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You've got no shortage of options for carriers if you want a Galaxy S4 Mini in the United States. Verizon and Sprint have already released the phone, and now prospective US Cellular customers are getting a crack at it. The carrier posted the phone to its online store today with neither pomp nor circumstance. You can pick it up for .99 on a two-year contract or a whopping 9.99 without.
Fans of classic Squaresoft RPGs have had a smorgasbord on the Google Play Store as of late, but it's all been remakes and re-releases. The first "new" Final Fantasy game to come to the platform (unless you count some of the simple stuff like Final Fantasy All The Bravest, which you shouldn't) is Final Fantast IV: The After Years. It's a sequel to the old FFIV (from 1991) released for Japanese mobile market in 2008 before making it to the Wii in 2011.
Looking to get your hands on HTC's new super-sized One? Then Wirefly is happy to offer it at a discount, at least if your preferred carrier is Sprint. Right now the service and hardware reseller is selling the HTC One Max for 9.99 for new Sprint customers and $199.99 for returning customers who re-sign their contract. Not bad for a brand-new flagship.
If you simply can't wait for the next Humble bundle to roll around, there's now an Android-specific alternative available. iKoid is a new service that just released its first indie game bundle, this time at a fixed but very reasonable price of $2.49. It includes five games: They Need To Be Fed, Bridge Constructor Playground, Hero Of Many, Don't Run With A Plasma Sword, And Streetfood Tycoon Extreme, which would cost about $9 together on the Google Play Store.
The Xposed framework is a major boon to those of us who use an Android device that doesn't have a lot of support from the custom ROM community. It allows a lot of the things you want in custom ROMs - visual tweaks, interface changes, behavioral and button functions, fixes for annoying bugs, and a host of other things - via independent modules, with only root privileges. The latest beta release from developer "Rovo89" includes support for Android 4.4 and a bevy of performance improvements.
Motorola Partners With 3D Systems For Project Ara Modular Components
Motorola Partners With 3D Systems For Project Ara Modular Components
Quick reminder: the modular smartphone is a real thing that's really happening. Motorola blew our minds with the announcement of a plan to create modular phones not totally unlike the Phonebloks concept, and now the manufacturer is one step closer to making some real hardware. 3D Systems, makers of the Cube 3D printer and similar equipment, is Motorola's first partner on the Project Ara.
Why ESPN didn't call its sports update app "SportsCenter" in the first place is beyond me. They seem to have rectified this with version 4.0 of the app, now named after the ubiquitous sports show. (Da-na-na, da-na-na.) The app was also updated with a new all-white interface and a standard slide-out menu.
They've done it with the camera. They've done it with Touchless Control and Migrate. They've even done it with the FM Radio from the brand new Moto G. Now Motorola is moving even more of its proprietary phone apps into Google Play Land, presumably to allow for more frequent and reliable updates. Today Motorola Assist and Motorola Connect, both exclusive to the Moto X and Verizon's new Motorola DROID phones, are available on the Play Store.
The changes to the Play Store we mentioned last month seem to have taken effect. Now when you're checking out apps on an Android tablet, the home page and the tabs for "Top Paid," "Top Free" and the like will only highlight apps designed for use on tablets, at least by default. If you search for a non-optimized app manually, the full listing will use a "designed for phones" tag.
The MicroSD card slot seems to be a dying feature on later Android phones (at Google's insistence, no less), but those of you who still have one will want to check out Amazon's daily Gold Box deals today. Among an appreciable smattering of other Transcend flash storage deals, the site has three great prices for MicroSD cards starting at just ten bucks.
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 licensed Hunger Games, uh, game, a Portal-style first person puzzler, a classic take on a casual favorite, and a stylish 2D puzzle game. without further ado:
Zombie games are more played out than Star Wars at this point, but combining them with new and interesting genres is a way to get my attention. Thus we have Zombie Tycoon 2, the latest game to jump from the PlayStation 3/Vita to Android. But this one is unique: in keeping with its console gaming roots, Zombie Tycoon 2 requires a controller to play. That officially makes this the first SHIELD-exclusive title for the time being. We will likely see it come to other Tegra 4-powered devices eventually, but it'll still require the use of a controller – just something to keep in mind.
We don't have Tekken. We don't have Street Fighter. We don't have DOA. But Namco just gave fighter fans one hell of a reason to celebrate: the original SoulCalibur is now available on Android. The Dreamcast port of this arcade fighter favorite has long been considered one of the gems of the genre, and you can play it on your phone right now. It's a pricey $6.67 and compatible with Gingerbread and up.
Do you dream of leading Earth's Mightiest Heroes into battle... in the fashion of a 1992 JRPG? The Marvel's Avengers Alliance is for you. This game got its start on Facebook before jumping to iOS, and now it's here to grab a few Android users before they go back to re-watching the Captain America DVD.
The "Mini" portion of Samsung's lineup is squarely aimed at the budget market. It's strange, then, to see two new phones that are (at least in some respects) a generation apart launch on the same carrier on the same day. Verizon has done just that: the Galaxy S III Mini is now available starting at .99 ($249.99 without a contract) and the Galaxy S4 Mini is .99 (a full $399.99 contract-free). Oh, and both of them have the Verizon logo of shame on the home button.
When Samsung introduced its gigantic yet frugal Galaxy Mega line, I had a feeling that it would be a hit with smaller and more budget-conscious carriers. Lo and behold, Metro PCS is the latest US carrier to get a branded version of the ginormous Galaxy Mega 6.3, starting on November 25th. AT&T, Sprint, and US Cellular have already released the phone. After a $100 instant rebate, the phone costs $399 on a MetroPCS contract-free plan.
You can't release a AAA console game these days without also releasing a mobile app. For some reason. If you're looking for a way to actually play your big fancy shooter game on your tablet... well, this isn't really it, but it's close. The Battlefield 4 Commander app lets BF4 players coordinate their squad and hand out extra supplies during live Battlefield games.
Flaming red and safety vest yellow might accessorize well if you're a firefighter with an insatiable enthusiasm for Nexus hardware, but they'll stand out like a sore thumb for anyone else. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you prefer your Nexus 5 protective case in a more subtle hue, Google just posted both black and grey versions of the bumper case to the Play Store.
You asked. You begged. You pleaded. And your requests have not fallen on deaf ears... but it did take HBO a while, didn't it? The HBO GO app got a small update this morning, adding support for Google's streaming Chromecast dongle. Nothing more, nothing less.
It's been just over two months since NVIDIA announced its white box platform to promote the Tegra architecture, and now EVGA is demonstrating the value of that particular strategy. Newegg is selling the EVGA Tegra Note 7 for 9.99, and as far as we can tell, it's the only place that you can get one. The Tegra 4-powered tablet is shipping out now after a week delay.