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An international mega-corp like Google buys companies like the rest of us buy coffee. Google's latest latte is SlickLogin, a startup that aims to make authentication simpler and safer by using sonic login codes on phones. The details of the purchase aren't public just yet, but SlickLogin's site confirms that "the [team] is joining Google."
More than two years after the Holo visual style became standard, there are still quite a few major apps and publishers that aren't on the trolley. Plenty of eager graphic designers have submitted visuals for Holo versions of these apps, but the two-man team at Holofication Nation has gone further: they've actually remade the apps themselves. If that's not enough for you, they've also released an official HN app to the Play Store, making it easy to download and update these unofficial app mods.
It's not exactly news that HTC will be updating its flagship phone for 2014, but more and more leaks seem to indicate that we can expect a phone that looks a lot like the current HTC One. Yet another leaked photo, this time from M Helal on Google+, shows what looks like a One with the dual cameras and a dual flash module that we've seen on a previous leak. The casing is a bit glossier than the current model, and the front view seems to confirm that HTC will switch to virtual navigation buttons.
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 an old-school bullet hell shooter, a sequel to a popular puzzler, a stylish platformer, an even more stylish casual game, and an interesting mix of golf and Scrabble. Without further ado:
You know how this goes - new software is sent out for a Nexus device, so posts on the Google factory image and binary repositories aren't far behind. The Nexus 7 LTE is the only Google device that's had an OTA update for a while, so today's additions are small: a single file on the Factory Images page and three binary files for the various hardware components.
LG's flagship tablet (and currently the company's only one) is certainly making headlines today. Just this morning we saw an impressive $100 off deal for the WiFi version, and now it looks like there's a carrier variant in the works. The reliable Evleaks posted photos of a G Pad 8.3 with Verizon's telltale branding, indicating that the tablet will be coming to Big Red sometime in the future.
Japanese Web Retailer Rakuten Purchases Viber VOIP Service For $900 Million
Japanese Web Retailer Rakuten Purchases Viber VOIP Service For $900 Million
Rakuten is often referred to by western media as "the Amazon of Japan." That description seems more and more apt given some of the mega-retailer's recent purchases, including Canadian e-reader company Kobo. Yesterday Rakuten announced that it had purchased Viber, an up-and coming voice-over-IP company with apps on Android, iOS, and Windows, among others, for a whopping $900 million.
Klinker Apps is on a roll lately. In addition to debuting the excellent Talon for Twitter and EvolveSMS apps last month, they've been consistently updating their portfolio with new features like Pebble integration. Yesterday Talon was updated to version 1.4, and there's a new version of EvolveSMS in the pipeline for the next few days as well. But perhaps most interesting is the way that the small developer has issued a secondary support app, Klinker Apps Portal.
Looking for a good mid-sized tablet? You can't do much better than the LG G Pad 8.3, the company's first tablet in two years, at least in terms of hardware. The price is a bit high at $350 retail, but today you can get some relief from that sticker shock. Newegg has the G Pad 8.3 on sale for just 9.99, plus a $30 discount with a code at checkout, bringing the total price down to a very reasonable $249.99.
If you're a dedicated gamer who's wary of the ever-present freemium model (or an Android blogger who's tired of reaching for his phone for every app in the roundup), there's good news tonight. A recent adjustment of the Google Play Store website will let you know whether an app features in-app purchases or not. It appears just below the Install button, right next to the drop-down list of compatible devices.
If your phone was already one of the very first devices to get the latest version of Android, do you really need a custom ROM like CyanogenMod? If you're shouting "YES" at the screen right now, you'll want to know about the first nightly builds available for the Moto X. The CM team has published CM11 nightlies for the Moto X on T-Mobile (XT1053, which is also the standard unlocked GSM edition) and for Verizon (XT1060), though the later needs to be a Developer Edition.
Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and you know what that means: bitter disappointment fruitlessly displaced with technology. (That might just be me.) Google's got you covered on the second part, at least if you have a Chromecast. A new visualizer option for Google Play Music ditches the bars and equalizers in favor of a looped video of a cozy fireplace. You'll have to supply your own music, of course.
Who's ready for a new Angry Birds game? If you're not, you might just want to ignore the gaming news for the next month or so. After a tepid critical response from kart racer Angry Birds Go, the next entry in the series was revealed as a short social post leading to a small sub-site of AngryBirds.com. The title will be Angry Birds Stella.
Note to cell phone leakers: please try and get decent video before you send your information out into the world. A YouTube video spotted by XperiaBlog does indeed seem to be Sony's latest phone, or at least a phone that looks a lot like their previous hardware and seems to be sporting a new version of the company's Android UI. Unfortunately there's little to be seen of the hardware itself.
We've been trying to keep our heads up about the Lenovo-Motorola deal, but let's be honest: news like this is not encouraging. A Wall Street Journal report claims that Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside, whom many had credited with the company's impressive new product lines in 2013, is leaving for Dropbox. Woodside began working for Motorola after more than ten years at Google, succeeding Sanjay Jha after Google acquired the company.
It was only a matter of time before LG decided to make another phablet. Today the company announced the new LG G Pro 2, the sequel to its original Galaxy Note fighter, with a selection of improved hardware and software features. Since it's a phablet, the screen is what you're probably most interested in - it's a 5.9-inch 1080p LCD panel, appropriately matching the screen on the Note 3. LG says it has "an industry-leading screen-to-frame ratio of 77.2 percent."
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 2D space shooter, a helicopter pilot game, an 8-bit Highlander homage, and an odd mix of zombie shooter and card game. Without further ado:
Six months and nineteen days. It's been exactly that long since Hugo Barra announced the new Nexus 7 in a press conference, including an unlocked LTE model that works with Verizon 4G bands. It's been almost five months since that particular model went on sale, and about as long since eager users found out that they couldn't activate a new Verizon Wireless account with the tablet, which wasn't included in Verizon's device database. Today, exactly one day before Verizon starts selling the tablet itself, a software update has enabled full VZW LTE functionality on the 2013 N7.
Oppo has been gaining some notoriety as of late after the company got all buddy-buddy with Cyanogen, and if rumors about its upcoming Find 7 phone are true, they might be getting some more soon. The company posted the photo below to Chinese Twitter alternative Weibo, tacitly confirming the announcement of the phone for March 19th.
It was just a couple of days ago that HTC started talking up its plans to hit the midrange hard this year, and lo and behold, there's at least some evidence that the company is ready to make good on that commitment. Chinese site MyDrivers.com posted what looks like a press render of a new HTC device, which Engadget later corroborated with their own render. The Chinese site calls it the Desire 8.