The prototype model phone is white and has a five-inch screen. It uses California start-up Movidius’ Myriad 1 vision processor platform, which not only detects depth and space, but also objects and context, Gizmodo reports.

Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) hardware group, one of the company’s acquisitions from Motorola, is the brains behind the phone. Johnny Lee, a former member of Microsoft’s Kinect team before leaving for Google in 2011, is the technical lead on the project. Lee explained in the announcement on Google’s website that “the goal of Project Tango is to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion.”

ATAP has been researching for the project for the past year, working with universities and researchers across nine countries. Developers can sign up for access to these phones through Google, but only 200 developers will be granted permissions during its first run. The phones will be fully distributed by March 14 of this year.

Google is releasing the prototype to evaluate what kinds of applications developers can create using the software. Some ideas include immersive gaming and shopping experiences and expanded indoor navigation, although Google hopes that developers will submit app ideas that the company has yet to dream up.

Google’s website doesn’t address any privacy concerns regarding these types of sensors, such as what the phone will do with data once it’s been collected. The Xbox One, which has Kinect sensors built into the hardware, drew criticism from experts and users about similar privacy issues, as the device detects motion and objects within a room constantly when it is powered on. Microsoft maintained that the data captured by the Kinect, which features facial recognition capabilities, would only be stored on the device’s hardware and wouldn’t be shared with any third parties.

In the case of Project Tango, consumers will likely want to know whether the sensors can only be activated by certain applications, and some apps may face the same scrutiny as the Xbox One. Only time will tell how Google handles these kinds of concerns.

What would you do with this kind of technology? Sound off in the comments below and let us know your creative ideas.

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Out of the 990 million units sold in 2013, 781.2 million ran on the operating system. The company sold four times as many units as Apple and Microsoft combined.

“There is little doubt that 2013 was the year of Android,” Strategy Analytics said in a statement on the findings.

Smartphones in general had one of the greatest years on record, with global shipments growing 41 percent year-over-year. The 990 million units sold in 2013 is an increase from the 700.1 million sold in 2012. The obvious leader was Samsung, which sold a record number of devices, shipping 319.8 million smartphones worldwide and capturing 32 percent of the market share in 2013. This was the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone manufacturer in a single year, according to another study by Strategy Analytics.

However, the data also implies that the growth of the smartphone markets are cooling off. The company’s annual growth rate slowed to 62 percent in 2013, its lowest level in the platform’s history. “We expect Android’s growth to slow further in 2014 due to market saturation,” said Strategy Analytics in a blog post featuring the data.

Apple is still a leader in the mobile device market, taking second place in the smartphone race in 2013. Apple grew 13 percent annually and shipped 153.4 million smartphones worldwide, nabbing 15 percent of the 2013 smartphone market share. Luckily for the company, it’s still doing well in the tablet market. Thanks to a boost from holiday shoppers, Apple sold a record 26 million iPads last quarter, a significant portion of the 76.9 million tablets sold in Q4, according to Cult of Mac. This boosted its market share to 33.8 percent to round out 2013.

Android and Apple might be the two kings to beat, but Microsoft asserted itself as a competitor in 2013. The manufacturer shipped 35.7 million units worldwide to capture four percent of the market share, showing Windows phones might not be as lost a cause as those from Blackberry or other smaller manufacturers, which only captured a two percent share combined. This is down from a 9.1 percent share in 2012. Strategy Analytics said that despite this growth for Microsoft, it will still need to gain traction in low-tier and premium-tier smartphone categories.

Despite a smartphone market saturation, there are still a number of devices set to be released in 2014 with operating systems that might help Android maintain a strong grasp on the market. However, the upcoming iPhone 6 will surely sell well thanks to Apple loyalists, although the company will need to get more creative with improvements and updates.

Has Android earned its spot as the leader in the smartphone market?

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Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster studied Google Now and Siri’s accuracy to understand users and present relevant results. Munster gave both Apple and Google Now’s software C+ grades after asking each 800 questions, and compared the results with last year’s measurements.

Siri’s ability to answer queries correctly in a noisy, uncontrolled environment was its main improvement, with a jump from 84 to 94 percent accuracy. This helped to bump the average Siri accuracy score to 79 percent. Apple’s software also showed improvements in its overall ability to answer a question, which increased in accuracy from 87 to 94 percent from iOS 6 to iOS 7.

However, Google Now’s improvements from 2012 were more significant. Munster stated in a note to investors that: “Google Now has improved significantly over last year, refining both its ability to comprehend questions as well as give a correct response,” according to USA Today. Google enjoyed small leads in areas such as commerce, navigation, and information gathering. Apple’s previous voice-recognition software dominance could be in jeopardy, although it still leads in operating-system-related queries.

Apple has been emphasizing Bing, Wikipedia, and other services in searches instead of Google. Munster’s report showed that only 4 percent of Siri’s answers relied on Google, compared to 14 percent in August and 27 percent last year.

In other areas, the iPhone manufacturer has been lacking in expanding technology. The most recent generation of iPhones offered very few new features for users, while Android is constantly adding options. Google phones have been giving consumers more new technologies overall, with the most recent Nexus 5 garnering rave reviews from critics and users. Granted, Google Now still needs a lot of work to get it above just an average grade, but the improvements from last year give it a boost above Siri.

Do you think Siri’s accuracy can improve, or has Apple hit a plateau in terms of their software? Do these findings change your opinion in the Apple vs. Google race for market dominance? What have your experiences been with Google Now or Siri? Do you find it to be accurate? Sound off in the comments below.

