Google Play

645 'Google Play' stories March 2012 - December 2014

Before the unified Play branding, Google had the Android Market, Google Music, and Google eBookstore. Google decided to merge and rebrand its individual digital offerings into the Play Store in March of 2012.

The Play Store is now the default place to purchase apps, movies & television, music, books, and news subscriptions for all Android devices. The latter four offerings having their individual Android and iOS apps to watch, listen, and read purchased content. Most content can also be accessed through the web.

In April of 2016, the suite of icons were redesigned in a similar style to provide a consistent look across all devices and the web.

Google Play store shares its ‘Best Apps of 2014’ list

Jordan Kahn Dec 1 2014 - 6:38 am PT

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Like it has done in recent years, Google is today displaying its list of top app picks for the year with around 70 apps total receiving the award.

Google has a section on Google Play displaying the “Best Apps of 2014” and in it includes a number of high-profile apps alongside lesser known entrants. The majority of the apps are free, but there are also a few paid offerings like Over, 7 Minute Workout, djay 2, and others. Some of the bigger names on the list include IFTTT, Shazam, Yahoo News Digest, CNN, Uber, and Mailbox.
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Nexus 6 Stand Folio Case now available from Google Play for $40

Mark Hearn Nov 28 2014 - 10:59 am PT

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If you own a Nexus 6 and you’re looking for some Google endorsed accessories, your options have just increased by one. The smartphone’s highly anticipated Stand Folio Case is now available from the Play Store for $40 with a warehouse departure time of one to two business days.

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Nintendo patent hints at official Game Boy emulator for mobile phones

Jordan Kahn Nov 28 2014 - 9:14 am PT

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TechCrunch points to a newly published patent filed by Nintendo that shows the company is interested in bringing Game Boy titles to mobile devices through emulation technology. Many emulators exist online to mimic old consoles and allow gamers to play back catalogs of games converted to ROM files on Macs and PCs, and Nintendo could possibly do the same to officially bring titles to mobile devices without much heavy lifting in terms of rewriting the games:
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Over $130 worth of paid Android apps for free: Sonic Jump, Bejeweled 2, Angry Birds Seasons, Quell, many more

Nov 27 2014 - 6:06 am PT

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Today, the Amazon App Store is celebrating Thanksgiving by offering a bundle of paid apps for nothing, on top of its Free App of the Day. There are 40 apps worth around $115 available to download for free on Android and Kindle devices. One standout from the bunch is Sonic Jump which is regular $2.99 and has received 4+ star ratings from over 8,000 reviews across Amazon and Google Play.

The original platform jumper is back as Sonic leaps up an all new vertically challenging adventure in stunning HD graphics! Play as Sonic or his friends leaping through familiar and new Sonic worlds to battle Dr. Eggman, as you tilt and tap your way through fixed Story levels and Arcade infinite modes.

Other notable apps in today’s Thanksgiving bundle include Bejeweled 2 (Reg. $2.99, 4 stars from 3,000+), Angry Birds Seasons (Ad -Free), Quell Memento (Reg. $2.99) and many others.

Head over to the Black Friday coverage on 9to5Toys for more holiday deals, including the daily roundup for all the best game/app deals.

Google Play’s Cyber Week sale is loaded with cheap movies, games, music and more

Mark Hearn Nov 26 2014 - 8:00 am PT

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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.

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Nexus 9 Keyboard Folio now available on Play Store for $129, ships in 1-2 business days

Chance Miller Nov 25 2014 - 2:52 pm PT

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After going up for pre-order on Amazon in October, the Nexus 9 Keyboard Folio case is now available on the Play Store. The case costs a whopping $129, which for those doing the math, is only $71 less than what HTC was selling the tablet itself for a couple of weeks back.

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Dropbox’s Microsoft Office integration arriving in mobile apps today

Jordan Kahn Nov 25 2014 - 10:06 am PT

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Following an announcement earlier this month that Microsoft was adding Dropbox integration for syncing and sharing to the Office mobile apps, Dropbox announced today that the feature is now available in its latest app updates for Android and iOS.

The integration essentially allows users to tap into Dropbox storage directly from within the Office mobile apps, but it will also include the ability to send links to files from Office using Dropbox, open documents from Dropbox in Office, and more. Dropbox has instructions on how to use the new integration with Microsoft’s Office apps on its website.

