TalkAndroid Daily Dose for July 22, 2014

With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!

Apps

HTC puts the Sense keyboard in the Play Store for easier updates

Twitch for Android sees 3.0 update, bringing new interface and more features

Carriers

Sprint not alone in wanting T-Mobile, Carlos Slim expressing interest

Kyocera Hydro Life coming to T-Mobile’s network later this year

More details surface about ZTE Olympia headed to T-Mobile

Verizon launches “Smart Rewards” program nationwide to reward customers for doing mundane Verizon tasks

Chromecast

Google redesigns the Chromecast site with improved usefulness

Gaming

NVIDIA announces the Shield Tablet and Shield Wireless Controller, pre-orders start now

Twitch for Android sees 3.0 update, bringing new interface and more features

The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land to swarm onto mobile devices in 2015

Google

Siri and Google Now duke it out, which is better?

Google releases updates focused on filters and views for Google Sheets

Phones

Kyocera Hydro Life coming to T-Mobile’s network later this year

Korea’s LG G3 LTE-A finally unveiled, features Snapdragon 805 processor

OnePlus giving out 5000 invites in a “Blizzard of Invites”

OnePlus One bamboo cover coming in August

Samsung’s Galaxy Alpha production may be limited due to metal design

Xiaomi announces what it’s calling the ‘fastest smartphone in the world,’ the Mi4

More details surface about ZTE Olympia headed to T-Mobile

Smartwatches

Kernel source files for LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live released by Google

Tablets

NVIDIA announces the Shield Tablet and Shield Wireless Controller, pre-orders start now

Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Daily Dose for July 22, 2014

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SWIP3 claims ‘first!’ in the games built for Android Wear category [video]

There are a few games already out there for your Android Wear devices, but unit9.apps has launched what is being touted as the first game built specifically for Android Wear, SWIP3. Get in on the history for $1.69 on the Google Play Store.

SWIP3 is a fairly simple match-three game with the same swipe any direction functionality that you would find on games like 2048. You are presented with a grid of colored squares, swipe up, down, left or right to connect at least three tiles of the same color to eliminate them from the board.

In addition to the game play on your Android Wear device, you can also shoot for your next high score in SWIP3 on your Android phone or tablet. But where’s the fun in that – as the first game built specifically for Android Wear, there is an argument to be made for sticking to your handy LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live for making your cool color matching combos.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, prove your skills by competing with your friends for high scores on the community leaderboard. The details for the app in the Google Play Store include a little challenge for you, how many points can you get in a single swipe?

When you grab your copy of SWIP3 for $1.69 in the Google Play Store, be sure to follow their install instructions, else face the dreaded black screen that is plaguing users in the reviews. The game is brand new today, so we expect those hiccups to be worked out soon.

Moving forward, we will be very interested to see how this very square app design translates to devices such as the round faced Moto 360. Perhaps it will get a new game layout, or perhaps it will just shrink to fit the screen, either way, the developer has a little bit of time to make that decision, as the Moto 360 is still a month or two away.

There you have it folks, Android Wear devices have been gracing the wrists of users for a couple weeks and the first built for Android Wear game has hit the market. Is this the future of wearable technology that you were hoping for?

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Google releases updates focused on filters and views for Google Sheets

The Google Drive team has announced some new features and updates that have been added to the Google Sheets spreadsheet app. The updates focus on filter and view options for spreadsheets. Headlining the changes is the ability to create a “temporary filter view” on spreadsheets for which users only have read access permissions. Using the temporary filter, users can filter and sort data in those spreadsheets.

Google also added some features that will make it easier to share spreadsheet data with other users. First, a specific view can be shared so that recipients don’t have to go through a long list to figure out what it is you are wanting them to look at. This can be achieved just by copying and pasting a URL. Second, Google added the ability tothe range that is used to define a filter view. Previously, to change the range users would have to delete the existing range and then create a new one.

source: +Google Drive

Come comment on this article: Google releases updates focused on filters and views for Google Sheets

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Google To Offer $1 Million As A Grand Prize In Their “Little Box Challenge” Contest

Google is on the hunt to find an alternative to today’s power inverters which it says are “too large”, and together with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is holding a contest to see if anyone can come up with an idea for a smaller, yet just as equally if not more efficient power inverter to be used for things like Solar Powered homes, electric cars and other variations of “green” tech. The contest pays the Grand Prize Winner a hefty sum of $1 million, which Google themselves completely funded. Google’s reasoning is multi-pronged, with benefits going directly to Google in addition to the other industries and even individual consumers that it would help should someone end up inventing a smaller inverter box. Current boxes Google states are the size of large coolers.

