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ZTE Axon 7 – Pre-Order Today, Get It July 17th

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ZTE Axon 7 available for pre-order starting July 13th

The ZTE Axon 7 is by far the most impressive device from the company yet.

STATES CHRONICLE – ZTE is a Chinese smart device manufacturer who has so far been quite modest with its releases. Targeting a mid-budget starting out is always the smart marketing idea, and ZTE quickly managed to make a name for itself for high-quality components in low-price packages. The ZTE Axon 7 is the company’s flagship, and its potential gateway to a whole new audience.

The design is similar to the HTC model phones with a double set of speakers on the top and the bottom of the device. The audio is quite solid too. It is very close to the HTC level but falls flat (pun maybe intended) with some tunes.

ZTE Axon 7 Tech Specs

The phone is running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. With the Snapdragon 821 being recently announced, some may consider the Snapdragon 820 to be “last year’s chip” but Qualcomm has stated on repeated occasions that the 821 is not a direct upgrade to the 820 and that they are meant for different devices and, to a certain degree, serve different purposes.

The Snapdragon 820 chip comes equipped with a Kryo quad-core 2.15 GHz CPU, an Adreno 530 GPU, and an X12 LTE modem.

Accompanying the Snapdragon 820 chip, the ZTE Axon 7 comes with either a memory of 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage, or a memory of 4 GB of RAM with 64 GB of internal storage.

The phone supports A MicroSD memory card in the SIM 2 slot. The external memory for the card is capped at 256GB.

The elegant screen has a 5.5-inch-wide AMOLED display.

The front camera is more than adequate for taking selfies, recording video messages or streaming and has a resolution range of 8 MP and 1080p for video.

The main camera has a resolution range of 20MP and can also capture high-quality video at 2160p, as well as 1080p and 720p. For dynamic and intense videos where every detail matters, we suggest the 720p resolution as it captures 240 frames per second, while the other two are capped at 30 fps.

The power source for the ZTE Axon 7 is a non-removable Li-Ion 3250 mAh battery.

The operating system is the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, and the Snapdragon 820 supports Google’s VR platform, Daydream.

We recommend the ZTE Axon 7 with the higher memory and internal storage, as it is a solid model for price/efficiency and it can reliably remain a usable phone for over two years. It will not be available for distribution in the US, but it is still a solid pick if users can manage to get ahold of it.

The ZTE Axon 7 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage is available for pre-order for $400 unlocked. ZTE will begin shipping out the devices, Sunday, July 17th.

Image Courtesy of The Z.T.E. Corporation.

Hangouts Gets To Version 11, Video Sending Enabled On Android

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Hangouts is being updated to its 11th version.

Hangouts for Android finally gets the 2-year-old iOS feature.

STATES CHRONICLE – Google’s own messaging apps, Hangouts, will soon be receiving a Play Store update that will let the user send and receive up to one minute of video.

The update will finally enable the feature to Android users. In February 2014, Hangouts for iOS was the first version of the app to add the feature, although it only allowed the recording and sending of videos that were up to ten seconds long.

The app then received an updated which enabled the recording and sending of videos that were up to one minute long, one month later in March.

Google was recently accused of making better versions of its apps for the iOS rather than for its own OS, Android. As a response, it appears that the company will be trying to make amends and bring out updates whenever possible.

Videos on Hangouts for Android, although two years late, will be supporting resolutions of up to 1080p. Videos on Hangouts for iOS currently support resolutions of up to only 360p, although after the latest update can be up to 2 minutes long.

A contrast between quality and quantity is starting to be visible between the two versions, at least until they will all share the same features.

Hangouts Version 11

To send a video to a Hangouts contact, users will have the option of live-recording an up to one-minute-long video with the app or choosing an already existing video from the on-board storage of the device. All video features will be accessible through the button next to the images features button on the chat bar.

With version 11, Hangouts will no longer support the merged view between SMS and conversations with the same contact. Google stated that users found the feature to be confusing and that it did not see much use. The feature has been entirely removed.

Nevertheless, version 11 will let any user present in a group remove another user. This is a big step forward in regards to group moderation on Hangouts, as those features are greatly lacking.

Finally, the patch includes a fix for square cropping of images and for static GIFs.

Hangouts v11 will be rolling out to the Google Play Store in the following days, so if your Android device does not automatically update, the app will be available for manual download soon.

Image Courtesy of Flickr.

Android Wear Smartwatches Covertly Developed By Google?

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Android Wear Smartwatches rumored to be in the making.

Android Wear Smartwatches could be coming soon, along with the Google Phone.

STATES CHRONICLE – A recent unofficial leak in the world of Android has many users standing at the edge of their seats in anticipation. The leak states that Google is researching and developing their very own brand of Android Wear smartwatches.

