Finding watch faces for Android Wear

Finding fantastic watch faces for Android Wear is easier than you think.

So you’ve got your awesome new Android Wear device. That means that the next step is figuring out what kind of watch face you want to load up on it. As of right now there are thousands of watch faces on the Google Play Store that you can choose from, along with watch faces on apps like Facer. Before you can choose a watch face though, you need to find one.

There are two really easy ways to find great watch faces for Android Wear, and we’re going to let you know what they are. Keep reading for the details!

Google Play Store

The first way involves finding the Android Wear tab inside of the Google Play Store. You’ll want to open up Google Play, and navigate over to categories. From the category list choose “Android Wear.” This will open up a screen that has all of the Android Wear apps available right now. Scroll down past the first few sections, and you should see one labeled “Watch Your Style.” If you click on this category it will open up a page with watch faces.

You don’t need to go searching for watch faces on Google Play though. That’s because they’ve set up a page with even more great watch faces. By navigating to Hand-Picked Watch Faces you’ll get a page with over 200 fantastic watch faces. As you might guess, they’ve all been hand-picked, and contain some of the best watch faces currently available.

If you’re feeling lucky, you can aldo do a blind search on Google Play.

If you’re feeling lucky, you can also do a blind search on Google Play by searching for watch faces manually. Using search terms like “watch faces for android wear,” “watch faces,” or “android wear,” will all bring up plenty of results. However there are doubtless going to be apps for Android Wear that aren’t watch faces in these results. It’s also worth noting that when you do a blind search like this, you are going to find some of the less awesome watch faces that are out there.

Facer Watch faces for Android Wear

Facer is a stand alone app, that gives you access to hundreds of watch faces that you won’t find in the Google Play Store. Much like the Google Play Store, there is tons of content for you to sift through until you find the watch face that’s perfect for you. Unlike the Google Play Store though, Facer gives you access to lists of watch faces of a certain kind. You can look through nerdy watch faces, analog watch faces, or even watch faces from your favorite movies or television shows.

After the Google Play Store, Facer is actually one of the best places to look for watch faces. Especially if you have a specific theme that you are hoping to put on your watch face. The main page will show you several different lists of the currently featured watch faces. You can also look through the top charts of watchfaces, which is separated into free and premium watch faces.

The awesome thing about Facer is that it’s actually pretty easy to design your own watch face.

Facer also has another unique section for watch faces called unlockables. It’s a small set of watch faces, and each one has to be unlocked by certain actions. To access them you’ll have to do things like sharing a watch face, or publish a watch face of your own on Facer. The awesome thing about Facer is that it’s actually pretty easy to design your own watch face.

Watchmaker Watch face

Watchmaker Watch Face is another cool place that you can go to download watch faces that you won’t find anywhere else. It doesn’t have the same degree of options that both Facer and the Google Play store have, unless you pony up and buy the premium edition for $3.99. It is super easy to build new watch faces yourself though, and you can do it right from your phone.

If you download the free version of Watchmaker, you’ll be able to choose from 6 free watch faces and see a handful of premium faces. It isn’t until you download the premium version you’ll have access to hundreds of watch faces. You do however, still get access to the ability to build your own watchface.

even if you’ve never even thought about building your own watch face you can do this.

Building your own watch face is ridiculously easy. You can add features one by one, and even if you’ve never even thought about building your own watch face you can do this. Now, you won’t have access to all of features, unless you purchase the premium version, but you can still make a simple and awesome watch face with the free app.

Finding a great watch face for your Android Wear device is easier than you think. There are literally thousands of options across multiple platforms, which means there is definitely a watch face out there for you. Whether you only go through the Google Play Store, or you decide to build the watch face you’ve always wanted through Facer, you’ve got plenty of options. Is there somewhere else to grab great watch faces that we didn’t cover? Be sure to jump into the comments and let us know about it!

