Epic App Battles of Android Round 5: Spotify vs. Slacker
In the green corner, we have Spotify, founded in 2006 with 100 million downloads and an average user rating of 4.5
In the red corner, we have Slacker, founded in 2006 with 10 million downloads and an average user rating of 4.2
Slacker, fresh off a victory out dueling the streaming music pioneer Pandora, hopes to overturn Spotify in a repeat upset victory! Who will win this epic battle between the streaming music heavyweights? Read on and find out.
Round 1: App design
Spotify
Spotify is decked out with a sleek, black interface and incorporates a gradient consisting of dark gray and Spotify’s green accent. The user interface is charming and simplistic – Spotify has done an excellent job at using Google’s Material design guidelines, but manages to keep their application feeling unique yet familiar. Navigating between menus of Spotify is effortless, and the icons are refreshing after seeing so many stock icons, or poorly designed low-resolution graphical icons. It’s gratifying to see that Spotify paid attention to the intricate details to create an appealing user interface (UI) that simply works. Browsing through the interface gives me a bit of nostalgia as it brought back good memories of going to music stores. The album art work is captivating and brings on a good feeling.
One of my favorite things about Spotify is its ‘Now Playing’ menu. The ‘Now Playing’ menu boasts a large version of the artist cover art, but underneath the album cover is a motion blurred low-opacity version of the cover art that makes it stand out beautifully.
Spotify looks beautiful visually, and its ease-of-use creates a great user experience. But Spotify is packing a mighty flaw that was exposed previously in its battle vs Songza. Namely, when a song is playing and you navigate to other menus at the bottom, a footer-like menu displays the song. Additionally, it shows playback buttons here, too. This directional arrow is, at times, extremely difficult to touch adequately; the lack of tactical feedback doesn’t help, either.
Also, with Spotify’s UI being more in line with the Google’s design standards, users shouldn’t have to tap the arrow. We should be able to slide it down or up. This takes away from a well thought out and executed application. As it is, we spend too much time needlessly pressing buttons.
Due to this flaw, Spotify suffers point deductions and scored an 8 for round 1.
Rating: 8
Slacker
Slacker’s user interface is superbly designed; the homepage of Slacker has a blend of white and variations of gray triangles creating a high-resolution wallpaper-like background. The header and footer menus of the app are a hue of deep blacks that, when viewed against the wallpaper background, gives the application a beautiful and monochromatic design.
The superb design of Slacker is evident while in the ‘Today on Slacker’ menu. The ‘Today on Slacker’ menu is a magazine layout style news brief with Artist Bios, Recommend Stations, and Recommended Artist. Each section has vibrant high-quality image and a crisp white footer of text accented with a black frequency bar.
Slacker’s ‘Now Playing’ menu is drop-dead gorgeous. The ‘Now Playing’ menu stands out like a magazine centerfold displaying the current song’s album art while behind the cover art is a background of the same cover art just with a low opacity giving a sleek appearance. That combined with the creatively designed play, skip, and back icon buttons create an aesthetically appealing design. Switching between Slacker’s menus are hidden gems. The ‘gems’ are creative transitions that flip, flop, and fly around like slides of a PowerPoint presentation. The snappy transitions, intuitive menus, and crisp, rock-star like graphics allow Slacker to have a bit of swagger.
Rating: 9.5
Round 1:
Spotify – 8
Slacker – 9.5
Round 2: Features
Spotify’s strong suit is its multitude of features that it packs. Starting off with the app it has a strong library of music selections. The ‘browse’ menu is the homepage that begins your musical journey. The menu also has pre-populated genres and moods to search from ranging from chill, edm/dance, pop, workout and more. It also has a nifty section that shows you today’s chart hits, new releases, and discover. The ‘discover’ section is extremely useful because once you have been using the app and have liked music, it offers you similar artist recommendations that are usually spot on for your musical taste.
My personal favorite of Spotify is the ‘your music’ menu. In ‘your music’ the menu is broken down into the following: playlist – it is a custom list that you create from your own music selections. You can also follow other user playlists if you don’t want to take the time to create your own. Songs – is a list of all the music you have saved to a playlist in one section. Albums- what’s great about the Album section is where Spotify really flourishes, as this section allows you to save whole albums from your favorite artists and you can listen to the entire album anytime you want.
