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.
The Evernote team has released an update for its Android app today that adds a few very useful features. Most notably, the updated has added support for handwriting. Evernote touts that this is more than just a handwriting add-on and that the feature is throughly integrated throughout the app. You can easily switch between typing and handwriting, which is very useful if for instance, you are taking notes during a lecture and want to draw a chart or graph. The handwriting is also searchable, assuming it’s readable, so that you can search both text and writing when needed.
The editor has also received several enhancements, including a new text highlighter, better support for notes in other formats, and the ability to edit content in tables created on other platforms. The update also adds the ability to create a note link, allowing you to quickly jump between notes, as well as the ability to duplicate a note. Finally, the camera has also received some enhancements and is easier and faster to use.
Check out the full change log below and download the update on the Play Store.
Handwriting
Write and sketch inside your notes!
Keep handwriting, text, photos, and files in the same note
Samsung already launched the Galaxy Note 12.2 tablets it announced at CES earlier this year, and today the company has announced the availability date for the Galaxy Tab 12.2 version. Starting March 9th, customers can purchase the 12.2″ Android tablet starting at $649 in black or white versions with 32GB and 64GB configurations through Samsung.com, Best Buy, Amazon, and other retailers. Expand Expanding Close
In a wave ofupdates today, Google has just announced an update to Chrome for Android. Alongside the normal bug fixes and stability tweaks that come with every update, Google is also touting some minor interface tweaks for the app.
There is now a download progress notification for file downloads, as well as a new interface for the help and feedback menus. Finally, there’s now support for the <datalist> tag.
The Chrome team is excited to announce Chrome 33 for Android. Chrome 33.0.1750.132 will beavailable in Google Play over the next few days. This release contains stability and performance improvements as well as the following improvements:
Download progress notification for file downloads using the Chrome network stack
Updated help and feedback UI
Support for <datalist> tag
The update is rolling out gradually and will hit all devices within the next few days. Be sure to keep an eye on the Play Store for it to hit your device.
Google’s had a busy Wednesday in terms of app updates so far, having just released the Google Experience launcher for all Nexus devices and Play Edition devices. Now, the company has released a substantial update for the Google+ Android app. The update includes the normal group of bug fixes we’ve all come to expect, but it also includes a plethora of new features for photographers.
First off, the app now offers the ability to start editing a photo on one device, and then continue the process on another Android device. There are also a handful of new filters and editing tools, many of which we’ve seen before from Snapsneed. There are also some interface tweaks, such as a new “View All” option, which displays your entire photo library, both local photos and cloud photos, in one central interface. Finally, the update also a new option to quickly view photos by the date they were taken.
Rumors of Nokia launching an Android phone seemed unlikely for a company acquired by Microsoft, but the company today announced not just one Android device, but three: the Nokia X, X+ and XL. The company’s flirtation with Android does, however, appear to be a token one – not that Microsoft is pleased.
The three budget phones are effectively hybrid devices. Not only have they been given an overlay designed to make them look like they are running Windows Phone, they aren’t even running a standard version of Android and won’t be able to run apps from the Google Play store …
A lot of clues in the above ad, but obviously nothing is guaranteed. The waterproof angle would be a major blow to Sony’s Z line which is the only major phone than can get dunked. Samsung’s S4 Active is water resistant, but not very rugged. I’ll be waiting for the Google Play edition, personally.
Back in November, Google announced that Currents news service would slowly be transitioned into a new Google Play Newsstand app, and today, the company has finally taken the final step. Google today released an update for the Currents app that makes it nothing more than a pathway to Play Newsstand (via Android Police).
When users launch the Currents app after updating, they will be presented with a screen telling them to download Google Play Newsstand. Newsstand will be able to automatically import all Currents subscription, making the transition as easy as possible for users. Once users agree to make the switch to Newsstand, the app icon for Currents will disappear, making it impossible to ever return.
iOS users are still waiting for Google’s Newsstand app, but there’s something with an eerily similar name preinstalled on all iOS devices already…
Popular file sharing app BitTorrent announced an update to its Android client today bringing an overhaul to its user interface.
In addition to the new look and feel, BitTorrent for Android also includes the ability to manage specific downloads within a torrent. In its announcement, BitTorrent says its user base has crossed the 50 million mark.
BitTorrent 2.0 for Android is available for free from the Google Play Store.
Google today updated the Play Music app for Android with a handful of new features. The biggest change is the ability to cache radio stations for offline listening, following the update in December that added the ability to save songs to your SD card. This means that you can now create a radio station and be able to listen to it whenever you want, even if you don’t have an active internet connection. It’s unclear how much of a radio station Google will cache, but we’d imagine it’s quite a few songs, so you can listen for a while before hearing a repeat song (via Android Police).
Also new with this update is the ability to manage your authorized Google Play Music devices from directly within the app. There’s a cap of 10 devices, and as many power users now, it doesn’t take long to reach that limit, especially if you share an account with family members.
