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Looks like everyone jumped the gun on this one, including Google itself. You can already buy the new Nexus 7 from Amazon, Best Buy, and some Walmart stores, but now both the 16GB and 32GB versions are available directly from Google Play.
At this point, there's essentially nothing we don't know about the Moto X. We've seen the specs and benchmarks. Taken a look at the camera app. Toyed around with all the cool new features. Watched how it's going to be passively listening to everything you say.
Over the weekend, CyanogenMod teased something called Nemesis, and we honestly had no clue what it was. Even now, after spending some time with CM team members who are working on the various parts of Nemesis, it still isn't entirely clear. What we do know, however, is how it will start, which may indicate what it could be.
Ready for your Chromecast but aren't down with the more-than-two-week wait to get it directly from the Play Store? No worries, Amazon will be your Huckleberry – it has the unit available now for $35, with no shipping costs, and you should have it in just a few days' time.
Google Play Movies & TV Updated With Chromecast Support, Virtual Surround Sound On The New Nexus 7, Nexus 10 With 4.3
Google Play Movies & TV Updated With Chromecast Support, Virtual Surround Sound On The New Nexus 7, Nexus 10 With 4.3
Google laid out a few important announcements today, which included both Android 4.3 and a new streaming device called Chromecast among others. As a result, the Play Music app was updated with support for Chromecast streaming last night, and Play Movies & TV received a very similar update today.
Android 4.2 introduced a major change for tablets: multi-user profiles. This allows each member of the family (or organization), to have their own profile, complete with app, homescreen, and setting independence. Today, with Android 4.3, Google has taken multi-user accounts to the next level with restricted profiles. Essentially, this allows the tablet owner to have granular control over the other user accounts on the device.
Google officially unveiled the newest version of Android this morning – Android 4.3 Jelly Bean – and of course the first question is when can I have it?! Good news for current Nexus owners: it's coming today. The current edition Nexuses – 10, 7, and 4 – along with the Galaxy Nexus (GSM is assumed here), will all begin getting the update as of today.
Google Officially Unveils Android 4.3: Improved Multi-User Profiles, Bluetooth LE, And More
Google Officially Unveils Android 4.3
As expected, Google [finally] took the wraps off Android 4.3 At today's "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai" event. On the surface, 4.3 is all too familiar, as it essentially looks identical to 4.2 in that there isn't a single distinctive thing to tell the two apart from a UI perspective. However, that doesn't mean there isn't anything new – it's all under the hood, baby.
If Android's stock lockscreen has become mundane and boring to you, then WidgetLocker – which comes from TeslaCoil Software, the creator of Nova Launcher – is one of the best replacement options on the Play Store. It recently received a somewhat significant update that brings a handful of new and useful features, like the ability to swipe left or right to access apps or the camera, respectively. That's not all TeslaCoil packed into this update, however:
The new Nexus 7 is no secret. It's been leaked, leaked, and leaked again. But up until today, we hadn't seen the actual device in the flesh. One lucky soul was able to get his hands on a retail version of the new N7 and has provided us with essentially every angle, pose, nook, and cranny of the device – he even offered up a couple of pictures of the box.
SwiftKey Introduces 'Cloud Beta', Keeps Your Dictionary Backed Up And Synced, Uses Trending Phrases For Word Suggestions, And More
SwiftKey Introduces 'Cloud Beta', Keeps Your Dictionary Backed Up And Synced, Uses Trending Phrases For Word Suggestions, And More
SwiftKey users spend an ample amount of time customizing their experience, adding new words and phrases to the dictionary, and the like. However, switching devices can pose a problem: the process starts all over. Being a company that is always looking for a way to improve life for its user base, SwiftKey decided to do something about that. Enter SwiftKey Cloud Beta, a new backup and sync tool that will keep your user-defined dictionary in sync across all your devices.
I've never been a huge fan of racing games, but there's always been something about Hydro Thunder that captivated me. As a teen, it was one of my favorite games, and I've kept up with the franchise as much as possible over the last several years. Naturally, this means I've spent a more-than-ample amount of time playing Riptide GP, the mobile-equivalent to Hydro Thunder.
Verizon Makes The DROID Ultra And Maxx Official: Same Familiar Droids, With A Bunch Of New Stuff
Verizon Makes The DROID Ultra And Maxx Official
We've known for a while what Verizon was going to announce today, but the company just made it's new Holy Trinity of Motorola Droids official: the Droid Ultra, Droid MAXX, and Droid Mini. As expected, all three are successors to last year's Droid M, RAZR HD, and RAZR MAXX. While the Mini is basically in a league of its own, the Ultra and MAXX are kindred spirits, essentially only being separated by battery capacity and thickness.
Since the dawn of time, owners of Tegra devices have wanted a way to natively capture video of what's happening on their screen. Unfortunately, none of the existing apps (including Screencast) were able to accomplish this goal – until now.
Back in mid-February, Belkin released and early beta build of its WeMo for Android app. It was very light on features at the time (and only available for the Galaxy S III), but has been receiving updates ever since to get it up to snuff with the experience Belkin was looking for.
If you've owned a Samsung device in recent years, then you're likely at least somewhat familiar with the Media and Music hubs, Samsung's exclusive music and movie stores. There's a good chance that you may have never used either of the pair, but if you have, Samsung is making some changes that are essentially going to cannibalize both apps for the Samsung Hub, which consolidates all of Samsung's current stores into one app.
Recently, Samsung started offering a few perks to those who picked up a Note 8.0 or Galaxy Tab 3, which included either $10 or $25 in Play Store credit, three months of Hulu Plus, and a full year of access to Boingo Wi-fi access (available to new users only). As of now, the company has also extended this offer to Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Student Edition (that's a mouthful) owners, and it mirrors the Tab 3's promo exactly:
Sometimes we're completely blown away by what carriers have coming down the pike. This is not one of those times.
Rumors have been flying around the net for the past few days that Samsung is going to skip updating the Note II to 4.2.2 for [presumably] Android 4.3. Up until now there hasn't been much that backed this rumor, but Australia's Telstra network has all but confirmed this to be the case on its device update page.
Late last month, Samsung announced an LTE-A-powered Galaxy S4 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor for Korea's SK Telecom network. The benchmarks – along with the speedtests – were mind-boggling, but it was extremely unclear whether the rest of the world would ever get a taste of everything this new GS4 has to offer. Thanks to a new leak over at AllAboutSamsung.de (and confirmed by SamMobile's sources), we now have strong reason to think that an international version, model number i9506, is on its way.