Android Central |
- Spotify adds another big name to their catalog with the full works of Pink Floyd
- Google expands retail availability of Chromebooks to new store partners
- AT&T offering Galaxy Note 8.0 for $199 with purchase of Galaxy S4 starting June 21
- Spring cleaning: Win a Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch tablet
- How to apply a Google Play gift card to your account
- Falcon Twitter client hits token limit again, new update resets keys
- SmugFolio relaunches as official SmugMug app for Android
- Talk Mobile Apps Hangout! Come chat!
- Why is it so hard to find great apps? - Talk Mobile
- Skype takes video messaging out of 'preview' status
- Deal of the Day: LLOYD Flex Case for Samsung Galaxy S4
- Dark widgets invade v1.2.5 of the Android Central App
- Sprint fires up LTE in nearly 2 dozen new cities
- Start your week with the Greatest Android Podcast in the World!
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini priced by UK retailer ahead of July release
- Samsung to launch LTE-Advanced Galaxy S4
- HTC Desire 200 prototype caught on camera
- One Million lucky Samsung owners can get Jay-Z's new Magna Carta Holy Grail release free on July 4
- Talk Mobile App Week begins tomorrow; join us for daily Talk Mobile hangouts!
| Spotify adds another big name to their catalog with the full works of Pink Floyd Posted: 17 Jun 2013 03:57 PM PDT Legendary band's full back catalog available to stream only on Spotify, staking another claim to be king of the streaming gameSpotify continues to try and establish themselves as the biggest players in the streaming game, and their latest acquisition won't harm their chances. Following the addition of Metallica in late 2012, the streaming service can now add the complete works of Pink Floyd to their ever increasing catalog. 
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| Google expands retail availability of Chromebooks to new store partners Posted: 17 Jun 2013 01:33 PM PDT Walmart and Staples in the U.S. to carry various Chromebook modelsWith the somewhat quiet success of Chromebook sales through its original sales channels of Amazon and Best Buy continuing, Google announced today that it is expanding retail availability of the laptops to three times the number of stores. Starting today, Walmart will carry the lowest-end Chromebook model from Acer, which comes in at just $199. This weekend Staples will begin to carry Acer, HP and Samsung Chromebook models in every one of its U.S. stores, as well as online or through its Staples Advantage B2B program if buying for enterprise. Additionally, Office Depot, Office Max, Fry's and TigerDirect will all begin to carry Chromebooks. Google is also expanding worldwide availability in the other 10 markets worldwide that have Chromebooks available, with new retail partners such as Dixons in the U.K. and new stores in the Netherlands, France, Sweden and Australia. New countries will be announced later this year also. In all, 6,600 stores will now be carrying Chromebooks worldwide. If it wasn't apparent before, Google is taking the availability of Chromebooks seriously, and we'll be hearing even more about them in the coming months. Source: Official Google Blog 
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| AT&T offering Galaxy Note 8.0 for $199 with purchase of Galaxy S4 starting June 21 Posted: 17 Jun 2013 01:11 PM PDT Full price hits $399 with a two-year contract and no smart phone purchase bundleAT&T has finally announced the availability and pricing of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and it is offering an interesting new option to purchase the device. Starting June 21st, the LTE-enabled device will be available for $399 with a two-year contract, which may seem a bit steep but isn't the only purchase option. AT&T is also offering a smart phone bundle deal, so that if you choose to buy a Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active or Galaxy Note 2 at the same time the price of the Note 8.0 drops to $199. Bundling may save you some money on the data plan side as well if you opt to go with a mobile share plan, which only adds $10 per month to your bill to access your shared data. If you needed a quick refresher, the Note 8.0 is an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean device with a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 1280x800 display and a sizable 4600mAh battery. You've of course got all of the nice S Pen stylus functionality as well as Samsung's software included to take advantage of it. You'll be able to take advantage of the smart phone bundle deal both online and in-store starting this friday. Source: AT&T 
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| Spring cleaning: Win a Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch tablet Posted: 17 Jun 2013 12:49 PM PDT The Kindle Fire HD is mostly Android, has an awesome screen, access to Amazon Prime videos and an 8.9-inch Wifi version can be yours if the random number gods smile on you. I've got too many tablets and not enough time to love them all, so this one has to find a new home. If you've been following along you know the drill. If you're new, welcome aboard and here's how it works -- just leave a comment below. Sometime late tonight I'll shut the comments down, and pick a comment at random as the winner. We use the email address you have on file here at AC to contact you, so make sure it's valid and that you check it. Good luck! 
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| How to apply a Google Play gift card to your account Posted: 17 Jun 2013 11:59 AM PDT Google Play cards are a great way to buy apps and media, and redeeming them is easyGoogle announced Google Play cards late last summer in the U.S., and have since been made available in Canada and the U.K. Of course, we all want them to be able to go global with the service, but there has been no word of when we can expect that to happen. In the meantime, if you're in a supported country, it's nice to know just how to apply the balance from a card to your Google account. It's a pretty simple affair. You can find the gift cards themselves at retailers like Target or Walmart in the US and Canada, and Tesco and Morrisons in the U.K. They come in $10, $15, $25 and $50 denominations in North America, and £10, £25 and £50 in the U.K. You'll find them next to iTunes cards in most retailers, and you buy them like any other item off the shelf from the store. Once you get them home, adding the balance to your account is easy. 