There are a few other minor tweaks throughout the app with this update, such as a new “Play Next” button on songs, artists, and albums. There’s no official changelog just yet, as this appears to be a staged rollout. Be sure to keep an eye on the Play Store for the update to hit your device.
Nokia could finally show off those Android-based “Normandy” smartphones we’ve been seeing surface lately. The company will debut its rumored fork of Android later this month at Mobile World Congress, according to The Wall Street Journal. The event kicks off in two weeks in Barcelona, Spain, and runs through February 27th.
Nokia, whose devices and services division was acquired by Microsoft last fall, had been working on the Android phones ahead of the acquisition, WSJ says. Nokia has been the primary handset maker for Windows Phone OS-based smartphones since dropping its own OS years ago, and even its Android fork borrows heavily from the signature Windows Phone design as seen in recent leaks. Expand Expanding Close
After reaching the top of App Store charts, the hit iOS and Android game Flappy Bird will be removed from the Play Store. According to tweets from the developer Dong Nguyen, the game will be removed from both the iOS and Android app stores in just 22 hours. Nguyen says he “cannot take this anymore” and that the game ruins his “simple life,” which means he now hates it. He says the decision has nothing to do with “legal issues.” Nguyen also says he has no interest in selling the game to anyone.
I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
Google has just updated its Android Distribution numbers to reflect data during a one-week period ending on February 4th. This data is collected by recording what version of Android every device that accesses Google Play is running. Most notably, Jelly Bean has surpassed the 60 percent milestone, going from 59.1 percent to 60.7 percent. KitKat saw very minor growth, increasing from 1.4 percent to 1.8 percent.
No other version of Android saw an increase this time around, with Ice Cream Sandwich falling from 16.9 percent to 16.1 percent and Gingerbread dropping from 20 percent from 21.2 percent.
Also noteworthy is the fact that 80 percent of all Android devices are rocking Android 4.0 or higher, meaning that most have the latest design interface and features from Google.
Google has had problems in the past rolling out updates in a prompt manner to devices, but things have definitely improved over the last year or so. It is, however, disappointing to see the latest version, KitKat, only running on 1.8 percent of devices.
After several weeks of rumors and speculation, a Bright Red variant of the Nexus 5 is now available for purchase on Google Play, as a leak from Sprint last week suggested it would be (via Droid Life). The model has an entirely red back and a black front, with the exception of the front ear speaker, which is also red. As you would expect, the specifications of the red Nexus 5 are identical to the black and white models, which we praised in our review.
Pricing is also the same, coming in at $349 for 16GB and 32GB for $399. The Bright Red Nexus 5 is shipping within 1-2 business days. LG’s PRess release:
LG AND GOOGLE ANNOUNCE FIRST RED NEXUS 5
Popular Nexus 5 Now Available in Three Colors ― Red, White and Black
SEOUL, Feb. 4, 2014 ㅡ The first red Nexus 5 device is now available on Google Play™. Nexus 5 is the first Google phone to be offered in three colors: red, white and black. Launched last October in partnership by LG and Google, Nexus 5 received praise as a stylish, high-performance Google phone. Nexus 5 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800 processor, a stunning 5-inch Full HD IPS display and runs Android 4.4, KitKat, the latest version of the Android OS.
“The Nexus line has always been about doing things differently and consumers who share this philosophy have been our most loyal fans,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We’re carrying this thinking over to the red Nexus 5, which we think will catch the eye of consumers who want to make an even bolder statement.”
The red Nexus 5 will be available on Google Play™ starting this month in the United States, Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Korea with wider availability across Europe by the end of the month. Customers will also be able to purchase a red Nexus 5 in retail stores in select markets.
I have to say, the device does look pretty slick in a red shade.
Last night Bruno Mars stormed MetLife Stadium and delivered an electrifying performance with a little help from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. For a limited time, you can pick up free tracks and discounted albums from Bruno and past Super Bowl Halftime all-stars at the Google Play store. Artists include The Rolling Stones, U2, Paul McCartney, and my personal favorite, Kid Rock.
Google is going rolling out a new version of the Google Wallet app for Android this week that will bring a couple of new features including the ability to join loyalty programs by scanning physical cards:
Now adding your loyalty cards is even easier. Just scan the card with the camera in your device, and you’re done! Your loyalty program info will auto-populate, so you can add more and type less.
Google is also including new notifications tied to the loyalty programs that it says will remind you “to shop and earn rewards” when in the proximity of a store for one of the programs you’ve joined.
The update doesn’t appear to have hit Google Play just yet, but should land sometime this week for devices running Android 4.0+.
After letting us know last month that it was getting ready to release a toolkit to let developers easily bring their Chrome web apps to iOS and Android, today Google released a developer preview of the tool. In its blog post, Google explains the tool is based on open-source framework Apache Cordova, which allows devs to build native apps for iOS and Android using CSS, HTML, and Javascript. It’s also making a lot of its own core Chrome APIs available to developers through the preview. It essentially means devs will be able to bring their Chrome web apps to the App Store and Google Play, but it will also let them build new cross platform apps in CSS, HTML, and Javascript. Google explained how it works: Expand Expanding Close
Increasing competition in the Android market is placing Samsung under increased pressure, says Kantar, reporting sales figures for the final quarter of 2013.
