Huawei hopes that phone helps P7 it 'Ascend' to Apple-like heights

Paris-the Chinese company with the launch of Huawei's Ascend P7 flagship Smartphone on Wednesday also launched a new phase of its ambitions for global makes.

Ascend-P7 - for sale in June in 33 countries in Europe and Asia for 449 euros (approximately $665)-go to the company in more profitable high-end handset segment, where clients are style-conscious, and profits are higher wear.

"Price / performance ratio is not enough. We have premium products according to the requirements of the market", said Richard Ren, President of Huawei's EU consumer business group, in an interview on the Ascend P7 global launch event here.

The P7 has a 1.8 GHz quad core processor from Huawei's own design, a 5-inch-by 1,920 x 1,080 pixel display, a 2, 500mAh battery, an unusually strong camera 8 mega pixels for front-facing, a rear facing-13-mega pixel camera and a competitive trim 6.5 mm thick.

It uses version 4.4 KitKat by Google's Android operating system with Huawei's emotion-user interface layers at the top. But that is not always the case. Asked whether Huawei is planning a nexus-style cell phone running Android Google's interface, said ren: "we have a business plan with Google." He went on to share specifics.

The Ascend P7 high-end push is disproportionately important for Huawei be: the company hopes P6 models rise to more than double the P-series premium phones from 4 million in 2013 on 10 million P7 models in the year 2014, ren said. Compared to their targets for overall handset are shipping growth modest 52 1 million, he said.

This means that the premium products from around 7 percent will rise to 13 percent of the total turnover of the company.

It is an ambitious goal, but it is hard. Huawei reached 4.9 percent of global handset shipments in the first quarter of 2014, according to analyst firm IDC, but it is far behind Apple's 15.5 percent and Samsung's 30.2 percent. The competitors are hardly still--still are, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Motorola and new Chinese challengers like Xiaomi.

Ren thinks Huawei has entered a new phase of business listeners but and will reap business. It began as a manufacturer of other phones but then decided on a three-phase plan, to become a well known brand.

The first phase was to "break through", to gain a foothold and distribution partners to convince that Huawei is a brand you can trust. The second phase began in the past year: growth. The third phase is a leader to be worldwide, i.e. more than 15 percent market share.

How fast is Huawei to enter the third phase? "We finished in the second phase in the year 2017," said ren. If the company level the leadership, it is how loyalty increases people's friends and family, and brand, recommend rewarded with simple sales Huawei cell phones, he added.

Much of Huawei's success has been its position in its home market. While the companies in selected countries around the world has made progress, it is essentially closed, in major markets such as the United States, where its brand practically does not exist, even though it is a campaign to raise awareness to build.

Huawei will sell the P7 in the United States, even though it starts there. "For operator resale channels, we need more conversations with our customers," ren said, referring to partners like AT & T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, which are responsible for the shipping of many phones in consumers hands.

How exactly are a company be recognized? In Europe, football teams in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany sponsoring has been a successful way.

Worldwide more than doubled the number of consumers who recognized a Smartphone manufacturer Huawei to 52 percent from 2012 to 2013. In some countries, it is even more: 60 percent in Spain and 58 percent in Germany.

"There us a lot to improve the awareness helped," said ren.

Huawei's newest flagship phone, the Ascend-P7, collects some decent Kit in a body seriously slim, glass-backed in. / Read editors take

Hands-on with the dimples NFC keys

One of the coolest concepts I've seen this year is the pits, a plastic strip with four (or two) physical buttons that remain on your Android device. It is complete of NFC and you can use an app buttons to your successor Government program: run an application, to switch the flashlight, you start the camera, or whatever.

Sounds pretty cool, or? But I could not help wondering whether the reality would meet the promise.

Fortunately, the dimpled folks were friendly enough to me to review a four-key prototype, out. I fished my NFC equipped Motorola Moto X brought the dimples app and the four keys strips to the test set. (Unfortunately I was not able to test even though the devs say, it will still work with a case.) How would that be?

For the beginning it will be somewhat difficult to know where the stickers to place over the length of your pinky (well, my pinky) is from the ankle up to the top. And it turns out, it can not just somewhere to go. The Moto-X for example, I wanted it near the upper left corner of the back cover, which is round, where my left index finger lands, when I hold the phone. But the NFC signal was not strong enough, so I ended up with him on the right side, directly below the speaker. (Your mileage may vary, you want to experiment before the adhesive backed up, remove, although I was able to remove and again the label several times.)

Because the keys are a little stiff, I could not but tap it. I had them a fixed press, which give a somewhat difficult adjustment requires your grip, if you try it on one hand. I found it more convenient, the phone with my right hand when pressing a button with my left bracket.

The dimples come in two and four-button versions. But what is with three? Dimples

Actually I that practical, will be two keys dimples, how it should think more options for placement and alignment. A three-button version would also make sense. It looks like it is a bit hard to remember the programming for four buttons. (Let's see, was it, flashlight, camera, Kindle, and Cozi or flashlight camera, Cozi, Kindle?) This may be just my problem.

The app will guide you through every step, making both a breeze and Setup. No pairing is required when NFC enable on your device. And it is a thing of beauty, that the pits requires no external power supply.

However a small disappointment: it will not work if your screen is turned off. It would be nice if a KeyPress wake up your device and perform its action, but could at least on the Moto-X, that doesn't happen. You need to tap the power/wake button before the pits can be operated. I'm sure that is a power management problem; Full-time NFC would probably draining your battery.

The four button dimple pursue sales (online) in August for $27, with the two-button version in September for $17. Again, I suspect the latter becoming increasingly popular, will prove to be both for its lower price and simple accommodation.

One thing is certain: the pits work as touted, and it is a really great complement to any phone, supports the NFC.

AOC launches Android-powered all-in-ones

It may look like an ordinary monitor, but the AOC mySmart comes preloaded with Android 4.1. AOC

When is a monitor more than just a monitor? When it's also a PC.

AOC's new mySmart All-in-One series gives you a 22- or 24-inch LED-backlit touchscreen, complete with HDMI and VGA inputs for connecting the source of your choice.

No source? No problem: the mySmart comes preloaded with Android 4.2 4.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and various PC-like features, making it a self-contained, somewhat portable desktop. Just one that runs Android instead of Windows or Mac OS. Update: According to an AOC rep, the monitors do come with Android 4.1, not 4.2.

In other words, this is kind of like an oversize tablet, one designed for a desk or countertop rather than a couch or carry-on bag. Sound like something you could use?

In addition to the aforementioned inputs, these IPS (!) monitors offer a 1,920x1,080 native resolution and two-point touch capabilities. The system runs on an Nvidia 1.6GHz T33 quad-core processor and comes with 8GB of expandable storage.

Other specs include a front-facing 720p camera (for Skype calls and the like), four USB ports, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, dual speakers, and an SDHC slot.

You can lower the monitor for a more comfortable typing angle. AOC

Although it's not expressly stated in the description, it appears from the photos that the mySmart's folding stand can position the monitor at a variety of angles, including a fairly shallow one for typing -- though I suspect anyone planning to use this for email, word processing, or the like would prefer an actual keyboard. Any Bluetooth or even USB model should do the trick.

If you've stuck around this far, you're no doubt wondering how these are priced. After all, it's the rare Windows-powered all-in-one that sells for under $500, and iMacs start at around $1,300.

The 22-inch AOC A2272PW4T has a list price of $300, while the 24-inch A2472PW4T will sell for $400. To put that in some perspective, Best Buy currently sells an Acer 23-inch touchscreen IPS monitor for $300. But it's just a monitor -- there's no Android onboard.

Needless to say, whether you're in the market for a new PC or a new monitor, it might be worth considering one of AOC's mySmart models. They're barely more expensive than their non-smart counterparts.

Your thoughts?

CLIQ case adds three NFC buttons on your smartphone

The NFC-enhanced Cliq case comes in your choice of five colors. CLIQ cases

What is your most common app? Kindle? Calendar? Camera? Can you the icon on your home screen, but you must still through the lock screen swipe reader, navigate to the home screen and tap the icon. Phew! Exhausting!

Wouldn't it be great, if only one physical button, now a favorite app or a function could push to start? That's the idea behind the Cliq, a Smartphone case with three built-in shortcut keys.

These keys rely on Near Field Communication (NFC), which means that they wirelessly and without any kind of special power source to operate. Instead, they consider the juice, you need the Smartphone-NFC stereo. And they program their functions through a simple application.

Does that sound familiar? This concept is already surfaced a NFC buttons stickers in the form of pits, providing more or less the same functionality. A better option is the Cliq? That depends on it.

The Cliq app let you customize the three buttons to your liking. CLIQ cases

Because it is a case, it provides protection. But it is available to only a select few mobile phones, at least in the beginning: the LG G2 Google nexus 5, Motorola Moto X and Samsung touch 3, S4 and S5. The dimples does not protect your phone, but it should work with any non-metal case, you already use.

What the Cliq buttons gives you three of them, all lined up in close to the left edge of the housing (if you keep your phone screen front). With the dimples, you get the buttons to position, where you are, at least in the theory-after my experience with a prototype wishing she worked not everywhere.

The CLIQ app promises virtually every adaptation, allowing you an application a flashlight sending a prefabricated text message starts. The developers are also promising compatibility with Automation apps like AutomateIt, and Tasker, means you could trigger may be even more complex actions.

The Kickstarter campaign seeks $40,000, already financed with nearly $17,000 and go about three weeks to raise. The $20 and $25 early backer options are sold out, but you can pre-order yet a Cliq (at the choice of the colors) for $30. Given the fact that a four button dimple is running $27, is no bad costs of entry.

Their thoughts?

Best pure Android tablets

The advantages of a tablet running pure Android are simple; no manufacturer bloatware or custom interfaces, and more control over what you can do with your slate. Android customization options are so great, manufacturers often offer a unique overlay on their Android devices (like Samsung's TouchWiz), but those can constrain your options as well.

If you know which apps, widgets, and themes you'd like -- or if you'd like freedom to choose-- a pure Android OS gives you a fresh slate (pun intended) to start with. The Google Play store is still catching up to Apple's robust App Store in terms of available apps, but second place isn't that bad, especially if you're uninterested in a restrictive operating system.