Yes Google’s goals here are admirable in that they have what seems like a never ending quest to bring more “green” everything to the planet, but there is also personal gain at play here. Not only do they help their “green tech” image as a company who often involves itself with environmental goals and advancements, but they also end up benefiting from the potential use of these smaller power inverters inside their data centers, which could help them more efficiently power all their servers across the globe. It’s a win/win, as they not only use less energy to power their servers and keep things running, which ends up costing them less money, but they also better their environmental image for using less of that energy.

The job of the Power inverter is to take the direct current and transform it into alternating current that can be use to power homes and electric cars, as well as many other products. The direct current being used comes from solar panels and batteries. With current inverters being too big Google’s march to seek a smaller unit also has honorable intentions, with Google stating that inverters moving from the size of a cooler to the size of say like a laptop or tablet, they could potentially bring electricity to remote places on earth that either don’t currently have power or don’t have much to distribute. Google is giving contestants quite a bit of time to put in their submissions of course, stating that submissions will be accepted all the way up until July 15th of next year, and that they will announce finalists in October of which there will be 18, and finally announcing the Grand Prize Winner in the middle of January 2016 on the 16th of that month.

The post Google To Offer $1 Million As A Grand Prize In Their “Little Box Challenge” Contest appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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Video: Google Play 4.9.13 Tour!

The new version of Google Play is rolling out today as version 4.9.13. Up front, it doesn’t look like a massive overhaul, since the category and main pages haven’t been touched, but individual listings for apps, music, books, and movies have all been given a Material Design-like makeover. In other words, they are now super pretty with new sliding animations, layout changes, big imagery that takes center stage, and lots of white space (if that’s a good thing).

Since there are changes, we took a quick walk-through of them to make sure you aren’t completely confused when loading up Google Play the next time.

You can download v4.9.13 here.

Video: Google Play 4.9.13 Tour! is a post from: Droid Life

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Uber’s “Black Car” Fleet In Philadelphia Gets Free WiFi From Google Starting Today

Taxi’s can be great in a pinch, especially if your destination is an extremely important one. What are all taxi cabs missing though? If you guessed in car draft pours or snacks for passengers during the ride, you’d be completely wrong but that would definitely be the best cab ride of my life. Nope, the real answer to that question was WiFi access, and Google,(surprise, surprise)aims to be the company to make WiFi during your ride a reality. In fact they already have, at least in Uber black vehicles, and only in Philadelphia for now. However with the possibility that WiFi inside of Philadelphia’s Uber Black fleet vehicles could become a big hit, that would have to leave the door open for other Uber vehicles in other cities to get the WiFi treatment as well. That will have to wait of course though, and it’s in no way a definite thing, just more of a hope on our end.

The free WiFi access is available to passengers of Uber Black vehicles starting today and the service will be available through Labor Day. Should you be in the area during these times and opt to call for an Uber ride pickup, you’ll be able to use the WiFi access in those vehicles while you’re on your way to your destination. The idea behind it all was to provide a way for business professionals to access the internet in case they wanted to work during their trip to and from where ever they’re going.

Not sure how you would guarantee yourself an Uber black car with WiFi inside? Uber has made the action as simple as possible. Once inside the app, there is a WiFi button at the top that you’ll need to slide into an “on” position, much like you were turning on your devices WiFi to use it on any network to connect. From that point on you simply just request a “Black Car” and that’s that. Although most people already have data features connected to their wireless plans these days, the free Black Car WiFi feature would make it easy to connect up to the internet and work or browse for free without having to use your own data allotment. As this type of service from Uber is still new they want to set up a couple expectations for potential passengers. WiFi connections may not be ideal in some areas, and WiFi enabled Black Cars are sure to be in high demand at certain points of the day so it may be a little difficult to get the ride you want, in which case, users would just have to connect using their own data or wait till they get where they’re going.

