Alex Dobie's blog

There's no denying that iOS's Siri has been a huge success for Apple, usability issues aside.  And it's no real secret that Google's been working on its own voice assistant tech at its top-secret Google X Lab for some time. So today's report that Google is reportedly speeding up work on its own interactive assistant will make for interesting, if unsurprising reading.

Near the end of a The Wall Street Journal article examining the state of the smartphone ecosystem is the news that Google is "accelerating plans to launch its own Siri competitor" for Android devices. The WSJ reports that, naturally, Google's assistant would work on Android devices, citing "people familiar with the matter."

While major mobile platforms borrowing each others' features is to be expected (hey there, S Voice), rumors surrounding Google's "Assistant" project have hinted at more than a mere aping of Siri's functionality. Google's ultimate goal, it's been reported, is more akin to the Star Trek computer than an app for looking up weather forecasts and setting reminders.

As with all developing Google technologies, there's a chance we may see something of Google's Assistant tech at Google IO next week, however we think this one's probably going to be a slower burn, even if the pace of development has quickened. Perhaps something for Android 5.0 or beyond?

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Anyone who's used a Samsung smartphone over the past few years will be aware that the company's approach to software design can be a little scattershot at times. And it seems there's an awareness of this issue at the highest levels of the company, as new Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun delivered his inaugural speech.

According to reports from The Wall Street Journal​, Kwon told Samsung employees --

"A particular focus must be given to serving new customer experience and value by strengthening soft capabilities in software, user experience, design, and solutions."

As we pointed out in our review of the company's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, software design is one area in which Samsung lags behind competitors like HTC. Where HTC's Sense 4 has a clear and consistent design language, TouchWiz is more a disparate set of apps with few common design cues. 

With the manufacturer putting increasing emphasis on the importance of improving software, users will be hoping for prettier, more intuitive software in future Samsung smartphones. However, given that the latest version of TouchWiz, dubbed the "TouchWiz Nature UX", has just debuted on the Galaxy S III, smartphone buyers will likely have to wait for next year's Samsung flagship before they see any tangible changes.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Following similar statements from O2, Vodafone and Three over the past few weeks, T-Mobile UK is the latest British network to announce new European roaming rates. The announcement comes in the wake of a EU ruling that imposes a new cap on European roaming charges.

From tomorrow, T-Mo UK customers will be able to purchase one of three "Euro Internet boosters," allowing them to use 3MB per day for £1, 20MB per week for £5 or 50MB per month for £10. Customers can buy boosters online or via text, and once the allowance or time period expires, another booster can be purchased. It's a slightly different setup to what's being offered by the likes of Vodafone and Three, and it might not represent the best value for heavy data users. However, it's a significant improvement on earlier rates of multiple pounds per megabyte.

For the full breakdown of charges and terms, check the source link.

Source: T-Mobile UK Support

The first nightly build of popular custom ROM CyanogenMod 9 for the Samsung Galaxy S III  is now available for download. Following the release of several unofficial builds since the S III's international launch in late May, the first official nightly is available at the CyanogenMod download site. CyanogenMod 9, which is based on the Android Open Source Project, offers an experience closer to stock Android 4.0, as opposed to Samsung's TouchWiz UX.

Initial feedback from early adopters has been positive, and the list of known issues point out only a couple of minor issues with FM radio and camera flash. But as with any unofficial custom ROM, you'll need a rooted phone with a custom recovery to flash this, and you'll void your warranty in the process, so proceed at your own risk. Check the source link below for download links and more information. We should also note that this ROM is for the international Galaxy S III only -- that's the one that's on sale in Europe and Asia right now, with the product code GT-i9300. The North American LTE version, due for release in the next few days, uses a different chipset and is not compatible.

If you've already bitten the bullet and installed CM9 on your Galaxy S III, be sure to let us know how you're getting on down in the comments!

Source: CyanogenMod, XDA

As North America waits for its Galaxy S III, and Android fans around the world count the days until Google IO, it's been another relatively busy week in international Android news. We've had phone launches, phone announcements, and a few pricing announcements and special deals along the way.

Sony brought two new entry-level devices into the world, in the form the Xperia Miro and Xperia Tipo, following a Facebook promotion campaign that lasted a few days. And we learned that the UK market will be graced by a slew of new Android phones next month, including the LG Optimus 4X HD, Sony Xperia Go and Samsung Galaxy Beam. We also saw new European roaming deals from UK carriers Vodafone and Three.

