Gear & Gadgets

A group of researchers at Georgia Tech have created a new piece of software called BrailleTouch that allows users to type on a smartphone without looking at the screen. It takes advantage of gestures and multitouch interaction to support a chorded typing system that is modeled after Braille keyboards.

A group of visually impaired test subjects using the application on an iPhone were reportedly able to type at up to 32 words per minute with 92 percent accuracy. This speed is said to be considerably faster than what has previously been achieved with other "eyes-free" text input prototypes.

The researchers contend that the chorded typing system used by BrailleTouch is easy to learn and that it could potentially be useful to a broader audience, including sighted users who want to be able to type on their phone without looking. The interface has six dots, three on each side of the screen. The user holds the phone in landscape orientation with the screen facing away from them and types by tapping the dots.

"Research has shown that chorded, or gesture-based, texting is a viable solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text on them," the project's lead researcher, Mario Romero, told is in a statement.

The researchers intend to distribute the program under an open source software license. They are also working on ports to other platforms, including Android. For additional details about the software, you can reader a paper (PDF) published by the researchers. You can also see it in action in a YouTube video.

A report from Taiwanese news publication DigiTimes claims that Google could launch Android 5, codenamed Jelly Bean, in the second quarter of 2012. The report cites unnamed manufacturers in the supply chain.

The report indicates that Jelly Bean will integrate "Chrome system functions." DigiTimes also claims that Google aims to bring Android 5 to the netbook and laptop market. These rumors together raise questions about whether Google is looking at a potential path forward for converging Android and Chrome OS. It's worth noting that Google recently launched an Android port of the Chrome Web browser, which is now in public beta for Android 4.

DigiTimes further claims that hardware manufacturers will be able to produce dual-operating system tablet devices that run Android 5 and Windows 8. Such products will reportedly allow the user to switch between the operating systems without having to reboot, which distinguishes them from traditional dual-boot configurations.

DigiTimes has a mixed track record on rumors, so its claims regarding Android 5 should be taken with a grain of salt. The rumored second quarter release date seems dubious in light of how long previous Android development cycles have taken, but it's possible that the work Google did to overhaul the platform during the transition between Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich has allowed the company to accelerate development.

As BGR pointed out in its coverage of the DigiTimes report, moving Android to a faster release cycle could seriously exacerbate the fragmentation caused by Android's version spread. Many popular Android handsets aren't scheduled to be updated to Android 4 until the second half of this year, so it's not clear what a Q2 release of Android 5 would mean for the hardware vendors that are struggling to get Android 4 out the door.

The Spark tablet is now available for preorder from the Make Play Live website. Registering for a preorder doesn't require a credit card and will secure a place in line to purchase the tablet when it is finally available later this year. The product is expected to ship to customers in May.

KDE developer Aaron Seigo announced the Spark last month and revealed that it will ship with a tablet-friendly user interface based on KDE's Plasma environment. Under the hood, the Spark runs the Mer platform, which is a community-driven mobile Linux environment based on the MeeGo project.

The Spark will have a 1GHz ARM CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and an 800x480 display. Seigo has confirmed that it's based on the Zenithink C71, an Android tablet produced by a Shenzhen manufacturer. The retail price of the Spark hasn't been finalized yet, the developers are aiming for €200 ($262).

The tablet sets a relatively high standard of openness. The software environment is built with open components from the KDE and Mer projects, both of which are community-driven and welcome the participation of independent developers. Users can also optionally choose to replace the operating system that is installed on the device. In a blog post about the product's openness, Seigo explained that the only parts that aren't completely open yet are some of the hardware drivers.

"Right now we're still stuck with a few binary drivers which is not a perfect situation. With time I'm confident we'll get the binary drivers out of the picture, one by one, even if it takes time, effort and some pain," he wrote. "We've already managed to get source for some drivers that were not previously available so the trajectory is right."

Seigo also documented the answers to some frequently asked questions about the Spark in another recent blog post.

Motorola has laid bare the Android 4 upgrade plans for all of its recent phones, and many devices won't get the upgrade until the third quarter of this year. Some, like the Motorola Xoom and the international version of the Motorola Droid Razr, will get the upgrades in the second quarter, and some phones under two years old may languish with Android 2.3 Gingerbread or 2.2 Froyo.

An unusual selection of devices have concrete Android 4 upgrade trajectories: the Atrix 2, Photon 4G, and Xoom 2 are all scheduled for third-quarter updates, while the higher-profile Droid Bionic, Droid Razr, and Droid Razr Maxx are still in the "evaluation and planning" stages. Given how recently these phones were released, they will definitely make the Android 4 cut; it's just a matter of when. The year-old Atrix 4G, on the other hand, may be on the bubble, as it is now over a year old and also listed as being the "planning" stages.

Some of the company's phones from summer 2010 seem like they will not make the cut. The Droid 2, Defy, and Droid X don't appear to have made it to evaluation and planning considerations, but instead are listed alongside the most recent upgrade currently available (2.2 or 2.3). Of course, by the time the rest of Motorola's devices finally receive Android 4, those phones will have release dates over two years in the past, which means it will be hardware upgrade time for most conventional owners. 

Motorola did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

A teardown of the recently released Motorola Droid 4 reveals some quirky features, iFixit has revealed. The phone received a paltry score of 4 out of 10 for user repairability, but its innards contained some unusual wonders.

