play store - 16/18 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

The Galaxy Nexus GSM On The Play Store Is Now $349, Straight From Google

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Nexus, Google, News

You thought that the liveblog was the only place news was happening? You thought wrong! Google has quietly updated the Play Store listing for the Galaxy Nexus GSM with a new, slightly lower price: $349. Remember, this is unlocked, off-contract pricing. The new listing page also shows the device running Jelly Bean which Google has promised will come to the Galaxy Nexus by mid July.

The Galaxy Nexus is still one of the best Android devices on the market right now. With official support for Google's newest OS on the fast track, it's only going to get better.

Source: Play Store

Jun

Google Is Going To Sell Triad Bookshelf Speakers To Go Along With The Nexus Q - For $400

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Hope you've got a large available line of credit for this year's Google I/O, because the big G is not holding back. After we've found leaks of the mysterious ~~orb of power~~ Nexus Q, now Google's device page has shared some more secrets: expensive bookshelf speakers to go along with its new "social streaming media player."

The speakers will only be available in the US initially, and seem to be of a pretty high quality. We should certainly hope so, for the price. In any case, this certainly lends yet another intriguing element to the "Google Play @ Home" mentioned in the Nexus Q video.

Jun

Google Play Store Website Adds Support For At Least 20 New Languages, Indicates A Large International Rollout

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Open the flood gates and let the Play Store news come in this morning! It looks like Google has updated support of its web store at play.google.com for at least 20 new languages. One of our esteemed tipsters pointed out today that the languages list has gotten bigger. Much bigger. We checked it out for ourselves and it's true.

^{Left: Old list of languages. Center, Right: So many more languages!}

As you can see the list of languages is much, much longer. Including such hits as Filipino, Kiswahili and the very odd and remote dialect of English (United Kingdom).

Jun

Google Play Store Source Code Reveals The Company May Start Selling TV Shows And Magazines Soon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

An enterprising young reddit user has discovered some interesting new bits in the Play Store source code today. New lines of code, as well as some new strings that indicate users will now be able to watch television shows and read magazines on their devices. So far, the Play Store's video offerings have been limited to movies, and Google Currents has specialized in blogs only.

Here are the full strings found in the source code:

"This magazine issue is now available on your device."

"You have subscribed to this magazine. It is now available on your device."

"Your TV episode is now ready to watch."

"Your TV season is now ready to watch."

It's unclear whether this means users will be able to purchase or merely rent television episodes, however given the availability of "Your TV season", I'm inclined to believe it's the former.

Jun

Google Device Play Store Gets A Subtle Design Tweak Ahead Of I/O, No Longer Wastes Space With Dreadful Reflections

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Ever since the current major iteration of the Android Play Store design rolled out, one aspect of it made me want to claw my eyes out and curl up in a fetal position - reflections. And we're not talking about small, harmless reflections. We're talking giant, tall, ugly ones, for the most part filled with gray pixel mud. They waste a ton of valuable space that can be taken up by another app, and in some cases several ones. Here, take a look:

Every time a reflection appeared in the Play Store, a kitten died somewhere. Considering that the design of Google Play overall wasn't so bad, I was appalled to see that they kept appearing month after month after month.

Jun

[Like A Boss] Google Play Store Now Allows Developers To Reply To Reviews

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Apps/Games, Development, News

Google has done a lot to improve the web version of the Play Store since it was launched, but there has always been one major flaw: one-way comments. Users could leave comments about what is good, bad, or broken about an app, but developers had no way to reply to the comments. Ergo, many developers started to include a disclaimer at the bottom of their listings that states they cannot reply to comments, so users should contact them via email with issues.

Now, however, Google is rolling out an update to the Play Store that will change that. Beginning today, developers with a "Top Developer badge" will be able to directly reply to user reviews.

Jun

62 Best New Android Apps And Live Wallpapers From The Last Month (5/22/12 - 6/16/12)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, News

Last Updated: June 19th, 2012

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous 3 weeks or so.

This is the app roundup. The game roundup from this week can be found here.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.

Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

Featured App

Tasks N Todos - ToDo List Manager

Today's roundup is sponsored by Tasks N Todos, a TODO manager from Handy Apps, the developer of such well received apps as Easy Money and Tip N Split Tip Calculator.

Jun

Google Is Giving Away Ugly Ties For Father's Day (Among Other Virtual Crap) - No, I'm Not Kidding

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Happy Collectibles Week, everybody! What's that? You've never heard of Collectibles Week? That's okay. Neither have we. Apparently Google is highlighting a bunch of games that offer in-app collectible items because Google knows what anyone who's played a game ever doesn't: that in-app items are the key to a game's success. Special items for Collectibles Week include (and these are all real) an Android habitat in Zoo Tycoon-style game, a "Bunny headphone" in a virtual aquarium and, just for you dads out there: an exclusive Deer Hunter Ugly Tie, coinciding nicely with Father's Day this weekend.

In all seriousness, it looks like a decent collection of games, if you're bored.

Jun

Microsoft Continues To Show Android Love With Its First Game For Android: Kinectimals

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

When on{x} showed up as an Android exclusive from Microsoft, we figured it was just a fluke. Then Android got its own Xbox LIVE app straight from MS, and things got interesting. Now, Microsoft has launched its first Android game: Kinectimals. Sure, it's not Microsoft's most popular game, but it does show that the company is willing to take Android more seriously. Even at the risk of its own mobile OS.

The game itself costs $2.99 on the Play Store. If you already own Kinectimals on the Xbox 360, this app will let you unlock five new animals on your console.