Hasta La Gadget!

This week the folks responsible for creating the Gmail environment for email on devices ranging from desktop all-in-ones down to the smallest smartphone have begun unrolling their previously announced “Categories” update. This version of Gmail allows users to employ a rather simple system for categorizing emails, most of this activated and sorted automatically where, in the past, all was based only on keywords and email addresses.

The Android version of this application will be appearing on the Google Play store today for some users, and rolling out to the rest soon for others. If you feel that you need the UI right this minute, you can hit up Android Community for an APK link – easy as pie. From there you’ll see what we’re seeing above and below.

Users will be able to activate this user interface on their desktop machines in web browsers in the upper right-hand corner of the Gmail homepage. Clicking the Gear icon will bring you into a list that has “configure inbox” in it – click it and see!

This update user interface does not make the Gmail experience any more difficult than it has been in the past, and is entirely optional. You’ll not need to separate emails into new categories like these if you’re not all about it, and in Android it’s only about making things just a bit more smooth.

The update should appear immediately after the “configure inbox” button is tapped – the Android user interface update may need a shut down and re-open cycling to happen before any changes can be seen.

Several built-in categories will appear in both your web browser (desktop) and mobile app Gmail environments. You can choose to use these or modify at will. Let us know which sections you’ll be pushing your correspondance into!

Android’s version has features such as one-tap emptying of the trash can and pull-down refresh – otherwise known as swipe down to refresh. This version of Gmail for Android goes by the name 4.5-694836, if you’d like to know, and it’ll be made official in the Google Play store sooner than later.

Gmail “categories” update hits Android and web with one-click activation is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This morning the Twitter-friendly 6-second-clip app known as Vine was launched for Android, but not without its own tiny share of summoning sickness. When pushed, this app first saw the inability to be installed on a variety of smartphones and tablets, this causing a miniature outcry on Twitter from those without iOS devices who’d been waiting for weeks to see this app come to Android.

Users who’ve not yet been able to access the app should take comfort in knowing that they’re not alone. Though support groups were jokingly planned by publications such as Android Community, the back-end problem seems to have been resolved here in the afternoon. Vine for Android is – for most users who’d previously reported problems to SlashGear – ready to be downloaded and installed for all Android devices.

If you are amongst the few who still see the message shown above, please feel free to let us know: “Oops, we could not determine if this item is compatible with your device. Please try again later.” The app can indeed be installed on most – if not all – Android devices that’ve been released in the past several years. If you’ve got a new smartphone or tablet and Vine doesn’t work, there’s something odd going on.

Vine has been promised by its developers to be receiving frequent updates now that it’s official for Android, especially in the face of the Apple device-tied version of the app’s relative success. Vine’s Android iteration does without front-facing camera support, search, mentions, hashtags, and the ability to share to Facebook for now, but the developers responsible for the project have promised each in the near future.

Vine for Android sees initial launch hiccup is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Watch ABC app is now available for Amazon’s Kindle Fire, but not on Google Play.

Like It , +1 , Tweet It , Pin It Original content from Ubergizmo.

Next month Google will be releasing two new “Google Edition” smartphones that carry their original brand names, the HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S 4. As the draw to these devices here in 2013 is based at least in part to the hardware manufacturers’ own software editions and modifications, Google’s releases come with both positive and negative values to them compared to their carrier or “Developer” editions. As the HTC One with “Nexus user experience” is introduced this week, we’ve taken a look at what users will gain – and what they’ll lose.

Sense

The original HTC One works with HTC’s newest “Sense” user interface – this comes with features like BlinkFeed, a full-page news reader experience. The original HTC Sense camera user interface was (and is) also a large selling point for the HTC One, this including features like HTC Zoe, Highlights, and the “living gallery”. That includes the Sense picture gallery interface too, mind you.

Everything on a visual level added by HTC for the HTC One with Sense does not appear on the HTC One Google Edition. That’s not to say the device couldn’t be hacked and these things added back in, but that’d defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?

Camera

While you’ll not be getting the HTC Sense camera software experience here with the HTC One Google Edition, you’ll still be working with “UltraPixels”. As the “UltraPixel Sensor” is a hardware component, it’ll still be present here in the Google Edition of the device. You’ll still be picking up “UltraPixels” that are 2.0 micrometers large.

