Google Hangouts gets guest access
Google has just made it a lot easier for users to consider using Hangouts for meetings by freeing the service from requirements like having a Google account to join a Hangout. If you have ever had to try to get someone who is not a big Google user onto a Hangout, you know that it can quickly turn into a major chore depending on the technical capability of the user. With the new feature that is being rolled out, all users will have to do now is click on a link to the Hangout, type in their name in a pop-up box, and then “Request to Join.”
Meeting organizers will receive a prompt to accept or deny entry to users who are trying to join a Hangout. They will also have access to tools to mute or eject participants if necessary.
source: Google for Work
Come comment on this article: Google Hangouts gets guest access
32GB Nexus 5 for just $200 with your choice of red, white, or black
Just in time for the holidays, Expansys USA is offering up the original 32GB LG Nexus 5 for just $200, the lowest price we’ve seen yet. Even better, Expansys has all three colors in stock: red, black, and white.
The Nexus 5 might be two generations old now, but it’s still a solid device, especially at this price. To put it into perspective, that’s about what you’d pay for something like the Moto G (3rd gen), which is powered by a Snapdragon 415 and has just a 720p display. With the Nexus 5, you get the Snapdragon 800, a 5-inch 1080p display, and several other improvements that make it a better choice for the money.
Some of the other key specs include 2GB RAM, a 2,300mAh battery, and an 8 megapixel rear camera. It’s also worth mentioning that the Nexus 5 has already been upgraded to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, something you probably won’t find with other similarly priced phones.
See also: Google Nexus 5 review: best for the money, but is it enough?
As far as aesthetics go, the Nexus 5 also retains a very similar look and vibe to its newer brother, the Nexus 5x, and while the design is certainly no-frills, that’s at least a small part of the phone’s charm.
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The model sold by Expansys should play nicely with all GSM carriers, as well as the CDMA carrier Sprint. So how about it, anyone planning on picking this one up at $200? Would you recommend it at this price, or would users be better off getting a newer entry or mid-level device?
Expansys is selling a bunch of 32GB Nexus 5’s for just $199
Expansys, as part of its early Black Friday deals promo, has begun selling a bunch of 32GB Nexus 5’s for just $199. The devices are available in white, black, and red. There’s even an audio pack that’ll get you a decent pair of headphones and a Nexus 5 for just $219.99.
Keep in mind that these are brand new smartphones, none of these are refurbished units. While the smartphone is a couple of years old, the hardware it’s sporting still isn’t bad by any means, and this device has been know for being buttery smooth, especially after its recent Android 6.0 update.
If anyone’s interested, you’ll need to act fast, as Expansys has limited stock. Anyone picking one up?
source: Expansys
Come comment on this article: Expansys is selling a bunch of 32GB Nexus 5’s for just $199
Google Play will start labeling ad-supported apps
Google Play clearly states which applications have in-app purchases, and starting in 2016, it’ll also be more transparent when it comes to ads. According to Droid Life, Mountain View has notified developers (see the full email below the fold) that they’re required to sign into their consoles and declare whether their applications have advertisements. And, if they lie about it, they could face suspension. Google originally launched the “ad-supported” tag in April in its kid-friendly Play Store as part of the Designed for Families program. Now, developers only have until January 11, 2016 to tag their apps, since the label itself is slated to begin showing up in the regular Play Store “early next year.”
Via: Gamasutra
Source: Droid Life
Android Wear SDK now has Marshmallow support
For a while now, developers of Android Wear apps have had to cope with a handful of irritating details that made working in the environment less than awesome. However, Google has now updated the Android Wear SDK to include support for API 23, which is Android 6.0 Marshmallow functionality. This not only lets devs play with all the perks of Marshmallow, but it also solve a few developmental issues that had been plaguing the SDK for a while.
For example, API 23 allows developers to quickly distinguish between round and square Wear devices with the -round/-notround resource qualifiers. This takes care of a long-standing difficulty that made creating apps for the shape-variable universe of Android Wear cumbersome. Now this simple tag will let apps intelligently choose from a set of images and layouts to more appropriately fit the screen of a given device.
The update also brings a new runtime permissions model to the table, allowing devs and users to take advantage of Marshmallow’s ability to discretely determine permissions for individual apps. It also takes into account speakers for Wear devices, which until the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, had been silent. API 23 makes incorporating sounds into Wear apps as easy as doing so for smartphone or tablet apps.
