APK BRO™ - Download APK Android Apps: 03/11/15

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

With Google Store now selling devices, here’s the new URL for Google’s merchandise store

With Google re-purposing store.google.com as their new devices page, offering up everything from Nexus, to Nests, and other hardware accessories, you may be asking yourself what happened to the old Google Store. You know, Google’s old merch store where they sold all kinds of Google branded merchandise from sweaters, to t-shirts, dog bowls, or even (our personal favorite) an Android cookie jar.

As you probably guessed, it’s officially been moved. Starting today, you’ll want to bookmark googlemerchandisestore.com if you’re looking for Google branded merch. Where should you start? Well, how about these official Android stickers for only $2.20.

[Google Merchandise Store]

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[Flash All The Things] Android 5.1 OTA Roundup For Nexus Devices

Of our many jobs here at Android Police, one is to make our readers' lives easier when we can. With that in mind, here's a roundup of every known Android 5.1 OTA for every Nexus device that will be receiving it. As new ones become available, this post will be updated accordingly. Android 5.1 will be released to Nexus 4, 5, 6, 7 (2012 and 2013), 9, and 10. As I'm sure you've guessed, there will be plenty of files to be had.

[Flash All The Things] Android 5.1 OTA Roundup For Nexus Devices was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Google’s Latest Update Of Play Music Brings Visual And Functional Changes[APK]

Google-Play-Music-AH-1

Google is on the edge of releasing a new update to Google Play Music here soon. The new update brings in some new visual changes which streamline the look with multiple other Google apps, and users can likely expect some performance and bug fixes with this update as those have become somewhat of the norm with each app update release. The biggest thing that users should notice here is that the navigation menu that can be found by swiping inward from the left edge now persists through the status bar like with the Play Store app and other Google applications that carry this same visual appearance, of course it only shows up if you’re using Android 5.0 Lollipop and above, so if you’re running a device on Kit Kat or below that is on stock software you won’t see these visual updates.

Google has taken this visual tweak and applied it to the album artwork as well, so when users play a song they’ll see the album artwork on the top half of the display persist through the status bar just like with the navigation menu. These are changes that do essentially nothing for the functionality, but they do make things look a little better and it follows the design guidelines of what Google wants for Lollipop. Little by little we’re seeing Google make this overhaul for each and every one of their big name applications, and some day we could likely see this visual alteration for every app they have available.

If you don’t want to wait for the new Play Music update to come through on its own, we have the apk file for you which you can grab from here. In addition to the minor UI changes, Google has also made a couple of other tweaks to the app. On the side of convenience, Google has made it so the keyboard automatically appears when you tap the search button icon up top, making it so you don’t have to tap the search bar to start typing in your query. Also, Google is beginning the shift of Play Music’s name branding from All Access to Google Play Music Unlimited by replacing the “all access” verbiage with unlimited instead.

The post Google’s Latest Update Of Play Music Brings Visual And Functional Changes[APK] appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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Samsung Announce New 4G LTE Galaxy Win 2 Smartphone In Brazil

Samsung have just officially announced the Galaxy Win 2 smartphone, a couple of years after the original Galaxy Win was released. And compared with many successor devices, the Win 2 takes the slightly odd route of having a smaller screen compared with the predecessor at 4.5-inch rather than 4.7-inch of the original. It’s a sharper screen because the resolution remains the same at 800 by 480 pixels. The rest of the specification is something of an improvement: Samsung have given the Win 2 a 1.2 GHz, quad-core processor paired up with 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of onboard storage plus a MicroSD card, a 5MP rear camera complete with a flash and a 2MP front camera (up from a VGA camera). The improved front-facing camera is billed as one of the Win 2’s more significant upgrades from the previous model together with the inclusion of a 4G LTE modem via dual SIM slots and is kept alive by a 2,000 mAh battery. It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat under Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz user interface and is a shade under 9mm thin, down from the near-10mm original Galaxy Win.

The Win 2 is available with or without Digital HD TV. The version with the Digital TV receiver is slightly more expensive at BRL 779 ($250) compared with BRL 719 ($230) but allows customers to watch free TV programs where the HD signal is available. However, at the launch Samsung have promoted the improved front-facing camera. Their material highlights that 90% of Brazilians do selfies and almost 60% use the feature once a week, according to surveys taken by Antennas Business Insights together with Samsung. Of course, the Win 2’s improved front-facing camera plays to this popularity.

Samsung have included a number of bundled applications with the Win 2 including Dropbox, Evernote, Guidebook, NetMovies plus the One Refill application, designed to let customers recharge prepaid call balance wherever they are via a credit card. The Win 2 uses the Call One application, which categorizes contacts according to the operator and helps customers make better use of the dual-SIM device. Another software featured borrowed from the Galaxy S5 is the battery saving mode, which puts the screen into black and white and restricts background applications and indeed the number of applications that may be launched. What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy Win 2 device? If you are interested in a mid-range Android smartphone, would you take a second look? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Samsung Announce New 4G LTE Galaxy Win 2 Smartphone In Brazil appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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Huawei Watch price unveiled by several different online retailers

Twitter for Android gives profiles a new look

In the coming days, users of Twitter for Android will notice something different about the look of profiles. The app has gotten rid of the various menus and swipes required to view all there is to see on a profile. Everything — tweets, photos, favorites biographies, recommended follows, and profile editing — is on the same screen. When scrolling down on a profile, the user’s header minimizes into a banner with the name and amount of tweets displayed.

The feature was announced just yesterday and all users should notice the changes quite soon.