We've gathered the best tablets running vanilla Android and, though not all offer the latest version, they offer the stock option that puts most of the control in your hands (literally).

Budget tablets sometimes offer tons of software features to make up for poor build quality, but Dell plays it cool and offers a refreshing combination of pure Android on a simple, no-frills slate. The 8-inch Venue tablet offers the basics, with the plus of a microSD card, all for an appropriate starting price. This budget tablet is genuinely a great deal. Read the full review of the Dell Venue 8.

LG took a short break from tablets, but they seem to have kissed and made up in a fabulous way. The LG G Pad 8.3 comes in a Google Play Edition that runs a vanilla version of Android 4.3 and, though there's also a version of the LG G Pad 8.3 with LG's overlay, the supersleek build matched with the no-frills stock Android OS make a brute combination. Read the full review of the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition.

The Nexus 7 is one of the best small tablets, thanks to speedy specs and competitive pricing, and it also offers a pure version of Android. Since it's a Google-branded tablet, it gets the latest OS updates as soon as they're ready to roll out and it currently runs the KitKat 4.4 OS. Read the full review of the Google Nexus 7.

The Nexus 10 was so precocious, it's still relevant today despite being two years old. The 10-incher set a precedent for large tablets and newer slates are still trying to catch up to the its 2,560x1,600-pixel resolution. Google hasn't announced a replacement for 2012's model, but the current one is doing just fine -- still. Read the full review of the Google Nexus 10.

The Android era: From G1 to KitKat

Android 4.4 KitKat refreshed the operating system with a new design, and ushered in a plan to deal with fragmentation. CNET weighs in on how far the Android OS has come and where it's going next.

Google has come a long way since the early days when it struggled to convince the world that its friendly green extraterrestrial could make applesauce of the revolutionary iPhone.

In truth, Google's first Android phone, the HTC-made T-Mobile G1, wasn't much to look at when it debuted in October 2008, with its trough for a keyboard and its bizarrely jutting chin. HTC was hardly a known brand, and we weren't even sure if we were getting a single Google Phone or an entire operating system. Still the humble G1, with its ugly design and few apps, kicked off an Android avalanche just the same.

Now in 2014, Android and iOS both command the smartphone market (CNET's Jason Parker outlines the history of iOS here). Yet for all the platform's success, too many versions of the operating system are available at the same time across handsets and carriers. Whether you call that fragmentation or not, Google is actively trying to change it. When the company released version 4.4 KitKat in 2013, it made a big push to make its operating system smaller, so that it could run on budget devices with small amounts of internal storage and just 512MB of RAM (most flagship Android phones have 1GB or more). And yet, while some Android device manufacturers are starting to build KitKat phones, we still see plenty of brand-new low-end devices released with Jelly Bean 4.3 and 4.2. At least for the foreseeable future, the fragmentation problem is here to stay.

A little perspective tends to go a long way, and in light of that, here's a look at the major milestones in Google's Android operating system, from its humble beginnings to its current ambitions in smartphone and tablet domination.

Android versionSDK release*Notable updatesGPS and Bluetooth (but not stereo Bluetooth)MultitaskingTight integration with Google services like Gmail, Google Maps (with Street View), and Google CalendarApps: Amazon MP3 Store; YouTubeAndroid Market (about 35 apps at launch)No Microsoft Exchange Server; no camcorderUniversal search box (search had been limited to the Web)Revamped Android Market: Browsing categories (Apps, Games, Downloads) and filters (Top Free, Top Paid, Just In)Camera: Toggle between camera and video modes; integrated photo gallery and camera with bulk photo deletingSDK expands support for gestures, voice-to-textVirtual onscreen keyboardCamcorder mode for recording (and watching) videoStereo BluetoothHome screen widgets and foldersCopy/paste and search within the browserDirect upload to YouTube and PicasaMultiple user accountsExchange support; universal email inboxQuick Contact pop-up widget to launch communications with friends in the address bookSearch saved SMS and MMS messagesCamera improvements include support for flash and digital zoomBluetooth 2.1Keyboard improvements: Adaptive dictionary that includes contact names in suggestionsLive wallpaper; five home screensSpeech-to-text added to any text field; microphone icon for voice dictation in emails, texts, and so onSpeedier OSUSB tethering and hotspot supportAndroid Market update: Batch and automatic updates; installing apps to the SD cardAdobe Flash 10.1File uploading in the browserImproved Microsoft Exchange support: Security policies, global address lookup, calendar sync, remote wipeBluetooth support for voice dialing and contact sharingRedesigned copy/pasteWebM video compression supportNFC (near-field communication) supportSwitch to front-facing camera from camera appVirtual keyboard shortcuts3D graphics supportSide-by-side browser tabs; private browsingDual-pane modes for address book, emailRedesigned UI includes program thumbnailsVideo chatting with Google TalkFull-screen-mode photo galleryBluetooth tetheringSupport for peripherals like keyboards and game padsResizable widgets"Pay as you go" support for 3G, 4G tabletsVarious bug fixes and enhancementsSupport for virtual buttons in addition to touch-sensitive buttonsCreate folders by dragging apps on top of each otherA new app tray tab for thumbing through widgetsCalendar app now supports pinch-to-zoomGmail gets offline search, swiping between conversationsRevamped Gmail user interfaceNew Chrome browser syncs with your bookmarks, saves pages offline, supports 16 browser tabsMore keyboard error correction, inline spell checkCustomizable lock screen, launcherRecent applications iconRoboto typefaceNew swipe/delete behaviorImproved voice integration and copy and pasteFace Unlock security featureData Usage trackingHide unwanted app iconsShut down apps that are using background dataNative camera features include zero shutter lag, continuous focus, zoom while recording, taking a still photo while recording, panorama photos, time lapse settings 1080p recordingFace detection in the cameraIntegrated photo editorNew gallery layout, organized by location and personPhone app lets you swipe between favorite friends with integrated visual voice mailSpeed up and slow down voice mailsQuick message sends canned response text message when you decline a callAndroid Beam, an NFC feature for exchanging information between two phones by tapping themWi-Fi Direct supportFaster, smoother performance with "Project Butter"Expandable notifications with greater interactionVoice search access by swiping up from bottom of the screenVoice actions engine replies to some queriesGoogle NowOffline dictationDefault Chrome browserResizable app widgets (for some)Android Beam support for transferring larger files, like photo and videoNew filmstrip view of recent shots in the camera appApplications update in Google Play with just the changed codeSound search widget for music IDHigher-resolution contact photosGreater accessibility optionsExpanded language support, especially for Arabic and HebrewInterface tweaksLock screen widgets, and the ability to open the camera from the lock screen.Quick Settings in the notification menu to toggle Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and more."Daydream" screensavers, which show time and other information when the screen is locked or device is docked.Multiple user accounts on tablets only.Support for wireless display (such as Miracast)Accessibility features, including triple-tap to magnify the entire screen, pan and zoom with two fingers. Speech output for blind users.Unified interface layout for all devices, with system bar at the top of the screen, and a home screen dockMore Actionable Notifications, which let you respond to the notification without opening the app.Bluetooth Low Energy support.Location tracking with Wi-Fi -- your device can track your location without turning on Wi-Fi.Support for 4K resolution phones.Major design interface update, especially for new Nexus devices. Translucent status bar in the OS and in apps. New "immersive mode" where apps can hide navigation and status bars.The size of the operating system shrunk so it can run on lower-end devices with small amounts of RAM and internal storage.Wireless printing using Google Cloud Print.* The date reflects the SDK release rather than the over-the-air (OTA) update timeline since OTA release dates vary by carrier and handset model.

Android KitKat was released on October 31, 2013, and brought with it a bunch of design changes, most of which were only noticeable on the new Nexus 5 handset. While there have always been differences between Android on a Nexus device and Android on every other phone or tablet, the Nexus 5 took on a completely new look thanks to the Google Now launcher (originally called the Google Experience launcher), a home screen replacement with a transparent app drawer, large icons, and a dedicated Google Now screen.

On other Android phones and tablets, KitKat's additions are a bit more subtle. On most phones, you'll now see a transparent status bar, instead of the earlier black bar, on the home screen and in some apps. KitKat also brings wireless printing to the entire OS, so you can print photos, websites, documents, and more from your phone or tablet, as long as you've set up Google Cloud Print.

At the time of this update, we are a little more than a month away from Google I/O 2014, the company's development conference, where it often announces new products, software updates, and more. What we'll see at the event is still up in the air, but it's possible we'll get a shiny new Android update. It might be version 4.5, or Google could finally jump to a new number with 5.0. Either way, rumors say the next flavor of Android will be named Lollipop, and debut on a new 8-inch Nexus tablet. We can't wait to sink our teeth into it.

Editors' note: This article was originally published August 4, 2010, and is periodically updated to include new versions of Android.

The Bottom Line: Though we're not in love with the design and would have liked some additional features, the real beauty of the T-Mobile G1 is the Google Android platform, as it has the potential to make smartphones more personal and powerful. That said, it's not quite there yet, so for now, the G1 is best suited for early adopters and gadget hounds, rather than consumers and business users. / Read full review

Jessica Dolcourt Jessica Dolcourt reviews smartphones and cell phones, covers handset news, and pens the monthly column Smartphones Unlocked. A senior editor, she started at CNET in 2006 and spent four years reviewing mobile and desktop software before taking on devices. See full bio

Sarah Mitroff Sarah Mitroff is a CNET associate editor who reviews Android and Windows Phone software and, occasionally, hardware. In the past she's written about everything from Android apps to startups Wired, MacWorld, PCWorld, and VentureBeat. She loves pretty space photos, the San Francisco Giants, and apps that organize the recipes she compulsively hoards. See full bio

Use lateral support, to additional 'buttons' on your Android device add

Interesting projects for Indiegogo late hit heard dimples, an adhesive tape that adds two or four programmable physical buttons on your Android device.

