apps

Google Glass is definitely in limbo right now, but as I talked about earlier this week, it’s far too early to say that the project is dead in the water. Those of us that had consumer interest in the project are curious enough about what the future might hold, but what about those who have been investing in development for the platform for two years now? Google—unsurprisingly—says there’s still value in developing for Glass, but also that some changes to the developer experience are incoming…

Expand
Expanding
Close

TouchWiz has long been known as being far too full of bloat and unnecessary software, but the real problem with Samsung’s version of Android is that these added features come with a hard hit on performance. According to a report this morning from SamMobile, the Korean company might be going as far as to remove all features from the OS that can possibly be downloaded—and this just so happens to coincide with today’s market share numbers showing that Apple and Samsung were neck-and-neck in Q4.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fC7yrj984]

Google announced today that it’s releasing mobile apps for its Google Classroom service for both Android and iOS devices. The company officially launched Classroom to its Apps for Education customers in the US during the summer offering them a web-based platform for planning lessons, handing out assignments, and working alongside students. Teachers and students will now be able to access those features from mobile devices through the new apps and Google is also adding a could of new features to the platform.

In addition to a new teacher assignments page and archiving functions for Classroom, Google notes that the mobile apps will let users snap a photo to share or attach to assignments, share content from other apps, and access content cached for offline viewing.
Expand
Expanding
Close

The latest numbers from app metrics tracking firm AppFigures reveal that Google’s Play Store topped Apple’s App Store based on total number of apps and developers for the first time in 2014. Google moved ahead of Apple with 1.43 million Android apps in the Play Store, compared to 1.21 million on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Falcon Pro was one of the most notorious Android Twitter clients for quite some time, but development of the app got pushed aside when it started running into its Twitter API token limits. But the app’s developer Joaquim Verges has now brought it back with the release of version 3, which has been completely rewritten and re-imagined, and packs a gorgeous new dark-skinned Material Design aesthetic. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Google today has updated its Play Store guidelines with yet another restriction on what developers can put in the descriptions of their apps. With today’s update, developers are now forbidden to include user testimonials in their app’s description. Any developer who breaks this rule could see the app in question pulled (via Android Police).

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1l149Rb1k]

Samsung is planning to launch its own mobile payment service next year, in competition to both Google Wallet and Apple Pay, reports Re/code. It suggests that the company is in talks with LoopPay, a startup which describes itself as “the most accepted mobile wallet on the planet.”

The technology would allow people with certain Samsung phones to pay in the vast majority of brick and mortar stores by waving their phones instead of swiping with a credit card or cash […]

The talks between Samsung and LoopPay come as the idea of paying for goods in stores using a phone was rekindled in the U.S. thanks to the launch of Apple Pay.

The plan would allow Samsung’s mobile payment service to work with all cards and all payment terminals right out of the box …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Microsoft released an entire suite of MSN apps for Android today, which includes MSN News, Money, Health & Fitness, Food & Drink, and Sports, and Weather.

The Health and Fitness app allows users to track their diet and fitness goals, keep track of health-related news, view an interactive map of the human body. The Food and Drink app will include videos and articles on cooking from top culinary sources. It also provides a shopping list feature and wine guide.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google today announced some updates for its Google Cardboard virtual reality experience that it says is now in the hands of around 500k people since launching in June (not including unofficial versions). The main updates include new SDKs for developers building experiences on Android and Unity and a dedicated section for virtual reality Cardboard apps in the Google Play store.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Whether you’re trying to recover from some type of Thanksgiving food coma or you need a steady stream of entertainment to keep you sane while camping out in front of your favorite department store for Black Friday deals — don’t worry, Google has the medicine. The search giant is currently advertising a group of Cyber Week deals for movies, games, music and more. Some of these deals are already live and ready to be consumed and we’d like to take a minute to point out a few standout promotions.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google has today launched a new platform that aims to reinvent how content creators on the Internet make money. It’s called Contributor, and it involves readers committing to a certain monthly payment of $1-3, which will in turn give visitors an ad-free browsing experience on some sites. This could potentially be a full-blown alternative to Google’s AdSense, giving publications like this one and others a new form of monetization.

Expand
Expanding
Close

RelativeWave, the company behind the mobile app prototyping software Form, today announced it’s joining Google. The company made an announcement on its website noting that it will continue working on the Form app and as of today make it available for free through the Mac App Store. The app previously sold for $79.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this month, Google started accepting Android TV app submissions to the Play Store, but today, another detail about the app submission process was revealed. According to the Android developer documentation page, Google will pre-screen and approve all submitted Android TV apps. After the approval process, the apps will then be distributed for download on the Play Store (via Android Police).

Before distributing apps to the Play Store on Android TV devices, our team reviews apps for usability with a DPAD (apps) and Gamepad (games only) and other quality guidelines.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://youtu.be/PzFc5zGMjCk]

After releasing the the new PS4 Remote Play app for Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact and Xperia Z3 tablet, Sony today announced it’s bringing the feature for remotely playing games from a connected PlayStation 4 to its Xperia Z2 lineup. That means following an update for the Xperia z2 and Xperia Z2 tablet, users will now have access to the PS4 Remote Play app and full support for the PS4 DUALSHOCK4 wireless controller.

The update for Xperia Z2 and Z2 tablet also brings hi-res audio, the latest Battery STAMINA Mode feature, Sony’s Smart Social camera apps including Sound Photo, AR fun, Multi camera and Face in, and much more.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Continuing its barrage of Android announcements today, Google this evening has announced that developers can now start submitting Android TV apps to the Play Store. This is to be expected as the Nexus Player starts to make its way into the hands of consumers. Google says that in addition to publishing apps exclusively for Android TV onto the Play Store, developers can also extend their existing apps for TV and publish them.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Much like the five apps that Sony released last week for its SmartBand Talk, ASUS has today launched three apps for its upcoming ZenWatch Android Wear device (via Android Police). It’s kind of unfortunate, really, because Google made an app called “Wear” to do the kinds of things that these apps were made for. But along with Motorola (and the Moto 360), it appears the company has decided that it would rather have complete control over pairing and syncing its smartwatch.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Facebook has announced that it will be releasing an updated version of its mobile application later today that will improve the process of sharing multiple photos in a single post. The new composer will allow users to choose multiple images from their device’s photo library or camera, then show a preview of the post with each image in the order they were selected.

From here users will be able to add captions to each photo, write an introduction for the post, or rearrange the order of the photos. The post will show up in friends’ news feeds as a photo collage rather than a horizontal group of photos.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this week, Google launched Inbox, a new email management app that’s currently available on an invite-only basis. Almost reminiscent of when Mountain View launched Gmail as a beta product in the spring of 2004, the now social media-driven internet worked itself into a frenzy of tweets, +1s and likes from people vying to get hold of an invitation.

Expand
Expanding
Close