To get started, make sure your Dropbox app is up to date on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, then open any Office doc, spreadsheet, or presentation in your Dropbox. Tap the new Edit icon (shown above) to start editing in the latest Office apps. When you’re done, your changes will be saved back to Dropbox automatically.

Earlier this month the Microsoft Office Mobile for Android app was updated with its part of the integration allowing users to “open, edit, and save documents from Dropbox.”

You can get the new features through the latest Dropbox app for Android starting today and the latest version of Microsoft’s Office Mobile for Android app. The integration is also expected to arrive for web users early next year.

T-Mobile adds Google Play Music (& other services) to its Music Freedom program

Zac Hall Nov 24 2014 - 7:44 am PT

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T-Mobile announced today the addition of 14 music streaming services to its Music Freedom program including Google Play Music. First announced at its Uncarrier 5.0/6.0 event in June, T-Mobile’s Music Freedom program allows customers on the network to stream content from supported music services without it counting against a monthly data cap. T-Mobile promised the addition of Google Play Music by the end of the year in August when Google’s subscription streaming music service was voted most wanted by T-Mobile’s customers.
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Google releases invite-only Divide Productivity Preview Android app

Mark Hearn Nov 20 2014 - 1:39 pm PT

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Almost six months ago to the day, Google acquired an enterprise device management firm by the name of Divide. Today, the search giant quietly released a new Productivity Preview app to the Play Store, which currently operates on an invite-only basis, similar to how the company handled the release of Inbox. Targeting the corporate world, this Google-made Divide application offers a software suite packed with tools for business email, calendar, contacts and tasks.

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Android TV’s Google app now available on the Play Store

Mark Hearn Nov 20 2014 - 12:41 pm PT

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Android TV’s voice search capabilities aren’t too shabby, but there’s definitely some room for improvement. Aware of this, Google has added its standalone app to the Play Store making it accessible to people who purchase third-party media boxes outside of its Nexus Player.

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Google announces Play Store merchant support for developers in China

Chance Miller Nov 19 2014 - 7:58 pm PT

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Google, in its continued effort to support developers and users from all across the world, announced today that developers in China are now be able to list both free and paid apps on the Play Store. The company made the announcement via a post on the official Android Developer Blog, saying that the addition of China means that developers can now sign up to be merchants in more than 60 countries. Users in more than 130 countries can purchase apps those apps, as well.

As part of that continued effort, we’re excited to announce merchant support in China, enabling local developers to export and sell their apps to Google Play users in more than 130 countries. Chinese developers can now offer both free and paid applications through various monetization models, including in-app purchasing and subscriptions. For revenue generated on Google Play, developers will receive payment to their Chinese bank accounts via USD wire transfers.

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Android 5.0 Lollipop coming to HTC One M8 and M7 Google Play editions on Friday

Chance Miller Nov 18 2014 - 12:46 pm PT

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Last week, word emerged that the Google Play Edition HTC One M8 and M7 would be receiving their respective Android 5.0 Lollipop updates sometime this week. HTC has now given us a solid date, though, saying that the two devices should receive their updates this Friday, November 21st.

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Google implementing app approval process for Android TV apps

Chance Miller Nov 17 2014 - 7:44 am PT

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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.

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ASUS ZenWatch now available from Google Play for $200

Mark Hearn Nov 14 2014 - 11:15 am PT

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After making an appearance at Google Play yesterday, the ASUS ZenWatch is now available to purchase directly from Mountain View for $200 with an estimated warehouse departure time of one to two business days. If you’re unfamiliar with this particular smartwatch, it packs a 1.63-inch 320 x 320 AMOLED display, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM and is compatible with devices running Android 4.3 or higher.

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Nexus 6 orders from Google Play are starting to ship

Mark Hearn Nov 14 2014 - 10:33 am PT

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If the thought of a carrier-connected Nexus 6 isn’t quite your bag and you’ve managed to place an order with Google, you may want to check your credit card or bank account, because people are starting to get charged for their purchases. In fact, a select lucky few are even starting to see their shipping status updated.