However, as a smart reader called Lukasz pointed out, there is already an app that does the same. It's called lateral support, and enjoy your Android device volume keys for various other tasks to program much in the way that the dimples app with the add on button will do.

It's free, fairly easy to use and remarkably effective. Here to get you started. (Note that my tests on a Motorola Moto X was performed. Their mileage - and - compatibility may vary.)

Screenshot of Rick Broida/CNET

First step: Start page carrier, then touch "To create a new action."

Step two: Select the flashlight, photo, call and message b out of the available functions,.. Tap App for our tutorial, and then choose an app that you want to able to quickly start.

Step three: Now you decide what sequence of volume button presses that you want to use for this link. Up-down-up, for example, or down-down-down can. Make your selection via the buttons on the screen, or use the actual volume buttons. When you are finished, tap done.

Step four: Check the available settings for this action and make the desired changes. To vibrate E.g. not your device, when engaged, disable the action check box. When you are finished, tap Finish.

And that's it! Now, test the configuration to make sure that it works. Wash, rinse, and repeat if you want to create other actions.

Although it, abuse, seem your volume buttons so strange, lateral support provides some useful settings that can smooth the roughness.

By default, the app will restore, for example, the previously set level after run your action. So even if you, say, volume-down four times in a row is the volume to its previous level then press return.

You can also choose whether the app running, while the music plays (by default it is doing) and if it is "listening" button presses. For example, maybe you want to it works only when the screen is turned off.

An another handy tweak is the interval between the clicks (from the keys) change. By default, if you wait more than a second in between it side cancels the action. So you could handle effectively, volume, as usual by persons, who on at least one second between presses.

This is a really cool way, mod, your Android phone or tablet, somewhat iDevice users only wish she could do. (Count me among them.) Lateral support is free of charge, but if you want the premium version (ad-free), there you only $3.32 cost.

The easiest way to install Android apps on BB10

BlackBerry 10, all fun aside, has an impressive feature, to be able to run Android apps. First, however, was the process of Android apps to get up and running anything other than simply on a BlackBerry device 10.

The process requires users to download the Android app (APK), convert it to a compatible file format (BAR) BlackBerry 10 and then from the command line to install or as Brian Bennett walked us through using a chrome extension.

Just this week BlackBerry has released an update, BB10, bring the possibility to install Android apps directly on the device, without conversion or imagination network knowledge required.

Your BB10 work device BlackBerry 10 version 10.2.1 must be running in order for this or above. Some airlines have already released the update, while other plans to publish it at a later date.

Once you have 10.2.1 on your device, are the easiest way to install Android apps in the future by installing the Amazon Appstore. Hat tip to CrackBerry for originally task this tip.

Since the only devices that Amazon app store comes preinstalled on inflamed, the company allows the app to other Android devices also sideload. And with BlackBerry 10 Android apps run, it only makes sense that someone tried this.

To install the Amazon Appstore on your BB10 device, visit http://www.amazon.com/getappstore from your BB10 device. Tap the button to download. At this point, can you asks world to enable the installation of applications beyond the BlackBerry; Just follow the instructions.

Once the app is downloaded, follow the installation instructions. Once the installation is completed, log in to your Amazon account and begin to search the Appstore, as if you were on an Android device.

Keep in mind not all the apps you want to download on BlackBerry 10 perfect work. I was able, apps like Slacker and Facebook Messenger work (even though FB Messenger never me on new messages made aware of), but the app, the 1Password reader doesn't work, because it is based on the dropbox URL scheme.

Their experiences are certainly different.

Dimples extends NFC button label placement

The dimple standard and new dimple-mini available in more colors. Dimples

Do you remember dimples? It is the NFC-powered stickers, which adds four physical buttons on your Android phone or tablet.

I preview the product last month shortly before their Indiegogo fundraising campaign went live. Although this has left campaign 30 days, it has its original $43,000-target already surpassed.

As a result, developers already expanded the dimples lineup and offered a few "stretch goals." In addition to the original four button dimple, a two-button dimple be mini for starters. (Early contributors to a mini for $17, compared to $27 for the newly synchronized dimples to use standard.)

Originally in white, grey and purple offered, the products are now available in three additional colors (black, cyan, and light red), the result already be a newly added $45,000 stretch to hit target. If the funding is $55,000, offers another three (and by contributors, who are invited to the colors in the comments certainly suggest).

But the bigger news is the possible arrival of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) a M7/M8 and nexus 5 cases for Galaxy S4/S5, HTC. The pits with metal not coated devices such as HTC does, but the two key cases would solve the problem. The cases in September delivered provided funding hits of the $70,000 mark.

Two-button dimple cases will be available for selected Galaxy, HTC, nexus phones. Dimples

If this is the case and you have already made a contribution, you have the possibility of your pledge level change to a case, after the campaign ends. Also, if you promised $27 for a dimple standard, you can place the two dimples Minis.

I still think that this is one of the coolest uses for NFC is what I've seen so far. The campaign is live, and more dimple options available, think you'll buy that?

Fit Android home screen experience

Of all the great features that come with Android, I think perhaps my favorite is its ability to endlessly customize the home screen and UI. If you don't want to root the device to go deep into modifying , there's still so much you can do with just apps. For example, you can give yourself a fancy home screen with new icons or wonderfully intricate widgets. For those who prefer a simpler approach, there are even apps that install entire customized layouts in one tap.

I've gathered a small handful of my favorite home screen apps here, but nothing that requires you to root your phone for access.

Rather, these are the sorts of apps you can install and play around with on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Come next weekend, you just might have a completely different-looking Android experience.

There are a number of launcher applications that let users override the standard look and feel that comes with the phone's out-of-box experience, but Nova Launcher Prime ($4.00) has long been one of my favorites. If you don't like the preset shortcuts across the bottom of your handset, or aren't a fan of the app drawer setup, this is the app that can change all that.

In a nutshell, Nova Launcher alters the way your phone behaves when you tap the Home button. Specifically, you can define how many home screen panels you have, the number of icons that fit on the screen, scrolling effects, and much more.

Among Nova Launcher Prime's functions is giving you control over the grid size, the number of rows and columns on your screen. You can also place a persistent Google Search bar across home screens, and tweak the size of the page margins. I love using the launcher's revolving door transition when you swipe between screens. It looks much cooler than a simple slide. Additionally, users can opt to remove icon labels, allow for widgets to overlap, and lock the desktop in place.

I also appreciate the way I can sort my app drawer, hide unused titles, and organize content into tabs. Other minor touches include infinite scrolling panels, custom grouping, menu transparency, and transitions. Suffice it to say, I'm constantly backing up and restoring fun layouts all the time. Doing this can also make for a seamless transition into a brand new smartphone.

A particularly fun, and easy, way to spice things up is to replace the icons representing apps and games. There are innumerable icon packs or themes that one can download to adjust the overall aesthetics. Some of the more popular ones I've encountered along the way are Tersus, Snack Pack, and MIUI 5. Again, hit up some forums or search Google Play and you'll find some rather inspiring stuff.

Nova Launcher Prime isn't the only option for those looking to customize the home screen; the free version is a great way to take advantage of most options and settings. At more than 10 million installs, the free Nova Launcher is a popular and feature-rich home screen launcher. Others you may enjoy include Go Launcher EX, Apex Launcher, and ADW.Launcher.

The best thing about Solo Launcher is that it's a totally free alternative to premium launchers. Indeed, you'll find a host of customization and personalization settings, many of which could cost $4 or more elsewhere.

Solo Launcher is a completely free launcher with many premium features Solo Launcher Team/Google Play

Solo Launcher not only operates quickly and efficiently, but it also plays nice with themes from other launchers. Want to change the icon pack? Feel like mimicking the look of a Sony or Huawei? No problem. Other easily configured settings include live wallpapers, lock screens, and colors. Indeed, you can give your Android a KitKat-inspired makeover without waiting on a software update.

In addition to the general aesthetics, you'll be able to adjust home screen transitions, layouts, the app drawer, and home screen dock. I'm a big fan of unread notifications for missed calls, texts, and e-mails, and Solo Launcher provides this at no cost. Once you find a look that you really enjoy be sure to back it up. That way, you can return to it later should you wish to tinker about.

The launcher comes with a weather widget, and the developers also provide a number of additional apps and tools to further enhance your experience.

As the name implies, the free Ultimate Custom (Clock) Widget app lets users create custom widgets that lives on just about any home screen. Regardless of whether you're using a stock launcher or something more tailored, UCCW can enhance the look of your desktop. While it's possible to create your own clock, weather, or battery widget, UCCW can also be used for tweaking notifications, alarms, and other options.

Indeed, it might feel a bit daunting the first few times you try to design your own widget with all your choices for color, transparency, shapes, and fonts. I suggest looking around for templates and already-existing widgets being shared by the community. Poke around the Google Play Store and forums for UCCW UZIP files and go from there.

One of the features I appreciate most is the ability to mimic the feel of other smartphone experiences; it's a breeze to sample the HTC Sense 6 UI or classic skins like Motoblur without much effort. Once you're feeling confident, try overlapping a couple of widgets (like time and weather) for a nice layered effect.

If you're the type who prefers to dress up your existing home screen without heavy adjustments, I recommend checking out HD Widgets. As one of the more flexible apps for the money, this one provides endless widget layouts.

HD Widgets 4 introduced enhanced weather views. Cloud.tv

Regardless of whether you're looking to add a full-screen weather and combination widget or a simple app shortcut, HD Widgets does it in style. Users have myriad options to choose from, including text colors, fonts, background transparency, and layout. One only need spend a few minutes with the latest 4.0 release to see how much customization awaits.

The developer, Cloud.tv, rolled out an entire subset of themed widgets that adds another 60 free templates to the mix. Centered around the aesthetic of Android Jelly Bean, the Colourform pack features Google's Roboto font and even more ways to jazz up the home screen. Looking ahead, a forthcoming Kairo add-on will bring about KitKat-like designs.

Zooper Widget might best be described as a tool to create really great Android widgets. Sure, it's actually a bundle of preset widgets, but that's just the beginning.