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| Falcon Twitter client hits token limit again, new update resets keys Posted: 17 Jun 2013 11:17 AM PDT Just months after first hitting the Twitter token max, Falcon Pro must once again sidestep the limitFalcon Pro, one of the leading third-party Twitter apps for Android, has once again hit the 100,000 active user token limit. The token limit is imposed by Twitter on all third-party clients with which it doesn't have a direct partnership, and it's not the first time Falcon has fallen run up against this particular wall. The app first hit 100,000 tokens back in late February, and the solution today is the same one employed back then -- revoke the original tokens and require everyone to sign in again, thus resetting the counter for a few more months. It's a temporary workaround, and far from an ideal solution, but for smaller third-party apps like Falcon it's the only real option available. In a Twitter post, developer Joaquim Vergès describes it as "the least dodgy solution." If you're a Falcon Pro user, there's a new update to the app going out now that'll require you to log in again once it's installed. If you've yet to give it a try, you can pick it up from Google Play using the button above. Source: @falcon_android 
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| SmugFolio relaunches as official SmugMug app for Android Posted: 17 Jun 2013 10:54 AM PDT Popular third-party SmugMug app SmugFolio has graduated to official status, while also being updated with a handful of new features. Following an acquisition by SmugMug, SmugFolio is now the official Android app for the photo-sharing service. What that means is that the app will now wear the official SmugMug branding, but function just as it did before, and continue to be overseen by the same developer. The new SmugMug app also boasts some new features. Firstly, it's now possible to browse favorite users' photos without logging into the app, allowing galleries to be more easily accessible to the general public. Sign-in has been made more secure with the implementation of OAuth as part of the login process. And to prepare for future updates, the new app requires Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or higher. Android 2.x owners can continue to use the existing SmugFolio app, the company says. To grab the newly official SmugMug app for Android, hit the Google Play link above. Source: SmugMug 
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| Talk Mobile Apps Hangout! Come chat! Posted: 17 Jun 2013 10:07 AM PDT Hey! You! There on the Internet! We've just rolled out the start of the second round of Talk Mobile, and we're going to start doing daily Hangouts once things are live. The first Hangout is about to begin (around 1 p.m. EDT today). Keep on keepin' on and join us! 
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| Why is it so hard to find great apps? - Talk Mobile Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:03 AM PDT  Between the iOS App Store, BlackBerry World, Google Play, and Windows Phone Store, there are more than 1.7 million apps available for smartphone and tablet users to choose from. The explosion in apps has been fueled by an explosion in users, who to date have downloaded well over 100 billion apps. With so many apps to choose from, taking the virtual step into an app store presents a bewildering selection. Does it really matter how many apps a platform has in its store, or should we be worrying about which apps there are and how good they are? How are we supposed to sort the good apps from the bad? Are reviews the answer, or can a managed store make a difference? Search might dig up something - if you know what you're looking for. Big name developers might offer some predictability, yet independent developers are often where you can find the innovation. Then again, big and small developers alike aren't immune from pumping out poor quality material. So how do we sort through that to find the good apps, the best apps, the apps that really work for what you need? 
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| Skype takes video messaging out of 'preview' status Posted: 17 Jun 2013 08:43 AM PDT Skype this morning announced that it's taking its video messaging feature out of "preview" status and keeping it as a free feature on its desktop, Android, iOS and BlackBerry apps. (Windows Phone, oddly, is omitted.) The feature records up to 3 minutes of video that then gets sent to a specific contact's Skype account either directly, or as soon as they're back online. 
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| Deal of the Day: LLOYD Flex Case for Samsung Galaxy S4 Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:36 AM PDT
The LLOYD Flex Case is available for just $8, 60% off today only. Grab yours while supplies last! Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts! 
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| Dark widgets invade v1.2.5 of the Android Central App Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:33 AM PDT Ask and ye shall receive. We've just rolled out Version 1.2.5 of the Android Central app, adding (among other things) a dark-themed widget, which you can see here. We've also squashed a couple of pressing bugs. Want the full changelog? Of course you do. 
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| Sprint fires up LTE in nearly 2 dozen new cities Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:21 AM PDT Next round of LTE upgrades also announcedSprint today announced that it's turned on high-speed LTE data in 22 new locations. They are:
That gives Sprint a total of 110 LTE locations. The company also listed a number of cities that will receive LTE service in the coming months in Texas, Wisconsin, Washington and Michigan. 
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| Start your week with the Greatest Android Podcast in the World! Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:06 AM PDT Welcome to Monday, boys and girls. For better or worse, we're at the start of a new work week. But we can help kill at least one hour of the day. The gang got back together Friday afternoon for our first Android Central Podcast in a couple weeks. This one's audio-only, and it's a great listen from directly within the all-new Android Central app! So pour a cup of coffee and let us lead you through the past week or so in Android news. We'll cure what ails ya. 
