As they've done before, Amazon's App Store is having a blowout on some fantastic Android apps this weekend. The Everything (App) Store is offering over $135 worth of apps for zero dollars—27 apps, entirely free. Here's the best of the temporary freebies:
Considering how Android competes with Microsoft’s business in a lot of painful ways, it’s a wonder that the software giant’s products dovetail quite nicely with Android OS. There are a lot of Microsoft apps for Android out there, and most of them seem to be engineered for seamless integration. One of those apps, a free app at that, is Microsoft Remote Desktop which just recently received an update.
The update seems to be targeted at general bug fixes for proxy issues, as well as fixing a very annoying app crashing problem. But the star of this recent update is the incorporation of Android 4.4 KitKat’s immersive mode – which allows for the remote devices to utilize the bigger screen size of the desktop it is connecting to. Sadly, this part of the update seems to work only with tablets.
In a way, that is logical since tablets have way more screen real estate. That said, if you have used Microsoft Remote Desktop before, you will understand that this is a big deal for people trying to get the most productivity out of a remote connection app.
The said app is a free download via the Google Play Store, so you can try it if you haven’t yet. The Microsoft Remote Desktop app is only compatible to laptops and PCs running Windows 8 Pro or higher, Windows 7 Pro or higher, Windows Vista Business or higher, and Windows XP Pro or higher.
SOURCE: Google Play Store
Vine is one of the coolest and most efficient video apps you could have on your Android phone, and it was a pity that you couldn’t import existing videos to upload. Well, we have good news – that feature has been unlocked in this new update of the popular video sharing app.
In this new update, a new button is added to your camera UI on the left for you to access internal storage and use videos you have already captured and stored on your device. The Vine app now allows you to preview any of these videos – without limit to length – and the trim it down to the required 6 seconds or less and then upload it out into the intarwebs.
This of course will be a gateway to a lot of “mix and match” vines that would start appearing on Vine because of this feature. Apart from that, there are small interface tweaks that should make the app that much better – an “undo” feature on your last recording, brighter video recording in low light environments, and the ability to duplicate a clip.
These updates just add positives to the already popular Vine app – it just keeps improving itself. The updates are not groundbreaking, but they make the app that much more convenient. Get the app at the source link right now.
SOURCE: Google Play Store
The problem with managing apps on your Android Wear wearable device is that – with such a small screen – app management was never in the mind of the UI designers. That is why when you install an app to your wearable, you don’t usually get a notification when the installation is done, you just have to wait until the app appears on your start menu list. Wear Apps Tracker changes all of that.
The app is actually a small wonder if you are one of those who are utilizing their new Android wearable device and not having an iota of app management capability on it. The Wear Apps Tracker app notifies you via your Android Wear device stream that an app has successfully installed. In fact, the app gives you relevant notifications every time you install, uninstall or update an app.
Recently, the app just got updated with various UI fixes that make the app a whole lot better. Firstly, the app now takes towards the “material design” that should be very dominant in Google’s new OS that will be launching soon – Android L. Also, the app now allows users to manage app setting just by tapping on an area in the settings screen.
If you feel like you’re not getting the most out of your Android Wear device, then you might want to get this app from the Google Play Store, it’s a free download. It might just make your Android Wear experience a whole lot better.
SOURCE: Google Play Store
So right up front, you have to take this picture with a grain of salt. One look at the comments section at the source link shows how easy it is to Photoshop images like these. And when we’re starving for data on what is supposedly Motorola’s effort on a new Nexus phone, anything can be real. And so this image claims to be the device they name-coded “Shamu”, also known as “Free Willy” and “Whale Wars.”
If we take the image to be true, then this is one massive phone, and we’re afraid that Motorola – and by extension Google – might miss the mark, IF this is indeed the new Nexus 6 phone. The phone is pictured beside an LG G3, which is all of 5.5 inches in itself already. This “Shamu” phone easily beats 5.5 inches from the way this image looks.
If you’re thinking that this back plate looks familiar, that’s because it is. It looks like the back of the new Moto X – same design language all over. In fact it is very easy to Photoshop the back of a Moto X with this material and conveniently place the scotch tape and “Shamu” label there. You know how it goes.
So until we get something more solid than this, I suggest we defer our opinions until then. We just have to accept that there is very little in the form of good images showing/leaking Motorola's Nexus 6 phone out there. What do you think about this image?
VIA: Droid Life
We recently wrote about the ARChon custom runtime that allows for running Android apps on any Chrome browser. And then we found this great new tool, the Chrome APK Packager that allows you to pull any app on your phone, bundle its APK for running on ARChon. The good news is that this tool is now more available to Android users as has been released now over the Google Play Store.
The ARChon custom runtime is essentially a hack of Google’s App Runtime for Chrome (ARC), which allows certain apps to be loaded and run via the Chrome browser. The problem was that ARC was selective about which apps it chose to run. But the idea of running apps on your Chrome browser is a cool and novel one that a developer named “Vladimir” made sure that all and any apps will run on the browser, also regardless of which OS you are running Chrome on – whether Windows, Mac, or Linux.
But the ARChon hack only accepts apps as Chrome extensions and not the normal APK bundle we are used to installing in our devices. That is where the Chrome APK Packager comes to help us – as it can pull the APK straight from any app on your device and convert it so that it is usable by ARChon, and therefore you are able to run it on your Chrome browser.
The app is a free download right now via the Google Play Store, so if you feel like exploring this tweak, go right ahead. It looks like there have been some UI changes to the small app as well. Please tell us about it if you have time to check this app out.
SOURCE: Google Play Store
Listen, we understand, starting down the path of device hacking, customization and development can be daunting. The experienced guys at time can seem like jerks. However, most of the time, its not that they want to be jerks, its that they know that the journey to Android customization enlightenment is filled with trials and tribulations that help you learn and become an expert yourself. It’s almost more about the journey than the destination.
In this episode of XDA TV, Producer and XDA Recognized Contributor rirozizo gives you some basic tips and tricks on how to be a good custom ROM or Kernel users. Or most generally how to be a good XDA user. It gives you some basic edicate rules for communicating with developers on the XDA forums. So, if you don’t want to be called an annoying noob, check out this video.
Be sure to check out other great XDA TV Videos
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