Though the Droid 4 comes with a rear panel removal tool that looks like a wind-up key, taking the back cover off revealed a sticker saying the battery is not user-removable, a big departure for Motorola's Droid phones. The battery is held in with two Torx screws and a generous amount of adhesive—not insurmountable, but it appears Motorola wants the days of the pop-out battery to be over sooner rather than later.

Another of the more unfortunate features of the Droid 4 is that, unlike the Droid 3 that came out only six months ago, the keyboard's pressure sensors are attached to the back of the motherboard. If one gets worn out, the entire motherboard has to be replaced. iFixit also found that that the raised rubber over the pressure contacts are in the shape of the letters they correspond to, a very odd design choice that they (and we) can't see much reason for, other than ease of alignment. Overall, the authors praised the design and usability of the keyboard for texting.

The raised rubber letters marking the pressure contacts. You know, in case you need to text while your phone is undergoing major surgery.

More positively, the Droid 4's display glass and LCD are separate pieces, so if owners manage to break the first but not the second, they can get away without having to replace both. On the downside, owners would have to take the entire phone apart to separate and replace those pieces.

The Droid 4's 4 out of 10 score in user repairability is bested by the Droid 3's 6 out 10. We'd argue the Droid 4's superior QWERTY keyboard is worth that step down.

Samsung has announced plans to release a "Galaxy Tab 2," an official Android 4.0 follow-up to the first Galaxy Tab released in October 2010. The 7.0-inch Galaxy Tab 2's specs are underwhelming compared to the offshoot Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, a weird prospect given that the Tab 7.0 Plus is meant to be a bargain model.

The Galaxy Tab 2 will have a 1GHz dual-core processor of unspecified make, 1GB of RAM, a 3-megapixel "fixed-focus" rear camera, and a VGA-front facing camera. The tablet will be able to connect to both WiFi and HSPA+ networks, though Samsung has not yet announced a carrier. The whole thing will run on a 4,000mAh battery, and the 8GB/16GB/32GB storage options can be supplemented by a microSD card slot, up to an extra 32GB.

The Tab 2 comes only months after the Tab 7.0 Plus, which was released at a two-year contract price of $249 to compete with the Kindle Fire (through an extra $10 charge over the two years, customers would still end up paying the same $499 starting price as the original Tab). Despite the Tab 7.0 Plus's low starting price, it has slightly better specs than the Tab 2: a 1.2GHz processor and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Tab 2 will come with Android 4.0, which is a plus, though no release date or prices have been announced yet. The mitigated specs and may mean the tablet could be released off of a contract, finally, for a reasonable price.

Google is testing its own "next generation personal communication device," according to a document submitted to the FCC. Google is seeking the FCC's permission to test the device outside its labs on Bluetooth and WiFi networks in and around the homes of 102 Google employees.

The 102 prototypes will not be evaluated for their own radio frequency characteristics, the filing says, but for the "throughput and stability of the home WiFi networks that will support the device" on a temporary license, valid through July 15. Google is listed as the manufacturer of the device, which will be tested only by Google employees in Los Angeles, CA, Mountain View, CA, New York, NY, and Cambridge, MA. SlashGear speculates that the device could be meant for use in the Google Fiber project in Kansas City.

Like all devices in the testing phase, nothing may ever come into consumers' hands that resembles anything like this. But this past week has been full of Google hardware foreshadowing. There's a future out there where you're sitting on your couch, using your Google home entertainment system connected to your activity-tracking Google router, wearing your Android-powered smart glasses, and typing on the potential Chromeberry the company is testing now. Is this the future you imagined?

Google did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the matter.

Google is building a "home-entertainment system that streams music wirelessly throughout the home and would be marketed under the company's own brand," according to a report today in the Wall Street Journal. While the move has not been confirmed by Google, it would build upon the Google Music streaming service and music store.

It would also likely integrate with Android—the Journal describes it in one paragraph as the "Google Android entertainment system," and says it is being developed by Google's Android unit for unveiling later this year. The system "would let people download digital media such as music and stream it to Google-made speakers or other Web-connected devices in people's homes," and could be operated using a smartphone or tablet, the Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.

Google has also targeted home media with Google TV, but with limited success. The Journal report says the upcoming home entertainment system could support streaming media in addition to music, presumably including videos. In possibly related moves, Google previewed its Android@Home project at last year's Google I/O conference, and is asking the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test a WiFi and Bluetooth-enabled entertainment device in four US cities.

Rumors of Google launching a cloud storage service known as "GDrive" have been coming and going for years, with no actual product ever making its way to consumers. But the Wall Street Journal says Google is, finally, perhaps only weeks away from launching the service, now simply called "Drive."

Drive could have been pretty revolutionary, especially if it had launched back in 2007 when the Journal also said it was ready to be unveiled within a few months. Now, Google will have to compete against Dropbox and other well-established storage services. Still, Google could make an impact simply by redirecting its existing users to the new service, and undercutting the competition in price.

Google Docs already offers free storage for any type of file, with each user given up to 1GB of free space, compared to 2GB from Dropbox. But Google Docs users can purchase an extra 20GB of storage for a mere $5 a year, or 80GB for $20 a year, considerably cheaper than Dropbox rates of $9.99 per month for 50GB and $19.99 per month for 100GB. Presumably, Google Drive would be far more convenient to use than Google Docs storage, but an article in ExtremeTech speculates that Google will use similar pricing in Drive to attract users.

But given that the actual service's existence has been rumored for years without coming to fruition, it's still all speculation until Google confirms it.