Pocket Casts for Android gets some layout issues and auto cleanup bug fixed.

My daily commutes to and from work would be stressful without my daily intake of podcasts and that is not because of the bad traffic or that the bus experience is awful. Neither of that. The issue is that they broadcast local radio to make the travelers experience comfy. That’s not the case for me as local radios are probably the worst listening experience on this island. Podcasts help me keep my sanity by blocking these stressful radio waves from reaching my brain. Enter Pocket Casts, my all-time favorite podcast app for Android. 

Pocket Casts is a cross-platform podcast app that is very popular on Android. I’m not saying that the app is perfect to the point of being bug free. Today’s update does not introduce anything new, but some fixes instead and raises the app version to 6.4.7.

Here’s what are the fixes in this release:

·       Fixed some layout issues for Chrome OS and Android when using split screen. Our app should now look more graceful (if that’s even possible) when resized to your weird and wonderful tastes.

·       Fixed a bug with auto cleanup where in some cases it wouldn’t delete played files. Cheeky little bugger.

·       Chromecast updates which should fix some issues people have reported.

I’ve said time and again in each of my posts about Pocket Casts that it offers the best podcast experience on mobile devices. I currently use it on Android and Windows Mobile (Yeah, I know what you’re thinking about the latter). Pocket Casts is not free and costs $3.99, but is well worth the money. Check it out in Google Play Store.

SofaScore now remembers previously defined filters and more in Android update.

Two weeks ago, SofaScore updated its Android app with new features that gave soccer fans the ability to track players transfer across many leagues in the world, as well as a filter list to easily retrieve what they're looking for. Today, SofaScore published another update that improves on these features.

From now on, the app will remember “previously defined filters”. Basically, SofaScore will remember your last filter. Unfortunately, the app cannot save more than one filter.

SofaScore also improved the league filter, making it easier to bring up a list of leagues in a particular country. Say you want to retrieve the leagues list for England, simply type ‘England’ in the ‘League’ field and the app will look-up and list all of England’s soccer leagues. This is also a quick and easy way to filter transfers by league.

Finally, SofaScore will list at the top the countries where TV broadcast are available.

Check out SofaScore version 5.50.0 in Google Play Store.

Microsoft Outlook for Android updated with a bunch of calendar event-related features.

Since the beginning of the new year, Microsoft has been issuing some small but useful updates for Outlook on Android, and today, the company published the second update of the year with another useful set of calendar features. The first update added spam control options.

From now on, users will be able to add a note when they respond to an event. The note is optional, and should users want to add one, the feature is there now. Microsoft also added the ability to respond to events without notifying the organizer. By default, the app will notify the event organizer about your RSVP choice. Now, there’s a toggle that you can turn off to prevent an email from going out to the organizer.

Furthermore, it is also now possible to set events in the calendar as free or busy and private. Events marked as private will be visible to the calendar owner even if the calendar is shared.

That’s it for this week’s update. Make sure you check Google Play Store on your Android device to update Microsoft Outlook.

SofaScore for Android updated with latest soccer players transfer data.

SofaScore, my favorite sports app, has been updated. The first update for the year 2018 has for main feature information about players transfers. This new option can be found under the Leagues tab, literally. And that’s quite an extensive list that covers every football league worldwide. Fortunately, SofaScore built-in a good filtering tool.

Tapping ‘Players Transfers’ reveals a long list of transfers with such data as the transfer amount, the date the transfer occurred and, obviously, the teams involved in the transfer. The ‘Player Value’ tab lists the players by value. While the ‘Transfer Fee’ tab lists the transfers from the most expensive to least. You can tap each entry in the list for more details about the player and choose to receive notifications for this player. Finally, the last tab filters the transfers by date. Like I said, the transfer feature covers pretty much every league.

SofaScore makes it even easier to filter that extensive list of transfers. Simply tap ‘Filter list’ to do a manual filter by nationality, league, player position, and age. Start typing and the app will pull up the matching leagues and nationality for you. A quick and easy way to find what you’re looking for.

Here are the other items in the changelog:

·       Squads are now available for teams in Handball (ex. EHF Euro 2018)

·       “Forum” is replaced by “SofaScore News” in navigation drawer. Get an insight in SofaScore project from a slightly different perspective.

Make sure you download/update SofaScore in Google Play Store to get all the info you want on your favorite sport.

Amazon Shopping for Android makes it easier to find products that ship internationally and introduces Amazon Spark in the U.S.

My credit card took quite a beating during the holidays season and now that Amazon has updated its Android app with ‘International Shopping’, it’s going to be hard for me to keep that credit card in my wallet. In fact, ‘International Shopping’ is nothing new. Amazon just made it easier for me and users internationally quickly find products that ship to their countries. Upon installing the update, the app will let you switch to the ‘International Shopping’ right from the app main screen. If you do not, it will eventually go away. But you can go into the Amazon Shopping app settings and set it there. After doing so, Amazon Shopping will list only the products that Amazon can shop internationally, to your country specifically.

Amazon also added a new feature called Amazon Spark for the U.S. market. The company says Spark will let users “discover and shop stories, ideas, and more from people who share your interests.” This feature can be found in Menu, the three stacked horizontal bars at the top left, programs and features.

That’s all in this update which you can download in Google Play Store.

Microsoft Edge browser for Android gets adaptive icons support & becomes a share target.

