Google have today started to roll out a newly redesigned Google Play store to various Android devices, with a new cleaner and quicker interface.

A new feature is the images, which Google say have been redesigned to ”jump off the page”, related content has also be further emphasised, with more recommendations on pages, and the checkout has been simplified.

The new store will roll out gradually to devices running Android 2.2 or above, however the company have said those outside the US will have to wait as long as a few more weeks for the update to reach some of those further across the globe.

So it’s simply a case of repeatedly checking.

Today I found a cool little gadget launching on the Kickstarter platform, a microSD card reader, it brings SD card support for Android tablets and smartphones that didn’t already have the compatibility.

Supporting SD Cards sized up to 32GB, the reader will allow you to read and write from MicroSD cards, just like if your phone already have a built-in port.

However the reader will only support certain devices, a bit of a bummer but the list of already tested devices is quite larger, including:

• Samsung Galaxy S2, S3, Note, Note 2; Class 1 support.
• Motorola RAZR M, RAZR HD, RAZR MAXX HD; Class 1 support.
• HTC One X+, Evo 4G LTE (Sprint), DROID DNA; Class 1 support.
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Google Nexus 7 & Nexus 10; Class 2 support.
• Nook Color, Kindle Fire (non-HD); Class 3 support.
• Tablets using RockChip & AllWinner chips; Sonicview N710; Class 1 support.

Class 1 is support out of the box, with no rooting required, class 2 requires 3rd party software and Class 3 will need a custom ROM.

However the creators of the project do say it should work with most other devices that support USB host or USB-OTG and has been tested with Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos 3, 4 & 5, Nvidia Tegra 2 & 3, TI OMAP; as well as on RockChip and AllWinner chips.

All in all it’s a pretty cool project, hit up the link below for more information and to pledge your money to grab one for yourself.

Source: Kickstarter

A beta version of Facebook’s new Home launcher for Android has been leaked online ahead of its official launch on April 12th.

Split into three separate ROMs, the leaked package was pulled from the ROM included with the HTC First by the site MoDaCo, who are currently making the ROM available for anyone to download.

Of course if you do download the software, it will be at your own risk, we hold no responsibility if you brick your device, there are also some restrictions, with some of the main features disabled such as Chat Heads, you can only use the ROM on an Android device with a maximum resolution of 1280 x 768.

If you do wish to take the risk, the link is below, but remember it is at your own risk, so it’s probably smarter just to wait for the official release in a few days.

Via: The Verge

Source: MaDaCo

Facebook haven’t officially revealed Facebook Home yet, but that hasn’t stopped details and screenshots for the UI emerging, revealing that the service will be available on select phones from April 12th.

The Ui will allow users on Android to easily let people know whats going on, bringing your Facebook friends to the homescreen and lockscreen of your device, which will be loaded in the background whilst your device is sleeping, allowing you to comment and interact with timelines from Home.

On the homescreen it will show something called the “cover feed” which will show status’s from your friends, featuring user’s photos, comments, likes and notifications, which will simply show messages right on top of the Facebook feed.

Gestures have been heavily integrated, with a bunch of swiping, tapping and press and hold gestures. You can press and hold and swipe up to view your app bookmarks, and drawer, which can be closed by swiping down.

There’s also a new messaging feature called chat heads, allowing you to talk to friends from anywhere in your phone, the contacts photo will follow you around the app, with an unread count. Tapping into the chat head will show up the conversation which will be shown above the app you are currently using, it all looks very cool.

Multiple messages can be shown, even from messenger and SMS, group chats can also be shown, and closed by swiping them down to the bottom, chat heads can also be moved to any position on the screen.

Facebook Home will be available to download from the Google Play Store at launch, for both smartphones and tablets, however tablets will only be available “within several months” after launch, Facebook say that a new version of Home will even be released every month.

Facebook want’s to reassure users that they aren’t creating a full OS, or even forking Android, Facebook Home is simply a downloadable overlay.

Facebook Home will start of supporting the HTC One, HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S III and IIII and finally the Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Google released the Android 4.2.2 update for the Nexus 4 over-the-air, nicknamed build JDG39, the update is 54MB in size, with unknown added features.

We don’t know what has been included because Google doesn’t actually release a changelog, but it’s likely to include a set of bug fixes.

Estimated time and progress percentages for downloads have also been added, as well as new sound for wireless charging and low battery alerts, according to XDA anyway.

According to Android Central, Google is about to update the Google Now service with home or lock screen widgets that will display information from the service on either of the screens, the widget can also be tapped to quick-access Google Now.

The leak actually comes straight from Google’s own website, and was displayed on their support page. Android Central where the first to notice it, taking a screenshot before it was eventually taken down.

We don’t yet know when or to which phones the widget will become available, but it’s likely that we will find out soon.

The Jelly Bean update for Android is now on 13.6% of all Android devices in world, Google announced today.

Google publishes their own distribution chart every two weeks, with the latest showing 29% of users are still using Ice Cream Sandwich, 1.3% using Honeycomb, 45.6 on Gingerbread and 8.1% on Froyo. With a 10 percent market share this means quite a lot of the world’s mobile phone users are still using an OS that was released back in 2010.

However this does show that Ice Cream Sandwich growth is now staring to reach its peak, with more users upgrading to the new Jelly Bean OS and has dropped .1% since January’s numbers.

You may remember a bug within Android 4.2 that was revealed a couple of weeks ago that December wasn’t actually showing up on the calendar, Google have now fixed the issue with the Android 4.2.1 update that brings December back to Android.

Which finally means that you can add Christmas on your calendar, or even those birthdays that you would have otherwise missed.

