How to download extra camera modes on the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge
The camera app found on both versions of the Galaxy S6 offers a few extra features, you just have to know where to find them.
Various Camara Modes on the Galaxy S6Jason Cipriani/CNET
Typically when a new smartphone launches, the camera is an integral part of the product's announcement. Manufacturers all claim to have the best photo quality, and various shooting modes.
It's nice to have a revamped camera app with each new hardware release, and if we're lucky we'll see minor software improvements throughout the lifetime of the device.
With the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung has made it possible to download extra camera modes within the camera app. Meaning, the standard capturing modes such as Auto or Panorama aren't the only tricks your device has up its sleeve.
Better yet, the current modes available from Samsung are all free. So where do you find them? Let me show you:
The Camera app on a Galaxy S6 with extra modes installed.Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Launch the camera app on your phone, then tap on the Mode button in the lower-right (or left, depending on how you're holding the device) hand corner.
Icons for the currently installed modes will be displayed. This is where you'll go when you want to bounce between shooting modes, but for right now we're only concerned with the download icon. Tap on it to launch Samsung's storefront.
Left: The Info screen for various camera modes. Middle-right: Screenshots from within the camera mode store.Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
In the store you'll find a list of available camera modes. You can scroll through, select one, read its description and any reviews left by users, then download the modes. Currently there are eight additional modes available from Samsung. Enjoy taking photos of your food for Instagram? There's a mode for that. How about adjusting the focus of a photo post-capture? There's a mode for that, too.
Downloading an additional mode is done on the detail screen for the respective option, with the new shooting setting being added to the Mode referenced earlier.
If you forget what a particular mode does, you can tap on the Info button on the Mode screen and read a brief description. The familiar drag-and-drop interaction can also be used to arrange shooting modes in your preferred order.
Google search has a newfound love for mobile-friendly sites
Changes in Google's search machinery could ding websites that aren't properly designed for smartphones.
Is your website mobile-friendly? Google is setting some new standards you'll have to meet.Google
Google is making changes to the machinery of its mobile searches that will reward websites deemed mobile-friendly and penalize those that are not.
As of Tuesday, Google is updating the way it looks at the design of mobile websites as a way to determine how a site ranks in its mobile search results. The more mobile-friendly the site, the higher it will likely appear in the search results on a mobile device, specifically on a smartphone.
"Today's the day we begin globally rolling out our mobile-friendly update," Google said in a blog post Tuesday. "Now searchers can more easily find high-quality and relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targets are spaced appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling."
The update affects only search rankings on mobile devices and applies to individual pages, rather than entire websites, Google said. That is, a site may not be mobile-friendly as a whole but still score high in search results because certain of its pages do. But other longstanding criteria could sway things the other way, such as how closely the information on the site matches the wording of your search.
"The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal -- so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query," Google said.
More often than before, people are searching and surfing the Web from mobile devices -- around 60 percent of online traffic is now generated by mobile devices, according to a report published in mid-2014 by research firm ComScore. That report pointed specifically to digital media sites, not the Web as a whole. But it does provide a clue to the growing dominance of mobile Web browsing. During holiday shopping season at the end of 2014, meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of Amazon customers shopped using a mobile device.
As such, websites need to ensure that their content can be easily viewed and navigated by mobile users. Through its new search algorithm, Google is offering a wake-up call to website owners. Sites penalized by Google for not being mobile-friendly could find a dip in users and a potentially a dip in sales.
The changes are potentially significant enough for those running websites that they've earned the mock-apocalyptic nickname "mobilegeddon."
"Come April 21, a lot of small businesses are going to be really surprised that the number of visitors to their websites has dropped significantly," Itai Sadan, CEO of website builder Duda, told Business Insider. "This is going to affect millions of sites on the Web."
Google has long been a powerhouse of Internet search on desktop and laptop computers -- so much so that the European Union last week formally accused it of abusing its search engine dominancewhen it comes to online shopping services -- but on mobile devices it has found the going much tougher. In the mobile realm, people tend to reach services through apps and app stores, rather than through an all-purpose search engine.
In 2014, Google's chunk of mobile search revenue fell to 68 percent, down from 83 percent just two years earlier, according to eMarketer.
So the company is making a number of new efforts to boost its appeal to the millions of people wielding smartphones. Last week, for instance, Google tweaked its mobile search capabilities to prompt you todownload specific apps when content in those apps is relevant to your search..
With new mobile search algorithm going into effect Tuesday, Google gave a two-month warning to help website operators get ready. But some sites, especially smaller ones, may not be aware of the changes or may simply not yet have made mobile friendliness a high-enough priority.
"This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results," Google said in a February blog post announcing the changes.
The update does not address searches done on tablets or desktops, Google said in an FAQ about the mobile-focused changes.
To determine whether a webpage meets Google's new criteria, you can enter its name at the company's Mobile-Friendly Test page. Just type the name of the page, such as cnet.com, and Google will tell you if it's up to par. If it's not, Google will pinpoint any specific problems it finds and even suggest ways to make the site more mobile friendly.
An apparent slip during an Advanced Micro Devices conference call on Friday may have spilled the beans on the launch date for the next generation of Windows.
Windows 10 will hit the market in late July, according to a comment from the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices.
During a conference call on Friday to discuss AMD's first-quarter earnings, CEO Lisa Su was asked about guidance for the second quarter. After answering that question, Su injected this comment, asposted in a transcript by Seeking Alpha:
What we also are factoring in is, you know, with the Windows 10 launch at the end of July, we are watching sort of the impact of that on the back-to-school season, and expect that it might have a bit of a delay to the normal back-to-school season inventory build-up.
Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, expects the launch of Windows 10 in late July to affect back-to-school sales.AMD
Based on the transcript, no one followed up on Su's mention of Windows 10, and the conversation simply moved onto other topics. Su's comment didn't sound like any attempt to steer the audience with false information since she was responding to a question from an analyst. And as one of Microsoft's hardware partners, AMD would be abreast of the specific time frame for launching Windows 10.
Microsoft has previously stated that Windows 10 would roll out in the summer, so a late July date sounds feasible. The company has been working to produce a new version of Windows designed to avoid the mistakes of Windows 8. That version was criticized by PC users for its tablet-focused approach and its dual personality Start screen and desktop environment. As such, Microsoft is attempting to fashion a more user-friendly OS with a more cohesive environment for PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
The company has also been eager to seek the feedback of users as it tweaks Windows 10. In October, Microsoft released the Windows 10 Technical Preview, a work-in-progress of the new OS that gave people a chance to sample it and offer opinions. Since then, Microsoft has rolled out new builds of the OS on a regular basis as it incorporates suggestions from testers and tries to fine-tune the new version to win over users soured by Windows 8.
Windows 10 brings back the Start menu that was jettisoned in Windows 8, this time providing quick access to both Windows apps and traditional desktop programs. The new version takes a cue from Windows Phone by incorporating Cortana, Microsoft's voice assistant. A new browser code-namedSpartan promises a different approach to Web browsing beyond that of Internet Explorer. Further, the OS sports a host of tweaks and enhancements to its menus, screens and other features.
Microsoft will host its annual Build developers conference later this month. That's when the company is expected to reveal more details about Windows 10 and possibly announce an official launch date.
At least one question remains regarding Windows 10: does Microsoft have enough time to get it right? As a participant in the Windows Insider program, which lets people download and install Windows 10 and then give feedback on the new OS, I've seen improvement and finesse in the OS since the Windows 10 Technical Preview launched in October. But in certain ways, the OS still feels like a work in progress. Assuming the late July date is accurate, Microsoft has just three more months to wrap it up.
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