Sony unveils waterproof Xperia ZR

Sony is launching a new Xperia smartphone designed to be dunkable.

Announced on Monday, the Xperia ZR phone can stay under as much as five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. Using the phone's 13-megapixel camera, you can shoot underwater photos and videos in full HD. The dedicated camera key also allows you to quickly take a shot even if the phone is locked.

The camera takes advantage of Sony's Exmor RS for mobile image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for both photographs and videos. The company promises that photos and videos are automatically captured with the best settings. You can also turn on a burst mode to snap an unlimited series of photos at 15 frames per second.

"The Xperia ZR pushes the boundaries on where and how consumers can use the full potential of their smartphone," Calum MacDougall, director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications, said in a statement. "By combining Sony's leading camera technology with the highest level of water-resistance, you will never miss another moment."

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, the Xperia ZR offers a 4.6-inch HD Reality screen with Sony'sMobile Bravia Engine 2 technology. Equipped with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the phone also provides 4G LTE connectivity.

Google's capacity to store your files will jump by a factor of three, the company said Monday, rising from 5GB to 15GB shared across Google+, Drive, and Gmail.

Google made the announcement just before Google I/O developers conference begins this week. The changes will "roll out over the next couple of weeks," Google said in a blog post.

The new amount of storage space will give people who use Google services the most generous storage capacity of any player in the free online-storage game. A quick look at competitors shows that Dropbox currently starts free subscribers at 2GB, Microsoft SkyDrive users get 7GB, and Apple iCloud, Amazon Cloud Storage, and SugarSync offer 5GB for free. The announcement follows a Google Drive update from last week that allows you to save files from the Web directly to Drive.

There's no doubt that the 15GB is a game-changer in the free storage market. The question is, why did Google do it?

Nevermind "do no evil," Google -- as we all know -- is in the business of making money. If Google is offering you more storage, then there is something that extra storage helps you do that will help Google make more money.

What that is, Google is not saying -- yet.

It's possible that at I/O, Google will reveal that Drive or Google+ will incorporate a more multimedia approach. Or perhaps it's simply nothing more than a shot across the bow of Dropbox: you now get 15GB because Google can give you 15GB.

Either way, it makes Gmail, Google+, and Google Drive that much more appealing to serious Google services users.

Expectations of Google I/O

Google's hotly anticipated annual developer conference will kick off in just a couple days in San Francisco. And conference-goers and Android fans are excited about the possibility of new products the company may announce and/or give away.

But Android fans may be a bit disappointed if their expectation is brand new hardware. While the 2012 Google I/O conference saw the introduction of the new $199 Nexus 7 seven-inch tabletand the Nexus Q streaming media hub, the 2013 conference is likely to feature no brand new Android hardware. Instead, it's likely that Google will refresh some existing products and possibly provide more details on some of its upcoming Android hardware.

That said, Google is expected to focus a great deal on software and we could see a new version of the Google Android software. Whether it will be an updated version of Jelly Bean or the new Android 5.0 version Key Lime Pie is still unknown.

Nexus 7 update

Word on the street is that Google is planning tounveil an upgraded Nexus 7 tablet. According to KGI Securities analyst Mingchi Kuo, whose report was picked up by the blog site 9to5Google, the updated Nexus 7 includes a faster Qualcomm APQ 8064 processor, a 1,920x1,200 7-inch display with narrower bezel, a 5-megapixel camera, wireless charging, and a body that's 7.5mm to 8.5mm thick. The new tablet is also expected to be lighter than the previous version. Google is also expected to keep the same $199 price for the upgraded tablet, according to Kuo. The new tablet could ship in June or July

Google has never revealed sales figures for the Nexus 7, but there's no question that the $199 mini tablet has been a hit. The product has competed well against Apple's own iPad Mini, which is roughly the same size but costs at least $130 more than the Nexus 7. The upgraded camera and display and overall lighter weight of the upgraded Nexus 7 will put the new mini tablet on par with Apple's product.

