About Scott Scrivens
Senior UK Editor — My interest in Android began with the beautiful Nexus 4 and the less-ugly-than-before Jelly Bean. Right now, I'm probably watching Black Books, playing football (soccer), or listening to Answer Code Request.
Latest Articles
Many people assume VR is only really for movies and games that make the most of its 3D capabilities, but it can also be used to watch standard video content. Why would you choose to watch a movie on your TV when you can instead use a 200-inch virtual screen with a scenic 360-degree background? That's exactly what Samsung's upcoming Phonecast VR app will let you do.
The Google Cast Receiver app is necessary if you want to cast to your Android TV as if it were a Chromecast. Unfortunately, it's had pretty poor reviews since its release and it's about time Google did something about it. In a bid to improve the experience for developers working with the Google Cast SDK, and in turn make the app less buggy, the company is opening up a beta program that will offer early access to the latest features.
Many businesses have to offer their staff work phones so they can get stuff done. This often leads to carrying two phones around, which can be a bit of a pain. One way of solving that issue, as well as being slightly less wasteful, is to introduce a BYOD scheme (bring your own device). This is theoretically possible with an Android device out-of-the-box, as you can have different user profiles. Some Android phones are also dual SIM, so you can use two different numbers. Switching between profiles is often slow and inconvenient, however. A new app from BlackBerry aims to improve on this.
Google's Text-to-speech (TTS) is an accessibility feature that's long been a part of Android. It's a screen reader that can read aloud anything currently on display, a vital utility for users who are blind or partially-sighted. TTS isn't updated very often, but when it is it's usually to add something meaningful. The last update added support for new languages, as well as pronunciation and intonation improvements. We've now been made aware that there's also an experimental always-on language detection switch, available to those using Android O.
In the age of the smartphone, we've become accustomed to knowing where our loved ones are at all times. This can be seen as positive and negative, depending on how you look at it. One negative could be that a loss of contact for any period of time can lead to paranoia. Of course, there's an app (or several) for that. Trusted Contacts was launched late last year, and it allows you to share locations with chosen contacts, as well as request their whereabouts. The app has now been updated to version 1.5, bringing customizable request timeouts and integration with Google Maps.
Late last year we saw the introduction of a useful little app called AutoTools, dubbed 'Tasker Plus" by its developer, Joaomgcd. The AutoTools plugin adds to Tasker's already large feature set, with the ability to change certain system settings and control different toggles. João has been busy working on an upgrade, and now version 2.0 is upon us, which includes web screens, a navigation drawer, and HTML reading capabilities.
A few months ago, T-Mobile introduced new measures to deal with scam callers for anyone on the network. Scam ID tells you if a call you're receiving is from a number that's likely to be a scam, giving you a heads-up before you answer. Furthermore, you can have Scam Block cut out those calls altogether before they even reach your device. These features are completely free to T-Mobile customers, and now MetroPCS subscribers are getting the same treatment.
LEGO must be one of the most ubiquitous toys in the world. It's hard to imagine growing up without it. Somehow, the company has managed to remain relevant all these years, finding new ways to engage with kids as the world around them changes. One of the most highly anticipated LEGO releases for some time is the Boost Creative Toolbox, which tasks you with building a robot named Vernie, among others, and programming them to perform certain actions using "drag-n'-drop coding." It's due to ship from August 1st, and in preparation, the Android app has just been made available.There are more than 60 activities to keep the kids entertained, as well as videos and digital instructions to help them through the process. Vernie is joined by other programmable models, such as a cat called Frankie and a guitar. The app is necessary to control the robots, which it connects to via Bluetooth. The set is intended for children aged between 7-12, and it's hoped that the rudimentary "coding" experience will pique their interest in robotics and technology going forward.
As the revival of the Nokia brand by Finnish company HMD Global continues to gather pace, its latest products are now available to buy in Australia. The Nokia 3, 5, and 6 were announced earlier in the year, much to the joy of our long-time Nokia enthusiast, Rita. The intriguing flagship Nokia 8 is on the horizon and the Nokia 6 was recently released in the US. Now, the company is extending the global availability of its low to mid-range devices.
