Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Google Releases Preview Of The New Google Contacts Web Interface
Anyone who has used Android and Google services for long enough will probably notice how much junk has accumulated in their contacts. There's a new version of Google Contacts in the works to fix that, and you can try a preview of it right now. Unless you have a Google Apps account. Duh.
So there are cards, a floating action button, and a much cleaner UI. There are also some bugs, but it's a preview, so that's to be expected.
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Google Releases Preview Of The New Google Contacts Web Interface was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Galaxy S6 And S6 edge Hands-On: This Is The Nicest Android Phone Anyone Has Ever Built
This year at MWC, there's little arguing that Samsung failed to deliver on the hype. The Galaxy S6 is the most dramatic redesign the Galaxy S has ever seen, and is more Samsung than ever before. Down to the NAND storage and Exynos chipset, the S6 takes Samsung's larger corporate vision of vertical integration seriously, and that should have Samsung's competitors on edge (no pun intended).
To start, the physical hardware simply seems superb.
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Galaxy S6 And S6 edge Hands-On: This Is The Nicest Android Phone Anyone Has Ever Built was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Google To Stop Updating Chrome For Android Running On Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich After Next Update
The Chrome internet browser was available for desktop and laptop computers some considerable time before it arrived on our Android devices. When the Chrome beta arrived, it was February 2012, three months after Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was released with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Chrome for Android required Android 4.0 or later and it has been meticulously updated ever since. However, news today from Google is that this will change: the next version of Chrome, 42, is the last that will work on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich; future versions will require at least Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Version 42 is due to arrive in mid-April and marks the twenty-fifth update to Chrome since the beta was released. When Chrome version 43 is released in May, devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will not receive the update although of course, Chrome will still work on these devices.
The reason for Google dropping support for Chrome on Android Ice Cream Sandwich is because over the last twelve months, the share of Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich reduced by 30% as more and more devices have been upgraded to Jelly Bean (and later). Now, according to Google’s data, under 6% of devices run Android 4.0. Google would rather devote the resources used for keeping Chrome working over Ice Cream Sandwich into improvements to the code for later versions of Android. Google’s blog writes that supporting Android Ice Cream Sandwich often involves building workaround or special cases, which adds code complexity, reduces performance and of course, slows development down. Going forward, not having to support Android 4.0 should be good news for Chrome and ought to streamline the application. We may see a noticeable performance improvement.
Whilst this decision by Google is in itself news, there are potentially wider implications to the announcement. Google’s perseverance in keeping Chrome updated for a three year old operating system has likely also kept third party developers also keeping their applications up to date for older versions of Android. Google dropping ongoing development for Chrome might also encourage developers to do the same. The mobile world moves quickly and Android has come a long way since Ice Cream Sandwich, but many models are still running this version of the operating system. With Chromebooks, Google has promised to maintain these for five years since launch; that’s two years longer than with Android. Although Chrome OS and Android are different operating systems, running on different hardware (even if they can run on the same hardware), the two platforms are being treated differently. What do our readers think? Is supporting an operating system for three years long enough, or would you rather see support for Android closer to Google’s five-year support for Chromebooks? Let us know in the comments below.
The post Google To Stop Updating Chrome For Android Running On Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich After Next Update appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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Malware And Phishing Scams Are Taking The Form Of Fake Game Guides In Play Books
Malware does not exactly run rampant on the Android platform, it does however exist and any time it comes up it’s still a problem that needs to be addressed. Phishing scams are less common within Android, however they exist as well and are a problem that users will want to watch out for. Typically when a user might encounter a malware issue on Android it has to do with an infected apk file they usually get from outside third party sources other than the Play Store, although there have been apps found to be infected inside of the Play Store before. Most recently, malware and scams are taking shape in another form that people may have not expected, fake guides for games that are located in the Play Books section which promise the buyer access to a cracked and fully working apk and obb files for Android games.
