Android apps

We pulled together the week’s top tech stories, just for you:

1. Hamwells e-Shower Connects Your Shower to the Internet of Things (And Bathing)
 This nifty gadget saves 90 percent of the water that would otherwise go down the drain during a shower. Which is pretty cool, since water is all the rage these days. Everywhere you look, it’s water this, and water that—people just can’t seem to get enough of this stuff.
 via: @techcrunch

2. This headset lets you control robots with your brain 
Flying drones sure does look like a blast, doesn’t it? The hard truth is that those controllers have one heck of a learning curve. Controlling drones with our brains, though; now that’s another story. Most of us have been using those things for years!   via: @timeoutnewyork

3. Virtual Reality Now Lets You Live the News Stay tuned for Stuff That Just Happened: a VR Experience. via: @gizmodo

4. One-fifth of Americans report going online ‘almost constantly’
 Sometime in the not-too-distant future, we’re going to have to stop saying “online,” because that sort of implies that it can be turned off. The most surprising part of this report is that 13 percent of adults claim not to use the Internet at all. Try to pick them out on your morning commute. 
 via: @pewresearch

With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s safe to say we don’t have to worry about any more big-name flagships launching this year. That being said, we can now turn our eyes to 2016, where OEMs will once again be fighting for your wallet. Speaking of which, the changing market hasn’t been kind to all manufactures. Sony, for instance, has been bleeding money, but could have big plans to turn things around in 2016.

If you thought the company would play it safe next year in hopes of focusing on a smaller device portfolio, that may not be the case. A new rumor hitting the interwebs suggests that Sony is planning to launch a total of 5 new smartphones under the Xperia Z6 brand. Covering all their bases, Sony might have a little something for everyone, adding on a smaller Xperia Mini model and bringing back the gargantuan-sized Xperia Ultra. Here’s what we could be looking at:

Sony Xperia Z6 Mini – 4-inch display, Snapdragon 620

Sony Xperia Z6 Compact – 4.6-inch display, Snapdragon 820

Sony Xperia Z6 – 5.2-inch display, Snapdragon 820

Sony Xperia Z6 Plus – 5.8-inch display, Snapdragon 820

Sony Xperia Z6 Ultra – 6.4-inch display, Snapdragon 820

Also included in the rumor was mention of the Z6 and Z6 Plus coming equipped with some kind of pressure sensitive display, similar to the iPhone 6S. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of software adjustments will be needed to accommodate this new hardware, but something tells us we’re going to see this on a few other flagships moving forward.

With CES 2016 officially kicking off in just a few week’s time, we don’t expect to see any of these rumored devices there (Sony has relaxed a bit on their 6-month release cycle), but it’s possible they could have some of this hardware on display. Don’t forget, there’s also a Z5 Ultra rumored for a possible CES unveiling. We’ll have to wait and see.

Amazon Prime Video coming to new Apple TV soon

“Amazon appears to have confirmed to engineer Dan Bostonweeks that it is developing a tvOS app for Prime Video that could launch before the end of 2015,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors. “‘Hopefully, within a few weeks span, you will be able to see the Amazon Instant Video app feature on your Apple TV,’ the company purportedly said in an email.”

“Apple was wrongly criticized by…

Writing an unbiased review is a lot easier said than done. Just about every reviewer, myself included, has their very own preferences, opinions, and experiences that will in some manner affect his or her attitudes and conclusions. So rather than pretend that I was an unbiased reviewer, I will begin by suggesting a little about this phones I have owned the past few years. My hope is until this information will lend an individual greater insight into my personal thoughts and feelings about the Sony Z5.

I like Sony phones. I’ve owned every generation from the Sony Z series of which T-Mobile has sold in the usa, including the Z, Z1, and also Z3. Before you telephone me a biased Sony fanboy, let me also explain that in the last three years I have also owned an HTC One M7 and M8, a Samsung Galaxy S4, a great LG Nexus 4 and also G2, and a Nokia Lumia 925.

I have owned a great deal of phones over the past several years because I worked for T-Mobile like a sales rep while gaining my second degree. Every one of the devices I listed was either won in the contest, or purchased at the discount, with the exception from the Sony Z3. I bought that device at a high price after I left T-Mobile, because I felt it had been the best device of its generation. I was obsessed about the phone by features for example build quality, camera, battery life, and waterproofing. I also was quite smitten through the M8 and its beautiful aluminum body, but poor people camera and lackluster battery life were a lot of to overlook.

I come into this kind of review with respect regarding what Sony has done in past times, but I’m not blind to the current competitive field. When this Z3 launched, Android’s huge boys, Samsung and LG, were still making plastic supported phones. The Z3 looked and felt like a premium device in my personal consideration.

Apple quietly increases iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library limits above 25,000 tracks

“Apple has increased the 25,000-track limit to iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library,” Kirk McElhearn writes for Kirkville.

“The company has not made any announcements yet, but I have heard from several people who have finally been able to add more than 25,000 tracks to their iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library libraries,” McElhearn writes. “I’ve heard from others, on Twitter and by…

By now, we’re used to Apple being late to the party. The company has a long standing reputation for taking a wait-and-see approach with new technologies before releasing its own version and touting it as the best.