Nexus 4 update

Google's Nexus 4 is the fourth smartphone to get the Nexus moniker and to provide the pure Android experience for wireless subscribers and developers. The smartphone, which is very similar to LG's Optimus G, was only released in late October, when Google took the wraps off the latest version of its Android software Jelly Bean Android 4.2.

This fact makes it somewhat unlikely that Google would release a completely new device so soon.

But there have been rumors flying around over the past several weeks suggesting that Googlewill upgrade this device, giving it both more internal storage and faster 4G network access. Google makes the current version of the Nexus 4 with either 8GB or 16GB of internal memory. The phone is meant for a worldwide audience and supports GSM technology. But it does not support 4G LTE. This fact alone has made it a big disappointment to U.S. smartphone consumers.

The updated version is likely to have 32GB of internal storage plus 4G LTE support. The big question will be whether Google is able to maintain its inexpensive pricing for this device. Today the 8GB version of the phone sells for $299, while the 16GB version sells for $349 in the Google Play store.

Motorola X Phone details

It's been nearly a year since Google closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility. Since then, eager fans have been expecting a new Google-built phone that sports not only homegrown Google Android software but hardware as well. There have been rumors of the new so-called Motorola X Phone for months.

It's hard to know at this point if the supposed X Phone is an extension of Motorola's previous smartphone products or if it's been tailored made with Google influence.

While many fans would love to see the X Phone launched at Google I/O, it's unlikely the product will be announced and given away to developers at the show. That said, there is a chance that Google will give developers more information about the new product. Some of the rumors floating around suggest the device will have a 4.8-inch touch screen and a Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2GHz. Some say the X Phone will be virtually indestructible sporting a hardened case and display that is even tougher than Gorilla Glass.

Google Glass details

Google Glass had its big coming out party at Google I/O last year. And while only a prototype at that time, the wearable Net-connected technology got Google fans excited.

A year later, Google Glass recently began shipping to early developers and press. Google's CEO and founder Sergey Brin has said that pricing and availability of Google Glass will be announced by the end of the year. Perhaps he'll reveal more details at Google I/O.

Aside from shipping details and pricing, there is still so much to say about Google Glass that it's very likely Google will use the conference to talk up how exactly people are expected to use Google Glass. As a result, there's a good chance that Google may reveal some third-party apps that are being developed for Google Glass. Hopefully, we will get to see some cool demos during the big keynote.

University student crafts app that helps blind smartphone users snap photos

Dustin Adams, a Ph.D student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has teamed up with colleagues at his school in order to craft an app that helps visually impaired users line up the ideal snapshot. The project started out as a quiz, asking 54 people with varying degrees of ocular impairment what they found most difficult about taking photos. From there, he essentially boiled that down into requirements for a smartphone program. For starters, the app does away with a conventional shutter button, instead relying on an upward swipe gesture to grab a frame.

Moreover, it integrates face detection and voice accessibility, enabling the phone itself to talk to the photographer and alert him / her as to how many faces are detected and in focus. The app also captures a 30-second audio clip whenever the camera mode is activated, which helps remind users of what was going on during the capture of a shot. Unfortunately, there aren't any screenshots or videos of the app in action just yet, but that's scheduled to change when it's formally unveiled at the Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments conference in Greece later this month.

Your very own drone, to follow you home

Imagine carving your way down a particularly challenging slope, your skis kicking up clouds of snow, trees flying by, your death-defying stunts captured perfectly on camera. And you're all by yourself.

How would you pull off such a feat?

Short of those with a film crew on hand, or at least a buddy with a GoPro camera tracking your every move, it's hard to imagine it being possible at all, let alone while you're alone.

But you may not have to imagine it for long.

Next week, a startup called Universal Air will finish shipping out its entry level R10 quadrotors, a drone whose advertised combination of low price, reliability, and durability inspired more than 400 people to fund the company's Kickstarter campaign to the tune of almost 15 times its financial goal. UAir, as it's known, had hoped to raise $15,000 and ship 30 R10's, according to co-founder Max Bruner, but ended up bringing in $220,000 and facing one of the problems many super-successful Kickstarter projects experience: the inability to quickly satisfy demand.