The post Uber’s “Black Car” Fleet In Philadelphia Gets Free WiFi From Google Starting Today appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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Google Play Store 4.9.13 begins its roll out, features fresh new Material design

A few moments ago Googler Kirill Grouchnikov announced via his Google+ profile that an all new version of the Google Play Store is currently rolling out to Android devices. Still in the first phase of its rollout, Google Play 4.9.13 brings a whole new fresh can of paint to the former Android market.

Featuring Google’s recently unveiled Material Design, app, game, and other listings have been revamped enough that you’re going to want this. Now . You’ll notice huge featured banners are once again making their return with embedded video trailers where available.

Other changes include Google+ recommendations from friends and buttons for reviews or similar apps/games all lumped into the same section. Wordy text for listings has also been cleaned up, hidden behind an additional button press in order to view full app or game descriptions (once installed, only the changelog will be displayed).

For those that simply can’t wait for it to roll out to their device, a 3rd party download link has been provided below for manual installation. Enjoy!

Download Google Play 4.9.13: MediaFire

Thanks, Tito_01!

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Here’s a sneak peek at The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land coming soon to mobile devices [VIDEO]

AMC’s The Walking Dead is preparing for its 5th season this October. For Android users who are fans of the show, today we’re being treated to a mini-trailer for the upcoming mobile game titled, “The Waking Dead: No Man’s Land.” Developed by new Finnish game studio Next Games, the mobile game will feature the same post-apocalyptic drama of the show, only it will offer an interactive experience made especially for smartphones and tablets.

The trailer doesn’t show much in terms of gameplay, but it does offer a sneak peek at the more graphically intensive visual style Next Games will be using for their title. You may remember Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead which recently launched on Android featuring a cell-shaded look that more closely resembled the look of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. Next Games says their title will also be based around making difficult choices, while looking for safety, but it’s unclear the type of action (FPS, strategy, quick time events) we’ll be looking forward to.

The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land will be debuting on mobile around the same time the mid-season premier of season 5 hits airwaves. Next Games will be offering another never-before-seen trailer during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con at the Walking Dead booth during the event. Until then, take a look at what Next Games has in store for our mobile devices next year.

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Google Play Store Update 4.9.13 Adds Material Design App And Content Pages [APK Download]

Google teased an upcoming release of the Play Store with Material Design element at I/O last month, and we actually got a pretty good look at the new version ourselves last week. Starting today, that new version, 4.9.13, is rolling out, and we've got the APK for you, as always. Take a look at this quick visual overview of the changes (we've got more images down below as well), and be sure to read Liam's post on the update for all the details.

Google Play Store Update 4.9.13 Adds Material Design App And Content Pages [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Become A Business Tycoon In Transport Empire From Game Insight

Just in case you have ever dreamed of becoming a transport tycoon, Transport Empire will let you fulfill that dream in a Steampunk/Victorian era inspired wonderland where you’ll have to build up a town, fill it with people and transport them where ever they need to go, thus also building up your own fortune. Transport Empire doesn’t just have trains, oh no! It has trains, boats, and airships with which to provide the people a means of travel. Trains will require railroads though, so you’ll have to put some of the people to work to make those railroads a reality.

Build roads and mines to help the towns economy flourish, then develop other cities and do the same thing there to expand your wealth beyond epic proportions. In Transport Empire, you’ll be the savior of a once thriving community called Storwell. Once filled with riches and a liveliness about it that was unmatched. Through hard times the city is no longer as prosperous as it once was, and it’s your job to restore it to the greatness it used to be, while getting rich yourself too of course. There are three different types of transportation as listed above, but between those three there are five different types of locomotives, and multiple various types of airships and steamboats.