Zooper Widget is not unlike Photoshop for creating Android widgets. MyColorScreen

The app comes with a number of free templates and customizable options and provides a great jumping off point. Play with Zooper for any length of time and you'll find that it's easy to create a battery indicator, missed calls and message widget, or calendar. What's more, you can also create widgets to monitor networks and data usage, Wi-Fi connections, and other system settings.

If for no other reason, you'll want to have Zooper installed so you can download other widgets from the community. Take a look through Google Play and you'll find scores of gorgeous, functional widgets at the ready.

Zooper Widget is free to download, but there's also a Pro version ($1.99) that opens the door to new possibilities. In addition to removing ads, you'll also pick up the ability to save widget templates to SD cards, and integrate with Buzz Launcher.

Those of you running Android 4.2 may have encountered the ability to create widgets on the lock screen . As one of the more handy features in Jelly Bean, lock screen widgets provide at-a-glance information such as text messages, calendar appointments, and other notifications. The DashClock Widget app takes this to another level with a more customized and robust list of what you can see.

DashClock Widget works for Android 4.2+ smartphones and tablets. Roman Nurik

Among other bits of info, DashClock Widget provides users with current local weather, missed calls and unread messages, unread Gmail and/or priority e-mails, and your next calendar appointment. What I like most about this app is that it can deliver all of this on a single panel. Rather than swiping through various screens, DashClock Widget puts it all in one, easy-to-read spot.

Also worth noting is that the app is extensible, meaning it plays nice with other apps. Developers are able to take advantage of extensions that add relevant details to the lock screen. Two such apps that I've found to be helpful are DashClock Keep Extension and DashClock Battery Extension.

For those who like the idea of customizing the home screen but don't want to get their hands dirty I suggest looking into ThemerApp. Thanks to a simple set-it-and-forget-it setup, you can swap out an entire layout with the tap of a button.

ThemerApp takes the hassle out of deeply personalized layouts. MyColorScreen

Available as a free app in the Google Play Store, this one acts more like a giant curated library of custom designs. There are more than 300 themes offered today and things only get better with time.

In addition to easy installation, ThemerApp also allows for simple yet deep customization. Like everything you see but those icons? Swap them out for something else. Not so keen on the order in which the widgets display? Move them around, take them out, replace them with your own.

There are scores of Android apps that allow users to customize their experience; I have only listed a smattering of my favorites. Which apps do you use to tailor your Android experience? Do you fancy a particular launcher or icon pack? Where do you find your inspiration? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Exploring Google Docs and Sheets on iOS

Google this week released standalone apps for its Docs and Sheets services (with Slides coming soon) for Android and iOS. The apps, which were both previously bundled into the company's Google Drive app, come not long after Microsoft brought its Office productivity suite to the iPhone and iPad. Google notes that the standalone apps are intended to make it easier for you to quickly find, edit, and create new documents and spreadsheets.

Both apps are essentially the same as the in-app editors in Google Drive, which will now be retired. A lot has changed since we first checked out Google's services (at least on the iOS version). When the company brought its productivity suite to iPhone and iPad users, the app was extremely limited. You were unable to actually edit any content in the app, or even create or delete new documents. All that has changed, however, in the past few years.

New documents or spreadsheets can be created by tapping the plus icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. The button located next to the plus icon will change the display of your files from list to grid, while on the left-hand side you will find a navigation panel that contains the settings menu and options for viewing starred documents, those saved to your device, and even quick access to the Google Drive app.

Clicking the information icon on a file will give you the ability to rename a document, share it, delete it, print it, and favorite it. You will also be able to view the dates the file was created and modified, and see who has access to it.

Files can even be viewed and edited without an Internet connection. By default, Docs and Sheets are saved to your device. If your smartphone or tablet is running low on storage or you would like to change this option, click the information button on the file and switch the "Keep on your device" tab to off. To access offline documents and spreadsheets, you must select the "On device" option in the left-hand navigation panel.

Perhaps the most useful features is the ability to add a passcode to the apps. This can be done by clicking on the Settings menu, selecting Passcode Lock, and entering a four-digit code.

You will be prompted to download the new Google Docs and Sheets apps when attempting to edit or create new documents or spreadsheets in the Google Drive app. The apps are available now in the Google Play store and Apple's App Store.

Dimples adds four physical buttons on your Android device

The pits are available in different colors, maybe even that coincides with your device. Dimples

I like the tactile buttons, the kind that give me a piece of the answer, if I push them and see in the dark. (Example: if I want to enable Siri, while my phone in my coat pocket, in the car I find this iPhone just by touching the home button.)

But missing the most Android phones (a notable exception, the Samsung Galaxy series) Save physical buttons for power and volume. Wouldn't it be cool if you could just hit some extras?

Dimples

You can; It's called dimples. This deceptively simple sticker about the size of a small patch adds four programmable buttons for Android phones and tablets. Now apply it to the back of your device or case (as long as it is not metal) and then using the dimple app you can set up the buttons.

There is just a hook, at least on paper: pits near field communication, or NFC, a feature required don't any phone or Tablet has. (NFC world has a fairly comprehensive list of where to do that.)

On the back when your device has, you are golden. Dimples requires no battery of own, instead relying on the magical power that emanates from the NFC. (Who would have thought, am I correct?) In a similar way it uses NFC functionality, not Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for their very.

The four keys can be programmed for a variety of functions. Listed examples on the Groove Web site: favorite apps to start music playback, which turn flashlight on, call a contact, turn off Bluetooth, and so on.

Indiegogo campaign in the sale will be in August with a kick-off may 6 expected to be dimpled. Early risers will be for anywhere from $15 to $27, with an expected $29-sale price can get. Update: The Indiegogo campaign is now live.

I don't even use an Android phone now, and I want one of them completely. If nothing else, proves to be something that I was not previously sold the value of NFC technology. Their thoughts?

Huawei startet Ascend P7, sein neues Flaggschiff Android Telefon

Paris-Huawei on Wednesday launched his Ascend P7, a new Android flagship model will try the Chinese company with which to improve on his third place ranking in the Smartphone market.

The company signaled the arrival of the new phone at a press event with signs that said, "Huawei Ascend P7 global launch." The phone that runs Google's Android mobile operating system, is a successor to the company's P6.

The Ascend-P7 has many of the necessary competitive information for the flagship market-a 5-inch-1, 920 x 1 080 to indicate 4 G LTE networks, a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor, a rear-facing 13-megapixel camera, a front-facing camera 8 Megapixels and a gorilla glass 3-housing on the front and the back. It is built in the inevitable Panel shape, has a trim thickness of 6.5 mm and runs Android changed with Huawei's emotion interface.

This is nice - but it's tough stand in the Android crowd.

The Ascend-P7 are mainly with a handful of other top-end mobile phones with Google's Android OS, including the Samsung Galaxy S5, join a HTC-M8 and the Sony Xperia Z2.

It is also a rival to the phones to other mobile operating systems like Lumia-1020, a Windows phone device, Microsoft sold now, that it Nokia has acquired telephone business, and of course the iPhone 5 s from Apple.

The phone will be unlocked in June in dozens of European and Asian countries at the price of 449 euros (US$ 625). Huawei expands it, later, including in the United States. "This worldwide offering", said Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei devices and Chairman of the Board of the company consumer business group, at the event here.

Much of Huawei's success has been its position in its home market. While the companies in selected countries around the world has made progress, it is essentially closed, in major markets such as the United States, where its brand practically does not exist, even though it is a campaign to raise awareness to build.

Huawei doubles its global brand awareness by 52 per cent and to third parties in the Smartphone market has risen, but "We will not stop", Yu said. "We want to be better and better and better." We invest so many resources on the product, innovation, R & D, the marketing-everything. We are our service and to improve our quality."

In the first quarter of the year 2014 instead of Huawei the No. 3 spot in the global smartphone market, according to analyst firm IDC-a remarkable achievement, but hardly a safe position. This market share, most comes from China.

The 13.7 million phones, the Huawei supplied only 4.9 percent of the market behind no. 2 accounted for Apple with a market share of 15.5 percent and no. 1 Samsung with 30.2 percent. Huawei, is growing but faster than the competitors, with shipments surging 47 percent compared with the same period quarter in comparison to Apple's 16.8 percent and Samsung's 22 percent growth.

Like HTC and Apple, Huawei, an edge through a high-quality design, trying to get including a 7-layer surface treatment on the back. "We say to reach this high-quality look and feel," said Joonshu Kim, Vice President of Huawei mobile devices. It comes with a "Metallic look luxurious and exquisite micro-pattern," he said, with a depth, the people of fish swimming under the surface of the water will remind.

The Ascend-P7 has also 4 G LTE network support in many parts of the world, works, said Clement WONG, global market manager for Huawei. Improve dual antennas for reception, he added.

Huawei hopes the phone will be as cool on another way, also: the distribution of heat in the phone, it runs 7 degrees Celsius lower and is therefore more comfortable in the hand, Wong said.

The phone "Double C" design gives it a bezel, which from the front to the rear at the bottom of the phone and page to page at the top of the phone to curves. The result is something like two curves, the teeth.

The 6.5 mm thick the Ascend-P7 a little slimmer than this complicated iPhone 5 at 7.6 mm and the Galaxy-S5 at 8.1 mm, said Kim. The chip is a HiSilicon Kirin 910T-Farbmonitor-Prozessor, and the phone has a 2, 500mAh battery.

The pixel density is 445 pixels per inch on the Ascend-P7 when compared to the iPhone 5 s 326ppi and 432ppi on the Galaxy-S5.

The camera back equipped with 13-megapixel resolution and high end image processing chip, can circumstances handle light sensitivity settings, the ISO 3,600 will reach.

In the meantime, said the phone front facing camera 8 Megapixels is a departure from the industry norm and is designed to better self portraits, produce Changzhu Li, head of the technology.

"Consumers want Selfies always high quality," Li said.

It is also a five lens system to improve the audibility of more pixels than the iPhone 5 s 1.2-megapixel camera and the Samsung Galaxy S5-2-megapixel camera, but on Huawei and built lower chromatic aberration. The company put in the forward-facing camera rear-facing camera technology is basically.

