While we had to wait a long time to get Hearthstone for Android tablets, Blizzard saw fit to deliver the goods to phones at the same time as our iPhone-toting counterparts. Hearthstone has finally been adapted for the smaller screen.
It’s the same game you’ve come to love, and you’ll play with the same account, cards and decks no matter which device you use. You’ll also play people who are on other platforms or types of devices. That’s the great benefit of a turn-based game.
The only difference? Everything has been compressed in a way that makes card slinging a breeze. It’ll take a bit of getting used to if you’ve played the PC and tablet versions often, but the experience is familiar and intuitive enough that you’ll pick up on it within a matter of seconds.
Oh, and fair warning to employers: expect your Hearthstone-loving employees’ productivity to hit an all-time low. Grab the download from Google Play right here. Amazon Appstore users will find it right here. PS: If you’re starved for cards, you can get a free pack for simply playing a match on your phone, so be sure to take advantage.
One thing that many people have not been happy about in Android Lollipop is the removal of silent mode. The three new notification modes (None, Priority, and All) don’t allow you to mute the device while still letting alarms through. Priority Mode allows alarms to go off, but it also lets other things through. None Mode blocks absolutely everything, including alarms.
Android 5.1 is one step closer to bringing back silent mode. Now when you put the phone into Priority or None Mode you’ll get the option to have it disabled at your next alarm. In order to see this option you’ll need to have an alarm set to go off within the next 12 hours. This is the closest thing we have to silent mode right now, and it works pretty well. You can block notifications without worrying about your alarm being blocked, too.
The details are scarce at the moment, but we’re told to expect Snapdragon “820” to be built with a FinFET 14nm or 16nm process, which would make for a physically smaller die that uses less power. Qualcomm will also be taking this opportunity to introduce their own mobile 64-bit CPU architecture named “Kryo,” which is a custom ARM v8-A chip. Sampling will begin later this year, which should mean first devices will start to use the new chipset as soon as this time next year.
But that’s not even the most exciting news out of Qualcomm today. The company announced a new fingerprint scanning technology that utilizes 3D imaging through supersonic waves to capture a user’s fingerprint instead of 2D-based sensors currently used by the likes of Samsung and Apple.
Dubbed “Sense ID,” the fingerprint scanner’s ability to capture a print using supersonic waves enables the scanner to be used even if the scanner’s surface is covered by plastic, glass and metal. Imagine a device that doesn’t require a physical home button or any other visible, tangible part that the user has to interface with in order to enable fingerprint scanning — !%&* just got real.
Samsung currently uses Synaptics’ surface area fingerprint scanner for the Samsung Galaxy S6. As you’ll see in our quick video showing the feature it doesn’t require you to swipe anymore, but it does still require a physical surface (and we suspect that’s the main reason Samsung still uses physical home buttons aside from visual differentiation). Apple would wet itself if Samsung could finally meet everyone’s wishes to ditch that button and place a scanner beneath a small bezel area unseen by the user.
More than just practicality and design, the ultrasonic 3D imaging also makes Qualcomm’s implementation more secure. The sensor’s ability to map the surface area — including the depth of the ridges and all the other unique imperfections in your fingers — makes it harder for no-gooders to spoof a 2D pattern based on your fingerprint.
Qualcomm says some of their current chips (namely the Snapdragon 810 and the Snapdragon 425) already support Sense ID, so device manufacturers planning to use their latest silicon will have the option to put these scanners inside forthcoming phones without much issue. Qualcomm is also working on a standalone solution for even more flexibility.
As good as the fingerprint scanning technology on the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 is right now, Qualcomm’s innovative take on it has us looking forward. We can’t wait to see who’ll be the first to take advantage.
LG has finally set a date for their first big event since CES 2015. The company has announced an April 28th shindig where they want us “see the great” and “feel the great.” We imagine this event will serve as the launching pad for the LG G4, especially since it’s being simultaneously held in 6 different cities (New York, London, Paris, Seoul, Singapore and Istanbul) and because LG has yet to bring us their flagship contender for 2015.
We still don’t know what, exactly, to expect out of LG for the G4. Recent leaks have shown that the device will adopt a design similar to that of the LG G3 of yesteryear and the LG G Flex 2 revealed at CES a few months ago. That said, leaks aren’t always reliable — ask @evleaks — and we could end up seeing something totally different.
