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Use two-factor authentication? If not, you should, because it's more secure than if you don't use it. If you already use it, then you probably remember a time when the Android setup process was obnoxious because you not only had to put in your password twice, but also had to deal with an annoying web prompt to enter the passcode. It's a hard knock life.
Are you super-anxious to get your hands on Android L, now that it's been officially revealed as version 5.0 with the Lollipop name? Well tough noogies - it looks like we'll have to wait for the releases of the new Nexus 6 phone and Nexus 9 tablet before the older Nexus and Google Play Edition devices get their updates. But if you have a Nexus 5 or a Wi-Fi Nexus 7, you've already got the Android L Developer Preview builds as an option.
Rumor has it tomorrow is a big day for the Android world. Of course officially, Google hasn't made a peep about potential new devices, their announcement date, or Android's upcoming L incarnation, but we've heard plenty about the Nexus 6, Nexus 9 (and its accessories), and L itself.
When a new version of Android is announced, one of the first questions on everyone's mind is "when will my device be getting updated?" Fortunately, Motorola has moved towards complete transparency and providing timely updates over the past couple of years, and with the announcement of Lollipop it is giving details on what Moto owners can expect in the coming weeks.
We've been speculating and making wild guesses for months about what the new version of Android would be called, but now we know. It's Android 5.0 Lollipop. There was a time when many thought 5.0 was going to be Key Lime Pie, but that certainly didn't happen. How far we've come.
It feels like Android L and the Nexus 6 are set to drop at any moment—you can almost sense the #NexusWarriors gathering at the fringes of the internet, ready to storm all the comment sections everywhere and tell you how great the Nexus 6 is. And maybe it will be, but for now all we have is a taste of what's to come with a leaked copy of Google's new Android ads with the slogan "Be Together, Not The Same." It includes a cameo by what appears to be the Nexus 6 running Android L. Also, I'm pretty sure the phone is rendered to scale with the people in this ad.
Back in June, Google announced Android was destined to gain 64-bit support in the coming L release. A few weeks later, Revision 10 of the Native Development Kit (NDK) was posted with support for the three 64-bit architectures that would be able to run the new version of Android: arm64-v8a, x86_64, and mips64. As we close in on the official release of Android L, Google has updated the NDK to revision 10b and added an emulator image developers can use to prepare their apps to run on devices built with Intel's 64-bit chips.
Google has been wrestling with a series of strange and not too uncommon bugs with a part of the camera subsystem on the Nexus 5 called mm-qcamera-daemon. Without this component, the camera on this device won't function, but sometimes it goes wonky and drains the battery. A Googler has just marked this issue as "future release" in the AOSP issue tracker, meaning it should be fixed when Android L rolls out.
Android L is probably just a few weeks away, but Google's partners already have the code to begin designing updates. That's why SamMobile was able to get a hold of a nearly complete build of Android L on the Galaxy S5. It looks pretty much like you'd expect a Samsung ROM to look, but there's definitely some L influence.
Just a couple of days ago, we posted a quick look at what the next Nexus phone would look like (along with some spec confirmations), based on new information and materials we had seen. That image however, as stated before, was just a reproduction of what we'd seen (redrawn to protect our source and eliminate any possible identifiers). Today, though, we have what looks like a photo of the device.
Google is making the best of allowing enthusiasts and 3rd-party developers early access to the next release of Android, and the result will be a less buggy release when L finally hits the grand stage. While new issues are reported each day, there's a lot of progress showing up on the Issue Tracker. Just yesterday, a burst of 18 bugs were marked as 'fixed,' following a 2-week gap without any obvious activity.
If you've been keeping up with any tech blogs over the past couple of weeks, you know that the next Nexus phone has been a hot topic. We saw rumored specs and rumored hardware photos that only added to the confusion created back when we first reported on a possible 5.9" Nexus. Today, however, we have something special to share. We've been provided with new information about the next Nexus phone, and can confirm that it will be a 5.9" device called the Nexus 6.
Project Ara seems like the sort of thing that could never in a zillion years work, but Google is committed to giving it a shot. After bringing Motorola's ATAP in-house, the company has forged ahead on Project Ara. Now project head Paul Eremenko has offered up a few new details of how Ara will work. Basically, the phone can be taken apart while it's on.
When Today Calendar first launched into the Play Store nearly half a year ago, it already looked pretty spiffy. But then Google I/O happened and the Big G showed off how different the next version of Android will look. Since then, developer Jack Underwood and Android Police's own Liam Spradlin have brought in a sweeping set of UI changes inspired by Google's new design guidelines. This isn't exactly what Android L apps will look like, but it's a good taste until they actually arrive.
Nexus 4 owners, don't lose hope. Though your 2012 Google phone was cruelly looked over for the developer preview builds of Android L (along with everything that wasn't a Nexus 7 2013 or Nexus 5), sharp-eyed Google+ users have spotted two different Google employees posting on the Chromium section of code.google.com claiming to use the Nexus 4 with Android L. Check out this entry from a contributor with a Chromium.org email address, explicitly using the "LRW52G" build of Android on his or her N4. The latest N5 build of Android L is LRW66E.
A couple of days ago, Google began rolling out the latest version of its Play services apk to the massive audience of Android users around the world. This is a particularly special release for developers because it finally expands coverage of the Google Fit Preview SDK to those who either don't have a Nexus 5 or 2013 Nexus 7, or simply aren't willing to flash the last L Preview firmware onto them. Unfortunately, the public list of changes is practically devoid of anything for regular users beyond some minor visual updates to the Drive file picker. Don't feel down, Google may not have opened the door on any big features for the public, but the framework is up for a lot of great features we can look forward to. Let's get started!
It's been over two months since Google gave Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 owners a chance to tinker with the upcoming L release of Android, in what has been the biggest beta test in Android's short history. With all of us waiting on a release sometime in the fourth quarter of 2014, it's gratifying to know that the powers that be are hard at work getting Android L ready for primetime. If the latest updates to the public issue tracker are accurate, some of the biggest and most critical bugs in Android L have been patched.
Update, 10-15-14: yeah, looks like we were wrong. Despite the "LMP" tags below, Android L (which is definitely 5.0) is codenamed "Lollipop." Lemon Meringue Pie did get something of a shout-out in Google's cheeky dramatization of the name reveal, though.
The latest Dropbox update should give early adopters of the Android L preview something to smile about. This release addresses the showstopping compatibility issue that has thus far plagued the app, so users should now be able to use the cloud storage app on their pre-release mobile operating system of choice without experiencing an instant crash.
The latest app to take the bold step into a Material Design world is the popular Reddit client Reddit News, but only in the Play Store beta so far. Unlike some apps that claim to be implementing Material Design, Reddit News is doing more than slapping a floating action button (FAB) in the same old app.