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Monday, March 1, 2021
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Sony, LG, Samsung and Dell Tablets Will Have Preloaded Skype and Microsoft Office

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Microsoft has reached deals with LG, Sony, Dell and a few other electronics producers to install some of its most popular apps on Android tablets.

Dell, Sony, LG, and other important electronics brands customers will soon be able to use Skype, Microsoft Office and cloud services on their Android tablets immediately after they bought them after Microsoft signed an agreement with the OEMs to give out the installed apps and software.

The deal reaches to 31 partners, Haier and other smaller companies being part of the agreement as well. Microsoft has also included them in earlier contracts closed with with Samsung, Dell, Pegatron, which will allow Skype and Microsoft Office to be installed on their tablets. A significant number of these apps are already found on Samsung Galaxy S6.

The business deal with Microsoft has not been completely released, but the tech giant has announced a unilateral aim to open up new ways for gaining revenue for each of the partners.

LG is soon to start preloading Microsoft apps and software in their soon to be launched tablet, while Sony has already said they will be using them in their upcoming Xperia Z4 tablet in June.

The hardware companies from the deal will soon be uploading their Android tablets with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype in the future months, a fact that shows Microsoft’s ambition to have their applications and software on non-Windows mobile gadgets.

The partnerships will enlarge Microsoft’s ecosystem to a large range of mobile devices to compensate for the tech giant’s slow growth in its own mobile gadget sales. With the applications installed on Android devices, Microsoft will manage to get its programs into the market with ease.

The software company’s move to offer free MS Office apps to Android gadgets has even included iPhones and iPads, after it gave out a subscription-free Office apps, while separate individual apps launched for Android and iOS in November last year.

At the same time, Microsoft has announced that Cortana – a digital personal assistant – will soon be available as a separate app specific to Apple iOS and Google Android.

“Our strategic agreements with these partners demonstrate how Microsoft is leveraging the scale of the hardware ecosystem, and working with partners in new ways to deliver rich experiences to our customers. This is a cornerstone of our cross-platform services strategy, to bring an array of Microsoft services to every person on every device”, the company announced in a blog post.

Image Source: Derek Lovell Coaching

Coming Soon: Android Lollipop for Nexus 8

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nexus 8 lollipop update

You no longer have to be a second generation Moto G user to enjoy the enhancements brought by the Android Lollipop. Pushing its own standards higher , Google announced that the Android Lollipop for Nexus 8 and other Nexus devices would become available  in the next couple of weeks.

If you remember, there was a huge hype in the press and among tech specialists regarding Lollipop being sported by the second – gen Moto G. This week Google unveiled three new Android – powered Nexus devices, so it makes perfect sense to also announce the much awaited Android Lollipop. So far, after almost a year of testing and moving forward from one phase to the next, the only Nexus devices featuring the Lollipop are Nexus 5 and Nexus 7, the initial testing products.

The company, however, recently declared that the Android Lollipop for Nexus 8 would roll out soon enough. But this is not all! Other Nexus gadgets will also get blessed with the new and exciting operating system. Among them, there are the Nexus 4, 5, 6 and 7 smartphones, among which, the Nexus 6 handset is the newest addition to the family. The Lollipop will also be available for the Nexus tablets, the Nexus 10 version and the new face in town, the Nexus 9.

The news that Google will unleash not only a new and enhanced OS but also a wide ranges of Lollipop powered new devices left the tech world in excitement. Besides Motorola, which somehow managed to be the first to get a piece of the action, other Android smartphones manufacturers are enlisted for the future Android Lollipop release.

We are talking about Samsung and HTC among others. Rumors travel fast and they say a large part of Samsung Galaxy smartphones are very likely to receive the Lollipop: Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 4. However, as we reported before, the Galaxy S5 and the Note 4 seem to be scheduled for a full OS update by the end of the year.

If you don’t happen to own a Nexus smartphone or tablet, or a Samsung handset at least, there are still many options, provided you have patience: some of the Motorola, HTC and LG handsets are expected to receive the update as of next week or so.

The Android Lollipop for Nexus 8 is not the final stage of the Google strategy. Experts say this is just the beginning, or at least a precursor to a greater goal and many more tech developments to come. Some went so far in assuming the world will get an Android Lollipop 5.0.1 by the end of the year, as Google implements the OS into Nexus 8 and all the Nexus family devices. So let’s wait for the news and get ready to embrace whatever is coming out of Silicon Valley’s gates!

The New LG G Watch R Smartwatch Goes Head – to – Head With Gear S

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Today is definitely the Smartwatch Day! We can call it that without being too wrong about it, because three major players in the tech world unleashed new smartwatches and rumors about future smartwatches too. As you have hear by now and as we already reported, Apple is said to release their long – awaited and appraised iWatch together with the iPhone 6 on September 9th. Analysts believe these rumors will prove true and we don’t have reasons to not trust them.

