Google made a huge splash this year in their annual Google I/O with an awesome announcement regarding their Photos app. Although I was primarily interested in the details surrounding Android M, my ears instantly perked up when Google announced that their Photos app will now offer free, unlimited, high-quality storage.
Mobile service providers have an uncomfortably strong grip on the Android platform as a whole. For instance, all four U.S. versions of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge play their carrier's obnoxious jingle every time they boot up. You don't get any say in the matter—if you buy your phone from one of the big 4, you're a walking audible billboard.
Thanks to leaks and hard working developers, rooting tools for brand new Android devices are usually available right around the time of the smartphone's release, if not earlier. The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are no exception.
We all have those moments where we're bored or lonely, and in those times, just having anyone to talk to would be awesome. But maybe your friends are all busy, or everyone you know is at work and nobody's responding to your text messages.
Google's Android TV-powered set-top box normally sells for about $100, but for the next 4 days, the Nexus Player can be purchased for roughly half that price when you consider credits.
Chances are your hearing isn't the same as the person next to you. Personally, I have moderate hearing loss, so I tend to turn the volume nob towards the loud side. For others, it may be that one ear is slightly better or worse than the other, not only in perceiving volume, but tone as well. Considering this, is it possible for smartphone manufacturers to ensure the best sound quality on their devices?
Snapchat developers insist that the app stay true to what its always been: a service for snapping and sharing self-destructing images. This belief is further hit home with their strict 31-character text limit, which some people refuse to abide by. Namely, Snapchatter Shayne Skellett.
As your Galaxy S6 lies on your desk while you're hard at work, it's difficult to resist from periodically pressing the wake/lock button to check the weather or glance over any notifications you may have on your lock screen. While pressing the hard key is easy enough, there's an even easier method where you simply hover your hand over the device to wake the screen.
Aside from the fact that it was the only game available on my cell phone at the time, I was really good at Snake. I still occasionally play it on my smartphone, but I've never been able to duplicate the same level of achievement as I once did.
Upon getting the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge here at the office, there are countless things we wanted to do before actually diving in and using the device. One of those things is removing all of the unnecessary pre-installed applications we never asked for.
With 16 megapixels and optical image stabilization technology, it's safe to say that the Samsung Galaxy S6 is well-equipped to take badass pictures. Packed with additional camera modes, like Panorama, Selective focus, and Virtual shot, there's always a way to capture an image as intended.
Most smartphone games are clichéd and mundane, but every now and then a mobile game will appear with a new concept or idea that sets it apart from all the rest. While other developers continue to regurgitate the same old "winning" formulas, developer Sebastian Goszyla is changing how we play.
Deep down at the core of Android lies the system kernel, which serves as a bridge between software and hardware. Custom kernels can be installed in place of the stock offering, and these are generally optimized for better performance or increased battery efficiency.
Even though my high school days are long behind me, I still find myself waking up in a cold sweat worrying about what my GPA is and what college I'm going to be able to get into. During those days I had to rely on coming up with my own equations to figure out my GPA between grading periods—including AP and honors course, as well as weights for pluses and minuses—but now there are smartphones to do all that thinking for me.
Google recently rolled out a new Smart Lock option labeled "On-body detection" for Android Lollipop via an update to Google Play Services. As I'm sure you can gather from the name, this new function keeps your phone or tablet unlocked using the built-in accelerometer to determine whether or not your device is being carried on your body, allowing you to set it down and walk away carefree knowing that's it's locked again.
The biggest pet peeve of many Google Now users has always been the fact that you can't toggle basic system functions with voice commands. In fact, this was such an annoyance that folks even went so far as to apply root mods to get the functionality.
The Nexus Player is one of the most robust set-top streaming devices on the market. This is mainly due to the fact that the base software it runs is a direct fork of Android, which is a very powerful operating system itself.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2015: The root process has changed for the Nexus Player now that the device is running Android 6.0 Marhsmallow. I've updated this article with detailed instructions on the new root process, but the video below still depicts the old process for Android Lollipop.
As one of the most frequently used and popular applications available, Facebook is now attempting to be a little more considerate for those Android users that don't have a bleeding-edge device or fast data connections.
Purchasing an actual book from a brick-and-mortar store is becoming increasingly less common for people to do, but it hasn't completely gone out of style just yet. There's something about entering a bookstore and viewing all the potential great stories and epic tales just sitting on the shelves, waiting to be discovered.
In a long-awaited move, the popular messaging platform WhatsApp has finally made its official web debut. Desktop and laptop owners will be happy to know that they can now message their favorite contacts directly from their computers, without the need to install additional apps.
