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The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are already on the latest version of Android, but the T-Mobile variants are getting a small maintenance update today with a few fixes. It's not huge, but you may as well install it when you've got a moment. The changelog promises battery life improvements, which is always appreciated.
It's time to crack open a Nuka Cola and drink a toast to Bethesda. After several weeks of verbal and emotional abuse at the hands of rabid Android users, the company has announced a release date for Fallout Shelter on Android. It's coming August 13th.
Google Text-to-Speech updates? Psh, boring, right? Maybe it is most of the time, but this update (v3.5.6) brings four new languages including two Chinese dialects. These are, of course, some of the most widely spoken languages in the world.
Sometimes Google's voicemail transcription is good enough to get the point across, and other times it's a seemingly random collection of words that only make sense when you're under the influence of really great narcotics. But maybe no more. Google has announced that better transcriptions are rolling out with a 49% reduction in the error rate. This applies to both Google Voice and Project Fi.
Yahoo Messenger used to be one of the top ways for people to communicate via text, but its popularity has definitely waned in the mobile era. Yahoo has been looking for its next big messaging idea in recent years, and Livetext is its latest shot. This unusual video messaging app has gone live in Hong Kong without so much as an announcement blog post, but you can grab the app from APK Mirror right now.
We all know that a new Moto G is coming very soon, probably at Motorola's "find your match" event on July 27th. Someone over at Moto HQ must have an itchy trigger finger, though. The Moto Maker page for this phone was available on Motorola's website for a short time today before it was pulled (redirects to the homepage now). We do, however, have a screenshot of the configuration options courtesy of a Reddit user.
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AT&T approved the Android 5.1 update for the first-gen Moto X (XT1058) on July 7th, but yesterday the carrier decided to halt the update. AT&T is calling this a "temporary" suspension, but isn't saying what exactly the issue is.
Talon was one of the first Twitter apps to get on the material hype train, and now it's hitting v3.0 with a raft of new features and tweaks. Most of the changes are UI-related, but some new settings allow you to customize the interface a bit more too.
Not everyone wants to attach a credit card to their Google Play billing, and that's fine. There are other ways to buy content from your phone, like carrier billing for example. This system is quite convenient if your carrier supports it, but that's often not the case internationally. Google has updated its support pages today with five more supported carriers around the world.
The US carriers still have the Galaxy S6 priced at over $600, but you can get one significantly cheaper if you go a different route. This phone is on sale for just $500 on eBay right now, which is the cheapest we've seen it so far.
The original Shield Portable is finally getting the bump to Android 5.1 from 4.4, but don't rush right out and download the OTA just yet. There are a few caveats with this one. Yes, you get the latest version of Android, but it will remove several games and features that are bundled with the old KitKat software.
Asus has seen some success with the budget-oriented unlocked Zenfone 2, and now a less expensive variant of the device is coming to AT&T as a prepaid GoPhone. The Zenfone 2E keeps many of the design cues from the Zenfone 2, but pulls back on the spec sheet a bit.
VoLTE is finally starting to roll out on devices, but who uses their phone as a phone anymore? Luckily, there's a next-gen standard for text messages too, and T-Mobile is the first carrier to support it. T-Mobile's CTO just announced support for "Advanced Messaging" on the Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard on T-Mobile, and it's starting its rollout now.
We all love getting new stuff, but most people expect you to pay for it. What a bummer. At least if you wait for things to go on sale you can spend a little less money. Here are some sales so you can get new stuff (which you like) for less money (which you also like).
OnePlus wants to tease us all on a semi-daily basis until the big reveal of the OnePlus 2 on July 27th, but it looks like it won't have quite the same impact now. Images of the new phone have appeared on the TENAA website, which is China's version of the FCC. So what does it look like? Imagine an awkward fusion of a OnePlus One and a Galaxy S6.
Sure, jetpacks seem like a good idea at first, then you realize how hard it would be to not die while using one. Piloteer gives form to that fear with a mercilessly challenging physics simulator. You have a jetpack in this game, but it doesn't have any fancy gyroscopic stabilizers or wussy safety measures. You fly, you fail (fabulously), you fly again.
Dell took its sweet time updating the super-slim Venue 8 tablet to Android 5.0. It finally got this done back in early May, though this was after blowing several previous release dates. To make up for it, Dell just pushed Android 5.1 to this device. I'm a little surprised Dell hasn't moved on yet.
Vertical videos are terrible for many reasons, but we may have to come to terms with the fact that people just won't stop recording videos vertically. This inescapable foible of humanity is made slightly less galling by a new feature in YouTube 10.28 (which you can grab from APK Mirror). Vertical videos are now displayed properly (i.e. vertically) when made full screen - something we didn't quite notice until today.
Tethering data caps make it impractical to use your phone for hotspot access over long periods while traveling, but maybe you've only got wired network access over traditional lines. That's where travel routers come in handy, and a popular one is on sale right now. Well, the sale price is pretty modest, but you can also get a USB hub for free with your purchase.
There's a subtle change to the Android voice input system, and you probably already have it on your phone without realizing. Some time ago, users started reporting that a delete button had appeared on the dictation keyboard, and now we're seeing it too. The most likely cause is an update to the Google app, which contains the voice settings.