LG G Watch R Smartwatch

But back to the Smartwatch Day, this day was a great one for wearable devices. It is the day when both Samsung and LG revealed their newest smartwatch models and boasted about their features and specs.

Since we already covered Samsung and its intentions to stand against its competitors and even win a slice of the market share, we will focus our attention on the new LG G Watch R Smartwatch.

To paraphrase Daniel Howley from Yahoo, holy Gods of fashion, is this smartwatch beautiful! Let’s quote the first – hand impressions on this exquisite accessory:

it’s one of the most elegantly designed smartwatches we’ve seen yet. Set to make its debut at the IFA consumer electronics conference in Germany next week, the G Watch R stands out from many of its smartwatch competitors thanks to its stylish circular design.

Now that we all admired the gadget, let’s not forget that we are still on high – tech territory, no matter how swept away we might feel by this awesome display of high – fashion.

So what does the new LG G Watch R Smartwatch have and the competition doesn’t?

Unfortunately, not much. Granted, the round, elegant look is a valuable feature, but the new rounded Moto 360 smartwatch is a worthy adversary. Also, the LG sports a circular touchscreen which measures 1.3 inches, but the new Samsung Gear S features a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display with 360-by-480 resolution, which makes the G’s model resolution of 320 × 320 pixels look like a poor attempt.

Before jumping to conclusions, let’s see the tech specs of the new LG G Watch R Smartwatch:

  • A 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 400 processor
  • A 1.3-inch P-OLED Display (320 x 320)
  • A  4GB eMMC / 512MB RAM memory
  • Battery: 410mAh
  • Android Wear OS

If you are a tech – oriented person, you will go for the Samsung, no doubt. That piece of equipment can make phone calls by itself without any other help, has GPS and a full collection of Samsung apps, complimented by navigation apps signed by Nokia and Nike+. It is Dick Tracy’s dream came true.

But, if you are into more elegant devices, gadgets that still look like something you’d wear like a gentleman / lady and not a Science Fiction movie character, probably the LG is the right choice for you. Apple will come next, Motorola is stirring waters and many more will follow. The choice is yours.

First look at the new Android Wear smartwatches

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Android Wear smartwatches at Google I/O 2014One of the main event at the Google I/O is the presentation of the Android Wear OS, along with a couple of smartwatches running the software. The look of the three main Android Wear smartwatches is rather classic, with LG’s G Watch and Samsung Gear Live featuring rectangular shapes and Motorola’s Moto 360 featuring a classic round shape. Samsung already declared that it will customize its gadget with its own apps and we expect the same from LG. Motorola, on the other hand, will probably stay closer to its recent former owner, Google, in terms of software customization. Let’s have a look at the specs and the first impressions.

The first three Android Wear smartwatches

LG G Watch is the most expensive smartwatch, with a starting price of $229. It is available for preorder on the Google Play Store. It features an always-on IPS display measuring 1.65 inches with a resolution of 280X280 pixels. The engine is an energy-efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 at 1.2 Ghz paired with 512MB Ram, while the its storage holds up 4 Gb of data. It connects with other devices, primarily the smartphone, through Bluetooth 4.0, as long as the main gadget runs Android 4.3 and above). It is IP67  certified (water and dust resistance), but it doesn’t mean that you should rush into the pool with it. The gyroscope, accelerometer and compass will support applications regarding fitness and movement.

Samsung Gear Live has identical features as LG’s G Watch in terms of the processor, Ram and storage. As it will probably be the norm for Android Wear smartwatches, it is IP67 certified and, besides the gyroscope, the accelerometer and the compass, it contains a heart rate monitor. The 300 mAh battery has a 100 mAh smaller capacity than LG’s watch. The screen is larger, though, with a resolution of 320X320 pixels. With this configuration, LG’s G Watch might be one more efficient. The price of this smartwatch will be $199 and is available for preorder.

Motorola Moto 360 has a round shape, although its display has a tiny unusable part due to the space needed for drivers. The classy model has a sapphire OLED display and will be charged through magnetic induction and is IP67 certified too. The exact specs are not known by know, but we believe the hardware will be similar to both LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live Android Wear smartwatches. The price of Moto 360 is not yet known.

 

LG G3 Review. It’s Finally Here and It’s Good

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LG G3 reviewA while back we talked about LG G3 rumors about release date and specs and now the phone is finally here and it seems we were about right. The smartphone was launched yesterday and today we have our hands on it and we’re ready to give you a quick LG G3 review of this impressive smartphone.

