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When it comes to mobile data, where customers almost always have a limited pool of access to work with, less is more. That's the principle behind the "delta" updates to apps that Google introduced way back in 2012, which in most cases allows the Play Store to download only the incrementally updated parts of an app rather than the entire APK. Now a new tweak to the delta update algorithm has made the updates themselves even smaller.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is probably the most technically challenging game on the SHIELD TV right now, and by extension, on Android as a whole. It's also the third entry in the popular shooter-looter series... but in terms of critical and fan appeal, it's a notable step below the game that preceeded it. Well there's good news today, Borderlands fans: Borderlands 2 is finally available on the SHIELD Android TV (though it's not showing compatible with the SHIELD Tablet at the moment). It's $15 on the Play Store with no in-app purchases.
Motorola's relationship with unlockable bootloaders, and thus with the ROM-flashing aftermarket community, can be summed up as "complicated." While its default approach is to offer a consumer-friendly bootloader unlock on most of its phones, it nonetheless bows to the whims of its carrier masters (Verizon and AT&T) whenever they insist that said feature be disabled, and they don't offer those handy full-price Developer Editions anymore, either. Add Amazon to the list, because the retailer's customized, super-cheap edition of the fourth-generation Moto G can't be bootloader unlocked.
Odds are pretty good that today's Android Auto news will only matter to extreme car buffs. Google's in-car phone extension has been officially announced for upcoming models from Lada, Koenigsegg, and Borgward. If you've never heard of any of those manufactures, you're in good company: you're unlikely to see them driving down the street unless you live in Russia, Beverly Hills, or 1955, respectively.
Hey, remember that Google Arts & Culture tool that the company talked about for exactly one day? No? Well now it's back. The hub for all things historically and artistically relevant has been given a fresh coat of paint, so to speak. Both the web portal and the app (which was previously little more than a web wrapper anyway) have been overhauled with a new interface, including a more contextual search bar that allows users to hunt for specific articles or pieces. Check out the difference in the app below:
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Approximately 98% of the videos posted on Facebook are ripped YouTube clips with annoying, aspect ratio-destroying text on the top and bottom, stolen and reposted by some radio station in Ohio that's desperate for social media "engagement." Even so, if you really want to save those videos, the Android app now lets you do so. Kinda. One of our readers spotted the new user interface features and the "Saved" video section in the app, but that word doesn't mean the same thing to Facebook as it does to other folks.
The original Age of Booty was a real-time strategy game released on the Xbox Live Arcade and similar download services. It combined a streamlined, console-focused take on strategy with a cartoony pirate nautical theme - there was many an "avast" and "aaargh" to be heard. Developer Certain Affinity gained some decent acclaim from the title, and so released a mobile free-to-play version of the game called Call of Booty: Tactics. It came out for Android this weekend, which is almost exactly two years after the iOS version. That really shivers me timbers.
Did you know that lacrosse is the official summer sport of Canada? Well it is. (I'll give you one guess for the winter sport.) But something tells me that Canada's population of idle kids, teenagers, and twenty-somethings won't be playing much this week, since Pokémon GO was just released in the Great White North. Players on Android and iOS can now download the game directly from the Play Store and App Store, respectively. It's a good thing they did release it in the summertime, since it's hard to hunt for AR monsters while trudging through snow and ice.
If your company uses Google apps to manage email, contacts, cloud storage, and all the other stuff that Google Apps for Work does, then you'll want the latest app in the collection post haste. Springboard is a sort of universal search tool for all the stuff that accumulates in Google Apps, plus a handy agenda view that shows everything new on the company account. Unfortunately it's in an invite-only stage right now, so even if you use Google Apps for Work, it may still be inaccessible.
Unless you're a dedicated aficionado of rare and indie comic books, you might not have heard of The Adventures of Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy. It's a much-loved little series that combines a sarcastic version of noir storytelling with urban fantasy - think Harry Dresden meets Monkey Island, and you're about there. Originally published in Portugal before getting an English release via Dark Horse, the series spans three volumes and a short story. Now fans can also dig into a standalone adventure game as well.