Microsoft has updated its Edge browser for Android today, bringing along some minor but helpful new features. The changelog mentions a new reading mode experience, but I have not seen any change so far. The two other features in the list are more interesting though.

Share links and text from other apps to Microsoft Edge.

From now on, Edge will appear as a sharing option throughout Android. Say you want to open an article in a news app in Edge browser, simply tap the share icon and you will find Edge listed among the various options. Additionally, if you share text, this will result into a search within Edge.

Support for Android 8 (“Oreo”) adaptive icons.

App icons on our devices come in various forms and sizes – some are round, square or a mix of both. You will agree that’s inconsistent across the device. That is why Google came up with adaptive icons. No matter which device you use, the icon will adjust to the one your device uses. And if you use a different launcher that uses, say, a squircle, then the entire device will adjust to make all other apps use the same shape.

That’s it for this update which you can download in Google Play Store.

Finally, Microsoft Outlook for Android lets you easily mark messages as spam and empty spam folder with one tap.

Microsoft Outlook for Android got updated today and this time it’s not just the usual weekly updates which also includes the usual performance improvements and bug fixes. This time, Microsoft added a new feature that I find to be very useful. Actually, it’s two. Kind-of.

And it was about time. Finally, the Outlook app gets a ‘Move to spam’ option in the app menu. Before this update, users only had the ‘Move to folder’ option to move emails they considered spam to the spam folder. Now, all they need to do is select one or more messages in their Inbox and tap the new ‘Move to spam’ to get the job done. And there’s more.

Microsoft also made it easier for users to empty the Spam folder with one tap. As can be seen in the screenshot above, Microsoft added an ‘Empty Spam’ button at the top-right of the app. I check my Spam folder every day and it was a pain to clear it manually, which required a series of steps. That’s history now. That said, it was about time for Microsoft to add such a simple feature to Outlook.

Download the update in Google Play Store.

Microsoft Launcher updated to version 4.5 with support for corporate data viewing and more.

Android is indisputably the most customizable mobile OS on the market, giving users the ability to build upon that openness to personalize their devices. All this is naturally made possible by developers and Microsoft is one among many who provides tools like Microsoft Launcher for users to make their Android experience kind-of unique. While the Google Store is full of well-positioned launchers that offers a ton of customization features, Microsoft wants to differentiate itself with the simplicity of its Launcher.

Today, Microsoft has updated the app to version 4.5 with the following features:

·       Let meeting attendees know you’re running late from the calendar card.

·       Employees whose enterprises leverage Microsoft Intune’s data protection policies can now use the Microsoft Launcher for viewing corporate data.

·       Adjust icon size in the app drawer, dock and home screen.

·       Set wallpapers for home and lock screen (7.0+)

·       Add blank pages in vertical mode.

·       Recurring reminders.

·       Oreo shortcuts creation.

If you’re looking for a nice and simple launcher for your Android device, check out Microsoft Launcher in Google Play Store.

OneNote for Android gets Office Lens integration, phone number sign-in.

Hey OneNote users, Microsoft has a treat of an update for you today- kind of. The changelog lists four new features, so let’s take a look at each of them. Well, actually, let’s get item #4, which is the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, out of the way. Let’s dive in the new features.

OneNote for Android now integrates with Microsoft Office Lens, a scanning app that lets users scan, crop and rotate photos, documents, whiteboards, and business-cards. I use Office Lens on all my devices and this feature is very welcome on Android. However, I could not get it to work after installing the update. OneNote’s camera does not give me any option to switch between documents scanning or whiteboards. Maybe I’m missing something here, but I’ll keep searching this and update this post later after I’ve figured it all out.

The second feature lets users create notes with a press and hold on the OneNote icon. This feature has been baked into Android Nougat and higher. The press and hold actually lets users record an audio, insert a photo, create a to-do list and, obviously, create a simple note. This feature is actually working, unlike the Office Lens integration.

The third item allows users to sign in to OneNote with a phone number. Again, I could not find anything in the app settings or anywhere else within the app to get this working.

 All these new features sound nice, but, where are they? I’ll try to reach out to the OneNote team to figure it all out. The update is available for download in Google Play Store already.

Official F1 Android app for Android updated with Season 2018 calendar.

In 82 days, in Melbourne, about 24 of the world’s best drivers will revved up their powerful engines for the first time this year to claim the F1 teams and drivers’ championship. Lewis Hamilton, the current world champion will try to win his fifth.

Last year, at the same period, the F1 app for Android was updated with a new design that makes navigating the app and finding information about races, drivers and other F1-related info easier, thanks to the addition of tabs and the fitting of more data on the screen.

This year, the official app has been updated with the 2018 race calendar which starts on the 25th of March in Melbourne. That is 82 days from today. That is the only change mentioned in the changelog.

Fans can get the Official F1 App for Android for free in Google Play Store.

Telegram 4.7 for Android now supports multiple accounts and in-line replies.

Telegram is starting the year with an update for Android that bumps the app to version 4.7, which let users add up to three accounts with different phone numbers. Users can quickly switch between them from the side menu. Notifications, however, won’t come separately and that no matter which account is the default.

Here’s the changelog:

·       Quickly switch between different Telegram accounts if you use multiple phone numbers.

·       Swipe left on any message to reply to it.

The second feature in the changelog is a quick reply feature that works with a left swipe on a specific message to start a reply.

The latest version is available in Google Play Store.