One thing to note about the invitation being sent to press is that it looks like a leather book cover, such as one you’d find on a premium notebook. Does this mean the LG G4 will have that same faux leather with stiching we loved (or hated) on Samsung’s 2013 phones? That’s a slim possibility, but our bet is that — if this invite is indeed showing a notebook in its background — it’s teasing the Note variant of the LG G4 that will come with a stylus.
Or it could just be that LG’s PR team wanted to use a nice looking background, and we’re talking a whole lot of something about a whole lot of nothing. Either way we’ll know what the company is planning for sure once April 28th rolls around. Mark your calendars!
We’ve been seeing Android 5.1 Lollipop appear on a few Android One devices for quite some time, but Google has remained quiet about it. We heard about a couple of changes early on, and now Google has come out to detail them in an official changelog.
For starters, they’ve confirmed the addition of new WiFi and Bluetooth dropdowns in the quick settings menu in the notification pane. We also know that a ton of bugs were fixed, though Google didn’t care to detail any of them.
So what about the stuff we didn’t already know? For starters, Android 5.1 Lollipop finally brings native support for dual-SIM devices, which is sure to be great news for those in markets where dual-SIM devices are the norm. Google’s also bringing proper HD Voice support, with the first devices getting HD Voice love being the T-Mobile and Verizon Nexus 6.
Finally, Google’s new Device Protection feature will make it so that a phone you mark as lost or stolen will need your Google password to get into, even if the person with the phone somehow performs a factory reset. Neat stuff, there.
So who’s getting it? And when? We’re sure Nexus devices are first in line, and we already know T-Mobile’s Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 -are slated to receive rollouts as soon as today (with all of them having the same build number of LMY47D).
If you have one of those devices you’ll do well to charge your battery and get on WiFi to start checking for the upgrade. Others will have to wait until more rollout information is shared by Google and carrier partners, and we’ll be sure to report anything as soon as we hear more.
Google has published a quick update for Inbox by Gmail that makes a small, but important tweak: you can now customize your “morning” and “evening” times for snoozing email. The app originally sets 7:00am and 7:00pm for snooze times for everyone who downloads it, but that might not always be the most convenient (such as for yours truly, whose mornings unfortunately begin far before the sun rises at 7:00am).
If you’re not aware what snoozing in Inbox is, it’s a feature that lets you dismiss an email until a later time. The email will popup again at the time you specify as if the email just arrived in your inbox. It’s a very convenient tool that makes it tough for you to forget about an important or interesting email that you can’t read immediately.
Google says the latest change will go into effect automatically, so there’s no need to wait for an update from Google Play. It’s also obviously immediately present in the desktop website as well.
Google will ask you if you want to customize your snooze time the next time you go to snooze an email, and anything you snooze from there on will popup at your new time (even if you previously had an item snoozed before the update arrived). You’ll also be able to differentiate between morning and evening times, so your 6am wake up time doesn’t necessarily have to be matched by a 6pm evening time.
Oh, and one more thing: Google finally added a quick button to access Google Contacts on the desktop web from within Inbox. It’s about damn time.
Google has made many improvements to Chrome over the years to increase stability, add features and make it a much smoother experience, but one thing they have had trouble solving is the occasional lag and stutter you’ll get when strolling through a web page. No matter how many advancements they make in development and no matter how powerful your hardware is, it happens.
But it seems they’re finally looking to make the one move that should rid us of that evil once and for all. The company recently confirmed that they will look to implement the Pointer Events API, which is an all-encompassing standard for mouse, touch and stylus input. Microsoft, with help from Mozilla, was the company that originally proposed this new standard to the W3C.
Pointer Events offers some technical advantages over the existing use of Touch Events and Mouse Events. Most notably, pointer event listeners never block scrolling, and so replacing all touch event handlers with pointer event handlers will address the main longstanding source of scroll-start jank we see on Android (irrespective of whatever scheduler improvements we’re able to make to better prioritize input handling).
Google was hesitant at first, but after folks started to see the benefits of Pointer Events (smoother scrolling, more responsive link and button presses and other various improvements) in the latest versions of Internet Explorer they urged Google to ditch the old Touch Events method they currently use. The response was so overwhelming that they practically had no choice but to agree.
