play store - 12/18 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aug

Google Rolls Out A 'Recommended For You' Section In The Play Store, Tells You What Apps You'll Like And Why

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

It looks like Google has added a new feature to the Play Store on devices that will recommend apps to users based on personalized criteria. In a new section, you can find apps that have been +1'd by your friends, apps that are popular in your area, and even apps that are "popular with similar users" based on some undisclosed criteria.

The feature mirrors a similar recommendation feature that's been live on the web version of the Play Store for at least a month now. Still, it's even handier on mobile. Also, you can flag an app as uninteresting to you by clicking on the little cross-out icon on the side.

Aug

Nexus 7 Now Available From The Play Store In France, Germany, And Spain

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Nexus 7

Good news, everyone! Everyone's favorite Android tablet is finally becoming available in more European countries. Today, the seven inch slate started showing up via Google's online storefront in France, Germany, and Spain. The price will be €199 for the 8GB model and €249 for the 16GB. Of course, once you count for the conversion rates, this means our friends across the pond will be paying a bit more than US customers do. This isn't an uncommon practice for foreign releases, but it still means the tablet will be a little more expensive overseas.

Unfortunately, that's not the only downside.

Aug

[Review] Spirits Is A Delightful Puzzle Game That Makes Me Dream Of Haikus And Autumn

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

Light and floating wisps
Tranquil music serenades
You're playing Lemmings

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, let me introduce you to Spirits. This game features a series of ethereal spirit beings (see where they got the name?) that steadily stream out of the entrance to a level. Your job is to transform some of the aural manifestations into clouds, vines, and all manner of natural tools to lead the remaining wisps to the exit of the level. If it sounds familiar, then you probably owned a Commodore Amiga or played PC games in the early 90s.

Aug

Pebble Universe Comes To Android, Available For Free From The Play Store

Posted by John Thompson in Games, News

Are you looking for a new game to fill your daily commute? Pebble Universe might just fit the bill. The physics-based puzzle game has made its way over to Android from iOS, and offers 25 levels of gameplay for free.

The storyline behind the game is quite straight forward: you're responsible for a group of Pebbles (naturally), who are being attacked by soot-lump creatures wanting to eat delicious Pebble meat.

Now, in order to protect themselves against the evil creatures above, the Pebbles take advantage of the fact that their hats explode when they bump into each other. Still with me?

Aug

Play Store Gift Card Pages Are Now Live, 'On Their Way To Retail Stores Near You'

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

We'd previously heard that Play Store Gift Cards are set to arrive officially on August 26th. While that may be true for stores that are still waiting on their shipments (read: not Target), Google has decided to take the wraps off of the whole thing ahead of time. The elusive URL we've seen floating around for a gift card landing page is now live. As well as that support page we found last night.

The landing page confirms that gift cards are on their way to Radio Shack, Target and Game Stop. No official confirmation of any other retailers, although we've heard that Wal-Mart is also ~~likely~~ definitely on the short list.

Aug

Elusive Google Support Page Confirms Play Store Gift Cards Will Be US-Only At Launch, Reveals Available Denominations

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

It looks like the biggest leak of the Play Store's soon-to-launch gift cards may be coming from Google itself. A support page showed up in search indices (that has now been pulled) which confirms the cards will be US-only at launch and will come in $10, $15, $25, and $50 increments. Through some Google-fu, we've also learned your Google Play balance will have a $2000 limit and cannot be used on subscriptions or devices. So, sorry about your plans to buy a hundred $50 gift cards and then buy 25 Nexus 7s. That's forbidden.

Below is what we've been able to piece together of the currently-unavailable page.

Aug

[Leak] Google Play Store Gift Cards May Land In Stores On August 26th

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors

I bet you never thought you'd read so many rumors about gift cards! Well, if our latest tipster's info is accurate, you won't be hearing them much longer. According to an internal image sent to us, the gift cards should be ready to hit store shelves on August 26th. The leak comes from internal systems at Target which, a certain eagle-eyed commenter has pointed out, would not be the first time we've seen a leak from this company.

According to this information, the gift card displays should have a couple empty slots until the Play Store cards arrive. While it's entirely possible that Google intended to launch them a bit earlier—the code in the Play Store apk and the high number of leaks could raise an eyebrow—it's idle speculation at best.

Aug

Download: Latest Google Play Store 3.8.17

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Last Updated: January 6th, 2013

Google is currently pushing out a quick follow-up update (v3.8.17) to the new Play Store (v3.8.15) that rolled out a couple of days ago. 3.8.15 brought significant under-the-hood changes, such as support for gift card redemption and wishlists, but 3.8.17 seems to be just a minor bug fixer. I have absolutely no clue right now what problems it resolves, and decoding the apk to compare with the previous version didn't really shine a light in any helpful way. A cursory run through the usual wishlist (no, not that wishlist) suspects produced no results.

Regardless, it doesn't hurt to be running the latest and greatest version of something as important as the Play Store, so hit up the download mirrors below (we verified them as legitimate and signed by Google).

Aug

How To: Redeem Google Play Gift Cards Using The Device Play Store App

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News, Tips & Tutorials

If you've been following the Play Store-related news cycle recently, you are probably well aware that Google is on the verge of releasing gift cards for use on Play Store's digital goods. The Redeem functionality, along with a new Wishlist, came with the new Play Store APK v3.8.15 that started rolling out yesterday but, unfortunately, the UI does not expose it yet.

There is no web interface for redemption either, but after digging through the APK, I discovered that it was set to intercept calls to http://play.google.com/redeem. So, while you can't pop up the Redeem Activity in the app directly without hacking, removing the stock app, and installing the re-signed hacked version, there is a much easier way.

Aug

One Lucky Guy Buys $25 Google Play Store Gift Card, We Successfully Redeem It [Hands-On]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News

Well, well, well, what have we here? It's one of those upcoming Play Store gift cards we discovered yesterday and saw earlier today. This specific one was purchased at a local Turnersville, NJ Target by one of its employees. The kicker? He claims they are just hanging out in bins next to the checkout counters waiting to be put up on one of those gift card walls. Anyone shopping at the store can grab them from the pile, purchase (the system already allows it), and give them a new home.

Here, check it out: