Google Glass gets 2GB of RAM. Think about this. Two gigs of ... RAM

Just ahead of its annual I/O developer conference, Google has announced some changes to its Glass Explorer program. It's not clear which participants will reap the benefits, though.

Most notably, Google announced via the Glass team's official Google+ page that future headsets will ship with 2GB of RAM, up from the 1GB they've been shipping with since they first launched. The 16GB of flash storage will remain unchanged.

According to the post, the goal of the upgrade is "better performance" – and some Explorer program participants have indeed grumbled that the original model, which runs with only 682MB of free RAM after it boots the Android OS, can get bogged down on some apps.

Naturally, however, the top question on many Glassholes' minds was whether they would get a chance to upgrade their existing 1GB models to the new version. In fact, several Google+ commenters even seemed to feel Google owed them an upgrade free of charge.

That wouldn't actually be unprecedented. In October 2013, the Chocolate Factory offered the earliest adopters of its spy-goggles the chance to swap their specs for an updated version and didn't charge them anything. So far, however, Google has remained mum on whether it plans a similar trade-in program this time around.

But the online ad-slinger did have a few other announcements from which all Glassguinea pigs Explorers can benefit. For starters, it's rolling out a new viewfinder for Glass's notorious head-mounted camera. When a Glass wearer says "OK Glass, show the viewfinder," four L-shaped marks will now appear to help frame photos.

In addition, the company says it's rolling out new Google Now cards for Glass, including one to remind wearers where they parked and another to provide shipping alerts for packages.

Finally, Google also announced a dozen new and/or updated apps for Glass, known among the faithful as "Glassware". The additions include an app for the Guardiannewspaper, a Duolingo app for learning a new language, a Shazam client, a couple of fitness apps, and an app to let Glass owners follow the football (or soccer, to us Yanks), among others.

Whether Google plans to make any more Glass-related announcements at I/O remains to be seen. The sold-out conference runs from June 25-26 at San Francisco's Moscone Center. ®

Source:

www.theregister.co.uk

Posted by Editorial Team on 6:33 AM in 1GB models, 2GB of RAM, Duolingo app, football, Glass Explorer, Glassware, Google Glass, official Google+, packages, viewfinder

Extended ‘All New HTC One’ Leak Video Shows Brushed Gray Stainless Finish

The HTC One (not the old one, the new one) is being introduced tomorrow at an event in NYC that kicks off at 11 AM ET, but in case you weren’t yet tired of the steady stream of leaks that have ruined any possible surprises at the flagship unveiling, here’s a nearly 15-minute video look at HTC’s latest kick at the can.

The M8 (HTC’s internal code name for the new One) you see above is one of four rumored colorways for the smartphone, which also include gold, silver and black in addition to this sort of slate gray finish. You can see from the video that the finish is more brushed than the finish on last year’s HTC One, and the new metal edges surrounding the phone appear to have been polished to a mirror finish.

While this isn’t the first leak for the new HTC One, or even the first extended hands-on video look, it is a new perspective on this yet-to-be-announced hardware, and one that makes me even more excited to see the real thing in the flesh. HTC knocked it out of the park with the original HTC One, in terms of design and performance, and it looks poised to do it again. Hopefully this time around, consumers will take notice.

Rumored specs for the HTC One (M8) include a 2.3GHz Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, either 16 or 32GB of onboard storage with expandable micro SD memory up to 128GB, a 5-inch display with 1080×1920 resolution and 441 ppi display density, and the new Duo Camera which composes images from two separate captures for advanced editing features. Tune in here tomorrow as we bring you all the info about the new smartphone when it finally becomes official.

Source:

techcrunch.com

Posted by Editorial Team on 7:47 AM in 2.3GHz Snapdragon, 2GB of RAM, 441 ppi, Brushed Gray, Extended, latest kick, New HTC One, NYC, Stainless Finish