We take the Samsung Galaxy S4 Android 4.3 ROM for a spin, here’s the video

When Google’s Hugo Barra announced at the Google I/O 2013 that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be offered directly from the Play Store as a “Google Play Edition” device running stock Android, many people got really excited. Later on, HTC also jumped on the bandwagon with the HTC One, giving you a choice between two excellently spec’d smartphones that offer the Nexus experience.

As planned, the devices went on sale on June 26 and almost immediately, an alleged Galaxy S4 I9505G unit was discovered that runs on the yet unannounced Android 4.3 Jelly Bean instead of the official Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Shortly after, a ROM that any regular Galaxy S4 owner with a Snapdragon 600 (yes, including the regular TouchWiz version) can flash popped up.
And here we are today, presenting you a Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9505) turned into a Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition (I9505G) running the leaked ROM 4.3. So, how does it feel and what’s new?
Right after you power on the stock Android-loving Galaxy S4, you notice the new Android boot animation with the Google logo prominently flashing. Then, you’re greeted with a special-made live wallpaper for the Google Play Edition duo dubbed Sun Beam. It’s essentially the same as the Phase Beam, but is done in fire red. Welcome to stock Android 4.3 territory.
Depending on where you come from (TouchWiz 4.2 or vanilla Android 4.2) the user interface can feel either completely different or virtually unchanged. There are five homescreen panes that can’t be deleted nor moved like on the rest of the Nexus family. The notification drawer still has a shortcut for the quick settings and the bottom dock holds four customizable app shortcuts and the app drawer icon. In a word – stock Android user interface.
However, there are a few changes here and there. Google Keep for example now comes preloaded, as does Google Hangouts (replacing Google Talk). Google Now is now at version 2.6.7.721924 and as now comes with support for two new types of cards – TV and Offers.

Android 4.3 new camera UI
The other notable change is the new camera interface, which is much more usable. When you tap on the screen to change the settings, there’s a new arch above your finger that shows the quick settings – HDR, Exposure, Flash and jump to the front-facing camera. There’s a settings button, too, which shows more options in a similarly visual fashion.
We’ve made a hands-on video of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Check it out below.

It’s not known at this point if this leaked Android 4.3 that’s running on our Galaxy S4 is even real – it might be an elaborate prank by a skillful developer who fused the leaked camera and gallery apps to the regular 4.2 ROM of the Galaxy S4 Nexus edition and modded the about screen to say 4.3. Or it might be targeted at OEMs to give them time to prepare their custom Android builds with the latest APIs.
We’ll know soon enough, as Google and people more familiar with the inner workings of Android speak out. Either way, the ROM is performing nicely, so at the very least it will give you a chance to make turn your regular Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4 into a Google Edition one in a few easy steps.

The major overhaul of the Asha platform focuses around the so-called Fastlane, which is why the latest promo video revolves around it. The Fastlane keeps track of all your recent activity, opened apps go there, along with contacts you’ve called, calendar events (birthdays, to-dos) and social network posts.
Nokia’s putting quite a lot of effort in the PR campaign of the Asha 501, and it seems that the company may have bigger plans for the Asha lineup than initially expected.

You can check our first impressions of the new Asha 501 right here.

Google issues a small update for Gmail on Android, brings back the delete button

The last update Google made to Gmail for Android was quite substantial and included a lot of user interface changes. One of them was the removal of the Delete button, which caused a hurricane of negative feedback. Today, Google has responded by bringing back the Delete button in a small update for its mail client on Android.

Other than that, the latest version of the Gmail (v4.5.2) includes an undisclosed number of bugfixes as well as the feature to select multiple emails by tapping on their sender’s photo.
Before the update, you had to go in the Settings menu and manually bring up the Delete button. Now, it’s sitting next to the Archive button by default. Follow the source link below to visit the Gmail app on the Google Play Store website and push the update to your smartphone.

