MLB.com At Bat gets Material Design makeover for 2015 season

With what seems like half the United States buried in a thick blanket of snow, it’s easy to forget that in the lands of grapefruits and oranges the 2015 MLB season is well underway. Spring Training began in earnest this week, and as players prepare for the grind of another year in the big leagues fans are being given the opportunity to spruce up their app game with a new update to MLB.com At Bat.

The big takeaway is a shift toward Google’s Material Design standards, bringing a truly native look to the app which provides fans with a way to stream live video and audio of MLB games direct from their smartphones and tablets (you’ll need to pony up for a subscription to enjoy the full benefits). The new UI stretches across team color-specific designs for all 30 designs plus an overhauled scoreboard view. Also included is support for Spanish language for the béisbol fans out there. You will still need to manually adjust your device’s language settings, however.

The new app is available now to download for free. While certain features can be enjoyed without a subscription, to get the full experience you will need to pay a .99 yearly fee or .99 monthly fee.

Download MLB.com At Bat from Google Play

 

Learn to design for web with this name-your-price deal on e-learning tools from AndroidArea.com

Have you ever wanted to learn to design for the web? Do you want to become a Photoshop master? You won’t have to enroll in years worth of expensive design school to do so. No, with AndroidArea.com’s special offer, you can name your price for eight separate courses with over 80 hours worth of lessons on designing for web and using the tools that make it possible.

Name any price to unlock 0 worth of courses covering web design basics and the ins and outs of responsive design. Pay higher than the average price (which sits at .61 as of writing) and gain access to 6 additional lessons and tutorials focusing on Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, user experience, and more.

All told, it’s an 0 value that can be yours for less than . Even better, 10% of all sales will be donated to Creative Commons. Better still, pay enough to rank on the leaderboard or hit the top spot and earn entries to an exclusive giveaway to be held in the future. You can’t get much more of an incentive than that. Head on over to AndroidArea.com now to name your price.

Huawei starts MWC 2015 early, posts Huawei Watch promo and design videos to YouTube

Even though Mobile World Congress 2015 doesn’t officially start until March 2nd, Huawei has let the cat out of the bag on their upcoming announcement by posting two new videos on their YouTube channel. Huawei plans on joining the smartwatch race with what looks like a beautifully crafted Android Wear smartwatch or maybe they’re promoting a European Ski vacation. I’m not entirely sure.

From the promo videos, we can tell that this Android Wear smartwatch looks similar to the Moto 360 with it’s metal housing, thin bezels, and heart rate monitor; though the bands attach slightly different with Huawei Watch, Huawei’s offering doesn’t have a “flat tire” at the bottom, and the crown has been moved to the 2 o’clock position.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtDzSMPuoMc

As for the design of the watch, Huawei apparently surveyed both men and women watch enthusiasts and determined that a 42mm body size is the most common. The watch will come in both steel and gold colors, have a variety of stainless steel and leather straps available for both men and women, and come equipped with sapphire glass. Huawei has also packaged their own fine crafted custom watch faces on their watch to enhance the watch’s elegant look and feel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=016WQrGexnE

That’s all we know for now, but we have Rob Jackson and Chris Chavez on the floor at MWC 2015 this week and we’ll try to get more information as well as a hands-on as soon as possible.

What do you think of the Huawei Watch? Let us know in the comments.

 

7 New Material Design Guidelines that Android Developers should know

In an effort to flesh out their Material Design guidelines, Google has released a whopping 7 new sections that’ll show you best practices for crafting user interfaces, handling data and providing an overall sensible user experience as it pertains to the current standard. Here are the new sections Google has added for developers to take a look at:

Data tables

Whether you’re including ingredients for a recipe, stats from a sports league, or results from an arcade game, Google gives you the lowdown on the best practices for incorporating data tables into your apps and websites with material design (read more).

Units and measurements

Ever wonder why phones from the low-end to high-end seem to ignore pixel widths and resolutions? They’re not being ignored, Skywalker… it’s all a matter of pixel density (and much more).

Floating Action Button

This beautiful addition to Android now gets its very own Material Design section. Learn when, where, and how to use the floating action button appropriately right here.

App structure

Having trouble deciding how to organize and structure the content in your app? Google has some ideas for you.

Adobe After Affects – Component Sticker Sheet

Users of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have long had access to system icons and component sticker sheets, but what about folks using Adobe After effects? Well… you’re now in luck.

Data truncation and redaction

Feel free to show me your credit card number, expiration date, and secret pin number on the back… I’m an angel and would never use it for nefarious purposes. However, developers will want to protect their users from meanie heads by not showing important info like passwords, so Google is now helping you conform to their design standards in cases like these.

