tears Edge headphones, which I think look the best of the three. They feature very big and soft ear cushions and pack the ControlTalk Universal mic and remote control, making them perfect for use with a smartphone.
And finally, there’s the VEKTR headphones, which have been developed in cooperation with the Diesel clothing brand to go with their fashionable pieces. As such, the Diesel logo is found on both ear cups.
Pricing and availability are shrouded in mystery, although you shouldn’t expect anything carrying the Monster to come cheap or even with a reasonable price tag.
Asphalt 8 and 14 more Gameloft games to hit Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
Gameloft has announced its plans to launch a total of 15 games for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 by the end of this year and throughout 2014. Headlining the list is Asphalt 8: Airborne, which hits Android and iOS tomorrow.
Four of the games will be new for the Windows Phone 8 platform, while all 15 will be hitting Windows 8. Gameloft has announced that some of the games will support cross-device multiplayer making it possible to play between tablets and phones.
Out of the 15 game titles, Gameloft has confirmed the names of 7 with the rest yet to be unveiled. The known titles are Asphalt 8: Airborne, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, Dungeon Hunter 4, Total Conquest, Six Guns, Kingdoms & Lords and UNO & Friends.
It seems Windows Phone 8 users have a lot to look forward to over the coming months.
'Angry Birds Star Wars' for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 game review
What do you get when you combine two franchises that have been done to death? Why the Angry Birds Star Wars, of course.
Angry Birds Star Wars is, as Rovio likes to call it, Angry Birds’ biggest adventure yet. The game is based on the story of the Star Wars franchise and has birds dressed as the characters from the Rebel Alliance whereas the pigs are dressed as the Galactic Empire. After that it’s your usual bird flinging action but with some new abilities. But will that be enough to bring back gamers who have clearly flung enough birds to last a lifetime? Let’s find out.
Title
Angry Birds Star Wars
Developer
Rovio Entertainment Ltd.
Platform
iOS
Android
Windows Phone 8
Release Date
November 8 2012
Content rating
4+
Everyone
N/A
Size
28.3MB (iPhone) / 31.6MB (iPad)
44MB
20MB
Price
$0.99 (iPhone) / $2.99 (iPad)
Free (ads) / $2.99 (HD)
$0.99
This is possibly the widest release for any game yet, with support for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Kindle Fire on the mobile side and Windows, Windows 8 and OS X on the desktop side. So kudos to Rovio for managing to pull it off. The Android version is the only one where you can get the game for free but with ads. You can remove the ads by paying $0.99 through in-app purchasing. There is also an HD version for Android where the only difference is that the buttons are bit bigger and easier to tap on high resolution displays (the actual game looks the same).
Premise
The premise of the game can be summed up in the video below. It also helps if you have watched the Star Wars movies.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Angry Birds Star Wars is a combination of old and new. The old part actually comes from two games, the standard Angry Birds and the recent Angry Birds Space. The new part comes with the special abilities that each bird has. Now all the birds from the standard Angry Birds line-up have been changed to vaguely resemble Star Wars character. So the red bird is now Luke Skywalker, black bird is Obi-Wan Kenobi, yellow bird is Han Solo, big red bird is Chewbacca, pink bird is Princess Leia, white bird is C-3PO and the blue bird is Wedge Antilles. There is also a new R2D2 ‘bird’. The pigs, meanwhile, are dressed as all sorts of Empire characters, only ones I know being the Stormtroopers and Darth Vader himself.
With the new characters come new abilities. After a few initial levels, the Luke bird gets a lightsaber that can be used to slice through objects, thus causing a lot more damage than usual. The Ob-Wan bird uses the Force to blast objects away. As soon as he is near something, you have to tap on the screen where you want the objects to go and he sends a shockwave the sends everything flying in that direction. He is definitely one of the coolest birds in the game.
The Han Solo bird shoots laser through his gun. The laser beams can shoot through glass and wood and bounces off steel. The bouncing can be used in some levels to access hard to reach areas. The Chewbacca bird is like a giant wrecking ball. It carries immense weight and can crush entire structures under its weight, making it a joy to use. The blue bird is same as it has been in every Angry Birds game; it splits up into three smaller birds. Worst. Bird. Ever.
The C-3PO and R2D2 birds have their own levels and are not found in the main storyline. You can make C-3PO explode and the fragments destroy everything they touch. R2D2 meanwhile sends out electric bolts in its surrounding, killing any nearby pigs.
The Princess Leia bird is not found in any of the current levels and is expected to be in additional levels that will arrive later.
Now that we are acquainted with the new birds, here’s the boring part; the gameplay is exactly the same as in Angry Birds and Angry Birds Space. Some of the levels are played on land where you have regular gravity and physics similar to Angry Birds, where birds arch downwards after a while of being projected. The space levels play out similar to Angry Birds Space, where no gravity means the birds keep going straight in the direction you send them in as long as they don’t get pulled into a nearby planet’s gravitational field.
The new abilities does make the game interesting and although I haven’t bothered playing Angry Birds in a while the new abilities were enough to make me go through most of the levels (that and I also had to finish this review). However, it became harder to play once the game switches to the Angry Birds Space-esque levels, which come in every now and then. I’ve never been a huge fan of Angry Birds Space and so the space levels were the least interesting aspect about the game for me.
What continues to annoy me about Angry Birds is that although it has a three star rating system it never bothers to tell you what exactly you have to do to get those three stars. The general idea is to get the maximum score, which involves killing all the pigs with as few birds as possible (preferably just one) and get the highest score. Still, without a proper number, it just makes you repeatedly play through each level in the hope that you can get all three stars.
There is also this thing where you can only go so far before you start flinging birds around randomly with the intention to just get through the level. The structures in Angry Birds are designed in a way where there is usually one point to hit that can bring the whole thing down. But with so many birds at your disposal it’s easier just to go ‘screw this’ and just start aiming randomly at things. It also doesn’t help that most levels do really look like they are arranged at random with no easy way to get three stars. When the objective is not clear, a game can go from difficult to frustrating very quickly.
If you just can’t get through a level, you can use this super ability that they added to Angry Birds games recently, where you sacrifice one of your birds for this super awesome bird and wherever it lands that point gets bombarded by a ship that flies over, which usually is enough to destroy the entire level. However, if you win this way you don’t get stars but instead just a medal. These abilities are limited and you get more as you play or you can purchase more using in-app purchasing.
As before, the game is still difficult to play on small screens. When zoomed in, you can either see the birds or the pigs. If you zoom in on the birds, you have no idea where you are aiming. If you zoom out, things become ridiculously tiny. And you have to zoom out completely, otherwise the camera keeps moving left to right annoyingly and often when you don’t want it to. Like when you’re aiming, it would move right and restrict your movement so you can’t aim properly as there is no longer space on the screen on the left side to pull the bird back because the dumb camera shifted right. I have always felt that Angry Birds is best experienced on a big monitor with a mouse where you can zoom out completely and still see everything in proper size, and Angry Birds Star Wars does nothing to change that belief.
The game comes with 80 levels by default, along with 33 bonus levels featuring R2D2 and C-3PO that are unlocked as you keep getting more stars. There are also 40 other levels in the game that are a paid extra. At first I thought this was because I downloaded the free Android version but then realized you have to purchase these levels even in the paid version. Why would Rovio make you pay extra for these levels when you already paid for the game is beyond me.
Graphics and Sound
If you’ve seen one Angry Birds game, you’ve seen them all. Angry Birds Star Wars uses the same art style and level design structure as the previous games. The new birds look nice and you see some nice mish-mash of the Angry Birds and Star Wars universes, such as pigs with Stormtrooper helmets on and a Death Star that looks like a pig but other than that there is nothing new.
Sound-wise, the game once again is acceptable. It mostly uses Star Wars theme with a bit of Angry Birds-ization done to it and it sounds okay. They have new cries for the birds that play when you launch them that sound pretty good and in-line with their characters.
Verdict
If you love Angry Birds games in general, Angry Birds Star Wars would be manna from heaven. It features the same basic gameplay but adds new characters with new abilities that will keep things fresh for Angry Birds fans. However, if you have outgrown the gameplay or were never a fan of it to begin with, Angry Birds Star Wars does not have much to change your mind.
It’s interesting to see Angry Birds and Star Wars collaborate on something. Both continue to make an insane amount of money for their creators and neither of them knows when to stop.
Rating: 3/5 Pros: Star Wars elements neatly integrated into the gameplay, wide availability on multiple platforms Cons: Gameplay feels stale, still no clarity on how to obtain all three stars, pain to play on small smartphone screens, includes extra levels that need to be bought separately
Download: iPhone/iPod touch | iPad | Android | Kindle Fire | Windows Phone 8
Specs of second-generation Nexus 7 leaked, will feature Android 4.3 and wireless charging
The alleged images of next-generation affordable tablet from Google have already been leaked and we even saw a video of the upcoming Nexus 7. Now, the specifications of the second-gen of the slate have been revealed in a new leak.
As expected, the second-generation Nexus 7 will sport a 7-inch FullHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display and will feature a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 5 megapixel rear camera and 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. It will run on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, which will be the latest version at the time of its release.
Additionally, the upcoming 7-inch Google made tablet will have slim port support for outputting 1080p video on your television and will support wireless charging. Earlier, a leaked inventory screen had confirmed the pricing of the second-generation Nexus 7 – $229 for a 16 GB version and $269 for 32 GB variant.
Google is expected to officially announce its latest Nexus 7 tablet at its upcoming event on July 24 in San Francisco. Stay tuned as we will be bringing you all the latest details from the event live.
Sony admits all 77 million PSN and Qriocity accounts have been compromised in a response to the US Congress
Oh, boy, is this getting messy or what? Sony finds itself in all kinds of trouble following the recent attack that brought down the PSN network and compromised millions of accounts, containing sensitive personal data and credit card information.
The Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President of Sony Corporation, Kazuo Hirai, has just posted an open letter to the US congress, admitting that all 77 million accounts have been compromised.
However the company is still unable to tell how much personal info has actually leaked. Still with over 12 million credit-cards numbers recorded in the PSN and Qriocity accounts there are all kinds of reasons to feel worried.
Also Sony is still unable to identify who stands behind the attack �C no organization has taken responsibility for the hacking just yet and all they have right now is a file on one of the servers named “Anonymous” containing the words “We are Legion”.
You can find the full letter on the PlayStation blog.
Sony Mobile has just confirmed that Android 4.3 for the Xperia SP, Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V will start to roll out from the end of January/early 