Nokia Wireless Charging Plate and Fatboy Pillow review

Nokia was among the first manufacturers to include Wireless Charging tech into its smartphones and has a rather cool line of Wireless Charging accessories. We have two of them here at HQ and they work together nicely to carry out their out-the-way no-wires-needed assignments with style.

The Wireless Charging Plate and Fatboy-made Wireless Charging Pillow go very well together. The Wireless Charging Plate is the soul of the operation but it you want to encompass your handset in a lavish pillow you can put the plate inside the Wireless Charging Pillow and just drop the phone on it without worrying it will get scuffed or scratched.
The Wireless Charging Plate retails for about £55 or €68 but if you want it bundled with the Fatboy Pillow you’ll need to shell out around £80 or €100. That’s not a modest asking price for what’s essentially a charger with a tiny pillow but a lot of design an appeal have gone into making both accessories.

Design and ergonomics

Both accessories sport a bright yellow paintjob but you could also get them in Cyan, Red, White and the more cultivated Black. And although both are specifically tailored to Nokia’s Lumia range of devices we found them to work just as well with any other Wireless Charging-enabled device, for instance the LG Nexus 4.
The Nokia Wireless Charging Plate weighs 93 grams, which is more than acceptable for an accessory you’re not likely to lug around that much.

The Wireless Charging Plate and Pillow by Nokia
The Wireless Charging Plate is compact and when nestled under the Lumia 920 can almost disappear. When coupled with the Wireless Charging Pillow it is far easier to spot and the immediate benefit is the additional room you get to place your device. The Nokia Wireless Charging Plate gives you room to maneuver your phone while charging – a couple of centimeters won’t disconnect the phone like it did with the Samsung Galaxy S4′s accessory.
Samsung chose to incorporate Wireless Charging technology in its Galaxy S4 smartphone via an additional back cover and a similar, if not as compact or minimalist, design. Nokia, on the other hand, have different approaches for their devices. The Lumia 920 has wireless charging built right in, the Lumia 820 needs to have its battery cover replaced, while the Lumia 720 needs an extra clip-on accessory.
The Nokia Lumia 920 has the added heft but once you place the phone on the accessory you forget about the weight and can easily get used to it thanks to the benefit of not having A/C adapters lying around. The Nokia Wireless Charging Plate comes with its own 2.5 mm charging connector and a long cable (1.8 meters to be exact) but if you can get it out of the way behind some furniture what you’re left with is a minimal accessory on your desk, which can charge your device with ease.

Charging times – this one’s for the win

So let’s check out the numbers and see if the Plate is better than the conventional cable charging.
The Wireless Charging Plate actually did a good job of charging the Lumia 920 from 0% all the way up to full. It completed the task in exactly 2 hours and 40 minutes, which is more than reasonable, especially considering that Samsung’s Wireless Charging Pad took an extra 1:10 hours to do the same to the Galaxy S4. But let’s not point any fingers here as the Samsung flagship does have an extra 600 mAh on its battery compared to the Lumia 920.
The Plate has an output of 750 mA compared to the 1 A of the conventional Nokia A/C adapter that comes in the Lumia 920 retail box. So the microUSB charger should do a significantly faster job of charging the Lumia 920.
Well it did, in a way. The microUSB carger got the Lumia 920 from 0% to 100% in a minute over 2 hours. That’s a whole 39 minutes faster than the Wireless Charging Plate.

Nokia Lumia 920 charging times

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• Wireless Charging Plate 2:40
• MicroUSB wall charger 2:01

Final words

So if you want to get the wires away from your smartphone the Wireless Charging Plate is a nice way to go and it won’t delay your smartphone needs all that much compared to a regular charger. So is it worth it for the premium Nokia’s asking? Well it’s up to you. Coolness factor is definitely in the Wireless Charger’s favor but there are still wires, even if they are attached no attached straight to your phone. We give the Wireless Charging Plate and Fatboy Pillow a thumbs up for creativity and ease of use. They may not be a necessary accessory, but are certainly one of the ones that are most fun to use.