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Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans


A gold colored Moto 360 just popped up on Amazon

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 07:29 PM PDT

Gold Moto 360 1

There’s no denying the Motorola Moto 360 is one of the sexier smartwatches on the block, but if you were to fault Motorola for anything, it was the fact that it was only available in 2 color combos silver/grey leather watchstrap, or black on black leather. When Motorola first announced the Moto 360, the company did mention plans to offer steel watchbands later this fall, but a hard date was never given.

Gold Moto 360 2Gold Moto 360 3

Fast forward to today where we’re now well into fall and Motorola is preparing to make available, not only their metal watchbands, but it seems an entirely new Moto 360 color as well. A champagne gold colored Moto 360 has quietly just appeared on Amazon.com along side the new metal watchbands. The watch features a smaller 18mm matching watchband, leaving us to wonder if this one wont be geared more towards the ladies. Although not available for purchase just yet, the retail price is $299, with shipping showing 1 to 2 months.

Also popping up on Amazon is a new Moto 360 color combo: silver with brown leather. For those curious, you can find the all new gold Moto 360 via the link below. We imagine it wont be too much longer before Motorola makes it all official.

Champagne Gold Moto 360 on Amazon

Another place where Google Wallet works alongside Apple Pay? Try the Apple Store

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 06:54 PM PDT

palo_alto_applestore

We tried to tell you guys, anywhere you can use Apple Pay you can also use Google Wallet (which is why we were so excited that Apple was finally making tap-to-pay mobile payments mainstream). Still don’t believe us? Well, check out this screen shot taken from someone’s Android phone as he used Google Wallet to make a purchase from where else, but the Apple Store. Doesn’t get much better than this. Now, if only we could convince Walmart to get on board.

Google Wallet Apple Store receipt

via Reddit

Google Drive, Docs, Slides, and Sheets all updated with Material Design

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 04:10 PM PDT

Google Drive Docs Slides Sheets Material update

Today, a smorgasbord of Google app updates are hitting the Play Store. Everything from YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Android Wear Google Wallet, Google Play Games — it’s a bit overwhelming. No matter, here’s a few screenshots of the newly redesigned Google Docs to give you an idea of what to expect from Google Drive, Google Slides, and Google Sheets. For the most part, they all look exactly like this only with different toolbar colors.

Google Docs update Material Design

All of the above apps have been infused with Google’s fresh new Material Design and feature smaller feature tweaks like the addition of an “Incoming” button in the sidebar menu. As always, feel free to wait for the updates to roll out to your area, or download for manual installation here: Google Drive 2.1.424.13.35Google Docs 1.3.422.14.35 | Google Slides 1.0.952.14.35 | Google Sheets 1.3.422.12.35

Google Camera 2.4.022 update brings, you guessed it, Material Design elements

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 03:27 PM PDT

Google Camera 2.4.022

Buried inside the Android Lollipop Developer Preview was an updated Google Camera app (2.4.008), complete with Material Design elements. It was nothing too flashy. Just some new icons and animations to complete the already very minimal look.

Today, this update is now officially rolling out to the Google Play Store and for the most part, is exactly what we saw in the L preview. You can either find it waiting for you in the Google Play Store right now, or by downloading it here.

Google Play Games also receiving a Material Design makeover

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 02:12 PM PDT

Google Play Games Material Design update

“Update Wednesday” is certainly living up to its name and hot off the Google Play Store is a new update to Google Play Games (we’re sure many more are incoming). The new update brings, what else, but a fresh new Material Design makeover to the app, keeping everything inline with Android 5.0 Lollipop’s clean new UI.

If you guys don’t feel like waiting for the update to hit your Play Store, you can always sideload (install) the app here: Google Play Games 2.1.17

Google Wallet 7.0 brings Material Design, recurring transfers, and low balance alerts [UPDATE]

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 01:31 PM PDT

Google Wallet 7.0 intro

We’re expecting a handful of Google apps to update today and one of the first out the gate is the all new Google Wallet 7.0. A pretty big leap from the previous version (2.0), the latest version of Google Wallet hitting the Play Store doesn’t seem to introduce much by way of new features (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), but does bring a healthy helping of Material Design into the mix.

Google Wallet 7.0 Material Design

Everything has been refreshed from the new lock screen to intro panels explaining how Wallet works. Other than that, you know what to expect. We’re still expecting Google’s promised ad campaign to help spread the word about Wallet which we expect to see as the weeks progress. If you don’t feel like waiting for the update to hit your Play Store, you can always sideload (install) the app by downloading it here.

