Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Dailymotion on Android finally gets Chromecast support.

Compared to YouTube’s 1 billion downloads, Dailymotion’s 10 million downloads is measly in comparison. Just so you know, there’s other apps in the store for video lovers and Dailymotion is one of those.

The app has been updated today which finally adds support for Chromecast. Yes, you read that right. It’s been one of the most awaited features and Dailymotion users will finally get to watch their favorite videos on a big screen. I’m not sure that will help increase the number of subscribers though.

Download Dailymotion in Google Play Store

Version 3.8 of Microsoft Arrow Launcher for Android is now rolling out to the beta channel.

Hey folks, version 3.8 of Microsoft Arrow Launcher is out through the beta channel and while there is nothing much to it in terms of new features, Microsoft is introducing the “Me avatar”, a sort of Me tile which former or current Windows Phone users will remember. 

Users will need to sign in with their Microsoft account to have their profile picture displayed at the top of what Microsoft calls the -1 page – you swipe from the right to the left on the home screen page to access it. Tapping the profile picture takes you to a Microsoft page where users can manage their accounts and services they’re subscribed to and obviously change their profile picture.

Here’s the rest of the change log:
1. News: the redesigned News card.
2. People: See your Outlook contacts in People card and let Arrow help you merge duplicate contacts.
3. Calendar: Redesigned Calendar card shows your upcoming appointments.
4. Setting: Reset Arrow settings to default settings.
5. Folder spacing/layout improvements.
6. Additional bug fixes.

Again, this update is available to those who are in the beta program. Check the Google Play Store page of the Arrow Launcher to join the beta program to get the latest features before they go public. Just bear in mind that these updates may contain bugs.  

Saturday, July 22, 2017

WhatsApp on Android lets you quickly search for emojis.

WhatsApp published another update today for users to search for emojis while in a conversation. Users simply have to tap the emoji icon which will reveal the emoji search icon. From there, type anything you want and WhatsApp will retrieve it for you. For example, the screenshot above brought up rabbit emojis after I typed rabbit. Just type anything you can think of and WhatsApp will show all the emojis related to your query.

For heavy emoji users out there, make sure you check out the update in Google Play Store.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Adobe Acrobat Reader now lets you quickly edit and change font when reviewing documents.

Adobe Acrobat is the de-facto standard for viewing portable documents on mobile and desktop devices across platforms, so it’s one of those apps you need to download on your devices to view such documents as, say your bank statement, utilities bills, etc. Those documents sent by your bank are not editable for obvious reasons but if you subscribe to Adobe’s services you get to create your own or even edit those sent to you provided you were given the required permissions from the author. 

In a collaboration environment you get to share your thoughts about the contents. And todays update allows users to quickly edit and change the font when reviewing documents. This update comes in handy when you want to make your comments stand-out right on your device when on the go instead of having to wait when you get back to the office. In this update, Adobe also added accessibility support for bulleted lists.

To get the job done wherever you are, make sure you download this latest update from Google Play Store.

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Microsoft Apps is an app that lets you easily browse all of Microsoft's offering on Android.

With their “Mobile First” strategy, Microsoft has a lot of apps on the Android platform. So much that it can be daunting to keep track of them all. Aware of this, Microsoft built an app called Microsoft Apps that provides an easy way to find all of Microsoft’s offerings on Android in one place. The app will even notify you when an update is available.

Microsoft has updated the app today, which raises the version number to 2.2 and while it does not introduce new features, Microsoft worked to reduce the app package size and memory usage. It is always good to see developers continuously working to make their app less resource hungry.  That’s it in this update. But do check this app as it is really useful to keep tabs on Microsoft slew of Android apps.

You can download it free in Google Play Store.

WhatsApp adds support for sending documents of any type and text formatting in latest update

If you are not in the WhatsApp beta program, you should check the latest update that was published to the store earlier today. As a member of the beta program, I have been using these new features for a while now and it is great to see WhatsApp finally bringing them to the masses. And if you want to be among the first to try these new features, I strongly advise you join the beta program. You can do that in the apps page in Google Play Store. Let’s see what’s new in this update.

WhatsApp will now let you send files of any type as attachment by tapping the attach icon within the app. Prior to this update, and if I’m not mistaken, WhatsApp only supported PDF files. With this update, WhatsApp supports any file type you have stored on your device.

WhatsApp also improved the camera feature in that users will be able to swipe up to see all their photos and videos on the device. A quick and easy way to attach these files to a message with less navigation.

Since WhatsApp is all about messaging that involves mainly text, users will be able to format text to make them bold, strikethrough or italicize. To do this, users must tap and hold to select a word or more and select whichever format they want from the contextual menu.

Finally, WhatsApp made some design improvements for voice and video calls. 

Make sure to update WhatsApp on your device to enjoy these new features. It is a free update in Google Play Store.


Wednesday, July 12, 2017

SofaScore now lets you jot down notes in match details.

SofaScore has been updated today as it prepares itself for the next season of the English Premier League - and maybe for other leagues across the globe, but I'm a fan of EPL. 

In this update, soccer fans will be able to jot down notes within the app. An icon has been placed next to the sharing icon in the match details page. This feature could prove useful if you need to remember something related to the game.

The other feature is about TV broadcast. When the latter is "available in a certain country, this will be showed directly on TV channels country list (green dot)."

