Android Central |
- SO.HO 'the social homescreen' launcher hits the Play Store in beta
- Google Shopper improves search results, location detection
- Nexus 7 dock finally in the Google Play Store
- Official Twitter app updated with new 'top tweets' feature, smoother animations
- Endomondo adds a couple premium features
- Google+ (on the web) rolls out huge cover pics, new local reviews tab
- Opera browser beta: Starting the move to WebKit
- Deal of the Day: Incipio Slim Kickstand Folio for Google Nexus 7
- Alleged U.S. model Galaxy S4 screenshots emerge
- Google Play gift cards officially land in the UK, Tesco and Morrisons on-board
- HTC's revenue slide continues into February
- Team Coco app now supports phones, full episode streaming
- Samsung Galaxy Stellar receiving Jelly Bean OTA
- 'Bring Your Own Sprint Device' lets users activate used Sprint phones on MVNOs
- Google Play turns one year old, kicks off a week of special deals
| SO.HO 'the social homescreen' launcher hits the Play Store in beta Posted: 06 Mar 2013 04:18 PM PST
SO.HO (which stands for "the social homescreen") is a new launcher that puts your Facebook and Twitter feeds directly at the center of your device. Just released in beta, SO.HO takes the place of whatever launcher you have currently and makes the primary homescreen of your device a scrolling list of either your Facebook or Twitter feed. Swiping left or right gives you a "normal" homescreen where you can place widgets, apps and folders as usual. You sill get a dock on the main page too, which is nice. You can tap the top status bar to quickly switch between Facebook and Twitter, and use the compose button in the top right to quickly make a post. There's a smooth pull to refresh option in both, and the views are actually in many ways nicer than the official Facebook and Twitter apps. If you're interested in SO.HO as a homescreen launcher replacement, check out the beta at the Play Store link above. 
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| Google Shopper improves search results, location detection Posted: 06 Mar 2013 03:04 PM PST
Google Shopper received a few new features in an update today, including an improved search result page and location data collection. Search results will now come back with the most popular products first that can be narrowed down and browsed through from there. When browsing products, users can also now use a "slideshow view" to see larger images as they go through. The update has also improved the app's location detection, which can help users search for products in their local area without having to manually enter a location. While we're speaking of Google app updates, Google Play Music has also received an update today. It's just bugfixes, but an update to grab nonetheless. You can get your updated Play Music right there, and the Google Shopper update can of course be updated from the Play Store link at the top of this post. 
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| Nexus 7 dock finally in the Google Play Store Posted: 06 Mar 2013 01:48 PM PST
If you're looking to get your hands on the elusive official dock for the Nexus 7, it's now finally listed in Google Play for $29.99. Google has thus far set a limit of two per person. The dock, which charges the tablet via the pogo pins as well as serves as an audio output via a 3.5mm jack, runs $29.99. You can read our complete review of it here. Google's currently listing it with a 1- to 2-week shipping time, which generally means there's a better than average chance you'll actually get it sooner than that. (We're currently seeing an anticipated shipping date of March 17, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, being a Sunday and all.) Thanks, Bill! 
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| Official Twitter app updated with new 'top tweets' feature, smoother animations Posted: 06 Mar 2013 12:50 PM PST
It might be all doom and gloom for popular third-party Twitter clients, but at least the official app is getting some love. Twitter's own Android app has been updated to version 3.8 today, with a trio of new features alongside the usual big fixes. First up there's a new "top tweets" feature, which is supposed to make significant tweets from the past pop up when searching for specific topics. (We tried searching for "Election 2012" and "Olympics" to no avail, but Twitter had plenty of tweets to highlight when searching for "grumpy cat," including news of the disgruntled feline's upcoming appearance at SXSW.) Other additions include the ability to see all replies to tweets in details view, and smoother animations for pull-to-refresh in the "Discover" tab. Has the recent drama over user tokens for third-party apps got you back on the official Twitter client? Let us know what you think of this update down in the comments! If you're giving it a try for the first time, check the handy Google Play link above. 
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| Endomondo adds a couple premium features Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:18 AM PST
Fitness app Endomondo got itself an update today that brings a pair of new premium features, as well as a couple nuggets for the cheap seats. New for those who shelled out for the full version are "Heart Rate Zones" and weather information in the workout summary area. For everyone, there's also altitude data in the summary, and you can now see and join challenges from within the app itself. There also are the requisite bugfixes. The the link above to get your update on. 
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| Google+ (on the web) rolls out huge cover pics, new local reviews tab Posted: 06 Mar 2013 09:01 AM PST
Google+ today rolled out some interesting improvements to its web version. The biggest, obviously, is the gianormous new cover photos. What was once long and skinny is now long and not-so-skinny. (We know how it feels.) When fully expanded, the new cover photos have a 16x9 aspect ration and can be as large as 2,120px by 1,192px. That's big. So make sure your image doesn't suck. Next is a new tab for your local reviews. If you've reviewed something in your hamlet, it'll show up here. You can use it to showcase specific reviews, or you can hide it altogether. Your call. Editing your info also is easier now, with better separation of content in the About tab, with cards acting as category separators. Source: +SaraMcKinley 
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| Opera browser beta: Starting the move to WebKit Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:44 AM PST
Opera has announced that it is making the switch to WebKit, and they're giving everyone a look at their first effort with a beta version of the browser packing the new engine. Building on top of that new engine, the Opera browser beta brings along new features that are meant to help speed up browsing, as well as a new interface design. Hang around after the break and see how the first WebKit-based Opera browser beta performs. 