Presently, Google has, of course, denied to make any statement whatsoever in regards to any of the leaked information about the potential future Android smartwatches. Nevertheless, the information made available is entirely plausible.

The code-names for the smartwatches are Angelfish and Swordfish. They will have Google Assistant integration. Both Angelfish and Swordfish are believed to be Nexus-branded. Angelfish will feature a larger size with additional tech.

Swordfish is seen as the potential smaller and more financially accessible watch, with a dial diameter of 42mm. The leak also stated that it would come with a built-in heart rate monitor.

Angelfish will have a dial diameter of 43.5mm. Apart from the built-in heart rate monitor, it will come with GPS and LTE.

Considering both watches will come with heart rate monitors, there is a high probability that Google Fit or its successor will be already installed on the smartwatches. Google Fit features will be displayed and available to users without having to connect to a smart handheld device.

Finally, the leak also included several pieces of information and data which indicated that the Google team is working on new watch faces. With in-house designed Android Wear smartwatches, information display and app access can be greatly improved.

What is Google making apart from rumored Android Wear smartwatches?

Since the beginning of June, rumors, speculations, information leaks, and even official news around Android have been more frequent and all pointing towards one specific endgame – a stand-alone series of Google smart devices.

Hardware manufacturers having increased their efforts to develop their operating systems. The ones who admitted to any rumors stated it was just a contingency measure.

Meanwhile, there is talk and proof that a Google Phone is in the works and specialists believe this product could even give Apple a run for its money.

With hardware manufacturers developing their software and with software manufacturers making their hardware, the world is quickly approaching the era where the difference between the two will not matter.

With a Google Phone and now with the Android Wear smartwatches possibly in development, how big of an impact will the company have on the handheld and smart device market?

Photo Courtesy of Flickr.

Googling Medical Symptoms Will Display Symptom Cards

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Googling medical symptoms will not result in terrifying fake diagnostics

Symptom Cards will be displayed after Googling medical symptoms. It’ll probably never be lupus.

STATES CHRONICLE – Presently, users Googling medical symptoms, such as a throat ache may probably be led to believe that they have cancer or some horrible incurable disease which will eventually lead to a slow and agonizing death.

Google is a search engine, and, as such, it has algorithms which set a particular display priority. The most popular results will often be at the top of the page because they in most cases they are what people are looking.

Medical symptoms are, however, not “most cases”, and many people ended up fearing for their life after trying to find out why their stomach hurt.

While Googling medical symptoms may sound like a cheaper and faster alternative than consulting a physician, the search engine is not medically qualified to give advice.

Licensed health professionals have never been quite pleased with the matter either. Convincing panicked patients that they will not be dying anytime soon is both challenging and time-consuming.

Nevertheless, after considerable efforts on Google’s part, the company is all but ready to implement a new upgrade. After the update, people Googling medical symptoms will be shown several cards similar to the ones already present in Google Now.

The cards will be ordered from most to least probable rather than most to least lethal. Information will also be gathered from the user’s location, weather, and news to sort out the symptom cards better.

While most minor symptoms may contain well-known and accessible treatments, most of the cards will advise the users to seek appropriate medical consultation. And since this will be a Google service, or even more likely an update to Google Now, integration with Google Clock, Google Calendar, and Google Inbox will most like become available if not present from the start.

Google has stated that close to one percent of daily queries are users Googling medical symptoms. The company will be releasing millions of symptom cards initially, planning to release more as health conditions change around the globe.

Due to their overwhelming number, the symptom cards will be initially available only in the US, in the English language. Compatible Android and iOS devices will be receiving the update soon. Google plans to make the feature available in all its supported languages. However, it will require some more time.

The symptom cards will also be made available to desktops soon. Doctors have already expressed their hope that Googling medical symptoms in the future will lead to calm and knowledgeable patients.

Image Courtesy of Google.

Google Cardboard Now Available Outside US

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"Google Cardboard VR Set Now Available in Four Other Countries"

Google Cardboard VR Set

STATES CHRONICLE – One of the most affordable VR sets, Google Cardboard in now available outside the US in four countries: Canada, the UK, France, and Germany.

The gadget, although in US stores from 2014, is now sold through the official site outside the American borders. We are curious to know why it took the tech giant so much time to release a product meant for the masses. Wasn’t Google unusually evasive in this case?

Regardless, the price tag for this “baby” is 20 (CAD) Canadian dollars, in the UK, it is £15 and in France and Germany you can buy it for €20. Buy two, get one at minus five bucks the initial price, and you arrive at a CAD 35, £25 or €30 offer.

The alternative for the Google Cardboard is either the Mattel View-Master Starter Pack VR or the Tech C1-Glass VR portable Viewer. It’s not yet clear if the California-based Mountain View Company will sell these toys to the four countries where Cardboard is going, but both are currently available for purchasing within the US.