The update is now available to download over-the-air on the Nexus 4 and 10 for some countries, there’s no word on when each country will receive such update however.

Until there’s any news you can always simply check the settings app on your smartphone to see if you can download the update yet.

If you were starting to get bored with the Google Play UI, then you might be excited to hear that some people have started to see a new update to Google’s Play Store that seems to include a new UI for the app install screen.

Version 3.10.9 of the app is mostly the same but there are a few new things included, starting with the previously mentioned UI update to the post-install screen that brings new and improved recommendations.

Alongside which there’s also a new keep shopping button that allows you to continue in the store. Wishlists have also been improved and there’s even a new translate button, so basically a complete UI overhaul.

Via: Android Police

The latest version of Google’s mobile operating system is now available for download on the Google ASUS Nexus 7 tablet and Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean can be downloaded unto the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ model that has been sold through Google Play so far, but the update should be available on carriers soon.

Or if you can’t wait you could flash your phone with the update, but that’s obviously a bit harder.

As for the Nexus 7, things are a bit easier ass you can simply download the update as and when you want, you should receive a notification when you can, or you can download it manually from Settings > Apps list > All > Google Services Framework, after turning off your WiFi connection, within the settings clear your cache and press Force stop, turn the WiFi back on then go to Settings > About tablet > System and the update should show up.

Via: The Verge

Android was first announced on November 5th 2007, making the mobile OS five-years old today during which time it has grown to the number one operating system in the world with a 75 per cent market share globally.

The first smartphone to run the operating system was the HTC Dream which released in October 2008, and the latest phone to be announced the Nexus 4 which carries the latest version of the OS, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

However the weird thing is that the company hasn’t actually announced it’s birthday yet, not even with a Google Doodle.

O2 have confirmed to Pocket-Lint that they will have exclusivity of selling the new Nexus 4 for the first month of the handset going on sale, and to celebrate they will be giving the first 100 customer to buy one a free LG television.

The phone will launch next month, during which O2 will be inviting select customers to climb  to the top of the O2 Arena in Greenwich which you may know as the millennium dome and purchase their new Nexus 4 whilst on top of the London skyline.

The Nexus 4 will be the first phone to carry the new Android 4.2 update to Jelly Bean and will include a 4.7 inch touchscreen, Gorilla Glass 2 display, Quallcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GBs of RAM and a 8 megapixel rear camera.

Source: Pocket-Lint

Anybody who games on a tablet or smartphone will know that it’s not exactly appealing without something to actually hold onto whilst you do so, Zeemote have thought of that with their newest Bluetooth Gaming Controller to hit stores, that brings the controller back to mobile gaming.

Weirdly enough I actually found the Zeemote to be extremely easy to use and grasp how to do so, with parts of its design linking closely to the Wii’s nunchuk attachment, which if you have used one makes it extremely easy to hold as buttons placed exactly where you would normally place them.

The first two buttons you will notice upon picking up the controller include the analog control stick and the on/ D button, on the back there’s a few more buttons which include the A, B and C controls, which are placed exactly where you need them, however the C button does have a sort of dip in it, forcing you to use the tip of your finger to press it, thankfully not many games use this control so all is forgiven, until games do start using it that is.

I did however find the size of the controller a larger annoyance, as it itself is extremely small and only just about fits into the palm of my hand, I could see people with larger hands than myself receiving a few problems from this.

Probably the main feature of this is of course the games, within which there is a good selection, none of which we have heard of before this review, but that’s okay. Probably our favorite within the entire selection was Running Fred, which tied in well with the controls on the Zeemote.

Zeemote are trying to beef up the selection slightly by trying to entice developers to create games for use with the controller, but so far this doesn’t seem to be working to well, the company has released an SDK however, that allows more or less anyone to port their game over.

The great thing about the Zeemote’s size is that it’s extremely portable, allowing you to play games on the go with great ease, however I did find it kind of necessary to use some kind of stand, or even a makeshift one whilst gaming, as it’s more or less impossible to hold a device like the Nexus 7 and control it with the Zeemote.

I have to say however, I feel like the Zeemote JS1 is simply a gimmick for you to play around with every now and again when you feel bored, but arn’t all gadgets?

You can pick up the Zeemote from various places, probably the best being Amazon who are selling the device for $19.99.

Zeemote did send us a couple of samples of the JS1 for review, but all opinions of the product are truly mine. Check out Zeemote’s site for more information, as well as the pictures we took of the Zeemote JS1 Bluetooth Gaming Remote Controller below for a better look.

Various blogs in the US have received invites this morning to an Android event happening in New York on October 29th, which is yet another event to add to the calendar.

The invite has come with the tagline, “opens the playground” which leaves us unsure of what it actually be about but it’s likely to be that LG phone that a lot of people think might be the new Nexus smartphone, which would make sense.

Although it could even be the recent rumors of a 5 inch phablet from HTC or even a 10 inch Nexus tablet by Samsung, but as you can probably tell we can’t really be sure of anything if I’m honest.

As always we will give you the news as it happens and in the usual manner, but you can always watch it live on the Android YouTube channel.

Source: EnGadget

As you may already know Android is certainly not the most secure OS, and it seems Google knows that too as Android Police have uncovered new details within the latest APK release of the Google Play Store which revealed a new “App Check” function.

From the code, the blog found that the new function will first of scan all of your pre-installed apps to find malware, after which it will continue to check new applications and block them if they do contain malware.

As of yet the feature is yet to be rolled out, but is likely to launch very soon, when it does we will let you know.

Via: TechRadar

Source: Android Police