StumbleUpon for Android received an update today that introduces a redesigned user interface equipped with one tap access to your likes, lists and followers. In accordance with Google’s new Material Design language, StumbleUpon 4.0 has more of a flat look and feel, along with slide-out navigation menus.
SwiftKey received an update today that resolves some of the keyboard app’s recent performance issues. According to the software’s changelog, users should experience improved typing, loading times, translations, and several other bug fixes for glitches that caused force closes. In addition to some much needed technical improvements, SwiftKey announced the availability of five new themes: Spotlight Purple, Edge Green, Pulse Yellow, Pulse Pink and Hazy Pink. If you’re interested in upgrading the look and feel of your keyboard, the outfit is holding a special summer sale that discounts prices on select themes by up to 33 percent.
The Play Store is loaded with apps made by Google and while some are frequently updated, others like Gesture Search are more of an annual affair. Today, Mountain View silently released an update for its graffiti style search software that introduces a new widget for access to previously launched apps. Additionally, version 2.1.3 of Gesture Search displays as a popup on tablets and manages to squash a few bugs while adding performance improvements.
If your gaming habits extend beyond your mobile devices and you’ve picked up an Xbox One, Microsoft’s updated SmartGlass Beta app might be a worthy download. Not to be confused with Redmond’s full-time SmartGlass app, this software offers an early look at some of the new second screen features coming to Microsoft latest game console.
Skype for Android received an update today that makes it easier to import your phone’s contact list. Although this new software is currently available to download, Microsoft says that its contact tracking feature will be available in the “coming months.” When ready, the app will prompt you to verify your phone number and after that Skype will start matching its contacts with people saved to your device’s address book.
Android Wear is still in its infancy, with the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live the only devices on the market, but that hasn’t stopped developers from taking advantage of the new opportunities that the platform presents. SWIP3 is a new match-three puzzler that now holds the accomplishment of being the first game designed specifically for Android Wear.
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HTC has dissected another piece of its Sense software and shipped it off to Google Play for fast access. Starting today, owners of compatible devices made by the Taiwanese manufacturer can pick up the HTC Sense Input keyboard directly from the Play Store. The benefit of doing this is that it lets the company make small adjustments to its keyboard without having to release device specific software updates.
Just in time for the Commonwealth Games, the BBC Sport app for Android has been updated with Chromecast support. If Google’s media streaming dongle is embedded in your entertainment setup, you can now leaf through the BBC’s live and on-demand sports programming on the largest display in your house.
PayPal updated its Android app today and while version 5.5 introduces a couple of new features, it also manages to take something away. Bringing the software up to speed with its iOS-powered counterpart, you can now link loyalty cards to your account, which should hopefully make your wallet a few grams lighter. There’s also some “behind the scenes” work that speeds up login times, something that’s always welcomed with any application.
Samsung’s app store, previously called “Samsung Apps,” was announced to be getting a rebrand to be “Samsung Galaxy Apps” right around the same time as the release of the first Tizen-based smartphone. That change happened on the web side on July 1st, but is today being pushed to the smartphone side as well (via Sammy Hub).
The update not only changes the name of the service to “GALAXY Apps”, but packs a few additional performance updates as well. Notably, the interface of the store is flatter, more streamlined, and reportedly a bit more responsive during use.
If you want to grab this update, it will be pushing automatically to users over the next few days. But if you’re an avid Galaxy Apps user and especially eager to get the new design, you can go to the Version Info menu and update manually.
Google recently updated its desktop version of Maps with a new feature that lets users measure the distance between two or more points on the map. To toggle this option, right-click on a starting point on the map and select “Measure distance,” and then choose a destination to see the distance between the two points.
You knew it was going to happen.
Just when you thought that Flappy Bird clones had run their course, Flopsy Droid has become the first unofficial Flappy Bird port for Android Wear devices. The app brings the bird-and-pipe experience to the LG G Watch, Moto 360 and other Android Wear devices, with the same one-tap controls as the smartphone version. The only difference is that Flopsy Droid is designed for markedly smaller screens.
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Isis chief executive Michael Abbott announced this afternoon that the mobile payment platform will undergo rebranding so that it does not share its name with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, often abbreviated as ISIS by the media. The militant group is often associated with violence and conflict against innocent civilians, and Isis wants to ensure that its brand has zero association with those actions.
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We told you late last week that Android Wear devices had started leaving the warehouse, and this week is seeing many of those orders reach their destinations. And with the devices now in more and more developers hands, countless apps have started appearing on the Play Store. It will soon get to the point where there are too many to keep track, but in the meantime we’re watching the Play Store closely for great (and not so great) new apps.
