Michael Crider
Contributing since December, 2013
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3608articles
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About Michael Crider
Michael is a born Texan and a former graphic designer. He's been covering technology in general and Android in particular since 2011. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order. He wrote a novel called Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story, and it's available on Amazon.
Latest Articles
LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition Quick Look: The 'Just Right' Midsize Tablet You've Been Waiting For
There's no need for a full review of the new Google Play Edition of LG's G Pad 8.3 - you're familiar with the software thanks to LG's own Nexus 5 and other AOSP devices, and you can check out Cameron Summerson's review of the retail version of the G Pad 8.3 for a look at the hardware. Aside from the "V510" badge on the tablet's legal tiny type, this is the same device, and there's not so much as a Google logo to tell the two apart. But it's paired with clean Android 4.4, which incidentally is the one thing that kept me from buying the standard version earlier this year.
Android 4.4 has a new screen recording function for developers, but as the CyanogenMod team has already demonstrated, it can be adapted for more general use. Well-known developer Koushik "Koush" Dutta has taken advantage of this for Mirror, a new screencasting app for KitKat that allows any rooted user to either record video directly on a device, or stream to an Apple Airplay-compatible receiver like Apple TV. No custom ROM required.
Sony's Tiny USB 2.0 + MicroUSB Flash Drives Look Sweet, Hit Stores In January In 8, 16, And 32GB Capacities
Sony's Tiny USB 2.0 + MicroUSB Flash Drives Look Sweet, Hit Stores In January In 8, 16, And 32GB Capacities
These aren't the first USB flash drives we've seen that double as detachable storage for Android devices - that honor goes to the Leef Bridge from way back in June. But darn it if Sony's new 2-in-1 flash drives aren't a whole lot slicker, combining MicroUSB and standard USB 2.0 plugs into a tiny package. From the single press image, it looks like the entire device is barely bigger than the two plugs put together.
Android's lock screen hasn't really changed since 4.2, but app developers keep coming up with new ways to wow us. Case in point: Cover. This alternative lockscreen replaces the default screen with a selection of quick-launch app icons, not unlike some of the manufacturer skins out there. But unlike TouchWiz or Sense, Cover automatically learns which apps you use at what times, and it comes with a ton of impressive UI features.
December 25th, 1993. A fresh-faced and (mostly) innocent little boy wakes up and rushes through his breakfast to make sure he beats his little sister to the Christmas tree. Underneath he finds four gifts: a Sega Genesis game console, RBI Baseball, Disney's Aladdin, and Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Twenty years later, that boy, no longer little and considerably less innocent, can relive countless wasted hours on a 5-inch phone screen. Sonic 2 is now in the Play Store.
Last month we told you about Android USA (that's an American company that makes wristwatches, and has nothing to do with the Android OS or Google) preparing their own branded smartwatch, which may or may not also run Android. Well Android's smartwatch is now available on the designer deal site Touch Of Modern, and it's already 50% off. Sort of.
Would you look at that. Just one day after the Google Play Edition of LG's G Pad 8.3 went on sale, the CyanogenMod team gets an Android 4.4 build out for the standard retail version. A new CyanogenMod 11 nightly is available for the "LG V500."
Heads up, Android users: there's a Google Search update that just landed in the Play Store. Google's tendency for staged rollouts means that some of you might not get an automatic update for a few days, but as usual, we've got the APK download below. There are a few noticeable visible changes in the integrated Google Experience Launcher, but that's about it as far as new features go. This is an incremental update after the massive 3.1.8 update from last month.
Remember when T-Mobile didn't have LTE service? You know, just under two years ago? Remember when they released a version of the Galaxy S III without LTE (SGH-T999), then another with LTE (SGH-T999L), ensuring that some customers would be pissed and others would be confused? If you do, and you bought the latter LTE-enabled version of Samsung's 2012 flagship, check your status bar: you might just have a software update waiting.
