Breaking the first images of the Moto Z, HelloMotoHK has a realtively reliable record when it comes to Motorola devices. A new leak suggests that Moto Z devices sold in China will forgo Moto’s lightly skinned version of Android for Lenovo’s. Fortunately, models sold in the US and around the world will reportedly stick with the near stock Android we’re familiar with.
Mojang today announced a huge update to its popular Minecraft Pocket Edition app for Android devices. The big focus of the update is access to new free and paid skins for characters (as pictured above):
Skins are the way you change the appearance of your Minecraft character. Instead of looking like Alex or Steve, you can roll with a different vibe, like a butcher, dog, or plumber. Skins are purely cosmetic – they don’t affect the way the game plays or give you any special abilities.
Paid skins are available to purchase in bundles, but users can also upload or create their own as well as find free skins within the game. You’ll get around 20 skins for $0.99/€0.79/£0.79 if you opt for the paid bundles.
The update also includes other improvements and new features including the ability to fish and a long list of new animals. The full list of what’s new is below:
You can grab the updated Minecraft Pocket Edition on Google Play soon.
When Google unveiled Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, we quickly learned that a refined version of the “Holo” system theme would be used throughout the operating system. Now, Google has announced in a blog post on the Android Developers website that it will require vendors to use the theme to gain access to the Android Market and Google apps and services. Android Framework engineer Adam Powell explained:
In Android 4.0, Holo is different. We’ve made the inclusion of the unmodified Holo theme family a compatibility requirement for devices running Android 4.0 and forward. If the device has Android Market it will have the Holo themes as they were originally designed. This standardization goes for all of the public Holo widget styles as well.
The benefit, according to Google, will be easier to implement future updates for vendors. As The Verge pointed out, “it most definitely does not mean that Google is enforcing usage of the theme on” third-party developers. It will, however, allow developers to avoid using the system themes of TouchWiz and other third-party skins, and instead they can utilize Holo. Powell wrapped up Google’s final thoughts on the decision below:
