Latest Articles
Google Adds 38 Run And Lift Maps From Major Ski Resorts To Google Maps, But Please Don't Use Them On the Mountain
Google Adds 38 Run And Lift Maps From Major Ski Resorts To Google Maps
A non-zero number of Android Police team members enjoy skiiing. Who wouldn't, right? Well, people who get lost for starters. Mountains can be mazes! However, Google did what Google does best and made some sense of the madness. Now you can find guides for 38 different resorts all on your mobile phone.
This might just be one of the better deals we've seen in a while. Lets Talk is offering the Nexus 4 for $85 on a new 2-year T-Mobile contract. Enter the coupon code "TALK4TEN" (no quotes) during checkout and you can knock another $8.50 off that (money's money, right?) for a grand total of $76.50. Not bad!
The scene: a board room. Ominous and shrouded in mystery, all that can be seen is a long, black glass desk and on either side, twelve featureless chairs. In each sits a grumpy old person. The rest of the chamber is a dark, empty void. Out of the abyss a lone man appears, approaching the head of the table. He's adorned in blue jeans, a white dress shirt and a dark blazer. The brightest light in the room is the reflection on his head.
It's that time again! We get another glimpse at what the platform distribution numbers are like for Android. If you've been following along, you'll notice there aren't many changes: Gingerbread is still the biggest slice of the pie, Ice Cream Sandwich is second, and the two major versions of Jelly Bean together make up the third largest. 2.3 is down to 45.4% from 47.4% a month ago. That 2% difference seems to have gone overwhelmingly to Jelly Bean which went up to 13.6% from 10% a month ago.
Update: The OTA is rolling out now. Go get it! Thanks for the heads-up, James!
We've only got about a month left before Ouya units start landing in the hands of backers and a few months before the full-blown retail launch. A retail launch that we now learn will include GameStop, Best Buy, Target, Amazon, and an undisclosed number of other sellers. Yes, including brick-and-mortar stores. Things are starting to look pretty good for the little console that could.
MoviePass sounds like a pretty fantastic service for movie buffs. Pay a set fee every month, and you can go to the theater as much as you would like (with a fairly lengthy list of caveats). It's Netflix, but for all the movies that are out now. While it wouldn't be of much interest to the casual viewer who might only see one or two flicks a year, the avid viewer could save tons of money. What's a sweet subscription without an Android app to go along with it, though?
Wi-Fi-only tablets are pretty popular and for good reason. No one wants to pay for a second data plan just for their slate, and the hardware is cheaper if you get it without 3G/4G radios anyway. Seems like a win. Until you get out of your house and curse your disconnected device and its inability to Google Jeff Goldblum's height at the drop of a hat. Enter FreedomPop.
Google Shifts Developer Payments To The 15th Of Every Month, Provides A Transition Schedule To Help Devs Pay Rent
If you make money on the Play Store, you should probably check your email.
If you make money on the Play Store, you should probably check your email. Google is sending out a notification to developers to let them know that in the future, payments will be sent out on a 15 day delay instead of the one or two days the company has been using for a while. What does this mean for you? Well, if selling apps is a primary source of income for you, then you'll want to do some planning. Before you panic, though, Google is implementing an intermediary schedule to make the transition a little easier.
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 47: Tiny Mermaids Poked Holes in My Boat
The Android Police Podcast: Episode 47: Tiny Mermaids Poked Holes in My Boat
Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 47.
If you've spent any time gaming on Android, you probably remember OpenFeint. Nearly every major game integrated it in some way, usually allowing players to log in with a single username, collect achievements, and post scores to a global leaderboard. It was handy for what it did, but if you didn't care about competing, it felt a lot like obnoxious spamware. Unsurprisingly, it closed down in December of last year. Today, however, it's being sort of reborn as OpenKit, a project headed by one of the co-founders of the original service. Only this time, the idea is much cooler.
The year was 2012. A mere two days before the alleged Mayan apocalypse—and about nine days before people stopped making tired old jokes about it—we got wind of the Developer Edition of the Galaxy Note II for Verizon. There were three differences between this handset and the version you could buy in the carrier's stores: it had an unlocked bootloader, it's unsubsidized, and it was not available for sale yet. Even though the locked version had been available for nearly a month. Oh, and it's still not out yet.
Blockbuster, the former golden child of movie rentals, is feeling left out lately. No one is paying attention to its online offerings, no doubt partially because it's been broken into a thousand pieces. However, today the company launched a new, central service for renting movies online with just one app for all devices: Blockbuster On Demand.
While it's not a major Android version update, Sprint is rolling out a pretty good upgrade to Evo LTE customers. The over-the-air software will add the ability to stream audio/video to a television set or other display via an MHL cable. Neat!
Can we be honest with ourselves for a bit? Notifications on Google+ have sucked for a while. It's never clear what's new and what's old, they're cluttered with information, and up until recently, they've been tucked away in the app underneath the sidebar navigation. Well at least one of those problems is getting fixed today as the Android app gets an update that creates a special new section for notifications on the right-hand side of the app. Also, you can access it in more places! Not everywhere, but a lot more!
Mojang may have a mortal fear of giving releases full version numbers, but that hasn't stopped the company from cranking out new features like mad. Today's update brings a slew of new blocks (including Nether Brick, Block of Quartz, and Sandstone), as well as the ability to build staircases in corners. Oh, and one other thing: the sky finally has clouds now.
A couple weeks ago, we got wind of a download that seemed to be the final version of Android 4.2.1 (GA02) for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus. Today, not only is that confirmed, but the OTA has begun for Nexus warriors on the Now Network. The update brings the newest flavor of Jelly Bean and all that entails, including Photospheres, Daydream, lockscreen widgets and more.
OpenTable is a pretty fantastic app that can help you place reservations at restaurants nearby. While plenty of services let you find local eateries, few help you get in. Once you're seated and eating, though, what do you do? Enjoy your meal? Nah. That's for fancy pants. You should take pictures of your food! That's where Foodspotting comes in.
Two weeks ago, we took a look at the invite-only beta of Redbox Instant. In that article, we gave a brief glimpse into what the fledgling service's library had to offer. Of course, the inevitable question had to be asked: how does it stack up against Netflix? Or Amazon Instant Video for that matter? While we're at it, how does Google's Play Store compare? Those are pretty big questions! So, they deserve pretty big answers. Today, we have them.
Better late than never, I suppose. Today Sprint announced that it's bringing new LTE service to Boston and Framingham, Mass., Austin and Bryan-College Station, TX, Fort Wayne, IN, and Western Puerto Rico. The latter is actually not the first round of 4G coverage for the territory, as PR has had coverage in a few southern cities for a while. Additionally, the carrier improved its 3G services throughout the entire island.