Google Play

Google announced the Nexus 6 almost two weeks ago and recently the company’s new flagship smartphone made its way through the FCC. While we’re already familiar with the device’s hardware and software, this is a required approval in order for Mountain View and its retail partners to start accepting pre-orders for the search giant’s next handset.

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Every now and then, the folks in Mountain View will throw us a bone in the form of some free entertainment from Google Play Music or Google Play Movies & TV. Today, the company responsible for the world’s largest search engine has decided to do the latter. If you direct your smartphone, tablet or web browser to Play Movies, there’s a chance that you’ll see a free movie available to add to your collection.

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Last month, Google announced its future plans for Android Wear, including an update with offline music support and GPS functionality. Earlier this week, an update started rolling out to select Android Wear devices, bringing the beginnings of those features, but now Google has officially announced the update in a post on the official Android blog.

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About as quick as Google added its Nexus Player to Google Play, the company quickly pulled its new media player from its online store due to issues with the FCC. However, over the weekend, documents for the upcoming Android TV set-top box were spotted in an FCC database and today the search giant has restored Google Play pre-orders.

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Google’s new Nexus gear isn’t the only fresh hardware added to the Play Store. Sony’s new SmartWatch 3 is now listed under the outlet’s Android Wear section for $250 and marked as “coming soon.”

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A new report from App Annie revealed that application downloads from Google Play exceeded downloads from Apple’s App Store by around 60 percent compared to statistics from the same time period last year. Although the Play Store saw a fair share of growth, iOS downloads managed to earn more money during Q3 2014, with a gap of nearly 60 percent. It’s possible that these changes could be due to Google Play’s expansion into emerging markets where people typically don’t download paid apps.

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Google has updated its Play Store app with a more comprehensive Material Design makeover, and a What’s New section that is both clearer and easier to use.

Version 5.0.31 sees a new, flat Play Store logo, together with flatter icons in the sidebar, and the categories now use the bright colors of the Material Design palette … 
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Google started accepting PayPal payments for Google Play app purchases earlier this year in 12 countries, including the US, France and Germany. Today, the company has expanded this payment option to Australia, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore and Sweden.

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In a post on Google+ this evening, Google has announced that starting today users in the United States can now pre-oder feature films from Google Play. This means that customers can get their copy of movies before they’re released digitally or on DVD to the rest of the United States.

Pre-order movies have arrived on Google Play! Excited about an awesome big-screen blockbuster? Now you can reserve your copy of box-office hits before they’re released digitally or on DVD!

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Along with a number of announcements landing today during Adobe’s MAX conference, the company has quietly released an Adobe Creative Cloud app for Android in preview mode. The app, which works with the free 2GB Creative Cloud membership in addition to paid subscriptions, allows users to manage their Creative Cloud accounts by browsing and previewing files stored in the cloud service. The app was previously available for iOS users and sports a similar design.
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When the Chromecast originally launched more than a year ago, early buyers were offered three free months of Netflix as a bonus. That offer quickly ran out, but various other deals have popped up since. Now, Google is giving anyone who buys a Chromecast from October 1st through the end of the year two free months of Hulu Plus.

Hulu Plus currently runs $7.99, meaning that you’re getting a $16 value with your Chromecast purchase. While Hulu may not have quite the selection of Netflix, that’s still a great offer when the Chromecast only costs $35 to begin with.

The offer will be redeemable through chromecast.com/offers during the set-up process for new Hulu Plus and Chromecast users beginning October 1st. Keep an eye on 9to5toys.com for the latest Chromecast deals, as well.

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Google will soon list a price-range for in-app purchases on items in Google Play. Hopefully this new policy will help reduce the number of misrepresented software lurking in the Play Store. In some cases apps, especially games are listed as free, but later reveal subscription fees and pricey in-game items that can be purchased with real world cash.

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Android L is on its way and countless developers have been busy updating their applications to line up with the look and feel of Google’s Material Design language. In addition to third-party devs, the search giant has managed to tweak some of its own in-house software as well and the folks at Android Police have managed to get their hands on some early screenshots of an upcoming update for Google Play.

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As it does at the beginning of every month, Google this evening updated its Android distribution data to reflect a 7-day period ending on September 9th. The data shows Android 4.4 KitKat reach an all-time usage high of 24.5 percent, up from 20.6 percent last month. Jelly Bean continued its consistent decline, falling from 56.5 percent to 53.8 percent.

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Last month, we found out that Google was extending the return period for some of Google Play’s games from 15 minutes to two hours. A new update to the company’s support page has confirmed the change, making the two hour refund policy official for paid applications and games. An extra hour and 45 minutes sounds great, but it should be noted that way back in the days of the Android Market, Google used to give customers a full day to return undesirable software.

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Mountain View’s wearable platform officially received some competition from the folks in Cupertino today and in what appears a coincidence, one of the most popular Android Wear-powered smartwatches on the market has received a temporary price cut. Google Play has shaved $50 off the LG G Watch’s asking price, bringing the high-tech wristwatch down to $180.

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Google, according to several user posts on Google+, has recently opened up a replacement program for people who damage their Nexus 5. While the company has yet to officially announce this program, users are reporting that if you have a damaged Nexus 5, Google will offer a one-time replacement for free.

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T-Mobile announced a new initiative in June to offer unlimited streaming of variety of music streaming services on its mobile network without counting against customer data caps. The program, dubbed Music Freedom, supports streaming iHeartRadio, iTunesRadio, Pandora, Rhapsody, Samsung Milk, Slacker, and Spotify over T-Mobile’s network without counting towards a data cap, and today the carrier is doubling the number of supported services.

Today T-Mobile is announcing the addition of AccuRadio, Black Planet, Grooveshark, Radio Paradise, Rdio and Songza to its Music Freedom program. You may recall Google purchased Songza (for what is believed to be $15 million) in July. In addition to introducing the six new music services to the program, T-Mobile has also shared that it will be adding Google Play Music later this year after the service was voted on the most to be included. Full press release follows…

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