So when’s it coming? That’s one question Google can’t answer just yet. The company says there are still a lot of technical challenges, constraints and risks they have to solve before implementing the API, and as such they aren’t giving any sort of timeline.
Whether it be here within the next few months or three years from now, it’s in the works, and that’s all we know. We’re just happy to know that they’re considering it at all, and we hope it’ll finally solve one of the most frustrating problems that comes with using Chrome for Android.
After all the hype, after the frustrating delays, even a couple of days after Verizon’s Galaxy Note 4 started to receive its official Lollipop OTA, OnePlus has finally released its first official Lollipop update for its 2014 flagship One. The widely-anticipated OxygenOS, built with the efforts of several Paranoid Android developers, was announced mere hours ago by OnePlus CEO Carl Pei.
Accompanying the announcement is a YouTube video showcasing the main features of OxygenOS. It appears to be basically stock Android with Paranoid Android’s well-known implementation of Quick Settings. Feel free to watch the video below and judge for yourselves…
There is, of course, a place for stock-plus ROMs in the development community, as they tend to be as popular as the full-featured ones. This is apparently the niche OnePlus is seeking to carve out for themselves in its own development-friendly ecosystem. Carl Pei sums it up as follows:
We want to be careful that we aren’t adding features simply for the sake of differentiation. We’ve implemented some important features thus far, but they are subtle and meaningful. That’s our philosophy behind OxygenOS: keep it light and essential.
OnePlus One owners are encouraged to download the ROM and provide feedback. In fact, Pei asserts that you can “begin taking a direct role in the future of Oxygen” by using their dedicated feedback app.
Google Keep 3.1 is now hitting the Play Store for some folks. Arriving today in a staged rollout, the update is huge (at least for us) finally introduces a few much needed functionality to the previously bare bones note taking app.
First up is the new floating action button. It’s a small Material design tweak, and allows users to quickly add a new recording, photo, list, or just a general note with 2 taps.
Google has also added the ability to add reoccurring reminders, this way you can dismiss the notification for now, but will be reminded either daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. There’s also the custom option if you’d like to fine tune the reminder to every few days, until a date, or for a number of events. We can’t stress how insanely helpful this is.
Lastly, labels have finally made their way into Keep. It’s basically the folder system we’ve been asking since the app’s inception, with the ability to move notes into a label and organize your digital mess of a life. Set up a label for work, video games, or just whatever the heck it is you’re into (sexy Instagram ladies?). We have a feeling many of you who were holding out on Keep will return solely for this feature alone.
This is a huge update and if it hasn’t hit your device just yet, you can download and install it from us right here. Enjoy.
It’s been a long wait, but we promise you — it’s worth it. HTC One M8 owners on AT&T had to sit back and watch as the other “Big 4″ carriers in the US pushed out Android Lollipop to the device.
But all that’s over. HTC Product Manger Mo Versi revealed on Twitter today that AT&T has finally green lit Lollipop for the HTC One M8. We’re not sure what the hold up was, but we’re glad it’s finally here.
After launching their photo collage making app for iOS back in March, Instagram’s Layout is now finally available for Android. It’s a song we’ve heard before and something we’re, quite frankly, used to by now. In any case, the app basically introduces a feature Instagrammers have been clamoring for since the service first launched: the ability to create photo collages in an Instagram-friendly 1:1 aspect ratio.
Sure, this feature could have easily been built directly into Instagram itself, but for whatever reason Instagram felt the need to keep things separate. We have no problem with this as it keeps the app lighter than it otherwise would be with this functionality packed inside. As we talked about in our initial post, the app is painfully simple to use, something other collage apps could never seem to get right.
Simply choose photos from your gallery app — where they’re all conveniently organized in tabs — or snap photos on the fly using the photo booth feature. From there, you choose the layout of your new collage and can fine tune it by dragging and dropping photos around. Simple, quick, and more importantly super easy.
The best part is you don’t even need to use Instagram for sharing if you don’t have an account. Save the collage and share it Google+, Twitter, or whatever else you’re using these days. If you guys want to give Layout a spin, you can find the app for free right now on Google Play.
It’s been awhile since we last saw the Motorola Keylink, Motorola’s handy Bluetooth enabled key fob. It seemed Motorola sent all of their stock to actual carrier retail stores, as their official site has been sold out of the Keylink since it debuted back in November. Today, Motorola finally has some in stock, although there’s no saying for how long.
