Source: a Material Design news reader from EvolveSMS dev

With a ton of news readers on Android, especially those that use the same news sources, differentiation can be a bit difficult. Considering that functionality is almost always the same, such apps nowadays compete on the design. Using the principles of Material Design, Klinker Apps, makers of the popular apps such as Talon for Twitter, EvolveSMS and the new Blur Launcher, has announced Source, a news reader whose beauty lies in its simplicity.

In terms of using the app, Source is quite simple. News is displayed in a single continuous column of items. To prevent being overwhelmed, you can choose to filter out sources one at a time. Depending on the source of the news, you can view the linked article in its entirety right from inside Source or, alternatively, you can view them in an external browser of your choice. There is little yet in terms of functionality, but that might be just fine as Source does only a single task and does it to the best of its abilities. And it's defining visual feature is Material Design. Unlike some third-party implementations, however, Source observes those design principles all throughout, including in the settings window, which some apps usually forget to update. You can even choose your own color highlights based on Material Design's recommended palette selection.

In terms of news sources, Source is ambitious but, at least for this beta release, falls a bit short. For now, only Twitter is supported. It can be news from Twitter's default categorized selection or from your own Twitter account, though the latter only works if you curate your own Twitter Lists. Klinker plans to add a lot more to that list before final release, including Google+, Feedly, and ever RSS. Design wise, there will also be a tablet-specific user interface to be made. There is also mention of upcoming in-app purchases, though it isn't yet clear for what those will be used. There is also Android Wear support included, which makes Source an all encompassing news reading solution.

As with any Android app in beta, there are a few steps to be taken to get access to the app. First, you need to join their (open) beta testing Google+ community and then sign up to become a beta tester. It may take anywhere between instantaneous to a few hours before you get to see the app itself listed in Google Play Store, but after that it's free for the taking and testing.

SOURCE: +Jacob Klinker

Super Party Sports Football: practice being a footie star

If you've ever had the urge to decapitate your five a side football opponents while at the same time practicing your virtual footie skills, this new game might kill two birds with one stone. Super Party Sports Football is a new game that will help you develop any football-related skill, at least when it comes to virtual games. It involves not just "physical" skills, but even the laws of physics and your wits to solve puzzles, as you aim to be the next Neymar or Robin Van Persie, at least when it comes to your smartphones and tablets.

The Anrdoid game gives you 100 levels to play in, as you master your football skills by calculating the power of your kick, charging up your football and defeating the opponents you face by hitting them. And yes, you beat them by lopping off their heads using a football. You can also collect power-ups along the way and solve some tricky puzzle riddles. And of course, since this is football, you get points by scoring a goal or two.

You can choose your favorite 11 players to play an actual game of football in the cup finals, complete with "Rio Samba" party music (someone clearly isn't over the 2014 World Cup in Brazil). You can also choose your favorite team from different countries. But since this isn't a FIFA or EA licensed game, then you can't expect to see superstar names or teams for your choices so just settle for look-alikes.

You can download Super Party Sports Football for free from the Google Play Store. However, there are several in-app purchases available, so you better enable or disable the automatic purchase option, depending on your budget or preference of course.

Beat mutants in post-apocalyptic Help Me Jack Android game

Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to survive after a nuclear apocalypse? Well, fortunately, we're getting a lot of practice now as post-apocalyptic type of adventure games have become one of the trends in mobile gaming, following a pop culture boom. The latest to test our survival skills (well, mostly to exercise our fingers and brains) is Help Me Jack: Atomic Adventure. It is an adventure game set in a world after a nuclear incident has irradiated most of the world and where you have to escape from mutant monsters, you know, the stuff that dreams are made of.

The world is on the brink of becoming a nuclear wasteland, as mutants have taken over after a catastrophic nuclear accident. Enter Jack and his merry super hero squad (you're part of it!) as they try to save what is left of humanity, exploring the lost cities and trying to round up to those who have been kidnapped by the mutants and finding out the cause of the genetic mutation. There are over 200 levels in this game, and your goal is not just to kill whatever mutants you can see, but also to rescue the scientists and doctors who are humanity's last hope.

As you go through the game, you'll rescue those who were captured and then train them to fight against the mutant monsters. You can also customize classes to be either Warrior or Shooter. The graphics look outstanding and the storyline seems to be more interesting than just your average point and shoot game. You also have the option to have open-ended gameplay so that you can replay previous missions when you have new partners or need to review it for critical missions.

Help Me Jack: Atomic Adventure is available for free download from the Google Play Store. There are items that can be purchased in-app, so better set your permissions before letting other people play the game on your device.

OPPO N3: 7075 aluminium alloy, electric rotating camera

Although the scheduled media event is still a good few weeks away, OPPO isn't missing a beat in trying to tease its fans with what the OPPO N3 might be. It has practically confirmed now the material to be used for the smartphone, a durable yet lightweight aluminium alloy used in aircraft as well. But the most interesting bit doesn't come from the horse's mouth. The OPPO N3 is now believed to sport a rather strange electric rotating camera.

There was some speculation and even one or two teasers that the OPPO N3 would bear some space-age kind of material to seemingly prove its mettle. Now, the company's own Facebook account has revealed that to be true, pointing to the 7075 aluminum alloy. This material was primarily used for planes but also graduated into other vehicles, from spacecraft to bicycles. This alloy is known for its durability but also for being less resistant to corrosion and more expensive. It will be interesting to see how OPPO plans on reconciling those differences.