Get the new Moto G4 cheap from Amazon — if you don’t mind lock screen ads

Amazon has announced a new promotion for Prime members that could see up to 50% knocked off the price of their next Android phone. The retailer is loading select phones with personalized offers and ads to appear on the lock screen of each phone in order to provide these discounts. The first phones available in the promotion are the BLU R1 HD and the Moto G4.

With personalized offers, Prime customers can get the BLU R1 HD for $49.99, or 50% off its full retail price. The Moto G4, normally available for $199.99, is available for $149.99 with this program. These personal offer phones can be pre-ordered now, and will be released on July 12.

See the BLU R1 HD at Amazon

See the Moto G4 at Amazon

Press release:

Amazon Announces Exclusive Pricing Only for Prime Members on Newly Released, Unlocked Android Phones—Up to 50% Off the Full Retail Price, Starting at $49.99

The new BLU R1 HD is available to Prime members for just $49.99, featuring a beautiful 5″ HD display, quad-core processor, and 4G LTE speed

The new Moto G is available to Prime members for just $149.99, featuring a 5.5″ full HD display, an octa-core processor with 2 GB of RAM, and 4G LTE speed

Breakthrough pricing is supported by personalized offers and ads displayed on the phone’s lockscreen

Unlocked smartphones give Prime members the freedom and flexibility to choose the wireless carrier and service that best fit their needs

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon Prime members can now take advantage of exclusive pricing—up to 50% off the full retail price—on a selection of newly released, fully featured, unlocked Android smartphones. The all-new BLU R1 HD is only $49.99 ($50.00 off its retail price of $99.99) and the new fourth-generation Motorola Moto G is $149.99 ($50.00 off its retail price of $199.99). Each phone is offered unlocked, with no commitment to a contract, giving Prime members the flexibility to switch between wireless carriers and service options to best fit their needs. The newly launched BLU R1 HD and Moto G are available for pre-order starting today at http://http://www.amazon.com/prime-exclusive-phones?tag=androidcentralb-20.?tag=androidcentralb-20

The breakthrough pricing on unlocked smartphones is supported by personalized offers and ads, including deals and product recommendations, displayed on the phone’s lockscreen. When a customer sees an offer, they can tap to learn more about it or simply unlock their phone to dismiss.

“Customers love the freedom of unlocked phones—it’s the fastest growing category within cell phones on http://Amazon.com—so we set out to find a way to make them even more affordable for our Prime members,” said Laura Orvidas, Vice President, Consumer Electronics, http://Amazon.com. “We currently offer low prices supported by lockscreen offers and ads on our Fire tablets and Kindle e-readers, and they’ve been a hit—in fact, the vast majority of customers choose the lower-priced option. Now we’re lowering prices in a similar way on new, unlocked smartphones, working with two of our best-selling brands, BLU and Motorola.”

The BLU R1 HD and Moto G feature Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Google Mobile Services, including Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Play. A single sign-on experience provides Prime members easy access to their Prime benefits through the most popular Amazon apps, including tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video, over one million songs and playlists with Prime Music, unlimited photo storage and backup with Prime Photos, one free pre-released book a month with Kindle First, FREE two-day shipping on millions of items, and more. Customers also get access to thousands of apps, games and in-app items that are 100% free with Amazon Underground, and can shop a personalized selection of Amazon’s daily deals right from a new home screen widget.

BLU R1 HD:
At $49.99, the BLU R1 HD is the only unlocked smartphone under $100 featuring a vivid HD display with a brightness rating of 420 nits, and a wide-angle 5MP selfie camera with LED flash. The beautiful 5″ HD curved Gorilla Glass display and aluminum metal enclosure incorporate the highest grade material resulting in a stunning look and feel. Featuring a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, fast 4G LTE speed, and an 8MP rear-facing camera, the BLU R1 HD is available with 1 GB RAM and 8 GB of internal storage or 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal storage—both have microSD card support for up to 64 GB of additional storage. The BLU R1 HD is compatible with GSM carriers, including
AT&T and T-Mobile.

