Get This Look: Android L Wallpaper
Android L
Why we love this look:
Everytime a new version of Android is announced, there’s always that signature wallpaper that comes with it that we all want to get our hands on. Here you can download the wallpaper and if your phone is rooted, you can change your navigation buttons to match the new Android L.
What you’ll need for the navigation buttons
- SoftKeyZ (root required)
The post Get This Look: Android L Wallpaper appeared first on AndroidGuys.
120 Sports launches its free internet sports news network today
Whether you’re a cord-cutter looking for a way to keep up with sports news or just need an alternative to the cable sports networks, it’s time to give 120 Sports a try. Launching today on the web and iOS (Android coming July 14th), it’s promising eight hours of live sports coverage every day (from 6PM to 2AM ET today), broken into two-minute clips (also available as video on-demand), hence the name. The lights turned on at 6PM ET today with some live coverage of Tim Lincecum’s attempt at a no-hitter, and you’ll notice familiar faces like former SportsCenter host Michael Kim and former NBA player Antoine Walker in the mix. The best part? Trying it won’t cost you anything except other than some time.
The network is coming from MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and Time Inc. (Sports Illustrated), but it’s promising to cover the world of sports. Other elements are its “data cards” which will flow along the bottom, and give viewers one-touch access to information about currently relevant sports topics, and focus on social media. CNN’s apps now have a similar approach to letting viewers watch the news they’re interested in, whenever they want, but this one doesn’t need a cable subscription to work. We’ll need some time to get a handle on this new approach to sports coverage, but it certainly paints a pretty picture of what a sports network in the modern era should look like.
3, 2, 120: WE’RE LIVE! Tune in NOW for @120Sports very first show at http://t.co/lm6gqiYeeH. App available at http://t.co/0eXG4QYVIU
– 120 Sports (@120Sports) June 25, 2014
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Mobile
Source: 120 Sports (iTunes), 120Sports.com
Verizon backpedals after cutting off free LTE for Chromebook Pixel owners
Nothing like a public shaming to make a company do an about-face. After cutting off free LTE service for Chromebook Pixel owners earlier than expected, Google stepped in to offer users a $150 gift card. Outrage from users persisted, though, and now Verizon appears to be reversing its decision. “We do understand that a very small number of Chromebook Pixel customers may have had a promo end prematurely,” a Verizon spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We apologize for this, and will work with these customers to address the situation.” Based on that statement (and what a vague statement it is), it’s unclear whether the carrier actually intends to restore LTE service, or whether it intends to make amends some other way. We’re asking Verizon to clarify, and will update this post if we hear more.
Filed under: Laptops, Wireless, Google, Verizon
Source: TechCrunch
Samsung Gear Live details revealed
Google I/O keynote is behind us and it’s time to reveal what wasn’t revealed on the stage. Google talked about Android Wear powered smarwatches, one of which was Samsung’s Gear Live smartwatch, but they didn’t mention its specs or anything of the sort. It’s time to clear that up.
“Samsung has been a pioneer in the quickly-evolving wearable market, and the launch of Gear Live furthers our efforts to deliver a simple and intuitive wearable experience to consumers” said CEO and president of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics, and he continued: “Through our long-term close collaboration with Google, we have successfully incorporated the capabilities of Android Wear into the Gear Live, in a way that only Samsung can do. I am confident that Samsung and Google together, we will grow the smart wearable market to positively impact consumers’ life.”
Samsung Gear Live will be offered in Black and Wine Red colors with interchangeable strap options and will work with Android 4.3 and above. It will available starting June 25th through the Google Play Store and will come to Samsung retail stores after that. These are the smartwatch’s specs:
- 1.63″ Super AMOLED (320×320) screen
- 512MB of RAM
- Powered by Android Wear OS
- 1.2 GHz Processor
- 4GB of internal memory
- 300mAh Li-ion battery
- IP67 Dust and Water Resistant
- Bluetooth 4.0 LE
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Heart Rate
- 37.9×56.4×8.9mm
- Weights 59g
Source: Samsung
Images: GSMArena
The post Samsung Gear Live details revealed appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google Play Games gets new features at Google I/O
Last year Google Play Games was announced at Google I/O and this year, just as expected, they touched on it a bit more and provided a few updates. The updates, or new features really, aren’t massive in amounts, but the couple Google has provided are definitely something to take note of for all of you gamers out there.