As we’ve mentioned before, the Google Cardboard VR is much more affordable than its far more sophisticated counterparts now on the market. It is compatible with a broad range of 4 to 6-inch smartphones and their Android or iOS accessories.

If you have more funds to dispense on this type of gadgets, Facebook’s Oculus Rift and HTC’s promising Vive experience could be a better choice. But if you don’t have that kind of money, Google lets you try out the technology with their Cardboard VR set.

If you’re a newbie to this equalizer tech toy, you should know the gadget is designed to work with games, apps and videos on your smartphone, but if you’re not interested in any of it, it has another trick up its sleeve. With Google Cardboard, you can travel, sing and dance on stage with your favorite artist or experience other adventurous, thrilling situations.

It’s a DIY product that can be assembled in a few simple steps with quality lenses and a robust laminated part to last you, as the Chinese say, “long time.”

With the Google Cardboard VR set being now available in four key countries, we are eager to see how far will this technology spread.

Image source: Wikimedia

Destinations on Google Help You Plan Trips

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"Google Destinations"

A new Google feature will make it easier for you to plan your trips

STATES CHRONICLE – Google has by far the most popular search engine there is, and people tend to rely on it for any information they might need. Some of the most common searches include cities, plane tickets, routes, hotels and, in general, any other kind of travel related info.

With so many people searching travel information on Google, the company decided to make it easier for us, by developing and now launching a new feature called Destinations. This feature will help users find a destination, a way to travel there and advice on when to depart, as well as suggestions for cheap flights and accommodation.

The feature is, for now, available only on mobile devices. This is not a new application or a new website, but simply an extra feature to the search engine. When a user looks up travel information, Destinations will pop up and give you all the best advice.

For example, if you search for a specific country or a specific city, an option to open “travel guide” will appear. If you don’t know for sure where you want to go and just type “European vacations” you will be shown a grid of all the major cities and how much it would cost you to get there.

Destinations pages have two tabs: one for location info and itineraries and the other one for booking flights and accommodation. The first tab is going to be extremely helpful especially the part with itineraries. It will help you plan your trip more efficiently, without spending too much time in one place and too little in another. How can Google know such things? It uses an algorithm to find out how much time people on vacation usually spend in one place, and based on that you will be advised accordingly.

There will already be 201 cities with available itineraries when the feature is launched. Some of them will have more than one itinerary, planned for short trips of approximately three days. The only thing Google can’t tell you is how exactly you can book transportation if you want to go from one place to another.

The tab that allows you to book plane tickets and hotel rooms is also very helpful, but it doesn’t offer more than Google Flights. However, you cannot book directly from Google Destinations, but you have to go and make your bookings on that company’s website.

All in all, Destinations is a feature that will bring more travel info in the same place, so you won’t have to look up places, plane tickets and hotels separately. It will make it a lot easier for us to plan our trips and itineraries so that we don’t waste too much time on less interesting attractions.

Image source: www.bing.com

James B. Comey FBI Director Criticizes Encryption

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In the midst of all the hacking that is happening these days, including the recent Snapsaved.com hack where thousands of photos sent through Snapchat were leaked on the Web, James B. Comey FBI Director criticizes encryption and believes that U.S. citizens should let the government spy on them for their own safety.

James B. Comey FBI Director Criticizes Encryption

James B. Comey FBI Director is very unhappy about the fact that Apple and Google and other tech companies are making it harder to access personal information. The encryption these companies are creating makes it hard for law enforcement officials to gather the information they need to catch criminals. If you think that this is another way of saying that FBI has a hard time getting your personal and private information, then you are completely right.

James B. Comey FBI Director

In a speech James B. Comey FBI Director made on Thursday, he said that all the increasing implementation of encryption technologies will leave law enforcement agents unable to collect evidence against wrongdoers.

He said:

Those charged with protecting our people aren’t always able to access the evidence we need to prosecute crime and prevent terrorism even with lawful authority. We have the legal authority to intercept and access communications and information pursuant to court order, but we often lack the technical ability to do so. Those charged with protecting our people aren’t always able to access the evidence we need to prosecute crime and prevent terrorism even with lawful authority. We have the legal authority to intercept and access communications and information pursuant to court order, but we often lack the technical ability to do so.

In other words, national security agencies and law enforcement agents want U.S. citizens to accept that the government is spying on them and to make sure that they don’t do anything to make it hard to them to do so.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Drop us a line in the comment section below and tell us about it.

List of Smartphones That Will Upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop

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Apple is getting a lot of things done lately, as just this week it is going to launch the Apple Pay mobile payments service, where people can pay with just their smartphones. Google isn’t going to fall behind, naturally, so yesterday it launched the newest version of Android, the Android 5.0 Lollipop. Let’s take a look at the list of smartphones that will upgrade to the latest Android!