This means you can keep a step Huawei still on the front-facing camera photos - it promotes "Groufies," group self portraits, including those with a panorama mode. "With a Groufie," said Li: "you take much more background or include other bodies in pictures Selfie."

Huawei's newest flagship phone, the Ascend-P7, collects some decent Kit in a body seriously slim, glass-backed in. / Read editors take

Best unlocked Android smartphones today received (Roundup)

What ever your reasons for the side-stepping your carrier unlocked smartphones offer a feeling of freedom and convenience that we all can appreciate. Buy simply insert a SIM card in the device and you're good to go. There is no need to wait for activation and best yet, you may need your phone to keep for as long or as short a time as you want to. Here are some of our favorite phones that buy and use you everywhere you go.

With its stylish aluminium look, and no carrier subsidy to a M8 GPE variant expect a pretty penny (a really, really pretty penny) pay. But for Android purists, the device can play it lohnen-- plus it has a beautiful 1080 p screen and a fast Snapdragon-801 processor, and delivers extremely sharp sound. It is the ultimate luxury-Android phone. Read the full HTC a M8 Google Edition test play.

The nexus-5 $349 (£208) for the 16 GB model that not only the cheapest nexus, it is still the best nexus always. Not only Pack premium details, it now has about key LTE connectivity (an improvement over the nexus-4). And the phone crazy reasonable price good-not-great 8-megapixel-camera makes a more than reasonable compromise. Read the full review of the nexus-5.

In comparison with the others on this list, that Moto is not on all cylinders G, but it is not meant. The original runs on 3 G networks (but a new version includes also LTE), and its 5-megapixel camera is mediocre at best. But it is the cheapest handset including, hands down, at $179 (£107) for the 16GB-Variante. In addition, you can find it in the stock Android mode (if you're into something), be online customize views, and choose network (global or United States) functions. Even though the Motorola Moto E is still even more favourable, we keep the G the better choice. Read the full review of the Motorola Moto G.

It twitching against water and dust, May 20-megapixel camera for video recording with its 4 K, blazes with his powerful 2.3 GHZ quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor 805 and looks damn sexy. The price of £600 is steep, and we are not sure whether it ever get a U.S. version, but if you are this one for an Android powerhouse, Samsung Galaxy S5 rivals. Read CNET review Sony Xperia Z2.

It may no longer, because the S5 is started, but does not mean that Samsung's flagship, the Galaxy S4 GPE is an obsolete device. It sports a 13-megapixel camera, a quad-core processor and a 1080 p screen which is comparable, if not better, now what you get on most mobile phones, and if you not a fan of Samsung's TouchWiz user interface, the handset minimalist user interface is much more refreshing. Read the full Edition Galaxy S4 Google test.

Four tips for improving battery life on the Galaxy S5

Galaxy S5-Besitzer können einfach atmen, wenn es darum, die Lebensdauer der Batterie geht. Während die meisten Android-Geräte verfügbar heute irgendeine Art von Batterie-Speichern-Funktion haben, ging Samsung darüber hinaus mit seiner neuesten Flaggschiff-Gerät. Hier ist, wie Sie den ganzen Tag Akkulaufzeit und mehr auf Ihrem Galaxy S5 erhalten können:

Samsungs Energiespar-Modus ist nichts neues; die Funktion gibt es schon seit dem Galaxy S2. Wenn aktiviert, kann dieser Modus verwendet werden, Hintergrund app Daten blockieren, Leistung des Telefons zu begrenzen, reduzieren die Bildschirm-Framerate, verringern der Helligkeit, und ändern Sie die Anzeige auch in Graustufen.

In diesem Modus wird die Akku-Lebensdauer erheblich verbessern, ohne Verringerung der Funktionen des Telefons durch so viel. Da dadurch die Verarbeitungsleistung Ihres Telefons beschränkt wird, jedoch empfehle ich, vor dem spielen keine Spiele oder Verwendung keine rechenintensiven Anwendungen zu deaktivieren.

Die Energiespar-Modus-Option finden Sie in der Galaxy-S5-Menü "Einstellungen".

Aktivieren Sie das Galaxy S5 ultra Stromsparmodus, das Beste aus Ihrer Batterie erhalten. Samsung behauptet, dass wenn das Gerät vollständig geladen ist, in diesem Modus Ihr Telefon auf 12,5 Tage Batteriedauer aufgeben wird. In der Tat, nur 10 Prozent der verbleibenden Akkukapazität Leben, ultra Energiespar-Modus aktivieren kann machen Sie Ihr Telefon noch 24 Stunden dauern.

Es gibt jedoch einige Nachteile. Ultra Energiespar-Modus werden Funktionen des Telefons erheblich reduziert werden. Zusätzlich zum Ändern Ihrer Anzeige in Graustufen, wird der Modus Sie verwenden beschränken nur ausgewählte Anwendungen wie Telefon, Nachrichten, Internet, Emergency Warnungen, Google +, Facebook, Twitter und ein paar andere. Nur sechs dieser Anwendungen können jedoch auf Ihrem home-Bildschirm platziert werden.

Josh Miller/CNET

Der Modus auch automatisch mobile Daten deaktivieren, wenn der Bildschirm ausgeschaltet ist, und Deaktivieren von Wi-Fi und Bluetooth. Dies können im Einstellungsmenü erneut aktiviert werden durch Drücken das drei-Punkt-Symbol in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms. Begrenzte Einstellungsmenü gibt Ihnen auch die Möglichkeit, die Lautstärke, Helligkeit des Displays, und schalten Sie auf Ortungsdienste.

Ultra Energiespar-Modus kann aktiviert werden, indem Sie auf Einstellungen Scrollen bis die Option "Energie sparen".

Möchten Sie die volle Funktionalität des Telefons zu halten, während den meisten Saft aus ihm heraus zu quetschen, gibt es andere Möglichkeiten, Belastung der Batterien zu verhindern. Öffnen Sie das Menü "Einstellungen", klicken Sie auf Standort, und wählen Sie Energiesparmodus. Dies wird Wi-Fi und Ihr mobiles Netzwerk verwenden, um Ihren Standort, anstatt das Telefon GPS zu schätzen.

Sie sollten auch sicherstellen, dass die Lage reporting und Standortverlauf beide deaktiviert sind. Diese Optionen finden Sie im Menü Google Location Reporting unter der Location Services-Option.

Die meisten Menschen halten Sie ihre Telefon-Helligkeit auf Auto-Modus, aber Sie können nicht wissen, dass dies tatsächlich für Ihre Batterie noch schlechter sein kann. Auto-Modus passt automatisch die Bildschirmhelligkeit basierend auf den Bedingungen um Sie herum. Der Modus nutzt das Telefon-Sensoren, die, weil sie sind benutze die ganze Zeit, tatsächlich entwässert die Batterie schneller als Ihre Helligkeit manuell einstellen. Auto-Modus verlassen manchmal auch Ihre Anzeige auf einer Ebene, die für Ihre Umgebung zu hell ist.

In den meisten Fällen--außerhalb an einem sonnigen Tag wird nicht einer von ihnen wird---du musst nicht die Helligkeit haben, ausgeschöpft. Um die Batterie zu schonen, empfehle ich, drehen die Helligkeit Niveau unten irgendwo unten auf halber Strecke oder auf ein Niveau, das für die Augen ist.

CNET tablet battery life results

Your tablet might pack a fancy stylus or super-sharp resolution, but can it go a day without a charger? CNET Labs takes up the challenge to find out.

Battery life is an important, yet often overlooked feature. Xiomara Blanco/CNET

Editor's note: This list is updated regularly.

Battery life testing is one of the last evaluations we subject tablets to at CNET Labs, but by no means is it the least valued. How long you can use your tablet is nearly as important as what it is you do while using it.

Our CNET labs testing standards ensure that all tablets, regardless of size, color, or operating system, are tested as close to equally as possible. Details on how we test tablets are included below the testing results chart. We've also thrown in each tablet's maximum luminosity, resolution, and pixel density for good measure.

Expect this list to be updated frequently as new tablets are tested.

To see what tablets are coming down the pike, check out the .To see what tablets are coming down the pike, check out the .To see what tablets are coming down the pike, check out the upcoming tablets blog.

Tablets in the process of being tested say "IP" and results with keyboard docks appear in parenthesis.

Model Video battery life (in hours) Maximum brightness (in cd/m2) Screen resolution Pixel density (ppi) Screen size (in inches) Apple iPad (fourth generation) Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Asus Transformer Pad TF300 (Balance mode) Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 (Balance mode) LG G Pad 8.3 (Google Play edition) Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition)

In the CNET Labs, we currently run two different tests to evaluate the performance of non-Windows tablets.

Battery life
We evaluate battery life by continually running a movie file on the tablet until its battery dies.

We set each tablet to Airplane mode and adjust its respective brightnesses to 150 candelas per square meter (cd/M2) or as close to that number as possible.

For the iPad, we run the iPad version of "Toy Story 3." On Android tablets, we run a 720p version of "Toy Story 3." The reason we chose 720p for Android was that not every tablet can run 1080p video just yet, and we wanted to make sure we tested Android tablets under the same methodology.

On the iPads, we ran the movie through the iPod app; for Android, we used the movie player apps mVideoPlayer or DicePlayer, as they provide a much-needed repeat video function that not all native Android movie players include.

*The Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet reflects continually streaming video through a wireless connection. The router was approximately five feet away with a full signal. We used the Netflix application to stream "Amadeus" and when the movie ended it was manually repeated, due to a lack of repeat video function available.

Contrast ratio and brightness
We also tested the maximum brightness, default brightness, and contrast ratio for each tablet. We conducted these tests using the Minolta CA-210 display color analyzer. With each screen at full luminosity, we placed the sensor in the middle of the screen. We used a completely white screen to test the brightness and a completely black screen to test the black level. We then divided the maximum brightness by the maximum black level to get the contrast ratio.

Xiomara Blanco Xiomara Blanco is an associate editor for CNET Reviews. She's a Bay Area native with a knack for tech that makes life easier and more enjoyable. So, don't expect her to review printers anytime soon. See full bio

Huawei pushes with Ascend P7 end telephone sales nearly double

Paris-the Chinese company with the launch of Huawei's Ascend P7 flagship Smartphone on Wednesday also launched a new phase of its ambitions for global makes.

