Talk Android Apps of the Week: November 15, 2015
It’s Sunday, the time of the week when Talk Android brings you a report on some of the very best applications we’ve been using over the course of the past seven days. Today we’re focusing our attention on a great festive countdown app, an incredibly fun game, an ultra-reliable music discovery tool and last, but not least, a must-have Netflix companion service.
Google Santa Tracker
With Christmas a little more than five weeks away, it’s time to get back into the festive spirit. Thankfully, Google’s ‘developer elves’ have once again updated and released their annual Santa Tracker application, giving us the resources to start counting down the days until Santa arrives.
As this app is primarily aimed at the younger market, it’s filled to the brim with Christmassy entertainment, including short animated movies as well as engaging games. There’s even support for Android Wear and Chromecast — so you can display a large countdown on your TV or view a slightly smaller one on your wrist.
With over 26,000 5-star reviews on the Play Store, it’s pretty clear that this is a popular application. I personally like the animation of Santa flying around the globe on Christmas Eve, which brings a unique sense of enjoyment to younger children. It really is a pleasure to watch with kids. Just seeing their little faces light up is truly a picture to behold.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Cut The Rope 2
I’m a bit of a sucker for puzzle games, and Cut The Rope 2 is by far the most enjoyable title I’ve installed this year. The overall concept is simple. All you have to do is swipe across the screen which cuts the rope so that individual pieces of wrapped candy can drop right into Om Nom’s mouth. Miss and you lose a star. Get the candy on target and you gain a star.
As you progress through the game, the levels get significantly harder. Completing the more difficult sections will earn you rarer medals, which, of course, you can show off on your Play Games profile. There are even comprehensive leaderboards to display the times the levels were completed in — so you can challenge your friends.
What makes Cut The Rope 2 stand out for me is that it actually follows a storyline. All the levels merge together to showcase Om Nom’s journey through lush forests, busy cities, junkyards and underground tunnels to obtain his beloved candy.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Shazam
On Monday, I got into a friend’s car to the sound of a catchy song playing on the radio. Unfortunately, my buddy couldn’t recall the name of the song or the artist either and we’d both missed the presenters announcement, so I had no way of knowing what it was. Consequently, I decided to head over to the Play Store to look for a nifty music discovery tool, and that’s when I re-discovered Shazam.
I say re-discovered because I used to be an avid user of this application back in 2013, but for some reason, it got uninstalled on my device, and I completely forgot about its existence. Anyway, it’s safe to say that I’ve fallen back in love with it again. It’s faster and more gorgeous than ever, with it’s Material Design overlay and floating discovery button.
Within a couple seconds of opening Shazam and instructing it to listen to the track, it had discovered the song I was looking for. The app then offered me the facility to purchase the track through Play Music or stream it live through Spotify. In this instance, I decided to save it to my account, so that I could access it at a later date.
Shazam also bundles support for Android Wear, so if a song you like comes on the radio and you can’t get to your phone, you can easily start listening from your wrist and receive an ID there, too. If lyrics are available, you can even view them on your watch. And as if that wasn’t enough, you can share the track to your social platforms to let your friends know about the awesome song you’ve discovered.
Upflix
If you’re a frequent Netflix user, then the last application up this week is a must-have. Upflix is a unique tool for Android handsets, which pushes, in real time, all of the new movies, series and documentaries arriving on the service to your device.
It also has a fun Roulette Mode on board, which selects random films for you to watch. Just create your filters, such as Comedy, Action or Adventure, and input the ratings that you’d like to see. Upflix will then compile a list of the best titles suited to your preferences. I’d recommend searching by Action and Adventure showing ratings above 7 on IMDb.
Previous Apps of the Week editions:
Come comment on this article: Talk Android Apps of the Week: November 15, 2015
Samsung’s smartphone market share in the Netherlands reaches 40%
A recent survey conducted by Deloitte indicates that 40.5% of the smartphone market in the Netherlands is dominated by Samsung.
Samsung’s smartphone market share is up to 40% in the Netherlands. Following the Korean tech giant is Apple with a 23% share and Nokia with 10%. This only goes to show how smartphone brands differ in popularity based on location. HTC’s 5.3% share, Sony’s 4.4% share and Huawei’s 3.8% share round out the top six. This is an incredible accomplishment that the company must be very proud of. Let’s see if Samsung can keep the momentum rolling with its upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship(s).