As noted by Android Police, there are loads of these fake guides that are promising users access to cracked apks for games like Limbo, and The Simpsons Tapped Out. The Simpsons Tapped Out is a free game already so why would anyone want to download this guide? Because it also promises donuts,(a special in game currency for buying things which you normally are required to pay real money for to obtain)money, and xp in unlimited amounts for free. Past the obvious fact that this is violating numerous copyrights, there should be red flags raising all over for this. There are guides for other games as well, like Asphalt 8, LEGO Star Wars Complete Saga, and there was even one for one of Ubisoft’s more recent games, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, which is an episodic series game and normally costs $4.99 for the first episode.
There are hundreds more too, as the list just kept populating when I proceeded to scroll down the page. The guides themselves can’t provide the user with any sort of apk install for the games, or the promised in game content, but the guides contain links which lead them to shady websites where the files can be downloaded, and then of course there’s the cost for the guides which range from one dollar to a few bucks. Upon hitting one of these links within a guide, the user would then be redirected to a website called Androider through various ad walls, and would then have an EXE computer program downloaded and installed onto their PC, with apks being downloaded to their mobile device.
Android Police also points out that they spotted phishing scams in here too, which can be just as bad as the malware as they usually try to attempt and gain access to your personal and sensitive information. Just the fact that these fake game guides exist inside of the Play Store is bad enough, but they contain the names of the legitimate games and apps which affords them the opportunity to pop up in search results, where other people who aren’t actively seeking them to stumble upon any one of the guides and download potentially malicious content. When in doubt just use some common sense and stay away from things like this.
The post Malware And Phishing Scams Are Taking The Form Of Fake Game Guides In Play Books appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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Deal: Our $10 Unlimited Lifetime Subscription to IDrive Ends Soon
For a couple more days, you can cruise into the DL Deals shop and grab the unlimited lifetime subscription promo we have been running for IDrive’s mobile backup solution. The deal gives you unlimited lifetime backup for contacts, photos, videos, calendar events, and more, on up to five devices. The service features 256-bit AES encryption along with an optional user defined key, so you shouldn’t be worried about the protection of your stored files.
IDrive works on Android devices running 2.2+, iOS 7.0+, and Windows Phone 8 or 8.1. It also has a web app.
Here are a few additional features:
- 256-bit AES encryption with an optional user defined key
- Back up your iOS device and restore it to your Android and vice versa
- Access backed up files from any mobile device, or through the web
- Share your files with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and email
- IDrive features Facebook & Instagram backup
Deal: Our $10 Unlimited Lifetime Subscription to IDrive Ends Soon is a post from: Droid Life
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Google Inbox updated; Adds minor UI tweaks and more functionality [APK Download]
Google has updated their Inbox app and provides some nice UI changes along with a couple new features. First off, Android 5.0 Lollipop users will now see their status bar change to the color of their action bar. More importantly, different notification sounds can now be attached to different accounts in Inbox which enables you to decipher which account your notification came from. Other additions include shortcuts to features like composing a new message and now you can switch through your several accounts swiftly by swiping left or right.
An APK file is available for download after the break!
Download: Inbox 1.3
Come comment on this article: Google Inbox updated; Adds minor UI tweaks and more functionality [APK Download]
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Chrome v42 Will Be The Last Release For Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was a sweet frozen treat when it came out in 2011, but now something else is freezing—Chrome for ICS. Google has announced that Chrome v42 will be the final build available on Android 4.0. It's a sad day for any remaining ICS users, well more sad than a regular day of being stuck on ICS already is.
Chrome debuted exclusively on Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012.
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Chrome v42 Will Be The Last Release For Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Samsung Reported To Have Sold Less Smartphones Than Apple In Q4 2014
It is no secret that Samsung did not have the best of years in 2014. Reports emerged consistently throughout the year stating that this had been the worst, month, quarter, biyearly and even annually sales for the South Korean tech giant. Well, the reports are continuing his trend this morning, with the latest coming in from Gartner showing that Samsung lost out to Apple in Q4 of 2014 in terms of shipments. For background, Samsung have been the dominant worldwide smartphone manufacturer since all the way back in 2011. That is, they always sell and ship more smartphones than any other singular manufacturer.