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Google says Play Music subscribers automatically get access to YouTube Music Key starting next week

Stephen Hall Nov 14 2014 - 9:27 am PT

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When YouTube Music Key was announced earlier this week, we were left with many details about the service unexplained. Of these, was the question of whether or not current Google Play Music subscribers were going to have access to the service automatically. While the announcement said that subscribers of Music Key would be getting All Access subscriptions included, it wasn’t exactly clear whether or not it worked the other way around. Now we have the answer:

Starting next week, as a Google Play Music subscriber, you’ll get free and complete access to the YouTube Music Key beta, a new service from YouTube where you can watch ad-free music videos, and keep the music playing in the background or when you’re offline. The Google Play Music app will also include ad-free music videos alongside select tracks. Stay tuned for more information.

In an email sent out to Google Play Music subscribers this morning, the above snippet of text explained that those who already subscribe to Google’s music service will be getting access to the Music Key beta starting “next week.” The service promises ad-free listening to music on YouTube, offline playback, and the ability to listen to music in the background on your mobile devices.

If you’re not a Google Play Music All Access subscriber and you still want to get access to the Music Key beta, head over to the Music Key splash page and hand over your email address.

Google’s Project Tango development kit appears on Play Store, but remains unavailable for purchase

Mike Beasley Nov 13 2014 - 3:46 pm PT

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Earlier this year Google announced the Project Tango tablet with “advanced vision capabilities” that would be coming at an undisclosed date in 2015, with a development kit coming near the end of this year. Now, as noted by Android Central, the tablet has finally popped up on the Google Play Store. It’s not showing on the store’s Devices page just yet, but the listing is accessible if you have the link.

At the moment shoppers won’t be able to buy the prototype tablet which includes an NVIDIA Tegra K1 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. It also comes with a motion tracking camera and integrated depth sensors.

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ASUS ZenWatch appears on Google Play for $199 after much pricing confusion

Stephen Hall Nov 13 2014 - 11:00 am PT

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The ASUS ZenWatch, which appeared to be for sale at Best Buy a couple of days ago at the price of $229.95, now has a page on the Google Play store—and a price of $199. Best Buy has since corrected its mistake, but this new page confirms that the price of the watch will indeed be the lower figure. The device isn’t yet available for purchase, but the Play Store says that it’s “Coming soon.”

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Google Play merchant accounts now available to developers in Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Qatar and Venezuela

Mark Hearn Nov 7 2014 - 2:15 pm PT

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Google has extended the availability of Google Play merchant account ownership to seven new territories, including Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Qatar and Venezuela. App developers in these markets can now register to accept cash payments for their software through the Play Store.

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Nexus 6 coming to 12 new markets, including Canada, France, Germany and the UK

Mark Hearn Nov 6 2014 - 1:59 pm PT

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Nexus 6 pre-orders are still hard to come by here in the US of A and now phone enthusiasts in 12 new territories will know our plight. Google’s product support page has been updated and the company’s new flagship smartphone is now listed as available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

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LG G Watch R now available from Google Play

Mark Hearn Nov 6 2014 - 11:11 am PT

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After a day of availability at AT&T’s website, the LG G Watch R is now on sale at Google Play. Listed with a warehouse departure time of one to two business days, LG’s new $300 smartwatch joins its slightly more affordable predecessor at the Play Store.

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Google Play now accepting Brazilian Real for app purchases

Mark Hearn Nov 4 2014 - 12:45 pm PT

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Google is now accepting Brazilian Real (BRL) for content purchased from the Play Store. New Brazilian Google Play developer accounts will use BRL as their default currency, however they’ll still be able to price applications in other supported funds.

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Developers can now submit Android TV apps to the Play Store

Chance Miller Nov 3 2014 - 4:17 pm PT

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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.

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Google Play Music expands to 13 new European countries

Chance Miller Nov 3 2014 - 3:45 pm PT

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Google today has expanded its Play Music service to a handful of new European countries. The thirteen countries added in today’s expansion are primarily located in Eastern Europe and include Belarus, Bulgaria, and Romania. Residents of these countries will also have access to Google Music’s All Access subscription service in addition the standard Play Store selection.

The full list of all 13 new countries is below:

Belarus
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Estonia
Iceland
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Malta
Romania
Slovenia

As always, you can read the full breakdown of what Google services are available in what countries on the company’s support page. It’s certainly nice to see Play Music growing.

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