“The BLU R1 HD is the perfect choice for customers who want a high quality experience in a brand new, unlocked smartphone,” said Samuel Ohev-Zion, CEO of BLU Products, Inc. “Only with Amazon could we bundle this much value in a smartphone for only $49.99—it’s an incredible offer.”

Moto G:
The fourth-generation Moto G is the latest premium phone from Motorola and the thinnest Moto G yet. Compatible with all major CDMA and GSM carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. It boasts a 5.5″ full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset with an octa-core processor at up to 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM, and 4G LTE speeds. In addition, the Moto G features a 13MP camera with dual LED flash, and a 3000 mAh battery with TurboPower charging giving you up to 6 hours of power in just 15 minutes of charging. Available with 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage, plus microSD card support for up to 128 GB of additional storage.

“We’re thrilled to work with Amazon to offer customers the best of all worlds with the new Moto G,” said Jeff Miller, Corporate Vice President, North America Sales. “When considering the purchase of an unlocked smartphone, customers want the technology and features they really care about, and at a great price.”
Customers can pre-order the BLU R1 HD and the Moto G starting today, with both phones available starting July 12th. Visit http://www.amazon.com/prime-exclusive-phones?tag=androidcentralb-20 for additional information and details about the Prime-exclusive offer. The BLU R1 HD and Moto G without offers and ads are also available on Amazon to Prime and non-Prime members, at full retail price. For more details about the BLU R1 HD, visit http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F9N5QX1,?tag=androidcentralb-20 and for the Moto G visit http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EZC9WC0.?tag=androidcentralb-20

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit http://www.amazon.com/about.?tag=androidcentralb-20

4th of July Sale: Save 20% on your favorite ShopAndroid accessories

Before you fire up the grill and fireworks this 4th of July, swing by ShopAndroid to save 20% on your favorite accessories.

Starting today, everything in store including the most popular wireless chargers, cases and covers, screen protectors, and quick chargers are all up for grabs at a boomin’ 20% discount! There’s plenty to check out for popular devices like the LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy Note 5, and many more.

After you’ve filled your cart, use coupon code: stars16 to enjoy instant savings on everything. If that’s not enough to spark your interest, we even offer free shipping on all orders over $50 within the continental U.S., along with reasonable rates on expedited options. Don’t miss out this holiday week, because the gettin’s only good until midnight, July 5.

Light’em up and let’s shop!

OnePlus 3 vs. Nexus 6P: Who does clean, affordable and powerful better?

Two phones vying for the same customer base — which one does it better?

With each of its phones, OnePlus has consistently aimed at the same type of customers who would normally consider a Nexus — hitting on the big points of lower prices, great performance, simple software and the ability to customize things if you so choose. The OnePlus 3 at $399 has crept up a bit in price, but also value, and that nicely meets the improved hardware and overall experience on offer from the Nexus 6P.

And though the latest high-end Nexus is about eight months old at this point, it holds its ground quite well against all incoming 2016 flagships and for many is still the go-to high-end Android — but does it top the OnePlus 3? We’re here to answer that question right now.

Hardware, design and specs

As the first all-metal Nexus phone, the Nexus 6P brought the brand to new heights in terms of materials and overall hardware quality. Your opinion may differ some based on which color you chose (and feel bad if you don’t have gold), but there’s no denying that this smooth aluminum chassis with bits of flair from chamfered edges is really nice. The OnePlus 3 follows much the same design language, with the same smooth metal exterior and understated curves — though OnePlus really does things a bit nicer with its solid unibody construction and masterfully smooth combination of metal and glass on the front. It may not be as much of a standout in terms of looks, but it feels more solid in many ways than the Nexus 6P.

Both phones are quite slippery in the grand scheme of things, though the smaller footprint and lighter weight of the OnePlus 3 helps counteract that. I still find the Nexus 6P to feel just a bit too tall sometimes (and I’m definitely not alone here) when I’m shuffling it around in one hand, and that doesn’t really arise with the OnePlus 3.

The solid aluminum body gives the OnePlus 3 a spectacular feel.