Uses for the Keylink are twofold: not only does it help you locate lost keys or a misplaced phone, but it can also be used as a trusted Bluetooth device to keep your Android device unlocked while it’s in range (Lollipop only). At ( for shipping), it’s the perfect gift for yourself, or the absent minded Android user in your life. You can find the Motorola Keylink direct from Motorola via the link below.
There was a weird issue with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge that completely broke the “OK Google” command when trying to use it outside of Google Now. Thankfully that command has returned thanks to a fix Google was able to cook up.
We still aren’t completely sure what the issue was, but we’re glad to know that early suspicions of Samsung disabling the feature were inaccurate. There are a few things you’ll need to know if you want it back:
You need to be on the latest version of the Google Search app — version 4.5 — so be sure to double check.
It doesn’t hurt to make sure you have the latest version of Google Play Services, which is 7.5.71.
You can’t use Samsung’s S Voice hotword detection while using the OK Google command from anywhere, unless you are fine with using it only when the display is off. Users can disable S Voice hotword detection to avoid this conflict.
As long as those conditions are met and understood you should see the option reappear inside the Google Search app. We’d say not using S Voice for the sake of being able to use OK Google is a very decent trade-off since the general consensus is that Google Now is superior. Be sure to give it a try on your Galaxy S6 device if you’ve been missing the feature.
Last week we watched as retailers like Google, Amazon, and Best Buy officially dropped the price of the Nexus 6 by 0. It’s not a bad deal and probably the price the phone should have launched at initially, but I digress.
Today, Motorola is finally following suit with the same deal, but unlike Google who simply hinted at a limited time discount, Motorola actually gives us a deadline: the deal is only good until Saturday, June 23rd (10:59AM CT). The deal offers up a Nexus 6 32GB for 0, and 64GB for 0.
Why buy from Motorola versus some of the other retailers offering the same deal? Well, Motorola does offer their own line of credit if you’re looking to pay the phone off with payments. Not to mention Motorola also offers a 0 extended warranty that covers accidental damages for up to 2 years (up to 3 claims, a claim).
We’re not entirely sure if this is the kind of deal that will win over those looking to upgrade, but it’s definitely a nice incentive.
It was almost a month ago that Spotify announced their intentions to bring Android Wear support to their application in June. With only a few days left in the month, you may have been wondering where said update was. Earlier today, Spotify was updated on the Google Play Store and yes, it finally brings that smartwatch compatibility you’ve been craving.
It’s pretty straight forward, with the card along with album artwork and pause control only popping up on your smartwatch once you’ve started music playback on your phone. Swiping to the left will bring up the music controls (volume, skip/previous tracks). Swiping again will allow you to browse your music library or playlists, as well as play your saved stations of one of Spotify’s curated playlists. While you can dive into an artist or find a specific album, oddly enough selecting a song isn’t possible.
Another weird quirk is there doesn’t appear to be a way to launch the app from your smartwatch — either by voice or an icon in the Android Wear app drawer — so you’ll need to start it up first on your smartphone or tablet. We’re sure another update is already coming down the pipeline that will add this functionality at a later date, but for now, you can grab the update right now from the Google Play Store.
It’s coming, folks. Motorola has sent soak test notifications to Motorola DROID Turbo users informing them that they can participate in an early trial of an upcoming software upgrade. Be sure to check your email for instructions if you’ve signed up to be part of Motorola’s Feedback Network.
The company didn’t share what, exactly, was in store, but considering units have been spotted in the wild with Lollipop (and folks are so anxious that Motorola had to keep reminding us Lollipop is coming) we’re willing to bet it’s that. Of course, there’s a chance it isn’t and we could be getting a very disappointing maintenance release.
But it’s been so long. You guys have waited longer than most other owners of contemporary Motorola smartphones. It’s cruel and unusual if this isn’t Lollipop. Fingers crossed that it is.
It’s finally here. After launching 60fps 4K videos back in March for Chrome on the desktop, we had a feeling it was just a matter of time before the higher frame rate eventually made its way to mobile apps. That time is now, with the folks at YouTube officially announcing that 60fps video playback is now finally possible in their Android and iOS apps.