And in sporting developments, we learned that Galaxy S III owners will be able to watch the summer Olympics for free thanks to a deal between Samsung and Eurosport. The BBC also debuted its mobile sports streaming site, in time for the knockout stages of Euro 2012 tournament.

Check out the rest of the week's international highlights below. If you've got international news, be sure to tip us at the usual address.

Special features:

• HTC Desire C video walkthrough

News: 

• Carphone Warehouse offering free Galaxy Note on £21 contract for next seven days
• Telcel holding an exclusive night sale for the Samsung Galaxy S III on June 22
• Galaxy S III owners get free Eurosport Player for the Olympics
• BBC launches sports streaming over mobile networks
• Peter Chou: HTC won't 'destroy brand image' by releasing super-low-end phones
• Huawei's Ascend P1 gets priced in Europe
• Entry-level Sony Xperia Tipo announced
• Three UK launch new EU data roaming deal
• Sony announces the Xperia Miro
• Sony Xperia Go and Samsung Galaxy Beam headed to the UK in July
• Pick up a refurbished Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini for just £50
• Vodafone UK announces EuroTraveller roaming service
• Europe getting Amazon Appstore this summer?
• Ford SYNC and AppLink for Android set to expand globally
• LG Optimus 4X HD launches today in Germany, UK in 'July'
• Sony trades Facebook likes for early Xperia announcement
• Optimus 4X HD international launch details

Samsung's marketing campaign for the new Samsung Galaxy S III (S3) focuses heavily on how the visuals and sounds in its software are "inspired by nature." But one of the less welcome results of this is the water droplet sound that plays every time you press an on-screen button, menu or widget. Thankfully there's an easy way to make this quieter -- or completely silence it -- if it's not your cup of tea. Check out the video above for a quick walkthrough.

The Samsung Galaxy Note is one of the surprise Android success stories of the past six months. And now British retailer the Carphone Warehouse is offering the device for free on a surprisingly reasonable £21 per month, 24-month service plan. In addition to a free Galaxy Note, the deal gets you 100 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB on T-Mobile UK, which is a pretty competitive package for the UK market. Carphone says the deal will be available to new customers online and in-store for the next seven days.

Although it's more than half a year old at this point, the Note still stands up alongside current high-end Android phones, with a 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos chip, a 1280x800 SuperAMOLED display and an 8MP camera. Better still, it's just been updated to the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. If you're unfamiliar with the Galaxy Note, be sure to check out our full review of Samsung's 5.3-inch stylus-toting beast.

If you're using Flipboard on a Galaxy S III, where it's pre-loaded, or on another device through the beta program, you'll want to fire it up and grab the latest update for the popular digital magazine app. The new version 1.8.4 beta 3 weighs just a couple of megs, and includes some minor visual changes for dialog boxes, along with some behind-the-scenes improvements. According to the official change log, the new version of Flipboard has a reduced impact on battery life and a lower memory footprint, which will be good news to anyone using it on older devices with less RAM.

Flipboard isn't on the Google Play Store yet, so you'll need to start up the app itself to initiate the update. If you've been using the Flipboard beta over the past few weeks, be sure to drop by the comments section and let us know how you're getting on.

If you're using two-step authentication for your Google account, you'll want to pick up the latest version of the Authenticator app, which brings a new time syncing feature to ensure correct codes are generated. Previously, if the app's internal clock went too out of sync with Google's, the Authenticator would generate incorrect codes. The new syncing feature remedies this by allowing users to sync the clocks through a new settings page.

With an app as crucial as the Google Authenticator, you'll want to make sure you're always up to date. This one's a manual update, so head to the "My apps" menu in the Google Play Store to grab the new version.

The Galaxy S III is the official phone of the London Olympics, and Samsung's teamed up with Eurosport to give S III owners a way of watching the summer's games on-the-go. Download the Eurosport Player app for Android on your S III, and you'll qualify for a free month-long subscription that can be activated between July 14 and August 12, letting you watch Eurosport's Olympic coverage live.

European Galaxy S III owners (excluding Italy, for some reason) can download the Eurosport Player app from Google Play or Samsung Apps in preparation, though it won't become active until July 14. Unfortunately it looks like this promotion won't be available on the North American S III when it launches later this month.

Source: Eurosport; via: Recombu