Stagelight teaches you how to make music on your Android phone
If you like the idea of learning to compose music on your phone, your go-to app has typically been GarageBand on IOS. But what if you’re rocking an Android phone and would rather not switch? Don’t worry, you’re covered. Open Labs has released a pocket-sized Android version of Stagelight, its music-making app. It’s free to get started, and includes lessons that help you write your first tracks. You pay only as you expand your talents — like with GarageBand, there’s an in-app store that offers more samples and extra features. While you probably won’t produce a hot track solely on your phone (you can sync with Stagelight across devices), this could be what you need to either understand the basics of music or make a rough cut that you can polish later.
Source: Google Play, Open Labs
Oppo embraces near-stock Android to sell more phones beyond China
It’s relatively easy to buy Oppo’s smartphones in many places around the world. However, it’s still obvious that they were originally designed for Chinese buyers, who tend to favor heavy customization — how is Oppo supposed to make a name for itself abroad? By stripping things down, apparently. The company has released a beta version of Project Spectrum, a firmware release that gets much closer to stock Android. You’ll still find signature Oppo features like a custom camera app and screen-off gestures, but you’ll see much more of Google’s original interface (specifically, Lollipop). It’s only available to download for the Find 7 and Find 7a at the moment, but there are plans for both broader hardware support and a Marshmallow upgrade in the months ahead.
Via: The Verge
Source: Oppo Community
Garmin’s working on an Android streaming stick for your TV
Although Garmin is mostly known for its GPS navigation systems, the company recently started expanding its scope to other things like wearables. Now, according to FCC documents, Garmin looks to be ready to introduce an Android-powered media stick. As Liliputing reports, Garmin’s Vivohub 2 (pictured below) is described as a device that can turn your dumb TV into a smart one — similar to products such as the Google Chromecast or Roku Streaming Stick. Strangely enough, the leaked user’s manual suggests the Vivohub 2 runs 4.2 Jelly Bean, which is far from being the freshest version of Android. In addition to that, the stick is said to come with a 1GHz Amlogic AML826 dual-core processor, ARM Mali-400 graphics, 1GB of RAM and support for both Bluetooth and WiFi.
Source: Liliputing
Google search can stream apps to your Android phone
Ever found something on the web that would be better-served by an app, but didn’t relish the thought of downloading the app to give it a shot? Google clearly has: as part of a broader mobile search revamp, it’s introducing app streaming on Android phones. Search results from certain sites (such as Chimani or HotelTonight) will give you streamed versions of their mobile apps that let you do everything you need without a permanent download. Think of it as Nextbit’s cloud-based app management taken to the next level — you only need to ‘install’ that app for that brief moment when you really need it. The feature is still in beta testing with a handful of titles right now, but Google is promising to expand the selection over time.
Source: Google Inside Search
42 QHD Star Wars wallpapers
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is literally just a month away. We’re as excited as the rest of the world and all we can do is wait. While you wait for what will be one of the biggest movies of 2015, check out these QHD wallpapers we’ve curated from around the web, and drop one of them onto your background to show your love for Star Wars.
The wallpapers are all in the scrolling images above, and if you want to save them, follow these instructions:
- Click the left/right arrows to scroll through the images
- Maximize the image you like by clicking on it
- Long press or hold down on the image and click “save”
- Go to your gallery or Google Photos and find your image
- Click “use as” and then click wallpaper
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!
The post 42 QHD Star Wars wallpapers appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google Photos update helps free up precious phone storage
Running out of storage space on a phone is a major pain point that affects millions of Android users across the world. Google understands that, and has come up with a simple solution that helps free up storage space on one’s phone.
Google has pushed a major update for Google Photos, which introduces two new features to the gallery app. While one feature helps free up space from your phone’s internal storage, the other allows users to downgrade previously uploaded “Original” images to “High quality”.
First up, Google has introduced the “Free up space” feature, accessible from within the app’s settings menu. Simply activate the feature and Google Photos will remove from your device copies of photos and videos that have already been backed up on the cloud. Alternatively, Google can keep a close eye on when phone’s storage space runs low, and then proceed to remove backed up copies of photos and videos that are older than 30 days.
Users can still access their entire media collection from within the Google Photos Android or iOS apps, or using the web app, as long as they are connected to the internet.
Version 1.9 of the Google Photos app also introduces a simple way to downgrade all your original quality photos, which you have uploaded before, to compressed high quality photos. Before this update, users had no way to have their previously uploaded photos get compressed to the smaller “high quality” standard. Do keep in mind that storing original quality photos still count against your storage space, whereas high quality photos have free unlimited storage.
Apart from adding these two features, the updated Google Photos app fixes a bug that prevented users from deleting photos stored on the microSD card, resulting in a frustrating experience for users who would continue to see photos in the gallery despite having deleted them.