Google Wallet update 7.0 low balance alert recurring transfer

UPDATE: Soon after this post went live, the Google Commerce Blog revealed some helpful new features making their way to the new Google Wallet update.

The first is being able to set add money and setup recurring transfers if you like. The frequency is entirely up to the user with the option to add a specific amount of money automatically every week, every 2 weeks, or every month. You can even select the day of the week you want this to fall on (should you want sync it up with possible automatic deposits from your real bank). Of course, there are new fees associated with this service.

The other feature is something almost as helpful, with the ability to set alerts for when your Wallet balance hits below a certain threshold. A use case scenario could be my situation where I let my GF use my Google Wallet card to buy food. With alerts, we can both avoid having to deal with the embarrassment of having the card declined for insufficient funds.

Best Android apps from October 2014

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 01:11 PM PDT

bestOCT

Previous Best Apps of the Month

Wow, is October already nearing a close? It feels like just yesterday the leaves were starting to turn and we were talking about the best apps from September. Now the leaves are almost all on the ground, and we have another month’s worth of apps to look at. October gave us a bountiful harvest of new apps. These are our favorites, including a few Android Wear apps and watch faces. Enjoy!

ARChon Packager (formerly Chrome APK Packager)

chrome apk

ARChon Packager is an easy way to produce packages that allow you to run Android apps in any Chrome browser. You can generate chrome packages from either APKs on your phones storage, or from apps installed on your phone. For more information on how to do get this working, read our guide.

BASE Music Sensor

base music

BASE Music Sensor listens to music around you continuously, and when music you might like is played in the background it wakes up your phone with the song’s info. You don’t need to actively listen or open a dedicated app, BASE Music Sensor does all of this for you. BASE says the battery usage is negligible.

BrainWave

brainwave

With BrainWave you can now control your favorite music players simply by using natural hand gestures. BrainWave works with many of the popular music apps, such as Pandora, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play Music, and more. You can Play, Pause, and Select tracks with the ease of waving your hand over the device, without ever unlocking the phone or touching the screen.

djay 2

djay2

The ultra-popular DJ app is now on Android. djay 2 transforms your Android device into a full–featured DJ system. Seamlessly integrated with Spotify and all the music on your device, djay gives you direct access to mix your favorite songs and playlists instantly. You can perform live, record mixes on–the–go, or enable Automix mode to let djay create a seamless mix for you.

Google Fit

Google Fit screenshot tablet

After showing it off briefly onstage during this year's Google I/O developer conference, the official Google Fit app is now available to download on Google Play. The app allows users to gather all sorts of data, straight from the many sensors already found in most Android smartphones.

Inbox

Inbox by Gmail promo hero

Inbox by Google aims to not only group your emails in a meaningful way, but allow you to act on them in appropriate fashion. Inbox is an extension of your Gmail inbox, so it uses the same email you already receive to your typical inbox. The difference is Inbox will do a few different things to help you organize that email a few different ways.

Potential Beta

potential

Potential syncs battery, WiFi and Bluetooth status across all your devices. Forgot to charge one of your devices? It's not an issue any more. Get a notification whenever the battery of any of your devices is running low. This is the perfect app for tech heads like us who own numerous devices.

Shake

shake

Dealing with legal documents is never a fun experience. Shake aims to make the experience much more simple. Shake combines the simplicity of a handshake with the security of a legal contract. Use Shake to quickly and easily create, sign and send legally binding agreements from your Android device.

Squawkin

Squawkin screenshots

Squawkin is the next-generation communication platform that puts you in control like never before. A “Squawk” is a new and unique combination of live audio, photos, text, and location information that you use to create a powerful real-time message. If you change your mind about a Squawk you’ve sent, simply delete it and it’s gone from every other device.

Skype Qik

Skype Qik new screenshots

Qik is a new app from Skype. As you probably guessed, since Skype made this app, video is has a lot to do with Qik. It allows users to send short video messages back and forth, the same way you would a text message. In fact, there's no real way to send actual text — it's all video.

Snowball

snowball

The first thing to say about Snowball is it is “not another messaging app!” This app organizes your messages from the apps you already love providing you with a single, easy-to-access place to view everything. Snowball supports: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, SMS, Hangouts, Twitter, Line, WeChat, and Slack with Telegram, Viber, and Skype.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell app for Android

We warned you to stock up on toilet paper and you now can order food ahead of time using Taco Bell's brand new app. Fresh off the Google Play Store, the new Taco Bell app allows you to skip the line and customize your orders with wherever you crave, straight from the couch/office/toilet.