However, the latest report by Gartner (source link below) shows that Q4 was the first quarter since 2011 that they were not number one. Reports had already emerged noting that Apple did manage to sell a massive amount of their latest offering the iPhone 6 in Q4 of last year and it seems it was this surge in sales which finally pushed Apple past Samsung in the smartphone rankings. In terms of the details, the latest report shows that Apple sold just shy of the 75 million (74.8) units marker. In contrast, Samsung saw sales of just over 73 million units for the same period. Resulting in Apple selling almost two million more devices.
These results show that Apple’s market share jumped to 20.4% which is up from the previous 17.8% noted for the same quarter in 2013. Again, in contrast. the results meant that Samsung’s market share for Q4 2014 dropped significantly down to 19.9%. This in comparison to the much higher 29.5% market share Samsung were reported to have had in Q3 in 2013. Ignoring the battle between the top two, Lenovo came in third with 24.3 million units for Q4 and the report does note that Lenovo’s figures are representative of Lenovo and Motorola. Following on, Huawei secured fourth position with 21 million units and Xiaomi ranked in fifth with 18.5 million. Of course, it will be interesting to see what 2015 brings in these reports and especially after the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and their more premium look and feel. What do you think? How will the manufacturers do in 2015? Let us know.
The post Samsung Reported To Have Sold Less Smartphones Than Apple In Q4 2014 appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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Rumor: Google’s Upcoming Wireless MVNO Service Could Be Called “Google LTE-A”
Not long after Google’s head of Android and Chrome Sundar Pichai confirmed the existence of the Google MVNO service that many have been speculating on this past month or two, it would seem that a Twitter page for what may be the official account of Google’s wireless services has popped up. At the moment there is nothing really suggesting this is a verified account, but if it turns out to be official it would appear that Google could be looking to name their upcoming wireless network “Google LTE-A.” So far we have no idea when Google is planning to launch their new MVNO service, but Pichai did state yesterday during a talk at MWC 2015 that they are currently considering what to do on the hardware, software and connectivity fronts.
The Google LTE-A twitter account at this point in time has no tweets on it, and no “verified” badge that usually denotes this is an official Google account. It does mention however that “with Google Fiber, Google LTE-A will be a next generation cellular network,” brought to us by Google. Although this is vague, and doesn’t really explain much, it’s possible that Google could be looking to some how incorporate Google Fiber and the potential “Google LTE-A” wireless services. How is still uncertain as again, nothing is confirmed here. It does raise some good questions though, like is Google planning to launch the service where Fiber is already currently up and running? A question that has already been asked before since rumors of the Google cell network began.
It also opens up questions on whether or not Google has plans to tie the two services together in some way, and when exactly would Google be set to launch this upcoming service? That last question may already have an answered, as Pichai also mentioned yesterday that we may begin to see some of the results of what Google has been working on in regards to their MVNO service in the next few months. That points to right around the summer time, just after Google I/O, so we could potentially here more in depth details about it at the upcoming developers conference. He also mentioned that they have no intentions of being a wireless carrier that is at the same scale as existing carriers, but that they are already working with partners for the service, however Picahai did not make any specification as to who those partners might be. Of course, the rumors have been floating around that T-Mobile and Sprint are to be the carriers Google will work with, and that Google’s service would essentially allow users to jump back and forth between WiFi coverage, and Sprint/T-Mobile cell networks when available. All of this is very interesting, but at the moment keep in mind these are just speculations based on what we’ve heard so far and the existence of this currently rather mysterious Google LTE-A twitter account.
The post Rumor: Google’s Upcoming Wireless MVNO Service Could Be Called “Google LTE-A” appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.
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Uber And Fuhu Roll Out uberFAMILY To Keep DC's Little Ones Occupied During Trips
Not all of Uber's passengers are childless 20-somethings looking to stay out late with friends. Some riders have children, and it helps everyone involved if those kids have something to keep them busy. So Uber and Fuhu have come up with a way to keep to do precisely that.
The uberFAMILY service, available first in DC, will equip cars with Fuhu's nabi tablets. In addition to apps, children will be able to take advantage of subscriptions containing both entertaining and educational content.
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Uber And Fuhu Roll Out uberFAMILY To Keep DC's Little Ones Occupied During Trips was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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