Battery life is an ever-present concern for smartphone owners, with many modern devices struggling to make it through an entire day for some people, especially after a few months of heavy use. That's where ZeroLemon comes in, a company that has made a name for itself with its almost comically large battery cases. Cumbersome they may be, but the cases are also really useful, providing precious extra juice at the same time as offering great protection. If you own a Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ or an LG G6 and are in the market for such a case, ZeroLemon has just released its latest products for those phones.
No matter what crazy projects Google works on, Search is still the company's bread and butter. Over the years, it's continued to build up the good old Google Search page with small but useful improvements. The latest of these is a change to the way its built-in dictionary operates, separating it out from the main search function.
French music streaming service Deezer launched in the US almost exactly a year ago and its large catalog of songs has impressed as the company attempts to rival Spotify and Google Play Music outside of Europe. Since May, subscribers have also been able to use the service through Google Home, and the latest update extends functionality to Android Wear watches.
With a recent example of how not to do a Reddit AMA still fresh in the mind courtesy of OnePlus, yesterday was Google's turn to show us how it's done. A long list of key personnel from the Android engineering team took to r/androiddev to answer questions from the community regarding the upcoming release of Android O. As you'd expect, the team remained coy about a number of things they're simply not yet allowed to speak about, but they did have some interesting things to say. Here are some of the highlights.
Any parents who've bought their kids a Switch should already know about the Parental Controls app. Nintendo's latest console continues to prove incredibly popular with adults and kids alike, so it's not surprising the app has more than 100,000 installs. The Japanese gaming giant has just announced an update which includes individual play time stats, downloads records, and a 24-hour alarm disabling option.
Motorola started sending out the Android 7.1.1 update to Moto Z Play devices in the US last month, and now it's also doing the same in Brazil, for that device plus the regular Moto Z model. After carrying out soak tests in the region, the final builds are starting to slowly make their way to users of both phones.
It's been a long time since we've written about Slacker Radio. More than a year, in fact. Maybe time goes slower at Slacker than it does in other parts of the universe. It would seem so, as almost 4 years after stating the intention to add a sleep timer to the Android app, it's finally happened.
Password managers are becoming ever more popular the more we manage our lives online. Thankfully, there's a trend toward being more security conscious, and LastPass is a great way to get around the issue of having too much important information to remember. If you're doing it right, and don't just use "Password1234" for everything, LastPass can remember all your login credentials, and its cross-platform apps make them easy to access from anywhere. Now, the company is introducing a new service aimed at family members who need to share data securely with each other.
Chris Lacy's Action Launcher got a massive update recently, introducing new branding, more free features, an animated Android O style clock widget, and more. Together with its already useful feature set, including shutters and covers, it's cemented its place as one of Android's best launchers. The latest Beta is now available, as announced by Lacy on his blog, and it includes a number of features that Google has added to the Pixel Launcher in Android O, such as notification dots and a new UI for app shortcuts and widgets.
It almost feels like Google has been toying with us recently when it comes to our shopping lists. They took the decision to move the Assistant's shopping list from Keep to Express, which angered many. It soon became clear that lists in Google Express were nowhere near as feature-rich, as you couldn't access them so easily, or share them with others, or use them offline. Here in the UK where Google Express isn't officially available, you're even linked to a just web version of your shopping list if you use the Assistant. Thankfully, for American users, Google has been working to repair some of the damage and the latest update includes offline support for your lists.
What's that strange feeling? Almost like I've seen a ghost. Oh, Google Glass isn't dead after all? That'll be it. There have been recent signs that the seemingly abandoned experimental wearable might be making a return in one form or another, more than 2 years after the Glass Explorer Program officially ended. The first was an update to the MyGlass app last month, after lying dormant for nearly 3 years. This was followed the next day by a mysterious firmware update making its way to any Glass Explorer Edition units still in use. Google has confirmed that was regular maintenance to the consumer device, and not related to this fresh news about the Glass Enterprise Edition that Alphabet's experimental X subsidiary (formerly Google[x]) has been busy working on for the last two years.