Tired of uploading every version of your app to a Wear device to test it out? Google has pushed out an official Wear emulator just for you, then. This is sure to make Wear app development easier and quicker across the board. The emulator runs both Lollipop and Marshmallow, so you can easily make sure your app runs well on the vast majority of Wear devices currently on the market.
Google Camera getting an update on Android Marshmallow devices
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Google Camera is one of the more simplified camera apps you can get out there, but there’s no reason it can’t get even easier to use. Google is now rolling out an update to the Google Camera app exclusively for Android Marshmallow devices – which isn’t many device, let’s be honest. The update should rearrange some of the menus so that some toggles, like HDR and flash, won’t be unintuitively buried in a few menus.
It’s not a huge update, but no doubt some heavy users of Google Camera will appreciate it. As always with update roll-outs, don’t be surprised if you don’t see the update today or over the next few days – it could take a few days for your device to see the update. That said, keep an eye out on the Play Store page for any movement.
http://playboard.me/widgets/pb-app-box/1/pb_load_app_box.jsWhat do you think about the Google Camera update? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Droid-life
The post Google Camera getting an update on Android Marshmallow devices appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Google Maps offline navigation and search now in India
Google Maps has become a road beast since last week, when the Search Giant announced the rollout of offline navigation, search and more. But not everyone in the world has been lucky enough to have that feature from the get-go. Are you in India? If so, today is your lucky day!
The Google Maps team has just announced offline availability in India starting today. So now you can get yourself around town with no internet connection at all!
Read more:
But wait – didn’t Google Maps already do this before? In a certain way, it sure did. You could download maps from some areas, but the system was pretty confusing. With the new system users can download maps for cities, counties and even countries. That is a huge step. Not only does it help data savers and emerging markets with slow internet, but it will be a life saver for the road warrior who often has to go through areas with no signal.
This is why we were so excited about offline access to Google Maps navigation and search when we first saw it at Google I/O. Offline access is one of the main factors that made some other mapping apps preferable to some users. And that makes sense! You don’t want to be using data every single time you go somewhere, right?
Interested? You can hit the link below to learn how to use the offline feature on Google Maps. It’s fairly simple. Happy mapping!
How to use Google Maps offline
Google Play will soon begin telling you if an app has any ads
Google is updating their Play Store policies that will require developers to list whether or not their application features any in-app advertisements, which is actually already required for any apps listed in Google’s Designed for Families category. This policy change will affect every app on the Play Store and will begin to be enforced in January, 2016.
Developers will have to list this info by January 11th, and it includes just about anything that anyone would consider an advertisement. In-app ads, ads in a news feed, and banner ads all qualify, and Google checks the SDK to tell whether or not you’re deploying any kind of ad service in your app.
Would any of you refuse to install an app if you knew it contained ads?
source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google Play will soon begin telling you if an app has any ads
Nexus camera app coming to other devices
One of the best things about a Nexus is the simplicity of it. Everything is stripped down to the basics. For example, the camera app doesn’t offer too many special features and just focuses on making it easy for users to point and shoot.
However, the new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P shipped with an updated camera app. Usually, Google updates the Google Camera app in the Play Store as well, but it didn’t this time. Luckily, they just took a little longer to update it and it’s now available in the Play Store.
Overall, the design is even simpler than before. It still maintains all the same features, but hides the less used ones. Things like switching from photo to video mode has been made easier. Other things like the HDR, flash, and timer buttons are now moved to the top right corner. The bottom area is now only three buttons, a switch to front camera button, the capture photos button, and a review last picture taken button. Can’t get much simpler than that.
Come comment on this article: Nexus camera app coming to other devices
Google’s iPhone app gets better (looking)
Not to be outdone by Microsoft’s new Bing app for the iPhone, Google has just released version 10 of its main iOS search-focused app. It’s not a massive revision like Microsoft released today but rather a tweak to put the iOS app on par with its Android counterpart. The biggest change comes in Google Now: cards are more clearly organized by different categories like “upcoming,” “updates,” “stories to read” and so forth. While they weren’t exactly displayed randomly before, these new headings help make more sense out of the various info Google Now will throw at you at any given time. Google says “timely info” like details relating to upcoming travel will show up first, while less time-sensitive cards will show up lower down your feed.
Source: Google
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