Writing guidelines for Settings

It’s all about consistency. Nothing bothers me more than jumping into settings and not knowing what the heck is going to happen when I make a selection, so I really hope developers follow these guidelines closely.

And there’s more…

Google has also updated existing sections with more detailed guidelines, including topography, cards, dialog boxes, tabs and scrolling techniques. You can find all the newest changes right here, while the entirety of the Material Design guideline document is waiting for you here.

And remember developers, while you’re not forced to follow these guidelines you’d be doing yourself a favor to make sure your app conforms to the latest standards. Not only will it improve usability for your existing loyal users, but it will help you gain a lot more visibility — users tend to be a lot more willing to check your app out if they see it uses Material Design.

Sony Xperia Z4 leaked press render shows familiar design with subtle differences

The Sony Xperia Z4 is a device still very much surrounded in mystery. Sure we’ve heard rumors and seen a few component leaks, but nothing really solid. Today, @OnLeaks is providing an alleged press render of the upcoming device, showing a design that should be all too familiar for Xperia fans.

Newly leaked Sony Xperia Z4 press render

Like every new iteration, there are small changes that lead us to believe this is legit. For one, the absence of the Sony Xperia Z3’s micro SD card slot on the right side of the device. This lines up perfectly with an alleged Xperia Z4 frame leaked alongside the previous Z3 (from the same source, no less).

Here’s an official Sony Xperia Z3 press render. Pretty similar, right?

According to previous leaks, the Sony Xperia Z4 is looking like it will be thinner, come equipped with a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, and pack a 21MP camera. Hopefully battery capacity hasn’t been downsized for this new slimmer model.

 

Mailbox gets a fresh coat of Material Design in latest update

Another popular app is getting a fresh coat of Material Design. This time it’s the Dropbox-owned email app, Mailbox. If you’ve never used Mailbox it’s the app that started the craze of snoozing emails. Many apps have adopted that feature, but Mailbox was one of the first to implement it, long before Google Inbox came around.

With this update you can expect the normal smattering of Material goodies. A new floating action button allows you to create new emails, the slide-out drawer is cleaner, and the Search button has been moved to the top bar. Mailbox is a really nice email app if you’re someone who struggles to get to “inbox zero.” It treats emails more like a to-do list, which forces you to take action or archive. Not everyone will like that approach, but it’s free and worth a shot.

What email app do you use on your phone?

Mailbox | Google Play Store

Evernote is the latest app to get dipped in Material Design

It seems like every day more and more apps are adopting Google’s Material Design language (and we love it). The latest app to get a Material makeover is the uber-popular Evernote. Everything you’ve come to expect from Material Design is present in the new Evernote. Floating buttons, thoughtful animations, clean fonts, colorful status bar, and more.

The update isn’t only about aesthetics. Evernote has taken the time to also improve note editing and viewing. They’ve also simplified the controls and updated the navigation drawer with more personalization. Lastly, new notebook covers will help you differentiate your notes. Overall this is an excellent update for an already stellar app.

To celebrate the big update Evernote has shared an interview with Android product manager Theresa Pittappilly and designer Adam Glynn-Finnegan. If you’re interested in the design process it’s a great read. They also shared some cool photos, like the one below that shows the evolution of the Evernote Android app. Download Evernote for free right here.

Click to enlarge

Wunderlist gets a Material Design makeover and new features

Another app is getting some Material Design love. This time it’s the popular list-making and productivity app Wunderlist. The team has been hard at work the last few months building Wunderlist from the ground-up for Android Lollipop. Not only does it have a fresh coat of Material paint, but they’ve also added some really nice new features.

First and foremost is the new design. We’ve got colored status bars, floating buttons. meaningful animation, and a much more clean and refined look. It’s not a drastic re-design, but it’s just enough to make it feel at home in Android Lollipop.

Wunderlist has also added a few new handy features. First is the ability to put lists into folders. As you can see in the screenshots above I have two lists inside a “Shopping” folder. They’ve also made it much easier to add things from anywhere. You can create a new list or to-do with the floating (+) button, but also use the new widgets, or your voice with Google Now. All of these features are free for everyone.

If you’re looking for a great list-making app with sync across tons of devices and support for collaboration you can’t go wrong with Wunderlist. Download it for free from the Play Store today.

Nova Launcher gets some Material Design love in latest beta

One of the most popular 3rd-party launchers is getting some Material Design love today. Alpha testers have been using the Material Design version of Nova Launcher for a little while now, and it’s ready to graduate to public beta. There are plenty of new Material goodies for Nova fans to enjoy.