Like other streaming services, Spotify does allow you to discover music. This can be done by following a particular artist or by using its Radio feature where you pick the artist you want to listen to and Spotify will play that artist’s music along with like music from other artists. What I don’t enjoy about the Radio feature is the same songs being played repeatedly.
Offline mode and uploading your own music library to Spotify are two additional features that make Spotify a juggernaut. Offline mode allows you to save songs and albums to your device, so that when you are in areas where you do not have a network connection, you can still listen to your favorite music. It also has a toggle switch for each playlist or album allowing you to further customize what music you really need saved to your device.
Uploading your own music library is awesome. Even with two years of using Spotify, they still don’t have some of my favorite songs. What I have noticed is that for the most part music singles don’t become available until the entire album is available.
The features highlighted above are primarily for premium subscribers. The free version of Spotify is extremely limited as you will be unable to listen to full albums and create your own playlists without the premium subscription.
What We Like about Spotify
- The ability to add your own music library to the app
- Slide cover art left to right to change song
- Beautiful graphics and user interface
- Stay current with favorite artists by following their profile
What We Don’t Like about Spotify
- “Now Playing” arrow inability to slide up or down
- Radio music selection needs more variety of music
- No Chromecast access
Rating: 8.5
Slacker is a discovery and on demand service which for the most part, is relatively unknown compared to other heavyweights in the music streaming business. Although Slacker seeks to change that by giving you everything.
Slacker is a hands-on music experience for those seeking more control. The free version of Slacker is quite limited compared to what you can unlock with the paid version. The free version of Slacker allows you to search for your favorite artist, but only allows you to play similar songs and not the actual artist. Also in the free version you are limited to six skips per hour. Much like what Pandora offers.
You do have the ability to listen to curated playlists from genres, moods, seasons, etc. Although Slacker Plus and Premium do boast a music library of over 2.5 million songs. The paid version also gives you control over creating a playlist, and saving songs offline when there is no available internet connection. Two more amazing features are the ability to listen to entire albums and search for specific song titles.
What We Like about Slacker
- Beautifully user interface
- Crispy graphics
- Ability to save songs to a favorite playlist
- Downloadable songs
- Set song/artist presets
- Ability to listen to entire albums
- Cast music to Chromecast
What We Don’t Like about Slacker
- Free version is plagued by constant on screen advertisements
- Can only skip six songs per hour on the free version
- Inability to upload music library
- Minimal audiobook selection
- Doesn’t have the option to set a timer to allow the app to turn off by itself
Rating: 8.5
Round 2:
Spotify – 8.5
Slacker – 8.5
Round 3: Price
Spotify free version: Ads, commercials, unable to select individual song to play on mobile phone, limited Spotify connect functionality and limited skips
Spotify premium version: $0.99 for the first three months then $9.99 per month removes ads and limits
Rating: 9
Slacker free version: Ads, commercials, limited listening time, and six skips per hour per station
Slacker radio plus: $3.99 per month, ad-free listening, unlimited song skips, offline mode for data-free listening
Slacker premium: $9.99 per month, play songs and albums on demand, create custom playlists, listen to offline playlists and albums, unlimited skips, ad-free listening
Rating: 9
Round 3:
Pandora – 9
Slacker – 9
After 3 rounds of throwing blow after blow between Spotify and Slacker, we have to take it to the judge’s score cards. It was an intense battle, but Slacker prevails with a score of 27 points compared to Spotify’s 25.5
Final Score:
Spotify – 25.5
Slacker – 27
Summary
As much as it pains me to report this, down goes Spotify. The battle boiled down to the design differences. The Slacker team designed a drop-dead gorgeous application that is appealing, easy to use, and the menu transitions make navigation captivating. Spotify is still an amazing and well designed app with an abundant music selection but ultimately wasn’t as good as Slacker. Slacker wins a close one.
Tell us what you thought about the battle by leaving comments below. Which streaming music app do you use?
The post Epic App Battles of Android Round 5: Spotify vs. Slacker appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Eddy Cue ‘Thrilled With the Numbers’ as Apple Music Hits 11 Million Users
In an interview with USA Today, Apple’s Eddy Cue reveals that Apple Music currently has 11 million users taking advantage of the initial three-month trial period, with two million of those taking advantage of the family plan that will cost $14.99 per month once the trial ends. A single-user membership will be priced at $9.99 per month.
“We’re thrilled with the numbers so far,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, adding that of that sum 2 million have opted for the more lucrative family plan at $14.99 a month for up to six people.
The officially announced milestone of 11 million users is roughly in line with the rumored ten million users shared by HITS Daily Double last week.
Cue notes Apple is “releasing updates as fast as we can” to address bugs and other issues with Apple Music amid duplication and mislabeling complaints. Jimmy Iovine also contributed to the interview, highlighting some of the challenges of reaching users in certain countries and age demographics while noting Apple believes it can use its leverage to bring many of those users on board for a subscription music service.
On a separate note, Cue shared some new App Store numbers, noting that July set a record with $1.7 billion in App Store transactions thanks to strong performance in China. Apple has now paid out $33 billion to developers since the App Store debuted in 2008.
Target launches Bluetooth beacon pilot program in 50 stores
Bluetooth beacons are already helping London’s visually-impaired subway riders navigate the Tubes, now they’re going to help shoppers find great deals at their local Target stores. The retailer recently announced that it is implementing a pilot beacon program in 50 of its stores. These beacons will send push notifications to shoppers phones whenever they browse within range of the device, similar to the Tips system that Facebook is working on.
In order to keep this system from spamming customers, Target is requiring that shoppers first download and install the Target iOS app (an Android version is in development), then actively opt-in to receive the notifications. What’s more, the system is designed to push a maximum of just two notifications per shopping trip with the rest of the deals appearing in the app itself. That way customers can get the maximum number of deals without becoming overwhelmed. Future iterations will reportedly feature the ability to resort your shopping list as you browse so that you won’t have to retrace your steps to finish your shopping.
Stores in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle have all been selected to participate. Target will reportedly use data gathered from this pilot to fine tune the program ahead of a nationwide rollout around the Holidays. Target did admit to TechCrunch that it plans to harvest user data to “understand shopping trends and preferences.” Given that Target was recently hacked, it will be interesting to see how many shoppers will be willing to not only share their data with the company but also tool around its stores with their Bluetooth radios on.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
Filed under:
Internet, Apple, Google, Facebook
Via:
TechCrunch
Source:
Target
Tags: Android, apple, beacon, Bluetooth, commerce, facebook, google, ios, pilot, retail, shopping, Target
Shazam update adds songs to Spotify and Rdio playlists
Shazam is great for discovering new music and settling a friendly bet. While you could already listen to full-length songs from Rdio or Spotify inside the app, now you can add identified tunes to your playlists parked at those two streaming services, too. Without leaving Shazam, simply hit the plus in the top right corner of the screen after the app gives you the track details. Shazam will then display a list of saved playlists for you to choose from. Once you make a selection, you’re directed back to the song page in the music discovery app. I gave it a shot this afternoon and it works well, especially if you want to put a song somewhere other than the playlist that Shazam automatically creates, and continually populates, for songs after you link your streaming subscription.
Source:
iTunes, Google Play
Tags: app, audio, mobilepostcross, music, playlist, playlists, rdio, shazam, software, spotify, update
Nicki Minaj and Jason Statham are getting their own mobile games
Hip-hop fans have had a lot to deal with lately: Dr. Dre shelved Detox, there’s that whole Meek Mill and Drake feud that’s spilling out all over Twitter and Run the Jewels might not be hitting your town on this fall’s tour. There’s a bright spot, though: Nicki Minaj is getting her own game courtesy of the folks behind Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Glu Mobile announced that Minaj has lent her likeness, voice and creative directorship exclusively to the company for a game expected to launch next summer. Also joining the lady who kissed a girl and liked it is The Transporter himself, Jason Statham.
Sniper X: Kill Confirmed launches sometime this fall and promises the same vague features as Glu’s other in-development games thus far: name, likeness and a celebrity voice. But at least we know that it’s a first-person shooter. If you’d rather not wait to see if it’s just garbage littered with microtransactions designed to bleed your bank account dry, maybe give the excellent Hitman: Sniper from Eidos a run instead.
