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Motorola Camera update turns Android Wear into shutter

If you have a Motorola Droid, Moto X or Moto X (2nd gen) smartphone and you love taking pictures (okay fine, specifically selfies), then you will enjoy the newest update for the Motorola Camera app. Aside from the usual bug fixes and improvements, it also has a new feature that will help you take better pictures. Oh but did we mention you need to have a smartwatch, particularly one that runs on Android Wear, to be able to enjoy the update?



Well if you meet all the criteria we mentioned above (Motorola smartphone owner, picture addict, Android Wear owner), you will now be able to use your smartwatch as a remote shutter when you use the Motorola Camera app to take pictures if you're far away. Instead of using a timer, which can sometimes be more tricky and can cause panic as the countdown nears zero, you can just sync your Android Wear, probably the Moto 360 if you're a Motorola fanboy, and then tap on the wearable when you're ready to take your picture.


The Motorola Camera app however only works with the Motorola devices we mentioned above. Aside from this new feature, it has previously had nifty tricks up its sleeves, like gesture controls, tapping anywhere on the screen to take photos (and even while you're recording a video), pressing down on the screen to take fast, continuous pictures, as well as the usual nice stuff from camera apps like panorama shots, slow-motion videos, etc.


The update also has some necessary but not obvious bug fixes that are always welcome even if we don't really see it or feel it at all. If you haven't yet been using the app, you can download the Motorola Camera app from the Google Play Store.





Autodesk releases new Sketchbook app for Android

Autodesk has launched yet another Sketchbook app. This is different from the Sketchbook Pro released three years ago but it uses the same paint engine as the desktop version.



SketchBook for Android offers pencils and brushes that are as fluid and sophisticated. Its interface is much easier-to-use but the basic drawing functions are more efficient than ever even up to the smallest details. It’s a free app but users will have to choose a plan. There are three membership levels being offered depending on your needs. Current members even those on different platforms can use their accounts to unlock advance features like Layer Editor and Symmetry Tools automatically. For the real pros, you can also spend another $3.99 to get the Advanced Pro Tools and enjoy more than 100 preset brushes that includes pencils, pens, markers, Synthetic and Smudge brushes.


The Advance Pro Tools also offers full layer controls like multiple layer transform, layer grouping, and layer blending modes. A Full Copic Color Library is also included. For improved precision, you can use the Magic Wand, Lasso, or Marquee tools.


SketchBook app offers a full screen canvas as your workspace. User interface is neat and organized with the tools placed in the right areas. You can use brushes with radius, rotation, and opacity you want with simple customization. For those who want to edit the finest details, you can do so by zooming the image up to 2500%.


There are more than 10 preset brushes which include markers, pens, and pencils that offer a natural feel when drawing. For avid SketchBook users, you can also organize your sketches in a gallery into albums and show them off in multiple view options.


This is another great app the artistic geeks would use but we’re wondering what will happen to those who downloaded the SketchBook Pro app before. Past users have been complaining the old app is no longer accessible on the Google Play Store so they want to know what will happen to their paid subscriptions. We’ll see what AutoDesk has to say about the issue.


Download SketchBook for Android from the Google Play Store

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Chromecast 1.8 Custom Wallpapers, Chrome Updated to 38

Google Android Apps

Last Friday, we saw the release of Google+ version 4.6, which brought Google’s Facebook competitor a bit more inline with the latest Material Design UI guidelines. Now just a few days later, Google is gracing our Android devices with two new updates, Chromecast 1.8 and Chrome Stable v38.


First up, we have an update to the Chromecast companion app, bringing us to version 1.8.22. The Google Chromecast has always been lauded for its aesthetically appealing backgrounds. But now with today’s update, users are finally allowed to personalize their Chromecast devices with custom backgrounds. You can also enable weather updates, satellite images, and news headlines, just like what was mentioned back at I/O earlier this year.


Next, we have an update to Chrome Stable, which brings us to version 38.0.2125.102. Much like we saw in last month’s Chrome Beta v38 release, we have new Material Design UI tweaks, as well as the new highlight to search feature that is activated when highlighting a word in the browser and clicking on the new G icon.


As always, both of these updates will begin rolling out to consumer devices over the next few days. However, we’ve gone ahead and mirrored the APKs on our Google Drive for your early access, sideloading pleasure. Head over to the links below to get started:



[Many thanks to Portal Supporter MihirGosai for the APK!]


The post Chromecast 1.8 Custom Wallpapers, Chrome Updated to 38 appeared first on xda-developers.


Mistwalker launches Terra Battle for Android

If you loved Final Fantasy, you’ll definitely like the new game developed by its creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Terra Battle is the latest role-playing game by Mistwalker Corporation that lets players go on a journey where powerful heroes and warriors are the main characters.