First and foremost is the brand new look and feel of Material Design. You might not notice it immediately on your home screen (depending on your set up), but diving into the menus and settings will show a brand new look. A long-press on empty home screen space will bring up a more modern dialog instead of the old 2.x style pop-up. You’ll also notice a new red and white theme in the settings with smooth Material animations.

A new feature that I really like can be found in the app drawer. When the app drawer is opened you can swipe down from the top to bring up a search bar and list of recently installed or updated apps. This is super handy for trying to find apps quickly. Another new feature is the awesome app icon layout editor (seen above). You can also now adjust icon size and font size independently for desktop, drawer, dock, and folders.

All of these new #materinova features will eventually come to the stable version of Nova Launcher. If you don’t want to wait for that you can opt-in for Nova Launcher Betas from Google Play by following these steps. Check out the full changelog for below.

1. Join the Nova Launcher Beta G+ Community (This is not optional)


2. After joining, Opt-in for Nova Launcher


3. When a new beta update is available you will get it through the Play Store

#materinova.14 public beta 1

• Full Material Design


• Google Search from the search bar shows as an overlay


• Edit Shortcut dialog, and quick menu, tinted based on colors of the icon


• New icon


• New Nova Action icons


• Rebased on top of Launcher3


• Individual icon layout settings (size, font, etc) in Desktop, Drawer, Dock, Folder


• Max icon size boosted to 150%


• Widget Search


• Pull to search (pull down in the drawer to open app or widget search)


• Widgets given their own drawer, removed from App Drawer


• Ability to change Page Indicator color


• Drawer Tab Bar completely optional


• Support for Android for Work managed profiles (Lollipop)


• Workaround Expand Notifications Nova Action not working on Samsung Lollipop


• Requires Android 4.1 or higher (Dropped support for Android 4.0 ICS)


• Unlimited desktop pages (previously limited to 9)


• Add/remove of desktop pages by dropping icons on the blank page, or removing all icons from a page


• Add blank desktop pages (for gestures or live wallpapers) from overview


• Improved bulk edit of folders (Folder > Menu > Select Apps)


• Added shadows to unread badges


• Unread Badge size scales with icon size


• Allow reordering drawer folders by drag/drop within window


• Added Roboto-Medium font option


• Improve handling of apps installed to sdcard

Nova Launcher 4.0 brings grouped widgets, full Material Design, circular app animations and 25+ other changes

Nova’s Material Design update has been a long time coming for those who aren’t particularly crazy about beta testing, but the wait for it to hit the stable channel is finally over. Nova Launcher 4.0 is out on Google Play, and it stands to be one of the biggest updates yet for the premier home screen replacement.

The biggest changes will be a more refined Material Design user interface, including new animations, updated fonts, new material-themed wallpapers and other aesthetic-focused things. The full list is rather large, and rightfully so: this has been in the works for a few months now, with the last version — 3.3 — having been released as far back as December 2014.

Here’s a full list of changes you can expect if you haven’t been using the beta:

• Full Material Design


• Google Search from the search bar shows as an overlay


• Edit Shortcut dialog, and quick menu, tinted based on colors of the icon


• New icon


• New Nova Action icons


• Rebased on top of Launcher3


• Individual icon layout settings (size, font, etc) in Desktop, Drawer, Dock, Folder


• Max icon size boosted to 150%


• Widget Search


• Circular App animations (Settings > Look and Feel > App Animation > Circle)


• Pull to search (pull down in the drawer to open app or widget search)


• Widgets given their own drawer, removed from App Drawer


• Ability to change Page Indicator color


• Drawer Tab Bar completely optional


• Support for Android for Work managed profiles (Lollipop)


• Workaround Expand Notifications Nova Action not working on Samsung Lollipop


• Requires Android 4.1 or higher (Dropped support for Android 4.0 ICS)


• Unlimited desktop pages (previously limited to 9)


• Add/remove of desktop pages by dropping icons on the blank page, or removing all icons from a page


• Add blank desktop pages (for gestures or live wallpapers) from overview


• Improved bulk edit of folders (Folder > Menu > Select Apps)


• Added shadows to unread badges


• Unread Badge size scales with icon size


• Allow reordering drawer folders by drag/drop within window


• Added Roboto-Medium font option


• Improve handling of apps installed to sdcard

The download is sitting over at Google Play right here so be sure to grab it as soon as possible.

