From 9to5Toys.com:
Late last year, Square Enix announced that a re-releases of Final Fantasy IX would be coming to Android, iOS and PC. At the time, there was no specific word as to when North American gamers would actually get their hands on it. However, this morning we noticed a listing for the Android version of the game go live on Google Play.
The Android version of popular password manager 1Password has received a big update to version 6. In addition to a full Material redesign, the app now has support for Marshmallow’s fingerprint unlocking. The app made by AgileBits is free to download and premium features are accessible via a one-time in-app purchase.
Play Newsstand has a surprisingly large user base due to the fact that it is pre-installed on most Android devices. Earlier this month, the app was updated with some visual tweaks to the main feed and article layout. Today, users in eight Middle Eastern countries will be able to buy paid content from the app.
Instagram today has officially announced support for mutliple accounts. After a slow roll out to multiple users, users are now able to add up to 5 different Instagram accounts and quickly switch between them all. Multiple account support has been added as of Instagram’s 7.15 version for Android.
Facebook loves to A/B test new features and interfaces with a small and random subset of users before a full rollout. A few weeks ago the company began testing a Material Design refresh for Messenger. Some users are now seeing a new variant that sports a blue action and top bar.
Improved Hangouts is one of the most common requests from Android users. According to a rumor late last year, Google is working on making it a better chat client by removing SMS capabilities. It now appears that as a part of that Hangouts will use a peer-to-peer connection when possible.
Both of Google’s excellent photo apps received an update this week. Version 1.13 of Google Photos adds a new feature to easily look at other photos taken on the same day when in search, while Snapseed now has several new automatic features, like face detection.
Voxer is a relatively popular messaging app for Android and iOS, and has long been considered one of the best solutions available for those looking for a great PPT (push-to-talk) experience on mobile. It received a ton of funding a few years ago, and while it never really took off in the mainstream, it’s still being updated even today with new fixes and features for its dedicated group of users. It has somewhere between 10 and 50 million Play Store installs.
George Kola, a software engineer that was most recently Chief Technology Officer of the company for more than a year, has now joined Google according to his LinkedIn profile. While it’s of course possible that Kola could have joined Google on his engineering merit alone and could be working in just about any department within the Mountain View company, it’s still worth asking: Could Google possibly have its eyes on bringing some walkie talkie features to Hangouts?..
Android is an operating system better known for its openness, which means users can enjoy a great deal of customizability and overall choice. It goes far beyond picking up a shiny wallpaper: you can choose your own default apps, tweak the notification center with widgets, add those widgets to your homescreen, and switching to a whole different launcher is an app install away.
That’s why Android users are accustomed to using products and services that go beyond the stock options offered out of the box, and know that the Play Store is quite the well to draw from. Twitter clients are no exception, so keep reading for our roundup of what we think are the best alternatives to Twitter’s default offering…
Update: VentureBeat received information from a source, shedding a little more light on the situation.
A source close to the situation indicates that Google considers this a “unique case” because two apps are required to invoke the ad blocking. Furthermore, the source adds that Google has no problem with browsers which can block ads within themselves via built-in functionality (like Adblock Browser) or via plugins.
Earlier in the week, Samsung’s new browser API meant developers, if they wanted to, could build ad-blocking apps to work alongside the browser. It’s similar to the ad-blocking feature Apple introduced in iOS 9 with Safari, which lead to a number of ad and tracker-blocking apps become popular within the first few weeks of iOS 9’s arrival.
With this feature added, more developers could develop standalone ad-blockers for Android which work with Samsung‘s mobile browser. It turns out however, that Google has pulled some apps, and rejected updates for others. It seems the company isn’t keen on having standalone apps — designed to work alongside browsers to block ads — on the Play Store…
Google’s previous attempt to bring books into the modern age involved digitizing and making them searchable. A new experiment between their Creative Lab and Visual Editions, a London-based publisher, have resulted in Editions at Play. In essence, they are interactive ebooks that are worthy of not immediately being written off as a gimmick.
The beautiful and widely praised Alto’s Adventure is coming to the Play Store with a free-to-pay model on February 11th. The game was first released on iOS nearly a year ago and will also be available in the Amazon App Store.
When Nintendo first announced that it would finally be launching a smartphone game, it’s safe to say, many of us children of the 90’s got a little excited. Sadly, we got excited too soon. Excitement turned to bemusement once the company revealed it would be launching a weird game called Miitomo, which wasn’t exactly a game, but rather a social network.
Following its disappointing Q4 results, Nintendo has confirmed that its second title would include a “very familiar character”, and won’t be another social network attempt. It did, however, stop short of confirming exactly which character we’re going to see.
While Chrome 50 is expected to bring Material Design by default to desktop browsers and Chrome OS, version 49 will introduce more low laying features for developers. Notably, improved background sync, better JavaScript performance, a new API for recording audio and video, and a host of other features…
Unlike most routers that remain static after you purchase them, Google’s line of OnHub routers are meant to receive software updates and new features. While it launched without the standard feature of a guest Wi-Fi network, an update rolling out this week to both models remedies that…
As the default browser on Samsung devices is their own ‘Internet’ app, many people never bother to switch often just end up using it. An update rolling out to the built-in browser will add support for third-party ad blockers, among other new things. While the feature is found in other Android browsers and is a common reason why people root their devices, Samsung’s scale may popularize it…
If you’re like me, you live your day heavily by your calendar, and Google is making that experience a little more efficient. Google is updating Google Calendar on both Android and iOS with new smart suggestions as well as 54 new country-based holiday calendars.
As part of a broader post about the year ahead, Reddit founder Steve Huffman announced that their new Android app is going into beta today. We’ve got our hands on the beta and from our first impressions Reddit made an okay app, but it still has a ways to go.
Google bought VirusTotal, an online virus and URL scanner, back in 2012 and it continues to run as an independent company even today. Their website and Mac app offers a very useful utility that lets users upload files to see whether they are ridden with viruses. They recently added the ability to scan a computer’s firmware for suspicious malware.
Since Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, the automaker has been talking about releasing a software development kit (SDK) to create a full third-party app ecosystem for its 17-inch touchscreen, which acts as a center console for the Model S and X, but despite several inquiries from eager app developers, there has been little communication about the project until now.
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Following an announcement for a revamped news discovery and commenting experience for its homepage and Yahoo mobile apps, the company is also rolling out an updated Yahoo Mail Android app today.
Google is now further localizing the voice in their apps for Australian users. The new accent will sound more familiar to those down under and be better able to pronounce place names and understand local colloquialisms for tasks and actions.
My Tracks is a light weight, single purpose app that uses your phone’s GPS to track your physical activities. The app has not received a major update in a while and, unsurprisingly, Google has now announced that it is shutting it down after April 30th.
In a blog post, Clay Bavor, the recently anointed VP of Google’s new virtual reality division, announced that there are now over five million units of Cardboard and over 1000 Cardboard apps in Google Play. The numbers come as recent reports show Google getting into VR in a serious way, including possibly building their own headset.