All About Android 107

All About Android
Episode 107


"Android Style"Hosts: Jason Howell, Gina Trapani, and Ron Richards Guest: Aaron Newcomb Topic: Google's to-do list for I/O 2013, Google posts how-to video on Glass, and hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S4. Recorded: April 30 2013 Duration: 1:23:16 Transcript Previous episode – Next episode

All About Android 107: Android Style

Guest

Aaron Newcomb
FLOSS Weekly
@aaronnewcomb

Galaxy S4 Unboxing

News

4:26

Babel New Android release Gaming Google Wallet Card Motorola Phone Google Now cards/improvements Google TV improvements Google Music subscriptions Google X "Control System" At a SXSW talk, Astro Teller (whose official title at Google X is, I kid you not, "Captain of Moonshots") announced that a new Google X project would be unveiled at this year's Google I/O. Teller only vaguely described the project as a "control system" and that it is "very fragile." None of that is particularly enlightening. Teller's background is probably of some relevance. He has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, and co-founded a company called BodyMedia, a wearable technology company.

Email

23:50

Hey there all about Android staff. I'm a dedicated listener to the podcast. In fact, I consume quite a number of podcasts, thanks to Doggcatcher, mostly during commute time. Recently, I've been downloading lots of interesting video as well (TED talks, etc.) The biggest problem: I don't really have time to sit and stare at my phone, and it's not safe during my commute. Many of these talks are mostly audio, and could be just listened to, but running the screen without looking at it seems an extreme waste of battery, not to mention the pocket-press control problem. I'd love a video player with an option to keep playing the audio when you blank the screen. Does such a beast exist?

Ross Houston, TX

BeyondPod allows you to blank your screen while playing videos, as well. Note that you cannot switch apps, though, or the video will stop.

Hardware

29:12

Apps

47:30

Android design lead Matias Duarte: Facebook Home shows 'incredible amount of polish

First there was Eric Schmidt, who described Home as "a tremendous endorsement" of the Google Play ecosystem. Now none other than Matias Duarte (who himself led Android's dramatic visual transformation) has chimed in. "The new Facebook Home shows an incredible amount of polish and attention to design detail, and that didn’t come from a hardware manufacturer," Duarte said in an interview with ABC News. "With the Home experience, they did a nice job expressing the Facebook experience, but so much of the Google design experience with Ice Cream Sandwich was in there as well," he said.

Google's new phrasing leaves little room for interpretation. Facebook's justification for its update policy was that it was only pushing the updates to users that allowed non-Play store downloads to their phones, and it was informing them that the update was available. That worked under the old terms and conditions, but it's clear that Facebook will now have to stop its experiment of pushing new features to users that allow installations from unknown sources.

Email

56:40

So I recently received my HTC One and I am loving this phone. My only complaint is that I miss the full screen caller ID from my iPhone. The screen on the HTC One is so beautiful and vibrant, that I really want to have my caller ID photos as large as possible.

Do you guys have any suggestions for apps to use? And I have no issue with a for pay app. If I want the Android App community to get better, I have to do my part and support the developers.

M.J.

HD Caller ID

Android Arena!

59:10

Production Information

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All About Android 107

Contents