Google highlights their favorite Material Design apps on Google Play, here’s the full list

Hot of the heels of Google I/O 2015, Google’s Design Team is ready to talk about, what else, but design. During I/O, they gave their entire site a fresh new Material design overhaul. As most of you know, Material is Google’s new design language that was introduced last year in Android 5.0 Lollipop and bled out into all of Google’s web services.

Material design focuses on clean, minimal design with bold colors and typography that emphasize depth and are brought to life with gorgeous animations. Still confused? Simply put, it’s a lot like paper. Well, maybe the Google design team can explain it better in their latest video:

While we’re just now seeing more and more Android apps follow this design philosophy, some definitely do it better than others. There’s no better way to show what Material Design is than by simply showing you. That’s why Google’s Material Design team decided to showcase their favorite apps adhering to their guidelines in a new featured page in the Google Play Store.

There’s 18 apps total ranging from fitness to messaging and everything in between but Google hand-picked 6 which they felt excelled in specific areas for their first ever “Material Design Awards.” Here are the top picks:

B&H Photo Video Audio Pro for Immersive Imagery

New York Times for Elegant Typography

Pocket for Adaptive Layouts

Pocket Casts for Seamless Browsing

Tumblr for Delightful Animation

Weather Timeline for Crafted Simplicity

If you’d like to see all the others are featured, the full list can be found over on Google’s landing page here.

 

Oppo R7 and Oppo R7 Plus officially unveiled with full metal unibody design

Oppo sat a bunch of us tech journos down in a nice Beijing hall earlier today and revealed what you see above — it’s the Oppo R7 and Oppo R7 Plus. These are perhaps the most compelling smartphones we’ve seen from Oppo yet as they’ve gone great lengths to ensure the devices’ premium status.

One of the ways they did that was by making them full metal unibody designs, which isn’t a feat unique to them but certainly an important distinction if they want major attention in 2015. Oppo is also using 2.5D curved glass to make for a natural curve at the edges of the device.

So, what about the specs themselves? Here’s what you can expect from the base Oppo R7:

• 5-inch AMOLED 1080p display


• 1.5GHz 8-core Qualcomm chipset (MSM8939)


• 2,320mAh battery with VOOC fast charging (non-removable)


• 3GB of RAM


• 16GB of internal storage


• 13 megapixel rear camera, 8 megapixel front camera

The Plus variant shares much of the same specs, though the display size is bumped to 6 inches and there’s a bigger 4,100mAh battery inside. You’ll also get a bump in base storage to 32GB by opting for the bigger model.

We should also note that while the cameras enjoy the same megapixel count, the R7 uses a 3M2 sensor while the R7 Plus uses Sony’s IMX278 and has the added benefit of getting laser-assisted autofocus. We’re not sure if that’ll make a huge difference in terms of picture quality but we’ll certainly be looking to find out.

One other final difference worth noting is that the R7 launches with KitKat while the R7 Plus will come with Lollipop from the go. There shouldn’t be much reason to worry, though, as Oppo promises a full upgrade to Lollipop for the base R7 model down the line.

Unfortunately Oppo didn’t have much in the way of pricing and availability at the ready, but if they’re hoping to get this thing into the public’s eye before the summer smartphone wars heat up then we’re sure it won’t be long. Stay tuned for our continued coverage of the launch of the Oppo R7 live from Beijing, including hands-on and first impressions!

AllCast 2.0 brings a fresh Material design makeover [DOWNLOAD]

Even when you’re a developer as big as Koushik Dutta, getting your apps up to speed with Google’s Material design isn’t the easiest of tasks. Sometimes you need a little help and he got just that thanks to designer/fellow blogger Liam Spradlin who whipped up a fresh new Material look for AllCast in its new 2.0 update.

It’s not like AllCast was bad looking before, but this brings the app up to speed with Google’s Material guidelines. Small changes to the slide-out navigation menu can be found with slick new icons, along with the gallery view also receiving some love.

Without a doubt, AllCast is one of those must-have Android apps for Google’s Chromecast owners as it allows you to cast just about anything to the dongle. Whether it’s media stored on your device, or in the cloud, AllCast makes it all possible. The free version of the app caps video viewing at 5 minutes, but there’s also AllCast Premium which will run you .

AllCast (Playboard) | AllCast (Play Store)

Google Play Music gets fresh new Material Design makeover on the web

After watching as Google’s Material Design guidelines have crept its way into many of the search giant’s online services, today the Google Play Music website is getting a little bit of love. The UI now finally looks a little closer to the makeover the Android app received not too long ago with big high-res artist photos for backgrounds, circle photos on the artist page, and FAB.

