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Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a unique sound-based puzzle game, a nostalgic sliding block puzzler, and Kairosoft's latest business manager. Without further ado:
Designer brand Phiaton makes some sweet-looking headphones that don't skimp on the sound quality (cough, Beats, cough). They're also pretty expensive, with retail prices putting them out of reach for most casual listeners and enthusiasts on a budget. But online boutique store Touch of Modern is offering two models at a steep discount starting today: the Fusion MS 430 and Bridge MS 500. You'll need a free membership to Touch of Modern to have access to the deals.
Hangouts video chats are pretty good in terms of handling multiple up and down streams, but the invitation and verification system leaves a lot to be desired - there's something of a traffic jam when we start the Android Police podcast video, for example. Today Google is making that a little easier by allowing mobile users to join a Hangouts video session with a simple invitation link, instead of needing an explicit, personal invitation via the Hangouts/Google+ system.
Lenovo has crammed just about everything it can think of into the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro to make it interesting, with the exception of a stylus and a can opener. And it is interesting, from a purely technical point of view - it has a huge 13" screen, 2.1 JLB speakers, integrated kickstand, and oh yeah, a built-in pico projector. This machine epitomizes one of the best things about Android hardware: a diversity of manufacturers can yield an amazing variety of features.
Cerberus is a solid little app that makes it easy (or at least easier) to find/lock your phone or tablet if it's lost or stolen. The app has accumulated over a million downloads on the Play Store, so clearly it has earned some loyal users. The update to version 3.1 adds a couple of crucial features: full support for both Android Wear and Android 5.0. If you have either one, you'll appreciate the added functionality.
At the first few major tech conferences of the year, CES in Las Vegas, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the current trend of virtual reality is inescapable. Such disparate players as Facebook, Samsung, and Razer are all throwing their weight behind various virtual reality headsets, and software developers are scrambling to meet the demand for apps, games, and videos. According to this report by the Wall Street Journal, Google isn't content to dip its toe into VR with the mostly experimental Cardboard platform.
From time to time Google offers free music and movies via the Play Store. Today is one of those times, because it's the third anniversary of the Play Store launch (and, incidentally, the death of the former Android Market). Customers in the US can get a free Coldplay album, and now they can also grab an HD copy of the Transformers movie for free!
In a lot of ways, NVIDIA's SHIELD (not to be confused with this SHIELD or that SHIELD) is a typical set-top box. And in many ways it isn't: though NVIDIA has built its living room invader on Android like the previous products in the line, the OS underneath is merely a means to an end. And that end is selling you games, in every form and fashion that the company can come up with.
33 New And Notable Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (2/18/15 - 3/4/15)
A look at some new and notable Android Games.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Mortal Kombat fans have been looking forward to Mortal Kombat X, the newest next-gen entry to the long-running fighter series, for quite a while. Now, as they've already done with properties like Injustice: Gods Among Us and WWE: Immortals, Warner Bros. is preparing a mobile companion app to go along with the much more complex console game. It will be available sometime in April, probably around the same time that the full game is released.
Sony's recent Xperia phones and tablets have included themable skins for the proprietary Sony UI that runs on top of Android. Now Sony wants you (yes, you!) to make themes for its devices using a custom Java desktop program. The company has released a beta version of the application for aspiring theme makers, available from the Sony Developer site.
Right now a mobile payment system is kind of like a pair of Crocs in the mid-2000s: everyone has to have one and it isn't clear why. Of course Google Wallet has been around for years, but now that Apple Pay (and Samsung Pay, and apparently everyone is paying everything) is around Google needs something a little more competitive, perhaps using those newly-acquired Softcard assets. We've known about Android Pay, a new mobile payment API, for a few weeks. Google's SVP of Android, Chrome, and Google Apps spoke briefly on Android Pay at Mobile World Congress, officially confirming the service.
The photo-focused smartphone is becoming a definite niche, and at Mobile World Congress, Lenovo is hoping to break in with a new model. The Vibe Shot (which sounds a lot like something you'd order at a questionable cocktail bar) is a Lollipop-equipped phone with a 16-megapixel rear camera and an 8MP front-facing shooter. Other photo-focused features include optical image stabilization, infrared autofocus, and a tri-color LED flash. Lenovo hopes to launch the Vibe Shot in June starting at $349.
Qualcomm's current top processor is the Snapdragon 810, which is only shipping in the LG G Flex 2 and set to appear in upcoming flagships like the HTC One M9. But at Mobile World Congress the chip manufacturer is already taking the wraps off of its next-gen design, the predictably-named Snapdragon 820. Details on the exact capabilities of the new chip are scarce, but Qualcomm says it should be ready to ship to mobile manufacturers sometime in the second half of this year.
The new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have a lot going for them. But one thing that they don't have is MicroSD card slots... which is kind of a big deal, since removable storage has been a notable feature of almost every Samsung Android phone, ever. With impeccable timing, flash storage specialist SanDisk announced the world's largest MicroSD card on the same day. I can hear Samsung fans crying out in frustration all the way from Barcelona.
Samsung, LG, and HTC are the heavy-hitters in the Android world - you can generally expect their flagship devices to be on almost every American carrier. So it is with HTC's new One M9, which has been confirmed for four out of the five major US carriers right out of the gate. We asked a US Cellular representative if the company planned to offer the One M9 after they confirmed that they'd be carrying Samsung's new S6 and S6 Edge, and were told that it wasn't on the release schedule at the moment.
As if you hadn't guessed already, all five major United States wireless carriers have confirmed that they will indeed offer Samsung's new flagship phones later this year. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular have all posted pages that say they'll be selling both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, though details on exact launch dates, prices, and capacities are predictably hard to find. No matter what your preferred carrier, you'll have an option when the phones come out.
Samsung Makes The Galaxy S6 And Galaxy S6 Edge Official: Exynos Chips, Metal Frames, And Important Changes For Android's De Facto Flagship
The S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are official.
We've seen them leaked to death, we've seen months of rumors and speculation. Now we have verified info on the real deal: Samsung's double flagship for 2015. The Galaxy S6 will probably be the best-selling Android device this year no matter what any other manufacturer does, and the Galaxy S6 Edge is Samsung's attempt to one-up themselves with an interesting take on the standard slate design. The company has made both of them official at the Unpacked off-floor event at Mobile World Congress.
Love it or hate it, the original LG G Flex sure did create some buzz. The second version of the phone appears to be an improvement in just about every way, but LG doesn't seem to be content with flagship-style offerings. Three UK just announced that it will carry the LG Spirit 4G starting in June. This decidedly mid-range device also has a curved screen, and... well, that's about the only interesting thing aside from Lollipop software at launch.
Last year the buzzword at Mobile World Congress was "wearable." The fervor from that market trend still hasn't died down, but hot on its heels is "virtual reality." Despite a less than fantastic position in the smartphone space, HTC seems intent on expanding into virtual reality to compete with the likes of Microsoft, Google, Oculus Rift (and by extension, Facebook), and Samsung. Say hello to the HTC Vive... or possibly the Re Vive, depending on which HTC promo you go by.