To succeed in Storwell you’ll have to develop every aspect of the city. Production through the building of mines and factories, warehouses, farms and quarries all to make sure that you have enough resources to build the other things you need. You’ll have to steadily improve the advancements of Storwell too, while also developing and building up everything else. Transport Tycoon was developed using Unity Engine so you can expect to see some gorgeous graphics within the game, as well as become engaged with the intricate storyline that the game has to offer. Transport Empire also features multiple amazing characters with rich and compelling stories which you’ll find it hard not to get attached to. Transport Empire is out now and free to download and play, and offers in-app-purchases should you want to speed things along.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The post Become A Business Tycoon In Transport Empire From Game Insight appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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[ಠ_ಠ] There Is Now A File Manager For Android Wear – Next Stop, Photoshop?

Android Wear is a cool platform that Google designed to have a more limited feature set. After all, it's running on a tiny screen strapped to your wrist. We need to remember, though, that it's still Android and that means people are allowed to run pretty much any insane pile of code on it. Case in point – File Manager for Android Wear. The name tells you what it is, and I'm telling you you should not spend $3.99 on a file manager for your smart watch.

[ಠ_ಠ] There Is Now A File Manager For Android Wear – Next Stop, Photoshop? was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Google/Spotify Deal Never Happened Due To Spotify’s High Asking Price

Google may have settled on Songza as the streaming music service that it purchased earlier this year, but reports are stating that Google had at one point been interested in actually buying up a rival streaming service, and a popular one at that, a service we all know and should be familiar with by the name of Spotify. There were already rumors that Google would be buying Spotify a couple of months back in the early part of 2014, but what’s more likely is that it was simply chatter over the consideration Google had late last year in 2013, when they were insterested in picking up Spotify but had decided it was more than they wanted to spend on the acquisition.

This may have ultimately led to the decision to buy Songza instead, and quite honestly they couldn’t have made a better choice. Songza was cheaper,(apparently)and has quite the superior music aggregation software behind its available service that not only bests Google’s own Play Music All Access in terms of feeding music to the listener based on certain criteria, but rivals the other top streaming services as well. It would seem to have been all for the best, as Songza and Google are proud to be working together and Songza stated in their blog post after the initial announcement from Google that they were happy to be joining the team. The main reason behind the decision to pull back is said to be over the asking price that Spotify was requesting, but according to a source of the Wall Street Journal Google’s CEO Larry Page is not the biggest fan of subscription based services and that was another factor in the matter. I personally find that part quite perplexing since Google has a subscription based music service themselves, which there’s a good bet Larry page uses.

Whether or not Larry actually has a distaste for subscription services is unconfirmed by Google or Spotify, but in any case Page and Google as a whole decided to look elsewhere and they found what they were looking for. Spotify of course probably isn’t dwelling on the matter, as their service is doing just fine and subscribers of Spotify generally love the service. Spotify staying on their own will also continue to foster innovation both between Google and Spotify as well as the other player in the space, and push both companies to make their music streaming services better to further compete with one another as well as others in the market. Google is also rumored to be launching a YouTube based music service which is said to be the Spotify competitor, but we though that’s what Play Music All Access already did in a sense. Perhaps we’re crazy.

The post Google/Spotify Deal Never Happened Due To Spotify’s High Asking Price appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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HTC’s Sense Keyboard Hits the Play Store – Only Compatible with HTC Devices

HTC published their own keyboard in the Play Store today. Which is a good thing, even though it is only compatible with HTC devices. What it means is that those that own HTC devices like the HTC One M8, One Mini 2, etc., can get updates to the Sense 6 Keyboard without needing an entirely new OTA pushed out. Which is great, especially here in the US since the carriers like to mess around with OTA’s. Back in April, shortly after the HTC One M8 launched, HTC pushed out some of the language packs for their keyboard into the Play Store. But now the entire keyboard is there.

The HTC Sense keyboard is actually a really good keyboard and looks really nice as well. While I’d still prefer Swiftkey, those that like stock keyboard’s like Google’s will love the HTC Sense Keyboard. Even though it is only compatible with HTC devices, unfortunately. We were hoping it’d be available for more devices, but as of writing this it’s just HTC devices. Although HTC does have Blinkfeed and Zoe coming to all Android devices pretty soon – well Zoe is already available but doesn’t do much.