Ascend-P7 - for sale in June in 33 countries in Europe and Asia for 449 euros (approximately $665)-go to the company in more profitable high-end handset segment, where clients are style-conscious, and profits are higher wear.

"Price / performance ratio is not enough. We have premium products according to the requirements of the market", said Richard Ren, President of Huawei's EU consumer business group, in an interview on the Ascend P7 global launch event here.

The P7 has a 1.8 GHz quad core processor from Huawei's own design, a 5-inch-by 1,920 x 1,080 pixel display, a 2, 500mAh battery, an unusually strong camera 8 mega pixels for front-facing, a rear facing-13-mega pixel camera and a competitive trim 6.5 mm thick.

It uses version 4.4 KitKat by Google's Android operating system with Huawei's emotion-user interface layers at the top. But that is not always the case. Asked whether Huawei is planning a nexus-style cell phone running Android Google's interface, said ren: "we have a business plan with Google." He went on to share specifics.

The Ascend P7 high-end push is disproportionately important for Huawei be: the company hopes P6 models rise to more than double the P-series premium phones from 4 million in 2013 on 10 million P7 models in the year 2014, ren said. Compared to their targets for overall handset are shipping growth modest 52 1 million, he said.

This means that the premium products from around 7 percent will rise to 13 percent of the total turnover of the company.

It is an ambitious goal, but it is hard. Huawei reached 4.9 percent of global handset shipments in the first quarter of 2014, according to analyst firm IDC, but it is far behind Apple's 15.5 percent and Samsung's 30.2 percent. The competitors are hardly still--still are, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Motorola and new Chinese challengers like Xiaomi.

Ren thinks Huawei has entered a new phase of business listeners but and will reap business. It began as a manufacturer of other phones but then decided on a three-phase plan, to become a well known brand.

The first phase was to "break through", to gain a foothold and distribution partners to convince that Huawei is a brand you can trust. The second phase began in the past year: growth. The third phase is a leader to be worldwide, i.e. more than 15 percent market share.

How fast is Huawei to enter the third phase? "We finished in the second phase in the year 2017," said ren. If the company level the leadership, it is how loyalty increases people's friends and family, and brand, recommend rewarded with simple sales Huawei cell phones, he added.

Much of Huawei's success has been its position in its home market. While the companies in selected countries around the world has made progress, it is essentially closed, in major markets such as the United States, where its brand practically does not exist, even though it is a campaign to raise awareness to build.

Huawei will sell the P7 in the United States, even though it starts there. "For operator resale channels, we need more conversations with our customers," ren said, referring to partners like AT & T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, which are responsible for the shipping of many phones in consumers hands.

How exactly are a company be recognized? In Europe, football teams in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany sponsoring has been a successful way.

Worldwide more than doubled the number of consumers who recognized a Smartphone manufacturer Huawei to 52 percent from 2012 to 2013. In some countries, it is even more: 60 percent in Spain and 58 percent in Germany.

"There us a lot to improve the awareness helped," said ren.

Huawei's newest flagship phone, the Ascend-P7, collects some decent Kit in a body seriously slim, glass-backed in. / Read editors take

How to gay relationships in Tomodachi life

Tomodachi life, due on June 6, is a 3DS simulator game where you have to take care of a city full of Miis. Developer Nintendo garnered the ire of fans when it was noted that the game is not Miis of the same sex to fall in love with each other would allow.

Nintendo has since apologized and said it would be more inclusive in future iterations of the game--but that it could not change if the current game.

However, is there a way--an imperfect way, but nevertheless a way--to make it happen. You see, the in-game Mii Creator all operations can be carried out, personality, clothing and vote for your Mii. So, say, starting with a male Mii, you can add a female hairstyle and facial features, make up, name, voice and her dress in female clothes from the clothing store.

Meet Jessi. Note the sex field on the lower screen. For all practical purposes in the game-that is, falling in love, getting married, having babies--Jessi will be attracted to female Miis.

Similarly, Bob will is attracted to male Miis. Now, we're not quite sure how pregnancy works in the game, since we have not played that far ahead, so it's quite possible that Bob too, a baby in his stomach at some point can have.

Bob, if he ever gets married will also wear a wedding dress on the big day, and other characters in the game will use the gender pronouns for these characters base sex--Jessi call "he" and Bob "she"--that is shocking. As we said, it's a imperfect solution--but if you play the same sex relationships in Tomodachi to life, for some, it may be a better solution than not at all.

Battlefield 3 for free (PC)

Regular readers know my advice when it comes to video games: wait, wait, wait. The longer you hold, the cheaper the game will be. In fact, if you wait long enough, it can thus are free.

Case in point: for the next couple of days, origins is offering battlefield 3 (PC) for $ 0, nada, nothing, zilcho. The game normally sells for $ 19.99. W00t!

Of course, nothing is really free, right? There must be a catch. Actually, there are two: you want to create an origin account (unless you already have one), and you want to install the origin client on your PC (unless you already have).

Yep, I was joshin'u: people hardly qualify as catches. It is fair to the trade of a few pieces of personal info for a whole game, and understandable that you would need to install a download manager. Steam works the same way.

This is quite simply, a great giveaway, and a surprise given that the origin last one (plants vs Zombies) had to carry out to the end of May. (It's not only still available, but has been extended to June 16.) Keep 'em coming, origin!

Battlefield 3 was among the most celebrated titles of late 2011, offering "sensation that few games can match," according to Gamespot review. Although I don't agree with the assessment of the "outdated" single-player campaign, it certainly rank as one of the most exciting online-multiplayer games so far.

And, hey, if you don't like it, it's not like it will cost you. Delete, and move on. but I suspect that you will enjoy many hours of run-and-gun fun.

Bonus deal: Speaking of free games, here is a big step for the iOS crowd: for a limited time, Infinity Blade II is free. Regular price: $ 7.99. Impossible gorgeous graphics and tons of hack-and-slash action combined to make it a real flagship game for iOS when it came in late 2011, and today it is still impressive.

Bonus deal no. 2: I honestly don't get the slobbering adoration of the brand Beats, neither and I understand why Apple wants to pay $ 3 billion. I think it's a status symbol thing. Of course, if the product is really good, I take it--provided that there is a deal to be had. Today, there is: DailySteals has the refurbished Beats Power Beats headphones for $ 49 shipped, with your choice of three colors. Price: $ 149.95.

Bonus deal no. 3: You know that I didn't leave a good Roku deal goes through, even if it's a repeat of sorts. Last, while supplies DealFisher has the refurbished Años 1 streaming media box for $ 34.99 shipped. That's $ 15 off the price of a new one, and it comes with the same 90 day warranty. Now all you need is a cheap HDMI cable to go with it.

Federal Budget 2014: what does it mean for games development?

Defiant Development

The games development industry in Australia has long been a struggling one. After most of the major studios working here up and left, the local developers were left to fend for themselves. When the Australian Interactive Games Fund was announced in 2012 -- AU$20 million in funding for the local industry -- AIGF represented a light at the end of the tunnel, not just for the money, but for the recognition and legitimacy it represented from the Australian government.

Now, just a scant 12 months after the AIGF was implemented, with only half the money spent, with no consultation with the industry, the new Federal budget proposes to axe the funding, which went towards grants, loans and investments. "Money is returned to the fund by successful applicants -- so it was intended to be self sustaining," local industry veteran Morgan Jaffit of Defiant Development pointed out to CNET.

The abolishment of the fund has the local industry shocked, dismayed and bewildered. As the Games Developers' Association on Australia said in a blog post, "The decision is completely at odds with the government's claims of support for Australian culture and innovation."

According to GDAA CEO Antony Reed, a thriving games development industry is an asset to any country's economy. "There is no question that the games industry is a significant contributor to the economies of every country that has a thriving game development sector; adding billions to the GDP's of the US and Canada annually," he said. "Moreover, games are cultural products, developed by teams of highly skilled people across multiple disciplines; games now inspire other media sectors including film, television, music and literature."

The first stimulus package was only awarded in June of last year, which means the fund may be cut down before we even see any of the games it has enabled.

"[The Australian dev industry] has lost its largest source of government funding," Chris Wright of Surprise Attack said. "But, more importantly, it has lost the opportunity to prove how this funding could have paid economic dividends to the country since it was cut off before any results could be seen."

But, more than that, without the legitimacy offered by government funding, local developers may find it more difficult to secure funding from other sources too. "There are two issues here," Jaffit explained. "Firstly, it removes a key source of funding that would enable small scale practitioners to become medium scale practitioners. Secondly, it affects overall confidence -- people are less likely to fund early development without a clear path to full production."

Wright agrees. "What this does mean though is that the single largest source of non-corporate funding is no longer there and that will make it harder to build sustainable independent development companies," he said. "This is a hit-driven business and the funding helps reduce the risk and sustain your team long enough to become stable. Small teams that would have benefited from this fund to become mid-sized teams will lose out the most in my view."

He adds that the most important thing to note, however, is the loss of government support. "This fund was the first really important step towards the government supporting this industry properly. It put the industry backing on a path to increased funding and eventually tax rebates and by cutting off the fund now and the attitude that shows from the government, I am worried that it could set that back by many years."

According to Jaffit, the fact that we were only just starting to see the results of the first round of funding -- and the fact that they are very good results -- makes its potential removal so much worse.

"In the next year we'll see more of that, and realise exactly what we've lost in removing the fund," he said. "The goal is to build the games industry in Australia to the point where it's comprised of healthy businesses at all scales (small, medium, and large) who are contributing work that is internationally recognized commercially and critically. We already have shining examples of that, but there's not enough at each step to make us a truly viable industry. That was where we were headed, and that is where we (as an industry) need to focus from here. It's a longer road now, but we've faced long roads before, and built success from them."

On that last point, everyone seems to be in agreement: local developers have had to work hard before, and they will do so again. The removal of the AIGF is a blow, to be sure, but not necessarily a fatal one.

