Google - 45/83 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

[Deal Alert] Expansys USA Drops Unlocked Galaxy Nexus To $399.99, Beats Google By Almost $50 With Free Shipping And Lack Of Tax

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Deals, Galaxy Nexus, News, Samsung

Just yesterday, Google started selling the Galaxy Nexus on its Play store. The news caught many off guard - not only had Google not done anything of the sort for quite some time, but the price ($399) was surprisingly low for an unlocked, contract-free device. Unfortunately, however, there was a catch: namely, the gadget was still subject to all the usual taxes and shipping fees (at least in all the states we tested - CA, TX, KY, MN, and likely many others), bringing the total cost up by almost $50. Here's a screenshot:

But fear not - Expansys USA has come up with a solution.

Apr

Google Drive "Support" Is Coming To Linux, Pray That It Doesn't Involve WINE

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Applications, News

Good news, Penguins! Google is working on a Drive client for your favorite OS!

Google Drive, if you haven't heard, is Google's Dropbox/Google Docs hybrid. It launched yesterday with 5GB of cloud storage and desktop apps for Windows and Mac, but our tuxedoed counterparts were left out in the cold.

The lack of Linux love caused a bit of an uproar on Google+, where #driveforlinux was a trending topic for a good part of the day. Teresa Wu, the Community Manager for Google Docs, took to a G+ thread and gave the happy news:

We're working on Linux support - hang tight!

Apr

[Update: Now Live] Zynga Zombifies Mountain View's Android Statue In Preparation For ZombieSmash Global Launch

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, Google, News

This morning, Google employee Steven Le posted a photo of the Android statue outside his office, which looked a bit stranger than usual:

While the statue's makeover was mysterious at first glance, a press release and accompanying video from Zynga soon clarified the situtation:

Indeed, the occasion was a promo of ZombieSmash!, a new Zynga game being launched on Google Play ~~later this week~~. To be clear, the game is technically already on Play, ~~but only in Canada~~; this week, ZombieSmash! will be made available globally.

Update: And we're live! You can download the app for $0.99 using the info at the end of the post.

Apr

Google Docs Becomes Google Drive, Is Now Live On The Web And In The Play Store

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

It's already shaping up to be one hell of a day from Google - first the Galaxy Nexus lands in the Play Store, and now Google Drive is go! Drive.google.com is now up, the app just landed in the Play Store (updated Google Docs), and a pair of videos just hit YouTube details Drive and the SDK.

Once you sign up for the free 5GB of storage space with Drive, it takes you directly into your Google Docs page, where it asks if you want to convert Docs into Drive. Once accepted, you can download the Drive app for your Windows desktop.

Apr

[Breaking] Google Drive Cloud Service Accidentally Exposed On Google's French Blog

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Google, News

The headlines keep rolling in today - first, Google began selling the Galaxy Nexus online, and now, Mountain View has accidentally published details about its ~~exciting~~ interesting... new cloud service.

Update: In a nutshell, you'll be able to make and share documents and presentations, in addition to having access to your videos, photos, Google Docs, and PDFs; Android interaction will include an app for both phones and tablets.

The news was posted earlier today on Google's French blog before being taken down shortly thereafter; however, Google+ user Gerwin Sturm managed to catch it just in time. Here's the translation, as per Google Translate:

Posted by Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President, Google Chrome & Apps

Today we launch Google Drive, a centralized space where you can create, share, collaborate and store all your documents.

Apr

Google Docs Free Storage Limit Gets Bumped From 1GB To 5GB Ahead Of Imminent Google Drive Announcement

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News, Rumors

~~The mythical unicorn~~ Google Drive is so close, we can practically taste it. Earlier today, Reuters broke the news of a possible Tuesday launch (that would be today), confirming earlier rumors of an initial free 5GB quota and throwing a new number, 100GB of upgradeable storage, into the mix.

It's quite possible that Reuters' sources were on the money this time, as around the same time, Google started bumping the usual free 1GB Docs storage limit all the way up to... you guessed it - 5GB. Check it out:

Additional pricing still remains at $0.25/GB, but this could change with the official announcement.

Apr

[Weekend Poll] Do You Use Cloud Storage With Your Android?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Own An Android Tablet?

Cloud storage has been gaining popularity in the last few years, and is strongly making its way from the tech niche to the mainstream. Companies big and small have been making their files and documents available on the cloud for some time, and now they're increasingly moving their entire operating platform off local devices in favor or the web. Independent users are making the push too; particularly for Android owners, services like Picasa, Google Docs, and Google Music all take a large chunk of data off the device, and instead put it in the cloud.

Apr

Google Leaks Share To Google Drive Functionality In YouTube Video, Then Removes The Evidence

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, News

There's really no point in denying it anymore for the folks up at Mountain View. Google's cloud storage solution, likely to be called Google Drive, is happening. In today's Android developer Hangout when the Googlers were talking about apps, the Drive icon and name can be clearly seen in the Android sharing menu.

The developer phone in the video could have a fully functional version of Drive running on it, which would lend some credence to the rumor that the service could be launched next week. Recent rumors also claim Google will be offering 5GB of cloud storage for free, and it will sync between Mac, Windows, iOS, and (of course) Android devices.

Apr

Devs In Poland, Israel, Mexico, And The Czech Republic Can Now Sell Apps On Google Play

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Google, News

Last Updated: September 21st, 2012

While Android users in Czech, Israel, Poland, and Mexico have been happily buying apps from Google Play for some time now, up till today, devs in these countries haven't been quite so lucky. In fact, they haven't been able to publish any apps, unless they were free.

Today, however, all that changes - Google has decided to expand its list of supported foreign merchants, and Polish, Israel, Mexican, and Czech developers are now included! If you're interested in putting up paid apps and/or in-app products on Google Play, you can sign up now at play.google.com/apps/publish or see whether your country's included in the fun right here.

Apr

Google Play Books And Street View Updated – Here's What To Expect

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Google unleashed a small round of updates today, bringing new features to both the Play Books and Street View apps. Play Books has been updated with a brand new UI for devices running Android 2.2/2.3, including the nifty 3D page-turning animation users of Books' tablet interface have come to know and love.

Users can also add home screen shortcuts for individual books, allowing you to jump straight into your favorite book without actually opening the app. The update also enables offline search, and ensures that your device's display will stay on during TTS.

Google Street View, on the other hand, got a slightly less major update (but an important one nonetheless) – the app now includes Ice Cream Sandwich's signature action bar and action-overflow button for those running Android 4.0+, bringing its interface into line with ICS' current design standards.