XDA One

xda one

The popular XDA forums now have their very own official app, but it’s still in the alpha stages. The app is called XDA One, which is their first app to be developed completely in-house. In its current state, XDA One is a fast way to browse and post in the forums. You can access the mention/quote system, see your subscriptions, send PMs, and more.

Android Wear Apps

Analog Keyboard

analog keyboard

Microsoft has made a keyboard, and it’s actually kinda cool. The Analog Keyboard is a prototype of a custom keyboard for the Android Wear platform that lets users enter text by drawing handwritten letters on the watch face. The current version (0.1) only supports square screens with 320×320 screen resolution and the Moto 360.

Bing Torque

bing torque

Sick of using Google Search on your Android Wear device? Microsoft has the answer. With Bing Torque you can perform simple Bing voice searches by simply flicking your wrist. Ask anything: "What's the weather like in Kansas City?” “What is the capital of California?” "Where am I?" for answers right there on your smartwatch.

Escape

escape

Face for Wear

face for wear

Using Face for Android Wear is as simple as using a light switch. All you have to do is pick the right Face Pack or combination you like and push directly from your Smartphone to your Wear. Face for Wear is a lot like Facer or Wear Faces, but geared to be very easy to use.

Stealth360

stealth

Wear Battery Stats

battery

Battery life is a big topic for the Moto 360. At launch the battery life was pretty bad, but a couple recent updates have brought big improvements. If you're still curious about battery life you can track it with a handy app called Wear Battery Stats. You can see battery life in a chart, and even see which apps are using the most juice. The app can be checked on your watch and phone.

What were your favorite apps from October?

Previous Best Apps of the Month

T-Mobile Sony Xperia Z3 now available for purchase, comes with 6 free movie downloads

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 12:58 PM PDT

Sony Xperia Z3 T-Mobile

After pre-orders for the Sony Xperia Z3 opened up almost 2 weeks ago, starting today, you can finally pick one up at T-Mobile. It’s arguably one of the best “pocketable” smartphones you can buy this year and while you wont be able to pick up a free copy of DriveClub (pre-orders only), you can rest assured knowing the phone is all yours for $0 down and only $26 a month over the course of 2 years.

Of course, many of those who pre-ordered are already enjoying the phone since last week, but for everyone else, here’s what you can expect out of the Xperia Z3 on the hardware side of things:

  • 5.2-inch 1080p display
  • 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 processor
  • 3GB RAM
  • 32GB internal storage (with micro SD card slot)
  • 20.7MP camera
  • Front facing stereo speakers
  • 3,100mAh battery with up to 2 days battery life
  • IP68 water/dust proof

As far as media, Sony is throwing in 6 free movie downloads which includes: 22 Jump Street, Amazing Spider-Man 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Captain Phillips, 30th Year Anniversary Edition of Ghostbusters, and Moneyball. All that just for buying the Xperia Z3.

The phone is already available for purchase online, but you may want to call your local retail store ahead of time to make sure they have stock. While today probably wasn’t the best time to launch a new smartphone given all the Nexus 6 hype, we have a feeling the Sony Xperia Z3 will do just fine for itself on T-Mobile.

[Sony Xperia Z3 on T-Mobile.com]

Inbox by Gmail could inspire a new evolution of Android notifications [CONCEPT]

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 11:57 AM PDT

android notifications snooze

Google’s Invite app by the Gmail team introduced a lot of great features to help make email life easier, with highlights including the ability to snooze email, have reminders pinned to the top of your inbox, bundled messages by topic and more. Many of the actions performed in Inbox involve swiping an email. You can swipe to the right to mark it as “done,” or swipe to the left to have it come up at a later time or date.

Phandroid developer Steve Albright wondered if such a system could have a big impact on Android notifications at the system level. He envisioned a notification system where a user can either act on it by jumping into the app, swipe it to the right to close it, or swipe it to the left to have that notification pop back up at some point later. Our friend Liam Spradlin from Android Police caught wind of the idea and conceptualized it in the video you see above.

It certainly is something that could be of use to many people. I, for one, hate having a cluttered notification tray, but if I dismiss notifications before getting a chance to look at them then I will forget they were ever there.