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- The deal is back under a new listing. The previous (expired) listing can be seen here.
It's not often that we get to write about standard TVs on Android Police... because there aren't many that run Android. But Sony's high-end models are the exception, and today BuyDig's eBay account is offering one of the latest models at a significant discount. The XBR-65X810C is a 65-inch LED TV with 4K resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and it runs Android TV out of the box. The eBay price is 99.99 with free shipping, which is $300 cheaper than most online and brick-and-mortar retailers, and an impressive $900 off the retail price.
The dating simulator genre is still somewhat niche, so here's a quick breakdown if you haven't heard about it. In a typical anime-style dating simulator, you play as a young man or woman (often high school or college age) looking for love. This usually means talking to a bunch of different characters and potential romantic interests in branching dialogue. It's like an old-school adventure game, but the stakes are your love life instead of saving the world. Hatoful Boyfriend [sic] is like that, except that all your suitors are pigeons.
As a design element, the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner has its fans and its detractors. I'm going to bet that ZeroLemon, suppliers of almost ridiculous battery-boosting cases and replacement shells to the rich and poor, aren't fans. A big honking fingerprint sensor hanging out in the otherwise barren plains of a phone's rear housing means a big hole in any cases made for it, and thus less space to shove every possible spare milliamp into a battery case. So it is with ZeroLemon's latest addition to its power collection, a battery-case combo for the flagship Nexus 6P.This one isn't actually available yet - according to ZeroLemon's website, the 6P battery case will go on sale later in July for $59.99. That's in line with most of the other cases and replacement backs ZeroLemon has offered before. There's already an Amazon listing for the accessory, though it can't be purchased yet. This time around the external battery is an impressive 8500mAh, and that's all the more impressive since there's a giant hole in both the case and the battery housing itself.
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- It looks like the developers are expanding quickly. According to this Google+ post, players in Italy, Portugal, and Spain can now download Pokémon GO directly from the Play Store.
The United Kingdom seems considerably less, well, united than it used to be. But if there's one thing everyone can agree on, it's that they want a chance to play Pokémon GO. Niantic's augmented reality take on the classic Nintendo franchise is a smash hit in its first week, though a limited launch means that only those in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and just yesterday Germany have been able to play it so far. Now that launch has officially expanded to the UK, according to the official Pokémon GO Twitter account:
If T-Mobile has proven anything in the last few years, it's that the company knows how to get the attention of new and potential customers. So it was only a matter of time before they seized hold of an increasingly global mobile gaming phenomenon. That's right, T-Mo's latest customer-friendly promotion is all about the Pokey Mans. Pokémon GO players on the network won't get dinged for any data used by Niantic's augmented reality game for the next year starting on Tuesday the 19th.
There's been no shortage of sales on the various models of BlackBerry Priv in the last few months, which is perhaps not the best sign for the company's first-ever Android-powered flagship. But it's great news for bargain hunters, and today DailySteals has the AT&T version of the QWERTY slider on sale for just 9.99, well under half of the retail price. The deal is available for another two days according to the site. Shipping is free.
Asus already has three different versions of the ZenFone 3 planned in fast food-style denominations: vanilla, Deluxe, and Ultra. The Deluxe is the highest-specced version ("Ultra" is about a bigger screen, not better specs), as it's equipped with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 820 processor. Of course that's no longer the latest and greatest: Qualcomm announced the even faster Snapdragon 821 just yesterday. Not to be outdone, a new version of the ZF3 Deluxe has been announced via a Taiwanese press release.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Ransomware is one of the nastier types of malicious software to emerge in the last few years. It's not exclusive to mobile, but the basic gist is that it locks down either specific files or an entire machine until the user sends money to a shady, untraceable online account to get their digital life back in order. The combination of easily-exploited security vulnerabilities, relatively small payments spread out over thousands of devices, and users reliance on their phones or computers has proven incredibly lucrative for malware developers.