Most of that extra height and width is due to the 5.7-inch display on the Nexus 6P, which is AMOLED like the 5.5-incher on the OnePlus 3. The Nexus 6P has the distinct advantage of a higher resolution, 2560×1440, than the last-gen feeling 1920×1080 of the OnePlus 3, but of course that doesn’t tell the whole story. Text is just as crisp on the OnePlus 3 to my eyes (remember we’re still talking over 400 ppi here), and it matches the Nexus 6P in terms of colors and viewing angles as well. (And that’s before you get into the manual color balance controls on the OnePlus 3.) I find the Nexus 6P to be a little more capable in ramping up the brightness for outdoor viewing, which is one shortcoming the OnePlus 3, but neither one pushes up to the quality of a phone like the Galaxy S7.

Complete OnePlus 3 specs

Complete Nexus 6P specs

Internally, things match up nicely. The newer OnePlus 3 of course has a faster Snapdragon 820 processor and 6GB of RAM, but the Snapdragon 810 and 3GB in the Nexus 6P don’t hold you back at this point. Both can be had with the same 64GB of internal storage, though it’s the default on the OnePlus 3 and a $50 upsell on the 6P — and you won’t find a microSD card slot in either. A great one-touch fingerprint sensor is found on both, as well as loud but unspectacular speakers … though the front-facing pair on the Nexus 6P is a bit fuller and more optimally placed.

Software, performance and battery life

The Nexus software experience obviously appeals to those (myself included) who prefer the slick, smooth and efficient layout of Google’s own vision for Android, and OnePlus hasn’t strayed far from that experience. OxygenOS, as it’s called, is basically a custom ROM makers’ take on Android, taking a base of Marshmallow and adding a handful of great customization features. Being able to edit quick settings, turn on a dark mode, tweak the status bar and change minute settings sets it apart from stock Android, without the baggage of bloatware apps. And best of all, you don’t have to use these customization features, you can leave it basic and it’ll work just as it does on the Nexus 6P.

More: OnePlus 3 review

With light and simple software, performance on both is really great. The little bump in internal specs is noticeable on the OnePlus 3, however, with app launching and multitasking that’s just a half step quicker than on the Nexus 6P — and the OnePlus 3 doesn’t seem to succumb to the (very) random slowdowns that I get on my Nexus 6P from time to time. When you’re focused on a single app, performance is fantastic on both, of course — that’s just table stakes nowadays.

It really depends how much weight you put on software updates.

The real differentiator here is in the software update category. When it comes to getting timely updates — both security patches and full platform jumps — you can’t go wrong with a Nexus phone, and we all know that at this point. And is you’re someone who wants to be on the bleeding edge — and chances are you do if you want a Nexus — you will get the very first access to new versions, like Android N right now, through Google’s own phone. This is a very big deal for much of the target audience of these two phones, and you need to decide if the fastest possible updates holds weight for you.

The Nexus 6P steps up to the plate with a 3450 mAh battery, considerably larger than the round 3000 mAh in the OnePlus 3. No matter the recipe for how they get there, both phones can give you a full day of use without making you look at the battery percentage in a panic near the end of the day, though in my time with the Nexus 6P it seems to really drain fast when hitting the phone with heavy tasks — gaming, lots of mobile data use and multitasking can tank it quickly. On the flipside the OnePlus 3’s battery life was far more consistent no matter what I did, even when that included travel, which is the great destroyer of phone batteries.

Neither battery is removable and you can’t get wireless charging through the metal cases, so those are out of the comparison, but both offer their own fast charging methods — unfortunately neither one follows the most common Qualcomm Quick Charge standard. Dash Charge on the OnePlus 3 can charge at the rate of 60% per 30 minutes on the charger, but you can only get compatible chargers from OnePlus — the Nexus 6P’s Rapid Charging is more generic by design and has a few more charger options out there, including mobile power banks. So long as you’re willing to invest in a couple compatible chargers (each includes one in the box) I don’t see an issue with either phone’s system, and bravo to both for going toward the future with USB-C ports.

