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Sony promised it would bring Android 5.0 to all its Z series phones, and now it's starting to live up to that. The newest generation Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact are first up. The OTA is rolling out now to devices in Nordic and Baltic countries, but other markets should follow within two weeks. There's a nifty demo video to go along with the announcement.
T-Mobile's Uncarrier 8.0 announcement was centered around letting you keep your unused data for a bit longer. Data Stash is already available on all Simple Choice post-paid plans, but now it's coming to prepaid too. Starting on March 22nd, people on a prepaid Simple Choice plan from T-Mobile will have Data Stash.
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Google is rolling out a new version of Messenger with a few features you might care about. It's a big jump to v1.2 from 1.0, which was the previous Play Store version. There was a v1.1 build floating around, but that was only released on Android One handsets. This one's available to everyone—eventually, or right now if you get the APK below.
Paying a few hundred dollars to cover an ETF has been done, but Sprint's new offer goes a little further. Starting today, the nation's (maybe) smallest carrier will pay "all" the costs associated with moving your number to Sprint, no matter what is owed. They are apparently serious because ctrl+f "$" returns zero results.
Your options for a curved phone are limited, but LG's new G Flex 2 is up for sale on Sprint if that's what you want. This device has a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED that's curved like a banana. Unlike a banana, you can get it in silver or the Sprint-exclusive "Volcano Red" color.
We spotted some references to 360-degree videos in a YouTube APK Teardown last month, and now it's live. Google has highlighted several channels that have already published the first 360-degree videos, which are essentially moving Photospheres. They work on desktop Chrome and in the Android app. Check out the playlist below.
Are you ready to enter the unforgiving world of table tennis? If not, there's a helpful robot in Table Tennis Touch that can help you get up to speed. This game was an editor's choice on iOS when it came out last year, and now it's on Android. If that doesn't entice, you how about this? Table Tennis Touch costs $4 to buy and has zero in-app purchases. What a novel idea.
Google rolled Chrome v42 out to the beta channel a few days ago with website notifications, but there's another interesting feature hiding in there. Sharing has been improved in a neat way—it will automatically include a screenshot when you share to a number of apps.
Google has announced the end of another service, and this one is a shocker—Google Code is going away on January 25th, 2016. That gives you about ten months to get your code off of Google's servers before it's gone forever. Why is Google breaking your heart like this? According to the company, Google Code simply isn't very popular anymore.
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One month ago, Sony announced the stainless steel version of its SmartWatch 3 Wear device would be hitting stores within a week. Then it just didn't. Here we are a month later with nothing to show for it. What gives, Sony?
Google has made Android 5.1 official and that means Nexus updates. Factory images are starting to pop up on the developer page, so you can easily get your device back to stock no matter what unspeakable things you've done to it. All the images we have so far are linked below.
VAIO used to be a brand within Sony's electronics empire, but it was sold off last year. Now the new VAIO is going up against its former parent company in the smartphone space. The VAIO Phone is now official and is coming to Japanese carrier b-mobile on March 20th. North America? Probably not.
The fifth installment in Gameloft's action RPG Dungeon Hunter franchise has arrived on Android, and it has a lot going for it. There are over 150 weapons, dozens of armor sets, hordes of undead monsters to slay, and more. Dungeon Hunter 5 is basically Diablo, but they don't call it Diablo. Also, this is Gameloft, so Dungeon Hunter 5 is free-to-play.
It looks like Verizon put the Nexus 6 page up just a little early. After announcing earlier today that it would start selling the Google/Motorola phablet tomorrow, the device is now up for pre-order. You'll have to wait a week to actually get your hands on it, but Verizon will take your money right now. Hey, at least you get that great Verizon logo on the back, right? Right? Guys?
Evernote has been nibbling around the edges of material design for a while now, but the 7.0 update is a big one. The app is adopting many aspects of material design and adding a few new features too.
Google's Project Loon isn't on our radar much here in the US because we have expansive high-speed internet access. That's not the case everywhere, though, and it's a problem Project Loon aims to solve. According to Google, a single balloon can apparently provide LTE service to a region the size of Rhode Island. I could have baited you with "a whole state" in the headline, but this is still pretty impressive.
The Asus ZenWatch is a fine example of first-generation Android Wear hardware, and it's priced below most of the competition. Until now Google has only sold the device through the US Play Store, but now it's available to customers in France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Being a hardware product, the point of sale will probably be the newly launched Google Store.
Until now if you wanted a Nexus phone, Nest Thermostat, or some other device sold by Google, you'd go to the Play Store device section. Well, not anymore. Google has just launched the Google Store, a hub for all things Google with listings for phones, tablets, smartwatches, Chromebooks, and more. Basically, hardware is in the Google Store, and software is in Google Play.
For some reason, Google has only now released a watch face for Android Wear. It's called Street Art, and it features the work of more than a dozen artists from the Google Art Project. It's light on options, though.
Verizon sure has taken its sweet time getting ready for the Nexus 6 release. The device became available (sort of) elsewhere back in November, but now Big Red has announced its launch is happening tomorrow, March 12th. The Nexus 6 on Verizon will also launch with Android 5.1.