But perhaps more attention, if not ridicule, will be showered on the smartphone's camera. While it will have a rather high main camera, one with a 16 megapixel 1/2.3-inch sensor, like the N1 before it the OPPO N3's camera will similarly rotate to provide both back and front coverage. However, there is now word that the upcoming model will do it differently, if not more strangely. According to the latest rumor, the rotation will be driven by a motor instead of through the user's manual control. It is doubtful that such a mechanism will be faster than manually turning the camera, but perhaps the change has been triggered by people breaking off their cameras in trying to turn them. Or perhaps they realized that the feature wasn't as intuitive and that users needed some guidance in discovering and using the feature.

Whether or not that pans out, we will definitely know on October 29. The rest of the expected specs for the OPPO N3 is like a laundry list of every desirable feature, like a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 3 GB of RAM, and a less overwhelming 5.5-inch but still only Full HD screen. Still no news of CyanogenMod on the device, but the OPPO N3 is admittedly an intriguing device in itself already.

SOURCE: OPPO

VIA: Weibo, MyDrivers

Story Timeline

• OPPO N3 leaked photos reveal an even stranger camera


• More Oppo N3 images leaked


• New Oppo N3 leaked pics, event set for October 29

Zeiss intros the VR One, ready to rival the Samsung Gear VR

Uh oh. Looks like the Samsung Gear VR has an upcoming rival. A new virtual reality handheld device called the Zeiss VR One has just been introduced. Samsung has not fully released the Gear VR and now it needs to prepare for another battle in the virtual reality world.

Carl Zeiss technology is more commonly found on cameras but now, the company is venturing into virtual reality even if it’s still in its early stages. It seems that consumers are also looking into this technology but there are not much options except for Samsung's. But now, the Zeiss VR One is here with an even affordable price tag of $99.

What’s good about the VR One is that it works with any smartphone of a specific size. As Zeiss is an expert in optics, the VR One is guaranteed to offer a better viewing experience. For app developers, the VR One uses an open source Unity3D SDK so you can develop more apps for the device. The SDK allows simpler programming of the apps that will be then used in the VR One. SDK is available for both Android and iOS. No word on a Windows Phone version yet.

You can watch videos and pictures with the ZEISS VR ONE media app. You can also enjoy YouTube to watch and stream 3D and 2D videos. Play around with StreetView to check out places you haven't visited in Google image’s database. The VR One actually displays two images side-by-side but the user sees them as only one image. You can view a slide show, change transition, zoom, and activate or deactivate repeat mode. To jump to the next video or photo, enable Side Tap by tapping on the right side of the device. Tapping on the left will show the previous image.

YouTube browsing is made more fun with the VR One. There’s also a search field that lets a user look for new videos but it’s not clear how one can type the keywords. As for the StreetView function, imagine looking at a 360-degree panoramic view of a place you haven’t been to. Tap on the front of glasses to “walk” forward.

Features of the Zeiss VR One include a leading-edge optical design and ZEISS precision lenses, an innovative slide to position the smartphone exactly, enough air ventilation openings to avoid fogging and ease airflow, stereo side-by-side format for 3D videos and photos, 100-degree field of view, 53-77mm interpupillary distance coverage, and an AR Cube.

Supported devices include those with display size between 4.7 and 5.2-inches only like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One M8, Sony Xperia Z2, Huawei Ascend P7, Nokia Lumia 930, Xiaomi M13, and LG G2. Pre-order for the VR One has already started in the United States, Europe, and Asia but no information on exact availability yet. We’ll let you know soon.

SOURCE: ZEISS VR ONE

Story Timeline

• Early Gear VR games will come without price tags


• Internal document leaks release date, pricing of Samsung Gear VR


• Land’s End is a gorgeous game for the Samsung Gear VR

Microsoft has Android Wear keyboard that draws on smartwatch

While smartwatches are definitely catching on, particularly for the early adapters of technology, the idea of having keyboards on the watchfaces are still pretty much a novelty. Given the small screen space, it does feel weird to have a full-fledged keyboard on your wearable. Microsoft has come up with a sort of alternative to that, with its newly-released keyboard that actually lets you draw the letters and characters on your smartwatch that runs on the Android Wear platform, particularly if it's square or the Moto 360.

The "analog keyboard" has been released as a prototype, and works with square-faced Android Wear smartwatches with a 320 x 320 resolution or the Moto 360. You can use the virtual keyboard to write out messages, for those times when it is too private to dictate to your wearable device. You can also use it for when you search for something on Google, particularly to write out things that you don't want others to know you're looking for (like how to boil an egg perhaps). Drawing on the smartwatch also helps for symbols that you can't distake like @ # and even numbers.

Other virtual keyboards have come up with a workaround to typing out things on your smartwatch's small surface. Minuum has a non-qwerty keyboard that takes advantage of the small screen to reprogram how you use it, even with round-face wearables. But Microsoft is probably the first one to have used the idea of drawing on it. While it is less awkward than using a keyboard on the device, it still takes some getting used to writing on it, particularly if you're writing a pretty long message.

You can download Microsoft's prototype keyboard from their website, but it is not yet available on the Google Play Store. You also need to follow the instructions (included in the zip file download) carefully, especially if you're a Moto 360 owner, since it normally requires a USB for the install process.

VIA: The Verge

Story Timeline

• Minuum shows how it's done on Android Wear smartwatches


• Android Wear 2.0 rumored to arrive this October 15

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

Fall is a busy time for technology. New smartphones seem to debut every other day (the Xperia Z3v and the Desire Eye for example), and the same can be said for the apps that power them. Here's some of the new software that will make that pocket-friendly hardware even better.

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