We’re rolling out new profiles on Twitter for Android: it’s now easier to view bios, Tweets and photos. https://t.co/MMnvuuHaxh

— Twitter (@twitter) March 10, 2015

Users of Twitter for Android on Lollipop devices will notice that the status bar on a profile reverts to black when viewing a profile. Normally, the status bar is blue to match the theme of Twitter.

Source: @Twitter

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A Single Google Project Loon Balloon Can Provide LTE Coverage To An Area The Size Of Rhode Island

Google's Project Loon isn't on our radar much here in the US because we have expansive high-speed internet access. That's not the case everywhere, though, and it's a problem Project Loon aims to solve. According to Google, a single balloon can apparently provide LTE service to a region the size of Rhode Island. I could have baited you with "a whole state" in the headline, but this is still pretty impressive.

A Single Google Project Loon Balloon Can Provide LTE Coverage To An Area The Size Of Rhode Island was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Google goes all-in with USB Type-C

Sony’s PlayStation Mobile platform to close this summer

This summer, Sony will close its mobile gaming platform after more than three years of service. The company launched PlayStation Mobile as a platform to deliver high quality games to certified mobile devices; however, it never really caught on despite partnerships with multiple companies such as HTC. The decision to stop certifying devices last year hinted at PlayStation Mobile’s true fate.

Content will stop being provided on July 15 and everything comes to an end on September 10. The latter date will be when consumers cannot re-download content that was already purchased. So, by this summer, make sure that everything from PlayStation Mobile is downloaded and secure because it will not be around for much longer.

Source: PlayStation Forums

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Intelligent Homescreen App Bento Enters Private Beta And Seeks to Compete with Google Now

A new home screen application called Bento has launched today. Created by the startup Bento Labs this home screen replacement app seeks to make your life easier by providing you with relevant information right when you need it the most. The application seeks to compete with Google Now and hopes to make the user experience much better for the consumer by providing better and more relevant information.

The company is headed by chief executive Nikhil Chandhok, who worked for Google, and now has $2 million in the coffers to get this app off the ground. What is different about this app is that it takes all your applications and will learn from your experience with them to provide you the information that you need at a time when you will need it most. For example, if you are listening to a music application such as Spotify, it will display the song lyrics in case you want to sing along or direct you to other resources that will provide you with more detailed information about the song, the artist, suggestions for similar music or even possibly offer up the music video via YouTube. You can also receive location information such as suggestions for a place to eat on apps such as Yelp, or you can get a ride to another location using Uber. The home screen app will also take your existing applications and sort them automatically for you based on the type of app it is. For example, applications such as Pandora, Google Play Music, Spotify and the like would be placed in the music folder. Things such as Yelp or OpenTable would be placed in the food category and so forth. This is how the application seeks to save users time, by making everything a convenient experience. It will also have the usual weather, calendar, and sports information.

The application is currently in private beta. You can go to their website (source link below) and sign up to be placed on the waiting list to try out Bento. The company is looking to add more software applications to help its users and provide them with information that they need. As of right now, the application currently supports SoundCloud, YouTube, Reddit, SeatGeek, Uber and Yelp and hopefully more will be available as the application moves towards release. If you manage to get in on the beta, let us know what your first impressions are of this app on our Google+ page or in the comment section below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The post Intelligent Homescreen App Bento Enters Private Beta And Seeks to Compete with Google Now appeared first on AndroidHeadlines.com |.

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Google hints that USB Type-C is coming soon to Android devices

The last forty-eight hours have seen the launch of two devices that will lead the way for USB Type-C adoption. On Tuesday, Apple announced its new MacBook with the new technology and today Google did the same with the Chromebook Pixel. USB Type-C allows a single port to exchange data and power while remaining reversible so users do not have to fumble around. The technology will continue to appear in laptops throughout the rest of the year and into the future, but the status of it for mobile devices is unknown. However, an informational video explaining the Chromebook Pixel’s USB Type-C port may have hinted at something more.

Hit the break for the video and more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The following is the quote from Adam Rodriguez, Product Manager:

“We at Google are very committed to the USB Type-C spec. Expect to see this in a lot of Chromebooks and Android phones in the near future.”

There are not any Android phones available with a USB Type-C port; however, Rodriguez’s comment makes it seem that Google will push it for hardware manufacturers. One possibility is that the next Nexus devices from Google actually feature USB Type-C. Google has used its Nexus devices to push technologies in the past and doing so with USB Type-C would certainly spark others to follow.

Source: Official Google Blog

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Waze 3.9.4 Brings Traffic Bar, Better U-Turns, Speed Improvements, And More [APK Download]

Waze has bumped its Android app up to version 3.9.4, and it's asserting that the app is faster. How much faster? 85%. That's an oddly specific number, but whatever. All that matters is that users should be able to pull up locations and routes more quickly.

The big feature in this release is the new Traffic Bar. This little meters gives you an estimate of how long you will be stuck in a traffic jam.

Waze 3.9.4 Brings Traffic Bar, Better U-Turns, Speed Improvements, And More [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Multiple Online Retailers Show Huawei Watch At 349 Euro Price Point

How much will Huawei's slick new Android Wear device cost? That seems to be the major decision factor for a lot of Android Police readers, impressive looks and features aside. When Huawei announced its round Wear watch at MWC, it unaccountably forgot to mention the price, only saying that it would be available in "more than 20 countries" whenever it launches. A week later we've got a slightly better idea of what it will cost, at least in Europe: somewhere around the €349 mark.