First let’s talk about the amount of users that Google Play Games has since it was introduced a year ago. We all knew this would be pretty large because there are a TON of mobile users who play games on their devices, day in and day out. In just the past 6 months alone, Google Play Games has added 100 million new users to its database.
Now that figure is just over the past 6 months. You can only imagine how many users it has in total with the amount of games and developers putting games out there each and every day for our beloved Android devices. But 100 million in just 6 months is pretty amazing to me personally.
That may sound like big news, however, that wasn’t really the main focus. While Google is proud of that, no doubt, we all know they are proud of the new features and such they work hard at adding into their apps and services. And today Google didn’t fail us, just as we expected them not to.
Now, for you gamers out there, the big news is that you will now have a Game Profile. How this works is that it will change based on games you’re playing, in-game achievements and various other things. Unfortunately, Ellie Powers didn’t go into a lot of detail, but I’m sure as the next couple of days pass by we’ll get a bit more information on exactly how this will work and what we’ll see.
The other new feature that really sounds awesome is the introduction of Quests. How this works is that the game developer can add quests at any time for you, the gamer, to accomplish and to to gain special achievements. This is something they can do with the new API’s Google announced today allowing them to run online time-based events inside the games without requiring an update to be pushed out. This will be available to developers and gamers in the next update to Google Play Services and Google Play Games.
To me, the quests is a really cool thing and something that game developers could really capitalize on to make their games more interesting to play. They can entice people to accomplish certain things to boost their hit points, gold pieces, or anything similar that you might require within a game to improve your chance of continuing the play or even solving the game. Something I really look forward to and being one who doesn’t play a lot of games on mobile devices, this alone could entice me to play more.
There was also one other little feature Ellie mentioned, and that’s Saved Games. This will allow you to save all game state across all of your devices. And this is really huge because it’s frustrating to play on one device then pick up another and realize you have to start over or not from the exact place or time you left off.
As well, Saved Games will also tell you the amount of time in which you have spent playing a certain game that has the saved games feature when developers include it. It’ll show you a thumbnail or cover image of the game with a few stats. Something we’ve needed for a while.
The last little bit of news is for the developers themselves. They will be getting some classy new tools to play around with, which you know in turn means we’ll be seeing some cooler stuff game wise. They will be getting game stats that they can view which will help them look at different aspects of the game and see what’s working best for them, so they can improve their work from that.
They will also be getting a brand new C++ SDK, which is more for the coding side of things. And to top it all off, with the upcoming Android L Preview, which will be available tomorrow, games will also be able to support Open GL ES 3.1, the Android Extension Pack (for improved graphics), and a standard for gamepad controllers, such as Moga Controllers.
All in all, a great day for gamers and game developers at Google I/O today. Much rejoicing was done and it will continue as these new features and tools start to roll out. Unfortunately Google didn’t announce when we’d see the new Google Game Services update, but rest assured it won’t be long and game developers all over the world are already working hard to incorporate the new stuff into your favorite game as we speak.
The post Google Play Games gets new features at Google I/O appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Android Auto announced
Google has taken the wraps off of Android Auto, which is their answer to how you use Android in your car. Android Auto is almost like Google Now for your car. Your phone will know when you get in your car and present a simplified UI that is much more usable and safe in a car. It will mirror itself to a compatible touchscreen in your car for easy use with touch and voice control.
The interface should look pretty familiar to you, as it resembles the traditional card-based Google Now look, and gives you the right information at the right time. Once Google Now is familiar with your driving habits, like driving to work at 7am and leaving at 5pm, it will provide you with the quickest directions automatically.
You can see that it is pretty easy to switch between main functions of Android Auto, like music, phone, maps, and others.
