Google Android News Android Forums |
- Google Play developers now able to reply to user reviews
- Featured Android Game Review: Quiz of Seers [Brain & Puzzle]
- NVIDIA Tegra 4 devices to be announced this quarter
- Amazon Coins now available for Kindle Fire owners
- New project hopes to bring Android apps to HP Touchpad sans dual boot
- First photo taken from the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom surfaces online
- Sony unveils Xperia ZR, a mid to high-end waterproof device made for underwater photography
- T-Mobile rolling out Android 4.1.2 update to Samsung Galaxy S III customers
- Another white Nexus 4 appears in the wild, preparing for a Google I/O release?
- Consumer preferences towards larger smartphone screens on the rise
| Google Play developers now able to reply to user reviews Posted: 13 May 2013 12:01 PM PDT
In line with Google’s priority of strengthening communication between developers and their users, they have given developers the ability to reply to user reviews via the Google Play Developer Console. Responses by developers will appear publicly below the original comment in the Play Store. Once a developer replies to a user’s comment, the user will receive an email and can then either reply to the developer directly by email, or update their review. Back in November, Play Store reviews became integrated with Google+, with the goal of less anonymity leading to higher quality comments. Today’s update strengthens communication a step further. It’s a feature that’s long overdue and should help improve app development. Source: Android Developers Blog
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| Featured Android Game Review: Quiz of Seers [Brain & Puzzle] Posted: 13 May 2013 11:57 AM PDT
If you like quiz games, you might want to check out Quiz of Seers from Blyts. We are very familiar with Blyts because we covered another cool game from them called Greedy Spiders. Quiz of Seers is a new app that’s already getting great user reviews. It offers three game modes: Single, Versus, and Live. Single is where you play on your own to get some practice. The Versus mode lets you play against your friends or random players, and the Live mode pits you in battles with multiple players worldwide in real time. Whichever mode you choose, you gain points that will ultimately earn you potions. Each potion gives you the ability to eliminate one of the multiple choice answers. Signing up is easy, you have your choice of creating an account via email or Facebook.
There are 10 categories to choose from which include TV/Film, Language, Cuisine, Games, Geography, History, Sports, Science, Art, and Music. You can even go with the “All” category that will give you questions from any of the ten categories. Gameplay is simple. just select your category and enter the game. You will start at round one and you will be presented a question with 4 possible answers. The early levels are easier in that two of the possible answers are already crossed off. You have 25 seconds to answer the question, and if you get it right, you grab 10 points and move on to the next round for another 25 seconds. Each round is one question. The higher rounds won’t have answers crossed off, but you will gain more points with each right answer. Get three wrong answers and the game is over. The game keeps track of the highest round you achieved, your total points, and it will also let you know how many points you need to gain another potion. I don’t normally play quiz games, but I did find Quiz of Seers addicting. It’s visually appealing and simple enough that you can play whenever you have a few minutes to kill. I did have some issues in that I saw the same question on multiple occasions and I found it tough to find random players that actually played. Like I said, the game is new, so more questions will be added and it will be easier to find more active players soon. Quiz of Seers is absolutely free (with an in-app purchase option to get rid of ads for 99-cents) and I encourage you to give it a shot. Check out their trailer video below as well as download links to get started. As always, let me know what you think. Main features:
         Click here to view the embedded video.