Google's voice search function is undeniably cool, and it's only getting better since the company has expanded the capabilities of the Android Search/Google Now app. However, there's one tragic flaw in the execution of voice actions: they can't make popcorn. But if you add some of Android's most powerful root-enabled tools, namely Tasker, the Xposed Framework, and the previously-featured AutoVoice, the sky's the limit. With the right hardware and tinkering, you can start living your Starfleet dreams in jig time. Observe:
We've seen at least one device that could be called a "smart ring" already: the wildly successful NFC Ring. But the Smarty Ring, currently accepting funding on Indiegogo, takes the idea about five steps further. It's a smartwatch, more or less, that's made into a ring form factor. Though it's not quite as capable as something like the Pebble, and nowhere near as powerful as the watches from Sony or Samsung, the idea is surprisingly attractive.
Nokia Normandy, The Company's First Android Phone, Reportedly Still Set For Release Despite Microsoft Buyout
Nokia Normandy, The Company's First Android Phone, Reportedly Still Set For Release Despite Microsoft Buyout
When Microsoft initiated a purchase of Nokia back in September, a lot of Android fans let out a defeated sigh: there was no way the company would ever release Android-powered hardware. Well hold on to your dreams, true believers, because multiple leaks indicate that a new Nokia phone will indeed run Google's open-source OS.
Google Translate Adds 9 New Languages From Africa, Asia, And New Zealand, Available On The Web And Mobile
Google Translate Adds 9 New Languages From Africa, Asia, And New Zealand, Available On The Web And Mobile
Google Translate is a pretty great tool, but it's only useful if it actually works where you need it. Today it works in even more places, as Google has updated both the web service and the Android app with nine new languages, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Good news, Mozilla fanatics: the updates that hit the beta channel of Firefox's Android browser back in November are now ready for prime time. Version 26 was uploaded to the Play Store today, complete with some notable interface changes and a few under-the-hood tweaks as well. The browser is free as always, and it's compatible with Android devices running 2.2 or later.
Do you wish to display your love of Google-branded operating systems to your friends and loved ones, but find Hallmark's selection of nerdy ornaments unaccountably lacking? Then Dead Zebra has your back. They're selling a modified special edition of the ever-shifting Android figurine that's been modified into a Christmas tree ornament. You can pick up one of these shiny fellows in red or blue for .
You don't have to spend much time on the Play Store to see that games are a big part of the service and the platform. Google has already done a lot to highlight gaming with Play Store categories and landing page promotions, but starting in February, developers and end users will have roughly three times as many categories to browse through. The new game categories are as follows:
It's been just over two years since Samsung introduced the capacious Galaxy Note to an intrigued press corps at IFA in Berlin. Who'd have thought that it would turn out to be nothing less than a phenomenon, spawning a new sub-category in smartphones and innumerable flattering attempts at imitation? The original Note sold 10 million units by August 2012, but according to Samsung, the Note 3 has reached the same lofty goal in just two months.
The physical Menu button is an interesting holdout from an earlier age of Android. While Google's devices and those manufacturers that roughly follow Google's guidelines (like Motorola and LG) don't use it, Samsung and a few others do, leaving app developers in a tight spot when it comes to implementing an overflow button. Today a Reddit user found this change to the Action Bar Policy file for KitKat in Google's Git repository.
There's a new Android phone available, so you know what that means: open source junkies get to take a look under the hood thanks to publicly-available kernel files. Motorola's post for the Moto G comes a few weeks after it officially went on sale,which is pretty typical. You can download the kernel source code for the Moto X over at SourceForge.
Want a sweet deal on a Lenovo tablet? Well even if you don't, Best Buy is offering it, so pass this on to someone who does. Best Buy is offering significant discounts on both the unique Yoga Tablet 8 and the more conventional IdeaTab S6000. For today only, the 8-inch Yoga is 9.99 on the online store, a full $50 off. That's even better than the Lenovo perks site. The 10-inch S6000 is 9.99, $40 off of retail. Both are offered with free shipping or in-store pickup.