It took Apple over two years to make the bigger iPhone 6 Plus after Samsung found success with its Galaxy Note line of smartphones, and three years to build the iPad Pro, its competitor to the Microsoft Surface. Most famously, it kept 3G out of the original iPhone, waiting until the technology had stabilized and become more widespread. With the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple’s strategy worked flawlessly, reaching the public at the precipice of big phone hype. Early reports indicate the iPad Pro may help boost the declining sales of Apple’s tablet over the holiday season, but the full picture hasn’t formed yet.

Apple Music isn’t providing enough incentive for users to leave Spotify and YouTube

It seems like a smart strategy, but when it comes to music streaming, it is looking like Apple waited too long to get into the game. As of October, Apple Music has 6.5 million paid users, which is a great number for paying subscribers for such a young service. But Apple Music’s biggest problem is and will continue to be that millions and millions of people stream music for free from other services, and have little incentive to switch to a paid music service.

Let’s lay out just how large the head start its competitors have. Apple Music is essentially in fourth place, miles behind Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube, and all the companies ahead of Apple are only getting bigger and better. Pandora, which has 78 million active users, just bought Rdio and has plans to launch an on-demand service late next year, giving its users an in-house option and push it into direct competition with Apple Music. Spotify announced it had 75 million users in June, and expects to reach 100 million users by the end of the month. YouTube — which is easily the largest music streaming service — just launched a standalone YouTube Music app to make it easier to stream audio content.

What about next year? Even if Apple somehow manages to grow its user base ten times over, it’s still only at 65 million users, and it’s not at all clear that would slow down growth from Spotify and YouTube. If Spotify does hit that 100 million user mark this month, that means it would’ve doubled its base in the last year. Does it reach 150 million users this time next year? The target is moving for Apple, and unless it can find something that will get users to pay for Apple Music en masse, it’s going to be stuck chasing Spotify and Pandora for some time.

The iOS app is still filled with bugs

This isn’t a few million phones or tablets sold by Samsung or Microsoft that Apple has to overcome to achieve its accustomed dominance. 67 percent of Americans streamed music every week before Apple Music existed. With no free tier, Apple has the cumbersome job of convincing the public, the majority of whom have chosen free services, to switch from something they know and pay for the same music without commercials. Unless you must have the latest Drake mixtapes and albums or hate your current service, there’s little reason to pay for Apple Music. If Apple Music ever wants to match the numbers currently enjoyed by Spotify and YouTube — and there’s plenty of reason to believe it does — it’s going to have to step its game up significantly.

After five months, Apple Music on iOS is still filled with bugs. Using the service on the desktop isn’t any better, as you have to once again deal with iTunes on a daily basis like this is 2008. And the best part of the service, the always-on radio station Beats 1, does not require a paid account to use. If you’re like me and have avoided iTunes save for the occasional Adele purchase every four years, you don’t want to go back to using a bloated program when Spotify’s app is fine, Pandora works on basically every device, and YouTube is where you spend most of your day avoiding work anyway.

Despite being so far behind the competition, Apple isn’t totally out of it yet. It still sells hundreds of millions of handsets a year and has enough foot traffic in its Apple Stores to convince some users to switch. But if Apple really wants to catch up with the competition, it’s going to need a hook better than a three month free trial to convince people to leave services they’ve known and used for years.

When I reviewed Apple Music this past summer, I called its discovery engine one of the best around. It has great playlist curation and picked up on my taste rather quickly as I continued to use the service. Two days after that review was published, Spotify released its Discover Weekly playlist and blew everyone out the water. Discover Weekly is one of the best music features in years and has racked up 1.7 billion streams in five months. It’s the biggest reason why I have no intentions of leaving Spotify. While Apple Music’s playlists are still one of its top features, it has to figure out how to leverage the musical data it has on its users in an ultra-simplified way like Spotify has and get users excited about the service.

Apple’s competitors have shown no signs of slowing down

Apple Music also needs to a standalone desktop app far, far removed iTunes, one of the least beloved pieces of software Apple has created. Earlier this year, Apple replaced iPhoto and Aperture with Photos for OS X, which has been a step up for most users. It should do the same for iTunes and build a new Music app for the desktop from the ground up. And Apple can’t wait until WWDC every June to make significant improvements to Apple Music. It should move to a more frequent update schedule to keep people engaged in the service.

When Apple Music launched in June, the thought process in the music industry was that there were still a ton of people who don’t stream music who would sign up for the service given Apple’s name recognition and experience with iTunes. But what’s actually happening is YouTube is making it easier to stream music, Spotify hasn’t been hurt in the least by Apple’s service, and Pandora is strengthening up its base to fend off any potential losses. Even worse, even if Apple Music gets to where it needs to be, with a hook like Discover Weekly or a big boost from CarPlay, it’ll be too late.

If Apple is serious about winning in music streaming, the bar must be raised. The name on the door isn’t enough anymore.

So, another flagship killer means a) the original left some unfinished business or b) OnePlus ran out of smart taglines. It would’ve made little sense to OnePlus to revise the job description but, while the OnePlus 2 is clearly superior it lacks one thing the original had, the benefit of surprise.

It’s what got OnePlus into the flagship club and it seems the Chinese are now playing by the club’s rules rather than trying to break them. Fair enough, we know they’re good at the latter. Time to see them in their new role.

To begin with, the OnePlus 2 is clearly more sophisticated. Still a big handset but looking better than its predecessor. It uses some of the best tech currently available and the latest Android OS, while the breakup with CyanoGen is another sign of the company’s emancipation. Not a decision that will get everyone’s approval but perhaps OnePlus are confident enough to pursue their own brand of skinning Android.