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| NVIDIA Tegra 4 devices to be announced this quarter Posted: 13 May 2013 10:27 AM PDT
During a quarterly earnings call last Thursday, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed Tegra 4 powered devices should be announced this quarter as several tablets are in development. Two of the devices will be coming from HP including the HP Slate 21 AIO and the HP Slatebook 10 X2. Toshiba also has a tablet device in the works, the Toshiba AT10LE-A, which will be powered by the Tegra 4. Going down in size a bit, sources believe ZTE is working on a “super phone” that will be powered by the Tegra 4 chip. In house, NVIDIA themselves are working on a handheld gaming console Project Shield that will be powered by the new quad-core chip. The new Tegra 4 chip was announced earlier this year at CES 2013. The Tegra 4 is built on four Cortex-A15 processors and 72 graphic processors capable of driving 3200×2000 LED displays with Ultra HD video. Running at 1.9 GHz, the Tegra 4 is the company’s successor to the Tegra 3. Although slightly less powerful, the Tegra 4i will start to hit the market during the latter half of 2013 with an integrated i500 LTE modem. Huang sees “these new computing devices becoming like entry-level PCs.” NVIDIA is trying to throw as much power into the devices as possible as they think performance will be a differentiator for buyers in the future. source: Tom’s Hardware
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| Amazon Coins now available for Kindle Fire owners Posted: 13 May 2013 10:14 AM PDT
A few months ago, Amazon announced their Coins currency for its Kindle Fire devices. These coins would essentially be in-app currency exclusively for Amazon’s App Store and can be used to purchase apps, games, and in-app content. The Coins have an exchange rate similar to normal currency, so 1 coin equals 1 cent. Kindle users will receive a free 500 Coins to test the service out, and more Coins can be purchased from Amazon. The biggest advantage to using these Coins is buying in bulk. Amazon says you’ll be able to get up to 10% off if you buy large amounts of coins, so it can save you money in the long run. The Coins also help developers because it gives consumers a universal currency to use to buy apps and games, so that’s always a plus. Developers will still get their 70% of revenue from app purchases, so no change there. I think this is going to be a great service for Amazon and Kindle Fire users, and I think it’s safe to say we can expect Amazon to push this new system pretty hard in the next few months.
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| New project hopes to bring Android apps to HP Touchpad sans dual boot Posted: 13 May 2013 09:57 AM PDT
A couple years ago, HP took a stab at getting into the tablet device field with the HP Touchpad, a webOS powered device. The project was quickly canceled and HP ended up selling off the units they had produced for rock bottom prices. Along with the death of the Touchpad, developers abandoned plans to produce apps for the platform. This left owners with a severe limitation as to what they could do with their Touchpad tablet. Phoenix International Communications is hoping to address that gap by resurrecting an old project to build an Application Compatibility Layer that would let users run Android apps on a Touchpad alongside webOS applications. The attempt to build a compatibility layer for Android apps on the Touchpad was itself a project started by OpenMobile WorldWide that was mothballed after HP announced their decision to abandon the Touchpad. In the time since then, users figured out a method to dual boot an HP Touchpad so they could run either webOS or Android. Using a dual boot solution can be a challenge though if you need to frequently change between the installed operating systems. Phoenix International Communications decided to address that by partnering with OpenMobile WorldWide to complete the compatibility layer. This will give users the ability to access the thousands of Android apps, yet still be able to make effective use of some of the webOS strengths like the email client. A Kickstarter project has been launched for the effort and the $35,000 goal has already been reached. Phoenix International hopes to finish the project and start distribution by July 2013. If you happen to own an HP Touchpad, you may want to check out the project. The video below shows some more information about the project and the progress that has been made thus far.