[Image credit: Getty Images for BET]
Via:
The Verge
Source:
Glu Mobile (1), (2)
Tags: gaming, glu, GluMobile, hiphop, jasonstatham, katyperry, mobile, mobilegaming, mobilepostcross, mobuile, music, nickiminaj, sniperxkillconfirmed, vanitygames
March of Empires: an immersive online multiplayer strategy title by Gameloft
There’s plenty of strategy war games to choose from in the Google Play Store, but I must accept most of them offer nothing unique. Those looking for a more immersive and complex experience will soon have a new major option. Gameloft has just announced March of Empires, a massive multiplayer online title that is looking quite stunning.
March of Empires is still based on a system that is similar to many other strategy games, it just happens to further expand in most departments. You start off by selecting what type of ruler you will be: a Highland King, a Northen Czar or a Desert Sultan. The user will then start off with a castle and a small piece of land, where he can build and enhance a bevy of structures, each with its own duties and benefits.
That all sounds pretty standard for this type of games, but things get very interesting once you advance and start digging deeper into the realm. March of Empires allows you to expand your area as you grow, but this also means more land to protect, and resources to use. As you can see in the video above, the land is also huge! There’s plenty to explore and conquer, that’s for sure.
Taking a look at the alliance system, we can also see it is quite complex and expanded. Claiming and defending areas requires group effort, and alliance members help the group get more influence points, taking them up the hierarchy of alliances. Speaking about battles, they are quite interesting. As the name entails, March of Empires uses a formation battle system that will require strength, upgrades and strategy. Like everything else in this game, victory will be decided by a long list of factors. Some characters are weaker against specific types of enemies, for example.
The weather is also constantly changing, and it affects certain aspects of the game. For example, your research advances faster when it’s winter, likely because people stay indoors studying more.
#gallery-1
margin: auto;
#gallery-1 .gallery-item
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 25%;
#gallery-1 img
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
#gallery-1 .gallery-caption
margin-left: 0;
/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
The game does seem more advanced than the mobile competition, but you will not be able to enjoy it too soon. Gameloft has only announced it, but the game will become available for Android and iOS “later this year”. For now all you can do is pre-register for the game in the Google Play Store. And don’t worry, March of Empires will be free to play, with in-app purchases available.
Are any of you thinking of playing it? I personally can’t wait to test it. I love the level of complexity and the amount of factors it takes into consideration. It just may be the strategy game we have all been waiting for!
12-Inch MacBook Now Available in Apple Retail Stores via Personal Pickup
Nearly four months after release, the new 12-inch MacBook is starting to become available for personal pickup in Apple Stores in the United States. Previously, some stores have had sporadic stock for walk-in customers, but it now appears that stock is substantial enough for Apple to offer personal pickup.
The personal pickup option isn’t universal yet however, with only select configurations at select stores being available. For example, the 256 GB Silver MacBook is not available for personal pickup in New York, NY while the 256 GB Space Gray is widely available.
While some Apple Stores and Best Buys have had sporadic stock for walk-ins, most Apple Stores around the world have only had the unit on display. In the MacRumors’ forums, users have been reporting which stores around the world have had the new MacBook on display, whether they were available to purchase or not and how many units they had left in stock.
The MacBook is currently showing shipping estimates of at least 1 – 2 weeks when ordered online. Comparatively, both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are showing shipping estimates of at least 1 business day.
Pricing for the 12-inch MacBook starts at $1,299 for the entry-level model with 256 GB of storage while the higher-end model starts at $1,599 with 512 GB of storage and a slightly faster dual-core Intel Core M processor.
Apple job listing hints that “exciting new mobile products” are coming to Android
The days in which Apple completely neglects Android’s existence are coming to an end. This fall, Apple Music will be streaming on Android devices. Still shocked by that, right? And it doesn’t seem like Apple is stopping there. A job listing posted earlier this week shows that the company is seeking software engineers to develop Android apps.
More specifically, Apple is looking for people that will help bring “new mobile products” to Google’s platform.
The job listing is rather vague, but Apple is demanding a lot of experience and “broad experience” in Android development in particular.