SofaScore is available free in Google Play Store and contains some in-app purchase.

Pocket Casts for Android updated to version 6.2.9.

Shifty Jelly, the company behind the excellent podcast app Pocket Casts, has posted an update which raises the version number to 6.2.9. The company has been kind-of building some hype as they gradually published new updates until. “Will the next update deliver the crazy version number or tank the ending like LOST (ugh! Still hurts).” I did not watch the show, but I trust Shifty Jelly will release something exciting. 

In the meantime, check out what’s new in this update:

1. The end of episode sleep timer option now stops right at the end, and won’t delete or mark the episode as played.

2. Podcast title sort now ignores ‘The’. You might think that’s _meh_but wow you people wouldn’t stop emailing us about it!

3. Added Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and South Korea to discover countries.

4. Fixed crashes on some lower end phones.

Grab the update in Google Play Store.

Friday, July 7, 2017

Udacity improves the built-in video player with variable playback speeds and more.

Udacity is a great learning platform and if you want start a new career or simply learn new technologies, Udacity is the way to go. It is, in my opinion, the best online learning platform, especially if you want to learn coding. And their app on Android is nice considering that you can watch videos offline. A feature they added in the last update for the Android.

In today’s update, which brings the version number to 3.5.0, Udacity added variable playback speeds, multiple playback quality settings. All of these can be accessed by tapping the Settings icon on the video itself.

Check out Udacity in Google Play Store and enjoy coding.

Google updates Docs, Sheets and Slides with new formatting tools.

                
Google has updated its productivity suite today and in case you’ve never considered Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, you should do so for the very simple fact that they are free to use on any Android device. Of course, they do not offer the powerful features found in Microsoft Office, but what makes Google products interesting are their simplicity of use and collaborative features.

In this update, Google added the following features:

Google Docs: Easily format tables, images and drawings with new toolbar items.

Google Sheets: Easily format images and shapes with new toolbar items.

Google Slides: Easily format images and shapes with new toolbar items. 

These features are already available in the Android version of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but if you’re a Google user, you will find these new formatting features useful.

Monday, July 3, 2017

Launcher 10 brings Windows Mobile live tiles to Android and it looks great.


Android is the most customizable mobile OS on this planet and you’ve probably read that several times and as such the Google Play Store offers a wide choice of launchers for you to use if you do not like your device’s default one. I currently use Microsoft’s Arrow Launcher, which is to me the smartest launcher available on Android as it learns from my daily usage and habits to push up the apps I use most to the top for quick and easy access. This post, however, is about another launcher that Windows Mobile fans will very likely appreciate for its similarity to Windows Mobile live tile screen. Actually, it brings the Windows Live tile experience to Android.

It’s name is Launcher 10 and is available free in the store with in-app purchases. This launcher brings Windows live tiles to Android making it look like a Windows Mobile device. The live tiles will show notification for the calendar, contacts, clock etc. Tile badges will show number of missed calls, unread messages etc. And like Windows, swiping from the right will reveal the all apps list, while pinned apps can be resized. Additionally, users can choose the tiles color, transparency, tap and hold to reposition them, and unlike Windows Mobile, Launcher 10 supports landscape mode. The tiles will rearrange perfectly to fit as you rotate your device. 

If you are a previous Windows Mobile user or fan or would just like to experience live tiles on your Android device, Launcher 10 is definitely worth a look. To help you make up your mind, check out the change log for the latest update:

1. Most widgets should now fill the full size of the tile if you have turned off the tile background behind widgets option.

2. Tile labels and live tile text should now scale to fit the tiles. Now if you change the number of tile columns, the text will scale to ensure a consistent look.

3. Added a preference for tile label text size so you can customize the size of the tile labels.

4. Added a preference for app list size to allow for custom sizing of the all apps list (text and icons).

Launcher 10 can be downloaded in Google Play Store.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Google Chrome loads pages faster and consumes less memory.

Google Chrome is by far the most popular mobile browser and in the desktop world too. I have often tried to move away from it adn give browsers like Opera, Firefox a try, but did not last long. Opera is the browser that I have the most because of its data saving feature, the first browser on the market with such a feature. Now that Chrome also let me save some money and data, that relegated Opera to the background, only being used to test new updates. Speaking of update, Chrome was updated to version 59.

Chrome 59 will now load pages faster for a better browsing experience and consume less memory thanks to an updated JavaScript engine. There is also the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Check out the update in Google Play Store and happy browsing.    

Telegram on Android now supports 10000 members super groups and bot payments.

Telegram, the messaging app for Android, has been updated today. Before this update, the app supported the creation of groups of up to 5000 members, which is a lot. In this update, users will be able to add up to 10000 members in super groups. Isn’t that insane? Not sure you have that amount of friends or maybe you use Telegram for professional reasons, but managing and moderating such a big group is no easy task. That’s why Telegram added granular rights for the super group admins and they will able to temporarily ban misbehaving members among other things.

The update also adds an event log that records all “service actions taken by members and admins in the last 48 hours – with search and filters.” Admins will also be able to search for specific users among groups. 

Telegram added Android Pay support for bot payments if you use this service. Finally, the app will now show photos and videos together when sharing them.

If there’s something for you in this update, get it in Google Play Store.