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There is no official word on how much the Cupertino, California-based company paid for PrimeSense, but Bloomberg estimates a price tag of approximately $350 million based on reports that came in last week. AllThingsD sources claimed it was closer to $360 million. 

The deal was confirmed Sunday by Apple Spokesperson Kristin Huguet, who spoke to Bloomberg by phone. However, there is no word yet on why the Israel-based company was bought out. 

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Huguet said.

No details were revealed by PrimeSense either, which declined to comment beyond stating that the deal was confirmed, according to USA Today.

PrimeSense, founded in 2005, gained some notoriety for their early work with the Xbox 360 Kinect, released in 2010. It utilizes cameras and depth sensors to track the movements of users and can detect walls, furniture, and other objects that could occupy a room. Microsoft has incorporated this into the gameplay of many recent releases, including Harmonix’s popular Dance Central series, which pits players against each other in realistic dance battles. In its new version of the Kinect, Microsoft has opted to use its own version of the sensor technology. The Xbox One, the latest generation of consoles, ship out with the new Kinects included.

Based on this information, we can’t say for sure what Apple plans to do with PrimeSense’s technology, but there has been a lot of speculation that the manufacturer plans to incorporate 3-D motion sensors into new hardware or software. AllThingsD suggests that it could be used in the long-rumored Apple TV set and a possible smartwatch, although the former seems more likely. The all-in-one Apple entertainment system could rely on motion controls and gestures, which is something many other manufacturers, such as Samsung and LG, have experimented with. The Kinect also allows for a similar experience, with the user being able to swipe through their Xbox Dashboard without having to touch a controller.

The sensors have been used in smaller mobile devices, so it’s not a stretch to see how Apple could use them. For example, California-based start-up Occipital has used a full-sized Carmine sensor for its portable 3-D scanner, which snaps on the back of iPads. Occipital’s Kickstarter reached its $100,000 fund-raising goal in just three and a half hours, showing that there is great interest in the technology. Besides the aforementioned gesture controls, it could be an interesting addition to mobile gaming, giving apps the ability to insert games directly into the surrounding environment, an element that has already been explored on the PlayStation Vita. 

What features would you like to see Apple create with 3-D motion sensors?

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Verge recently uncovered a patent filed by Samsung in May that illustrates how the different sides could be used, such as a notification bar, a battery charge meter, and a visual clipboard that would allow users to drag and drop items off the main screen. Gizmodo provides an easy-to-read description and select diagrams.

The display will utilize an upgraded version of flexible OLED display Youm, which is being used in the new, curved Galaxy Round handsets that were confirmed last month. The patented Samsung technology was shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, where the company demonstrated some curved OLED screens for members of the press. They are designed to bring out a deeper contrast ratio and better color on the screens, according to CNET.

It is unclear whether this style will be implemented within the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series, or if it could be the start of a new line of smartphones. Its design would also allow for users and developers to explore new ways to use the devices, especially when viewing the phone at an extreme angle or while lying down in bed.

Samsung has plans for a number of new devices, but will face a lot of competition. Manufacturers’ move toward flexible displays may lead to market saturation. Samsung’s three-sided display and other experiments could be exactly what the company needs to become a smartphone leader. There hasn’t been a commercial move towards this kind of technology, so whether or not customers even want a curved screen is unknown. Van Baker, director of research at Gartner Inc., told Bloomberg that Samsung could be the “test case,” as they are fond of “throwing whatever hardware they can out into the market, just to see if anybody will bite.”

Do you think the Samsung three-sided display will help the manufacturer to beat Apple in the smartphone race? Since everything is so competitive right now (and at a standstill in terms of innovation), are curved and flexible screens a step in the right direction, or is it all just superfluous?

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Other versions are still available for purchase, although those supplies are limited, too. Customers can still purchase the white 16GB version and the 32GB models in both colors, but shipping could take up to five weeks. The 32GB black version leaves the warehouse in two to three weeks, while the white 32GB phone will be shipped on November 26.

Google customers encountered similar problems with the Nexus 4, which came out around this time last year. Google underestimated the demand for the Nexus 4 and it sold out 15 minutes after going on sale in the UK, as reported in a ZDNet article, so it comes as no surprise that the Nexus 5 sold out. This also isn’t the first time the Google Nexus 5 sold out this month. Just a couple of hours after hitting the Play Store for the first time, CNET reported that shipping times had gone up and the “out of inventory” message had appeared on a few models. 

Considering also that the new smartphone updated many aspects of its predecessor, including the release of Android 4.4, or KitKat, issues of limited supply would be expected. The improved operating system makes changes to the interface, along with features such as the ability to say “OK Google” to open the Google Now search app. A larger, higher-resolution screen and a more lightweight design, along with the improved OS and the relatively inexpensive price through the Play Store, make the Nexus 5 an in-demand product. 

The smartphone, which starts at $349 on the Google Play Store without a contract, is unlocked for consumers to activate on carriers like Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Currently the Nexus 5 can only be purchased through the Play Store, but it’s also available for pre-order at various carriers and retailers. According to the International Business Times, Sprint has it starting at $150 with a contract (also available through Amazon and Best Buy), and it’ll be available on T-Mobile on November 20.

Are you disappointed that the cheapest version of the Google Nexus 5 sold out so quickly? Are you willing to wait for the Nexus 5 to go back in stock so you can get an unlocked version, or will you go for a cellular contract?

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