Subscribe:

Ads 468x60px

Labels

NBA 2K15 now on the Amazon App Store, Kindle Fire devices

2K Sports has made a name for itself being the king of the hill when it comes to NBA simulation games, with its NBA 2K series without competition now for a number of years. Its latest annual release is NBA 2K15 is now available as a premium mobile game available specifically on the Amazon App Store for Kindle Fire devices.



NBA 2K15 is hyping on new features for this year, but it always starts with better graphics and gameplay. Now it extends these new and better features to mobile gaming, specifically the more powerful devices from Amazon, under their Kindle Fire series of devices – specifically the Fire phone, the Fire HDX 8.9-inch, Kindle Fire HDX tablets, and also to Fire TV.


nba_2k15_1


Specs-wise, the Fire Phone is right about there on processing power with its Snapdragon 800 quad core processor and 2GB of RAM. The Fire HDX 8.9 sports the newer Snapdragon 805 processor with a similar 2GB of RAM. It’s probably wise to say that NBA 2K15 will probably be ok gaming-wise for last year and this year’s flagship level and higher-end phones and tablets. Anything lower than a Snapdragon 800 might cause the game to lag.


nba_2k15_2


Aside from the eye candy, NBA 2K15 boasts of a soundtrack made by international R&B and pop phenomenon Pharrell Williams. The game will be available via the Amazon App Store at a premium price of USD$7.99, or you can try this link here.





The Bot Squad: attack or defend, as long as you get orbs

If you've ever watched Battlerstar Galactica or I, Robot, then the possibility of robots overthrowing their human masters and ruling the world is not an improbable scenario. A new game called The Bot Squad: Puzzle Battles certainly has no humans in them but shows a world where robots are the ones in charge, and you, (probably a robot yourself) need to win the battle for the rising force and defend your city from rival robotic forces. And all you have to do is use your brains to solve puzzles and maybe a little brawn in case the enemies become more aggressive.



The Bot Squad combines both classic puzzle and tower defense kind of gameplay where you can choose to play defensively or offensively. The basic plotline is that Dyanmo City has to collect and protect orbs because it is their source of power. There is a rival robot that is trying to steal those orbs (we are not sure if a dance-off is included) and so you are part of the team that defends them and looks around for more orbs. You can either defend your city by using attack bots or place bots strategically around the storage area to block the invaders.


The game has four strategic puzzle modes and 180 stages to get through. You also have to complete and manage several different robots and carefully craft your strategy for each game, as going in with guns blazing will probably not help you win. As you go along, you will be able to unlock new bots and new abilities for them as well. The game starts out simple enough, but as all things usually do, the gameplay becomes more complicated and difficult.


bot2 bot3 bot4 bot5 bot6


If you and your robots are feeling a bit more social, you can join communities on Facebook and Forums to learn more strategies (and maybe get a crib sheet from the experts! The Bot Squad is available for free download from the Google Play Store.


UP by Jawbone: your fitness tracker without the fitness band

Tracking your fitness activities through digital means has become a sort-of obsession for a lot of people, ever since wearables have started to trickle into the market. But for some, fitness bands are already an extravagance or an unnecessary accessory and a smartwatch is enough. Popular fitness band Jawbone has realized that and have realized an app that can still track your stats even if you don't have a wearable band. UP will work as long as you have an Android smartphone (selected models only) or Android Wear smartwatch.



UP will help you track your fitness activities, diet and sleep patterns. You can log in the nutritional info of the food you intake, how many hours of sleep you get every night, plus all the workouts that you do (well, if you do more than one that is) like running, playing sports, doing yoga, etc. It also has the "Today I Will" feature that will suggest to you some goals you can do and provide tips and encouragement when you accept the challenge.


If you're the competitive sort, you can also ask your friends and family members to team up so you can have "friendly" contests and also provide encouragement along the way. You'll also get notifications when you reach certain targets and milestones and alerts if you want to get move notifications.


Of course, it must be a pain to log some of the info that a health wristband would normally automatically log for you. That's the "price" you pay for just sticking with your Android Wear smartwatch or even just your smartphone. But at least you still get to experience some of the features that Jawbone users have been enjoying. You can download UP by Jawbone from the Google Play Store for free.


up2 up3 up4 up5 up6





Android is Getting StreetPass-Style Local Multiplayer Ability

Android is Getting StreetPass-Style Local Multiplayer Ability


Asynchronous multiplayer gaming is all the rage these days. Whether it's taking on your pal's ghost-car times in Forza, or the more-interesting "ambient" multiplayer of the Nintendo 3DS's StreetPass system (letting you progress in games and trade items merely by being in proximity to someone who also has one of Nintendo's handhelds), the idea that multiplayer gaming requires two people sitting on a sofa playing simultaneously is slowly being eroded.


Read more...
















MyGlass 3.3.0 update hides wallpapers, keyboard input inside

As promised, Google has rolled out an update to Google Glass, or to be specific to its MyGlass companion app, that enables users to see regular notifications from their phone right in Google Glass. But as seem to be the practice with Google's updates, version 3.3.0 of the MyGlass app also includes features that are not actually available yet but do prefigure that things that could be coming next once Google flips the switch, most likely on Glass' firmware itself.



