Applications - 36/252 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

New York Times App Updated With A Night Mode And Customizable Widget

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Last Updated: February 22nd, 2013

The New York Times, old guard or not, is still a huge source of news to a lot of people and to the company's credit, it's paying a decent amount of attention to its mobile apps. Now the publication is issuing an update that brings a night mode that inverts the colors for easier night reading. As someone who likes to minimize the amount of bright white light blasting into my eyes, I appreciate the option.

Additionally, the company is adding a customizable widget that, frankly, gets nearly everything right: it's resizable, you can customize which categories show up in the feed, and there is an easy button to change the widget settings if you should so choose.

Feb

Google Drive App Updated, Brings Support For Streaming Video Files To Android 3.0+, Bug Fixes, And More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

In the constant effort to make the Drive app better, Google just pushed an update that brings "performance improvements across the whole app," as well as support for video streaming on Honeycomb or higher, pinch to zoom in the presentation viewer, and overall bug fixes.

This marks the first update Drive has seen since mid-December, when the app got a small speed-boost, along with some general bug fixes. Woo.

Of course, built-in streaming video is a pretty major update for the app – after all, Dropbox has had the feature for several months now. The update should be live in the Play Store now – if you're not seeing it just yet, check the mobile Store, you should be able to pull it right away.

Feb

Official CNN App For Phones Updated With Live Video

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you watch a lot of CNN and love your Android phone, you can now combine the two. But Cam, how can we do that? you may be asking. By updating to the latest version of the official CNN app, of course – it lets you watch CNN live on your smartphone! Neat. I wish every network ever would do this. Or at least AMC, because I can't miss The Walking Dead.

But I digress. Live TV on your smartphone is definitely a good thing, but that's not all this update packs. It also features "the iconic James Earl Jones 'This is CNN' welcome greeting." I know that's exciting for some of you, but for everyone else, there's an option to disable the sounder in settings.

Feb

BBC Sport Mobile App Launched For Android, Just In Time For Six Nations And The End Of The Premier League Season

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, News

The BBC finally launched an Android version of its BBC Sport app today, bringing all of the content from the BBC Sport website to you without making you visit through the browser.

The app has arrived just in time for "squeaky bum time" in the English Premier League, and the score of every single game that is being played in the Football League will be available to view as each game progresses.

Just like on the BBC website, live text commentary will be available for big games, such as Champions League and Premiership clashes, with video clips being made available to play through the app too.

Feb

SwiftKey 4 Finally Hits The Play Store, Brings Flow, Better Corrections, New Languages, Adaptive Typing, And Much More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

The day is finally here, SwiftKey users – the all new SK 4 is live in the Play Store! No longer a beta, this version includes SwiftKey's take on gesture typing, Flow. Flow is unique in that, unlike other gesture-based keyboards, it allows you to continuously swipe through entire sentences without ever lifting your finger - the company calls it Flow Through Space. If you've been using any of the beta versions, then you already know what a fantastic feature it is, and now it's finally mature. Not only that, but Flow is part of SwiftKey 4, which is a free upgrade to existing SwiftKey users.

Feb

NARR8 Motion Comic Reader Comes To Android, Offers A Unique Take On Indie Art

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

I like comics. They're wonderful. While the modern world makes it difficult for local shops to maintain the footprint they once did, online distribution has made it insanely easy (and cheap!) for major and minor artists to gain a following and make money doing it. However, is digitally reproducing static artwork on a powerful, portable computer really the best we can do? Narr8 doesn't think so.

The app functions similarly to most digital comic stores now: you can download individual "episodes" and keep track of all entries in a series. However, the capabilities of each story go far beyond regular graphic novels.

Feb

[New App] Qualcomm Releases Snapdragon BatteryGuru, Aims To Extend Your Device's Battery Life

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If there's one common issue with smartphones across the board, it's battery life. Rightfully so, we all want more of it without having to sacrifice usage. Thankfully, Qualcomm is looking to help owners of Snapdragon-powered smartphones get just a bit more out of their device's battery with the new Snapdragon BatteryGuru beta.

In a nutshell, it monitors your usage, "learning" what you do with your device. It discovers where you connect to Wi-Fi, what apps you often use, when you sleep, and the like. From there, it automatically configures certain aspects of the device to optimize battery life, like disabling Wi-Fi when you're away from common hotspots, and re-enabling it when you're back in the area.

Feb

Official eBay App Updated With Custom Notifications And A Streamlined Checkout

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

eBay's Android app has left a little to be desired, especially considering that their mobile web app is pretty serviceable in and of itself. Today's update brings a slightly refreshed user interface, a few bells and whistles in the alert system, and a desperately needed revamp of the checkout process. Phones and tablets running Android 2.1 or later can download the app, but don't expect the UI to scale.

The Reminders function is probably the most useful to hard-core eBay users, or at least, those hardcore users who don't already have email alerts set up. The new version allows you to set custom ringtones for buying and selling, as well as new matches for your saved search results.

Feb

[New App] AnyDash Displays Notifications From Any App In DashClock

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

More DashClock extensions? Well, people are pretty excited about the functionality DashClock brings. So yes, more DashClock extensions. The AnyDash extension actually opens up a world of possibilities by piping notifications from any app into DashClock. There are a few caveats, but it looks like everyone's favorite clock widget just got much more useful.

AnyDash has to be registered as an accessibility app before you can use it. This allows it to sweep up notifications from the Android system and display the appropriate icon in DashClock (nothing nefarious going on here). All you have to do is pick the app you want monitored and choose an icon.

Feb

[New App] DashClock Facebook Extension Makes Your Clock More Social

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

DashClock is definitely the flavor of the week. Developers are falling all over themselves to build extensions for this multi-talented clock widget, and here's an interesting one. Whether you use DashClock on your lock screen or home screen, the new DashClock Facebook Extension could save you all kinds of frustration.

This app is simple – it displays your unread messages and notification count on the DashClock widget so you don't have to pop open the Facebook app as often. You will need to have the DashClock app installed, but Facebook itself is actually optional. You'll log in via the extension and can set the refresh interval from there.