The Google Edition also includes the HTC ImageChip, the f/2.0 Aperture, and the same lens, as well as the Optical Image Stabilizer. The question remains whether the resulting photos – same size, though they may be – will be as high quality as the standard HTC One. Testing this will also be difficult due to the fact that there won’t be a control situation – adding the HTC Sense camera software to the Google Edition would simply turn it back into the standard edition of the phone.

HDR Video will not be included on the Google Edition, as that is another HTC Sense software element. At the moment it would seem that 1080p video support remains good to go.

Beats Audio and Boomsound

The hardware remains the same – you’ll still have two forward-facing speakers that’ll be just as loud as they were on any other edition of the device. The difference is in the software. HTC has confirmed that this effectively means that there wont be any Beats Audio indicator in your status bar, but that you’ll still be getting the benefits of Beats Audio on the hardware end.

IR-Blaster for Remote Control

While the built-in “TV” app will no longer be there as it is in the standard edition of the HTC One, the infrared hardware will still be built-in. This is a transmitter (and receiver) appearing under the power button of the HTC One. If you’ve got the right app, you can control your television, stereo, or whatever other odd devices you’ve got around that still work with infrared control technology.

The big difference here is that because Android has no native apps that utilize IR-Blasters, you’ll have to head to Google Play to download one. And there are plenty of them out there, that’s for certain.

UPDATE: We’re now hearing conflicting reports on how the IR-Blaster will be (or wont be) in play. As Android doesn’t have native apps – and no native support of – infrared technology, it would seem that users will have to retro-fit HTC’s drivers to make it all function – or whip up some of their own. That is, unless Android 4.3 adds this functionality, of course.

Hardware Buttons

The HTC One with Nexus experience will function the same as the original with its two button set-up below its display. This means that a short press of the Home button will bring a user Home, a long press will bring up Google Now, and a double-tap will show Recent Apps. The Back button still just goes back.

As a side note: as it is with all Android devices that continue to be released with hardware buttons, apps that have not updated to Google’s design specifications will continue to show the black bar. This is the same button bar that appears on devices like the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus due to their lack of hardware buttons up front.

HTC One Google Edition: what you gain and what you lose is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today the Google Edition of the HTC One has been announced by the head of Android, Sundar Pichai. This announcement was made during the D11 conference in which this Google head spoke to Walt Mossberg about Android, Chrome, and all things Google software. The HTC One Google Edition follows in the footsteps of the Samsung GALAXY S 4 Google Edition which was announced a Google I/O 2013, and both devices will be available in late June.

The official launch date of the HTC One straight from Google is June 26th, while its off-contract price will be $599 USD. That’s unlocked as well, opening the door for hackers and developers to create custom user interfaces and interact with the deepest innards of the phone and its software. Google Play will be selling “Nexus” devices now aside two Google Edition smartphones, this being a first for the company.

“A special edition of the new HTC One running stock Android will be exclusively available through the Google Play store in the United States starting on June 26th. This edition pairs the all-metal unibody design, low-light capabilities of the UltraPixel camera and dual front-facing stereo speakers of the new HTC One with the stock version of the latest Android software, Jelly Bean 4.2.2.” – HTC

It’s apparent now that Google is willing to work with the top companies in the environment to not just bring forth a pure Android experience, but to allow these companies to retain their brand power as well. Though much of the Samsung GALAXY S 4′s user experience is based on the software Samsung pushes with it, the “GALAXY” name remains strong with or without the details – Google appears to believe the same to be true about HTC and the HTC One.

This HTC One will be launched with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean without any software additions by HTC. This will be separate from the SIM unlocked and Developer Edition phones direct from HTC, and pricing will be slightly different based on edition. The “Nexus Experience” aka “Google Edition” of the HTC One will cost $599 USD, while the SIM Unlocked phone straight from HTC will also cost that same amount.

The Developer Edition costs just a bit more straight from HTC because of its slightly larger internal storage size, that being 64GB instead of the 32GB of the Nexus Experience phone. These devices all work with HSPA/WCDMA, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and LTE.

SOURCE: HTC

HTC One Google Edition made official with “Nexus User Experience” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.