Last Wednesday, Google brought to Glass Explorers' attention that they have finally decided to allow any notification on the paired smartphone to be mirrored to Glass' own notification window. Previously limited to only a few essential apps, this basically lets any app grab your attention without prejudice. Whether or not this is a recipe for distraction and disaster is something we'll have to see as the update rolls out. Interestingly, it seems that if you have both of Google's blessed wearables, you can only choose one as the recipient of notifications, as enabling it on Google Glass will disable the same feature for Android Wear smartwatches.




Equally interesting, however, are the features that Google didn't announce. Android Police did its usual APK teardown and discovered clues to two very interesting features. The first is the ability to set a wallpaper for Google Glass. No, this won't turn it into literal rose-tinted glasses, but will instead set a background image for Glass' clock screen. While nice to look at, expect that it will cause some amount of battery drain when used. The settings for the feature on MyGlass can be seen using an ADB command, but the feature itself most likely needs a firmware update on Google Glass before it can be used.


myglass-wallpapers


The second feature lies buried underneath the source code and refers to using a keyboard for text input. In an ideal world, Google would want everything to be voice driven. In the real world, however, voice recognition is still far from being perfect. Plus you really wouldn't want to speak out your passwords or PIN codes, would you? The upcoming feature won't suddenly give you a microscopic keyboard on Glass but will instead pop up a full screen fixed portrait keyboard on your smartphone. It will require you to pick up your device, which kinda defeats the purpose of Google Glass, but in this case, it's still better than nothing.


Download: MyGlass 3.3.0 on Google Play Store

VIA: Android Police





Nexus 9 shows up in Vietnam, full pics and hands on

Oh, nevermind that Google’s strapping new tablet – the Nexus 9 – is scheduled to launch today, leakers don’t have time for that (haha). The full package – complete with Google’s Nexus branding stamped on the back – just showed up in Vietnam and the guys at Tinhte.vn have been so cool as to give us a visual tour.



Specs for this spanking new tablet have been leaked and re-leaked to no end – but just the same we need to re-iterate that this bad boy will be using NVIDIA’s fastest Tegra K1 chip on it, pushing pixels to an 8.9-inch screen with 2048x1440 resolution. It will be running on Android Lollipop, which might be the reason that although the launch is said to be set for today – shipping is rumored to actually start in November, as Google is still finishing off final touches on Android 5.0 development.


tinhte_nexus9_1 tinhte_nexus9_2 tinhte_nexus9_3 tinhte_nexus9_4 tinhte_nexus9_5


First things first on this beauty – the edges are relatively sharp on a tablet that is also the thinnest Google has ever put its Nexus stamp on. The Nexus 9 comes in at 0.8cm thick, although that might come to around 0.9 once you factor in the tapered edges and the main bulk of the tablet in the middle area. The back sports the undoubted Nexus logo in the middle and a smaller HTC logo below it. It's also worth noting that there is no expansion slot for microSD on this tablet, so you'll just have to be content with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. There’s a hands-on video below, but the copy with subs became unavailable at the last moment, so unless you understand Vietnamese, you will just have to enjoy this visually.




The last detail you might notice on the Nexus 9 is the bezel area up front. The side bezels are ok, but the top and bottom ones are quite large and if we may say so, un-sexy. Google will have to do some explaining here when the tablet finally launches, as that is a fair bit of bezel area right there. Nonetheless, the Nexus 9 is already available for pre-order via Amazon, if you want to check that out -- USD$399 for the 16GB model and USD$479 for the 32GB one. It says that the item will ship by November 3. Enjoy some more pictures from Vietnam!


tinhte_nexus9_6 tinhte_nexus9_7 tinhte_nexus9_8 tinhte_nexus9_9 tinhte_nexus9_10


SOURCE: Tinhte.vn





Android Lollipop is coming to all Sony Xperia Z devices

Boo yah! Sony just dropped a big one on us today as they have announced what seems to be a roadmap for future software releases on their premium Xperia Z series. We’ve all heard of Android Lollipop (who hasn’t?), and we’ve all seen what it can do – the minimalist Material Design, the new features. That’s one thing. But it is a whole other thing – and exciting, at that – to declare that a whole series of your premium phones is getting it.



Sony sure knows how to make a splash, as it is announcing that Android 5.0 Lollipop will be available for Xperia Z devices – including the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1S, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z2, Xperia Z2 Tablet, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3v, Xperia Z3 Compact and Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.


But first up will be the Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition – the Japanese manufacturers will be coming out with details on those, soon. The core devices of the series – which are the Xperia Z2 and the recently launched Xperia Z3 – will start getting their updates at the beginning of 2015, with all other updates coming after that.


Sony must be pretty confident of the compatibility of Android Lollipop with their hardware to make such a sweeping statement. New releases are usually hotbeds for incompatibility issues and bugs, but it seems that Sony’s mind is pretty much made up that it can pull this off. More on this as details pour out. Exciting times for Xperia Z users, eh?


SOURCE: Sony





Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)