Being fixated on all of the great additions to Android 5.0 Lollipop, it can be a little difficult to take notice in the features that went missing. For instance, lock screen widgets. It's speculated that the lack of practical use for lock screen widgets and the implementation of the revamped Lollipop lock screen may have lead to their departure, but some of us want them back!
NFC, or near-field communications, is a hardware feature that has been built into most Android phones for the last four years. It's essentially a low-power data connection that can be used to initiate a quick command by bringing your device within range of a compatible receiver, be it tap-and-pay with Google Wallet, a file transfer via Android Beam, or a Tasker profile triggered by a specific NFC tag.
Samsung's Gear VR headset is a thing of beauty; unfortunately, it only works with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. That's where ImmersiON-VRelia's Head-Mounted Displays come in to play. With four different HMD models, we got a hands-on look at "The Go," which is not only affordable (at $125), but also compatible with the majority of Android and iOS devices.
Sometimes it's not the look of a product that makes it unique, but the thought that went into it. That's what struck me about TobyRich's SmartPlane—it isn't the most elegant toy on the market, but its simplicity and function make it a winner.
Sitting at home alone on Friday night, I'm often in the mood to watch something more recent than the offerings on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. And since the demise of video rental stores, that leaves me with browsing through the Redbox catalogue, then strolling down to the nearest 7-Eleven to pick up my movie.
Android has plenty of features that provide multitasking support, which are especially useful on smartphones with larger screens. One such feature that I loved on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was the popup browser, which brought up a floating window whenever I opened a link inside of third-party apps like Facebook and Twitter.
Google's original messaging service got a nice version bump today. Hangouts now sports stickers, video chat filters, an updated Material Design interface, and a few new features that should make the service a little more fun and easy to use.
Android is all about customization: "Be together. Not the same," as Google's latest ads for the platform put it. Changing your device's boot animation, for instance, is one of the many great ways you can add a touch of personal flair.
Before you head to class, work, or sleep, you're probably doing the same thing over and over again—toggling off system settings like Wi-Fi, sound, data, or brightness, depending on the circumstances. Schedules and routines can help increase efficiency, so while you abide to a particular schedule, so should your Android.
As competition for Spotify and Pandora, Samsung released Milk Music earlier in 2014, a free music streaming service for their Android devices. While Milk was unique to Galaxy owners only, it was popular enough that we showed you ways to get it on non-Galaxy devices as well.
Google has already started to roll out the over-the-air update of Android 5.0 Lollipop to older Nexus series phones and tablets, but chances are it will take a long time for the OTA to hit your device.
Apple Pay is ready for use at over 220,000 outlets across the United States. By using your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, all you have to do is point your device at any NFC-enabled point-of-sale system compatible with Apple Pay, press your fingerprint on the home button, and voilà—you've just paid for something with your card. As a matter of fact, the store doesn't even need to have Apple Pay compatibility to work with your phone. If their machines have NFC-technology, they'll recognize your device (unl...
The first thing most of us noticed after Apple announced plans for its wearable—the Apple Watch—was the importance and focus they placed on its interface. Starkly different from their Android Wear counterparts, the Apple Watch's interface has applications scattered around the screen and relies on the device's dial to zoom in and out.
Whether you're in a movie theater, driving, or just want to temporarily unplug from the grid, you need to ignore or completely silence your phone. You'll still receive calls and texts during this time, but in a world where people expect instant gratification, you'll end up looking like a jerk who doesn't answer back.
With the Power key located on the back of the device, LG included a convenient "double-tap to sleep" function in their G2 and G3 devices. The function allows users to simply double-tap the display to put their device to sleep instead of picking it up and pressing the Power key.
As smartphones become increasingly integral parts of our lives, so does data throttling. Personally, I try to save data any way that I can, so to stave off unnecessary usage, I use the GoogleOfflineVoice to limit the amount of data consumed by voice typing.
Accumulating approximately one million downloads on the Google Play Store in less than 72 hours from its initial release, TouchPal instantly became a favorite among Android users.
Contrary to what you may think, clearing or swiping away apps in the Recent Apps view on your Android device does not necessarily stop app activity or running tasks—and these running processes can actually be eating away at your battery life. Depending on the app or process, it may only be a small percentage, but every little bit helps these days.
Creating interesting photographs used to be more fun, before we all collectively decided that color filters and rotations qualified as "unique" smartphone pics. Scrolling through my Instagram feed only confirms that these supposedly special, filter-laden photos are actually the norm now.