Steve’s suggestion is that this could be implemented on a system-wide level and Google could do it in such a way that developers wouldn’t even need to update their apps. Notifications would work largely as they always have — with advanced controls for things like music playback or buttons for replying to messages — except users would be given the option of dismissing any notification they want temporarily instead of saying goodbye to it forever.

The feasibility of such a feature isn’t likely to be 100% trivial, though if Google can find a way to implement it in a way that makes sense and doesn’t intrude on the user experience in a negative way it could be another one of many killer features Android has become known for. Let us know if you wouldn’t mind seeing something like this in a future Android upgrade by dropping a line below.

Must watch: working Project Ara prototype shown off in behind the scenes video

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 11:24 AM PDT

Project Ara Spiral 1

Still in its infancy, Project Ara still has a ways to go before it reaches a consumer release. Over the past few months, we’ve watch as more information surrounding the project continually trickled out, the most recent being a second round of Project Ara developer’s conferences slated for January in both the US and Singapore.

Some might be surprised to know that although Project Ara runs Android, it isn’t actually an official Android project or even a Nexus device. In fact, it’s not even a Google project. This was made clear in Phonebloks’ latest blog post which clears up some confusion about their involvement in the project. The Ara team wants to make it clear that Dutch designer Dave Hakkens who came up with the Phonebloks concept we showed you guys awhile back is more of a community manager, creating videos and giving sneak peeks at Ara development.

That’s all good and dandy, but we’re sure many of you are dying to see more of the actual prototype and in Phoneblok’s latest video — released just today — you can watch as Dave goes behind the scenes at the NK Labs in Boston, MA and fires up a working Project Ara prototype known as Spiral 1. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t get goosebumps.

Although space on the Spiral 1 prototype is limited (about 49% of the space available to developers), Spiral 2 which is being developed by Toshiba will have “most of the area” available for the developers’ function. Unfortunately, the Toshiba-built prototype wasn’t shown off in the video but will instead take center stage during next years’ Project Ara developer’s conference.

Once again, pricing for an entry-level Project Ara device will likely run around $50-100, although final pricing of an actual Project Ara device will largely remain in the hands of developers building modules. Sign. Me. Up.

Google offering six free months of Google Play Music when you purchase a Nexus 6

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 10:30 AM PDT

google_play_music_all_access

Google’s giving folks quite the incentive to purchase a Nexus 6 for the holiday season. The company is set to offer 6 months of Google Play Music All Access for no charge if you order the phone (which should be up for pre-sale any moment now) by December 31st, 2014. The only other catch is that you must redeem your offer by the end of January 2015, though we have a feeling you won’t be dragging your feet on a $60 value.

Unfortunately this offer does not apply to you if you’ve used a Google Play Music trial or have been a paid subscriber within the past 12 months. Another catch is that you need to be a United States resident in order to be eligible.

Once you get a 6-month helping of Google Play Music you probably won’t want to look back. Google has built up a massive collection of on-demand music that you can listen to without issue. The added bonus of being able to store 20,000 of your own tracks in the cloud is just more icing on a very sweet cake. Let us know if you’ll be taking advantage once you get your Nexus 6 starting next month.

google play music nexus 6 offer

[via Google, Google Play]

[Update: someone jumped the gun] Nexus 6 is now officially available for pre-order on Google Play

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 10:17 AM PDT

nexus-6-domino

When Google first took the wraps off the Nexus 6 earlier this month, they failed to pin a specific date on when we could expect the phone to land on Google Play. About a week later, we watched as the phone’s Play Store listing was suddenly updated with an October 29th pre-order date. Well, the time has come: the Nexus 6 is now officially available for pre-order from the Google Play Store.

Nexus 6 quick specs

  • 5.96-inch, QHD (1440×2560) display
  • Snapdragon 805 processing (quad-core 2.7GHz) with Adreno 420 graphics
  • 13MP rear and 2MP front-facing cameras
  • 3,220mAh battery

Available in 32GB for $650, or 64GB for $700, like Google Play edition devices, we don’t expect the full-priced unlocked model to break any sales records. Thankfully, unlike Nexus devices before it, you can get the phone subsidized through any of the 4 major US carrier’s early upgrade/payment plans when it officially launches next month.

Google’s early estimates say the device is shipping in 3-4 weeks which somewhat lines up with their expectations to have the device shipped out in early November. We have to ask — anyone actually pre-ordering the full-priced unlocked model?