Cameras

The Nexus 6P takes a rather interesting approach to its camera with a 12.3MP sensor comprised of larger-than-average 1.55-micron pixels, but eschews OIS in the process and sets it all behind an f/2.0 lens. The OnePlus 3’s camera in comparison is a bit more “traditional” with 16MP of resolution, much smaller 1.12-micron pixels, OIS and also an f/2.0 lens.

The two camera interfaces are unsurpringly similar in that they’re simple, sparse and generally get out of the way when you’re shooting. Both make it easy to quickly toggle common settings, switch modes and move to the front-facing camera, though the OnePlus 3 pulls way ahead with a complete manual mode if that’s your sort of thing. It’s hard to pick a winner in terms of interface … so how about the photo output? Check out this handful of side-by-side samples.

OnePlus 3 (left) / Nexus 6P (right) — click image to view larger

Both do well in daylight, but the Nexus 6P’s HDR+ wins at night.

Both cameras are very capable and do a good job of producing true-to-life photos that aren’t blown out, particularly when you’re evaluating the Nexus 6P using HDR+ mode. Without HDR on both phones tend to be a little on the washed-out side of things, with the 6P being extra poor in terms of dynamic range. Photos from the phones have distinct looks, but I can’t quite call out one as better than the other — the OnePlus 3 looked very true to life, as well as sharp, while the Nexus 6P perhaps had a little less fine detail and exposed a little brighter in most scenes. At night, it was all about the Nexus 6P with HDR+, exhibiting sharper lines and dramatically less noise than the OnePlus 3, which itself is faster to capture at night but that’s the one place it wins.

This points out the one real weakness of the Nexus 6P: not only is it almost entirely reliant on HDR+ to take (admittedly great) photos, particularly in low light, but HDR+ mode takes an amazingly long amount of time to capture and render the photos, and subsequently bogs down the whole system. If we’re looking at one-off photo quality, the Nexus 6P certainly takes on the OnePlus 3 and tops it in low light … but at the cost of having a slow, inconsistent performance issue in the camera that can be downright frustrating.

Even with the same pixel size as the competition the OnePlus 3’s 5MP front-facing camera doesn’t quite capture as much detail as the Nexus 6P’s 8MP sensor. The OnePlus 3’s setup may offer slightly better performance in some lower-light situations thanks to its wider f/2.0 aperture, but HDR+ on the 6P is a big help on the other side.

The bottom line

In many ways, these two phones compare quite well to one another. In both the OnePlus 3 and Nexus 6P you’ll find solid metal hardware, a good screen, one-tough fingerprint sensor, good battery life, fast charging and a solid camera. The Nexus 6P is a bit bigger and tougher to manage in one hand, but the benefit is a bigger screen that has just a bit more room for everything you want to do. There are little differences here and there, with the OnePlus 3 having a slight advantage in some respects simply because it’s eight months newer, but for use today and a year into the future, the differences aren’t all that pronounced.

Day-to-day use of the software won’t reveal many differences either, so long as you’re drawn to the simple design and functionality of Marshmallow. But although OnePlus has worked in nice software customization options, the guarantee of regular software updates on the Nexus — and the ability to use Android N right away — far outweighs those customizations for most people.

Then of course there’s the price, where OnePlus nicely undercuts the $499 Nexus 6P by a full $100 — the gap widens to $150 if you expect to get 64GB of storage on the Nexus. So now not only are you going to give up a little bit in terms of hardware to get fast and reliable software updates, but you’re also paying a extra for the privilege. Even at $499 the Nexus 6P represents clear value in its own right being much cheaper than most of the high-end competition, but the OnePlus 3 being available today at a lower price should make you think a little before you drop extra money on a Nexus 6P that’s just a handful of months away from likely being replaced with the latest Nexus phone.

OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
• OnePlus 3 specs
• OnePlus 3 vs. the flagship competition
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums

OnePlus

Facebook’s latest News Feed change will prioritize posts from friends

Facebook has announced it will be making more changes for its News Feed in the coming weeks. Posts from friends that Facebook users care about most will be placed higher in the News Feed with this change.