Android 5.0 Lollipop and Compatible Phones

Android 5.0 Lollipop is an amazing update to Android. One of the most impressive features will prolong battery life on your phone by 90 minutes! Let’s take a look at the companies and their smartphones that will update to Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Google

Naturally, Google’s new HTC Nexus 9 tablet and the Motorola Nexus 6 are coming with the OS preinstalled. Google said that the Nexus 3, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 will be updated in the following weeks.

HTC

HTC will begin rolling out the new Android 5.0 Lollipop OS to their HTC One M7 and HTC One M8 within 90 days of getting the final version of the software from Google. The rest of the One family will get the update after the flaghsips do.

Android 5.0 Lillipop

Motorola

Motorola will be putting the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system on a bunch of devices: the 1st and 2nd generation Moto X and Moto G, Droid Mini, Droid Maxx, Droid Ultra, Moto E and the Moto G with LTE.

Sony

Sony hasn’t released any information about the Android update. We’re guessing that the company’s current line of smartphones will all be updated to the new Android 5.0 Lollipop, such as the Xperia Z3 compact, the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z3 V.

LG and Samsung

As is the case with Sony, LG and Samsung haven’t released anything about the software update. We expect to see Android 5.0 Lollipop on the LG G3 and G2 Pro, the G2 and the G Pro. Samsung will most likely update the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3. When this will happen, we have no idea, but we’re guessing it’s not going to be this year, but the beginning of next year.

Are you one of the lucky owners of a smartphone that will update to Android 5.0 Lollipop? Are you excited about the new updated operating system? Drop us a line in the comment section below and tell us about it.

Finally Unveiled: Nexus 6 Smartphone and Android 5 Lollipop

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The Google Nexus 8 tablet was a major hit with tablet lovers. Yesterday, Google unveiled three new flagship products during their media event: the Nexus 9 tablet, the Nexus 6 Smartphone and the Android TV Player. Today, we’re going to take a quick look at them and also at the new Android 5.0 Lollipop.

 Google’s Nexus 6 Smartphone and Android 5 Lollipop

Google has finally reveled their new updated Android 5.0 Lollipop. The operating system looks quite amazing. Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President of Android had this to say about Lollipop:

Lollipop is made for a world where moving throughout the day means interacting with a bunch of different screens–from phones and tablets to TVs.

A great new feature included by Lollipop is a battery saver that apparently will extend the life of your device by 90 minutes. That’s pretty impressive! You’ve also got multiple user accounts, a guest user mode, which is great for when you’re lending your phone to friends and improved security measures.

Nexus 9 Tablet

The new Google Motorola Nexus 6 smartphone is made by Motorola, the company’s first collaboration with Google on this project. The phone will be available at the end of this month for preorder and it will become available in shops at the beginning of November. Some say that the price is a bit too high and we tend to agree with those people. The unlocked version of Google Nexus 6 will cost $649 for the 32GB version and $699 for the 64GB version.

Don’t forget that in just a few hours, Apple will have their media even where they will be unveiling the new iPads! What are your thoughts on Google’s Nexus 9 tablet and the Nexus 6 smartphone? Drop us a line in the comment section below and tell us about it. We love hearing from our readers.

Right to be Forgotten forced Google to Remove 170,000 Links

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Google is threatened with a $100 million lawsuit over the nude celebrity pictures that have been splashed all over the internet following the iCloud hack. Earlier this week, Google has removed over 170,000 links after being forced to do so by the European right to be forgotten.

Right to be Forgotten

Even though the removal has nothing to do with the iCloud nude celebrity pictures, the issue is somewhat similar. If you haven’t heard of the Right to be Forgotten, you should know that it is a ruling made by the European Court of Justice that gives people the power to request the removal of links to content that they no longer want to appear online.

Such requests are being sent out to Google for it to remove them from its search engines. This ruling only applies in the countries inside the European Union, so Google won’t show the content inside the EU, but if you search for it from the U.S. you will find it. Basically, only the links are removed from the search engine, not the content.

right to be forgotten

Up until now, Google has received about 150,000 requests, which add up to half a million links to be removed. After careful examination, it went on to remove 41% of it, or 171,183 links, leaving the rest online.

This measure has been dubbed by Tim-Berners Lee, Word Wide Web founder, as draconian. He joins the many Internet freedom advocates who are protesting the Right to be Forgotten ruling.

So what were the websites the people wanted to delete themselves from? Facebook tops the list, followed by Profile Engine and YouTube. France was the country with the most requests, followed closely by Germany, Britain and Spain.

Would you want to have links to content of you removed from the web? Would you want the Right to be Forgotten to come to the U.S.? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

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