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In 2010 Google took steps towards separating its Chrome browser and the way its apps operated. Unlike traditional web-based applications, the software didn’t have URLs or navigation buttons, making it feel more like native desktop programs. This new breed of Chrome apps were also capable of working offline, connecting with peripherals and delivering desktop notifications.
Android Wear doesn’t just show you notifications. In at least one developer session at I/O, Google made it clear that its new smartwatch platform will actually be capable of running standalone applications, even further extending the possibilities of what the device will be able to do in the near future. But now, some of these apps are already hitting the Play Store.
Yet another announcement from Google I/O today comes in the form of a new Gmail API beta that will make it easier for developers to integrate Gmail features into their apps:
While IMAP is great at what it was designed for (connecting email clients to email servers in a standard way), it wasn’t really designed to do all of the cool things that you have been working on, which is why this week at Google I/O, we’re launching the beta of the new Gmail API.
Designed to let you easily deliver Gmail-enabled features, this new API is a standard Google API, which gives RESTful access to a user’s mailbox under OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports CRUD operations on true Gmail datatypes such as messages, threads, labels and drafts.
So what’s the benefit over IMAP or other solutions that developers have already been using to integrate Gmail features? Google says the new API, unlike IMAP, “gives fine-grained control to a user’s mailbox.” That means that an app, for example, “only needs to send mail on behalf of a user and does not need to read mail, you can limit your permission request to send-only.” There are also other benefits like speed:
To keep in sync, the API allows you to query the inbox change history, thereby avoiding the need to do “archaeology” to figure out what changed. Finally, a huge benefit is speed. While there’s still some tuning to be done (“beta” – remember?), results from our tests and feedback from pre-release developers suggest that the new Gmail API is delivering dramatic performance improvements over IMAP for web application use cases.
Along with all of the other numbers and company updates Sundar Pichai shared today, he also just announced during the enterprise portion of the event that Google has now hit 190 million Google Drive users. That’s thanks to strong growth among enterprise customers and includes only active users over a 30-day period. The announcement comes alongside new features announced for the Drive suite of apps across devices.
More stats and numbers from Google’s I/O Keynote today are here.
Google-owned, social navigation app Waze for Android and iOS has been updated today. Version 3.8 introduces a cluster of new features, including friends via contacts, which lets you sync your phone’s contact list with your Waze friends, keeping you connected when heading to the same destination. Also new is the ability to send your current location to friends, as well as addresses from your favorites and history. When you share an address with a friend, they’ll receive a link from Waze with directions to the location that can be used whenever they’re ready.
Google recently expanded its Apps services for enterprise users by making its premium communication features available to everyone. Apps customers can now broadcast a 15 person Hangout chat session with HD video quality, a perk previously unavailable to standard subscribers. Furthermore, these new premium features introduce enhanced privacy controls that let admins restrict a Google+ post’s visibility, along with the option to hide employee profiles from external searches.
Amazon announced today that its standalone Appstore has been growing very quickly, tripling the number of apps that were in the store just 12 months ago. The company also announced that Amazon Coins, which let users save money on apps and games by buying the “currency” in bulk, have been very popular with customers having already spent “hundreds of millions” of them.
And apparently, developers are extremely happy with the store. When surveyed, 65% developers said that total revenue is just as good or better on Kindle Fire compared to other platforms, 74% said that Average Revenue per App/User is as good or better, and 76% said that the Kindle Fire “helps them connect with new market segments.”
“Developers tell us that they experience improved reach, greater monetization, and, oftentimes, higher revenue when they have their apps and games in the Amazon Appstore,” said Mike George, Vice President of Amazon Appstore and Games. “But this is just the beginning—we’re building more services and capabilities for developers and more Android-based APIs based on their feedback. Most Android apps just work on Kindle Fire, and with an Appstore made for Android devices, Amazon’s Appstore can help developers distribute their apps on Android devices all over the world. It’s a great time for developers to bring their apps to the Amazon Appstore.”
Amazon is holding a press event this wednesday, which is all but confirmed to be the company’s first entry into the smartphone market.
Smartphone and tablet displays are only getting better, however not all mobile video software is capable of taking advantage of high-res content. For example, Android’s YouTube app gives users the option to display videos in either 360p or 720p, but this appears to be changing. People are reportedly starting to see playback options in 480p and 1080p resolutions.
From the operating room to the classroom, Glass has been well received by the healthcare industry. So much in fact, that app makers are jumping on the bandwagon to produce Glassware specifically tailored for physicians. Spearheading this effort is Drchrono, an electronic medical records company based in Mountain View California.
Firefox apps are pretty much web apps mostly based on HTML5 and JavaScript. So, by rule of thumb, if an application works on Mozilla’s mobile OS, it should run without a hitch on the company’s browser. With Firefox 29 for Android users of Google’s mobile operating system can run Open Web Apps directly from their device.