Source: All About Phones
Via: SamMobile
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5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Let’s get to those headlines:
- Cyanogen has released a fun little bundle of Cyanogen OS applications for CyanogenMod users. These apps, referred to as C-Apps, are a collection of six applications that you can optionally install, but only if you run CyanogenMod. Everyone else will have to either install at least CM12.1 or not get them.
- Last week, Google acquired Fly Labs which was known for its photo and video editing applications on iOS. The reigning, and likely correct, opinion is that this tech will eventually help make Google Photos image editing work better. Of course, it’ll likely take some time before we see any changes.
- We received some official news on Nintendo’s first Android game this last week. DeNA, who is partnering with Nintendo, announced that the game will be free-to-play which means free with in-app purchases. Even I’m disappointed about that.
- After what we assume was a massive success, Amazon has boosted the number of paid apps available for free in their Amazon Underground service by three times what it used to be. If you haven’t checked out the Amazon Underground service yet, now’s a good time to do it.
- Xposed Framework, the popular modding, root app may be coming to Marshmallow sooner than later. Some reports indicate that it should be out in the next week or so and the entire root community rejoiced!
For even more Android apps and games news, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter! There you’ll find the complete list of news that we didn’t have time for here. If you want, you can sign up for the newsletter with your email address and we’ll send it to you every week.
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- Android Weekly
- Apps Weekly
Fallout C.H.A.T.
[Price: Free]
Fallout 4 is out now so it only felt appropriate that we have something about the game to take part in the celebration. Fallout C.H.A.T. is a simple little keyboard released directly by Bethesda. It features a bunch of Fallout inspired elements including gifs, emojis, and a Fallout-themed keyboard for your use. It’s not the best keyboard ever and we’re sure you’ll end up switching back to your usual one, but it’s fun to play with.
Get it now on Google Play!
Lost Echo
[Price: $2.99]
Lost Echo is a new game that was released this last week. It’s a mystery-adventure game where you play as a man named Doug who is looking for his girlfriend Chloe. The catch is that she seems to have been lost in time and no one can remember she existed except for him. The game features really good looking graphics and the story-driven narratives are interesting and fun. The game had some wicked bad early bugs but most of them seemed to have been cleared out.
Get it now on Google Play!
YouTube Music
[Price: Free / $9.99 subscription]
YouTube Music is the latest entrance into the fiasco that is YouTube Red. It is technically a YouTube application that removes all non-music related content. The application was meant to be used with YouTube Red as you can listen to music with the screen off, save stuff for offline playback, no advertising, and there are personalized playlists for you. It’s a good app and it works well, even if there’s no point for it to exist.
Get it now on Google Play!
This War of Mine
[Price: $6.99]
This War of Mine is an adventure-survival game that takes place during a war. Instead of playing the part of the soldiers, you instead play the part of some civilians who are just trying to survive the harshness of war. During the day, you’re pinned to your location by snipers and at night you go adventuring for supplies to keep you alive. Every decision can mean life or death and it’s a surprisingly deep game. It’s on sale for 50% off right now.
Get it now on Google Play!
Apple Music
[Price: Free / $9.99/month]
Apple Music finally hit the Google Play Store this last week to the usual array of unwarranted vitriol from the more aggressively loyal members of the Android community. Controsvery aside, the application actually looks pretty good and Apple did well with the design elements. The service itself is pretty decent as well, boasting 30 million songs, radio stations including Beats 1, playlists, recommendations, and more. You can get a free trial for checking it out if you want to.
Get it now on Google Play!
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps or games news, tell us more about it in the comments!
I let Google’s Autoreply feature answer my emails for a week
Google’s Inbox is like an experimental Gmail, offering a more active (or laborious) way of tackling your inbox bloat, delaying and reminding you to respond at a later time. Its latest trick involves harnessing deep neural networks to offer a trio of (short!) auto-responses to your emails — no typing necessary. Does it do the trick? Can a robot truly express what I need it to, or at least a close enough approximation that I’m satisfied with? I tried it this week to find out.
Here’s when Samsung’s Galaxy devices will get the Marshmallow update
If you own a Samsung device, you have come to the right place. A full roadmap has been posted including over 15 Galaxy devices and when they’ll get Android 6.0.
The map is organized into phases, (Phase. 1) and (Phase. 2). If you bought a Samsung flagship either this year or last year, you’ll be happy to know that you’re at the top of the list for the update. Updates will start next month with the newly released Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+. Following will be the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge which launched back in March. They’re scheduled to get the update in January of 2016. Last year’s Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge will start receiving the update in February of next year, with the Galaxy S5 flagship and Galaxy Alpha to follow shortly after.
