Samsung working on its own version of Google Glass

Although many in the know have stepped out and suggested that Google Glass will not make a widespread impression on the consumer market, it’s fair to say that the consensus pertaining the wearable tech is one of excitement. Ever since the project was first revealed last year, we’ve seen some exciting snippets of what Glass could eventually be capable of, and with many developers and creative individuals currently working on apps, Glass’ launch early next year will be, one suspects, a significant date in the calendar.

The “Gear Glass” news is courtesy of industry insider Eldar Murtazin, who recently took to Twitter to reveal that the product may launch – or at least become a public project – sometime in April or May of next year. We don’t know how much it will cost or what it will look like, but it’s probably safe to assume it will work with Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and Android, similar to how the Galaxy Gear functions.

We imagine there’s going to be some sort of suit from Google if Samsung really uses “Glass” in the product’s name, there’s no doubt that could create some confusion among consumers, but Samsung doesn’t seem very afraid of lawsuits with major competitors. We’ll see in the coming months.

Source

Google may launch its Smartwatch alongside Android 4.4 KitKat

Google is likely to officially lift the cover off Android 4.4 KitKat, and likely a Nexus 5 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet, but it might have one more surprise - a smartwatch. A device codenamed Gem may launch alongside Android 4.4 KitKat on a massive event scheduled for October 31st, according to Android Police co-founder Artem Russakovskii.

Other information states that the Google smartwatch could have begun life as a Motorola product called the xWATCh, which would have been released with the Moto X (or XFON). It looks like plans changed, and it was turned into a Google product. Hopefully we’ll see it come very soon, and hopefully it’s a lot more innovative than the current crop of smartwatches.

Source

BlackBerry Messenger coming to desktops

BBM was scheduled to launch on Android and iOS devices over the past weekend, marking the service’s expansion beyond BlackBerry’s own hardware. However, the release was quickly cut short due to technical issues with no word on when it might re-launch.

The company’s most recent setback clearly isn’t enough to slow down BBM’s expansion. The messaging service is one of the company’s few remaining valuable assets, and bringing it to desktop computers will help give BlackBerry an edge over competing apps like WhatsApp, which only works on mobile devices. The company still has to face off with iMessage, Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts, however, all of which work on both mobile and desktop, and have massive built-in user bases.

Via
Source

BBM for Android leaks

BBM for Android leaks out, but you can't use it yet.
It appears that the service is still locked down on Android unless you're on "the whitelist", so if you don't have a whitelisted BBID then you'll get stuck on the setup screen and that will be the end of it.

You can download it anyway if you just want to check it out then let it rest as we await the real deal in the days to come.

More Soon

HTC One Max specs leaked!

One of the new photos reveals that the code name for the phone is HTC 8088, and it will support GSM and LTE pipelines. The handset is expected to come to market with a 5.9 inch glass with 1080 x 1920 resolution (FHD for those who like three letter abbreviations) and a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. 2GB of RAM is on board along with 16GB of native storage. A microSD slot is available and a very un-HTC like 3300mAh battery powers the unit with the UltraPixel snapper, and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

A couple of photos showing off the One Max from up close have surfaced as well, with the About screen on the handset in one picture identifying it as the “HTC 8088.” The device in the new images matches up with what we’ve already seen numerous times before, including a square cutout beneath the camera that’s expected to house a fingerprint scanner. Also, it looks like HTC finally realized the importance of having the power button on the side, though it’s unfortunate it took a 6-inch device to help the Taiwanese manufacturer reach that conclusion.

The HTC One Max will reportedly cost $800 and launch sometime in October, and we can expect to see even more of the handset’s details leak in the coming weeks. Not that we need any more details at this point, but hey, they’ll keep everyone happy until HTC sees it fit to make an official announcement.

Source
Via