Previous updates to Google Photos added features such as Chromecast support, labels and sharing, etc. The gallery app was originally released in May 2015, and has since surpassed 100 million active users, a metric that’s even more relevant than app downloads.
The latest version of Google Photos for Android is already rolling out, and is coming soon to iOS.
Google lowers minimum app prices in 17 countries
To many people around the globe, 99-cent apps might still be too expensive. In an effort to reach more people worldwide, Google has lowered the minimum app price in the Play Store for 17 countries, after a successful pilot in India earlier this year. Prices vary depending on location: Indians enjoy the lowest minimum price of 10 Indian Rupees (15 cents), while folks in Turkey and Ukraine will be able to buy the cheapest apps for 21 cents each. Poland is getting the smallest price cut of them all, but the minimum amount still costs less than half a dollar at 45 cents. You can find the full price list below the fold with their US dollar conversations. If you’re a developer willing to sell at a lower price, you can adjust your apps’ pricing scheme under “Pricing & Distribution” or “In-app Products” in Google Play’s Developer Console.
Source: Android Developers Blog, Google Support
Is Android Wear ruining your Bluetooth speaker/headset sound?
Our Android Wear smartwatches have totally changed the way we use our connected devices. At first it was a luxury to me, but I have found that I can no longer live without this commodity. It’s not all fun and pleasure for all users, though. The latest reports suggest these nifty devices may have an adverse effect on Bluetooth audio devices.
An unsatisfied listener has posted his experience on Reddit. And it seems this is not an isolated event, as some other users have been witnessing similar behavior. But let’s step back for a bit and see what phuzzyday‘s experience was like.
This user has a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, a Samsung Gear Live and a Jaybird X2 headset (great headphones, by the way!). One day he noticed his sound was substandard, as if the audio was set at a lower bitrate, but once he tested the same headset on his PC it was a different story. Sound was perfect while using his computer. He then proceeded to try a JBL Charge 2 Bluetooth speaker with the phone and sound was equally bad.
After searching through other threads, he found other people have seen similar problems while using a Moto 360. He proceeded to turn off the watch to see if that could be the issue, and guess what? Sound was perfectly normal! The only caveat was that the music would stop playing every couple minutes. If he turned the watch back on, the music didn’t stop playing, but the low quality audio came back.
What’s next? By then he was probably realizing he was going to have to make some sacrifices, but he certainly didn’t give up on the troubleshooting. He proceeded to uninstall the Android Wear app and all problems disappeared. Sound was clear and the music was no longer stopping. His best solution was to unpair the watch while listening to his tunes, but that is also an inconvenience.
This same user also tried all these steps with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Moto 360, only to come up with the same results. Information is limited so far, but this does seem to be a Bluetooth connectivity issue between Android Wear and certain phones. Other users state some devices have no issue handling Android Wear and speakers/headsets simultaneously, including the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6. Another report states the issue is also present with the LG G4 and Samsung Galaxy S4 (even if less apparent on the latter).
We would certainly like to learn more and make this issue more widespread (if it does exist). Only then will we get a statement and/or fix from Google. Please do hit the comments and let us know if you have been experiencing similar issues. Does your Bluetooth audio sound bad when you are connected to an Android Wear device? Do you have any fixes for this issue?
40 High-contrast and eye-popping QHD(1440p) wallpapers specifically for AMOLED displays
If you have an AMOLED display, you know how vibrant and rich an image can appear on your display. If you have a 1440p display, which is found on devices like the Nexus 6P, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and 5, or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, you are fortunate to have one of the best displays you can get your hands on these days. We’ve selected 40 images from around the web specifically to take advantage of that high-contrast and super HD display of yours. All of the images are a minimum of 1440p and go as high as 4k.
Check out the wallpapers and download as many as you would like.
The wallpapers are all in the scrolling images above, and if you want to save them, follow these instructions:
- Click the left/right arrows to scroll through the images
- Maximize the image you like by clicking on it
- Long press or hold down on the image and click “save”
- Go to your gallery or Google Photos and find your image
- Click “use as” and then click wallpaper
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!
If you would like to download them all, click on this link to grab the zip file.
The post 40 High-contrast and eye-popping QHD(1440p) wallpapers specifically for AMOLED displays appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Pushbullet’s ‘Pro’ syncing service is stuff that used to be free
Pushbullet, the mighty app that lets you sync notifications, links, photos and SMS between your phone and computer, has just announced that it will be offering a Pro tier. But here’s the kicker: paying $4.99 a month or $39.99 annually doesn’t actually buy you anything new (other than supporting its developer’s needs for things like food and shelter). A blog post announcing the changes tried to justify the move, but its explanations seem oddly close to threats. “We could have kept Pushbullet completely free, following the path of many free services by showing ads and selling data to make money. We don’t want to do that.” And we certainly hope they don’t have to!
Source: Pushbullet
AIVAnet 