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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 challenging endless runner, a music management sim, an adventure classic, a casual physics game, and a happy go lucky platformer. Without further ado:
[Game Roundup] Our Top Seven Picks For The Best New Games Of January 2014
[Game Roundup] Our Top Seven Picks For The Best New Games Of January 2014
Welcome back to our monthly gaming retrospective, this time for January 2014. We've got a good mix of triple-A console-style games and more mobile-friendly casual titles for your consideration, some of which are so bizarre that they have to be played to be understood. We've also got plenty of picks that didn't quite make it to the top of the list, but are still worthy of attention. Check out the profiles below for screenshots, videos, and easy links to the Google Play Store.
January is generally held as a gloomy month, a time when there's nothing but slush on the ground and crap in the movie theaters. But it gave us more than a few fine apps, which you should take the opportunity to peruse. If you don't feel like meticulously combing through our massive bi-weekly app roundups, we've gathered the best of the best right here. Dig in, why don't you?
Google Play Newsstand 3.1 Adds Widget, Mini Cards, And Translation Options [APK Download]
Google Play Newsstand 3.1 Adds Widget, Mini Cards, And Translation Options [APK Download]
Newsstand is one of the younger apps in Google's portfolio, but today it's getting a significant update to version 3.1. The biggest change - and a welcome one for at-a-glance newshounds - is a brand-spanking new widget. It's a pretty basic 4X3 affair - the widget will display a single story at a time, complete with headline and embedded image. Tap the arrow button to advance to the next headline, or anywhere else to go directly to the story in Newsstand.
It's about that time of year, folks - as Mobile World Congress approaches at the end of February, more and more upcoming phones are going to be leaked. The first major leak is from @HTCFamily_ru, which posted a photo of an unknown HTC phone this morning. It appears to be a new member of the One family; the rear is the only visible angle, but it's showing off what looks like two cameras on the back.
If Chrome isn't cutting it for you, or if you're a die-hard Mozilla fan, or if you'd just like the ability to watch Flash videos every once in a while, the Android version of Firefox is your best bet. Mozilla keeps coming with steady updates, and the latest fixes an especially vexing problem: Flash support is back in KitKat. (It's still marked as unresolved in the release notes for Firefox 27, but I've tested it on my own KitKat tablet.) You'll still need an archived version of Flash to make the plugin work.
Nothing lasts forever. As it is with leftovers, so it is with Android phones, or at least their manufacturers' willingness to expend time and money updating the software. XperiaBlog reports that Sony announced a dozen of its older Android phones won't be getting any more software updates. That means no software at all, not just major Android version bumps. The former flagship Xperia S and its American cousin the Xperia Ion are probably the most popular phones among them. Here's the full list, complete with the last major Android revision officially released:
You may have noticed that AT&T and T-Mobile are in a bit of a spat at the moment. T-Mobile offers early upgrades with no-contract financing plans, and AT&T does the same a few weeks later. T-Mo woos people with credits towards early termination fees, AT&T gives a whopping $450 of credit ($250 for trading in a T-Mo phone, $200 for transferring service) to former T-Mobile customers. But it looks like the gravy train has run out of fuel - CNET reports that the promotion is over.
After the big steaming pile that was the Super Bowl, American sports fans must be anticipating the Winter Olympics with even more keenness. NBC is more than willing to oblige with the latest in an already-long list of Sochi 2014 apps - the NBC Olympics Highlights app (which seems to have a plural problem). In addition to standard replay videos, the app serves as a second screen for NBC's nightly recap show.
Are you not experiencing the pleasure you need and deserve from your current tablet? Do you find that your 10-inch tablet simply isn't satisfying? The Samsung has the solution: not one, but two brand new tablets that offer a fabulous 12.2 inches of diagonal screen real estate. The Galaxy Tab Pro and Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, along with the smaller Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 and 8.4, are both launching in United States retailers on February 13th. And the screens aren't the only things that are big.
Update: That's all, folks. It looks like the deal has sold out.
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.
It feels like we just got done with CES, but Mobile World Congress is looming heavy on the horizon. As usual, Samsung will be there with bells on, but it will shun the show floor in favor of a dedicated Unpacked event. The first Unpacked venue of the year has been set for Monday, February 24th, according to Samsung Tomorrow. It will start at 8:00 PM local time (2:00 PM Eastern), putting it right at the end of the show's first day.
Sprint has been marketing push-to-talk functionality (a walkie-talkie style function that's popular with business users) since long before Android came into being. Though the feature isn't nearly as common as it once was, Sprint seems ready to keep it going with an update to the official Android app. The Direct Connect service is now compatible with a handful of new phones, most notably headliners like the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, and LG G2.
Linus Torvalds Applauds NVIDIA For Posting Early Tegra K1 Open Source Drivers To The Nouveau Project
If the Internet had a pantheon of deities, Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds would surely be among them, with a big white beard and a laurel wreath. Torvalds has been a vocal detractor of corporations that don't offer support for Linux, including an especially expressive denouncement of NVIDIA back in 2012. But yesterday, Torvalds gave NVIDIA a thumbs-up - which is two whole fingers away from his previous gesture - for posting an early open-source driver for the Tegra K1.
Here's a refreshing change of pace for Android users eager to get their over-the-air updates. According to this Sprint support page, the Android 4.4 update for the HTC One is available for customers right now. But strangely, it's not going out in the usual method - users will need to initiate a manual update request in order to pull it down. If you're an Android regular, you know how this goes: check the About Phone section of the Settings menu to see if there's an update available. It's the Android version of the F5 key.
If you're in the market for a no-contract cell phone and you want unlimited data, your options aren't exactly legion. Today US Cellular announced one more, albeit with some big drawbacks in the small print. For a limited time, you can pick up a new no-contract phone and enjoy unlimited talk minutes, texting and data for a month. That's the same price as the carrier's current 1GB plan.
Samsung has become that one friend you've got who suddenly decides he wears a fedora. No matter how many times you tell him that he looks less like a debonair time traveler than a guy who raided his grandfather's closet, he just won't take it off. Russian blog Hi-Tech Mail spotted the new Galaxy S4 'Black Edition' on Samsung's Russian page this morning, and a similar variant of the S4 Mini was later found. Both of them use the faux leather back from the Galaxy Note 3 and later Samsung designs.
There's big money in online storage, in case the presence of Google, Microsoft, and a seemingly endless parade of startups didn't tip you off. Box.com has been one of the more consistent rivals to Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive OneDrive, and it looks like the small company is about to up its game in a big way. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Box is preparing for an initial public offering.
Yesterday social gaming giant Zynga purchased NaturalMotion, developers of notable mobile games including the CSR Racing series, Backbreaker Football, and the official Jenga game for iOS and Android. TechCrunch reports that the $527 million purchase includes $391 million in cash and 39.8 million shares of Zynga stock. NaturalMotion operates offices in London, Oxford, Brighton, and San Francisco.