Asus announces cheap yet powerful Asus MeMO Pad HD 7

Hot off the new Nexus 7 release, Asus is releasing a cheap but decently spec’d tablet, the Asus MeMO Pad HD 7. The $160 Android-powered tablet features a 7-inch multi-touch panel with 1280 x 800 HD resolution and IPS technology for a wide 170-degree viewing angle, high-quality dual speakers using Asus SonicMaster technology, 5-megapixel rear and 1.2-megapixel front cameras, and quad-core processor with 1GB RAM.

It is also equipped with 16GB internal storage with expansion capability via microSD (up to 32GB), Bluetooth 4.0, WLAN (802.11 b/g/n), Miracast, and has a supposed 10-hour battery life. The MeMO Pad HD 7 comes in blue, white, pink, and green and will be available on August 12 in Future Shop, Best Buy and Staples among other. Look out for a full review of the device here as we've been playing with a pre-release version.

Android Device Manager now live! Track, ring or wipe your devices remotely!

Today is as good a day as any to try Android Device Manager from your web browser. The utility can be used to track, ring and if needed wipe a device remotely (in the event that it is stolen and not returnable). This is a powerful tool for any Android user. To wipe the device, you need to enable it from the smartphone end within Google Play Services. 

Source: Android Police

SlideShow: HTC One Google Play Edition

I had the chance to check out a HTC One Google Play Edition briefly as well as compare it to my daily driver HTC One. Aside from the obvious difference that the Google Play version runs an unskinned version of Android's Jelly Bean 4.2.2 OS with no HTC Sense overlay whatsoever, the two devices are physically identical. Battery life on the Google Play Edition isn't as good as the regular HTC One and you apparently need to hack around to enable 4G-LTE which the regular version has working out of the box. The HTC One Google Play Edition, which will receive Android OS updates before other devices, isn't yet available to Canadians and costs $599.

Samsung seeking smartwatch trademarks in US and S. Korea

Samsung's setting its sights on the emerging smartwatch market. The maker of Galaxies, Notes and Tabs just applied for U.S. and South Korean trademarks for a watch that connects to the Internet. Samsung's reserved the Samsung Gear and Samsung Galaxy Gear trademarks in the US and South Korea while describing a wearable and connected computing device that comes in the form of a wristwatch, bracelet or bangle.  More than just an adjunct or accessory, it seems like Samsung just might put a phone with limited smartphone functions on a wristwatch. This all remains to be seen but it is interesting to see Samsung trying to get first-mover advantage in the wearable computing segment.

Source: Yahoo!