Also known as HFR (high frame rate), the resulting video is something that almost looks surreal, especially on our mobile devices. While the verdict is still out on whether or not this improves the cinema experience, it’s flipping awesome for watching anything that has to do with video games. Providing they’ve been uploaded in 60fps, of course. To be clear, this update doesn’t enable 60fps 4K videos, that’s something we probably wont see for a long while and besides, most desktops can barely handle it without melting.
Watch this video in the YouTube app on your Android device
Users will find that when watching a video in the YouTube app where 60fps is available (the above video for example), it should default to the higher frame rate on HD, providing you have a fast connection. In other words, don’t worry about having to change any settings to enable it. If you can stream HD, you’ll be streaming the higher frame rate. If for whatever reason it doesn’t, you can always press the 3-dot menu button followed by the little gear icon to change the quality.
We’re not sure what the impact on battery life will be, but we watched a few trailers on our Nexus 6 and it seemed to work without a hitch. No slow downs, judder, or any overheating. Just silky, smooth video. Check it out for yourself.
We’re hoping this is just the first of many new changes coming to Twitter since appointing a new CEO. The decision to remove the 140 character limit from DMs (direct messages) may not be related to a new CEO, but it’s a welcome change none the less. Twitter has long imposed a 140 character limit when posting anything — even direct messages — creating an unique challenge for those looking to share links to articles and videos.
One could argue that the boom of short URLs on the internet sprouted out from these restrictions as Twitter grew into one of the biggest social networks in the world. But now with the world moving over to actual messaging services like Messenger, WhatsApp and Snapchat, it’s time for Twitter to start taking messaging more seriously.
We imagine it’s only a matter of time before Twitter launches some sort of stand-alone messaging service. It wouldn’t be too far fetched what with the purchase of services like Vine or Periscope. Twitter will remove the 140 character limit for users starting in July and if you’re a developer, you can read up more on what this means for you and your 3rd party Twitter apps via the link below.
It’s taken awhile, but with Samsung and HTC both introducing theme support in their latest flagship devices, this whole “theme thing” could be finally catching on. In case you needed further proof, look no further than to Google who has apparently added limited support for themes in Android M. This is RRO (Runtime Resource Overlay), the same software Sony uses to theme up ROMs in their Xperia devices which has since been merged with AOSP.
Like most of the more interesting M goodies, you’ll need root to take advantage of it but that’s pretty much it. With limited support for theme engines baked straight into Android M, those looking to theme their devices no longer have to look to custom ROMs to change up the look on their devices. All you need to get started is the stock ROM, a pinch of root, an app like like Layers Manager to apply some themes and you’re all set.
This is actually a great option for those that would rather use a stock ROM with only small tweaks like Xposed modules — none of those other frills that usually come with custom ROMs. Of course, while we don’t expect these themes to be quite as in depth as they are in custom ROMs (developer Andrew Dodd is working on a more advanced solution using the RRO engine), but it should be enough to appease those looking to lightly theme up their device.
According to the user who pointed this out on Reddit, he’s already tried a few themes using Layers and all were working fine and without issue. Now nothing is set in stone at the moment, but with RRO baked into Android M, it could be a hint of bigger, better things to come. For more on RRO and how it compares to something like Cyanogen’s unique theme engine, check out Syko Pompos’ post here.
It was at the beginning of this month that we told you about a special promotion Adult Swim put together to show off their new VR experience on Google Play. All you had to was fax in — yes, fax — a quick order form and they’d mail you their own VR Cardboard Viewer free of charge. Of course, this was a “while supplies last” kinda thing and it didn’t take long before supply was exhausted and the phone number was out of order. A few of our readers had their doubts that this was ever a real thing, pointing to a tweet Adult Swim made about “trolling” this or that.
In any case, our VR headset arrived and after quickly putting it together, found that it was actually quite nice. Velcro actually lines the top to keep the top flap in place and there’s a nifty magnetic sliding “button” (metal washer) that you can use to select items in Adult Swim’s Virtual Brainlord. This wasn’t our first VR rodeo, but to call Virtual Brainlord a trip would be an understatement. You’ll have to give it spin for yourself to see what we mean and if you haven’t yet, take a moment to sign up for Conan O’Brien’s free cardboard viewer (they’re giving one away too).
Anyone else manage to grab an Adult Swim viewer before they ran out?
