Waze for Android introduces Waze Places.

Version 3.9 of Waze was published today and it introduces a new feature called Places. The largest community-based traffic and navigation app now gets even more social with the ability to make information about local places available for everyone. Members of the community can now share such info as the availability of parking lot or drive-thru. The addition of photos is also supported to add more details to the place being shared. 

Who hasn't ever been in the situation of not remembering where the car was parked? That changes with Waze which will automatically save the location where you parked your car. And there's more. Waze will even learn where to find parking and how much time to account. 

The update also includes the usual bug fixes and the search auto complete is now a worldwide feature. Waze is a multiple platform app available on Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone. Google has recently announced that they are stopping development of the app for Windows Phone.

Waze is available free in Google Play store.

TuneIn Radio updated with multiple bug fixes and improvements.

TuneIn Radio has around 50 million downloads in the Play store, so if you do not have it in your app list then head over to the store now as TuneIn Radio brings the world's largest collection of radio stations to your Android device, that's over 100,000 stations from around the world . Note that the app is multi-platform, therefore available on Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, Windows etc. and also has a social touch in that you can share what you're listening with your followers.

TuneIn Radio has been updated with bugs fixes and improvements as listed below:

• Fixes a bug with Intel devices.
• Multiple bug fixes and improvements across the app to improve user experience.
• Improvements to social push notifications. See what friends are saying when they echo content.
• We are removing the explore feature from the menu and integrating that functionality elsewhere in the app.

TuneIn Radio is available free in Google Play Store.

Official F1 App updated with race-by-race purchase of premium features and more.

You will very likely have this app installed on your Android device if you're a big fan of Formula 1, especially now that the competition excitement is at its peak with Hamilton having finally claimed the lead last week over team mate Nico Rosberg in Singapore.
 
The Official F1 app for Android is a definite source that brings exclusive content such as team radio transmissions, DRS usage indicator, live tyre information and more. Besides live data, you also have access to before and after race stories and session commentary from Formula1.com.
 
To make the experience even more exciting, the app has been updated today with the following features:

• Event Store update to allow you to purchase Premium features race-by-race.
• App translated to Russian and Japanese.
• New permissions that allow 'at event' notifications for those attending a race.

The Official F1 App is available free for download in Google Play and includes in-app purchase.

See you in Japan.
 

Google Maps Navigation Beta available for most of Africa and Mauritius.

It's been a while since my last post. I had an exciting time working on and completing some projects that I cannot write about here. Now that those are behind me, I'm glad to be back and share with you the readers some great news about Android. The latest is about a new offering from Google.

Yesterday, Google announced the availability of their Navigation service in many African countries including Mauritius. The service is still in beta and offers turn-by-turn navigation. Google is not the first to offer similar service in Mauritius, the first being Waze, a community based traffic and navigation app, which has since been acquired by Google. I spent a few minutes with the app today and I recommend you treat it as a beta. However, for visitors, if you plan on using it, be careful as I found that some directions were inaccurate. I hope Google fixes that with the loads of information gathered by Waze.

How do I get Navigation Beta?
There is no app to download. Google Maps app is already installed on your Android phone. Activate your data connection and launch Maps and accept the use-with-caution note and you are good to go. It is that simple. Bear in mind though that Google Maps Navigation is a beta and all precautions should be taken while driving.

Source: Google

YouTube Gets autocorrection of search mispellings.

In an update posted today in Google Play store, YouTube received two new features and the same amount of fixes. The first new feature as listed in the store is the ability for YouTube to autocorrect search misspellings. The second feature  is a video quality selector to choose between different resolutions; very useful when you have a slow connection.

On the fixes front, the voice search issue is now resolved. Finally, YouTube gets the "many other bug fixes and improvements" treatment.

Source: Google Play

Outlook.com for Android gets full server search and offline access.

Microsoft has updated its Outlook.com email service for Android that lets users make server side search on their devices when connected. Before the update, searching emails was limited to what was synced to the phone or tablet. However, if you worry about such a feature taking its toll on your data plan, Microsoft also added unlimited sync of emails for full offline access. Another useful feature is the ability to use Outlook.com aliases to send your emails. An excellent addition for those who use more than one Outlook.com email address.

The other features include the addition of eight colors for the customization of the app interface; the ability to set and manage vacation replies. Finally, Outlook.com gets support for traditional Chinese language.