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| Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini priced by UK retailer ahead of July release Posted: 17 Jun 2013 06:50 AM PDT Clove opening pre-orders for the S4 Mini at £390, expecting stock in early JulyThe Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is one of a raft of new devices Samsung has announced in recent weeks, and the first pricing information is beginning to appear in the UK. Clove has announced they are opening pre-orders now for the SIM-free and unlocked S4 Mini, which will cost a fairly pretty hefty £390 inclusive of VAT. 
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| Samsung to launch LTE-Advanced Galaxy S4 Posted: 17 Jun 2013 04:21 AM PDT Qualcomm-powered LTE-Advanced handset headed to Korea 'as early as this month'Samsung is aiming to launch the first smartphone supporting the faster LTE-Advanced wireless data standard, company co-CEO JK Shin has revealed. Speaking to reporters at Samsung headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, Shin said the new, LTE-A-capable Galaxy S4 could go on sale as early as this month in Korea. Reuters reports that the new Galaxy S4 will use a Qualcomm chipset, as opposed to the Exynos 5 Octa used in the Galaxy S4 phones currently sold in Samsung's home country. LTE-Advanced has the potential to deliver significantly faster 4G speeds than existing LTE networks, but it hasn't yet seen widespread implementation by carriers around the world. Wikipedia lists Russia's Yota Networks as the only commercial LTE-A network at present, currently marketed as supporting speeds of 300Mbps. Operators in most Western countries, including the U.S., are focused on growing their vanilla LTE networks, while UK operator EE has said it'll begin trialing some of the tech behind the new standard before the end of the year. Shin says his company is in talks with several foreign carriers regarding the LTE-Advanced Galaxy S4. However with supporting networks expected to be few and far between, this new GS4 might end up being a niche variant for the foreseeable future. Source: Reuters 
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| HTC Desire 200 prototype caught on camera Posted: 17 Jun 2013 03:03 AM PDT Entry-level device said to sport HVGA screen, 1GHz CPUHTC is keeping the "Desire" brand around for its entry-level and mid-range line-up, as we've seen with the recent announcement of the Desire 600. But we've yet to hear much about the Desire 200 since that device dropped by Taiwan's NCC certification body around a month ago. Today Vietnamese site Thế Giới Di Động has what it says is video footage of the device, along with a tentative spec sheet. Internal hardware is said to include a 1GHz CPU, a 3.5-inch HVGA (320x480) display, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, expandable via microSD, a 1400mAh battery and a 5-megapixel rear camera. The video shows the device running what appears to be Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC Sense 4 -- as opposed to the more recent, -based Sense 5. Physically, it's clear we're dealing with a smaller handset, though one inspired by the HTC One's industrial design. There's a One-style speaker grille, and Beats Audio branding on the rear, though no front-facing "BoomSound" speakers. There's no telling whether the "Desire 200" will still be running ICS when it hits store shelves. What's shown in the video appears to be very glitchy, prototypey software, so there's every chance the final software may take a different form. Share your own speculation down in the comments, and check out the video for yourself after the break. Source: Thế Giới Di Động; via: GSMArena 
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| One Million lucky Samsung owners can get Jay-Z's new Magna Carta Holy Grail release free on July 4 Posted: 16 Jun 2013 08:54 PM PDT Be among the first to hear Jay-Z's latest, for free, from SamsungFriday we told you that Samsung and Jay-Z had something in store, and it would be announced during the NBA finals game five on television. Everything has been announced, and it turns out that it's a pretty big deal. Jay-Z will be releasing his latest, titled Magna Carta Holy Grail on July 4, and one million lucky Samsung owners will get a free copy. It's going to work like so. On June 24, Samsung is going to publish an app to Google Play, and folks using a Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, or a Galaxy S4 will be able to download and install it. We imagine the app will keep you up to date on the happenings surrounding the upcoming release, but the magic happens on July 4, when the new tunes are released. As soon as July 4 rolls around, the first one million users who have installed the app will get a free copy of the album. We've no details on the format, but what we understand is that it's yours to download and keep. Keep your eyes on the #MagnaCarta site to count things down. Not too shabby! 
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| Talk Mobile App Week begins tomorrow; join us for daily Talk Mobile hangouts! Posted: 16 Jun 2013 06:01 PM PDT The second week of Talk Mobile 2013 kicks off tomorrow, and the discussion is going to center around mobile apps. With five days of awesome content lined up and sure to be some great conversations in the comments, we really want to expand your interaction with the whole Talk Mobile crew. Starting tomorrow after fresh Talk Mobile content goes live we're going to do something we wanted to do for the last week of Talk Mobile, but couldn't thanks to everybody traveling for the awesome Talk Mobile launch party: we'll be holding a live video hangout with a rotating cast of Talk Mobile editors, developers, designers, our special guests, and everybody else involved in making Talk Mobile happen. You can expect the hangouts to go live a little bit after we publish the Talk Mobile articles. After all, they're pretty big hunks of text and video, we want you to have some time to digest it all first! So tune back in to your favorite Mobile Nations site(s) tomorrow for more great Talk Mobile content. It's time to get the conversation about apps started! 
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