In phase 2, the handsets listed are awaiting official approval and are currently listed as N/A. However, if you own one of these handsets, at least you know you’ll be receiving the major update. The Galaxy A-series and E-series fit this category, which include the A9, A7, A5, A3, E7 and E5. If your device is not on this list, that doesn’t mean all hope is lost, but it will likely be just shy of a year before you get your hands on the update, if that even happens.
Please remember that if you live in the United States, owners of these devices will have to wait for carriers to roll-out the update which comes after the manufacturer. This typically takes another month or two before the update actually hits your device via OTA. So please add that to your estimations. You can check out the official Samsung roadmap pictured above for all the details.
Source: TimesNews.co.uk
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Facebook expands scope of Safety Checks following Paris attacks
Facebook originally built its Safety Check feature to help you reassure friends and family in the wake of natural disasters. However, the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut and beyond have prompted a change of heart. Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook will invoke Safety Check for “human disasters” from Paris onward. Simply put, the social network wants to make the tool available “whenever and wherever” it can help — the company is aware that its policies have been inconsistent (responding to some tragedies but not others, for example) and need improvement. There’s no certainty that Facebook has completely addressed the complaints with Safety Check, but here’s hoping that we don’t have to find out for a long, long time to come.
[Image credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong]
HTC One X9 passes through TENAA
HTC has yet another smartphone in the works. The HTC One X9 has just made its way through TENAA.
The TENAA listing shows off a 5.5-inch full-HD display, a 2.2GHz octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP shooter on the front side. The One X9 has 16GB of internal storage which is expandable via a built-in microSD card slot, which can provide some additional space. The design can be very much related to the Nexus 6P, you’ll see what I mean, with a mixture of HTC’s One A9 aluminum uni-body design.
Unlike the previously launched, HTC One A9, the One X9 will come pre-installed with Android 5.0.2 aimed at a different market. It’s only a matter of time before a release date pops-up along with the device’s availability.
Source: TENAA
Via: Android Central
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Vivo X6 phablet stops by the Chinese TENAA
The TENAA seems to have its hands quite full these days, what with the ongoing onslaught of impending products. We have already seen the Xiaomi Redmi Note Pro 2 and just yesterday the HTC One A9, Now it’s time for Vivo to shine, with its new X6 hardware going through the Chinese telecommunications agency:
As one can see from the above design, the hardware looks to be making use of a metal body, complete with antenna lines grafted in and an integrated, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. A single flash module can also be seen flanking the camera.
Along the sides, we can see the phone is quite thin, and thus a small “camera hump” is visible as a result.
The phone, in the event one can not tell from the pictures, is to be a phablet. While Vivo itself has confirmed that the device will ship with 4GB of RAM, the full specs are still the subject of rumors. They include: a QHD 6-inch display with curved glass, a Deca-Core MediaTek Helio X20 64-Bit SoC, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage, a 21-megapixel rear camera and a 12-megapixel front camera.
The device will ship with Android 5.1 and a 4000mAh battery. It will include support for 4G LTE and Dual SIM usage, as well as capture videos with the rear camera at up to 4K in resolution. MicroSD support is also said to be on-board, and some rumors are even suggesting there will be a full 1GB of dedicated video RAM.
Other interesting rumors include two different variants: the X6L and X6D, however the TENAA has yet to publish spec-related details. Also worth mentioning is that the phone may come with a “3D Touch” type of technology.
As can be seen in the picture above, the phablet will apparently come in Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold color variations. It is expected to be officially announced by Vivo toward the end of the month.
What do you think? Are you in the market for a new phablet? Does the Vivo X6 have purchase potential? Leave us your comments below and let us know!
The After Math: On the road again
Forget robot chauffeurs, our future ground transports won’t even need drivers to start with. Between their LIDAR arrays and digital mapping technology, autonomous vehicles are getting safer, more capable and — dare we say it — more attractive by the day.
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It is cool to be a geek: Check out these 35 HD wallpapers just for you
Yeah I’m a scientist. It is cool to be a geek these days and you can express your pride by using one of these images as your wallpaper. The Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad and Doctor Who are some of our favorite shows around here and are proof geeks have taken to mainstream.
We’ve curated 35 super cool looking HD wallpapers for you to use as your display on your smartphone or tablet. Check them out.
If you see a wallpaper that belongs to you and you would like to receive credit, I would love to give it to you! Just drop a comment in the section provided below with some proof (You know, just so we don’t have people claiming things that are not theirs…) So, please choose those that you like and enjoy!
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AIVAnet 