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Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a sci-fi tower defense game, a unique endless runner, a game in which many, many virtual hamsters are maimed, a shmup starring Nikola Tesla, and a digital translation of a popular card game. Without further ado:
Remember when Google's app verification and malware scanning service debuted with Android 4.2? No? Well, that's probably because statistically speaking, you're likely to be one of the 95% of Android users rocking 4.1 or earlier. To help address this, it looks like Google has moved the Verify Apps system to Google Play Services, which at this point should be installed on all Google Play Store-equipped Android devices running Gingerbread or higher. The change was spotted by JR Raphael at ComputerWorld.
If you're on The Now Network and looking for a new phone, you'd be hard-pressed to find one better than the Galaxy S4 (with one exception, depending on your personal preference). And in keeping with their tradition of rock-bottom prices at surprisingly fast intervals, Amazon Wireless is now offering the 16GB model for just .99 on-contract, to both new customers and existing subscribers adding a line.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Ever since its inception in Android 4.2, end-users have wondered why the multi-user function has been restricted to tablets. While switching between profiles desktop-style certainly makes the most sense on tablets, there's no technical reason why it couldn't be enabled for phones as well. Yesterday an official Android engineer took to Reddit to explain the reasoning behind the limitation.
If you've ordered the 2013 Nexus 7 model from Best Buy, check your email - at least one Android Police staff member has received confirmation that the new tablet is ready for in-store pickup. Twitter was alight last night and this morning with some retail customers who managed to snag one off the shelves as well. Both 16GB and 32GB models are apparently being sold freely at at least some brick-and-mortar locations, at the standard $229 and $269 prices.
Though there's a definite streak among power users to prefer Google's "pure" Android on their phones, some of the manufacturer skins from HTC and Samsung have charming features as well. Modder and ROM developer Paul O'Brien, better known as MoDaCo, has been testing a solution to give you the best of both worlds. MoDaCo.SWITCH is a dual-boot solution for power users that lets two ROMs (manufacturer stock and AOSP, for example) which share user data, allowing a seamless switch between interfaces.
If you've been waiting for a good deal on the ridiculously fun (but admittedly expensive) Parrot AR Drone, now's the time to get one. Amazon has the 2.0 version of the smartphone-controlled, camera-equipped quadcopter, plus a spare first-party battery, for just 1.99. That's 20% off, a savings of $68 on the combined retail prices. As with all Amazon Gold Box discounts, it's good for one day only, July 26th.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a space-based tower defense game, and interesting take on the strategy RPG, a drag racer with an uncommon Z-axis, and a Risk clone with Axis powers. Without further ado:
You may have noticed that Google's shiny new Chromecast streaming gadget has suddenly become a bit popular. The combination of easy streaming and a cheap $35 price sticker has made the dongle a hot ticket, already backed up by three or four weeks on the Play Store, periodically sold out at Amazon and Best Buy, and selling for insane markups on eBay. Google has noticed too: according to a report by the LA Times, they've decided to end the Netflix promotional giveaway, which bundled three months of streaming video service (a $24 value) with the device.
Do you have a spare 64 minutes and a burning desire to analyze every second of Google's latest press event? Alternately, did you miss the livestream and Sundar Pichai's dulcet tones because a faulty alternator stranded you at a truck stop for two hours? Then you're in luck, and so am I! The full version of Google's July 24th event has been posted to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
As previously leaked, Verizon has a new mahogany hue for its Samsung Galaxy S4, and it's also showing up on Best Buy's site. The 16GB brown version is now available online only, at the same $199 on-contract and $649 off-contract prices as the black and white versions. But wait, those preview shots on the Verizon home page look a little... off.
Prospective second-gen Nexus 7 buyers, you've got one more option for when the Play Store is (probably) overwhelmed on July 30th. Staple has already posted pages for the 16GB and 32GB WiFi versions of the new Nexus 7, though of course you can't buy one just yet - they're both marked as out of stock. Staples was one of 11 retail partners mentioned in the Google announcement. The prices are the standard $229.99 and $269.99, respectively.
Google Hangouts hasn't had any major changes since its debut earlier this summer, but the latest version of the app adds some interesting tweaks. Google's new, annoying habit of staged rollouts means that a lot of people don't' have access to the updated app, even though it started becoming available on the 23rd. The indefatigable Ron Amadeo had a look inside, and found it to be a housecleaning update, with a lot of tightened code and only a few new features.
It's been less than 24 hours since Google announced Jelly Bean 4.3 and published the new code to the Android Open Source Project, and Sony is already talking up their plans for phone updates. That's what I call customer service! In a short blog post, Sony confirmed a 4.3 update for six of their latest phones and (one) tablets:
Google has made a small change to the Google Calendar API that nonetheless could make a huge difference for developers and users. The Calendar API now supports push notifications - alerts sent directly to devices and apps instead of waiting for a client-side sync, a la Gmail - for updates that are practically instantaneous. The official app has had this for a while, but now third-party developers have access to this functionality, meaning that push notifications for subscribed Google Calendars can be sent to any app that supports the general Gcal API.
Amazon's cloud service is a little behind the curve when it comes to mobile apps, mostly because it's segmented on photo, music, and general storage lines. But today's update to the Cloud Drive Photos app is a big one: users can now upload videos. Not just in the old-fashioned file browser way, either - Amazon has enabled auto-upload for videos, just like the photo options that were already in place.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got an impressive space strategy game, a platformer that encourages you to die, and a ruthless roguelike. Without further ado:
It's that time of year: a new version of Android is in the wild. Here's everything we could find that's new and notable in Android Jelly Bean 4.3. Most of it is for developers and gives the software a bit of spit and polish, and at least some of the new features require fancy new hardware. But if you want to get a quick overview of all the new stuff coming to a Nexus near you (and hopefully other devices) soon, this is it.
The Nexus 7 has been a solid little workhorse, but now that the next generation is in, it's time to put it out to pasture. The original Nexus tablet is no longer available for purchase in the U.S. This is just a bit surprising - I had expected Google to try and get the last bit of stock out with a closeout sale. The various pages for the 16GB and 32GB models plus the AT&T and T-Mobile 3G versions are still up, but there's no option to buy. Even the official ASUS dock is gone.