LG G3 Review

The first thing we have to say in our LG G3 review is that LG’s new flagship smartphone has an awesome display. While most phones are running 1080p screens (Full HD), the new LG G3 smartphone has a 5.5 inch display with a 2560×1440 resolution, which means a 538 PPI sharpness, which is quite impressive.

LG calls the back of phone as being metallic skin, which sounds good, looks pretty great but it still has a long way before it achieves the sleekness of other premium smartphones, such as the iPhone 5s.

The user interface is updated and it is probably one of the best things about the LG G3 smartphone. Even the icons look much better than they used to!

Our LG G3 review wouldn’t be complete without a look at the phone’s camera. It has the same 13 MP as the LG G2 did, but with some noteworthy upgrades.

The autofocus is able to do some great things, such as taking things from downright blurry to sharp in 0.27 seconds (the competition does that in 0.3 seconds).

The funny thing about this camera is that it uses a laser detection system that was developed by LG to stop vacuum cleaners from falling down the stairs. This allows the users to get a crisp image every time they press the shutter button. Well, it’s not really a shutter button, because with the LG G3, as with the Moto G, you can press anywhere on the screen to take a picture.

The quality of the photos is good, but we need to mention two things: firstly, the macro is stunning, secondly the zoom reveals blurriness with anything that is not macro.

Us, the folks here at GadgetGesture have to say we’re pretty impressed by the LG G3 smartphone. It’s a strong phone with a good camera and a spectacular screen, but we really don’t see it going the places it hopes it would. The design is really awesome and it looks better than it feels in your hand and the battery could stand for improvement. Are you happy with our LG G3 review? Are you going to give it a chance?

LG D830 packs 13MP camera, 4K playback and slow-motion recording

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lg-d830The next flagship from LG, codenamed the LG D830, is going to be a monster when it comes to photography and video, amongst other features currently being leaked. We are not sure if this will be named the LG G3 or LG G 2 Pro, we believe the G 2 Pro will come before the actual annual flagship.

This new leak reveals two features on the LG D830, the amazing camera and the smartphones ability to render HTML5 incredibly well, hitting high on the benchmark scores. We do not normally see leaks on HTML5 benchmarks, pointing at the LG D830 having some new features to make it work so well.

On the camera side, the LG D830 will come with a 13MP rear camera, capable of 4K playback and 120 frames slow-motion recording. The 4K playback feature is a little odd, considering the lack of devices that actually support this resolution.

The slow-motion recording is a nice feature, Apple uses it on the iSight iPhone 5S camera and there are other smartphones that support the slow-motion capture. We hope LG work on actually getting the best picture quality, the LG G2 had some shoddy images in low-light.

Other than that, the LG D830 will come with a 1080 x 1920 full HD display and Snapdragon 800 processor, alongside 2GB of RAM. We guess the battery will be huge, same as the LG G2 that is capable of lasting a full two days without charge.

It is a natural progression on the codename, the LG G2 was named the LG D802 and the Nexus 5 was named the LG D820/21. It was not hard for anyone to spot the pattern in LG’s smartphone code-names.

This does not seem like a full flagship upgrade, rather it will be the LG G 2 Pro until the LG G3 comes along in August, with a 2K display, octa-core processor and some other new features.

LG unveils webOS, their new take on Smart TV

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webos-tvIn February 2013, HP decided it was time to give up the webOS dream, after half a decade of failing to bring the Palm OS ideas to life. LG acquired the dying mobile operating system and had a plan, to reinvent webOS for their Smart TVs.

LG’s move to take webOS and change the layout and functionality, while still holding some of the finer details together, was an ambitious stride. Today at CES the company unveiled why they bought the OS and how they have redefined the idea of Smart TV.

WebOS has been redesigned but comes with the familiar card layout, only this time with rhombus shapes on the bottom the TV. The cards are all the users frequently used apps and LG has grabbed a few core apps, including Netflix, YouTube and Skype, amongst others.

Whats interesting is the cards are not just apps, they are stations and different connected devices. For instance, when a user plugs in their Xbox One or PS4, instead of just showing ‘HDMI 1’ it will show up as the PS4, a clever move by LG to make webOS easier.

LG has also made switching channels a lot easier and it all has to do with the simplistic interface, allowing users to switch from TV to Netflix, similar to how the Xbox One controls applications and app switching.

As for how LG will acquire the apps, webOS uses a very simple Enyo framework and most web applications are compatible without a large amount of tinkering. App developers will obviously have their worries in case their apps do not see any users, but with Netflix and other streaming services already available, it is only a short time before LG starts to build its own TV store.

LG will not just be putting this on one TV, the South Korean company plans to install webOS onto 50% of their TVs this year alone, with more to follow as they move forward. This is a move against Rokuand Apple TV and other TV options, but it is one that is integrated with the television, making it an easier solution.

LG G Flex reportedly coming to US carriers AT&T and T-Mobile

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lg-g-flexSamsung may be fine with keeping the Galaxy Round in South Korea, but LG have big plans for the G Flex, their first flexible smartphone. The LG G Flex wowed a few millions viewers on YouTube, not for the rounded display, but for the self-healing back cover.

It may be a bit of a big jump for the LG G Flex, but according to a new leaked image by Evleaks, the flexible smartphone will be coming to both AT&T and T-Mobile in the coming months, bringing the first flexible phone to US soil.

The LG G Flex has already passed through the FCC database, making it certified to be sold in the United States. It was only a matter of time before a carrier picked it up and the two most open carriers have come forward, we are actually surprised T-Mobile is going to sell the smartphone.

We have seen a Sprint version swimming about, but there is no clear release date in sight and the carrier may end up not selling the smartphone. We do have dates for the two others, T-Mobile on March 12 and AT&T on March 17.

As we expected, Verizon Wireless is the only major carrier in the US not interested in the LG G Flex. The thing about Verizon is even though they carry a smaller line of products, normally all the ones that do well are available on their service.

The LG G Flex is a nice phone to try out, but we cannot see that many sales happening for the flexible device. Apart from the self-healing back that markets to a niche audience who really want a clean smartphone, there is no real feature to draw users in.

The flexible display isn’t really “flexible” since it is still incased in a plastic shell and the software is just the same old LG skin over Android, with a few customisations for the rounded screen.

Even though AT&T and T-Mobile may see the interest as enough, we cannot see the interest turning into actual paying customers.

LG webOS TV leaked before CES 2014 debut

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lg-webos-tvLG’s webOS TV project has been silent for a while now, ever since the acquisition of HP’s failed Palm OS project we have heard very little from LG, apart from announcements they will be working on webOS for their new smart TVs.

The fruition of months of work may be upon us at CES and Evleaks has come early to the party once again, with new leaked photo of the LG webOS TV and the new interface LG has created on top of Palm’s old mobile operating system.

It is impressive that in a matter of months LG has managed to create a TV operating system from an abandoned mobile project HP put on the shelve. Most of the functionality will remain, we suspect and LG has had some work re-skinning webOS to look better on the big screen.

The design of the LG webOS TV is really nice, but the South Korean electronics giant has become a master at making incredible televisions. The steel stand and edge-to-edge display with no bezel screams quality and we can expect this being a high-price smart TV.

On the user interface front, LG has kept the multi-tasking cards feature but redesign it to make every card a small rhombus. We actually like the photo showing the UI, but it will be after CES when we find out if it is intuitive and functional, for now it just looks exciting.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype all look to be available on the LG webOS TV, the photo shows all the apps available. LG will be using webOS Enyo framework to gather apps onto the system, there is already quite a few, but none have been updated recently.

We do not know how this TV will fair, LG has not had the best success when it comes to smart TVs, but then again, nobody has apart from Samsung. WebOS is a nice concept and if LG can sell this at a reasonable rate, they may be able to draw a few buyers in.

LG LifeBand Touch reportedly will launch at CES 2014

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lg-lifeband-touchLG has already announced they will be launching a smartwatch sometime in 2014 and it looks like the South Korean electronics giant will take no time, with news the LifeBand Touch will be revealed at CES 2014, in January.

This is a little earlier than what we were expecting, but it seems every manufacturer is prepping their biggest products for the early launch window, between January and April, with most of the consumer electronics coming to CES.

The newest tip comes from Evleaks, saying the LifeBand Touch will come with a Fitbit design and will not be a smartwatch per say, more like a smart-band. We still believe there will be an interface for checking the time and recent notifications, instead of just a plain band.

The leak says the LifeBand Touch specs will come with an OLED display, accelerometer, altitude meter, and music player to control the connected device. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear only worked with the Galaxy Note 3 and some other compatible Samsung devices, but LG’s smart-band will work with iOS or Android devices.

We do like the idea of LG getting into the fray with Nike and Fitbit, but this is stiff competition and a lot of people already love the Nike Fuelband, including Apple’s CEO Tim Cook who regularly compliments the ease and use of the fitness band, compared to others on the market.

LG may bring more than just the LifeBand Touch to CES, we have heard about the first LG G3 rumors, coming with a fingerprint sensor and 3GB of RAM, alongside some other high-end specs and a brand new design.

Other than the LifeBand Touch, we have heard about HTC possibly developing their own smartwatch and other smart devices and Samsung may be bringing their second generation of the Galaxy Gear to CES or MWC, alongside the Galaxy S5.