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| Deal of the Day: Incipio Slim Kickstand Folio for Google Nexus 7 Posted: 06 Mar 2013 06:22 AM PST
The Incipio Slim Kickstand Folio is available for just $24.00, 40% off today only. Backed by our 60-day return policy and fast shipping! Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts 
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| Alleged U.S. model Galaxy S4 screenshots emerge Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:56 AM PST
We're just over a week away from Samsung's big Galaxy S4 announcement, and so we're starting to see a last-minute flurry of alleged leaks from the device. As you'll know if you followed the run up to the Galaxy S3 launch last year, late-breaking leaks have proven to be both wildly accurate and wildly inaccurate, so take this with the usual pinch of salt. This latest set of images has an air of authenticity about it, though. GSM Israel says it has screenshots from a U.S. model Galaxy S4 (the AT&T version, judging by the 4G logo on display), obtained from a "very reliable" source. The images show a slightly re-vamped TouchWiz UI with brighter UI elements and tweaked icons, a redesigned settings menu and a transparent notification bar on the home screen. Interestingly, the so-called "eye scrolling" feature seems to be present, under the name "Smart scroll" in a settings menu screenshot. 
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| Google Play gift cards officially land in the UK, Tesco and Morrisons on-board Posted: 06 Mar 2013 02:30 AM PST
There've been plenty of hints at Google Play gift cards landing in the UK since shortly after the U.S. launch. Today, on the service's first birthday, Google has announced that UK consumers will be able to buy the cards in £10, £25 and £50 denominations, with "all" Tesco and Morrisons stores stocking the cards "in the weeks ahead." The cards work just the same as they do in the U.S. -- buy one, scratch to reveal its code, and redeem on the web or via the Android app. The amount is then added to your Google Play balance, and can be used to buy music, magazines, books. movies and apps -- but not hardware. The news of the launch follows reports of Google Play gift card sightings at Tesco stores in recent days. It'll take some time for Google's offering to catch up to Apple's widespread iTunes gift cards, but having two major supermarkets on-board at launch has to be a plus. More details in the presser after the break. Update: Google's put together a retailer finder page allowing Brits to track down local stores stocking Google Play cards. 
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| HTC's revenue slide continues into February Posted: 06 Mar 2013 01:57 AM PST
HTC's financial woes continued into the second month of 2013, the company's newly-released unaudited February revenue figures show. Last month the Taiwanese manufacturer brought in revenue of NT$11.4 billion ($390 million), down from NT$15.54 billion ($520 million) in January. That means total 2013 revenue so far stands at NT$26.9 billion ($910 million), down from NT$36.9 ($1.25 billion) for the same period in 2012. HTC will be hoping the upcoming launch of its high-profile HTC One handset will begin to reverse its fortunes. The phone is due to launch in Europe later next week, though U.S. release dates have yet to be confirmed. Source: HTC 
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| Team Coco app now supports phones, full episode streaming Posted: 05 Mar 2013 08:53 PM PST
The Conan O'Brien Team Coco app now supports phones as well as full episode streaming right inside the app. Previously, the app was only available for tablets, which didn't make a whole lot of sense. The new update opens things up to phones, and has a pretty solid UI to go along with it. You have access to videos, photos, articles and show schedule from a slide-in panel on the left, and a video clip viewer on the main page. You can also now "sync" your phone with the TV broadcast for enhanced functionality while watching, or even watch full episodes on demand in the app. The Team Coco app still shows ads, unfortunately, but surely has a lot of increased functionality in this latest update. You can grab a download from the Play Store at the link above. 
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| Samsung Galaxy Stellar receiving Jelly Bean OTA Posted: 05 Mar 2013 07:09 PM PST
If you have a Galaxy Stellar, be on the lookout for the update notification to hit your device. As always, you can check for the update manually via the "About phone" menu as well. Once downloaded, expect your device to be out of commission for about 15 minutes while it installs. If you want a little more information on the update, hit the source links below. Source: Verizon; Instructions (PDF) 
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| 'Bring Your Own Sprint Device' lets users activate used Sprint phones on MVNOs Posted: 05 Mar 2013 06:00 PM PST
Sprint is announcing a new program called "Bring Your Own Sprint Device" that is aimed at reducing waste by letting users bring used and inactive Sprint devices to approved MVNO partner carriers. The program will let deactivated and otherwise unused phones be re-activated on MVNOs that use the Sprint network, like Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile. The MVNO carrier will determine the device's eligibility to be re-activated -- although the requirements have not yet been specified -- and then activate it for use like any other device on the network. Sprint is focusing on reducing the waste associated with the number of phones that sit unused or are thrown away, which could be notably decreased if more used phones can be reused on other carriers. Another big part of this is increasing the number of devices available to Sprint MVNO customers. Traditionally these carriers have limited device selection to those they sell directly, which aren't always great. If this program is indeed open to all used and deactivated Sprint-branded devices, carriers like Virgin and Boost could lure in many new customers that wouldn't have considered them previously because of their device selection. Source: Sprint 
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| Google Play turns one year old, kicks off a week of special deals Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:19 PM PST
The rebranding of Android Market to Google Play happened just one year ago today, and to celebrate Google is offering discounts, gift cards and exclusive in-game content. The deals range from free books and music to discounted movies and TV rentals, as well as new Android-themed additions to some games. Deals seem to differ depending on the country and region, but this is what we're looking at for the U.S. Three different games -- Gnome Village, Royal Revolt and Yumby Smash -- all have new free levels, discounts on in-app purchases or exclusive characters available for a limited time. Fancy, Hotels.com and Gyft are all offering discounts on purchases made from the app or giving away free gift cards to be redeemed in-app as well. There are 11 deals in total for today, but the page also says that this is kicking off an entire week of deals on different content, so be sure to check back and see what they offer in the coming days. Source: Google Play 
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