Goal of the game is to eradicate the enemies by moving units freely around a grid-based map. Move the characters to outflank the enemies or attack from both sides. You can finish off multiple enemies in one strike with chain attacks. Characters can be customized depending on the skills and jobs you want them to have. They can also have job changes. To be more powerful, you can acquire skills to combine together and create new characters. In a strange world, be ready to face a variety of foes found on different battle maps.


The Terra Battle app also includes a Download Starter CampaiGn that brings updates and new content to the game. These rewards are enabled once milestones are achieved within the game. Some of the rewards given include new scenarios, characters, and in-game music. Also included are updates and news about Terra Battle’s development. Game developer plans on brining a console version once two million downloads are achieved.




Mistwalker bringing its games to consoles is not surprising because it has already produced some role-playing games for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. In 2006, the company released Blue Dragon and The Last Story for Nintendo Wii and the Lost Odyssey for Xbox 360 back in 2010.


Download Terra Battle for Android from the Google Play Store


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Say yes to Yes Chef! so you can play with your food

"Don't play with your food!" This may be something you constantly heard from your parents when you were at that age when everything just fascinated you, including the food they set in front of you at every meal. But now that you're (supposedly) an adult, a new Android game will let you do just that. From the creators of the highly-addictive Fruit Ninja, now comes Yes Chef!, a game that would like to be as pervasive as well.



Yes Chef! is a match 3 puzzle game where you must help a young, aspiring chef named Cherry who wants to be the best one in the world. She is searching around the world for the best recipes she can find and add to her menu. But don't worry, you're not required to learn all these recipes and make them. What you just need to do is match three kinds of ingredients as you serve customers' orders, bake cakes and get high scores to "become a true cooking legend."


The game has over 100 levels and you will receive power-ups and special "powers" to help you achieve your goals. You can switch and match the ingredients and meals that include vegetables, seafood and even desserts. There are timed challenges, special games and other ways of playing the game in case you get bored with just doing the three of a kind swiping. And if you're feeling a bit competitive, then you can challenge your Facebook friends and get additional points as a reward.




Of course you don't expect complicated storylines or state-of-the-art gameplay and graphics with these type of games. But if you do like the simplicity of it and want to keep yourself hungry or craving for food while playing, you can get Yes Chef! for free from the Google Play Store. There are some in-app purchases available so remember to disable this if someone else will be playing the game on your smartphone or tablet.


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Sony SmartWatch 3 lands at Verizon in Oct

The wearables market is growing rapidly with new products seemingly launching all the time. The next new smartwatch product to land at Verizon will be the SmartWatch 3 from Sony, and the device is set to land at the carrier this month.



The Sony SmartWatch 3 has a 1.63-inch 320 x 320 pixel display and is designed to connect to any Android smartphone running KitKat. Sony made the watch weatherproof with an IP68 rating. That should mean it will survive getting wet in the shower.


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Inside the device is a digital compass, gyroscope, and a GPS chip. On the app front, the SmartWatch 3 will have Google now and access to Android Wear apps right out of the box. One of the features of the new wearable is that the smartwatch hardware is inside a small black puck that can be put into different bands for wear.


That means you can pick the color to suit your mood. We talked about the Sony SmartWatch 3 last month. Check out the video below to learn more about the wearable. Pricing and an exact date the smartwatch will land at Verizon is unknown.




SOURCE: SlashGear





Android L 64-bit emulator finally out, only for Intel x86

From Google I/O 2014, we were treated to a preview of Android next OS releases, now known popularly as Android L. Android head honcho Sundar Pichai also made it clear that Android 5.0 (or is it Android Lollipop?) will be optimized for 64-bit apps, but as launch date nears (we hope) – there have been few updates regarding Android L 64-bit capability. Thankfully, we have one right now – as Android Dev has announced the availability of an Android L 64-bit emulator for Intel x86 architecture.



This emulator image is specifically for app testing, as developers begin to take advantage of specific features that 64-bit processing can give. Those include increased addressable memory space, a larger number of registers, and new instruction sets for their apps.


Android Dev also announced that apps coded in Java will be able to automatically access these new benefits, while those built with Android NDK will have to make specific changes – namely, the have to compile for 64-bit architectures by including “x86_64” in the build target, or use the catch all code “APP_ABI=all64” in their Application.mk.


This is all good, as developers can now start testing their apps for 64-bit. But we need to address the obvious white elephant here – where is the emulator for ARMv8? This emulator release is specifically for Intel Atom/Bay Trail processors, and not ARM. NVIDIA’s 64-bit Tegra K1 may just be around the corner, and Qualcomm is already pushing their 64-bit capable processors, so Android Dev needs to put out for ARM architectures soon.


SOURCE: Android Developers





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