"It's important to note that developers were not reliant on this funding and this is not a killing blow. Games is not a 'welfare industry' in Australia," Wright said. "The fund represented a major stimulus to the community and development eco system and so removing it will slow it down for sure but the community are not quitters or bludgers."

Jaffit, likewise, places his faith in the community.

" We've been through worse and come out okay," he said. "The local development community is unbelievably strong. There's a lot of support and community here. We've been working in a pretty hard environment since the GFC, and we'll continue to make it work. With just a tiny bit of support and incentives, we can build a truly amazing industry over the next few years. It's just got a bit harder along the way."

$ 400 Xbox one without Kinect coming June 9, drops Live Gold requirement for streaming

Sarah Tew/CNET

For anyone who felt that the Xbox One is too expensive, Microsoft has apparently heard your complaints.

Microsoft has announced that a new $ 400 Xbox One (£ 350 in UK) comes June 9 that does not include the Kinect peripheral. In addition, the one no longer requires a Xbox and Xbox 360 Live Gold subscription access to streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube and HBO go. A Live Gold subscription will also not be required for some premium services on Xbox One, such as, Internet Explorer OneGuide and via Skype.

There will still be some services that are exclusive to Live Gold subscribers, including the "Games with Gold" program, cloud game saves, and Game DVR. To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Games with gold, receives Live Gold subscribers an additional game for free Xbox 360 in June. In addition, Microsoft announced that "both Games with gold" and "deals with" to the Xbox-One in June is to come.

The cheaper Xbox one model can Microsoft to the $ 399 PS4 on the price, along with removing the almost requires $ 60 annual fee that raised the issue of the Xbox One total cost of ownership. The membership fee was an anomaly between living room devices with other devices, such as the Google Chromecast, Roku boxes, and, most importantly, the PS4, have no comparable cost access to streaming services.

Your new, fully gay Nintendo World, as revealed by John Oliver

It must have slipped their joysticks.

Nintendo apologized last week for her inscrutable supervision not allowing same-sex marriages in his new game, Tomodachi life.

This was a life-simulator-simulate game that does not quite life.

In the apology, the company admitted that it was now too late to change the game. Fortunately, however, we must enterprising journalist-comedians such as HBO's John Oliver, who burrowed away in Nintendo's vaults to discover the scents of some of the most famous characters of the company.

Given that Saturday the 10th anniversary of gay marriage legalization in Massachusetts marked, Oliver presented the comments of, for example, Mario and Link.

Princess Peach and Princess Zelda also appeared in an especially celebratory mood that Nintendo was going to be the same gender avatars to be official.

Yoshi and Toad, however decided to finally come and the final nuptial stand. You might particularly enjoy (or not) their first long, lingering kiss.

And then there is the domestic partner that Donkey Kong left behind, again, again, and again. I leave you to guess who that would have been.

It's good to know that freedom can come to gaming. Eventually.

Gol! McDonald's World Cup app changes boxes of French fries in field of dreams

The new boxes work with a new app for the football fun time. McDonald's

Eating French fries and play football (that's soccer, my European friends) are very difficult to do at the same time. But with McDonald's new fry boxes to play the World Cup app game Gol.

To play the full game, you grab the app at gol.mcd.com or search for it in Google to play or the App Store, and buy a box of limited FIFA World Cup McDonald Fries of 26 May. The familiar red boxes are replaced with new artwork by designers from around the world to celebrate the upcoming tournament in Brazil.

"This is the first time in the history of brand we design from one of our customers most favorite menu items on a global scale, and what better reason than to share in the excitement of one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world," said Steve Easterbrook, Senior Executive Vice President and Global Chief Officer of the brand of McDonald's said in a news release.

"This is about bringing fun, innovative programming for our customers and our shared love of futbol. We are excited to be able to do that through an engaging, interactive mobile experience. "

Once the app is launched, just hold your phone over the box fries to start playing. Using augmented reality, you can bounce your trick shot skills the virtual ball of real objects, testing points to win badges and unlock earn bonuses. Just like in real tournament, national pride is on the line--you can display in your country by earning points that are collected in the game of the world trick-shot leaderboard.

The McDonald's Gol! game connected experiences was created by Qualcomm arm and digital marketing agency Trigger. Using the platform of Qualcomm Vuforia mobile vision, play Smart site the gaming app feature makes spaces (in this case, the football field) from everyday objects (the box).

If you can't the World Cup French fries in your area, a trial version trick-shot of the Gol! app is still available for download by May 26. The tournament itself will start on June 12.

To promote the app, and as a sponsor of the World Cup in Brazil, the McDonald launched a new commercial this week that offers children and adults alike showing off their best trick shots using a ball, imagination, and probably a lot of practice.

Maybe this fun promotion will take away some of the terror children his sense of disturbing new McDonald's Happy Meal mascot.

Harmonix plans Amplitude reboot after successful Kickstarter campaign

Harmonix

Harmonix, best known for his music franchises such as Rock Band and Central dance, game developer has enough money to build a remake of a cult classic launched in 2003 on PlayStation 2.

With a few hours to spare, Harmonix was the Kickstarter crowdfunding target of $ 775,000 us to build a new version of the Playstation 2 title Amplitude reached on Thursday. As of this writing, the financing has become almost $ 815,000 with only a few hours left.

"You did it," wrote the team Harmonix to supporters. "We honestly can't believe-we get to create another Amplitude and play with you guys. It is incredible. "

Amplitude, which launched in 2003, was a music game that players to hit buttons such as songs in the background and match notes played required. If the player was able to successfully match the notes, he or she could get to the end of the song.

At first glance it seems rather strange that Harmonix decided to reboot Amplitude. The game received high scores of game media, but failed to attract buyers. Harmonix accused its relative financial failure on the gamers ' inability to show exactly how the title worked, but in recent years, more people have picked it up and played it, find it a fun experience. That deferred approval of gamers asked Harmonix to make the game back.

It was not clear whether Amplitude, that digital will be released on the PlayStation 3 and Playstation 4, actually financing Harmonix desired would get. At the start of this week, in fact, it had raised less than half the $ 775,000 us that Harmonix before a late surge was looking for.

Now that Amplitude achieved its objective, is making a push for Harmonix 1,125 million for the Kickstarter is over. As pledging that figure reached, the company will build in the head-to-head online multiplayer title.

Gameboy emulator on the Oculus Rift: Gameception

One of the more interesting aspects of the Oculus gap is that it allows you to visit a virtual reality where you can do things you could do in your everyday life--such as on a couch and playing a game, as we have seen before.

Or, thanks to the work of software engineer Jonathan Joan, AKA Takohi, indulge in a dose of nostalgia with an emulator for the original Game Boy.

"Here we are passionate of the Nintendo Game Boy, which during our youth was a great console with so many great games (Super Mario Land, Pokemon, Link ... the Awakening), so many memories ..." Russian wrote on Bitbucket. "We always wanted to know how does an emulator work and how to do it, so one day we just wondered why not making a Game Boy emulator work with unit?"

His project, called UnityGB, is not specifically made for the Oculus Rift (you can play a unit web demo here), but since the device unit supports, the game can be played on the headset, as demonstrated by Shane O'Brien, a developer who is working on the project with Russian, in the video below.

"UnityGB is very light, also a Game Boy rom: for just a few more kilobytes, you can include in your project several Game Boy games so you add hours of fun to your original game with no effort," Russian wrote. "Suppose, for example, a GTA-like where the player can move on to the game center to play Game Boy Game on a video arcade machine. The player would play a game in a game (gameception). "

So that everyone can contribute to the project, has Russian UnityGB released as Open Source. You can grab it by the Russian UnityGB page on Bitbucket.

ZeniMax complains Oculus about virtual reality Rift tech

ZeniMax Media, the owner of game developer Id Software and the previous employer of Oculus CTO and co-founder John Carmack, Id's complains Oculus VR and its founder Palmer Luckey.

The attack: Oculus, with its Rift virtual reality headset, is "illegal embezzlement ZeniMax trade secrets relating to virtual reality technology, ZeniMax and infringing copyrights and trademarks," says ZeniMax.

Oculus fired back in a statement provided to CNET, saying, "the lawsuit filed by ZeniMax has no merit. As we said earlier, ZeniMax has not contributed to a Bullion-technology. Oculus will defend these claims vigorously. "

The feud stems from the fact that Carmack, who was hired by Oculus in August 2013 and Id Software in November left later that year, Luckey helped develop his Rift virtual reality headset while still employed by ZeniMax. Carmack received one of only two Oculus prototypes in existence back when Luckey was tinkering with VR at the University of Southern California and then in online forums before the formation of his company.

The cooperation between Luckey and helped strengthen the prospects for Carmack Oculus--Carmack showed off the prototype at E3 that summer, waves of press--leads to Oculus ' blockbuster Kickstarter campaign in September 2012. That began a steady path of success for Luckey with a $ 2 billion company that's Facebook takeover culminated in March 2014.

Oculus has yet to release a commercial product, but now two iterations of the Rift developer kit has sold. Despite that, it is at the forefront of the burgeoning still promising market for VR, which is ready to affect not only gaming, but almost any kind of media from film and TV with music and live performance.

Luckey, a formerly home schooled 21-year-old technical wizard graced the cover of Wired magazine this month, billed as the boy-faced father of the newest and most promising dream of virtual world building. And following the acquisition of Facebook, VR now seems to be evolving with a much more expansive scope that virtual social experiences and unprecedented sensory experiments, it keeps that are already being developed with the Rift developer kit includes.

ZeniMax does not seem to have taken kindly to Luckey's new fame. "Luckey has put out himself to the public as the visionary developer of virtual reality technology, when in fact the key technology that Luckey used to Oculus was developed by ZeniMax," the company explained in its statement.

From left founder Oculus Oculus CTO John Carmack, Palmer Luckey and Oculus Chief Scientist Michael Abrash. Oculus VR

The suit ZeniMax follows a series of legal exchanges between the two companies in late April. ZeniMax then claimed that Oculus and Luckey destroyed a 2012 confidentiality agreement limit the ways in which the company could work to integrate in the gap's Carmack. ZeniMax said Oculus even offered the Publisher "equity", but that the negotiations fell through.