Microsoft's Outlook.com app and service for Android is available free in Google Play Store.

Skype 5.0 now connects to your Android address book.

Skype



Unsurprisingly, the Skype looks more and more like a Windows Phone app and this is in line with Microsoft strategy in regards to its other apps that the software giant has ported to Android. Just take a look at OneDrive and Outlook apps to see what I mean.

Today, Microsoft published an update to Skype for Android that allow users to connect Skype to their address book. The result of this integration is once you verify your phone number when prompted by the app, friends in your address book will show up in your Skype contacts making it so much easier to find friends with Skype accounts. This is not limited to phone numbers as Skype will also check your friends with Microsoft accounts, these are Hotmail/Outlook.com/Live account, and suggest you connect to them.

On the privacy side of things, phone numbers are not made public. If you still worry about, say your phone number being accidentally made public, it is possible to deactivate this feature so you cannot be found by your phone number. Unless you're paranoid, I don't see any reason to disable this feature.

This update brings Skype for Android to version 5.0. However, the change log states that the connect to address book feature will be deployed "in the coming weeks". Until then, download or upgrade Skype in Google Play store.
 

TripAdvisor for Android gets offline support for maps and reviews.

In the digital age, reading travelers' reviews before scheduling your vacation is made possible by such apps like TripAdvisor. This helps not only potential customers choose the best travel and hotel experience, but also let hotels or any hospitality business to easily reach out to the billions of people on the get set to go on vacation. TripAdvisor can also make these businesses freak out when someone's vacation goes awry. This is understandable when you consider that the app has more than 50 millions downloads on the Play store alone. TripAdvisor is a multi-platform app, so you can find it on Apple's iOS and Microsoft Windows Phone. The app has been updated today.

Travelers will be happy with this update that brings offline support. They will be able to download maps before they leave home, thus save on data charges and not having to wait until they get home to share their vacation experience with the world. There's more though. The update also allows users to download reviews for free; Handy while you travel. Make sure you update the TripAdvisor app before you leave home as this update also lets you make restaurants tables reservations worldwide.

Check out the change log:

• Offline support
• Download maps, reviews, and your saves for over 300 cities worldwide and take them with you while you travel. All for free!
• Redesigned flights experience with a clean and intuitive presentation, leg by leg shopping and improved filtering.
• Now you can find and reserve tables at thousands of restaurants worldwide.

Source: Google Play Store

LokLok - You're going to love this Android app.

The Play store is home to millions of apps, but there are some apps which are so cute you just want to share with the Android community. It would be useless to keep it to yourself anyway since we live in a connected world. LokLok is one of these apps. LokLok just let you connect with your friends via your lock screen. Imagine you want to remind your friend to bring a bottle of red wine to a party you're both attending. There are a couple of scenarii that applies in this situation.

You can send a sms or email to your friend or create a reminder in your calendar and add your friend. Basically there are quite a few solutions that are available to you on your Android device. The usual stuff. How about changing that.

LokLok has been design to offer you an new way to leave a note, a drawing and photos on your friends lock screen. All that is requires is that you both install LokLok which is currently in beta and therefore is free for tablets and phones. It is for the time being an Android exclusive. After you've both installed the app, you start by drawing something on your lock screen. You double tap the screen to do that. Once done, whatever you've drawn or written will appear your fiends lock screen like magic. Chances are that your friend checks his phone several times a day. So once he unlocks his Android device, he/she will see your reminder. How about that?

Check out the two videos below to see how it works and how to connect your lock screens.





After watching these videos, head over to Google Play store to download LokLok. Enjoy!
 

Yammer speaks 11 additional languages and does on-the-fly translation.

Yammer, the enterprise social network, was acquired two years ago by Microsoft for $1.2 billion when Steve Ballmer was then the Software giant CEO. "The acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love," said Steve Ballmer. Today Yammer is integrated into SharePoint and Office 365. It is also a multi-platform app.

The Android version of Yammer received an update today that adds 11 languages to it. The available languages are: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dutch, French (France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian and Spanish. In addition, Yammer also gets the ability to do on-the-fly translation.

Finally, there is the usual bug fixes. I like the wording used to describe the bug fixes which is very unlike the traditional "Bug fixes" we see in every app update. It reads: "Bugs have been terminated. They will not be back." Like :-)

Source: Google Play Store