23
May
image

Chrome Beta For Android Updated To v28: Translate Bar, Fullscreen On Tablets, Bandwidth Savings Graph, And More

Posted by in Applications, News, Tablets

Following the release of beta features to Chrome stable yesterday, the beta channel of Chrome for Android was promoted to version 28 today.

The update brings a number of desired additions and improvements, all of which I will break down for you below. Here's the relatively incomplete list the Chrome team posted on its blog:

 

The Chrome team is excited to announce the promotion of Chrome 28 to the Beta channel. Chrome for Android 28.0.1500.21 contains a number of new improvements including:

  • Google Translate: When you come across a page written in a language that isn't in the same language as your phone or tablet, look for the translation bar
  • Fullscreen on tablets: Simply scroll the page to dismiss the toolbar
  • Support for fullscreen API 
  • New graph showing your estimated bandwidth savings when you use the experimental data compression feature
  • Mobile friendly error pages

Google Translate

Here's what Chrome's new mobile-friendly Translate bar looks like if you visit a site with a language different from your device's (for example, newsru.com):

wm_Screenshot_2013-05-23-14-50-20 wm_Screenshot_2013-05-23-14-50-47 wm_Screenshot_2013-05-23-14-51-18

I find built-in translation support to be one of Chrome's most useful features, so I applaud Google for finally bringing it to Android.

21
Mar
unnamed

Full!screen Enables Full Screen Apps Without Losing Navigation And Notifications (Root Only)

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Okay, so this app isn't "new" in the traditional sense of the word, but it's kind of new and very cool. Full!screen lets you hide the system navigation bar and notification area on your Android phone or tablet so you can use that space for apps and games in full screen mode. It's not just crashing your system UI, though. Full!screen places minimalist replacement buttons tucked away in the corners.

1 2

3 4

Full!screen has a ton of settings that allow you control every aspect of your device's navigation behavior. You can use swipe gestures, pop-out pie menus, and long-presses to access different functions.

25
Jan
image_thumb206

Kongregate Makes A Few Tweaks To Its App, Submits It To The Android Market Once More

Posted by in Applications, News

Having your app unceremoniously pulled from the Market just a few short hours after it launches can certainly be discouraging, but the developers behind Kongregate Arcade didn't let that stop them from trying again.

Indeed, Kongregate Arcade has returned to the Android Market, albeit with a few tweaks intended to please Google. Most importantly, the app no longer downloads game data to users' SD cards; instead, the information is stored in the standard browser cache (Kongregate Arcade is actually a WebKit-based browser with some heavy modifications). Additionally, the address bar is visible when the app is loading a game (though it switches back to full-screen mode shortly afterward); in the original version, the URL was completely hidden from the user.

10
May
A Video Of An Adobe Evangelist Showcasing Flash 10.1 Smoothly Running On A Nexus One With Android 2.2 Froyo

A Video Of An Adobe Evangelist Showcasing Flash 10.1 Smoothly Running On A Nexus One With Android 2.2 Froyo

Posted by in News, Videos

Today we have a new video from Ryan Stewart, an Adobe evangelist, who shows off his Nexus One running a Froyo build (that's Android 2.2 for those who live in a cave) and Flash 10.1.

In the video, Ryan and his shiny dome show off a handful of examples from fully featured Flash applications to video players playing videos, all relatively smoothly and crashing free (it *is* a pre-recorded demo though, I wonder how it performs in real-life conditions).

Ryan visits the following sites:

  • Ecodazoo.com which contains highly dynamic and complicated Flash content
  • Google Finance which has Flash stock charts
  • CBS playing an episode of How I Met Your Mother (I LOVE this show)
  • NHL playing a video of a hockey game
  • Kongregate.com running a Flash game called Alchemist
  • Martha Stewart's site with a Flash menu slider
  • BBC News with a Flash slideshow

The Android Flash player apparently has an ability to use a special video codec optimized for mobile.