We aren’t sure which HTC devices will be able to use the HTC Sense Input app, but we’re guessing it’s all 2013 and newer devices. So the HTC One M7 and newer. Since those are all the ones on Sense 6.0 right now, or on their way to Sense 6.0. This includes the various Desire devices they’ve announced this year. When I was using the HTC One M8, I actually really liked the keyboard, although being a Swiftkey guy I had to switch (I’m just too used to Swiftkey now), but I’d say it’s one of the best OEM keyboards out there. Even better than the keyboard on the LG G3. How many of you are still using HTC’s keyboard?

The post HTC’s Sense Keyboard Hits the Play Store – Only Compatible with HTC Devices appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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Wrath of Godjelly – Indie app of the day

What is Wrath of Godjelly?

Wrath of Godjelly is a fun little time waster where you must play as Godjelly and kill all of the ants that killed your wife, Godjellina. Despite its simple premise and graphics, the game is already gaining a reputation for being harder than it looks and it’s totally free to boot!

Here’s how you play. You tilt your device to move Godjelly around. With your fingers, you tap and pretty to create blast zones. When you release, Godjelly unleashes his wrath and you squash some ants. You keep doing this as long as you can until the ants eventually kill you. There are also sugar bags which kill every ant on the screen if you can get to it. It’s important to note that you actually have to wait for the blast as it doesn’t happen instantaneously.

Along with the game you’ll also get Google Play Games leaderboards so you can see how well you did against your friends and the general public which is a nice touch. There aren’t any in app purchases at this time and the game is supported by advertisements. Other than that, there really isn’t much to Wrath of Godjelly. You just kill some ants and have some fun.

I wish jelly actually did this.

PROS

• The simple-but-still-somewhat-difficult premise is actually pretty fun.


• Leaderboards are a nice touch.


• The tap+tilt game play (along with the subsequent swearing) is going to make you look ridiculous in public.


• Developer appears keen on adding new stuff like music and backgrounds to help keep the game fresh.

CONS

• As with all time wasters, the repetition will eventually get boring.


• Achievements would've been nice.

6.5

If this were a paid game then this article probably wouldn’t exist. However, as a free game with no in app purchases, it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re in the market for a new time waster. The leaderboard is a nice addition and it appears as though the developer plans on adding more content as time goes. Why not give it a shot?

Check out the last indie app of the day: Login Auto-Fill Browser

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Amazon Wallet Arrives on the Google Play Store

No, this is not a mobile payment application like Google Wallet or ISIS. Now that’s out of the way. Let’s talk about Amazon Wallet. So what exactly is it? Well it’s an app that will store your Gift Cards and reward cards. And that’s about it. Once you have scanned your gift card or reward card into the app, you can bring it up using a QR code or a barcode that merchants can scan. This makes it easier to use these cards in case you don’t bring it with you when you go to a specific merchant. Say for instance you end up at Best buy, don’t have your Rewards card with you, just pull out your phone and show the barcode to the cashier and voila. Although they can also look it up by your phone number. So I guess that the Amazon Wallet app isn’t completely necessary.

Additionally, with “supported” merchants you will be able to check your gift card balance on the app. Which is a nice touch, but it’d be better if it worked with all merchants. Also you can edit your cards that are in Amazon Wallet from their website “your Amazon Wallet cards can be viewed and edited at Amazon.com/wallet, where you will also find the credit cards, bank accounts, and other payment methods saved in your Amazon account.” Which is also a nice touch. As not all of us want to add all our stuff into the app through our phone or tablet. And being able to do it on their website is much easier, for some of us.

This app is also featured on the Amazon Fire Phone which should be launching later this week at AT&T. It’ll be interesting to see how many people actually use this Amazon Wallet app. Are you going to give it a try? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Amazon Wallet Arrives on the Google Play Store appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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[New App] HTC Publishes Its Sense Keyboard On The Google Play Store

Apparently segmenting your customized software into easily-updatable Play Store apps is a popular trend. HTC is the latest to get on board, presumably because the person who makes the keyboard work is tired of waiting on the whole Sense team to put an over-the-air firmware update together. HTC published extra language packs back in April, and now Sense users can get timely updates for the keyboard as well.

You know the drill: this will only work on compatible HTC hardware, so don't even try it on other phones or tablets.

[New App] HTC Publishes Its Sense Keyboard On The Google Play Store was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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