Google Maps for mobile now handles multiple destinations
Believe it or not, the mobile version of Google Maps hasn’t had support for multiple destinations. You could plan that multi-city tour on the desktop, but you’d still have to navigate one stop at a time on your phone. You might not have to the next time around, though: Google is quietly pushing what appears to be a server-side update to Maps for Android that lets you set multiple stops. You can navigate to a tourist trap, a restaurant and your hotel without having to enter fresh directions every time.
There’s no word on iOS support yet. Also, whether or not you’ll get it on Android is arbitrary right now — just having the latest version of Google Maps doesn’t guarantee that you’ll see it. It’ll likely take a few days before the multi-point feature is widely available. So long as you can wait, however, you’ll have just the tool you need to plot that lengthy road trip.
Via: 9to5Google, The Verge
Source: Android Police
Amazon is offering deep smartphone discounts for Prime members
If you’re an Amazon Prime member in the market for a new smartphone, you might consider one of these enticing offers. The retail giant is offering exclusive pricing on select unlocked Android phones, including the BLU R1 HD for $49.99 ($50 off its retail price of $99.99) and the Motorola Moto G for $149.99 ($50 off its normal price of $199.99.)
Both phone deals are exclusively for Amazon Prime members, but you’ll have to be willing to put up with ads displayed on your phone’s lockscreen, much like the “special offers” version of Amazon’s Kindle reader. That’s where the discount comes from, so if you’re looking for an unlocked phone on the cheap and don’t mind seeing ads so much when you lock your device, it’s a good deal.
You can preorder the BLU R1 HD and Moto G starting today, though the phones won’t be releasing until July 12th. If ads aren’t your thing you can always get a regular version of either phone for full price whether you’re an Amazon Prime member or not.
Solve an FMV mystery with ‘Her Story’ on Android
It took a year, but Her Story, Sam Barlow’s mystery game, has been ported to Android. Her Story is a full-motion video game where you’re tasked with piecing together a story through watching short excerpts of interviews. The only mechanic you have at your disposal is a search tool, which lets you bring up clips that contain certain words or phrases. There are hundreds of clips to search through, and by the end of the game you’ll have unravelled a fantastic story.
Her Story won many accolades, including the coveted Aaron Souppouris award for Favorite Video Game of 2015. Less prestigious organizations like the BAFTA Game Awards also recognized the game, handing out three prizes for best debut game, best mobile game, and game innovation. It’s available from Google Play for $2.99, which is a couple of dollars less than its price on iOS.
Source: Sam Barlow (Google Play)
Amazon made flipping through books on Kindles and tablets easier
As useful (and as crazy-svelte) as e-readers can be, there’s something terribly satisfying about thumbing through a sheaf of processed plant matter with words on it. While you’ll never get the same sensory experience using a Kindle, Amazon at least tried to make it easier to skim through digital books, and you’ll get your chance to try it for yourself today. The feature’s called PageFlip, and it’s coming to Amazon’s Kindle app for iOS and Android, along with certain Kindle readers and Fire tablets by way of an automatic, over-the-air update.
PageFlip, in short, is basically the digital equivalent of sticking your thumb between two pages and scouting through the rest of a book looking for the juicy bits. If you’re using the Kindle app on a tablet or phone, tapping on a page gives you a zoomed-out view of that page, along with a progress bar along the bottom to mark your place in the book.
While you flick through the pages, a little window remains in the corner of the screen — that’s the page you just came from, and one tap brings you back to where you left off. If that doesn’t get you skimming through prose fast enough, there’s also a grid view option that shows off even more pages at once. Even better, page previews — be they big or packed into the grid — change on the fly when you fiddle with your margin, line spacing and typeface settings.
Getting PageFlip to work on Kindles was a little trickier, considering the differences in displays, refresh rates and touch sensitivity. Still, the concept scales to these more basic devices without much trouble — you’ll be able to pin pages and view the grid (albeit with less detail), and there is a pair of new shortcut buttons to help you jump between chapters. Simple enough, no?
I didn’t spend much time with PageFlip, but there was one thought I couldn’t shake while I was seeing it: this would be kind of amazing to have before you buy a book. After all, who among us Luddite bound-book readers doesn’t thumb through a tome before trudging up to the checkout line? When asked, a pair of Kindle product managers declined to answer directly; they mentioned the “Look Inside” feature on book listings has been “really helpful,” so I wouldn’t expect much more than that for a while. Speaking of book listings, I haven’t been able to find a book that isn’t PageFlip-enabled, though Amazon concedes that not every digital book they carry is compatible right now.
HP’s new touchscreen Chromebook is ready for Android apps
It’s no secret that HP loves making Chromebooks, and today the company is expanding its lineup with the future of Chrome OS in mind. Enter the HP Chromebook 11 G5, an 11.6-inch laptop which features a touchscreen, meaning it’ll support Android apps when Google rolls that service out later in 2016. Additionally, the new lightweight (2.51 lbs) Chromebook comes with an Intel Celeron N3060 processor and, according to HP, up to 12.5 hours of battery life. But the best part, perhaps, is that the 11 G5 will only cost $189 when it hits stores in October.
Source: HP
Google Reportedly Working on Own-Branded Phone Set for Release This Year
Google is set to launch its own smartphone by the end of the year in an effort to compete more directly with Apple and Samsung devices, according to The Telegraph.
Citing “senior sources” familiar with the matter, the report claims that the company plans to unveil a Google-branded handset that is separate from its Nexus range of phones, which are designed and manufactured through partnerships with the likes of LG and HTC. Google is also said to be in discussions with mobile operators about the release of the phone by the end of 2016.
The Nexus 6 handset by Motorola, one of Google’s manufacturing partners.
If true, the news would be a significant shift in ambitions for the company’s mobile arm, which has historically focused on software development with its Android OS and left handset design largely in the hands of hardware manufacturers.
By contrast, Google’s own internal handset division will take full control over “design, manufacturing and software,” the newspaper reported. No other details were offered by the sources, while Google declined to comment on the story.
Last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company was “investing more effort” into phones, although this was interpreted to mean it wanted to work more closely with existing Nexus device makers. Similarly, in April, Recode reported that former president of Motorola Rick Osterloh was returning to Google to take over hardware development on the company’s Nexus phones and its OEM partnerships, but no indication was given that an own-branded phone was in the works.
Google’s Android OS is used on over 1.4 billion mobile devices globally, but differences in handsets have sometimes seen the company struggle to ensure rollout consistency between software updates.
A Google-branded phone would therefore make sense from a software point of view and allow the company to control the hardware running its OS and let it showcase its other mobile software services.
Such a move however isn’t without risk. In April, the European Commission formally charged Google with monopoly abuse, accusing it of using the success of Android to unfairly push its search engine and Chrome browser on users. Not only that, much of the company’s mobile service revenue is made through iOS devices, so Apple could potentially make life hard for Google if it felt threatened by its move into mobile hardware design.
Tags: Google, Android
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India’s $4 smartphone arrives June 30th
We wouldn’t blame you for thinking that the $4 Indian smartphone was just a pipe dream, but it’s apparently quite real. Ringing Bells tells the Indian Express that its ultra low-cost Freedom 251 (named based on its price in rupees) will start shipping on June 30th, with nearly 200,000 units in the early batch. As before, the hardware is no great shakes. You’re looking at a 4-inch 960 x 540 screen, a modest 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of memory, 8GB of expandable storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 3.2-megapixel front cam — it’s even running Android 5.1 instead of 6.0. Price really is the selling point here.
While it’s good that there’s a tangible product, there are still doubts swirling around its feasibility. Ringing Bells’ CEO admits that his company is taking a loss on every phone right now — it’s hoping to make up for that through sheer volume. As it stands, the firm is still reluctant to offer hands-on time to the media despite a release just days away.
If this gamble pays off, though, it could change the local phone market. Even the most affordable smartphones on the market right now still represent a huge expense for some Indians, particularly rural dwellers who rarely enjoy middle class incomes. At $4, the Freedom 251 is inexpensive enough that it’d be far more attainable and help close a technological divide. The main mystery is whether or not the phone is any good. A terrible experience (say, through unreliable hardware) might sour people on the whole concept, no matter how tempting the price might be.
Via: The Next Web
Source: The Indian Express
Google reportedly ships its first non-Nexus phone this year
You might not have to wait long to see whether or not rumors of Google having more say over phone designs are true. Sources speaking to the Telegraph claim that Google will release a smartphone with tighter controls over “design, manufacturing and software” before the end of the year. The details of the phone aren’t available, but this wouldn’t be a Nexus from the sound of it — those are shaped more by third parties that maintain at least some of their influence. The Pixel C tablet might (might) offer an inkling of what to expect.
Google didn’t comment on the rumor for the newspaper. With that said, its leadership hasn’t been shy about wanting to take the reins. CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that Google would be more “opinionated” about designs. The issue may simply be a matter of how far Mountain View wants to go. Is it willing to risk alienating Android’s hardware partners with a phone designed largely in-house, or would this be more about making a bigger mark on the Nexus program? One thing’s certain: if the rumor is at all accurate, Google’s hardware strategy will never be the same.
Source: The Telegraph
Google live support app would share your Nexus phone’s screen
Buying a Nexus device straight from Google can be a little intimidating to newcomers. It’s not as if you can visit a Google store or your carrier for help, after all. If an Android Police leak is accurate, however, you might not have to. The Android creator is reportedly working on a Google Support app that would offer live help somewhat akin to Amazon’s Mayday. If needed, you’d have the option sharing your screen with a service agent — they could walk you through changing a setting without having to guess what you’re looking at. It’s not certain what else is in store, but it’s safe to say that chat would be part of the experience.
Just when it’d arrive is also murky, and that’s presuming it happens at all. Remember that Android Silver program that was supposed to offer live support and never materialized? Yeah. With that in mind, leaked app visuals suggest that this isn’t just a theoretical exercise. It wouldn’t be shocking if Support showed up alongside this year’s Nexus phones, giving you a safety net at the same time as you pick up that slick new handset. It wouldn’t just cheaper and more direct to get Nexus hardware, in other words — you’d get a special experience that gives rookies a reason to pick a Nexus besides the low price or pure Android.
Source: Android Police
BET gets its own mobile streaming service
Viacom is making good on its promise to parcel out its channels as individual services for cord cutters. It’s launching a BET Play app that lets you watch the network’s black culture programming for $4 per month on your Android and iOS devices. You’ll largely end up watching like Chasing Destiny or Real Husbands of Hollywood on demand, but there is a smattering of live content. It has a live feed of BET Soul’s music, and it’ll be the only official way to livestream the BET Awards (conveniently, taking place on June 26th).
The service is available in 100 countries around the globe, so you don’t have to be American to give it a whirl. However, support for it on TVs is pretty limited. You can use AirPlay to send videos to your TV if you have iOS gear, but you won’t find native Apple TV or Android TV apps, and there’s no Chromecast support. It’s not a perfect substitute for your cable or satellite subscription right now, then — you’ll probably have to be content with watching on your phone.
Via: The Verge
Source: Viacom
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