"ZeniMax has provided the fundamental intellectual property technology drive the Oculus gap since its inception. Nevertheless, the defendants denied all requests by ZeniMax for reasonable fee and continue to use intellectual property without permission, "ZeniMax ZeniMax said.

Oculus denied these claims last month, saying, "it's unfortunate, but if there is this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd demands. We want to defend vigorously Oculus and its investors in the broadest sense. "

So did Carmack, who took to Twitter to say that none of his work has ever been patented and that while ZeniMax owns the code he wrote after acquiring Id Software in 2009, none of that code made its way to the Rift headset has ever made.

In fact, Carmack told USA Today earlier this year that he left Id Software special because ZeniMax him not concerned with VR technology wanted, including making support for upcoming Id title Doom 4 and the newly released Wolfenstein: the new to bridge the gap.

ZeniMax owns not only Id Software, the studio behind the iconic play Doom and Quake--the success of that Carmack made an industry legend--but countless other game development houses, including The Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, and subsidiary of Arkane Studios.

"Intellectual property is the Foundation of our company," said Robert Altman, CEO of ZeniMax, in a statement. "We cannot ignore the unlawful exploitation of intellectual property which we develop and own, nor shall we allow Eclipse and offense to go unaddressed."

SumoBoy: the game that end in bullying takes

There's no denying that bullying is a rather large and long-lasting problem. It is quite possible that will never be solved--but that doesn't stop some brave people from get up and try.

One such group is a Sydney-based global development studio called TAPRR, and the method has the potential to accomplish much. The team is making a game called SumoBoy--on the surface, a fun adventure game about a boy rescuing a magical world, but dig a little deeper and the game will deliver, the team hopes, a powerful anti-bullying message, with the help of anti-bullying advocates as spoken-word poet Shane Koyczan, who has written and voice narration of the game, and anti-bullying organization Angels purpose.

"The whole team of TAPRR have been victims of bullying (including myself) and something that is only just beginning to happen in video games now is that games developers as a tool used to send a message; think the last one of us with a female (Ellie) is the main character, "producer Rob Salha told CNET. "We wanted to do the same thing (a positive signal) and not only produce a fun game but a game that made you think after you had put down the controller."

The game, which has been in development for a year, centers around Oji, a floating boy who routinely bullied in school, but still manages to remain friendly and compassionate. One day he discovers that his mother is the Princess of the elements, Kesa, from the magical land of Seishin-and that his homeland is in danger. KESA has kidnapped and held captive by Kurai Kami, and it's up to Oji rescue Seishin using his powers Sumo and his Blade of balance.

It is a well known story for video games--well, it works--and the style is a rather richly colored isometric world, but it's not, Salha clarified, your standard hack-n-slash, instead it is rooted in the personal experiences of the team of bullying, such as those of the game lead designer, Henry Walsh.

"It's stories like this that really fuel us to try to give people a voice, as cliché as that sounds," said Salha. "Also, we know how sensitive now bullying is and it is a great challenge to this topic in a video game ... balance but it is a challenge that we are willing to accept. We know that we're going to spark debate and that is a good thing. Even reading some of the comments sections of where our article was posted, there seems to be a misunderstanding of what bullying really is. "

And that is what SumoBoy wants to change--although one could argue that a video game that involves the use of violence to defeat enemies may not be the best way to send that message.

The team, however, has thought of that too.

"The game Is the message that fighting back the solution to bullying is? In a short answer, no, "Salha explained."However by the game, Oji enemies fight, not one of the ' bullies ' in the game is actually defeated by the fighting. There seems to be a misconception regarding the trailer and the scene of the bullies run in demons. In the game, then he does not fight the bullies demons that Oji. Oji travels to the spirit world in the game and fight evil spirits. Without too much away, the monstrous bullies in the trailer are part of an illusion, like a dream sequence. "

TAPRR

In fact, Salha, worked out, not a single one of the game's boss bullies can be extracted by the fighting.

"An enemy, for example, in the realm of Water is a giant catfish spirit, the spirit is creating earthquakes that threaten a village," he said. "This boss can not be overcome by force. It is too big and too powerful. Instead, Oji must find another way, and he learns that the "Bully" actually causes problems because Kurai Kami's henchmen have taken over her nest. This is a metaphor indicating that sometimes bullies not bad people, they are problems and only lashing out. "

And the star of the game, while Oji Kickstarter campaign, the game will have much more to offer, with Salha hinting at, but does not confirm, cooperative multiplayer.

"We really had to hold ourselves back with our trailer," he said. "We have so much more to say and show, but we wanted to introduce Oji first."

You can support the project and a copy of the game for PC, Mac, Linux and mobile for a minimum commitment of AU $ 12 on kickstarter. Head over to the SumoBoy Kickstarter campaign to check it out.

Videohance brings real-time video editing to iOS

If you want to edit video on your iPhone, you have a couple well-known choices. There's iMovie, of course, and Pinnacle Studio, which debuted for iPhone just last month.

Now comes Videohance, a video-editing app with a few cool tricks up its sleeve. For starters, price: It's currently on sale for 99 cents (normally $2.99), versus $4.99 for iMovie and $9.99 for Pinnacle Studio.

Even better, Videohance makes the whole movie-editing process more fun thanks to its real-time tools. It works like this: You shoot a clip (or choose one from the camera roll), then choose one of the five available editing options: Color, Overlays, Frames, Audio, and Edit.

Within each of these you'll find various tools. In Color, for example, you can tap Tune to tweak things like brightness, exposure, and saturation. Or tap Presets and you'll find loads of Instagram-style filters.

What's interesting about this is that while you're browsing these options, your video plays on a continuous preview loop. When you select any modification, it's applied immediately, so you see instantly how it'll look. On my iPhone 5S, at least, this all happens smooth as silk, with no delay, no rendering, no interruption of any kind. (The app requires at least an iPhone 4S, FYI.)

And that's the beauty -- and fun -- of Videohance. It's loaded with presets, overlays, frames, and other cool effects, and applying them couldn't be easier. You can add and split clips, and also splice in still photos -- complete with Ken Burns-style photo-motion effects. The end result is a stylized video that would normally require some fairly sophisticated desktop software.

Unsurprisingly, the app does take some time to export your finished product, but it's pretty quick overall. When it's done, you can share/save to a variety of destinations: Camera Roll, e-mail, Facebook, Instagram, text message, Tumbler, WhatsApp, and YouTube. (Curiously, no Twitter.)

For 99 cents, Videohance is a must-have addition to any videographer's app collection. And, let's face it, it's a steal at $2.99, too.

Hands-on with the Sparkbeats light-up iPhone case

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The Sparkbeats effect is most dramatic when the lights are low, but it's still quite visible under ordinary indoor lighting. BiteMyApple.co

There are plenty of iPhone cases that do more than just protect your phone. Some double as wallets, some zap would-be attackers with 650,000 volts, and so on.

How about one that livens up the way you receive notifications? That's the Sparkbeats in a nutshell: it's an iPhone 5/5S case that lights up and flashes whenever there's an incoming call or text. And because it leverages a little-documented feature in iOS, it requires no external power to do so.

Sparkbeats began as a Kickstarter project in Australia, but is now available for sale via BiteMyApple.co, which provided my review sample.

Available in black or white, the case sports two clear, raised channels that run from the camera LED all around the back and sides. To take advantage of this, you need to delve into your iPhone's settings (General > Accessibility) and enable LED Flash for Alerts.

With that done, the LED will flash whenever a call or text message comes in. And with your iPhone inside the Sparkbeats, that entire channel will flash as well. The effect is pretty cool, and it certainly has practical value: even if your phone is set to mute, you can see the flashing, making it less likely that you'll miss an important call or message.

Timed Company Limited

There's also a "pass-through" switch that allows you to use the LED for its intended purpose (i.e. flash photography). And if you want to have a little more fun with the case, the free Sparkbeats app lets you enable Flash Light mode (complete with an SOS option), a motion-sensitive flash, and Follow the Beats, which makes the LED strobe in response to sound picked up by the microphone.

Ironically, though, it doesn't seem to work with music you play on your iPhone proper.

All told, the Sparkbeats is a pretty cool gimmick. However, although the raised rear channels offer some added anti-slip gription, the case itself has zero lip to protect your screen in the event of a face-down drop. And it's necessarily on the thick side to accommodate the side channels.

Most of all, the Sparkbeats is a tough sell owing to its $50 (£30, AU$54) price tag. Last December I wrote about a similar product priced at just $20 (though it's no longer available, at least from that vendor). Cool and practical as this case is, I think a lower price is in order. Your thoughts?

Apple rumored to announce iPhone smart-home remote

Smart-home technology may be on the agenda at next week's WWDC. James Martin/CNET

What will Apple announce during next week's WWDC? Needless to say, the rumor mill is spinning fast and furious, with lots of expectations for new iPhones and the very likely introduction of iOS 8.

Now, with just days to go before the conference, at least one detail is starting to gain traction: Apple will add smart-home features to the next version of its mobile operating system.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal picked up a Financial Times report indicating a "big splash in the world of smart-home technology." Specifically, the report said your iPhone will be able to automate everything from opening the garage door to turning on the lights when you get home.

Such capabilities could be among the fruits of a patent Apple received last year, one focused on smart-home system settings referred to as "scenes."

Further evidence arrived in my inbox this morning, with a public relations rep for a universal-remote app letting slip this statement: "Next week Apple will be announcing its iPhone Smart Home remote which will be available sometime in the future."

Although that may have been mere speculation, it's certainly phrased as fact. App developers are often clued into Apple's plans long before they're released to the public.

Of course, even if the company does hop into this growing market, CNET's Rich Brown suggests that Apple won't necessarily dominate it.

What are your thoughts? Would you like to see smart-home capabilities baked into your phone? Or would you rather Apple focus more on the hardware itself, with features like bigger screens and near-field communication? Share your preferences in the comments!

Tune into CNET's WWDC live show and blog at 9 a.m. PT on June 2.