In a blog post, Facebook stated:

We previously made an update that tries to ensure that stories posted directly by the friends you care about, such as photos, videos, status updates or links, will be higher up in News Feed so you are less likely to miss them.

We’ve heard from our community that people are still worried about missing important updates from the friends they care about. For people with many connections this is particularly important, as there are a lot of stories for them to see each day. So we are updating News Feed over the coming weeks so that the things posted by the friends you care about are higher up in your News Feed.

Facebook adds that some Pages could see their reach and referral traffic go down as a result of these News Feed changes. In a separate blog post. Facebook revealed some of the values it has put in place when it comes to developing and updating its News Feed:

Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family. That is still the driving principle of News Feed today. Our top priority is keeping you connected to the people, places and things you want to be connected to — starting with the people you are friends with on Facebook. That’s why if it’s from your friends, it’s in your feed, period — you just have to scroll down. To help make sure you don’t miss the friends and family posts you are likely to care about, we put those posts toward the top of your News Feed. We learn from you and adapt over time. For example, if you tend to like photos from your sister, we’ll start putting her posts closer to the top of your feed so you won’t miss what she posted while you were away.

BLU announces the R1 HD starting at just $100 unlocked

BLU has announced the R1 HD, its latest Android-powered phone that starts at just $100 unlocked. This phone will also be part of Amazon’s latest promotion where you can score it even cheaper if you don’t mind it coming with ads.

The company has been making affordable unlocked Android phones for some time already, but what exactly does just $100 get you? Well, let’s take a look at the specs of the R1 HD.

If you are looking for a backup phone or a first phone for the kids, this may be the perfect solution for you. You can pick it up from Amazon right now for just $100, or $50 if you don’t mind ads being forced in your face every so often.

See at Amazon

Yahoo Sports gets a new look, live video, and more

Yahoo has launched a complete refresh of its sports app, offering people a brand new design and a new set of features, such as personalized favorites, alerts, and scores. The app also features a variety of video content, including access to Yahoo’s free MLB Game of the Day live.

Here are the major highlights of the new Yahoo Sports experience:

• Favorites: Sign in and set your favorite teams to get schedules, game highlights, and updates in your own personalized news stream.
• Sports: Stay up to date on all the scores, stats and leagues you follow.
• Headlines: Get exclusive content from writers like Adrian Wojnarowski, Dan Wetzel, and Pat Forde along with the most important headlines in sports.
• Alerts: Set alerts for your favorite teams and get notifications when you want them. Follow every scoring play or only when a game starts. Your choice.
• Live games: Watch hundreds of live MLB and NHL games for free. No subscription required, Watch Brewers vs. Dodgers tomorrow @ 5pm ET.

You can grab the updated version of Yahoo Sports from the Google Play Store now.

Original USS Enterprise prop restored to its former glory

There’s probably enough material about the tragic afterlives of the USS Enterprise models to fill a small book, at least. Until two years ago, the 1701 prop used for Star Trek (1966) had been left hanging in the Smithsonian’s basement gift shop. Now, to celebrate the museum’s 40th anniversary, the model has been restored as an exhibit in the Boeing Milestones of Flight hall, which opens Friday. A team, led by the museum’s chief conservator Malcolm Collum, collaborated with fans and Industrial Light and Magic to restore the model to its former glories. After all, a 50-year-old prop from a ’60s TV show was never designed to last this long.

The effects house proved vital in adding a working lighting scheme to the model, although it now uses LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs. But the museum’s own team did the bulk of the work, including building a new deflector dish after the original was lost at some point before 1974. With this restoration, the glory of the original model has been restored, although that only serves to highlight the tortures that the 1701 (Refit) prop has suffered since 1979. If you’re unfamiliar, this forum thread should bring you up to speed, but it’s fair that at least the original series model got a happy ending.

Source: Popular Mechanics, NPR