After years of accelerated growth, Samsung is now coming under real pressure in most regions, with European share down by 2.2 percentage points to 40.3% and in China its share ended the year flat at 23.7% … Expand Expanding Close
For a limited time only, Google is offering 25% off of select Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 accessories on the Play Store. Unfortunately not every accessory qualifies for the deal, but many of the most popular ones do. The Nexus 7 sleeve, case, and folio are all available for 25% percent off, while the Nexus 5 bumper and QuickCover qualify for the offer.
Of course, even with the 25% discount, all of these accessories are still considerably more expensive than they should be. You can find much better cases and folios, for both the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7, a lot cheaper on Amazon. If you want official, Google/LG made products, however, than this deal is certainly nothing to complain about.
Google has been known to do some interesting things with the data it collects from users, and here is yet another example of that. The company has found a way to visualize the data collected from Play Music users and display it on a Google Music Timeline. This timeline offers a visual representation on the growth and decline of certain genres of music (via Google Operating System Blog).
The graph displays a colored stripe for each genre of music. The thickness of each stripe represents the popularity of that genre in a given year. The data is collected from the music uploaded to Play Music by users. For instance, the Jazz stripe is thickest in the 1950s because many users have Jazz content released in that time period in their library.
The Music Timeline shows genres of music waxing and waning, based on how many Google Play Music users have an artist or album in their music library, and other data (such as album release dates). Each stripe on the graph represents a genre; the thickness of the stripe tells you roughly the popularity of music released in a given year in that genre. (For example, the “jazz” stripe is thick in the 1950s since many users’ libraries contain jazz albums released in the ’50s.) Click on the stripes to zoom into more specialized genres.
Today, Google has released a new application for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to allow Google Play users to stream purchased movies and TV shows. You cannot rent or purchase content via this application: you must download it from Google Play on Android or the web and then the purchased titles will be available to stream via this app. The application is only supported in the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. WiFi is currently required for streaming. The app also allows streaming to the ChromeCast.
If developers are finding it difficult to make money from apps today, things are only going to get tougher, according to a forecast by Gartner (via TechCrunch). Looking at the period through to 2018, Gartner predicts that fewer than one in 10,000 apps will be considered financially successful by their developers.
“The vast number of mobile apps may imply that mobile is a new revenue stream that will bring riches to many,” said Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “However, our analysis shows that most mobile applications are not generating profits.”
While this may not necessarily be a bad thing for major brands, who Gartner note may use apps to build brand recognition and product awareness, small developers have a much harder time getting their apps noticed, as consumers increasingly turn to recommendations and advertising to make their selections.
Gartner predicts that by 2017, 94.5 percent of apps will be free or freemium, suggesting that advertising and in-app purchases will become an increasingly important source of income. The company also expects browser-based apps to grow in popularity as the HTML5 standard matures.
Of the most notable things Motorola has accomplished over the past year is arguably its contextually aware services, found on devices like the Moto X. Today, the company’s Assist app on the Play Store has been updated with a few new features. For those unaware, Assist can determine your actions, such as driving and sleeping, and perform a pre-specificed command.
Up until today, the app could only read you the text messages you got while driving. With this newest update, however, you can now reply to texts while driving by speaking to the phone. So once the text is read to you, you will have the ability to read a response to the app. In addition to that, Assist can also now launch your music player of choice when it notices you are driving.
The update is available on the Play Store, although Motorola Assist is only compatible with the most recent Droid line of devices, as well as the Moto X.
Google last updated its Play Services app back in October when KitKat and the Nexus 5 launched with a plethora of improvements. Today via the official Android Developers Blog, the company has announced another rather significant update to the app, brining it to version 4.1.
First off, the update will allow for developers to start implementing turn-based multiplayer capabilities into games entirely with Play Services. This will allow for improved asynchronous games with friends and opponents. The update also adds a developer preview of a new Google Drive API that lets users read and write Google Drive files from any device, with or without a data connection, and have their changes synced across other devices and platforms.
In a surprising weekend announcement, Bitspin has announced that it has been acquired by Google (via Android Police). Bitspin is the company behind the Timely alarm clock app, which has become one of the most popular and well designed apps on the Play Store. It has received between 1 million and 5 million downloads since it’s release and has an overall rating of 4.4 stars out of 5. The developers are also the minds behind the Tasks to-do app, although it’s published under a different name on the Play Store.
We’re thrilled to announce that Bitspin is joining Google, where we’ll continue to do what we love: building great products that are delightful to use.
For new and existing users, Timely will continue to work as it always has. Thanks to everyone who has downloaded our app and provided feedback along the way; we truly appreciate all your support.