For music listening, you can simply tell Google to play a certain artist right from your Play Music library. Music from Pandora, Spotify, and iHeart Radio are also compatible with voice commands if that is what you prefer, with more services to be compatible in the future. Text messaging will also be handled in Auto with simple voice commands to read the text aloud and to reply to them.
Android Auto is to come with the Android L update this fall, and Google has stated that the first cars to support Android Auto built-in will arrive by the end of the year, which appears to be almost every major car manufacturer in the world if you take a look at the list on Android Auto’s official page right here. 40 to be exact.
The Android Auto SDK will be available to developers “soon” to integrate their apps into an easier driving experience.
The post Android Auto announced appeared first on AndroidGuys.
New App: Cardboard from Google, puts virtual reality on your Smartphone, Sort Of
At the tail end of Google I/O’s keynote this morning Sundar Pichai let loose the gadgetry that attendees would be getting. Everyone is picking up a LG G Watch or a Samsung Gear Live, which are both the new Android Wear platform smart watches that will be available on the Play Store at some point […]
New App: Android TV Remote Control, pretty useless right now Though
Google’s Android TV was pretty darn special. It brings a ton of cross device integration, gaming and a beautiful UI. Sadly, none of us will see it in our homes until this fall. However, there is supposed to be a Developer Preview of the Android TV coming out sometime tomorrow. Those devs that start playing […]
Meet the G Watch, LG’s first Android Wear smartwatch
LG believes it’s hip to be square, and it created a smartwatch to prove it. The G Watch was announced alongside Android Wear, Google’s new wearables platform, and the circular Moto 360 this March. After three months, LG and Google are finally ready to let me slip one on my wrist. The watch is going to be available for pre-order for $229 on the Play Store alongside the Samsung Gear Live (and Moto 360, once it comes out later this summer), and will ship out in both black and white to eager users on July 7th.
With a 1.65-inch display at a resolution of 280 x 280 and sizable bezel, the G Watch is a little bigger than the Pebble Steel, which is the smartwatch I’ve been using up until this point. It looks like it swallows up my wrist, so it’s not going to be a go-to fashion statement for everybody. Just like the Gear Live, LG chose to go with a square shape, rather than circular, mainly to ensure the user will enjoy as much screen real estate as possible. The product managers we talked to also left the door open for future Wear devices with other shapes, so there’s certainly a chance we’ll see more options down the road — especially if the G Watch is considered a success.
The display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3; the sides are constructed with stainless steel; and the back is polycarbonate to allow for attenuation and wireless charging (the watch comes with a charging pad that makes this possible). The straps are interchangeable because it uses a 22mm size, but the wristband that comes with the device is made of silicone and offered me a comfortable fit.
Underneath the back sits a 400mAh battery that LG claims is high-density and optimized for wearable use. When asked about battery life, reps told me that it should last 36 hours in always-on state, and even longer if you opt to turn the screen off — there’s a companion app that you can download onto your Android device, and it gives you a few settings. Additionally, the G Watch boasts an ambient mode when idle, which theoretically helps extend the life of the battery.
In terms of power performance, the 63g timepiece features a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, coupled with 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. I couldn’t fully test out the watch’s performance in real life because the watch itself was in a special demo mode that only gave me a few cards to play with, but I’ll give it a full whirl in my upcoming review.
Contest-winning Moto 360 watch face blends classic looks with modern tech
Motorola has been running a watch face design contest to spark interest in developing for its upcoming Moto 360 wristwear, and it looks like the company’s efforts have hit the jackpot. The winning design from David Pascual is a clever blend between a traditional timekeeper and the at-a-glance alerts you’d expect from Android Wear. On top of basic status info, the watch face also has customizable notification widgets; you’ll know right away if you have new Gmail or a low battery. Pascual’s effort is just eye candy right now, but that may change soon. Winning the competition could get his design featured on the Moto 360, so you may have a chance to check it out first-hand before long.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Google
Source: Official Motorola Blog, Motorola (Google+)
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