What do you think is coming to Android — iMessage, Safari, iTunes? Be sure to drop a comment below with your prediction.
Come comment on this article: Apple job listing hints that “exciting new mobile products” are coming to Android
Samsung Smart TVs get a new payment system, card details can be transferred from smartphones
Samsung has created a simplified payment system for its Smart TV devices. This will be great news for millions of customers who purchase content from the no. 1 smart TV manufacturer. The new payment service is said to support “major credit cards, debit cards, PayPal and other mobile billing options”.
What it supports is not the highlight, though. The manufacturer is more excited to showcase how easy it is to use this new payment system. After the initial registration set-up has been completed, it usually takes only 3 steps for the user to complete a transaction. Simply choose the item you want to buy, press the “Pay Now” button and enter your PIN number. You are done!
We know what you are thinking, though. Yes, Samsung’s Smart TVs don’t run Android, they run Tizen – so why are we talking about this? For starters, we know many of our readers still love Samsung televisions. Furthermore, this new payment method also takes advantage of a neat feature many Android users will be able to take advantage of.
Those who use a Samsung mobile device can transfer their Samsung account information and registered payment methods to their Samsung Smart TV units, making it even easier to take get everything set up. It makes the process of buying content and accessing in-app purchases within games (which is also a new addition to the experience) much easier.
In addition, Samsung promises tight security. PayPal users can expect the same level of privacy they have with other devices, and Samsung’s secure on-screen keyboard will keep your passwords and input data safe from falling in the wrong hands.
More details on availability are to come, so Samsung urges us to stay tuned. You know we will be keeping an open eye on the Korean manufacturer, so stick around!
Samsung videos
.rvs_wrapper
width: 350px;
.rvs_wrapper.align_left
float: left;
.rvs_wrapper.align_right
float: right;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center,
.rvs_wrapper.align_none
width: 100%;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center
text-align: center;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center.cbc-latest-videos ul li
float: none;
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: top;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos:not(.align_none) ul li:nth-child(2n+1)
clear: both;
.rvs_title
font-weight: 600 !important;
margin: 0 !important;
font-size: 24px !important;
.rvs_wrapper.align_right .rvs_title
padding-left: 20px;
.rvs_title a
font-family: ‘Roboto Condensed’;
color: #3a3a3a;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul
padding-top: 10px;
.rvs_wrapper.align_left.cbc-latest-videos ul li,
.rvs_wrapper.align_none.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 15px 0 0;
.rvs_wrapper.align_right.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 0 0 15px;
float: right;
.rvs_wrapper.align_center.cbc-latest-videos ul li
padding: 0 7px;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul li > a
font-weight: 400;
.rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul li > a .yt-thumbnail
margin-bottom: 0;
@media only screen and (min-width : 480px)
body #page .rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul
width: 100% !important;
@media only screen and (max-width : 480px)
body #page .rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos
width: 100%;
float: none !important;
overflow-x: auto;
overflow-y: hidden;
body #page .rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul
overflow: auto;
max-height: none;
body .rvs_wrapper.cbc-latest-videos ul li
float: left !important;
clear: none !important;
Idol 3 will receive Stagefright bug fix starting August 10
For the past several days, a new Android vulnerability given the name “Stagefright” has been causing consumers to worry about the security of their Android devices. For those who do not know, Stagefright gives a hacker the ability to take over your device with a simple text message, and almost every Android device is susceptible to this bug. Since then, Google has announced an update process for Nexus devices and Samsung has also come out with one for their devices.
Today, Alcatel OneTouch announced that there will be an update to the Idol 3 that comes with a patch for the Stagefright bug. The update will initially start in the US on August 10, and users should be able to receive it on their phones around that time.
It is interesting to see a smaller company like Alcatel Onetouch pushing the update to their devices so quickly when bigger companies like HTC, LG, and Motorola have not even unveiled a plan for the update. Hopefully, we will see updates hitting phones from all OEM’s soon, but this does raise an important question.
Did this new vulnerability cause you to worry more about your phone’s security? Will the response from manufacturers determine which one you go with for your next phone? Tell us what you think down in the comments!
The post Idol 3 will receive Stagefright bug fix starting August 10 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
AIVAnet 