The website also adds a handful of new keyboard shortcuts and even a handy popup player with easy access to your music queue. Apparently the new redesign was an attempt at making the web view feel more like an app. Google UX designer Bran Rea told The Verge:

“We’re moving towards making the web feel more like an app and less like a series of web pages strung together by links. The new header, the slick transition as you scroll, the collapsible nav, new animations, these all feel like things you expect in an app not on the web.

For the increased focus on big, immersive artwork, when you’re listening to music, you can get lost in it (in a good way). With the new album and playlist pages, you enter an immersive world focused on the music you’re enjoying.”

We know it’s not specifically Android related, but given that Google Play Music is such a popular music streaming service for Android faithful, we figured it was worth a shout out. If you don’t see the changes yet on your side of the world, don’t worry. It’s a gradual rollout and you should be seeing it in the coming days.

Google Play Store 5.5 brings even more Material design animations and other small tweaks [DOWNLOAD]

Just because OEMs seemingly never got the “Material design” memo doesn’t mean Google isn’t doing their part to show the world how its done. There’s probably no better place to find well-executed Material design than Google’s very own Play Store app.

Googler Kirill Grouchnikov posted onto his Google+ page about some new changes rolling out in the new Google Play Store update 5.5. It’s nothing too drastic, just some slightly tweaked UI animations and other small changes. But it’s enough to make us wish all our devices were running the most up-to-date version of Android as only those on Android 5.1+ are able to view them. Phooey.

You can either wait days (or even weeks) for the update to finally hit your device, or download the apk download for sideloading. Enjoy.

Download: Google Play Store 5.5.8

Latest Oppo R7 details reveal full metal unibody design

We knew the Oppo R7 would have a fair bit of metal in its skeletal makeup, but new details reveal that this thing is metallic all around. The Oppo R7 will have a metal unibody design, according to recent information that has come to light. Oppo will tout the fact that the device has been put through a whopping 48 finishing processes to make for a nice metallic look and feel.

The device will also still have some slight curvature to it, we’re told. It’ll improve looks, naturally, but should also make it a lot more comfortable to hold in the hand. Oppo isn’t the first company to accomplish this, but we’re appreciative of it nevertheless.

Other known specs and features of the Oppo R7 are a 4.7-inch 1080p display, 20.7-megapixel rear camera, Octa-core MediaTek processor, 2000mAh battery with VOOC fast charging, “2.5D” curved glass and that it’ll be just 4.85mm thin. All is scheduled to be told at some point later this month.

If Material Design was a game, it would look like these three Android games [VIDEO]

I love simple games and I love Material Design. So when I first discovered a game called Bing Bong I was very excited. It combined simple and addictive gameplay with a Material-esque design. Then I found out that the same developer had made other games with the same style. The three games can stand on their own, but together they make for an addictive combination. Let’s take a look.

Bing Bong

I’m not sure which game came first, but Bing Bong is the one I played first. In this game you control a green dot that is constantly going up and down across a street of traffic. Each time you successfully get to the other side you earn a point. You have to avoid blocks of varying sizes to cross the street. The green dot is constantly moving, but you can slow it down by pressing your finger on the screen.

The game becomes all about timing. Will you be able to make it past that block at full speed? If you slow down now will that make you hit the next block? You’re constantly adjusting your speed to perfectly cross the street unharmed. It’s easy at first, but gets difficult quickly.

Righty Tighty

In Righty Tighty you play as a red dot. Your goal is to collect the white dots and bring them to the goal. The red dot is constantly moving, but every time you tap the screen it will make a right turn. Like in Bing Bong, there are blocks of varying sizes constantly crossing your path. Also, the red dot is constantly growing, which makes it increasingly more difficult to avoid obstacles. You have to return a white dot to the goal to reset your size.

Pivot

The simplest of the three games is Pivot. You play as a blue dot this time, but you still have to collect white dots to earn points. The blue dot is constantly moving in a circular path. Tap your finger on the screen to go in the opposite direction. There are no goals this time. You get a point for simply collecting a white dot. Blocks of varying sizes are still trying to get in your way, and the wall is also an obstacle.

***

I like these games a lot because they feel like a family. Each one has its unique aspects, but they all share the same basic foundation. They’re beautifully simple, yet extremely addictive. The developer has done a great job with the little details, like how the music intensifies the longer you survive in Bing Bong.

All three games have Google Play Game integration for leaderboards and achievements. The games are free with very few ads (which can be disabled completely for .99). You can download all three in the Play Store. Enjoy!