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Since 2009, Disney has owned the entertainment arm of Marvel, meaning it has full rights to the Marvel characters, such as Iron Man, Spiderman, Thor, and anything else the company creates. Sadly, this means Disney can also kill off things. Today, Disney has announced the two Marvel: Avengers Alliance games will be shutting down on September 30.
Cyanogen, Inc has been partnered with Microsoft for a while now, bringing various mods to devices running Cyanogen OS. The company is launching the Cortana mod in India today, starting out with the OnePlus One. Cortana first came to the Cyanogen operating system in January this year, followed by the 13.1 update, which enabled more widespread mod support.
On both mobile and desktop, downloading things from the internet is pretty obviously a big deal. Since it launched in 2008, Chrome has had a download manager, and now the Android version is following suit, with a Download menu appearing in the latest version of Chrome Dev, version 54.0.2840.6.
Android's always been pretty good at search - it's developed by the world's biggest search company, so you'd hope so - but one thing that it's always struggled with is searching content on your device, having removed it in Ice Cream Sandwich because the API was not up to scratch. Google is attempting to fix that today with the launch of the new 'Search In Apps' feature, which Cody uncovered part of during a recent Google app teardown.
App deals are great, so it's good to see two available for €0.10 (or the equivalent in countries running the deal). One is an alarm clock, the other a popular game that has 50,000 downloads. As usual these are not available in the US - countries that do have the cheaper price include the UK, Germany, Russia, France, Spain, Italy, and Australia. If there are other countries joining in on the fun, let us know in the comments.
Back in November last year, Google rolled out a new-look Google+ and deemed it a 'preview' of what was to come. It was generally assumed that at some point this would replace what has become known as 'Google+ Classic,' and that day has now arrived, with the announcement that the Web preview will be the default look from today onwards.
Another day, another A/B test has come our way at Android Police. This time, Google is testing out a new Inbox search UI, replacing the dropdown search menu that's been ever-present since Inbox launched.
A few weeks ago, we reported that Android's navbar may be getting solid keys rather than the hollow versions found on Marshmallow and below. Nougat is here now and there are no white buttons, but we're still waiting for the new Nexus phones, plus a maintenance release slated to be Android 7.1. LG, though, seems to think the solid look is the way forward.
Android developer extraordinaire Chainfire has worked his magic again, releasing a new beta of SuperSU with support for the Galaxy Note7. There are a few caveats though, mostly due to new Samsung security measures inherent in the kernel, stopping Chainfire from using his usual exploits and instead having to apply workarounds.
Google's restore options upon setting up a new device have been gradually improving over the past few versions of Android, culminating in being able to transfer data from an old Android device in Lollipop, rather than restoring from a Google account. Google's taken another step with Nougat, with the ability to restore from an iOS device.
You asked and they answered: AT&T has finally added fingerprint support to its myAT&T app, providing an extra layer of security to your mobile phone, landline, or internet billing app. This will only work if your myAT&T password is saved, however; as is normal, fingerprint access can be turned on or off in the app's settings at any time.
Backup/restore features are a bit of a sore point on Android; Google's efforts can be called nothing better than pathetic, while most other manufacturers don't offer a service to entirely back up a device like Apple does with its own iOS devices and iCloud. However, Samsung, which has already had one software success this year, may be onto something with Samsung Cloud, which is launching with the Galaxy Note7. Sam Mobile has confirmed that the feature is also coming to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, courtesy of a 150MB update - it's currently live in Italy and India with more countries presumably on the way.
I've long dreamt of a way to control Play Music on my desktop with my phone. It's one of those things I'd basically given up on, until I found out about Desktop Remote, for Google Play Music. It uses a "wrapped" web Play Music interface so your phone can control the music playing on your desktop PC.
WhatsApp today has updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for the first time in four years, to reflect changes made in the app since that time. Perhaps the most important changes regard information sharing with Facebook and the 'Facebook family of companies,' and updates concerning WhatsApp Calling, which launched over a year ago now.
Straight after the global release of MIUI 8, Xiaomi is back with its newest device: the Redmi Note 4. Featuring a 5.5-inch 1080p display with 2.5D curved glass, a 4100mAh battery, and a full metal unibody design with chamfered edges, it's pretty clear the Chinese consumer electronics company is hoping that this one will be a big seller.
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- Our tipster also posted a flashable ZIP on XDA-Developers for those who want to try it on a Nexus 6P. Note that this ZIP is only for the Nexus 6P - it won't work on any other phone running Nougat and may cause bootloops or other more serious issues. As usual, you're going to need a custom recovery (like TWRP) to flash the ZIP. You should also make a backup first and back out if you don't know what you're doing.
The System UI Tuner was only introduced in Marshmallow, but it's already got quite a few features, with one graduating to a fully-fledged feature (and others causing quite a bit of controversy). The next thing Google seems to be working on for it is a navigation bar customizer, allowing quite extreme customization of the now standard back-home-recents navbar.
MIUI splits opinions among Android users - some say it's great, a welcome refinement of the platform, and some say it's a bit too close for comfort aesthetically to Apple's iOS. Whichever way you see it, you should know that MIUI 8 is now out, with the Global stable ROM available for download over on the MIUI forums for supported devices, which are listed below. The 8th version of the Chinese OS was announced back in May with the Mi Max, which David said was gigantic in his hands-on first impressions.
Music subscriptions are all the rage now - most people I know use either Spotify or the services offered by Google and Apple. Not mentioned as much is, erm, Amazon, and its oft-forgotten Music service that acts as a locker for music purchased on and through Amazon. According to Recode, the company plans to reinvent it by introducing two music streaming services with different aims.
If you've been looking for a new Chromebook or a Pixel C and thinking "but they're all so expensive!", you're in luck: Google has a deal on the official Store for money off on both. The Acer Chromebook 13 and ASUS Chromebook Flip have $20 off, and the Acer Chromebook 15 has $30 off the original price, while buying a Pixel C 64GB will save you $75.
The latest app to join the rather exclusive 1 billion club on Google Play is... drumroll please... Instagram. This is quite surprising when estimates only put the number of accounts at 500 million, but I guess the downloads counter doesn't differentiate between unique installs or not. Either way, it scares me that Facebook owns the two biggest social networks in the world.