source: Kickstarter
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| First photo taken from the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom surfaces online Posted: 13 May 2013 09:21 AM PDT
While Samsung hasn’t officially announced the multiple rumored variants of its recent Galaxy S 4 flagship, it is likely they will launch as soon as next month. The most recent leak is apparently the first photo from its cameraphone variant, the SM-C101, also known as the Galaxy S 4 Zoom, which was recently spotted in Bluetooth SIG. The phone will prominently feature a 16-megapixel camera with a massive 10x optical zoom. There is still no word on what this device will pack internally, but some have speculated that it will be similar to the recently leaked Galaxy S 4 Mini so as not to hurt the S 4′s sales. The S 4 Zoom will join the S 4 Mini, S 4 Mega and the water and dust-proof S 4 Activ with release dates this summer. According to the data above, the lens will have a 4mm focal length and an 8.8 aperture. Curiously the photo has a 1920 x 1080 resolution which is significantly smaller than a 16-megapxiel photo, but that is likely just the edited size to fit the device’s 1080p display. It is safe to assume we will learn a lot more as the device nears its early June release. Check back with us for more information as it is revealed and let us know in the comments which of the S 4 variants tickles your fancy. source: techtastic.nl
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| Sony unveils Xperia ZR, a mid to high-end waterproof device made for underwater photography Posted: 13 May 2013 09:10 AM PDT
Sony released specs today regarding its newest addition to the Xperia Z family today in the form of the Xperia ZR. The ZR packs many of the same components and waterproof capabilities as the Xperia Z, putting it in the mid to high-end range. Sony’s putting a lot of emphasis on the ZR’s higher IP rating (IP55 and IP58 as opposed to the Z’s IP55 and IP57), which makes it perfect for those HD recordings of your underwater adventures. Powering Sony’s new aquatic handset is the Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5 GHz quad-core processor also found on the Xperia Z and ZL. Rounding out the internals are 2GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a microSD slot. The display measures out at 4.55-inches with 720p resolution. On the back they put a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor RS camera with an LED flash and “burst mode” capable of taking 15 frames per second.
On the software side of things the ZR features “STAMINA Mode”, claiming to improve the battery life by four times or more by automatically freezing battery-draining apps when the screen is off. The display will also be powered by Sony’s Bravia Engine 2 for crisp, bright images. The press release says the ZR will support LTE, but the official spec sheet claims HSPA+ connectivity, so it is probably safe to assume that the cellular capabilities will be market dependent. One version of the device will support 900 and 2100 MHz HSPA+ connectivity for the European market and the other will support 850, 1700, 1900 and 2100MHz, presumably for the North American market. The ZR will be available sometime in Q2 2013 with specific dates varying by the market. As always check back for more information as we get it and hit the source for the full press release from Sony. Source: Sony Mobile
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| T-Mobile rolling out Android 4.1.2 update to Samsung Galaxy S III customers Posted: 13 May 2013 08:25 AM PDT
If you’re a T-Mobile customer who owns a Samsung Galaxy S III, you’ll be happy to learn that an update should be arriving very soon for your device, in the form of Android 4.1.2. The only issue is that we’re not really sure of what the update includes (other than multi-window support), as T-Mobile has yet to update their support page. However, we do know that the update adds two new apps, including Paper Artist and Group Play. It also supposedly adds T-Mobile’s new “4G” logo to the phone’s notification bar. The update is a full 187MB and according to reports, owners started receiving the update as early as 3AM this morning. Let us know how the update is if you got it, and we’ll let you guys know some more information as soon as T-Mobile updates their support page. source: TMONews
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| Another white Nexus 4 appears in the wild, preparing for a Google I/O release? Posted: 13 May 2013 08:15 AM PDT
Another shot of the white Nexus 4 has surfaced, which seems to backup earlier photos of a white Nexus 4 we reported to you back in January. But as we near Google I/O 2013, we’re expecting an official announcement (or maybe even a release) of the device, hopefully with some bumped up specs. This time, the device ended up in the hands of Google+ user Ervin Sue, who obtained the phone on a buy and sell website. Although the outer hardware looks to be the same (aside from color), we’re hopeful that Google at least adds a modern Snapdragon 600 processor and 4G LTE. When Google I/O starts in a couple of days we’ll be sure to have some more information— but until then, you’ll just have to be patient! Source: Ervin Sue
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| Consumer preferences towards larger smartphone screens on the rise Posted: 13 May 2013 08:15 AM PDT
According to a new report by Strategy Analytics, existing smartphone users in the second half of 2012 were most likely to be interested in devices with a screen size between 4.2-inches and 4.7-inches. These statistics show an increase from a similar study done in the second half of 2011 where the preferred screen size was 4.3-inches. Those who intended on buying their first smartphone showed a preference towards slightly smaller screens, while most current smartphone owners were interested in an increase over their current device. Males preferred slightly larger screens than females, and current brand ownership made an impact on preference as well. Nearly all participants in the study showed a preference for their next device to have a larger screen size than their current handset. Source: Strategy Analytics
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