Samsung Gulf now says no Lollipop for Galaxy Note 8.0

Just a week after it said that the Galaxy Note II won't be getting Lollipop, Samsung Gulf has now revealed that the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet will also not receive the update. The subsidiary made the revelation in a reply to a query on its Facebook page (see image below).

However, Samsung's decision to not update the Note 8.0 could be region-specific, given that the South Korean company's Spain and Denmark subsidiaries have already confirmed the Android 5.0 update for the Note II. But to be sure, we'll have to wait for other Samsung subsidiaries to reveal their update plans for the Note 8.0.

Meanwhile, Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S4 models have started receiving the Lollipop update.

Facebook Messenger gets video calling

Following the introduction of voice calling a while back, as well as other features such as sending money to friends, Facebook Messenger now supports video calls as well. The new functionality will become available today for people using the Messenger app on iOS and Android.

Video calls only work from a phone to another phone, but they do work even if the person you’re calling is on a different platform – so iOS to Android or Android to iOS, no problem.

The big caveat is a geographical one. For now, the new feature will work only if you’re in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US, or Uruguay. For everyone else, video calls will be rolled out “over the coming months”.

A video call is easy to start from any conversation, by simply tapping on the new icon that will show up at the top right. It’s literally a one-tap affair. With more than 600 million people using Facebook Messenger every month, clearly this new functionality may have an impact on competing services such as Skype. And it’s one more reason not to leave Facebook’s apps.

Instagram adds three new filters, emoji hashtags

Today Instagram announced the latest update for its mobile app for both iOS and Android. The new release should become available by the end of the day in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store. It sports three brand new filters.

This comes after the Facebook-owned service previously added five new filters back in December of last year. The new entrants this time around are called Lark, Reyes, and Juno. According to Instagram, these are “modern, subtle filters” which brighten and enhance your photos in “refined, beautiful ways”.

Lark desaturates reds, punching up blues and greens in the process, making for a good fit for landscape photography. Reyes has a vintage look, and Juno turns cool tones green, while also making warm tones pop and whites glow. This means it’s best used on photos of people.

But wait, there’s more. In this update is also support for putting emoji in hashtags. Because you clearly don’t see enough of those on Instagram.

Facebook’s new Hello dialer is Truecaller mashed up with Google Dialer

A month after getting accidentally leaked in the company’s Android app, Facebook’s dialer and caller ID app “Hello” has become official. The company released the application in Google Play earlier today for free, but it seems to be US-only right now and Facebook has not revealed any plans for expanded availability.

“Billions of calls are made everyday on mobile phones and people often have very little information about who’s calling them. Today we are starting to test Hello, a new app built by the Messenger team. Hello connects with Facebook so you can see who’s calling, block unwanted calls and search for people and places,” wrote Andrea Vaccari, Product Manager at Facebook, in a blog post.

Developed by the Facebook Messenger team, Hello offers four basic functions apart from what any normal dialer app comes with – automatic look-up for unknown callers, search for people and businesses on Facebook, block unwanted calls, make VOIP calls using Messenger.

According to the company, the app uses Facebook database to identify unknown callers or to offer details of local businesses and people. The call block feature in the app allows the users block specific numbers and adjust whether they want to automatically blocks calls from commonly blocked numbers in settings. All the blocked calls go to voice-calls, so that they can be reviewed later.

Concerned about your privacy, Facebook only shows information on people that they have already shared it with you or publicly on Facebook.

Hello will be competing with Truecaller, which is most popular caller-ID app on Android, and also offers its dialer app in Google Play for free. Truecaller Dialer however doesn’t include local search. Google’s own dialer, which comes bundled with Nexus and Google Play edition devices, does provide in-built local search support. So basically, Facebook has bundled the best for both these apps in the Hello, but it remains to be seen whether Facebook’s caller-ID or local businesses database trumps the Google and Truecaller databases, both of which are tried and test and quietly possible the biggest in the industry right now.

Facebook Home UI screenshots leaked online

It is no secret that Facebook is going to unveil its Android home-screen replacement (or launcher) app – Facebook Home – tomorrow at a press event. The leaks have coming from all over and after the alleged press-render of the first phone to come pre-loaded with Facebook Home – HTC First, we have the first screenshots of this Android launcher.

As you can see in this image (more below), Facebook Home just seems like a Facebook-oriented launcher for Android. The social giant wants to completely take over home-screen of Android users with Facebook Home and aims to be in front and center.

EVLeaks, which has posted these screenshots at 9to5Google notes:

From the imagery we’ve seen, Facebook Home incorporates a minimal aesthetic with a lot of focus on full screen photography. As expected, there are hooks to the primary Facebook functions available from most menus, obviating the need to actually navigate to the dedicated app or site in many instances.

We will know more tomorrow, when Facebook showcases Facebook Home and HTC First smartphone. The phone is rumoured to come with 4.3-inch 720p display, dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.1.2, Sense 4.5, 5MP rear camera, 1.6MP front camera, No SD Card, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n.

Story Timeline:

• HTC First, the rumoured phone to feature Facebook Home, appears online


• More Facebook Home and HTC Myst details appear online


• Facebook Home: That’s the name of Facebook’s rumoured Android home-screen [Report]


• No real Facebook phone launch on April 4, says WSJ


• Facebook to hold Android event on April 4, phone launch?


• Is HTC really building a Facebook phone? Latest leak reveals alleged specs

More Facebook Home and HTC Myst details appear online

In the last couple of the days, it has become more than clear that Facebook is indeed going to launch a home-screen replacement app called Facebook Home on Thursday (April 4, 2013) and not a full Facebook phone. The company however will also be showcasing the first smartphone that will be packing Facebook Home on-board at the event – HTC Myst.

The name of the smartphone is nothing new, we have been hearing about it for the last many weeks.  Leaks from both EVLeaks and known HTC insider LlabTooFeR have already revealed various details about the phone.

Now, folks at Android Police got hold of the system dump of this HTC Myst smartphone and have uncovered various new details about both HTC Myst and Facebook Home. Here is what we can expect to see on April 4 – the Facebook press event (Look at our new home on Android).

• Specs of HTC Myst: Qualcomm MSM8960 (Dual Core), 1GB RAM, 4.3 inch @ 720p resolution, Android 4.1.2, Sense 4.5, 5MP rear camera, 1.6MP front camera, No SD Card, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n.


• As per the permissions need to run this app, the Facebook Home might also see a Google Play release, but that is yet to be authenticated.


• Facebook Home runs on conjugation of official Facebook Android app


• Is unlikely to replace Google Search from the HTC Myst


• Something called “Chat Heads” will also be included – According to AP, these are some kind of floating windows, which reminds me that we saw something similar in the past – in an alleged screenshot from HTC Myst ( inserted below).


• HTC Myst is more or less a typical HTC Sense 4.5 running phone with Sense UI’s home-screen launcher replaced by Facebook Home.

Here is a look at some of the screenshots that the guys at AP were able to extract from the dump.