Bruner said that the R10 was initially meant to be a prototype, but with so much interest, UAir had no choice but to ramp up to a production-quality drone. And now, those who ordered the UAV will soon be getting their hands on an aircraft said to be ideal for allowing amateur photographers and videographers to shoot from the air, yet which users can fly with an Xboxcontroller or an RC transmitter.

Cool as the R10 might be, though, it's not up to the task of autonomously tracking you while you barrel down a ski slope.

But while the R10 is meant to appeal because of its low price and its durability, UAir is hoping that initial UAV is just the beginning. The company is readying its next drone, a slick and easy-to-use aircraft expected to go on sale in July that stands apart from competing consumer products like the Parrot AR Drone, and a number of expensive hobbyist kits with more functionality, by offering both a low price and the ability to carry a payload like a GoPro camera. The Parrot, by comparison, shoots HD video with a built-in camera, and Bruner believes users are going to want better optics than that, but without paying the hefty prices of more sophisticated but harder-to-use hobbyist rigs.

Yet UAir's ultimate product isn't its next drone. Rather, it's the UAV the company hopes to get off the ground sometime in the first half of 2014. That, said Bruner, will be a fully-autonomous quadrotor aimed at the adventure sports market. The idea? Allow someone to go skiing, or rock climbing, or high-diving, and know that their drone is following them the whole way, thanks to an on-board tracking beacon, shooting HD photos or videos the entire time.

As with the current-gen Parrot AR Drone 2.0, UAir's future UAV is expected to feature Wi-Fi connectivity that allows a user to take the drone with them and count on it staying close by, regardless of whether or not there's an accessible Internet connection. As long as a user can establish a Wi-Fi connection between their mobile phone and the drone, "you're good to go," Bruner said

Amazon Developing a 3D Smartphone

While Amazon has been quite successful with it’s Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets, it has been rumored since long that the company will foray into the smart phone segment as well. 

Now, according to a latest report, Amazon is working on not one, but two smart phones, one of which will be a high-end 3D smart phone, featuring a glassless 3D display. The smart phone will use a retina-tracking technology, using which the 3D image on the smartphone will refocus as per the movement of user’s eyes, allowing users to easily view content in 3D at all angles.

Using the same retina tracking technology, users will be able to navigate through content on the smart phone, just like we’ve seen on the Samsung Galaxy S4. 

Interestingly, the report says that the two smart phones are only a part of the larger hardware push by the company, which also plans to introduce an audio-only streaming device. Other than that, Amazon is also building a set top box for streaming movies and TV shows.

The report adds that Amazon plans to introduce the new devices in the coming months, but says that some or all these devices might also be dropped pertaining to issues related to the performance of these devices or other financial reasons. 

If Amazon does introduce it’s own smart phone, it will bring the company in a direct competition with the likes of Apple and Google. 

New Nexus 7 may debut at Google I/O with same $199 price tag

The follow-up to the Nexus 7 tablet may get a slew of upgrades, but still keep its $199 price tag.

That's the opinion of KGI Securities analyst Mingchi Kuo, who believes that Google may unveil the upgraded tablet at its Google I/O conference next week.

The upgrades include a faster Qualcomm APQ 8064 processor, a 1920 by 1200 7-inch display with narrower bezel, a 5-megapixel camera, wireless charging, and a body that's 7.5 millimeters to 8.5 millimeters thick. It expected to be lighter. Web site 9to5Googlepicked up on the analyst's report.

The analyst also believes Google will keep the price tag at $199 despite the higher end components, and may end up eating $5 to $10 per unit. The new Nexus 7 could be ready to ship in June or July, and Kuo believes Google and Asus could ship 5 million units in the second half of the year.

The Nexus 7 was a well-regarded tablet that was praised for its low price and set of features. Given the success of the Nexus 7, many are eager to see what Google has for a second act.