Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks, Amazon, Rakuten Advertising, and eBay, affiliate programs. All prices are subject to change, and this article only reflects the prices available at time of publication.
Spring is finally here, and apparently it’s putting mobile software developers in the mood to redesign the look and feel of their apps and operating systems.
Some of the designers of Mozilla’s Firefox OS are providing a sneak peek at an upcoming redesign of pretty much all of the graphics in that operating system, while Google is reportedly working on a new series of apps including Gmail and Google Calendar for Android.
One of the key changes for the Android apps is expected to be something called “Project Hera,” which bridges the gap between native and cloud apps. But as part of the change, it looks like Google is updating the user interface for Gmail… and giving Google Calendar for Android a long-overdue refresh as well.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- Google Calendar, Gmail apps for Android getting a refresh?
Among other things, there’s a new Daily Agenda view and inclusion of birthdays and other social data from Gmail and split-screen view with days of the month at the top and today’s appointments below. your Google+ profile. The new Calendar app also features slide-out navigation. The new Gmail app, meanwhile, features a new color palate, more tabs, and a few other tweaks. [Geek] - T-Mobile introduces $40 Simple Starter smartphone plan
$40 per month gets you unlimited talk and text and 500MB of 4G LTE data. [T-Mobile] - Xiaomi Mi3S could have Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM
Xiaomi has a habit of releasing high quality phones and relatively low prices… and the word on the street is that the company’s next model could have a 1080p display, a 13MP camera, the fastest Qualcomm processor available at the moment, and 3MP of RAm. Oh yeah, and it could sell for around $320. [GizChina] - Chromecast home screen to show weather forecasts, more?
Digging around in the source code for the latest Chromecast software, one person noticed hints that weather forecasts, person photos, and other content could be coming soon to the default home screen, giving you something to look at while you’re not watching videos. [Reddit] - First look at the new Firefox OS user interface
Mozilla is working on updating the look and feel of its smartphone and tablet operating system, and now we have a first look at the upcoming changes to the lock screen, launcher, task switcher, and other elements. [Engadget]
You can keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
I’d love to install Firefox OS on my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone.