Nova Launcher Beta updated with Lollipop icons and animations

Nova Launcher is one of the more popular third party Android Launchers around, and it is looking to stay on top with an update rolling out that includes a few Android Lollipop icons and animations.

The update is officially for Nova Launcher Beta, but we are finding a few of the items on the stable release as well. Head on over to the Google Play Store to grab your copy of Nova Launcher, if you don’t have it already.

The relevant Android Lollipop bits in the update include:

• Lollipop Circle Folder animation


• Lollipop Scroll indicator


• Lollipop icon theme for Calculator, Clock, Downloads, Email, Dialer, Settings and SMS.

All of the new items are available options you’ll find tucked away in the Nova Launcher settings. Head to Settings -> Folder -> Transition Animation for the Folder animation, Settings ->Desktop -> Scroll Indicator for the scroll indicator, and into Settings -> Look and Feel -> Icon Theme for the Lollipop icons.

Image Source: Droid Life

There is more to the update as well, including the addition of a preview for scroll effects in settings and, as is normal in most updates, a few optimizations and bug fixes.

You’ll need to sign up for Nova Launcher Beta to get the full experience. You can do so in their Google+ community over here. Of course, if you don’t like the bleeding edge, we are sure that stable release Nova Launcher will get these Android 5.0 Lollipop Material Design tidbits soon enough.

Any Nova Launcher Beta users out there care to weigh in on the Lollipop inspired update? Any non-Beta users now looking to make the switch?

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Rumor: A Project Codenamed Bigtop Will Be Google's New Task-Oriented Email System

Reaching "Inbox zero" is not an easy task. Especially when there are those emails that might require future action, or those that hang in a nebulous state of still being useful despite the conversation having ended. It's also not very easy to parse out exactly what you need to get done after poring over a page of emails. To address both of these issues (and a few others), Google has been working on a project called Bigtop.

Rumor: A Project Codenamed Bigtop Will Be Google's New Task-Oriented Email System was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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[Android Wear 4.4W2 Feature Spotlight] This Is Offline Music Playback Over Bluetooth In Android Wear Using Play Music

Google has promised standalone music playback over Bluetooth as part of Android Wear for some time, and it appears with Wear version 4.4W2 we're finally getting it, at least if you use Play Music (you're also getting new playback controls). If you're using the latest Play Music APK on your Android phone and have the Android 4.4W2 update on your smartwatch, you can now download your pinned music from your smartphone to your watch.

[Android Wear 4.4W2 Feature Spotlight] This Is Offline Music Playback Over Bluetooth In Android Wear Using Play Music was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Users of Chrome OS and Android 5.0 reporting Easy Unlock feature is operable

In April, we learned that Google would be implementing a way for an Android phone to unlock a Chrome OS device. That feature is reportedly operable for some users with Android 5.0 Lollipop. It is called Easy Unlock and just asks Chrome OS users to hit a single button to login when their phone is nearby, forgoing the need to manually enter a password. It all works through Bluetooth Low Energy.

Have you found the Easy Unlock feature to be available yet? Let us know in the comments.

Via: OMG! Chrome!

Come comment on this article: Users of Chrome OS and Android 5.0 reporting Easy Unlock feature is operable

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Verizon pushing Eye Experience update to its HTC One (M8) on Wednesday

Either the hardware manufacturers are getting things right or the carriers are easing up on the testing phase. Tomorrow, owners of the HTC One (M8) on Verizon will be getting a software update. The update includes the new Eye Experience that was announced alongside the Desire Eye and RE Camera. HTC expects the over-the-air (OTA) update to arrive around noon on Wednesday.

Mo Versi, HTC’s VP of Product Management, tweeted the news on Tuesday:

HTC One (M8) Verizon owners! We have technical approval on Eye SW! OTA target for tomorrow at noon! #HTCAdvantage

Source: @moversi (Twitter)

Come comment on this article: Verizon pushing Eye Experience update to its HTC One (M8) on Wednesday

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[Android Wear 4.4W2 Feature Spotlight] Here Is The New Music Control UI For Wear, Now Including Volume Buttons

We spotted it in a teardown of the new material Play Music app this morning, but it looks like a new set of media controls in Android Wear are live - and here's exactly what they look like.

The new controls get a red-themed makeover and volume +/- buttons, plus a nifty kind of physical remote key animation. It's nice. For Play Music, these new controls require two things: the material version of Play Music (which contains an updated mini APK for Wear with these controls) and the 4.4W2 update to Wear, which is rolling out to some devices now, like the LG G Watch.

[Android Wear 4.4W2 Feature Spotlight] Here Is The New Music Control UI For Wear, Now Including Volume Buttons was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Teardown confirms Sony IMX240 camera sensor inside the Galaxy Note 4

With the Galaxy S and Note lines, Samsung has the tendency to use the same camera sensors for both in a given year. So when the Galaxy Note 4 was announced, as tradition would suggest, we should see it toting their new ISOCELL technology, right? Wrong.

As previously reported, a recent teardown of the phone confirms that Samsung has in fact gone with a Sony IMX240 camera sensor in their most recent flagship. In the past, Samsung hasn’t exactly been shy about it’s journey into ISOCELL camera technology, especially after seeing its first iteration in the Galaxy S5. So, after ISOCELL’s brief, mass-market trial period with the S5, Samsung has decided to go back to Sony sensors — at least for now.

If we had to take a guess as to why, we have a feeling OIS support has a big part to play in this change. After all, we praised the camera in our Galaxy S5 review but at the moment Samsung’s ISOCELL cams are without OIS support. Does this mean that Samsung is done with ISOCELL cameras in their flagship phones? We doubt it.

What do you think of the change, glad to see a return to Sony’s cams or would you prefer Samsung to have stuck with ISOCELL?

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Meet the Devs – Neverend Studios

Welcome back to our Meet the Devs segment! In this piece we take a little time to get to know the people who really make Android what it is today and that is the app developers. In this week’s developer interview, we are talking to Kyle Denney.

Name: Omar Farooq

Developer Name: Neverend Studios

Country: Pakistan

Website: Official website

Facebook Profile/Page: Binary Fall Facebook page

How many people on your team? 3

Apps

Binary Fall

Tell us about your company

We are a small team of young developers still in college we are all very passionate about games and we really enjoy making games which we ourselves would like to play. We are just starting out in game development and we try to make the best possible games that we can using our limited resources.

What level of experience do you have with coding and development?

We are all computer science students and beside a few pet projects this has to be the most serious kind of development we have ever done.

What languages do you know? How and where did you learn them?

C, C++ we learned in college where as Java and C# we learned ourselves.

What level of experience do you have with design?

We have a very basic experience with design.

What apps have you made?

Currently Binary Fall is the Only app we have made

How do you monetize your apps?

Ads.

Do you consider yourself successful?

No.

How difficult is it to make money as a developer?

So far making money has been only a fantasy since getting downloads has been an impossible task.

What can Android do to improve?

It can provide more support for third world Countries developers it was extremely difficult to acquire a google developer account.

Why did you choose Android? Do you develop for other platforms? What are the differences between them?

Google was the best choice in terms of affordability and market share. We have also developed for windows phone which was very affordable, free actually but it has been difficult for our app to gain much traction on the platform because of the low market share.

What are your thoughts on iOS and Windows 8?

iOS is a good platform but if only it was cheaper we don’t have problem with their closed ecosystem and actually enjoy their design decisions. We are avid users of windows 8 and simply don’t understand the problem the rest of the world seems to have with it.

What do you think of the Android design guidelines?

Android design guidelines seem pretty vague since Android itself is pretty fragmented and every other OEM seems to have their own version of Android.

What are your favorite apps?

• 2048 we do give credit to threes.


• Super Hexagon simple gameplay excellent execution something we aspire to.


• Don’t the white tile, very fun very addictive


• Binary Fall the best there is :)

What has been your experience been like working with Google?

Well we have just started so all we can say is it has been good.

What does the future of development look like?

Well this is a big question, it seems to us that indie development will keep growing which is good because indie development provides more freedom to game designers to employ innovative designs in their games without the burden of huge budget and market expectations. Game development particularly seems to be in a very exciting place right games such as Flappy Bird and 2048 have proved that any game can become popular irrelevant of its surface appeal.

What tips do you have for aspiring developers?

Game development is a fun proposition but it requires serious commitment and requires a little bit of discipline if you really want to achieve something noteworthy. If your just starting out and don’t know where to start than you should acquire a skill useful in game development mainly programming or art design since that would be the best way to make the game you want to make because getting someone who has those skills to work on your game could prove to be a more difficult task, execution is everything even if you have a dozen ground breaking ideas if you aren’t able to translate them to a good quality game than those don’t really help you in any way.

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We want to thank Omar for chatting with us in this week’s developer interview! If you’re a developer and this looks like something you’d like to do, check out our Meet the Devs form! We look forward to hearing from you.

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Google hoping to lure smaller manufacturers to Google’s Android, over AOSP

For most of us, Android is more than just an open-source operating system, it’s a portal to awesome Google services like Google Maps, Google Play and so many others. In reality, AOSP Android doesn’t have any special Google services included by default, leaving it up to various OEMs to secure Google Play certification and make sure their software builds comply with Google’s standards.

Most Android devices found in major markets are going to be Google Certified, but that’s not necessarily the case in many emerging markets. The growth of AOSP Android devices goes way beyond just China, as new data indicates that as much as 30% of Android devices in several emerging markets are actually running open-source Android without officially certified Google apps. ABI Research claims that 65 million devices shipped globally with open-source Android in the second quarter of this year, up from 54 million in the first quarter.

Google is working to simplify the process for smaller handset makers looking to get certified

According to The Information, Google is hoping to combat AOSP Android’s growth in emerging markets so it can more effectively push its vision for Android and provide a unified experience for Android users everywhere. Part of this move involves Android One, which provides cheap Google certified devices with quick updates to new OS versions, but that’s just the beginning. Reportedly Google is working to simplify the process for smaller handset makers looking to get certified.

To help speed things along, Google is said to be looking into the idea of forming partnerships with ODMs such as Foxconn, Quanta and Flextronics, which produce smartphones for smaller firms which then sale their devices to India, Brazil, China and many other markets.

It’s unclear what Google plans to do to incentivize both the ODMS and the smaller Android manufacturers into going through certification, but it’s a move that would (arguably) be in the better interest of Android users as it would open the door to legal copies of Maps, Play and other key apps. Beyond that, it would also ensure that these handset makers would have to agree to certain “compatibility” requirements and standards in order to get certification.

What do you think, is Google wise to go after the AOSP Android market? Conversely, do you feel Google is trying too hard to control the direction of Android?

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