Nexus 6 on Google Play

[Update]: The Google Play listing allowed us to add the 32GB model to cart for about 2 seconds, though Google seems to have set it back to out of inventory. The 64GB is model is still showing the same “coming soon” banner that we’ve ween before. Reports from our comments section, inbox and even our own Derek Ross confirms people who were fast enough were able to place orders.

We doubt Google has already sold out of their initial stock of Nexus inventory so quickly and without saying a word. They are more than likely just making sure everything on the Play Store listing is peachy clean and ready to go. The addition of new promo text that details an offer for a free 6-month Google Play Music All Access subscription certainly leads us to believe someone at Google accidentally let the order form go live ahead of time.

This certainly does mean they’re preparing to open the floodgates, though, and you’ll want to have that trigger finger ready for whenever it goes live. We’ll be updating this post with any relevant information as the seconds and minutes tick by.

Google holding a second round of Project ARA developers’ conferences in January

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 09:56 AM PDT

Project Ara-tested.com

Developers with an interest in Project Ara will want to mark some new dates on their calendars. Google has just announced two new global developers’ conferences specifically aimed toward Project Ara and the module development kit. Version 0.2 is out and Google wants to make sure everyone is up to speed with the latest changes ahead of an anticipated 2015 launch.

These conferences help developers and hardware makers better understand Ara and how they can use the platform to start developing modules for the Lego-like phone project’s eventual release.  This time around, Google will have two central locations from which they’ll run the conferences — one in Mountain View, CA on January 14th, 2015, and one in Singapore on January 21st, 2015. Beyond those central conference sites, there will be 3-4 additional venues where the conference will be telecast via satellite:

  • Mountain View: Google offices in New York City, Buenos Aires, and London
  • Singapore: Google offices in Bangalore, Tokyo, Taipei and Shanghai

Folks at the central site will get full access to everything in person, but those at satellite locations won’t be subject to video alone — they’ll have staff from the Project Ara team available on-site for everything you need help with. Tickets will range from $25 to $200 depending on who you are and what you do. We imagine students will get a break more than anyone else as Google tends to hook that crowd up with significant discounts.

You’ll have to apply to attend at the Project Ara site here by November 26th 2014, and Google will be contacting you to let you know if your request has been accepted. They say you won’t find out any later than December 2nd so that should give you more than enough time to make travel arrangements in advance. Google also warns that they may exclude a location if developer interest isn’t high, though a promise that you won’t be left in the dark should quell any fears you may have.

[via Google+]

You can now order the Galaxy Note 4 developer edition for Verizon

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 08:47 AM PDT

note-4-typical-pic-phandroid

Just a quick heads-up that the developer edition of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is now available over at Samsung’s website. This device comes with an unlockable bootloader, though the catch is that it will only work on Verizon –AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile customers will need to look to the development community for some after-market bootloader love.

Other than the key to unlocked shackles, everything about the developer edition Galaxy Note 4 is identical to the normal version you can buy from Verizon. That includes a 5.7-inch 2560 x 1440 display, 3GB of RAM, a quad-core Snapdragon 805 chipset clocked at 2.7GHz, a 16 megapixel camera with optical image stabilization and more.

Need info on the phone itself? Our Galaxy Note 4 review should get you going. Now all that’s left for you to decide is whether the cost of smartphone freedom is worth $700 without a contract. Head to Samsung’s site to order one if you’re interested.

OnePlus to offer second pre-order opportunity on November 17th

Posted: 29 Oct 2014 07:55 AM PDT

OnePlus One DSC06079

OnePlus One pre-sales went up for about three hours this past Monday. The window of availability was originally set to one hour, but server issues made it difficult for many folks to complete their orders and found themselves ultimately shut out. This caused OnePlus to extend the window, but even that wasn’t enough to help everyone who was willing and able to pre-order the device.

Fortunately OnePlus says they’re planning a second pre-sale event on November 17th for those who didn’t get a chance to get in on the fun. According to a forum post on their official site, OnePlus will be taking the time between these two opportunities to shore up their servers and make sure no one runs into any issues the next time around.

There still seems to be high demand for the phone through this method as the company was able to rack up at least 20,000 pre-orders within the first 30-45 minutes. They imagine they could have sold even more had their servers worked properly.

The new opportunity will go live at 15:00 GMT (about 10am eastern) on the aforementioned November 17th date, so be sure to set a reminder (though we’ll certainly be posting a friendly reminder of our own when the date comes). Let us know if you were one of the unlucky few affected by server issues.

[via OnePlus]